Chapter 156: Zhang Yu Activates the Ritual
Ever since becoming a disciple of an evil god, Song Xu had begun to learn a skill known as rituals.
In Song Xu’s view, this thing called a ritual had many similarities to talismans.
“Talismans can be cast successfully in various locations, mobilizing the power of the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods, which relies on Kunxu’s developed infrastructure, especially the network that permeates everywhere.”
“And one point of similarity between rituals and talismans is that they can also be performed through the network.”
“They can even steal divine power through the network, subverting it into evil god power for use…”
And compared to the wide range of uses for talismans, although the applications of rituals were not as broad, they had their own unique advantages.
For example, they could evade the supervision and records of the righteous gods, allowing one to do things outside the rules.
Just like the Shadowcurse Ritual that Song Xu was about to activate, which used evil god power to condense a shadow gu-insect, to parasitize the opponent’s shadow and continuously steal all sorts of information from them.
However, the activation of the Shadowcurse Ritual had to be done through contact in the Spirit Realm.
After all, a normal network connection could not directly link to a person’s consciousness in the way the Spirit Realm could.
Just at that moment, Song Xu’s mind stirred slightly, and he had already spotted Zhang Yu’s presence in the Spirit Realm.
“He’s here!”
Spirit Realm.
At the main entrance of the Dao-Querying Hall.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were following Yu Xinghan, walking out together.
However, the three of them did not speak along the way, instead silently digesting their respective gains from within the illusionary landscape.
Zhang Yu recalled his experiences in the illusion, working himself to death on the assembly line, rising up in resistance out of despair…
It feels like I have lived through another kind of life.
No wonder they all say the Spirit Realm is the best place to temper one’s Dao heart.
Zhang Yu thought with emotion, To experience these things in reality would probably come at a huge cost, right?
At the same time, within Zhang Yu’s sea of consciousness, he was visualizing a great ox with all four limbs broken, blind and deaf, crawling forward, never stopping.
However, compared to the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art he had visualized in the past, the great ox in the visualization diagram now possessed a kind of artistic intent of being fearless of death and pressing forward with indomitable will.
Clearly, as his understanding of the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art deepened, the effect of Zhang Yu circulating the heart art at this moment had also greatly improved.
In particular, the greater the pressure he faced, the stronger the effect of the heart art became.
The more desperate the situation, the more he could erupt with the potential within his body.
Just like after exiting the illusionary landscape, when Zhang Yu once again thought of the unpayable loans on his shoulders, and recalled the pressure brought by the bigwigs from the Immortal Capital during the Foundation Establishment examination.
Not only did his heart not shrink back, but he instead became even more motivated.
Although this one trip cost nearly 100,000 yuan, the effect is truly amazing.
This has deepened my understanding of the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art; even if I don’t have enough money to come here in the future, the effect of me circulating the heart art in my daily life to improve my Dao heart has already been greatly enhanced.
Beside him, Bai Zhenzhen was similarly immersed in her brand-new understanding of her heart art.
The original effects of the Cold Soul Ice Heart Art were mainly calmness and composure; the level 10 effect could allow me to temporarily suppress my emotions, become cold and ruthless, and resort to any means for success.
But now…
Bai Zhenzhen could feel that the Cold Soul Ice Heart Art, following her new understanding and the deductions of her True Spiritual Root, was undergoing a transformation.
After the deductions are completely finished in two days, the new level 10 effect will no longer make me cold and ruthless, only calculating gains and losses.
Instead, it will allow me to carry out my own ideas, to be able to persist in doing as I please, to know something is impossible but do it anyway; and even, the greater the risk, the lower the success rate, the calmer I will become, and my brain, body, and magic power will also become more active…
If the Crippled Ox Body-Sacrifice Heart Art was a technique that originally contained deep meaning, and its effects improved as Zhang Yu’s understanding deepened…
Then the Cold Soul Ice Heart Art was somewhat different; it was after Bai Zhenzhen’s thoughts changed and she gained a different understanding of the heart art that the True Spiritual Root performed deductions on it.
It was making this heart art more suitable for Bai Zhenzhen’s ideology, to the point that the level 10 effect had begun to change.
Just at that moment, Yu Xinghan, seeing the two of them in deep thought, smiled faintly and said, “You two, it seems your gains this time have been quite good; would you like to come again tomorrow?”
Hearing Yu Xinghan’s suggestion, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s faces darkened, and they said, “Your price is too expensive!”
Bai Zhenzhen said, “One trip costs nearly 100,000; it’s practically robbery!”
Zhang Yu thought about how his current balance was only a little over 100,000; if he were to come again, he probably wouldn’t even have money for food and the examinations.
Yu Xinghan, who had collected the money, did not care at all about their complaints and said cheerfully, “Well then, you two can come again whenever you have the money.”
“You can contact me anytime, and I will arrange it for you as soon as possible.”
A moment later, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen disconnected from the Spirit Realm and woke up together in the real world.
But just as Zhang Yu took off his spiritual interface mask in the apartment, he heard Fu Ji say, “Eh, someone is targeting you?”
Zhang Yu walked into the bathroom without changing his expression, closed the door, and said, “What do you mean?”
Fu Ji said, “Someone has performed a ritual on you through the Spirit Realm and planted a shadow gu-insect on you.”
“Hehe, this shadow gu-insect can parasitize your shadow day and night, probing your information, and then transmit it all to the other party.”
