Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather Chapter 1292 - 840: Profound Blessings?
Previously on Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather...
Within a secluded courtyard in Anhu City.
A petite woman, her complexion ashen, busied herself crafting a strawman much like a farmer weaving stalks. Her fingers danced with practiced grace, and in mere moments, a terrifyingly lifelike figure emerged.
Standing roughly seven feet tall, the strawman donned a bamboo hat and a somber black cloak. Its visage, fashioned from tightly bound straw, featured details painted in vibrant red ink. Despite its artistic rendering, the result was deeply unsettling.
A permanent smirk marred its face, a detail certain to chill any observer to the bone.
Once the construction was complete, the woman continued her ritual. She produced a small obsidian banner and a talisman, waving the banner rhythmically while murmuring an incantation.
"Road to the Netherworld, open the River of Blood; shatter the City of Wrongful Death, summon the wandering spirits! Let the scorched straw stalks stand upon the spirit altar, open the seven orifices to ensnare the fetal soul!"
A dense vortex of ghost qi coalesced around the miniature banner, and she cast the talisman forward with a sharp flick of her wrist.
"Tuoh!"
Cloaked in swirling ghost qi, the talisman struck the straw figure and dissipated into it like mere vapor.
Instantly, the previously lifeless straw figure snapped open a pair of glowing scarlet eyes.
"Cackle, wind the threads of the soul, pull the spirit’s strings; hear my commands, all hundred joints and thousand bones!"
"Rebirth Copper Coin to calm the heart veins, Soul-devouring Nail to pierce the seven souls and seal them tight!"
With precise movements, the woman cast a copper coin and several darkened nails, embedding them firmly into the strawman.
The creation emitted a beastly roar, but its tumultuous energy soon settled into a chilling stillness.
"Splendid, truly splendid; my Yin Soul Puppetry Skill has finally reached completion! Haha!"
The woman paced around the straw figure, feeling its texture and admiring her handiwork with evident pride.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the courtyard, "What exactly is that?"
The abrupt sound startled the woman. She whipped her head around, her pale face tightening in sudden, vigilant terror.
"Who goes there!"
A figure draped in black robes stood silhouetted against the wall, causing her very essence to tremble with dread.
"I asked you a question," the woman stammered, her heart racing. "Identify yourself!"
"You have yet to answer me," Yang Zhenshan replied, his eyes locked onto the strawman with clinical curiosity. He was currently scouring the city for members of the Soul-breaking Blade to act as expendable fodder for the Ancient Relic Array.
This woman was a significant operative within that shadow organization. Known as the Ghost Woman, she was the same culprit who had unleashed malevolent spirits upon the streets of the Ancient County.
Ghost Woman felt a cold sweat break out; she realized the intruder’s cultivation was far beyond her own, leaving her paralyzed by fear.
"Just who are you?"
"Your reluctance to answer is becoming tedious," Yang Zhenshan remarked.
Ghost Woman spared a fleeting glance at her puppet before relenting. "It is a creation of the Yin Soul Puppetry Skill."
"Yin Soul," Yang Zhenshan murmured, his gaze falling upon the black banner. He let out a weary sigh. "Does your Soul-breaking Blade possess even a shred of normalcy?"
He felt quite exhausted by the group; every artifact or technique he had confiscated from them had been useless for the Spirit Source Land, steeped in nothing but blood, malice, and ghosts.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ghost Woman retreated, her nerves fraying.
Yang Zhenshan merely shook his head. With a subtle motion, he revealed a small, golden bell in his palm.
A single, rhythmic 'ding-dong' resonated through the air. The sound caused Ghost Woman’s divine soul to suffer a violent shock. Her vision blurred, her consciousness fractured, and before she could even process the assault, she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
As her vitality waned, the strawman slumped, its scarlet eyes dimming until it returned to its original, inanimate state.
Yang Zhenshan stepped forward, inspected the straw puppet briefly, and then yanked the storage bag from the woman’s waist, scanning its contents with his spiritual sense.
"Indeed, nothing here is even remotely normal."
Without further ceremony, he cast the unconscious Ghost Woman into the dimension of the Ancient Array, followed by a casual flick of his sleeve that sent her straw puppet tumbling in after her.
He proceeded to do the same to every Soul-breaking Blade member hiding within Anhu City.
There were at least thirty of them tucked away in the city—mostly martial artists of the Heavenly Gang Stage, a few Earth Evil Stage fighters, and just one immortal cultivator: the Ghost Woman herself.
While these were the only targets identified by the Secret Martial Guards, they were more than sufficient. With over thirty bodies inside, the activation of the Ancient Array promised to be an incredibly fascinating spectacle.
With his task finalized, Yang Zhenshan returned to the Spirit Source Land with effortless grace.
Handling a mix of Heavenly Gang warriors and a single Qi Refining Ninth Layer practitioner was an trivial affair that required no real effort.
Now, all he had to do was await the unfolding drama.
...The following day.
By the edge of the lake contained within the Ancient Array, Ghost Woman shook off the haze of her slumber. She stared briefly at the pale sky before springing to her feet, scanning the horizon with frantic, wide-eyed alarm.
Mountains and water surrounded her, creating a scene that only fueled her mounting frustration.
"What is happening? That man spared my life only to dump me in this desolate wilderness?"
She whispered to the wind, eyeing the lake. The longer she scrutinized the water, however, the more a sense of profound unease clawed at her.
The lake appeared crystal clear, perfectly still, and thick with rich water-attribute spiritual energy—yet something felt deeply, fundamentally wrong.
She continued to study the surface for a long moment, before suddenly stumbling backward, her expression clouded with genuine, lingering dread.