Chapter 54: The Flames That Burn the Shadows!

On the other side, Chen San had already led the ghost soldiers forward, bows drawn and arrows nocked. Advancing, they ignited the arrowheads in that ghastly, pale flame.

Then they loosed their arrows!

The moment these arrows wreathed in nether fire were shot, the condemned spirits instantly conjured shields and other barriers from the yin energy swirling around them in a desperate attempt to defend themselves.

Yet, the instant the nether fire touched them, it erupted in a fierce blaze. In the blink of an eye, five or six of the condemned spirits were engulfed, their bodies ignited by the ghostly flames, burning like living torches.

Even Chen San’s own ghost soldiers handled the fire with the utmost caution, not daring to touch it in the slightest.

“This is the True Fire of Burning Shadows, the most effective bane of ghosts...” Mister Feng’s face was aglow with pride as he addressed Wang Zhenling. “This fire is a closely guarded state secret, a national weapon the imperial court uses to suppress all manner of spectral beings. Its formula is an utmost secret. It took our Chen family of the Riverlands decades and a tremendous price to finally obtain it. Hmph—never mind these condemned souls. Even if the City God himself appeared, he would be reduced to ashes by this fire!”

Wang Zhenling, not lacking in social grace, offered a few words of flattery in response. Yet, as a master of external alchemical thunder-fire, he found the situation exceedingly odd.

For this very flame was recorded in the external thunder-fire chapter of the Supreme Primordial Dragon-Tiger Great Elixir Thunder Law. Wang Zhenling could easily detect the distinct scent of sulfur and cinnabar mingling in these flames.

Indeed, in the external thunder-fire texts, this fire was called “Phosphorus Fire,” for it was fueled by white phosphorus, with added sulfur and cinnabar. Such a concoction was particularly effective for incinerating yin energy and ghosts!

And in those texts, there were no fewer than seven or eight varieties of similar thunder-fire, if not ten. Yet, from Mister Feng’s words, it seemed that in the present Dynasty of Great Accomplishment, this fire was considered a true national weapon!

The Supreme Primordial Dragon-Tiger Great Elixir Thunder Law emphasized the interplay of yin and yang, the struggle of dragon and tiger, and the generative cycle of thunder and fire—an unsurpassed Daoist method.

Meanwhile, the external thunder-fire chapter detailed the preparation of various external thunders, concocting powerful thunder-pills from ingredients like sulfur and cinnabar.

The so-called “latent fire” was a method of preparing fire, said to be the earliest way of making gunpowder.

In a previous life, Daoist alchemists had used these substances to refine elixirs, inadvertently inventing the first gunpowder.

Later, gunpowder’s purpose shifted to killing.

But these latent-fire divine thunders were thunder-pills refined with secret methods from cinnabar, sulfur, and other substances.

The more ingredients added, the greater the thunder-pill’s power.

In short, the external thunder-fire chapter recorded the preparation and use of all manner of external fires and thunders.

Still, as far as truly powerful Daoist arts were concerned, these were but auxiliary means. Against true supernatural abilities, they amounted to little!

Yet, the power of this so-called True Fire of Burning Shadows seemed somewhat excessive...

“Hmph, the True Fire of Burning Shadows has quite a remarkable effect, don’t you think?” Mister Feng and Wang Zhenling had retreated to the edge of the inferno, observing from a safe distance.

The smoke from the fire alone was grievously harmful, not only to ghosts but even to the living—the thick fumes were deadly poison.

Mister Feng seemed immensely proud of the so-called True Fire of Burning Shadows.

But Wang Zhenling felt something was off. The strength of this fire seemed far beyond what was recorded in his external thunder-fire chapter. The phosphorus fires listed there, at most, sufficed to deal with lesser ghosts; against a powerful specter, they were not nearly so effective.

After all, a fierce ghost’s yin energy was strong enough to smother flames.

Yet now, even the condemned spirits could not withstand the burning of this so-called True Fire of Burning Shadows.

Watching more closely, Wang Zhenling gradually realized that this fire contained not only the power of sulfur and cinnabar, but also a kind of divine force...

“Of course—the external thunder-fire chapter does record a method for invoking the descent of a deity, using divine power to consecrate and refine thunder-fire. When thunder-fire is consecrated in this way, it carries divine power and its might increases many times over. But to perform such a ritual, one must at least have attained the realm of Manifesting the Divine!”

In his previous life, reaching the Manifesting the Divine realm was virtually legendary, so Wang Zhenling had never given it a thought.

Not until witnessing it firsthand now did he realize: this is not the waning world of his past life, but the world of Eastern Dawn, where the divine order is strict and humanity is mighty!

He himself could not reach such divine heights, but the Chen family of the Riverlands might well have recruited experts of that caliber... perhaps even actual deities...

The condemned spirits, filled with grievous resentment and forced to serve, now, upon facing danger, began to retreat, unwilling to fight.

The ghost official was in a panic. He rode in a carriage of the City God’s office, whose defensive capabilities surpassed even those of the local gods.

But the ghost horses drawing the carriage were ordinary enough and could not withstand the flames.

Thus, at this critical moment, the ghost official leaped from the careening carriage, stomping his feet in anxiety at the sight.

Inwardly, he cried out in disbelief, “Impossible... How could Wang Zhenling possibly command the True Fire of Burning Shadows? That’s a secret known only to the nether authorities! Of course—it must be Chen the Unfathomable. He must have intervened. I just need to escape and report this to the City God, inform the court that the Chen family of the Riverlands has stolen the True Fire of Burning Shadows. The Son of Heaven will be furious—misfortune will surely befall the Chen family!”

To use a crude but apt metaphor, it was as if, in a future age, some powerful clan had stolen the technology to grow mushrooms and clandestinely cultivated their own mushroom bombs...

Should such a thing be discovered, the Chen family’s treacherous ambitions would be undeniable!

Yet, the ghost official also sensed that since the Chen family had revealed such methods, they must be confident in keeping it secret.

And nothing keeps a secret better than a corpse—or, in this case, a dead ghost...

In other words, the enemy had no intention of letting him escape alive.

Half guessing this, the ghost official was seized with terror. While shouting orders at two war chariots to attack Wang Zhenling, he brandished his command talisman, forcing the condemned spirits to charge the enemy desperately.

Those two war chariots were genuine engines of war, forbidden for use without an explicit order from the authorities.

This time, the City God had even dispatched war chariots, a clear sign of utmost seriousness!

Under orders, the two war chariots charged at Wang Zhenling, showing no fear of the flames. The entire vehicles glowed with a faint, ghastly white fire, which at first glance resembled the True Fire of Burning Shadows.

Yet in truth, they were entirely different.

Phosphorus Fire of Burning Shadows and the Ninefold Nether Soul Fire were both types of ghost fire, immensely powerful and exceedingly difficult to produce.

They were two of the sixteen fires the imperial court wielded to suppress ghosts and spirits.