Chapter 32: Corpse Ghost Fiends (2/2)

Of course, if child ghosts mend broken marriages or save suicidal bankrupts, it's a virtue. Magic itself is neutral—evil lies in human hearts. Using great dao for harm makes it black magic. Always choose good over evil.

Zhou Jianguo hadn't raised ordinary child ghosts—he'd replaced wooden effigies with yin corpses, creating corpse ghosts with heavier malevolence. Since they were physical remains, my Ghost-Barrier Formation couldn't stop them.

Raising corpse ghosts is the most potent form of spirit cultivation:

Extract a stillborn fetus with yin fate.Bury it under a yin tree, offering white rice, the sorcerer's blood, and incense at midnight for 49 days without pause.Feed monthly with blood and nine incense sticks. Corpse ghosts can ruin enemies but are capricious—neglect leads to catastrophe.

"He's breaking the barrier—stop him!" I yelled.

As the ghost boy lifted a stone, Old Wang charged, Seven-Star Sword in hand, flinging a talisman. "Now!" The triangular paper burned, slowing the ghost, but Old Wang's sword strike missed— the boy touched the coin formation. The gate creaked open. With a sinister grin, he vanished outside.

I noticed characters carved on the ghost's back—like a birth chart. Before I could think, yin wind howled. Old Wang retreated, flinging talismans. The Heavenly Master Talisman he'd given me burned—spirits were coming for our lives.

I laid out nine peach pits in the Heavenly Official Nine Stars Formation:

Tianpeng, Tianrui, Tianchong, Tianfu, Tianqin, Tianxin, Tianzhu, Tianren, Tianying—nine of the 36 Heavenly Gang Stars. The fuller the moon, the stronger the formation.

"Too slow—they're here," Old Wang said, nostrils flaring. Ghostly figures—men, women, children—drifted past our formation to kneel before the spirit tablets, wailing.

Zhou Jianguo appeared at the gate, flanked by a child ghost. Moonlight revealed his icy stare. These were Zhou clan ancestors he'd summoned from the netherworld via the yin road.

A thunderclap split the sky. Black fog swallowed the moon. "Heaven's wrath?" I wondered—did the heavens approve?

Zhou ancestors cowered as Zhou Jianguo rasped: "Karma cycles. You sinners deserve annihilation for my father's sake!"