Chapter 38: Magic Artifacts, Spiritual Power, Divine Perception, and Primordial Spirit

Human World

The Hunwu County government office was filled with treasure chests, their gold and silver glinting brilliantly. Qin Sang was busy directing his men to inventory the items.

"These land deeds belong to the people near Hunwu County. They were likely seized by those bald thieves. Chuanzong, give them to the Hunwu County Magistrate to return to the villagers."

The visible treasury of Xuanji Temple had been almost emptied. Among the treasures was a small box of land deeds. Qin Sang had looked through them; they all pertained to land around Hunwu County. As Qin Sang handed the box to Wu Chuanzong, he noticed the boy seemed hesitant to speak, which puzzled him.

"Chuanzong, what's on your mind? Speak frankly."

Wu Chuanzong was an intelligent and perceptive child. Qin Sang found him useful and kept him close. Furthermore, Wu Chuanzong was bright and hardworking, never ceasing his studies or martial arts practice. Although he had missed the optimal age for martial arts training, with proper guidance, he could still achieve something significant.

"Yes, Sir," Wu Chuanzong replied, still addressing Qin Sang as "Sir." "I'm just worried the villagers might not want their land deeds back."

Qin Sang was surprised. "Why ever not?" He couldn't believe someone wouldn't want their land back.

"There's a temple in my hometown too, and I heard many people willingly donated their land to it. During the drought the year before last, while local villagers struggled to survive, the temple's tenants always had enough to eat. It's said that temple land is exempt from land tax. Villagers only need to donate some grain to the temple each year. In times of disaster, if they can't pay the full amount, the temple is lenient and sometimes even provides aid. But if you owe the government even a single peck, it's a problem, not to mention all the losses from weighing and fire. My teacher used to say many people weren't starved to death, but forced to their deaths by the government."

Qin Sang was even more astonished by this. He had finally intended to do a good deed, only to nearly make things worse?

Qin Sang looked at the others. "Is this the case everywhere?"

Zhang Wenkuai cleared his throat. "To answer the Hall Master, it's not entirely the same everywhere. There are indeed highly virtuous monks, but there are also many evil monks who seize land and oppress the common people. If a temple is powerful, even the authorities can't do anything about them. Whether Xuanji Temple is good or evil is yet to be determined."

"Then investigate," Qin Sang said, tossing the land deeds to Zhang Wenkuai and Wu Chuanzong. "You two have one day to find out. It's up to you to decide whether to return the land deeds to the villagers or send them back to the temple."

Seeing Zhang Wenkuai's mournful expression, Qin Sang jokingly scolded, "Why the long face? You'll certainly get your share of benefits here!"

After assigning tasks to his men, Qin Sang had Zhou Mingguang and Water Monkey supervise the inventorying. He eagerly returned to his residence, closing the courtyard gate behind him.

The texture of this talisman was completely different from the paper used by Daoist Jixin. It was as white as snow and incredibly durable, even superior to the finest Xuan paper. The talisman was adorned with lines Qin Sang couldn't comprehend, far more complex than Daoist Jixin's deceptive talismans. Qin Sang studied it for a while but couldn't make sense of it. According to Elder Yuanjue, the talisman had shattered after the immortal released the water curtain, suggesting it was single-use. With only this one in hand, Qin Sang was reluctant to experiment carelessly, fearing he might destroy it.

Holding the purple bell and the jade slip in both hands, Qin Sang recalled how he had controlled the Yama Banner: by simply channeling the energy within his body into the Yama Banner, the Yama Banner's incantations would appear in his mind. However, there were exceptions like the ebony sword; no matter how much energy he channeled into it, it was like a stone sinking into the sea. Qin Sang didn't know why there was such a difference.

Qin Sang hesitated. Thinking about the purple bell's performance when it killed, he guessed it was likely not a good item, similar to the Yama Banner. This jade slip, however, radiated a soft, warm glow and seemed endearing. He decided to try it first.

Setting the bell down, Qin Sang held the jade slip and channeled a stream of energy into it, tentatively. Unexpectedly, the jade slip suddenly broke free from Qin Sang's hand and pressed itself against his forehead. Qin Sang felt as if his consciousness was being drawn into the jade slip. Though startled, he wasn't overly panicked, thanks to his previous experience with the Yama Banner. He remained calm. Could there be something more to the jade slip's interior?

As Qin Sang was quietly pondering, he discovered a text within the jade slip, which invigorated him.

Half an hour later, Qin Sang, who had been sitting motionless at the table, raised his hand to remove the jade slip, opened his eyes, and looked at the jade slip, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He now understood that this jade slip was not a weapon but a medium for recording text. The text explained the bell's abilities and how to manipulate it.

The bell was called the Purple Soul Bell, a high-grade magical artifact capable of confusing the spirit and bewitching the mind. If a cultivator was powerful enough, it could even directly destroy an enemy's primordial spirit. Operating the Purple Soul Bell was simple: no incantations were needed; a cultivator only had to activate the bell's sound with spiritual energy and then manipulate it with divine sense to achieve its effect. The jade slip detailed the process of manipulating the Purple Soul Bell very thoroughly.

When first used, cultivators might not be proficient in controlling the Purple Soul Bell. They would need to use their divine sense to control the bell's sound and focus all their effort on a single enemy to maximize the bell's power. However, once a cultivator could control the Purple Soul Bell as easily as their own arm, this artifact would unleash its most potent power, capable of simultaneously bewildering three or four people with ease.

Qin Sang eagerly picked up the Purple Soul Bell. Following the method described in the jade slip, he projected his divine sense into the artifact, then used the energy within his body to activate it. His movements were not practiced, and it took several attempts to become familiar. Unexpectedly, the Purple Soul Bell was like a bottomless pit; he had to exert himself completely, exhausting all his spiritual energy, to barely succeed.

*Ding-a-ling...*

The Purple Soul Bell rang on its own, its clear chime echoing through the room. Qin Sang wiped the sweat from his forehead. His spiritual energy had been completely depleted, leaving him incredibly weak, but his face was alight with excitement. While obtaining a magical artifact was certainly joyful, what truly thrilled Qin Sang was the text itself. The energy in his body was precisely the spiritual energy mentioned in the jade slip! The *Netherworld Sutra* truly was an immortal cultivation technique, and he had truly become a cultivator! This finally brought peace to Qin Sang's restless heart.

Additionally, Qin Sang learned a great deal from the jade slip. The souls of cultivators seemed different from those of mortals; they were referred to as primordial spirits. Divine sense was also something not mentioned in the *Netherworld Sutra*. Qin Sang only now learned of its existence. According to the jade slip, as long as one began cultivating, divine sense could be produced within the primordial spirit. Divine sense could not only manipulate magical artifacts but also had other wondrous uses, which Qin Sang would have to slowly discover on his own.

Thinking of this, Qin Sang quickly took out the ebony sword and other items he had previously obtained. Was it because he hadn't yet developed divine sense that he couldn't use them before? Qin Sang hastily picked up the ebony sword and probed it with his divine sense. Unfortunately, the ebony sword remained like a bottomless pit, accepting both divine sense and spiritual energy without any reaction.

Only when he channeled his divine sense into the Yama Banner did Qin Sang make a new discovery. Although the Yama had an instinct to avoid harm and seek fortune, its intelligence was not very high. Previously, when he used the Yama Banner, he could only assign tasks to the Yama for people within his line of sight; otherwise, he couldn't control its actions at all. Now, he could completely envelop the Yama with his divine sense, giving it commands at any time.