infodatos Chapter 23 Vampire Bats, Opening Remarks
Chapter 23 Vampire Bats, Opening Remarks
With this Lord-level Azure Fish Mystic Stone, Jiang Jun's trip to the Mystic Realm is sure to be a complete success.
But he wasn't sure whether Cai Liang would return to reality or remain in the Ghost Realm after he left. If it was the latter, he would have virtually no chance of survival.
"I'll be staying in the Ghost Realm for a few days. Do you have anything to do in the real world? If not, why don't you come with me here for some training?" he asked casually.
Cai Liang hurriedly said, "I'm here to train with you! I just took my annual leave in real life, a total of nine days including the weekend."
Jiang Jun nodded, put away the "Mysterious Sorrow" and the "Divine Chicken Talisman," and casually chose a direction: "Let's go then..."
He led Cai Liang, clearing out stragglers and monsters along the way, and after a while they found a row of roofless bungalows with signs hanging on them.
"Qixia Lake Nature Reserve - Xiahewan Management Station".
"So this is Xiahewan!" Cai Liang exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the rooftop. "I've interviewed this management station before; their cured fish is absolutely delicious!"
Jiang Jun looked up and saw rows of shredded salted fish drying on bamboo poles: "Are you sure the dried fish projected from the ghost realm is still dried fish?"
Cai Liang was taken aback. Upon closer inspection, he realized that what he saw were not dried fish at all, but rather tiny children swinging on bamboo poles.
"whee……"
"Ha ha……"
"Brother, come and catch me!"
The child's clear, childlike voice echoed all around, carrying an eerie innocence that sent chills down one's spine.
A hint of confusion flashed in Cai Liang's eyes: "Little brother... are you hidden well...? Big brother... is coming to catch you..."
As he spoke, he swayed and walked towards the stairs in the middle of the bungalow.
Jiang Jun shook his head, not interrupting, and followed him upstairs.
The wooden door leading to the rooftop was rotten and smelled musty. A large brass lock lay on the steps, no longer able to secure the rooftop.
Cai Liang kicked the door open and walked towards the row of "dried fish," grabbing one of them and yelling, "Haha, little brother... I... I'll grab... Ah!!!"
A flash of clear light appeared, and the power of the suppressing force clashed violently with the eerie energy, startling him awake.
He jerked back, but the "younger brother" lunged at him and bit his throat: "Teacher, help!"
Jiang Jun sighed, and "Ghostly Sorrow" emitted a white light, filling the rooftop with the aroma of garlic.
In an instant, all the "dried fish" covered their noses and screamed, black smoke billowing from their bodies.
Then, purple light needles rained down, killing them all.
A hallucinatory aura dissipated, revealing the true form of the "dried fish".
Still shaken, Cai Liang slumped to the ground, looking around: "Bat...bat?"
Jiang Jun watched the eerie creature gradually dissipate and nodded slightly: "That's right, it was a group of vampire bats!"
The Vampire Bat is a native, skirmisher-level monster native to the Ghost Realm. It has two abilities: one is to bewitch, and the other is to suck blood.
Their bewitching ability does not create illusions out of thin air, but rather relies on the imagination of the person being bewitched.
Cai Liang had visited this management station and couldn't forget the taste of the preserved fish there, so he mistook the strange bat for "preserved fish".
After Jiang Jun pointed it out, he felt uneasy and scared himself, somehow conjuring up a row of children.
"You have a younger brother?" Jiang Jun asked casually.
Cai Liang paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, he's four years younger than me. When I was seven, I took him to play hide-and-seek, and human traffickers took advantage of the situation..."
"More than 20 years have passed, and the police station has yet to find any useful clues."
"When I took refuge in the Department of the Supernatural, I asked Officer Zhao, but unfortunately he said that the entire Department of the Supernatural in Qingjiang City didn't have any supernatural or strange objects that could help people find their relatives..."
Jiang Jun comforted him, saying, "If you cultivate diligently, perhaps you will find a way to bring him back in the future."
Cai Liang nodded, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes: "Teacher, are there any talismans that can help people find their relatives?"
Jiang Jun didn't pretend to be profound: "It doesn't exist now, but it could exist in the future."
Currently, there is only one page left in the folk custom notebook that can be used to compile information about town objects, and it cannot be used casually.
