Lan Jing Forest (10)

As soon as they reached the array, the group witnessed an awful sight.

Echoes of layering cries could be heard along with clanging sounds of metal against sturdy rock. Just outside of the array outline, Kou was attacking with his bare hands whilst shrieking, laughing, and crying at the same time. The jumbled voices were made altogether but also sounded separate.

His eyes were bloodshot, his skin had turned greenish brown with protruding lines up until his face, resembling bark ridges. 

Kou was attacking a single mage mercilessly who was barely defending himself with a sword. The mage seemed to have received a couple blows as he was coughing up blood and had bruises everywhere.

The wounds in Kou's arms have opened up, resulting in blood dripping with every impact, but his limbs weren't cut off by the sword as it was enhanced by land magic, making it as sturdy as a rock.

He was possessed by all the resentful spirits in the forest.

Behind the mage, Chen Liang curled up under a large tree, trembling as he watched the fight.

Kou shouted in a painfully piercing high-pitched voice. It was his voice, but at the same time, it sounded like different people talking all at once.

"Pay! Pay! The Tan Clan must pay!

"How dare you! To kill us off when we've done nothing wrong! Die for your sins!

"Die! Die! Die!

"Curse the Tan Clan! We will annihilate them! Just like what they had done to us!

"The Chen Clan will be next!"

Shin Minji lunged forward. With her sword, she blocked Kou's two arms as they were pouncing down their next blow. The battered mage retreated, and the sect leader, along with the other elder, rushed forward to help him. Zhou Xin also went to help Chen Liang stand up and move away.

As soon as Kou realized that he was no longer attacking a member of the Tan Clan, the shrieks became louder and his movements became more aggressive, as if he was throwing a tantrum. However, his new opponent was a lot stronger as all of his attacks got parried by the sword.

The voices chanted over and over, "Get away! Get away! Get away!"

Shin Minji narrowed her eyes. She seemed to notice something.

"That thief's soul is not in there," she stated.

If he had been in there, he would have at least some control, as he would be the only spirit with a true soul that was connected to the body.

Right now, Kou was completely spouting nonsense, and acting rashly as it was just moving based on the accumulated resentments of the spirits. His soul was still wandering in the spirit realm.

That means…

"We can use the fourth path of exorcism," the sect leader said.

"Anyone here that is capable of magic will participate! Chen Liang, Zhou Xin, including you two!"

The two young kids scrambled on their feet and followed the sect leader's orders.

Chen Liang was still shaking.

Lifting up his arms for a spell, he spoke, "Umm… I don't know how to do an exorcism."

Zhou Xin sighed.

The sect leader chanted spells to restrain the movement's of Kou, making him sluggish and slow. He then turned to Chen Liang to explain.

"Do a basic offensive land magic. Pour any spiritual energy you can absorb into it."

There are four paths to exorcism.

The first is expulsion. It is the easiest and fastest method of exorcism, but it doesn't end the problem. Just as it meant, the method is to 'expel' the spirit from the possessed body. Therefore, the spirit will be unharmed and able to roam free with the potential of possessing another body in the future.

The second is encasement. If letting the evil spirit roam free is still a problem, mages can 'seal' the evil spirit with a spell after the expulsion method. However, the seal has to be maintained or it will weaken over time. This method is mostly used when there's not enough power for completely destroying the evil spirit. 

The third is elimination. It is the most ideal method. The evil spirit is destroyed without harming the spirit and soul of the possessed body. As it is the most ideal, it is also the most difficult, time consuming, and energy draining method.

The fourth is extermination. This path is the last resort. Channeling spiritual energy into the body at full force to completely 'exterminate' the evil spirit. It is no doubt effective, but it also harms the soul of the body, often resulting in death. Mages only use this method if the evil spirit is too dangerous to just be expelled, and too strong to be sealed or eliminated. Thus, they will destroy the spirit along with the possessed victim.

The fourth path of exorcism was one of the methods used to end the sea witch. The whole process took 3 days to complete.

There is actually a way to do the fourth path safely without harming the soul of the possessed. That is, if the soul was not inhabiting the body during the exorcism.

