“Why are you here?” Li Yan spoke without turning his head.

From the scent alone, he knew it was Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei. The two had been worried something might go wrong. They left the troupe to continue chanting while they came to check on the situation.

“What is that?”

“A soldier spirit...” Li Yan lowered his voice and briefly explained what had happened.

“A soldier spirit?” Wang Daoxuan wasn’t surprised.

More than ten years ago, a great drought had struck the Guanzhong Plains. The Maitreya Sect had seized the chance to rebel, and the imperial court sent multiple armies to suppress them. The two sides clashed repeatedly with blood flowing like rivers.

Many fallen soldiers were buried in this mass grave.

His expression flickered as he gritted his teeth. “Barking dogs can drive away evil. The Beggar Sect used a dirty trick and scared off all the surrounding wandering souls, leaving only this. This is our only chance tonight. If we fail, not only will descending the mountain be troublesome, we’ll have to go elsewhere to invite a spirit.

“Let it enter the altar enclosure first. We’ll observe and decide.”

Li Yan didn’t object. Wang Daoxuan was always cautious. If he dared take this risk, he definitely had a plan. With the decision made, they began moving. Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei hurried back to prepare, while Li Yan stayed behind, using the scent of the living to lure the spirit.

The tattered corpse staggered forward through the darkness, tripping over dry branches from time to time. The sight was deeply unsettling.

The altar was less than a thousand meters away, yet Li Yan’s brows tightened.

He could smell the corpse drawing in the surrounding killing qi as it moved. Combined with its aura, the cold scent around it was growing increasingly intense. Even from dozens of meters away, it chilled him to his bones.

Li Yan cursed silently. If they didn’t reach the altar in time, this thing might undergo corpse transformation!

A person had three souls and seven spirits. The souls were yang, and the spirits yin; together with the body, they formed a balance. But after death, yin and yang separated. The seven spirits dissipated first, then the three souls departed.

The souls would first become an intermediate form. If something went wrong and they failed to enter the underworld, they would turn into wandering ghosts. The seven spirits, however, belonged to the earth. If they didn’t disperse, they would remain in the body, absorbing yin energy from the land, preventing decay and causing trouble.

This beggar’s seven spirits hadn’t dispersed before the soldier spirit possessed the body. Revival was impossible. He would only become a zombie.

Thinking of the possibility, Li Yan quickened his pace. Fortunately, the corpse behind him also sped up. Finally, they reached the open ground where yin energy converged just as the corpse let out its first hoarse roar.

A fire now burned there, fed with paper money offerings.

The flickering yellow light clearly illuminated the stiff corpse following Li Yan. Everyone could see its bluish, frozen face, as black blood leaked from its orifices.

The scene was deeply eerie.

Even with Wang Daoxuan’s warnings, the members of the Spring Breeze Troupe turned pale with fear. Yet none dared flee. They remained kneeling, holding three sticks of incense, silently reciting what he taught them.

At last, the corpse hesitated. Its attention shifted from Li Yan. It raised its head toward the altar, tiptoeing forward, yet going in circles, as if unable to find the way. Even ghosts and spirits had their own preferences. Some craved flesh and chased the scent of the living. Others preferred incense offerings. Those that favored incense could be enshrined as yin deities.

“There’s a chance!” Wang Daoxuan’s eyes lit up. He immediately stepped onto ritual patterns, leaving the altar. He spun through the air before landing and dragging his right foot across the ground.

A line appeared, cutting through the three ash-formed “city walls,” like opening a gate to welcome a guest.

At once, a fierce yin wind rose. Li Yan smelled it. The cold, bloody aura surged from the corpse, which collapsed to the ground. That scent spiraled forward, rushing toward the altar.

Though others couldn’t see it, they felt their hair stand on end, as the temperature dropped further. Then they witnessed a strange sight. The wind swept through, and in the brazier of burning paper money, ashes and embers spun rapidly like a tornado, passing through the opened gap in the ash walls. When it neared the altar, it suddenly dispersed.

Li Yan could also smell it. The cold scent had entered the statue, and was beginning to absorb the incense on the altar.

He quickly gave the signal and Wang Daoxuan reacted immediately, taking out white ash paste he had prepared and sealing the opening at the base of the statue.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

The statue trembled briefly on the table, then fell still.

“It has come!” Wang Daoxuan lifted the statue and yelled.

The Spring Breeze Troupe was ready. “We receive it!”

The troupe leader Zhou hoisted the wooden chest meant for the statue and opened it, revealing a small shrine inside. Wang Daoxuan placed the statue within, shut the chest tightly, and covered it with a red cloth. Then he waved for everyone to leave at once.

