Chapter 671: Method of Unsealing

"The Yang Talisman is inside Wang Shi's body. It's a hidden danger that must be resolved." I studied the blank paper in my hand, trying to channel yin energy into it, but it was completely useless.

The blank paper was ordinary. I could easily tear it to shreds, but I couldn't guarantee Wang Shi's safety if I did.

"Sealing a soul into a piece of paper... Mr. Paper's methods are truly bizarre."

Truthfully, I really didn't want to kill Wang Shi. He had helped me immensely; killing him now would be sheer ingratitude. Furthermore, he was a Returned Yang Soul who retained his memories and intellect, making him highly unique. The Live Show didn't count him as a living person, meaning he could accompany me during broadcasts. That was the most crucial point.

If circumstances hadn't forced my hand, I never would have harbored thoughts of killing him.

"Not killing him means exposing my trump card. If he's caught by the sect cultivators, none of my secrets will remain hidden." After thinking for a moment, I took out my phone. Right now, only one person could help me make a decision—Blind Liu.

"There's no signal deep in the mountains. Is it because of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation?" I walked out of the main hall and glanced at the sky. It was past five in the morning, and since it was late autumn, it was still quite dark out. It would be at least half an hour before dawn.

I placed the Black Leather Suitcase beside the shrine and walked toward the periphery of the grand formation with my phone in hand.

On my way here, I'd seen a security guard listening to a radio in the high-end cemetery. I figured there would be a signal outside the pine forest.

I climbed Henshan and passed through the pine forest that hid the hanged ghosts; the moment I stepped out of the fog, my phone began vibrating.

"A signal?" I checked the screen and found over a dozen unread messages in my inbox.

Most were from Leng Qingxuan, with a few others from Blind Liu and Tie Ningxiang.

"It seems they're all looking for me." I tapped on Blind Liu's message first. It contained only a few words: Call back immediately!

The old Daoist was stubborn and traditional, rarely using a smartphone to text. Those few short words had probably taken him a long time to type.

"Must have been a struggle for him." I shook my head. Once I left Jiangcheng, I wasn't going to use this SIM card ever again.

I dialed his number. It only rang once before connecting.

"Old Liu?"

"Gao Jian! Did you kill those people?!"

Before I could even speak, Blind Liu's suppressed voice came through the receiver. I could actually hear a trace of anger in his tone—it sounded as though he had been deceived and played for a fool by a close friend.

"No, their deaths have absolutely nothing to do with me! You're wrongfully accusing me this time."

"Bullshit! I haven't even said who died yet, and you already know what I'm talking about? If it had nothing to do with you, they wouldn't be searching the whole world for you right now!"

Blind Liu was genuinely furious, and I could hear it. "Calm down. First, tell me what the situation is in Jiangcheng."

"Calm down my ass! You're already on the news! You even dared to kill the Dao Zheng of the hidden sects? Are you insane? You've offended more than half of the Five Great Upper Sects! And the Golden Mountain Sect is a local powerhouse in the Central-South region, yet you actually dared to slaughter all their first-generation disciples! You're a raving lunatic! A complete maniac!"

"Old Liu, don't spout nonsense. You know my capabilities. Even if I went all out, I could only handle one or two sect disciples, let alone the Dao Zheng of the hidden sects. I was framed! The real culprit is someone else!" Explaining the whole thing would be too troublesome, so I could only say this to pacify Blind Liu.

"Someone else?" On the other end of the line, Blind Liu paused for a moment. He seemed to be pondering my words, finding a bit of logic in them. "Then who is the real culprit?"

"Do you remember Lu Xing? The real culprit is the faction behind him! They are Fate Usurpers!"

"Fate Usurpers?" Blind Liu's speaking pace gradually slowed down.

"Let's not discuss the real culprit just yet. How do you know all this? It's only been three or four hours since they started hunting me."

"At three-thirty this morning, the police locked down the hospital. I was wondering what was going on and was just getting ready to watch the commotion, only to find them all crowding around my ward door. They restricted my freedom and interrogated me about my relationship with you. They asked a bunch of baffling questions, like why my hospital bills were paid with your bank card, and why I was hospitalized with injuries. Eventually, I even had three or four people following me just to go to the toilet! I've been a law-abiding Daoist for half my life, and this is the first time I've encountered such an absurd situation!"

"Don't get worked up just yet. Since you're under their watch, how did you even risk calling me?"

"After those people finished questioning me, they left in a hurry. I heard they made some major discovery, so they only left two guys guarding outside the door."

Walls have ears; no wonder Blind Liu's voice sounded so hushed. "Old Liu, listen to me. I was framed. I can't give you the specifics right now, but I need your help. It's the only way I can clear my name and prove my innocence!"

Blind Liu was soft-hearted at his core. Hearing me say this, his attitude softened a bit. "How can I help you? Forget about anything out of line—my old bones really can't handle any more torment."

"It's a small matter. Have you ever heard of an evil art that can seal a soul into blank paper to create a moving paper figurine?" I seized the moment to ask my burning question.