This technique is only possible because of the 'Spirit Gate' array. Since its creation, mages often draw the array before placing the possessed body inside it and instructing the soul to 'jump out' of their own body. They will then proceed to eliminate the spirit that remained. 

In a way, it was a simplified 'elimination' method. But in some cases, it is still hard to do when the evil spirit is too strong to even bind the body and place it in the array.

By not jumping into his own body, Kou gave the mages an easy way out.

As Shin Minji fought with the possessed thief, she also tried to lead him into a wider area for an easier exorcism. 

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Shin Minji stayed on the defensive side, luring Kou into where the others had prepared a formation.

The sect leader's voice can be heard with an air of assertion.

"All of us will start the exorcism once Shin Minji reaches that spot. Take turns to rest if any of you get drained, but no less than three people should maintain the spell."

Clang! Clang!

Kou was slowly moving towards the center of the formation.

Everyone took their stance to begin the spell.

Shin Minji started to step back slower.

Clang! Clang-

About four more steps before reaching the spot, Kou stopped attacking abruptly.

The voices chanted something differently in a low voice.

"...Die…Die…Die."

And a bunch of crunching leaves can be heard.

"There are people coming," Shin Minji said as she lowered her sword.

They turned to face where the sound was coming from, and from the trees, three people came out.

The first to be seen was Elder Yan.

"Sect leader, we saw the light and rushed here," he said.

Behind him was Elder Xinyuan and Tan Ren. Both of them spoke respectively.

"Tan Ren said Chen Liang went to the forest."

"Xiao-Liang, you idiot! Why did you go after Zhou Xin?!"

The sect leader turned to the disciple they were referring to.

"Ho! You were the one eavesdropping in the shrine."

Zhou Xin recalled when she felt something shift within the trees when Shin Minji was examining Tan Ming's corpse.

That was Chen Liang?!

Chen Liang bowed his head towards the sect leader.

"I'm sorry, sect leader!"

All of the sudden a loud clanging sound of metal against rock can be heard again.

Clang!!!

Along with a hysterical laugh.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!"

The possessed thief was moving a lot more frantically while Shin Minji held him back. He was moving towards the direction of the new group that arrived.

The voices got louder and echoed chaotically.

"Found you! You Murderer!

"Die! Die! Die!

"It's him! He killed us!

"You will pay! Pay!

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The three people that had just arrived were shocked and confused. Elder Xinyuan hid Tan Ren behind him.

"Possessed?!" Elder Xinyuan asked.

Elder Yan was alarmed, "Then, an exorcism!"

However, Shin Minji spoke calmly.

"Not yet."

She suddenly threw a more powerful strike than before.

Clang!!!

The possessed body was flung until it crashed into a tree, shrieking and crying as it tried to stand back up. With quick movements, Shin Minji swept the ground with her feet and made a hand sign.

The ground beneath Kou started to shake and mold into a thick rough sheet, wrapping around his body. Once it covered everything up until his neck, the ground turned solid and effectively trapped the possessed body.

Kou was violently thrashing inside the dirt as he screamed.

"Let go of us! Let go of us!

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

Shin Minji's spell for the trap could have lasted a few days if it was only restraining a single person. But the possessed body possibly had more than a hundred resentful spirits inside, making the body itself to be much stronger than the regular person.

Even now, as the body kept thrashing and struggling, cracks started to form on the perfectly solid dirt.

"Shin Minji," the sect leader called out.

Although she was preoccupied with maintaining her spell, Shin Minji managed to give a short glance to show that she was listening.

The sect leader then spoke what was on his mind.

"Say, if you release them right now… who will they attack first?"

It sounded like a dumb question to ask, but everyone immediately tensed up.

One of the mages panicked, "What are you saying, sect leader? Won't it matter? It will attack us all!"

The sect leader had asked in a way that seemed more like a suggestion than just a question. Elder Yan seemed to notice this and frowned.

"There are children present," he reminded him.

But another mage understood the sect leader.

"I see."

It was Elder Xinyuan.

Tan Ren was confused and looked at his teacher, trying to understand what his master and sect leader had found.

