Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Evil Wraiths Abound
[In the third year of Jinghong, in late July, the owner of the Chen Family Tofu Shop in Ted County was possessed, killed his wife and children to make blood tofu for sale, and then killed numerous constables before fleeing. His whereabouts are still unknown.]
[In the fourth year of Jinghong, in early March, an evil wraith was suspected of wreaking havoc in Chen Family Village in Three Rivers County, with all 325 villagers drained of their essence blood and dead. The Exorcism Hall’s investigation came to no avail.]
[In the sixth year of Jinghong, in early October, a dense fog arose on the official road outside Ted County, and a caravan vanished into thin air, suspected to have encountered an evil wraith.]
[In the eighth year of Jinghong, in late February, a large number of cattle and sheep disappeared in Datong County, and thereafter countless skeletons appeared on the Chaotic Burial Mound outside the city.]
[In the ninth year of Jinghong, mid-May, the Government Office of Datong County was attacked by an evil wraith, resulting in the deaths of the County Magistrate, the Registrar, and seven clerks.]
[In the tenth year of Jinghong…]
In the Star Observation Pavilion of the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion, Wang Chen was flipping through the case files transferred over from the Exorcism Hall in the secret study room.
These files detailed all the cases involving evil wraiths that occurred within Nanshao Prefecture in the past ten years.
One by one, piece by piece, the sheer number reached several hundreds, shocking to behold!
Most of these cases of disturbances caused by evil wraiths had become unsolved mysteries.
Only a few evil wraiths were dealt with by the Exorcism Hall and the martial experts from the Martial World.
Before fleeing to Great Qian, Wang Chen knew that evil wraiths would occasionally wreak havoc in the mortal realm, slaughtering living beings to harm humanity.
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They could be said to be the great foes of mortals!
However, he had not anticipated that the situation would be so grave.
Wang Chen noticed that in the past three years, incidents of evil wraith disturbances had been occurring with peculiar frequency.
Other than Nan Shao City, which was relatively stable thanks to the safeguards of the Exorcism Hall and the Prefecture Guards, the four counties under the jurisdiction of the Prefectural Government had suffered disasters of varying degrees.
Many villages were abandoned, and a large number of civilians fled to the county cities or nearby areas to avoid disaster.
There had been civil unrest at one point!
And in the face of such a situation, the Prefectural Government was powerless.
The Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion had been without a master for three years; the Exorcism Hall’s forces were weak, compounded by threats from the wild folk, mountain people, and bandits in the area.
It was already a challenge to maintain the peace of Nan Shao City.
In fact, evil wraiths also emerged in the Prefectural City from time to time, but they were generally suppressed.
Otherwise, Wang Chen would not be seeing the situation as it stood now.
Flipping through these files, for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that “when a nation is on the brink of collapse, evil wraiths arise en masse.”
Beyond the content of these cases involving evil wraiths, Wang Chen also reviewed the records of Nanshao Prefecture and consulted with people from the Exorcism Hall, discovering that the place wasn’t large, but it was certainly deep waters.
His predecessor during his tenure mostly hid in the Heavenly Master Mansion, rarely venturing out.
Whenever there was an incident of evil wraith disturbances within the prefecture, he would direct the Exorcism Hall to handle it after the Prefectural Government reported the incidents.
He himself never lifted a finger!
However, Wang Chen’s fellow senior from the Inner Sect had provided the Exorcism Hall with quite a few pills and Essence Blood Talismans.
One could say he had offered some assistance.
His predecessor, the previous Guarding Heavenly Master, didn’t care about external criticisms at all, adhering to the principle of “I’ll bear the infamy and face death while you go on,” and as soon as the three-year tenure was over, he immediately returned to the mountains.
Quite the character!
Wang Chen estimated that the gold, silver, jewels, pills, and talismans left in the secret room were hush money for his successor.
After all, the reputation of the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion had plummeted during the three years his Inner Sect senior held the position, as well as the three years after he left, to the point where even the remaining servants dared to commit outrageously improper acts.
