https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-375-The-Decline-of-the-Daoist-Sect/13460888/
Chapter 374: Necromancy and Corpse Refinement (6000+)
Chapter 374: Necromancy and Corpse Refinement (6000+)
In a secluded area far from the bustling city of Tsim Sha Tsui, a large villa stood alone on a small hill.
A red car screeched to a halt, and a bulky man with bulging muscles burst out.
The bulky man, looking panicked, pushed open the villa's door and rushed inside.
However, he had barely taken a few steps when a tall, cold-looking man in a suit blocked his path.
"There's been an incident, I need to see the boss!"
The bulky man explained hurriedly.
His name was Eddie. On the surface, he was the head of a fitness club, but in secret, he worked for a mysterious boss, using corpses to transport drugs and reap huge profits.
Now that the police had come knocking, he had to seek help from this mysterious boss, who could make corpses move.
"Follow me!"
The cold suit man nodded expressionlessly and led Eddie into the villa.
Once inside, the cold suit man tried to examine Eddie's body, but the muscular Eddie resisted. The cold suit man, however, easily subdued him with just two moves.
It turned out that the cold suit man was actually a top-notch martial artist.
After a forced body check, Eddie was led to a room with a distinctly Japanese style.
Inside, a beautiful woman in a black Japanese robe was playing with a white cat, creating a scene of warmth and harmony.
"Boss, the police are looking for us because of the Zhu Zhu case!"
Eddie swallowed hard and recounted the events of being pursued by the police at the gym.
The beautiful woman, without lifting her head, replied softly:
"Don't worry, clean the blood off your forehead first!"
Eddie turned to the large mirror beside the beautiful woman and saw a "Command Mark" imprinted on his forehead in blood.
He quickly wiped the blood away with his hand.
However, as he raised his hand to wipe the blood, the beautiful woman reached into her robe and pulled out a chrysanthemum, gently twirling it while muttering a spell.
As the spell was cast, the chrysanthemum's petals began to fly, and Eddie's reflection in the mirror gradually disappeared, replaced by the white cat's gaze.
"Boss, I need some money to leave Xiangjiang and hide for a while until the heat dies down!"
After cleaning the blood from his forehead, Eddie bowed and pleaded.
The beautiful woman didn't respond, but the cold suit man beside her sneered:
"You still want money? I'm afraid you won't live long enough to spend it!"
Eddie was terrified, realizing they were going to kill him to cover their tracks. He lunged at the beautiful woman, intending to use her as a hostage to threaten the terrifying suit man.
Unfortunately, just as his hand was about to touch her, the beautiful woman reached out and grabbed the white cat by the neck, lifting it up.
Something strange happened—Eddie felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air.
A moment later, the beautiful woman released the cat, which fell to the ground, and Eddie followed suit.
"Please, spare me!"
Hearing Eddie's plea, the beautiful woman, who had been gentle a moment ago, now wore a twisted smile.
She waved her hand, and a thin rope flew up from the floor, wrapping around the cat's neck and hanging it from the ceiling beam.
Similarly, an invisible rope seemed to wrap around Eddie's neck, lifting him into the air.
As Eddie and the white cat struggled and gradually fell silent, the beautiful woman's smile faded, and she ordered the suit man in Japanese:
"There are experts from the Daoist sect among the police. They'll be here soon, prepare yourself!"
As a skilled practitioner of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect, she knew from the "Command Mark" on Eddie's forehead that he had been tracked by a Chinese Daoist using a spell.
"Hai!"
The cold suit man bowed respectfully to the beautiful woman, dragged Eddie's body, and left the room.
"I didn't expect them to be police!"
Jerry, flying invisibly in the air, used his extraordinary hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation between the Daoist Lin Feng and two young officers, piecing together the story.
It turned out that a few days ago, the police had encountered a strange event while tracking a drug trafficking case. The drug-carrying woman had a blank expression and superhuman strength, and even seven or eight police officers couldn't stop her. Eventually, an out-of-control truck hit her.
Upon investigation, the police discovered that the woman was the daughter of San Po from Dongping Island, and they requested that San Po come in for questioning. To take care of San Po's frail health, Lin Feng, a police officer from Dongping Island, assisted in the investigation.
Apart from his role as a police officer, Lin Feng had also studied the Daoist techniques of Mount Maoshan. After examining the body, he found something odd and suspected that an evil cultivator was using zombies to transport drugs.
Lin Feng's former partner, now a police inspector, knew of Lin Feng's abilities and the severity of the situation, so he dispatched two of the best officers to assist Lin Feng.
However, one of the young officers, also surnamed Lin, only believed in science, thinking Lin Feng was just a trickster and did not trust him.