"Soul Sealing?" Blind Liu was well-read and had indeed heard of this evil art, so he provided me with a method to break it. "Soul Sealing arts are very rare. Usually, wandering spirits and homeless ghosts are sealed inside dolls or steles. As for sealing one in paper like you mentioned, that's a first for me, but the general solution should be roughly the same. Paper is light and thin; you just need to place it in an environment of extreme yin or extreme yang. It won't take long for the seal to break on its own."

"It's that simple?" The core of the formation deep within the earth vein simultaneously met both conditions of extreme yin and extreme yang. According to Blind Liu, I only needed one of them to break the seal. Since I had both, wasn't it foolproof?

"Finding extreme yin or yang is incredibly difficult. Without that kind of extreme environment, you'd have to use the slow, grinding approach, gradually..."

"Old Liu, we'll talk more when I get back to Jiangcheng." With that, I prepared to hang up.

"Are you even listening to me?! You've caused a monumental disaster, boy. If you really didn't do it, I advise you to come back on your own and cooperate with them to hunt down the true culprit. There's a limit to human strength; you can't stand against them all by yourself! You'll never grasp just how much power those sects wield! You don't know how vast their networks are, how many talismans and Dharma treasures they've accumulated, you don't know..."

"Alright. I may not know how formidable they are, but I do know that I'm not inferior to them."

"You need to think this through carefully. You are making enemies of everyone!"

"I wouldn't call it making an enemy of the whole world. At the very least, aren't you still helping me?"

The other end of the line suddenly fell silent. A moment later, a long sigh echoed through. "My ancestors once said that a dragon tamer must possess the ambition to overturn the heavens. My Liu family has been trapped in Jiangcheng for generations, and my generation will likely be the last. I really don't know if what I'm doing is right."

"Time will prove everything." I couldn't give Blind Liu any promises. I hung up and was just about to duck into the pine forest when my phone began vibrating again.

I initially thought Blind Liu was calling back, but upon answering, I realized something was off.

The other end of the line was very quiet; I could only hear the sound of even breathing.

"Gao Jian, that girl's condition has stabilized. You don't need to worry about her."

The voice on the phone was very reassuring. My heart settled back into my chest, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Senior Sister, you startled me."

"I won't pry into your affairs, but if I catch you, I absolutely will not bend the rules for personal reasons." Tie Ningxiang's tone was somewhat strange. I didn't know what had happened to her.

"Senior Sister, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just be careful out there. Also, can you tell me what your relationship with this girl is?"

"There's no relationship between us. She's just an innocent girl who got dragged into this. Take good care of her."

Hanging up, I scrolled through every text message Tie Ningxiang had sent, then deleted them all.

By the time I finished deleting, only Leng Qingxuan's texts were left on my phone. After casually reading a few, I suddenly realized that he wasn't hostile toward me. On the contrary, he was advising me to return to Jiangcheng, claiming he would guarantee my safety.

"Leng Qingxuan must have believed what I told him." If it were only Leng Qingxuan, I would definitely go back and explain everything clearly to him. Unfortunately, he wasn't the one calling the shots in the sects.

The subsequent messages confirmed my suspicions. Leng Qingxuan informed me that Chen Jiuge's death had become the fuse for everything. First, Xiao Zhuang Taoist Temple entered the mundane world. Then, Xu Wugui contacted the Qingcheng headmaster. After several parties inspected the Life Lamps, they simultaneously discovered that aside from Leng Qingxuan and Xu Wugui, the life flames of all the other cultivators were flickering unsteadily and could extinguish at any moment.

This was no small matter. The Five Great Upper Sects collectively exploded into an uproar. This was especially true for the Golden Mountain Sect, which had dispatched all of its second-generation disciples; if they all died in Jiangcheng, the very roots of their sect would be severed.

To save these cultivators, the Five Great Upper Sects and their allies had mobilized in full force, rushing to Jiangcheng overnight.

It was said that the number of confirmed Celestial Master cultivators exceeded ten. In the face of this absolute power, Leng Qingxuan kept trying to persuade me, telling me that running away was useless and hoping I would turn myself in voluntarily to cooperate with the sects' investigation.

"Fate truly plays tricks on people." After reading these texts, I knew that Leng Qingxuan was unwilling—and afraid—to believe that I was the murderer who killed the sect cultivators.

"Even though I'm not the direct killer, I orchestrated their deaths single-handedly." Out of everyone, Leng Qingxuan was the only one who made me feel a sense of guilt. After all, this Maoshan Yin Master was still considering my best interests right up to the very end.

Stowing away my phone, I returned to the main hall of the Three Yin Sect. Following what Blind Liu had said, I traversed the secret passage behind the shrine and descended into the earth vein.

The yin energy here was extremely dense. I released the Desire Ghost and the others, allowing them to rapidly recover their strength.

These three ghost entities possessed massive potential. The Seductive Ghost and the Filthy Ghost each had their own special abilities, while the Desire Ghost's combat talent was downright terrifying—it was the most ferocious of all the ghosts I had ever seen. If they could advance one step further, it would be a significant boon to me.