Ling Tian's question pulled the thoughts of the vengeful spirit of Daoist Master Hu back to more than a decade ago.
Daoist Master Hu had learned his skills on the mountain since childhood. His teacher was truly a master, imparting him with profound abilities.
Later, unable to resist the temptations of the bustling world, Daoist Master Hu chose to enter society.
Over more than a decade, he had indeed made a name for himself, especially in the southern regions where his fame was considerable.
Subsequently, Daoist Master Hu accepted the Wang family's commission to investigate this haunted house.
He was unlike those ostentatious and deceitful feng shui masters; he possessed genuine skill and did not consider the task to be particularly challenging.
At that time, the house had not been built for long and had not accumulated so much Yin Sha. Daoist Master Hu easily entered the residence and quickly discovered the problem.
The issue with the house lay in the basement, or more precisely, in the concrete pillars supporting the basement.
If he had directly informed the Wang family of the matter at that time and organized people to destroy the formation's eye, the outcome would have been a happy one for all.
The problem of the haunted house would have been completely resolved, and Daoist Master Hu would have faced no danger to his life.
However, human greed knows no bounds. The Yin gathering formation had accumulated a vast amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, which made the Daoist Master Hu somewhat tempted.
By using this spiritual energy for cultivation, he could elevate his own cultivation to a higher level.
This fellow then found an excuse, telling the Wang family that the haunted house was difficult to deal with and that he needed to stay inside for a long time to perform rituals to resolve it.
Thus, he stayed in the haunted house for several consecutive days, using the house for his cultivation.
However, fate is unpredictable. One night, as he was meditating and circulating his energy in the basement of the haunted house, a venomous snake, as thick as an adult man's arm, quietly crept into the basement and bit the Daoist Master on the leg.
Daoist Master Hu was greatly alarmed. Although his sorcery was profound and he knew some martial arts, the venom of this snake was extremely potent.
Within ten seconds, his body became paralyzed and he could not move. Within a minute, Daoist Master Hu breathed his last.
As soon as Daoist Master Hu's soul left his body, it was immediately imprisoned by the Yin gathering formation.
After all, he was a cultivator, and his soul was different from ordinary people. His soul still retained a large amount of memory. His soul did not dissipate immediately; instead, it absorbed a large amount of Yin Sha from the Yin gathering formation, eventually transforming into a powerful vengeful spirit!
Over more than ten years, the vengeful spirit of Daoist Master Hu grew increasingly powerful, even capable of controlling the Yin gathering formation to serve his own purposes.
However, the only thing that made him uncomfortable was that the venomous snake that had killed him could still freely enter and exit the house.
He wanted to kill that snake, but due to some law's restriction, he was utterly unable to do so!
Hearing Ling Tian's question, which stirred up some unpleasant memories, Daoist Master Hu's expression began to contort.
"Snake, snake… it's all that damned snake, it deserves to die, you all deserve to die!"
Seeing that the Yin Sha had become hysterical, Ling Tian naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. He suddenly raised his hand, and the Bursting Fire Talisman in his hand shot out!
A fireball flew towards Daoist Master Hu. However, just as the fireball was about to touch Daoist Master Hu, a large amount of Yin Sha diffused from the pillar beside him.
This Yin Sha directly collided with the fireball, causing it to explode. However, the flames, after spreading to the size of a washbasin, were annihilated by the massive amount of Yin Sha.
Ling Tian felt a bit embarrassed. His attempt at a sneak attack had failed, and his action had completely enraged the vengeful spirit of Daoist Master Hu.
"You… die…!"
A vengeful spirit is still a vengeful spirit. No matter how powerful, compared to a living person, its mind is still not clear.
Originally, this entity intended to possess Ling Tian's body to survive in the world and escape this ghostly place.
However, Ling Tian's sneak attack had completely infuriated it, and now it only wanted to kill Ling Tian!
Daoist Master Hu spread his arms, chanting incantations. The next moment, black mist surged from the dozens of pillars in the basement. This black mist condensed together, forming walls of Yin Sha.
These walls of Yin Sha continuously pressed towards Ling Tian's position.
Ling Tian's expression was extremely solemn. If all this Yin Sha pressed down on him, he would be severely injured, if not killed.
The situation was critical, leaving Ling Tian no time to think. He fiercely gripped the Vajra Pestle in his hand and began chanting incantations.
Next, Ling Tian suddenly crouched down and forcefully thrust the Vajra Pestle into the ground in front of him.
Then, Ling Tian rapidly formed eighty-one hand seals with his hands, loudly reciting the Diamond Sutra!
In an instant, the Vajra head at the tail of the Vajra Pestle on the ground suddenly opened its eyes.
Immediately after, a golden light emanated from the Vajra Pestle, forming a semicircular light shield with the Vajra Pestle as the center and a diameter of over three meters. This shield firmly blocked the Yin Sha from the outside.
Where the Yin Sha came into contact with the light shield, the two energies, light and dark, clashed fiercely and then annihilated each other!
The vengeful spirit of Daoist Master Hu did not expect Ling Tian to still have the strength to resist. Thus, he also chanted spells, causing the Yin Sha emanating from the stone pillars to become even more ferocious!
Thus, it was visible to the naked eye that the light shield formed by the Vajra Pestle was being compressed by the Yin Sha, gradually shrinking its coverage area. Before long, the coverage area of this light shield was less than two square meters!
Ling Tian was greatly alarmed. This light shield was obtained by releasing all the Buddhist power stored within the Vajra Pestle. Now, it seemed that the amount of Yin Sha was too great. If things continued like this, this light shield might not hold for long!
The only way now was to immediately kill the vengeful spirit of Daoist Master Hu. Only then would this Yin Sha stop attacking him!
With this thought, Ling Tian immediately opened his backpack and took out a thick stack of over 20 talismans.
These talismans were all Bursting Fire Talismans, which represented Ling Tian's entire savings.
The more powerful the talisman, the greater the difficulty in drawing it and the lower the success rate.
Bursting Fire Talismans were not the most powerful talismans, but they were relatively easier to draw. Even so, the difficulty was much greater than drawing a Vajra Talisman.
With the more than 20 talismans in Ling Tian's hand, if he did nothing else each day but draw them, it would likely take him two months to complete them.
Now, Ling Tian could not afford to hesitate!
He injected his true qi into a talisman and then shot it directly at Daoist Master Hu outside the light shield.
The small fireball quickly flew out of the light shield's range and collided with the dense Yin Sha.
The next moment, the fist-sized fireball suddenly exploded, but it only expanded to the size of a basketball before being swallowed by the Yin Sha.
Just then, the second fire talisman arrived. Building upon the previous Bursting Fire Talisman, it flew several meters further before exploding!