Chapter 21: Stare to Death Water ghosts are evil ghosts that drowned in water and cannot be reincarnated. They often appear in rivers, lakes and seas, wandering deep under the water, luring or forcibly pulling living people in the water or on the shore into the water and drowning them. Allowing oneself to occupy the body of a recently dead person and gain a new reincarnation. Commonly known as water ghost looking for a substitute. The dark shadow flowing out from deep inside the stone dissolved into the river water, slowly spreading out like a ball of ink. Black shadows gathered and surrounded Pinggong Qianye tightly. It even stretched out several black tentacles, wrapping around Pinggong Qianye's limbs and neck to prevent him from breaking free. About three minutes later, it seemed confirmed that Pinggong Qianye had drowned due to lack of oxygen. The surrounding black shadows gradually solidified behind Pinggong Qianye and transformed into a figure similar to Pinggong Qianye, except without eyes, mouth and other human organs.
Its figure fit perfectly onto Hiramiya Chiye's back, trying to slowly enter Hiramiya Chiye's body. The icy and chilly breath seemed to extinguish the blood and yang fire in Pinggong Qianye's body. "So this is the water ghost looking for a substitute, it's really interesting." Pinggong Qianye slowly opened his eyes, and with his left hand he pulled and clenched the black tentacles that were wrapped around his limbs and neck, and with his right hand he reached behind his back and easily pulled the black shadow out of his body. Perhaps sensing something was wrong and dangerous, the black shadow wanted to escape. However, he was held tightly by the two hands of Pinggong Qianye and could not get away at all. The black shadow became mad and drove the nearby water plants to grow and wrap around him, trying to strangle Pinggong Qianye's neck. In response, Pinggong Chiye just let it do its thing. The dark green water plants wrapped around Pinggong Qianye's neck in circles, and the increasing force caused ripples in the river water. boom. It was the slight sound of water plants breaking and shattering due to excessive force. And there wasn't even a single red mark on Pinggong Qianye's neck. The Vajra body he cultivated was extremely strong and indestructible even without the blessing of magical power. Not to mention the fragile water plants, even ropes and chains would have difficulty breaking his neck. "Is this all you can do?" "What a disappointment." Pinggong Qianye roughly figured out all the attack methods of this water ghost. He closed his eyes slightly and silently recited the "Mahavairocana Purification Mantra" in his heart. As the magic power flowed, it seemed as if a layer of light yellow flame burning in the water formed on the surface of the body. The Buddha's fire spread along the black tentacles, burning every part of the black shadow's body under its fearful and panicked gaze.
The river water cannot extinguish the pure and bright Buddha fire. The black shadow was gradually burned and purified, and finally returned to nothingness. At this moment, the stone in Pinggong Qianye's hand suddenly jumped, and a small black shadow shot out like an arrow, quickly rising into the distance. Pinggong Qianye did not choose to chase after it, but just opened his eyes and stared at the small black shadow calmly. The pupils of his eyes were gradually filled with a layer of golden light, as if two suns were born out of the water. Wherever the eyes go, flames and light follow. The black shadow ran away and was horrified to find that his body was burning. The extremely disgusting light is generated and spread within one's body. Then, it was stared to death. After solving these problems, Pinggong Qianye swam from the bottom of the river to the shore holding the stone, and slowly exhaled. The skill of holding your breath is just a small extra ability that comes with practicing the Vajra Body. It should not be a problem to stay in water for half an hour. He hasn't tested it himself. "Strange, this water ghost is far less intelligent than Gaoqiao Songhe, and it has almost only pure instinct." Pinggong Chiye compares the differences between the two. In addition to intelligence, Takahashi Matsukaku's danger level is about 1, while this water ghost's is 2. Perhaps, strength is really exchanged for wisdom. This stone is very interesting. Pinggong Qianye looked down at the gray-brown flat stone in the palm of his right hand. It seems to have some ability to absorb souls and grow larger. When my fingers touched its surface for the first time just now, my soul was pulled. It's like being bitten by a mosquito. For him who was visualizing the true form of Vairocana, this was already a very difficult task. "This stone is really amazing." Pinggong Chiye was quite emotional. This is just a small piece of stone. If there were a large pile of stones, or stones the size of watermelons, would they be able to pull at one's soul? What if there is a stone as big as a house? Will my soul be completely sucked away if I get close to it? It seems that I still have a long way to go on my path of cultivation. Another of its abilities is the growth, which is reflected in the repair and nourishment of residual souls. Pinggong Qianye had heard of a magical item called the Soul-Nourishing Tree, which could store a person's soul and continuously nourish and repair it. It is said that some practitioners have used this characteristic to nourish their souls and make them stronger.
