Chapter 144: Talisman Master Power Seed
The appearance of Ping Jie and the young nurse not only failed to rouse Guo Yu from her madness, but instead made her emotions even more agitated. The young female nurse was even bitten by the frenzied Guo Yu.
The next day, the incident spread throughout Guo Yu's department. Some said that Guo Yu had been possessed by evil spirits the night before, which was why she went mad.
Others believed that Guo Yu was inherently ill, and it just happened to manifest the night before.
Few medical staff believed that Guo Yu had been possessed by evil spirits, as their profession inherently stood against such superstitious nonsense.
Of course, not all medical staff were disbelievers; a few held different opinions.
However, most of the patients and their families on that floor believed Guo Yu had been afflicted by evil rather than being ill.
Regardless of belief or disbelief, Guo Yu's incident still caused a ripple in their department and on their floor.
The next evening, Guo Yu did not come to work. She hadn't requested leave from her supervisor either; she was absent without leave.
For several days in a row, Guo Yu didn't return to work, and her phone remained unreachable. Fearing something had happened to her, the hospital reported her missing to the police.
Her expression before death was one of sheer terror, as if she had been scared to death by something horrific.
Forensic examination revealed Guo Yu's precise time of death.
After her night shift ended that evening, Guo Yu died shortly after returning home, and she too had been scared to death by something.
Guo Yu was dead, her passing so sudden that it simultaneously alarmed and instilled a sense of dread in her colleagues.
Even those colleagues who had consistently disbelieved that Guo Yu had been stricken by evil that night now felt a certain eeriness about the incident, while those who had already been somewhat convinced naturally became even firmer in their belief.
No one knew when it started, but the legend of the Skin-Borrowing Ghost began to circulate within Tianhe Hospital.
Whenever night fell, a man with a simple, guileless smile would appear in the hospital. He looked to be in his thirties, appearing rustic and dressed like a farmer.
He would sometimes appear in the restrooms, sometimes in the corridors, and sometimes in the courtyard. Each time he surfaced, he would randomly select a "lucky" individual, then reveal a body entirely charred, open his empty, toothless mouth, and ask to borrow their skin.
"Can you lend me your skin?"
Each time he appeared, he would utter that same sentence to his target. Gradually, he became known as the Skin-Borrowing Ghost among the hospital staff.
The story spread wider and wider throughout Tianhe Hospital. Naturally, there were those who believed and those who did not, but regardless of belief, the incident had a considerable impact on Tianhe Hospital.
At this moment, Yang Haoran was ecstatic. After a period of relentless effort, he had finally succeeded in cultivating the Enchantment Art. However, the newly cultivated Enchantment Art was still in its rudimentary, beginner stage.
Though only in its initial phase, it brought immense joy to Yang Haoran.
In his opinion, the Enchantment Art was a rather peculiar secret technique, and successfully cultivating such a technique would be of enormous help to him in the future.
The only drawback was that this secret technique could not be actively cast on a target; it could only be passively triggered. Whether or not it successfully triggered depended on a certain amount of luck, as well as being directly related to the cultivation realm of the Enchantment Art itself.
The higher the realm of the Enchantment Art, the higher the chance of it being triggered and the greater its success rate. Conversely, the lower the realm of the Enchantment Art, the significantly lower both the trigger chance and success rate would be.
To advance the realm of the Enchantment Art, there was no need for constant, day-and-night cultivation. Once the Enchantment Art was successfully cultivated, every passive trigger, regardless of success, would increase its proficiency. The stronger the target, the more proficiency gained; conversely, the less.
Once the proficiency of the Enchantment Art reached a certain level, it would automatically enter the next realm. There were no bottlenecks, nor did the cultivator need to make any breakthroughs.
In other words, from the moment the Enchantment Art was successfully cultivated, there was no longer a need to actively cultivate the secret technique; one only needed to find ways to increase its proficiency.
To protect his privacy, before returning to Yangjiawan, Yang Haoran had set up a sound-insulating seal on his Soul-Gathering Bead to prevent the ghosts inside from hearing external sounds.
