Chapter Forty-Eight: The Spiritual Aura of the Earth’s Veins

Of course, the Ghost Official was only displaying his methods to make these sinful spirits obedient, not to burn them into oblivion. Thus, the flames appeared just briefly, making the spirits suffer before extinguishing. The Ghost Official looked coldly at the many spirits, now sprawled on the ground, their bodies smoking blue, and sneered, "From now on, whatever I tell you to do, you will do it—or else..." This time, the sinful spirits gazed at the Ghost Official with pure fear in their eyes.

The Ghost Official laughed heartily, tilting his head back as he thought to himself, "With this batch of sinful spirits in hand, Wang Zhenling, let's see if you survive!" Though he said this, there was a trace of regret in his heart, for Wang Zhenling was a government official and could not be killed. At most, he could only seize the spiritual vein of Blackwater Pond, but he dared not take Wang Zhenling's life. Still, if he could humiliate him and seize his spiritual vein, would Wang Zhenling ever again dare to flaunt himself before the City God?

...

Blackwater Pond earned its name from the deep, dark water that looked almost black. After the destruction of the Blackwater Shrine, Wang Zhenling came into great wealth. He found large amounts of valuables in the shaman's home, all offerings tricked out of the people of Dafen Village. Even after Wang Zhenling distributed a portion among the villagers and rewarded his county soldiers, he still kept tens of thousands in his own coffers. Naturally, what he kept for himself were small, high-value items like gold, pearls, and jade.

Yet, this was not Wang Zhenling's greatest gain; the true prize was the spiritual vein of Blackwater Pond. Though the Blackwater Shrine deity perished, the spiritual vein remained. After burning away the sinister aura and all traces of the previous shrine, what was left was a pure spiritual vein.

"If only I had searched the grounds after the shrine was destroyed—perhaps that deity had some treasures..." Wang Zhenling mused, but he felt little regret. Anything that burned with the shrine could not have been truly valuable. Real treasures would never perish with the shrine.

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To speak truly, what treasures could a mere rural ghost deity possess? It was merely idle talk; the spiritual vein itself was the greatest fortune. The spiritual vein's node remained within Blackwater Pond, but without a shrine to bind and gather the spiritual energy, the aura dispersed naturally. Since the destruction of the shrine, Wang Zhenling noticed that the concentration of spiritual energy around Blackwater Pond had increased several times.

But this was not enough; he wanted to gather the energy anew, condensing it into a spiritual pool and refining it into spiritual water. In fact, Wang Zhenling's own cultivation was sufficiently supported by the official fortune, so his interest in the spiritual vein was mostly for the sake of the Juntian Temple.

Soon, with a slight alteration, the spiritual vein could be redirected to form a new node on land. When Wang Zhenling ordered the villagers to dig channels around the area, he was already shifting the spiritual vein, establishing its new node in a stretch of woodland near Blackwater Pond.

Spiritual energy now gathered, invisible to the naked eye, as the earth's aura condensed between the trees. In geomancy, mountains halt energy, water gathers it. Wang Zhenling's artificial treasure node, using water to prevent the dispersal of spiritual energy and spiritual sands to collect it, ensured the earth's aura gathered without loss.

With the spiritual vein redirected, an ordinary hillside suddenly began to exude wisps of mist. The once commonplace spot now grew vibrant and graceful. Curiously, the mist did not drift like ordinary mountain haze; instead, it remained fixed, unmoved even by the wind.

This would have seemed strange, but none dared approach, for it was Wang Zhenling's official encampment. Ever since he had quelled the villagers' unrest with thunderous force, destroyed the Blackwater Shrine, and had the villagers draw water from the pond to irrigate their fields, the people of Dafen Village both respected and feared him, and none ventured near.

After several days of this phenomenon, the mist grew thicker, darkening like storm clouds. Eventually, droplets of spiritual water began to fall. Wang Zhenling caught one and remarked, "No, this spiritual water is too impure!"

He discovered the spiritual energy of the earth vein, though vast, was also mixed and muddled. The spiritual water before him, despite being condensed energy, was nothing like the crystalline clear pool in the Juntian Temple. Instead, it was cloudy, full of visible impurities, impossible to separate.

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The earth's aura was immense, yet always mixed and impure. Now, gathered together, it was just so. But as he watched, Wang Zhenling was mildly surprised. The droplets formed from the mist fell, seemingly entering another space, transforming into wisps of vapor that slowly expanded.

"Ah, they are still tangible substances—no wonder they are impure..." Witnessing this, Wang Zhenling suddenly understood. He had seen the spiritual water in the Juntian Temple's pool; it existed in a state between being and non-being. It looked like water, but if one tried to scoop it up, there was nothing to touch.

The spiritual water before him, though, was different.

"No wonder one must establish a shrine..." With this realization, he ceased interfering, letting the spiritual water drip as it would.

As the spiritual energy gathered, the mist thickened, eventually raining down in strings, pooling into a pit. Yet Wang Zhenling now clearly knew that this was merely mundane water, condensed from moisture carried by the spiritual energy. The mist was not entirely transformed by spiritual energy; rather, it was formed by the mingling of spiritual energy and moisture.

This ordinary water soon filled half the pit. But the true spiritual water seemed to pass through space, gathering in another realm, and slowly expanding as ethereal mist.

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