WBICDPH Chapter 67 Part 2

Lin Jin’s heart skipped.

Unlike prodigies who could directly draw upon the world’s spiritual energy, ordinary cultivators refined energy through their meridians and stored it in their “spiritual sea.” Lin Jin thought of it like a mana bar in a game. If a character had no mana, they couldn’t cast skills. If a cultivator couldn’t access their spiritual sea, they were no different from an ordinary mortal.

“That’s impossible!”

Hua Nanzhi’s eyes widened. She gripped her Xiaoyue Blade and attempted to channel spiritual energy into it as usual.

Nothing happened.

She tried again. This time, after a long pause, the blade flickered faintly and finally ignited in flame.

“Well?” Lin Jin asked.

“Not good. I can force a connection, but it consumes more than five times the usual energy. It’s exhausting.”

She extinguished the flame and sheathed the blade, frowning.

“This place is too strange. We can’t wait any longer—we need to end this quickly. First, they blocked our perception. Now they’re interfering with the spiritual sea. If this continues, Senior Brother and I might completely lose our connection. No wonder the previous disciples died on this seventh-tier mission. Strip cultivators of their senses and power, and we’re just fish on a chopping block.”

She paced anxiously.

“What is this? A formation? Aren’t you the top genius of Dongli Sect? Can’t you see anything?”

“I can’t.”

Lin Jin finally understood the severity of the situation.

First perception. Then the spiritual sea.

What next? The five senses?

He had never encountered something so bizarre.

“Wait. Let me think…”

He pulled out the map he had drawn.

“If it’s a formation, it must have a way to break it. The problem is—what is it based on? Wind, fire, metal, wood, earth… none of them fit.”

“Lin Jin.”

Xiao Yunkong interrupted calmly.

“You said earlier that besides ghosts, there may be demons behind this?”

“Yes.”

“You’re thinking in terms of human formation techniques. But demons cannot be judged by human standards. Their formations are different.”

…

The words struck him like a revelation.

He couldn’t analyze this with human logic.

Human formations relied on natural elements because humans cultivated through spiritual energy drawn from heaven and earth.

But demons were different.

They cultivated through turbid energy, blood energy, and resentment.

Lin Jin suddenly opened his eyes.

“I’ve got it.”

He was breathing faster now.

“Humans. The formation uses humans as its base.

“I was wondering how someone refined the villagers’ resentment and malice into ghostly mist. But maybe they didn’t need to refine it. Every person in Double Happiness Village is part of the formation. Their resentment feeds it directly.”

“But…” Hua Nanzhi frowned. “How can you use people as the foundation? They’re living beings. What if someone dies or runs away? Wouldn’t the formation collapse?”

“Because he’s a puppet master.”

Lin Jin spoke with certainty.

“Remember the innkeeper? He kept scratching behind his ear when he spoke. Later, in the mist, I saw a similar red mark behind the guide’s ear. That wasn’t a rash—it was where puppet threads were implanted.

“To prevent changes, the puppet master implanted threads in everyone. But to ensure enough resentment, he didn’t fully control them. The only true puppet in this formation is the village chief, Zhao Kang.”

“Why?” Hua Nanzhi asked.

“To keep people here.”

Lin Jin answered simply.

“Zhao Kang told you Zhu Eryao’s story. If you had come here alone, what would you have done next?”

“I’d find Zhu Eryao and exorcise her.”

Hua Nanzhi tilted her head.

“How does that keep someone here?”

Lin Jin gave her a strange smile.

“Can you see ghosts?”

…

A chill ran from her feet to her scalp.

That’s right.

Their perception had been blocked from the moment they entered the village.

They couldn’t see ghosts at all.

“If I hadn’t accidentally carried a connection to Zhu Eryao, we might never have realized. First day—strip perception. Second day—cut off the spiritual sea. What next? The five senses? By the time cultivators realize something is wrong, it’s too late. In the mist, the guide warned us not to become nourishment for evil ghosts. So I suspect cultivators who enter are trapped until they die—and then become part of the formation.”

“That’s… unbelievably vicious,” Hua Nanzhi whispered.

“Yes. But every formation has a core. Find the core, and you can break it.”

Lin Jin spread out the map again. His finger traced the layout of the village homes, then slid toward the back mountain.

“Resentment alone can’t take shape. It needs ghostly energy to cling to and form that strange mist. If that’s the case, the core shouldn’t be human.”

His fingertip landed on the mountain behind the village.

“The Mountain God Temple.

“Zhu Eryao.”