Sha Lifei hurried forward to help pack up the incense burner, water basin, soul-calming bell, and other ritual tools. They extinguished the brazier and left the temporary table behind.

The ritual items had been long consecrated before their ancestral altar. Though made of ordinary materials and far inferior to Li Yan’s coins, they had cost Wang Daoxuan much effort, so he wouldn’t abandon them.

The descent was even harder. Everyone stumbled, none daring to look back. Zhou Kangnian, burdened with the chest, struggled even more but moved carefully, afraid of falling and shattering the statue. Fortunately, his martial training gave him steady footing.

Li Yan walked at the rear. Wang Daoxuan had instructed him that if anything came to harass them, he couldn’t turn around. He should simply activate the Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coin tassel to drive it away.

Yet strangely, nothing followed them all the way down. At the bottom, the troupe finally relaxed, collapsing in exhaustion. It had been a harrowing night.

Sha Lifei wiped his cold sweat and joked, “Daoist, you were too cautious. Nothing happened after all.”

“What do you know?!” Wang Daoxuan turned to look at the mountain in confusion.

Li Yan added, “Don’t worry. Those beggars drove off the nearby wandering souls. Even if something came, we could handle it.”

“I’m not worried about wandering ghosts.” Wang Daoxuan shook his head. “In places where yin energies gather, there are often Mountain or River gods. These ghosts and soldiers spirits are restrained by them, like troops under their command.

“We just brought one away. It’s like abducting their subordinate. Naturally, they would try to stop us, especially since it’s a soldier spirit. It’s strange that this place lacks a ruling deity.”

Sha Lifei scratched his head. “Anyway, we got the spirit. Why think so much? Let’s go back to Xianyang for a hot bowl of mutton soup.”

Members of the Spring Breeze Troupe chimed in.

“True, now I’m hungry too.”

“Daoist Wang, this meal’s on me!”

Rather than replying, Wang Daoxuan instructed, “Since you’ve invited a yin deity, return quickly. Remember, offer incense morning and evening daily, and perform rituals on the first and fifteenth of each month...”

“Understood...”

They gathered themselves and hurried into the night.

Unbeknownst to them, not long after they left, torches flared in the forest. A group of beggars arrived, escorting their leader, Mountain Lord.

Seeing the corpse, the fat man touched it, then quickly withdrew his hand, his face dark. “Burn it. Otherwise the mountain won’t be peaceful.”

“Mountain Lord, we lost four or five good men.”

“They ran fast...”

Several beggars glared toward the mountain’s base.

Mountain Lord had calmed down. Patting his greasy belly, he said, “I thought they were amateurs. We were careless.

“Send word to the Iron Blade Gang, their intelligence was wrong. These lives are on them. If they don’t find those people, this isn’t over! And keep eyes on them. Don’t provoke them recklessly. Wait for a chance to deal with them.”

“Yes, Mountain Lord!”

***

Xianyang had no shortage of mutton soup shops. To survive in the city, one needed real skill to open one. One such shop stood on Old Wei Family Street near the Horse King Temple. It was known as Wu’s Soup, and had been passed down through generations. It was over a century old. Their great pot never stopped simmering. Each night they left embers burning, adding fresh lamb bones the next day. The broth was milky and rich, and was famed far and wide.

Even more admirable, they never forgot their roots. Some shops, once famous, rushed to renovate and cater to the elite. Wu's Soup remained unchanged. It was a big open space with large pots outside, rows of long tables stretching into the distance with boiling soup churning away.

Prices hadn’t changed in decades and everything was clean. There were always people squatting outside, drinking soup.

Wang Daoxuan and the others had already downed three bowls each and eaten several flatbreads. Only when sweat beaded on their foreheads did they finally feel human again.

The sun was slowly rising and the streets were getting busy. As he watched people and mule carts pass by, Sha Lifei sighed, “Damn, this feels like a dream. I kind of regret it.

“Daoist Wang, is every job going to risk our lives like this?”

“Not necessarily,” Wang Daoxuan smiled. “Most would have refused last night’s job. Word will spread quickly. In the future, we’ll take easier work. You just run errands.”

“Great! Wait, are you sure?”

“Of course...”

“Why do you sound a little unsure of yourself?”

As they chatted, a man approached. He was short and stocky, dressed in black, with a square cap on his head and had lifeless fish-like eyes.

He stopped before them and smacked his lips. “Which one of you is Li Yan?”

Li Yan set down his bowl and glanced sideways. “That’s me.”

The man looked him up and down before sneering. “You’re just a brat and you’re already risking your life in the jianghu? Are you kidding me?

“You want to fight a life-or-death duel? Do you even know the rules?”