"Really found it, Uncle Feng, you're amazing! Please take me as your disciple!"
The flathead officer, who had been enchanted by Lin Feng, saw that Eddie, who had just escaped, was indeed found as Lin Feng had instructed, and immediately wanted to kowtow and ask to be taken as a disciple.
Officer Lin, however, rolled his eyes, thinking it was just a coincidence.
"Finding the car is one thing, but what good is it if the person isn't there?"
If it weren't for Uncle Feng deliberately letting Eddie go, they could have caught him at the gym and taken him back for questioning.
Lin Feng glanced at Officer Lin and pointed to the large villa ahead.
"The person is inside!"
"How do you know that?"
Officer Lin was full of disbelief.
Lin Feng explained:
"Two snakes are coiled at the front gate, and two pillars stand tall opposite them. The sun struggles to shine through, and the fog gathers and lingers. The dense yin qi forms a pool, and the combination of yin and dampness creates an extremely inauspicious burial site."
"This Margshan Daoist technique seems quite different from the Li Family Daoism."
Jerry, listening to Lin Feng's analysis of the large villa, muttered to himself.
He had studied the Li Family Daoism, which focused on wind, fire, thunder, water, and ice spells. Whether it was sorcery swords or talismans, the emphasis was on destructive power.
However, the Margshan Daoism Lin Feng used, such as the ambush tracking spell and the current feng shui analysis, were not found in the Li Family's books.
This only piqued Jerry's interest in Margshan Daoism even more.
"Uncle Feng, we are investigating a case, not reading feng shui. If we write all this in the report, the judge will think we are all crazy."
Officer Lin helplessly covered his forehead.
"I only know how to catch the murderer and uphold justice. The rest doesn't matter to me!"
Leaving that statement, Lin Feng turned to enter the villa.
Seeing this, Officer Lin quickly stopped him.
"Uncle Feng, we don't have a search warrant. We can't break in. 2237, contact headquarters and get a search warrant. Bring more backup."
"It will be too late by then!"
Lin Feng shook his head.
The flathead officer, hearing this, didn't know who to listen to.
Just as Lin Feng was about to incapacitate Officer Lin and take 2237 into the villa, a familiar voice suddenly rang out nearby:
"Brother Lin, we meet again!"
"It's you!"
Seeing the person, Lin Feng's face showed surprise.
For it was none other than Carmen, the foreign mage from the Tsim Sha Tsui fitness club.
"Sir, this area is already under police lockdown. Please don't cause trouble and leave immediately!"
Seeing Jerry, Officer Lin recognized him as the foreigner who had spoken to Uncle Feng before, and immediately waved to drive him away.
After all, someone who called him a "fellow Daoist" and claimed to be a foreign mage probably wasn't entirely sane.
"Officer Lin, I'm here to deliver the search warrant!"
Jerry turned to look into Officer Lin's eyes and subtly cast a Legilimency spell.
Officer Lin, upon hearing this, looked at Jerry as if he were seeing a madman.
"What, you have a search warrant? Do you take me for a fool?"
If it weren't for the fact that Jerry was a foreigner, dressed in expensive clothes, and had a very noble demeanor, Officer Lin would have kicked him to show him the consequences of deceiving the police.
Jerry smiled and didn't mind. He put his hands behind his back, muttered a transformation spell, and then produced a search warrant out of thin air, handing it to Officer Lin.
"See, isn't this a search warrant?"
Officer Lin took the search warrant half in disbelief and was immediately dumbfounded.
The flathead officer, 2237, turned to look at the search warrant and exclaimed in surprise:
"Brother Lin, this is really the search warrant from our department. Look at the seal and signature; it's exactly the same as the last one we applied for."
"Who are you?"
Officer Lin, holding the search warrant, looked at Jerry with a puzzled expression.
He could tell the search warrant was genuine, but he hadn't heard of any new foreign officers joining the department recently. Even if Jerry was from the department, it was too coincidental that he just happened to show up with a search warrant they needed.
The whole situation seemed suspicious.
"Officer Lin, is the search warrant genuine?"
Jerry asked with a smile.
Officer Lin hesitated for a moment but nodded.
The search warrant was definitely real; he had been a police officer long enough to recognize one.
"Then that's settled. With the search warrant, we can go in and arrest the suspect. Any later and he might get away."
Jerry casually replied, then walked over to Lin Feng and pushed the door to the villa open.
"I heard rumors that someone in this house is using spells to harm others, so I came to check if it was true. I didn't expect to run into you, Brother Lin."
"I see. Your illusion spell just now was truly impressive, Carmen!"
Hearing Jerry's explanation, Lin Feng understood. It made sense that Jerry was also investigating the evil cultivator in the villa, which explained why they had met again so soon.
