Divine Level Witch Doctor

Night descended, and gusts of cold wind began to blow. The bamboo grove outside the courtyard gate rustled with a WHOOSH, and the wind rattled the windows, which shook continuously with an eerie CREAK... CREAK...

In the main room, Zhao Yuan didn’t even raise an eyebrow. He simply got up and pulled the light on.

The lights in Zhao Yuan’s home were still of a style from decades ago. There was no switch to press, only a pull cord. One pull turned it on; another turned it off.

The light in the main room was low-wattage and dim. It barely illuminated the room and, if anything, only added to the eerie atmosphere.

Zhao Yuan, however, was long used to it. After turning on the light, he returned to his chair and activated his Concentration Technique. He resumed studying Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis while waiting for Mage Zhang’s scare tactics to begin.

Time passed, and soon it was around eleven o’clock at night.

In ancient times, this period was known as midnight, the time of day when Yin Qi was at its peak and Yang Qi was at its weakest.

’They should be here by now.’ Zhao Yuan paused his Concentration Technique, turning his head to glance outside.

It was pitch-black outside. In the moonlight, he could faintly make out the silhouettes of the distant mountains. But just as Zhao Yuan was about to look away, everything outside plunged into blackness. Whether clouds had covered the moon or something else had happened, the world was now utterly dark, without a single speck of light.

WOOF WOOF WOOF!

A burst of furious barking suddenly erupted. All the dogs in the village began to bark as if they had gone mad.

This didn’t last long. In just a few seconds, the barking came to an abrupt halt, as if someone had seized the throats of all the dogs in the village, preventing them from making another sound.

The village fell silent once more.

The sudden shift from uproar to silence was jarringly bizarre, enough to make one’s skin crawl. The more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Many villagers had been startled awake by the barking. They’d thought about throwing on some clothes to see what was happening, but now they didn’t dare get out of bed. Instead, they just pulled the covers over their heads and stayed in bed, endlessly chanting scriptures and praying.

”They’re here!” Zhao Yuan’s expression turned grim. He suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby.

The White Cat, which had been napping on the altar table in the main room, opened its eyes and stood up. Its brilliant, sapphire-like eyes glinted with a menacing coldness.

CREAK!

A cold gust of wind swept in, and with that strange sound, the Zhao Family’s courtyard gate swung slowly open.

Zhao Yuan frowned. He remembered clearly that he had latched the courtyard gate after his parents and sister left. A normal gust of wind could never have blown it open. ’This must be one of Mage Zhang’s tricks!’

Just as he was about to step out of the main room to see what was happening, a sinister, ethereal voice drifted into his ears: ”Zhao Yuan of Jinhua Village, you do not know your place. You have offended a Divine Spirit. Today, I, the Night Wanderer, have brought my Ghost Soldiers and Generals to call you to account!”

The voice had a strange accent, as if the speaker had just learned Chinese, or maybe they were talking with a mouthful of something.

Anyone else in this situation would have been scared senseless, or at the very least, thoroughly creeped out. But Zhao Yuan just let out a cold laugh. ”Playing at gods and ghosts? It’s just so lame!”

Outside, the speaker clearly didn’t know what ”lame” meant, but they understood the mocking tone in Zhao Yuan’s voice. They paused, stunned, as if they couldn’t believe his attitude. Then, in a thunderous rage, they roared, ”You dare speak to me, the Night Wanderer, in such a manner? Such insolence! Ghost Soldiers and Generals, where are you? Seize him!”

A strange buzzing sound erupted in the courtyard, as if the Ghost Soldiers and Generals were indeed responding to the command. Before Zhao Yuan could step outside to investigate, shadows began to drift in from outside, one after another, with lightning speed!

People!

One person after another!

People with deathly pale faces, bizarre red circles on their cheeks, and strange, rigid movements!

Zhao Yuan did a quick count. There were forty-nine of these strange figures. They weren’t wearing modern clothes, but attire from the late Qing and early Republican era.

”So they really are Ghost Soldiers and Generals?” Zhao Yuan’s expression grew solemn. Activating his Qi Observation Technique, he saw that these forty-nine strange figures had no Qi of Yin Yang and Five Elements whatsoever. The only thing they possessed was a single point of cold, sinister Qi between their brows.

Clearly, these forty-nine figures were not alive. They were being controlled by that single point of Qi between their brows.

’Corpse-Driving Technique?’ he wondered, but quickly dismissed the thought. ’No, they don’t look like corpses. Strange... what in the world are they?’

The forty-nine figures that had entered the main room gave him no more time to speculate. Suddenly, their mouths gaped open, revealing jaws full of fangs. With a strange WHOOSHING sound, they lunged at Zhao Yuan from all sides like a pack of wolves, intent on tearing him to pieces!

These forty-nine figures were incredibly fast, and their movements were bizarre, as if they were weightless and simply floating through the air.

In the blink of an eye, all forty-nine of them were upon Zhao Yuan, moving at an unimaginable speed.

Fortunately, Zhao Yuan had been mentally prepared from the moment the forty-nine strange figures appeared. Even with the suddenness of the attack, he didn’t panic. He immediately opened his Storage Ring Space and retrieved the Wind and Thunder Whip.

He poured Wish Power into it, and serpents of electricity materialized from thin air, coiling around the pitch-black Wooden Whip.

Zhao Yuan raised the Wind and Thunder Whip and lashed out at the strange figures surrounding him.

The Wind and Thunder Whip lived up to its name as the bane of all things vile. The moment the figures were touched by its electric sparks, they shrieked and fell back. A few that failed to dodge in time were engulfed by the sparks and, with a WHOOSH, burst into flames!

However, there were simply too many of them, and they attacked from bizarre angles. Even though Zhao Yuan swung the Wind and Thunder Whip in a furious blur, they still found an opening.

Five or six figures slipped through a gap in the whip’s defense, lunging at Zhao Yuan with bared fangs and claws. Just then, the Exorcism Talisman activated, erupting in a brilliant golden light. Any figure caught in the glow howled in agony and recoiled. But in that single burst, the Exorcism Talisman exhausted all its energy and crumbled into dust!

In that instant, two more figures took advantage of the opening and drifted to Zhao Yuan’s feet. Grabbing one leg each, they opened their gaping maws to bite down. Simultaneously, another figure leaped onto his back, its hands clamping down on his shoulders as its fanged mouth lunged for his neck.

The figures’ fangs were long, pointed, and razor-sharp. If they bit down, even if Zhao Yuan’s body were as hard as steel, they would tear off a huge chunk of flesh and bone!

Zhao Yuan was in mortal danger, his life hanging by a thread!