The strong yin qi already made Ji Yuan feel uncomfortable, but he also found that there were at least two Yin emissaries always in position in front of him. They were most likely intentionally blocking a considerable part of the yin qi impact for him, as he was a mortal.

At this moment in the courtyard, the four major officials under the City Gods were showing off their power, and most of the other Yin emissaries were on standby, except for the nine soul-binding messengers who were controlling the the soul-binding lock.

He had described it as a battle, but in Ji Yuan’s view, the terrifying ghost had been bound in the air by a soul-binding lock, and they had beaten him, well, literally.¹

When the judge’s brush hit the ghost with a whipping motion or some other attack, it let out a piercing scream, and some of the evil energy was reduced.

This was not the first time that doubts and theories had arisen in Ji Yuan’s mind regarding his eyesight, but this time his hunch had only deepened. Not only could he see all kinds of evil spirits and ghosts, but he could even see the waves of evil energy being dispersed.

It seemed that, realizing it was at a critical moment, the ghost locked in the Soul Binding Chain began to struggle even more violently.

“Aaaaaahhhh-“

Amidst its screams, countless pale arms rushed out, grabbing at the surrounding Yin emissaries.

The City God’s subordinate officials waves their magic weapons, and the courtyard was once more filled with unnatural yin qi. They immediately blocked most of the Yin emissaries from the ghost’s clawing arms, but six or seven were still caught, including three of the soul-binding messengers.

“Clang! Clang!”

An agent tried to slash at the ghost’s claws with a knife to help his companions escape, but the sword made a sound like gold and iron clashing as it hit.

“Hooooo uuuuh….”

“Aaaaahhh!!!”

“Aaah!!!”

The seven Yin agents held by the ghost were directly smashed to pieces in its pale arms, turning into a cloud of black mist that was rapidly sucked into the claws. Three of the soul-binding chains lost control, and they were like three big whips in the struggle of the ghosts.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

A large number of Yin agents were directly hit by the soul-binding chains. They were stunned for a brief moment and flung into the air away from each other.

“How bold!!!”

The four major officials were stunned and jumped forward together. The four yin energies imbued with the scent of sandalwood swirled together in the sky above the small courtyard, and intertwined into a large net.

“Go!!!”

The big net fell from the sky, covering the ferocious ghost who was almost about to escape.

Whooooo… woooooo…

The powerful gusts of wind in the courtyard were no longer just induced by yin energies, but were now a true gale. The branches of the jujube tree swayed violently, and the fallen leaves and other objects in the courtyard seemed to be flying around randomly, without being restricted by the formation. Ji Yuan could do nothing but reach his hands out in fear in front of his face to block the dust and leaves.

At this moment, Ji Yuan was not only shocked, but also terrified.

‘Damn, this is what I dealt with just now? Fortunately, this thing likes to play with its food! If it was like this at the beginning, I would have been killed before even getting up!’

Judge Wu spun the brush in his hand and roared loudly.

“Draw out its soul energy!!!”

The other three officials of the City God also launched their magic weapons into the attack. The Yin emissaries followed and took action one after the other, attacking through the big net, particularly using their soul-binding chains. Every time they hit, the ghost trembled.

“Whoooooo-“

The scream almost pierced Ji Yuan’s eardrums, and the ghost in the giant net swelled rapidly. Lord Wu noticed that something was wrong and withdrew his brush, sharpened the tip of the bristles like a needle, and slammed it towards the middle of the net.

“Break it!”

“Bang!!”

Yin qi exploded, all directed towards Wu Pan.

With a bang, Wu Pan was blown away by the yin qi, and a gap instantly appeared in the giant net restraining the terrifying ghost.

“Not good!!!”

“Block it!!!”

The other three officials of the City God immediately combined their strength, but they couldn’t make up for the gap left by the Lord of Martial Judgement, and the ghost was already about to escape.

With the formation layout of Ju’an Pavilion, this ominous creature might not be able to escape to harm Ning’an County as a whole, but the underworld forces in the Soul Locking Formation were certainly afraid that they would suffer.

Ji Yuan didn’t know just how critical the situation was, but even as a normal layman he would be truly blind if he couldn’t tell that it was very dangerous.

Sitting in the yard at this time seemed a little unsafe…

Out of fear, Ji Yuan subconsciously stood up, intending to run away, but something unexpected happened.

As Ji Yuan rose from his seat, the increasingly violent struggles of the evil ghost in the courtyard suddenly abated, and he shrank into the soul-binding net as if severely frightened.

“This is a good opportunity! Don’t hesitate!”

At that roar, the Lord of Martial Judgement returned to his position.

