Chapter 214: Chapter 214: When the Music Ends, People Leave
 

“What is evil, and what is a wraith?”

The lights and shadows around the stage dissipated, leaving an indescribable loneliness and desolation.

A graceful and picturesque woman floated down from the stage, her water-like sleeves swaying as she moved her lotus steps, pure and pale as if she were a thin cloud overshadowing the moon, drifting like a returning breeze carrying snowflakes.

Suddenly, it was the female lead from the performance!

At the tips of her eyebrows hung an ineradicable sorrow, yet her eyes revealed a trace of mockery, “A mere Qi Cultivation third-layer cultivator dares to speak so arrogantly?”

Wang Chen found this very interesting.

In the world of immortal cultivation, most evil spirits and wraiths resided in the Outer Domain, and while the Outer Mountain Gate of the Cloud Sun sect also had low-level entities like Wraith Children, they didn’t cause much disturbance to the daily lives of most cultivators.

For a city of cultivators like Cloud Mountain City, there was simply no place for evil spirits to take root.

The twelve chimes of the Fixed Sun bell each day, combined with the City Protecting Great Array, were enough to deal with most evil spirits.

Even the fortresses in the Outer Domain occupied by Loose Cultivators had special precautionary measures against evil spirits.

The situation in the mortal realm was completely different.

Many evil spirits were hidden among the crowds of the city, living alongside ordinary people. One could not discern anything out of the ordinary until they suddenly committed bloody acts and then disappeared without a trace.

There were even Evil Nests, brazenly located within the cities.

The thought that the locals had grown accustomed to such a marketplace made one’s heart palpitate.

It was also quite helpless.

Wang Chen stood up and courteously bowed in salute to the other party.

The woman was taken aback.

She had seen her fair share of Taoists and martial artists, and none who knew she was an evil spirit were ever that polite.

“Thank you.”

Wang Chen said sincerely, “You performed very well.”

If placed in Wang Chen’s previous lifetime, a woman in green like her, with such beauty, figure, acting skills, and singing voice, would find it difficult not to be famous.

Since she had put her all into performing just for him, it was only right to say “thank you.”

“As a token of my gratitude, let me help you transcend,” he offered.

Just as his words fell, Wang Chen formed a spell with his hands, and his aura surged dramatically.

The woman in green, sensing the danger, let out a fierce shriek instantly.

Shadows flickered around Wang Chen in an instant, and numerous strange and eerie figures clawed and snarled at him.

The marketplace had turned into a veritable hell on earth!

“Thunder Come!”

However, Wang Chen had already completed his spellcasting preparations. At his command, bolts of lightning suddenly descended from the sky, smiting down upon the heads of the specters.

In just a moment, streaks of electric light scurried about, knitting a dense net of thunder, engulfing all the low-level wraiths within its weave.

Five Suns Qian Thunder!

This spell, derived from the Upper Clear God Sky Thunder Method, was one of the strongest abilities Wang Chen had mastered to date.

He had endured half a month of arduous cultivation on Falling Thunder Peak, depleting most of the stored spiritual power in the Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net, and had cultivated this spell to the Great Achievement realm.

And Five Suns Qian Thunder, being supremely yang and pure, had an extremely strong suppressive effect on demons, ghosts, and various evil entities.

With a single strike, all low-level wraiths were turned to ash!

The potency of the force surprised even Wang Chen.

In his previous tours of Nan Shao’s three counties, he had never employed such a powerful spell, sweeping through hordes of spirits effortlessly with the Demon-Slaying Net, without having to exert much effort.

Now, he was merely trying to practice, and he ended up annihilating all these minor minions in one go.

It was quite a loss!

However, the true shock was felt by the woman in green.

She realized that Wang Chen was not an ordinary junior cultivator; his cultivation realm far exceeded her expectations. She let out a piercing cry and turned to flee into the stage behind her.

But a vast net suddenly enveloped her, trapping her within it.

Wang Chen had long practiced the Demon-Slaying Net to the point of being an extension of his limbs. With the ability of Great Perfection-level Object-Controlling Technique, he could guarantee a hit at close range, allowing no single wraith to escape from under his eyes.