I weighed the stone in my hand and found that its weight was indeed no different from that of a normal stone. After observing it for a short while, Pinggong Qianye put the stone into his schoolbag. I saved the soul of a water ghost tonight, which can be considered a small progress in my practice. And I can also write a story and post it on the forum, which is another benefit. It’s worth it to add an extra bowl of ramen for dinner. When Pinggong Chiye came ashore, his clothes were not completely dry yet. Passersby caught a glimpse of his wet hair and clothes and couldn't help but look at him with curiosity. This river has been the site of many legends about water ghosts, and nowadays few young people dare to swim here. Especially at night. Finally, an elderly man came over and advised Pinggong Qianye not to come here to swim again, especially at night. Pinggong Qianye gladly accepted his kindness and said with a smile that water ghosts were indeed very scary. …… Weilian Ancient Temple, side hall. Candles were lit one by one, and the orange-red light illuminated every corner of the side hall. Although we now have lighting tools such as incandescent lamps, Weilian Ancient Temple still uses candles for lighting at night unless necessary. The red candles stood on the old, paint-chipped candlesticks, with clusters of flames emitting a little light and warmth. Pinggong Qianye sat in front of the table, and with the help of candlelight, he carefully observed the stone that he named the Soul-Absorbing Stone. The soul-absorbing effect of this soul-absorbing stone is very ordinary, but that is for him. If an ordinary person were to be hit by it, a piece of his soul would probably be sucked away directly. Even if it is just placed quietly at the bottom of the water, it can attract the wandering souls around it to gather towards it unconsciously. Logically speaking, the souls nurtured by such a soul-sucking stone should be very powerful due to the accumulated effects over time. But the danger value of that water ghost was only 2, which was too weak. There are probably two possible explanations for this phenomenon. The first explanation is that this soul-sucking stone did not exist at the bottom of the river from the beginning, but appeared at the bottom of the river recently, probably in the past few years. Therefore, the souls nurtured by this soul-sucking stone are not that powerful. The second explanation is that there is a limit to the number of souls that this soul-sucking stone can hold. Once a remnant soul is repaired, it will automatically leave, and the cycle will repeat. This is equivalent to a petri dish for nurturing souls and giving birth to dead souls.
Pinggong Qianye tends to speculate that the two explanations are combined. This thing is an evil creature that was deliberately created by someone, or not. Because during this period of time, he could clearly feel that his business of exorcising evil spirits was becoming busy. In the past, he sometimes might not even receive three exorcism commissions in a year. But now it happens more and more frequently. After thinking for a long time, Pinggong Qianye decided to crush the soul-sucking stone. He was very curious about how this thing was born and what its structure was like. The index finger and thumb of the right hand gently rubbed along the edge of the soul-absorbing stone, and the gray-brown stone powder fell off and accumulated on the white paper. Everything was normal at first, until the middle of the Soul Absorbing Stone was rubbed off, and then Pinggong Qianye discovered the source of the Soul Absorbing Stone's abnormal ability. A short black hair. It glows with a dark glow and is slightly curved. "What kind of creature's hair is this?" Pinggong Qianye pinched the black hair between his fingers and brought it close to his eyes to look at it. (End of this chapter)