If new pages are unlocked in the future, he will not hesitate to spend a card to compile related talismans, which can be considered as doing good deeds.
"Thank you, teacher." Cai Liang took a deep breath to calm himself down, and consciously squatted down to search for the strange objects dropped by the vampire bat.
Two small, grayish-white stones emitted an unpleasant odor, similar to the formation of "night-shining sand".
A pair of sharp fangs, glistening with blood, exuding a nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell.
【Bewitching Sand】: After being soaked in blood essence and then roasted with flames or steamed with heat, it can emit a bewitching aura.
It cannot be used on blind people, otherwise the other party will regard the user as an enemy and fight to the death until the bewitching sand is exhausted.
【Vampire Fangs】: First, it pierces into the user's body, and after it is saturated with the user's blood, it can automatically fly out and shoot down enemies.
The more enemies you kill, the more your life essence is consumed.
Like the human-skin lantern, the vampire bat can also produce two types of crippled monsters.
Jiang Jun had some reservations about these two items, so he didn't give them to Cai Liang and kept them for himself.
He looked around, focusing his senses: "The vampire bats are gone, so this management station is safe. Let's rest here for the next few days."
In reality, this management station still exists.
Although its ghostly projection looks dilapidated, it has not been reduced to ruins and can still be lived in.
Cai Liang naturally wouldn't object and volunteered to tidy up the accommodation.
"Wait a minute." Jiang Jun took out the "Divine Rooster Catches Five Poisons Talisman" and affixed it to the plaque of the management station.
The sounds of snakes hissing, frogs croaking, and insects chirping filled the air, making Cai Liang's eyelids twitch wildly.
Soon, the various mutated poisonous creatures twisted and crawled to the square in front of the management station, where they all died suddenly.
Jiang Jun flicked out a flame pattern, burning it to ashes.
After a flurry of activity, Cai Liang cleared out two dormitories and a reception room, hanging up signs saying "Don't be suspicious" and affixing "Divine Chicken Talismans" to them.
Jiang Jun chuckled: "How many sets do you carry with you?"
Cai Liang scratched his head: "I brought three sets of the Ghostly Forbidden Talisman and the Divine Chicken Talisman. As for the Ghostly Sorrowful Talisman, it's inconvenient to carry. Although I made three sets, this trip was so sudden that I didn't bring them..."
Jiang Jun smiled and invited him to sit down in the reception room.
"Since you have made up your mind not to follow the path of cultivation of strange creatures, but to follow me in cultivating the path of suppressing objects, then I will guide you into the door today."
Upon hearing this, Cai Liang's eyes lit up, and he pulled out a notebook from somewhere and began to take notes.
"..." Jiang Jun paused slightly, carefully choosing his words as he introduced his method of suppressing objects.
Cai Liang became increasingly alarmed as he listened: If it were truly possible to replace Yin Qi with True Qi, the cultivation world would likely undergo a dramatic transformation!
One dared to speak, and the other dared to believe; they were truly going in opposite directions.
Thus, half an hour later, Jiang Jun reluctantly ended his "preaching."
He concluded, "In short, using the power of suppressing objects to transform true energy can be seamlessly integrated into the current system of cultivating strange objects."
"However, the power contained in the talisman clones made by ordinary people is too weak and they are not easy to activate, which presents a challenge."
He looked directly at Cai Liang and said without any hesitation, "You are currently the only one besides me who can invoke the power of suppressing objects."
"The road ahead is uncertain. Do you have the courage to follow me and cultivate the true qi method together, so as to open another path to heaven for all living beings?"
Cai Liang remained silent for a moment, realizing that Jiang Jun was giving him one last chance to choose.
He recalled that when he was possessed by the "Xi Niang Ghost," he sought help from the Gods and Strange Tales Department but found no way to get help. It was the "Ghosts Who Do Not Allow" who saved his life.
He then savored the feeling of clarity and purity, as the power of the suppressing force entered his body, leaving him feeling untouched by any strange energy and with everything inside and out.
Then I recall Jiang Jun's masterful demeanor, transforming needles into swords and imbuing them with crimson flames, effortlessly annihilating wicked and evil cultivators...
Cai Liang nodded emphatically: "I am willing to follow you in your spiritual practice! I would not regret it even if it meant dying nine times!"