At the same time, he had left a layer of Yin Qi on the surface of the Soul-Gathering Bead. The presence of this Yin Qi would prevent the ghosts inside the Soul-Gathering Bead from seeing the outside world.
It was precisely because he had made these preparations in advance that Yang Haoran felt at ease doing his own things. Otherwise, if any of his secrets were to leak, it would not be good for him.
After all, the souls inside the Soul-Gathering Bead were all to be turned over. Who knew if these souls would reveal what they had seen once submitted to Deng Feng?
While such a thing might not necessarily happen, and Deng Feng might not be that bored, it was always better to be cautious. Waiting until trouble struck before attempting a remedy would be too late.
Besides the successful cultivation of the Enchantment Art, Yang Haoran had also successfully cultivated a Talisman Master Power Seed within his body.
The Night Watcher's Spirit Power Seed was the Death God Seal implanted by an Emissary of Death. This Death God Seal resided in the center of the brow, invisible to the naked eye, but it could be detected if one possessed special ocular techniques.
The Talisman Master Power Seed also resided in the center of the brow. The difference was that this power seed was a rune, similar in size to the Death God Seal, and similarly invisible to the naked eye. It could only be seen under specific conditions.
With the Talisman Master Power Seed, one could cultivate Talisman Spirit Power. The stronger the power seed, the more terrifying the Talisman Spirit Power that could be unleashed.
How to enhance the Talisman Master Power Seed was also different from the Underworld Office's methods.
Members of the Underworld Office enhanced their power seeds by absorbing Pure Yin Qi. However, a Talisman Master's Power Seed relied on absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to grow stronger.
Before cultivating the Talisman Master Power Seed, Yang Haoran's biggest concern was that the Talisman Spirit Power would repel the Spirit Power within his body, causing some harm. Fortunately, the scenario he feared did not occur.
After he successfully cultivated the Talisman Master Power Seed within his body, Talisman Spirit Power naturally appeared within him. Although this Talisman Spirit Power was weak, it was indeed present. Perhaps because this Talisman Spirit Power was cultivated by himself, it did not repel his Spirit Power in any way.
Not only was there no repulsion, but these two energies coexisted harmoniously within his body, and he could switch between them at will.
When in his Underworld Official state, he would release Yin Qi, and Spirit Power would flow within his body. Without special means, one would be unable to detect the presence of Talisman Spirit Power within him.
By the same logic, when in his Talisman Master state, all the Yin Qi on his person would be withdrawn into his body, and he would emanate spiritual energy, with Talisman Spirit Power circulating within him.
He recalled how, when he first became a Night Watcher, he racked his brain trying to retract the Yin Qi emanating from his body so as not to affect those around him. He even specifically sought advice from Wang Yiming, hoping to acquire some special talismans to seal the Yin Qi, but all his efforts yielded no results.
But now, he no longer needed to actively retract the Yin Qi into his body, yet he had inadvertently achieved it. It truly was a case of "a casual planting yielding a dense shade."
Fate, at times, was like this: the more desperately you tried to achieve something, sometimes racking your brain and exhausting all efforts would still fail to yield the desired outcome. Yet, when you gave up, it unexpectedly succeeded without a thought.
What more could Yang Haoran say about this, other than sighing at fate's capricious nature?
Although he had cultivated a Talisman Master Power Seed within his body, this did not mean Yang Haoran had become a Talisman Master. The presence of a Talisman Master Power Seed only indicated the existence of Talisman Spirit Power within him. To become a true Talisman Master, there was one more crucial step: drawing talismans.
Only by successfully drawing a talisman could one be considered a true Talisman Master, and this process would be long and tedious.
Though he understood this, Yang Haoran still had to do it, for he had no other choice.
A Yellow Talisman Master requires talisman paper, a talisman brush, and cinnabar to draw talismans.
Ordinary yellow paper would suffice for talisman paper, and there were many choices for talisman brushes, though ones with ample spiritual essence were preferred. As for cinnabar, it could be bought at the hospital.
Thus, he prepared to make a trip to Tianhe Hospital, the largest in Lecheng.
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