Chapter 786
Removing the Soul-Suppressing Nails
Xue Shao also sensed the difference and asked curiously, "The spiritual energy in this courtyard seems to be more concentrated than in other places, and it's even more concentrated now."
"So that's it, so that's it! No wonder it was buried here. The spiritual energy here is so rich that setting up a Yin-nourishing array here will make the effort twice as effective!"
Wang Cong glanced at Xiao Hong's remains, noticing the obvious wounds on them, and then looked at her pained expression. He sighed, "She died a terrible death. Plus, the Soul-Suppressing Nails had been suppressing her for so many years. Even though she had never killed anyone, the malevolent energy on her body was very strong. Fortunately, she always kept a distance from her own remains, so the malevolent energy on the remains didn't affect her too much. Otherwise, she would have lost her mind long ago."
The junior master chose the phoenix tree because it is considered yang in nature and can purify negative energy.
Xue Shao understood: "The Yin Nourishing Array and the Yin Nourishing Wood, including the box made of Yin wood, are all for nourishing the corpse bones to feed Xiao Hong, while the paulownia wood is for purifying the evil energy on her corpse bones."
Wang Cong nodded.
"But why?" Xue Shao asked, puzzled. "Can't these things be given directly to Xiao Hong? Why must they be fed back to her through her remains?"
“Because this is the origin.” Wang Cong said in a deep voice, “People who raise ghosts usually hide the remains of the little ghosts. Once the little ghost has a rebellious heart, they can control her through the remains. Similarly, if you want to make the little ghost strong, the best way is actually to nurture it together with the remains.”
Looking at Xiao Hong, who was slowly merging with his own remains, Wang Cong said in a deep voice, "Her remains are too corrupted, and the evil energy is too strong. If she doesn't rest and goes back directly, she will not only be more seriously injured, but her soul and remains will also be damaged. She may also be controlled by the evil energy and lose her mind."
Now, although Xiaohong looks pained, it's because seeing her own remains has brought back some of her lost memories; she's suffering because of the pain she endured in life.
At this moment, her soul was solid and showed no signs of damage, and the remains did not reject her due to contamination.
Xiao Hong lay down on her own bones with a pained expression. As soon as she merged with her own bones, her body seemed to glow, and her appearance before death appeared faintly.
Her remains slowly turned like jade, but then instantly decayed, constantly changing back and forth.
The soul-summoning banner trembled continuously in Pan Jun's palm, attracting countless streams of spiritual energy to the wooden box, which were simultaneously absorbed by the corpse and Xiao Hong.
Yet, among the countless streams of spiritual energy, not a single trace of Xiao Hong's remnant soul could be found.
Miaozhen frowned, and, unwilling to accept it, sped up her chanting of the soul-summoning incantation. She felt a tightness in her chest, and her throat instantly tasted metallic.
Pan Yun tapped her twice and pushed her out of the formation.
She had long anticipated that the remnant soul within Xiao Hong wouldn't be so easily summoned.
She pressed down the constantly throbbing soul-summoning banner in her hand, slammed it into the ground, and walked to the wooden box.
Little Red, who had merged with the skeleton, was faintly visible. Pan Jun knelt on one knee and looked into the two empty eyes on the skull. He said softly, "Little Red, this is your body. You must completely merge into it before I can find the Soul-Suppressing Nail nailed to your soul and remove it."
She said softly, "Once I remove the Soul-Suppressing Nail, you won't feel so bad anymore."
Little Red, lying among her own bones, opened her eyes, her blood-red eyes looking at her with sorrow.
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Pan Jun nodded slightly to her.
Xiao Hong finally closed her eyes and focused intently on feeling her body.
This is her, this is her. Though she's dirty and in pain, this is who she is. She wants to go back, she wants to go back…
This is my head, my eyes, my nose, my neck...
This is my arm, my fingers...
The skull shook, then the skeletal fingers twitched, and the scattered bones slowly moved and pieced together, making it look more like a person.
Little Red drooped lower and lower until she completely merged with the skeleton. Just as her skeletal toes twitched slightly, a flash of light appeared, and her entire soul reappeared, perfectly merging with the skeleton.
Pan Jun finally saw the faint nails on her soul.
The soul-suppressing nail that was driven into her soul had no physical form; the physical nail was removed by Pan Yun in Ji'an.
Since the Soul-Suppressing Nail has no physical form, it naturally cannot be removed by hand.
Pan Yun sat cross-legged, made hand seals and chanted incantations. A golden light flowed from her fingertips, like golden sand surging towards Xiao Hong...
Even fierce ghosts fear the golden light of merit. Xiao Hong used to be afraid of it too, but when this golden light surged out and enveloped her, she only felt warmth.
Xiao Hong could tell that it didn't mean to hurt her.
Knowing that it was Pan Yun, she felt even more relaxed.
The golden quicksand was drawn into her soul, moving around the Baihui and Tanzhong acupoints where the Soul-Suppressing Nail was located.
The Soul-Suppressing Nail appeared and disappeared. When it reappeared, the golden quicksand suddenly tightened, gripped the Soul-Suppressing Nail, and pulled it out violently.
The invisible Soul-Suppressing Nail was pulled out and flung out. Just as Wang Cong was about to make a hand seal to destroy it, a figure suddenly appeared, holding a box that caught the invisible nail and snapped it shut.
Wang Cong paused, his whole body stiffening.
He greeted him with a forced smile: "Senior Brother Li..."
Li Wenying stuffed the box into her sleeve, glanced at him expressionlessly, felt around in her other sleeve, pulled out another box, then affixed a talisman to it, caught it as another soul-suppressing nail was removed, sealed the talisman, and put the box away.
After the three Soul-Suppressing Nails were removed, Pan Yun exhaled, finished her incantation, and opened her eyes.
Seeing Li Wenying, she wasn't surprised at all and greeted him warmly, "Senior Brother Li, didn't Senior Brother Zhang come?"
Li Wenying sneered: "Did you give us any advance notice?"
Pan Yun: "The academy is only so big, and there's only one gate for entering and exiting. How could we possibly keep it from you?"
Li Wenying pointed at her from afar and laughed in exasperation.
However, this wasn't the first time Pan Yun had caused them trouble; he was used to it. Anyway, from the moment she took the remains from Ji'an, he was prepared to clean up her mess.
In particular, he accidentally found out that she had dug the pit to bury the remains.
Li Wenying stepped forward and looked down at the remains.
Xiao Hong lay there nervously, her eyes tightly shut, not daring to move.
"In just six months, you've managed to nurture that decaying corpse like this?" He touched the box, his expression a mixture of envy and jealousy. "Using ancient submerged wood to nourish a corpse, you're really generous. Is Sanqing Mountain really that extravagant? I vaguely remember that Liu Zhen also had a piece of ancient submerged wood in her private treasury..."
Li Wenying paused here, then turned her neck rapidly to look at Pan Yun.
Pan Yun nodded: "You're right, this is Senior Brother Zhang's piece of ebony."
Li Wenying's expression gradually turned blank. He looked Pan Yun up and down, then shook his head: "No, I don't believe it. You're so young, Liu Zhen couldn't possibly like you. Are you Liu Zhen's illegitimate daughter left behind? The age doesn't match up either. He couldn't have had a child when he was eight or nine years old..." (End of this chapter)