His master continued, "It will attack whoever the spirits 'resent' the most. In other words, that person must be the one who had made them suffer to their deaths."

The spirits inside the body had lived different lives and resentments. However, as they were all in one body, then they can only move as one. The majority would resent their 'murderer' the most, the one who had ended their lives. Thus, one body will move according to the resentment of the majority, and most likely will point out the 'murderer'.

Of course, there could be many factors that would disprove this method.

One of the mages exclaimed, "That's ridiculous! We clearly heard that thing cursing the Tan Clan! If it resents our clan as a whole, then it wouldn't matter who it will attack first! It will just attack whoever is the closest!"

And he wasn't wrong.

What if there were multiple 'murderers'? And that the resentments were too spread out that it will just resent the whole clan instead of an individual?

The possessed body was still thrashing about in the trap when the voices burst into laughter as if mocking.

And more cracks started to appear on the dirt.

Shin Minji clicked her tongue and started to speak.

"Then, let's just see, shall we?"

And the dirt split open, releasing Kou.

Crack!!!

"AHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHA!

"KILL!

"DIE!

"PAY!"

It ran frantically towards a certain direction and lunged forward to attack.

The target was one of the elders.

The one who had just arrived not too long ago.

The possessed body was running to attack Elder Yan.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Elder Yan made a gesture to defend himself, but before any attack even landed on him, the ground beneath shook again and molded to entrap Kou.

"NO! NO! NO!

"LET US KILL HIM! LET US!

"KILL! KILL!

"LET ME KILL HIM!

"HE HAS TO DIE!"

The body was struggling even more violently than before, creating the cracks even faster.

Elder Yan's face was pale as he faced the sect leader.

The sect leader simply flicked his finger, and Elder Yan fell to the ground on his knees.

It happened so fast that the group was still trying to comprehend what happened.

Truthfully, Shin Minji had no problem maintaining the spell of her dirt trap, regardless of the cracks. She only let the possessed body out so that the spirits could point out which soul they 'resented' the most out of everyone present.

And once the spirits were freed, they ran towards Elder Yan.

The sect leader had acted quickly to restrain the pointed out person, in case they had any tricks up their sleeve.

"You have some explaining to do," the sect leader said.

Restrained, Elder Yan could only glare and shout to defend himself.

"What is this? This doesn't prove anything! I know nothing about these spirits!"

And as if his words had triggered something, the spirits snapped and the voices shrieked harsher.

"YOU KILLED ME!

"YOU KILLED ME!

"YOU KILLED MY CHILDREN!

"YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!

Crack! Crack!

They were angered so much that the resentments seemed to have piled up and exploded into strength that fueled the possessed body.

It was destroying the trap faster.

Elder Yan was still denying, "It wasn't me! How could you trust those who have lost their souls over me, brother!"

He had referred to the sect leader with 'brother' as he pleaded.

"You know me better than a hundred spirits combined! Do you really think I could have done it? Those spirits probably mistook me for someone! Perhaps someone who looks like me!"

The sect leader only stared at him.

On the other side, in the spirit realm.

Kou had been watching.

And he was looking closely at Elder Yan.

The features on his face, the white of his hair, how old he looked, and how he had seen him before.

Kou saw him in the memories.

He was the last person I saw as Jiajia.

And he was no doubt the same person. Not a look-alike, not an impostor, not a twin. It was definitely him.

He's done for. He wouldn't be able to get away with this.

There are about a hundred spirits in my body, they can't all be mistaken.

And spirits, despite having no souls, they have emotions and memories.

Once the soul leaves behind those emotions and memories, they can never be altered.

Jiajia must be inside, too. And as she had spent time with Xu Ming, there was no way she wouldn't know some details of his grandfather. At the very least, he must have told her his grandfather's name.

You really shouldn't underestimate the memories of the dead.

It was as if the spirits knew that this person was trying to deny everything, they wanted to tell the truth, something that will prove his sins.

As Jiajia's resentment was quite powerful, Kou was able to hear her voice through his own body on the other side.

While laughter and cries echoed along with chants of resentment…

…Jiajia's spirit called out his name.

"...Tan Yan."