"Just a little illusion spell, nothing compared to Brother Lin's authentic Maoshan Daoism."
Jerry smiled and responded with great modesty.
But what he had done just now was not an illusion spell. Instead, he used Legilimency to read Officer Lin's thoughts, learned what the search warrant looked like, and then transformed it using a transformation spell.
So, if you really counted, the search warrant couldn't be considered fake.
Seeing this foreign wizard speaking so modestly and even helping him a bit, Lin Feng immediately felt a bit more goodwill towards him.
"Actually, it's not really authentic anymore. The Maoshan Sect has long been gone, and we who claim to be Maoshan disciples can only be considered to have learned a bit of the surface."
"The Maoshan Sect is gone!"
Hearing Lin Feng's words, Jerry was inwardly shocked, but he didn't show it on the surface. He thought to himself that the Daoist sects in China might not be as prosperous as he originally imagined.
As they walked into the courtyard, what caught their eyes was not the usual garden and pond found in a villa but a strikingly black, barren patch of mud.
Lin Feng's expression changed, and he immediately crouched down, wiping away the black mud to reveal a layer of snow-white lime and some glass shards.
"Glass condenses mist, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and lime prevents decay. This is a method specifically used for necromancy and controlling zombies. Hmph, indeed, it's a heretical cultivator!"
"Spells for necromancy and corpse refinement, this is my first time seeing such things!"
Jerry could only feel a small amount of special energy in the mud, but he didn't know that this energy was used for corpse refinement.
In the magic system he had learned, the only magic related to corpses was the one Voldemort taught him for creating Dark Corpses.
In the Daoist techniques of the Li family and the Clow Cards, which blend Eastern and Western magic, there seemed to be no traces of corpse refinement spells.
"Uncle Feng, look here!"
The Flathead Officer pointed to a stone pillar at the front of the mud patch. On the pillar was a very distinctive chrysanthemum emblem.
When Lin Feng saw the emblem, his pupils contracted again:
"It's the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect!"
"The Nine Chrysanthemum Sect?"
The Flathead Officer was full of doubt.
"All the techniques of the Art of Hidden Gates and Shifting Arrays in the world originated in China. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, China and Japan engaged in trade and cultural exchanges, and the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect emerged during that time.
However, while the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect is not exactly orthodox, it is not considered heretical. How could they use zombies to transport drugs?"
Lin Feng explained, then took off a jade pendant with a talisman carved on it from his neck and pressed it against the chrysanthemum emblem. Instantly, a dark energy was released, and the pendant was forcefully knocked away.
Chinese Daoists have a unique characteristic: they practice magic while also training in martial arts. So, even without magic, their physical prowess is quite remarkable, as seen in Li Xiaolang and Lin Feng.
Thus, when the pendant was knocked away, Lin Feng reached out and caught it with precision.
"So, it's from spirit to demon."
"Uncle Feng, stop playing around. If we don't go in, Eddie will be gone before we know it!"
Officer Lin clearly didn't believe any of Lin Feng's words. Seeing that Lin Feng was hesitating, he no longer cared about Lin Feng, the Flathead Officer, or the mysterious Jerry who had delivered the search warrant.
He drew his gun and held the search warrant, ready to knock on the door.
"Petrify!"
Standing to the side, Jerry pointed at Officer Lin, freezing him in place. Then, he smiled at Lin Feng and said:
"Brother Lin, please continue!"
In Jerry's perception, both Lin Feng and the heretical cultivator inside, whom he hadn't met yet, possessed only moderate energy, perhaps a bit stronger than Li Xiaolang.
So, neither of them posed any real threat to him. He simply wanted to observe their magical duel to understand what the Art of Hidden Gates and Shifting Arrays was about.
"Paralyzing Spell!"
Seeing Jerry effortlessly paralyze Officer Lin with a wave of his hand, Lin Feng's face showed surprise.
He had initially thought that, given Jerry's youth, his magic wouldn't be that powerful, although Jerry had demonstrated a decent illusion spell at the door.
But when he saw Jerry cast the Paralyzing Spell, he realized that this young foreign wizard must have considerable skill.
After all, in this day and age, very few Daoists could still cast such spells.
"Carmen, the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light. Rushing in like this, we might easily fall into an ambush!"
Ignoring the paralyzed Officer Lin, Lin Feng spoke to Jerry with some gravity.
This was the lair of a heretical cultivator. Who knew what spells or traps were set up inside? Rushing in directly would be unwise.
"Brother Lin is right."
Jerry nodded in agreement, showing a deferential attitude towards Lin Feng.
Lin Feng then took out a red thread and called over the Flathead Officer, who was curiously examining Officer Lin's condition, and wrapped it around his finger again:
"Let me first probe the opponent's true strength!"