“Over a long period of time, they would probably be able to get to the bottom of all the various pieces of information about you.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart jumped in alarm, “Could it be that it’s already…”
Fu Ji said, “Don’t worry, the shadow gu-insect usually just secretly collects information and hides its own existence; it won’t take any action.”
“It’s only when you connect to the Spirit Realm again that the shadow gu-insect will seize the opportunity to transmit information to the other party.”
Zhang Yu frowned slightly; even so, this was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
After all, he and Bai Zhenzhen had quite a few secrets, and leaking any one of them would be a disaster.
Fu Ji laughed, “Hehe, but the person who performed this ritual must have never expected that you have an evil god following you around.”
“And a high-level being who once stood at the pinnacle of evil gods, ranked just below the evil god kings, who immediately discovered this little trick.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s heart stirred, and he thought to himself, That’s right; under normal circumstances, when an evil god wants to control the believers and disciples under them, remote control is certainly the safest way.
The other party must think that I am also in this situation of being remotely controlled, which is why they want to use me… to probe for clues about the evil god behind me.
Zhang Yu said, “A follower of an evil god who can perform rituals must be related to the evil god behind Songyang High School or White Dragon High School, right?”
Zhang Yu still remembered that Fu Ji had once said that there were evil gods behind Songyang High School and White Dragon High School, and had also advised him to go and hunt these two evil gods.
He never expected that before he had even made a move, the other party had already set their sights on him.
Zhang Yu guessed, “It seems that someone among them already suspects that there is an evil god behind me.”
“It’s hard to say; it’s also possible that they just suspect you and want to investigate you.”
“But in any case, anyone who can perform a ritual to investigate you is undoubtedly a follower of an evil god.”
“Let’s go, kid.”
Fu Ji’s tone was relaxed, “Help me make preparations immediately; let me perform a ritual, and I can instantly help you control this shadow gu-insect.”
“Then we will know exactly who is targeting you.”
And in Fu Ji’s heart, a trace of greedy desire surged up uncontrollably, Haha, absorbing the power in this shadow gu-insect will allow me to recover a little.
A moment later, Zhang Yu said a word to Bai Zhenzhen and left the apartment alone.
Fu Ji had originally wanted to take the opportunity to test Zhang Yu, to see if he was willing to let Bai Zhenzhen know about the matter of evil gods, but after thinking about it, she decided against it.
This kid will definitely think that I… want to find a chance to perform a wish ritual on Bai Zhenzhen as well, to stimulate her potential.
Although that is indeed what I am thinking.
But with his current level of trust in me, he does not trust me to the point where I can make a wish for Bai Zhenzhen; saying it out loud will only be counterproductive.
Forget it, the time is not yet right; we can talk about it later.
An hour or so later.
Zhang Yu returned to the unfinished building where he used to practice, carrying large and small bags.
He had thought it over and over, and still felt that this place was relatively quiet and undisturbed, and it would not be easily discovered by others.
Then he began to set up the ritual under the guidance of the evil god.
Fu Ji said, “The network you use in your daily lives is essentially a kind of divine power network.”
“This divine power network was initially only used by the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods to facilitate their management of Kunxu, and it was only later gradually opened up to the common people.”
“This is the foundation for the casting of talismans, and it is also the foundation upon which the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods can manage Kunxu.”
“You must know, the network of the righteous gods covers the vast majority of places in Kunxu, and therefore talismans are almost omnipotent.”
“But this network can also be used as a thoroughfare by us evil gods, which is why I say that we evil gods are never weaker than the righteous gods.”
Zhang Yu thought to himself that this sounded much weaker than the righteous gods, completely giving off the feeling of a stowaway.
Fu Ji continued, “Our ritual this time also needs to borrow a path on the divine power network, so we will need a catalyst for divine power.”
“Things like those incense sticks, paper offerings, statues, and wooden puppets used to worship the righteous gods are all considered relatively simple and cheap methods; they can be called the offerings of the ritual.”
Fu Ji sighed with emotion, “But now, online god worship is becoming more and more popular, and these kinds of things are gradually becoming harder to find.”
Following Fu Ji’s instructions, Zhang Yu took out a candle that had been burned halfway down.
This was a god-worshipping candle that someone else had used, which Zhang Yu had bought.
Fu Ji continued, “First is the altar; this is the point of intersection with the divine network in the ritual. The conditions are crude right now, so you will just have to make do with that stool for now.”
“Then, on the altar, besides the offerings, there must also be a medium for communication between man and god, a divine object for the preservation of spiritual energy, and a symbol of the evil god’s incarnation.”
“Sigh, but the conditions are limited now, so we can only make do.”
“For the medium of communication between man and god, just use a mobile phone; at any rate, it can barely connect to the divine power network.”
“For the divine object for the preservation of spiritual energy, just use those two flashlights; remember to turn the light to its maximum brightness.”
“You have practiced the Great Sun Qi Sea, so you should know that there is also spiritual energy within light. And keeping the flashlights on during the ritual can symbolize abundant spiritual energy and reduce the dissipation of divine power in the ritual; this is called ‘illuminating the Heavenly Court above, and probing the depths of hell below…’”
“For the symbol of the evil god, just use this teddy bear; we can’t really get a statue of an evil god, can we? The ability to use a toy as a substitute is precisely the reason why we of the evil gods are so difficult to guard against.”
“Finally, you must remember to use an electric wire to form the most basic circle of the ritual, because copper is an excellent conductor of divine power; placing it in the ritual can bind the divine power…”