The biggest mistake this wraith had made was being too close to Wang Chen!

The woman in green struggled desperately inside the Demon-Slaying Net.

However, the more violently she struggled, the tighter the net bound her. Her skin quickly cracked, and her exquisite features turned to the extreme of grotesque ugliness.

The next moment, a contorted mass of flesh bizarrely burst out from the skin, its surface covered in black eyes.

Clearly, this was the true form of the evil wraith!

Revealing its true form was futile; under the Demon-Slaying Net, all evils are equal. Its source of evil power was ruthlessly extracted, and its size shrank continuously until it vanished into nothingness.

This time, Wang Chen did not retract the net at the last moment to kill it with his Flying Sword.

Because this Evil Wraith was incredibly tricky, it might have had some special abilities. To prevent any mishap, it was safest to deal with it directly using the Demon-Slaying Net.

The Demon-Slaying Net had absorbed a substantial amount of pure spiritual power.

It was time to go back and level up!

Wang Chen retracted the Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net.

Enwrapped within the net was a silver-white crystal pearl.

A Yin Qi Pearl!

This was the second Yin Qi Pearl he had acquired in the Mortal realm.

It could be considered an unexpected joy.

The spiritual power stored in the Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net was now sufficient for Wang Chen to seclude himself and break through to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation.

Additionally, after resolving the issue with this Evil Nest, the common people within Nan Shao should be able to live in peace for some time, adding a glimmer of hope to their sorrowful and arduous lives.

He could say that he had lived up to his title of “Guarding Heavenly Master.”

As he was thinking this, Wang Chen looked around and flicked out four Evil-Repelling Talismans.

Puffs of spiritual light silently burst, turning into tiny fireflies that dispersed into every corner of the market.

They drove away the lingering evil energy.

Some of the spiritual light also fell on the stage.

The wooden platform that had witnessed countless joys and sorrows now collapsed thunderously, burying the past under the rubble.

It was only then that Wang Chen noticed the sky had already started to brighten.

He had actually spent the entire night watching the show!

Brushing off his robe, Wang Chen left the market.

Upon returning to the intersection he had been before, he found the little beggar curled up in the corner, still clutching the reins tightly.

“Ah eh~”

Seeing Wang Chen return, the big green donkey immediately let out joyful brays and rushed towards him.

As a result, the sleeping beggar was flipped over with a tumble.

“Ouch!”

He suddenly woke up with a yell of pain, clutching his head, and then was dragged out a dozen steps by the big green donkey.

Wang Chen quickly restrained the big green donkey and asked, “Are you alright?”

The little beggar was quite hardy and wasn’t seriously harmed after being dragged a few steps.

Realizing what had happened, he hurriedly handed the reins back to Wang Chen, “I’m fine…”

Wang Chen smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Considering the other party had looked after his mount all night, as Wang Chen took back the reins, he also handed a gold ingot to the boy.

This ingot weighed ten taels, which could buy about ten donkeys.

But the little beggar did not take it.

Staring at Wang Chen blankly, he suddenly had an epiphany and knelt down, kowtowing three times to Wang Chen: “Taoist master, please take me as your disciple. I am willing to work like an ox and a horse in your service!”

Wang Chen was at a loss for words: “I am not qualified to take disciples.”

According to the rules of his sect, he had to achieve the Breakthrough Mansion stage before he could take on disciples.

Thinking for a moment, Wang Chen took a booklet from his Storage Bag, placing it in front of the boy along with the gold ingot.

There might not be a destiny to be a teacher and disciple, but giving some fortune was still possible.

This booklet was something he had obtained from a martial artist who had been possessed by an evil spirit, a martial arts secret manual.

Although it was not very useful, Wang Chen had kept it to read as a casual book.

Giving it to the boy was perfect.

Mounting the big green donkey, he rode off into the distance.

The little beggar dejectedly got up from the ground and looked down at the booklet in his hands.

He was literate and recognized the title on the cover.

The Great Compassion of Yin and Yang in the Contest between Heaven and Earth!

———–

The first update is delivered.