A mere ghost would not make fools of the officials and Yin agents of the City God. The air behind the four chief officials under the jurisdiction of the City God began to fill with shadows and the scent of incense. Their figures seemed to grow, and their official robes swelled.

The giant net shone with gray light and squeezed. The four chief officials waved their hands, and four soul-binding chains flew forward. As they were swung, the chains seemed to turn into four spiritual snakes, and tightly wrapped around each other, emitting gray light.

After the thrilling experience just now, they understood that, even if this ferocious ghost was severely damaged, it could not easily be taken down without paying a heavy price. At this moment, they readily exhausted all their power!

“Mysterious City God, sharing your divine light with the earthly realm, expel this evil and bind the spirit, illuminate and observe the eight corners of the land!”²

From the direction of the City God Temple, the power like incense-smoke flew into the courtyard of the Ju’an Pavilion, augmenting the chief officer’s power.

“Although our Ning’an County has no more than 10,000 people under its jurisdiction, I will not allow you, you evil creature, to cause chaos and death!!!”

The judge’s brush, the soul whip, the book of laws, and the robes of blessing and longevity used all their strength to attack the evil ghost at this perfect moment.

“Boom…”

It sounded like thunder rumbling in the courtyard of Ju’an Pavilion.

. . .

Ji Yuan had been holding his breath for a while. In fact, if he had a stopwatch, he would definitely be surprised had just how long he was able to do so.

It wasn’t until the shrill screams in the courtyard became weaker and weaker and the ghost finally turned to ashes that, at last, Ji Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

‘Fortunately, the righteous side won! ’

Ji Yuan, who had gone weak in the knees, sat back on the small stool at the front of the house. But as soon as he regained his breath, he felt something was wrong.

He looked up and saw, to his surprise, that the energy of the formation in the courtyard had disappeared… And all of the chief officials of the four divisions under the City God stood in the courtyard facing him.

Ji Yuan’s throat twitched slightly, but he didn’t dare to swallow his saliva. They weren’t going to kill him, were they?

After a long time, the Lord of Martial Judgement took the lead, and the other three chief officials and various emissaries stepped forward one after another. They saluted with both hands.

“We were blind, and did not recognize this master’s identity!”

“Thank you for your help!”

Everyone thanked him in unison.

Before, they had wondered whether there had been an expert crossing the county border who had come down and injured the evil spirit, but they really hadn’t expected that same expert to have been sitting leisurely in the courtyard the whole time. Truly, real masters were those who didn’t reveal themselves, while those who revealed themselves weren’t true masters!

The chief officer of the Fourth Division did not say much. Judging from the previous actions of this man in the courtyard, he naturally didn’t want to be disturbed, so after repeatedly bowing, he led the various Yin emissaries under the City God’s jurisdiction out of Ju’an Pavilion. He would report to the City God first, then make a decision later.

Ji Yuan also didn’t know what to say to them. He really didn’t know much about things like the City God. After thinking about it for a while, he didn’t have any clue on how to proceed, so he simply didn’t say anything.

To be honest, in this situation, he didn’t want to act as a mastermind, but he really had been the one to seriously injure the ghost. Since he wasn’t lying, he should accept their words of thanks as a matter of course.

When the small courtyard returned to tranquility, and only a gentle breeze remained, Ji Yuan collapsed onto the stool and slumped like a dead dog, rubbing his heart, which had been repeatedly stimulated over the course of the night.

He raised his head and opened his tired eyes to look at the well in the courtyard. The eerie feeling had been swept away, and he couldn’t help but feel more at ease.

‘If things like this keep happening, I’m going to get a heart attack one day!’

After some time calming himself down, Ji Yuan had enough energy to think.

For example, what was that thing that was originally in the well? No matter how ignorant he was, he could tell that it definitely wasn’t an ordinary ghost. Or, for example, why hadn’t the Ning’an County’s City God come in person, despite the temple being so close by? Perhaps there was another reason.

1. Play on “to beat” as in “to defeat,” and “to beat” as in “to repeatedly injure” ↩︎
2. Chant to activate the power on behalf of/given to them by the City God. Think of it like a D&D Paladin class invoking their deity. Here’s a breakdown: 幽幽 (yōuyōu): faint/indistinct, translated to “mysterious”; 城隍: Cheng Huang/city god; 和 (hé): harmonious/together with; 尘 (chén): dust/dirt/earth; 同 (tóng or tòng): together/same/see; 光 (guāng): light; 驱邪 (qūxié): drive out evils/exorcise; 缚 (fù): bind; 魅 (mèi): demon; 照 (zhào): illuminate/in accordance with; 见 (jiàn or xiàn): to see/to appear/to meet; 八 (bā): eight; 荒 (huāng): desolate, indicates eight corners of the land ↩︎

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read