With that, he took out a glass cup from his pocket again, placed a talisman paper inside, and burned it with magic. He then covered the flathead officer's mouth with the cup.
As the flathead officer inhaled the smoke from the burning talisman, his eyes immediately closed, and he lay on the ground, once again falling into an unconscious state controlled by the talisman.
At this moment, Lin Feng drew out an incense stick, lit it, and placed it in the flathead officer's mouth.
Holding the incense stick gently between his index and middle fingers, Lin Feng murmured a spell and lifted it upward, causing the flathead officer to rise straight up from the ground.
Then, holding the incense stick, Lin Feng led the flathead officer step by step in the direction opposite to the villa's main gate.
Meanwhile, inside the villa's main hall, the Bulky Man Eddie, who had just been killed by the beautiful woman, suddenly had a puff of blue smoke rise from his mouth, and the "Command Mark" reappeared on his forehead.
Following the flathead officer's movement outside, Eddie also stood up and walked toward the villa's main gate.
The beautiful woman, who had been waiting in the hall, saw this and slowly curled the corners of her lips into a cold smile. She then calmly took out a chrysanthemum and bit it seductively.
With one hand, she made a hand sign, and with the other, she gently pulled the stamen of the chrysanthemum, extracting a yellow thread imbued with magic power.
With a light flick, the thread flew out as if it had a will of its own, quickly wrapping around Eddie's neck. She pulled it with force, and Eddie fell to the floor of the hall.
Similarly, the flathead officer outside was pulled to the ground on the black mud.
"Such a subtle spell, using a mere connection between souls to control a body like this."
Jerry watched the two engage in their magical duel with great interest, analyzing the techniques based on his understanding of magic.
Lin Feng had used a drop of blood he had obtained from Eddie earlier and employed the intricate techniques of Mount Maoshan to establish a connection on the soul level. This allowed him to control Eddie's body through the flathead officer.
The evil cultivator inside had also used this connection to control the flathead officer in reverse.
While their duel lacked the destructive power of wind, fire, and lightning spells, the danger was no less intense.
Each had their own strengths and specialties.
For example, Xiao Lang Li, if he faced Lin Feng or the evil cultivator in a direct confrontation, would have a high chance of winning.
However, in a covert magical duel, Lin Feng and the evil cultivator could silently and effortlessly kill Xiao Lang Li.
Seeing the clear marks of strangulation on the flathead officer's neck, Lin Feng quickly recited a spell, extinguished the burning incense in the flathead officer's mouth, and threw it onto his neck.
Inside the villa, the yellow thread around Eddie's neck instantly caught fire, burning through it and extending along the thread to the beautiful woman who was controlling it.
The beautiful woman immediately severed the thread, a hint of interest flickering in her eyes.
Through this brief probe, she had gauged that the outsider's magical prowess might not be much lower than her own, but she had also found a weakness in his technique.
She leaped to where Eddie's body lay, chanting a spell while quickly weaving a strange array pattern around the non-existent incense floating above Eddie's mouth.
Outside, Lin Feng realized he could no longer lift the flathead officer lying on the ground with the incense, sensing the impending danger.
Sure enough, the incense in the flathead officer's mouth, now beyond his control, transformed into a steel needle and slowly extended down his throat, aiming to pierce it.
"Heretical magic, dare to act so recklessly!"
Lin Feng shouted, recited a spell, and used one hand to stabilize the long incense stick while the other hand swept it, creating a handful of ash which he then blew into the flathead officer's nostrils.
Inside, the beautiful woman was continuing her spell with the yellow thread array when two long puffs of smoke suddenly erupted from Eddie's nostrils, sending her flying backward.
"You are courting death!"
Initially believing she had found a vulnerability to gain the upper hand, she was caught off guard by the counterattack and could no longer maintain her composure. She waved her hands, and several yellow threads flew out, instantly entangling Eddie's limbs.
Then, like a puppeteer controlling a marionette, she manipulated Eddie's body and, through him, controlled the flathead officer outside, launching an attack on Lin Feng.
Suddenly attacked by the flathead officer, Lin Feng quickly retreated to defend himself. However, fearing he might hurt the flathead officer, he dared not retaliate, and for a moment, he was on the defensive.
As he dodged, he caught a glimpse of Jerry sitting on a small stool, cracking sunflower seeds, which made his lips twitch.
Do foreigners eat sunflower seeds too?
"Lin Feng, keep it up! I've already moved Officer Lin outside, so you don't have to worry about accidentally hurting him!"
Seeing Lin Feng look his way, Jerry spat out a sunflower seed shell and waved, smiling.
(End of Chapter)
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