He left Wang Chen with a huge mess to clean up!
Even though he unexpectedly inherited a great burden, Wang Chen was somewhat displeased.
But the hasty blame-shifting behavior of the Prefect Mansion actually provided him with tremendous help!
Wang Chen’s Heaven-Ensnaring Punisher Net was capable of refining evil wraiths and converting their evil power into the purest spiritual power for storage.
In the past, inside the Cloud Sun Sect’s Inner Sect, he had never thought to rely on the spiritual power of the Demon-Slaying Net for cultivation.
Because that would be an extravagant waste.
The spiritual power of the Demon-Slaying Net was hard to come by, and it could be used as a super Qi Recovery Pill, crucial for saving lives or securing victories at critical moments.
Of course, it needed to be cherished.
However, times had changed, and now Wang Chen urgently needed the spiritual power of the Demon-Slaying Net.
By eliminating evil wraiths to replenish spiritual power, satisfying his daily cultivation needs, incidentally earning some Human Virtue, and fulfilling his responsibility, he was truly killing several birds with one stone!
If this path proved successful, it would solve the biggest problem Wang Chen was facing.
At that time, he would definitely award Ruan Zhaoming with a one-tonne medal!
After browsing through all the files, Wang Chen didn’t rush to seek out the trouble of the evil wraiths.
The most troublesome thing about these evil wraiths was their extreme ability to hide; aside from their fixed evil nests, they were often elusive, and it was not unusual for them to lie dormant for years or even decades.
Their behavior was unpredictable and inscrutable, and finding traces of their existence was no easy task.
Wang Chen spent a whole day creating a total of three hundred Essence Blood Protection Talismans.
Essence Blood Talismans are talismans that mortals can use too; they just need to be smeared with fresh blood to be activated. While their power may not be as great as that of true Magical Talismans, they are considered treasures in the mortal world.
Wang Chen’s predecessor did leave him a few dozen Essence Blood Talismans.
But to Wang Chen, a person of Great Perfection in the Primary Talisman Making Skill, these Essence Blood Talismans were nothing to be excited about!
Not only were they of low quality, but because they hadn’t been preserved in a Storage Bag, they had suffered significant loss of spiritual power, greatly reducing their effectiveness.
He burned them all—there was no excuse for such deception!
As for the newly refined talismans by Wang Chen himself, they included Evil-Dissipating Talisman, Amulet, Armor and Horse Talisman, Explosive Talisman, Reinforcement-Requesting Talisman, and so on.
The three hundred Essence Blood Protection Talismans consumed a large amount of his mana.
After the crafting was completed, Wang Chen summoned Zuo Yongjun, the Head of the Hundred Households of the Nan Shao Exorcism Hall, into the mansion and ordered him to investigate incidents of trouble caused by evil wraiths within Nan Shao territory over the past half-year.
“These talismans are for you to distribute.”
Wang Chen handed over the three hundred talismans to the Innate Martial Artist and explained the uses of a few types of talismans to him.
Then he earnestly cautioned, “Don’t hesitate to use them. Your first priority is to save your life when encountering evil wraiths. Don’t take risks. It’s okay if the talismans run out—just come to me for more.”
Even the emperor wouldn’t expect starving soldiers to fight.
If people are to risk their lives for a cause, it’s only right to provide them with genuine assistance.
And holding the thick stack of talismans, even the steadfast Zuo Yongjun couldn’t help but show a touch of emotion.
Wang Chen was not the first Immortal Master he had dealt with.
But he was definitely the cultivator who was most considerate of his subordinates!
Other Immortal Masters always acted so high and mighty, showing disdain for mortals, at most giving Innate Martial Artists a bit of face. Getting so many valuable talismans from them was simply out of the question.
Zuo Yongjun was well aware that with these talismans, his brothers could escape even if they couldn’t defeat the fierce evil wraiths.
They were truly life-saving items!
He immediately bowed deeply: “On behalf of the one hundred and twenty-seven guards of the Nan Shao Exorcism Hall, I express our gratitude for the Immortal Master’s generous gift!”
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