Chapter 1156 - 1153: Rescue
Lin Chuan stared blankly at the cold and painful face in front of him, unable to hold back anymore, he suddenly wanted to rush forward and hug his mother.
The cold and painful face slowly deformed, suddenly turning into a cold stream of air, which drilled into Lin Chuan through his nostrils.
The cold stream of air that entered through the nostrils did not follow the meridians, but rushed directly towards Lin Chuan's brain.
Lin Chuan remained in a daze, still not fully awake from the illusion.
"Lin Chuan." Qin Fang shouted anxiously from outside.
The phantom soul, as the name suggests, is a soul that can cause hallucinations. This cold stream of air that drilled into Lin Chuan's brain was the phantom soul, refined from countless newly dead people's yet-to-dissipate three souls and seven spirits.
Everything in the world with life has three souls and seven spirits. The so-called three souls and seven spirits refer to a person's essence, energy, spirit, and seven expressions—joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, sentiment, desire, worry.
Everyone's experiences are different, so the seven spirits within the three souls and seven spirits also vary.
This cold stream of air composed of countless three souls and seven spirits is like the legendary ghosts, and once invaded, no matter how high one's cultivation is, hallucinations will occur.
As long as the illusion arises, the phantom soul can take advantage and invade the brain to control a person's thoughts and consciousness.
Lin Chuan is now in such a situation. These cold streams of air have already reached his brain, and as soon as they corrode it, they can control his thoughts and consciousness.
Lin Chuan was wearing the Yin Yang Double Jade, which suddenly exhibited a miraculous effect at this moment. It seemed to contain a strong power, and instantly, two faint glows—one yin and one yang—emerged, transforming into two streams of air and entering Lin Chuan's body.
The two streams of yin and yang air entered Lin Chuan's body and began to circulate automatically along the meridians with the qi mass within the dantian, turning into countless scattered streams of air.
These scattered streams of air began gathering towards one direction through the extraordinary meridians, which was the Bai Hui Acupoint in the head.
The scattered streams of air all gathered at the Bai Hui Acupoint, forming a mass of qi, then continuously devoured the cold streams of air in Lin Chuan's brain, which were the so-called phantom souls.
The strength of the qi mass from the Yin Yang Double Jade and the dantian was indeed more powerful than the cold streams of the phantom soul, and during the devouring, countless screams emitted from the cold streams of air.
These screams could not be heard by people outside; only Lin Chuan's consciousness could sense them. The screams were actually emitted by the three souls and seven spirits of the deceased, whose essence, energy, and spirit still lingered.
The power of the Yin Yang Double Jade was indeed not to be underestimated. Together with the qi mass from the dantian, it devoured the cold streams of air, and in no time, the cold streams within Lin Chuan's brain were completely consumed.
Once the phantom soul was devoured completely, Lin Chuan's consciousness naturally regained clarity, and he let out a sudden shout.
The phantom soul requires a person to manipulate it, and once it is destroyed, the manipulator will also suffer harm.
The manipulator of the phantom soul was a disciple from the Maoshan Tao within the Heavenly Dao Temple, who at that moment was over two hundred meters away in a small grove.
Qin Fang, seeing Lin Chuan suddenly regain consciousness from outside, was as shocked as she was when she saw Lin Chuan attacking earlier.
In her impression, no one had ever been able to break free from the control of a phantom soul unless they knew the method to counter it. Could Lin Chuan know the method? Qin Fang was somewhat bewildered, reasoning that even Qin Zhenghe wouldn't know, so it definitely wasn't Qin Zhenghe who taught him.
Once Lin Chuan regained consciousness, he shouted and flashed towards Zhou Rui and the others, swiftly untying the ropes on their bodies and removing the black cloth over their eyes and the cloth from their mouths.
But Zhou Rui, Zhou Kai, Huang Bo, and Ma Yilin all wore dazed expressions, especially Huang Bo and Zhou Kai, whose eyes showed an indescribable look, and they unexpectedly lunged at Lin Chuan.
Both were ordinary people without cultivation, and once they reached Lin Chuan, they began hitting and kicking him from left and right.
Lin Chuan naturally could not retaliate against the two, so he moved quickly and knocked them unconscious. Zhou Rui seemed to not even recognize him, and along with Ma Yilin, charged at him from behind.
These four were clearly controlled by the phantom soul, so Lin Chuan unhesitatingly knocked the two of them unconscious as well.
"Lin Chuan, quickly find the person controlling the phantom soul; he must be nearby." Qin Fang rushed in and said to Lin Chuan.
Lin Chuan moved, and in an instant, he disappeared.
Lin Chuan ran outside, first dashing towards the east; after searching for several hundred meters and not seeing a ghost, he quickly turned and dashed to the south.
Seeing no one in the south either, Lin Chuan swiftly reached the west, where a grove appeared before him. Lin Chuan moved swiftly and quietly slipped into the woods.
The Maoshan Tao disciple controlling the phantom soul was named Qin Cheng, originally a member of the Qin family. At that moment, Lin Chuan had broken the phantom soul, dealing him a significant blow, and he was bewildered as to who had broken his control.
Just as he was pondering this, he suddenly saw a figure flash by, his vision blurred, and the next moment, his entire body flew backward, colliding with a tree, and with a loud cry, he spat a mouthful of blood.
When he came to his senses, a person stood before him, glaring at him coldly.
A chilling intent filled those eyes, instilling fear deep within Qin Cheng.
"Who are you?" Qin Cheng asked, looking at Lin Chuan.
Lin Chuan gave a cold smile, said nothing, and directly grabbed Qin Cheng, carrying him towards the house.
In front of the house, Lin Chuan threw Qin Cheng to the ground and looked at Qin Fang.
Qin Cheng seemed to recognize Qin Fang, and his eyes revealed a look of hatred as he stared at her.
"Speak, how do you break the illusion souls on these people?" Lin Chuan scolded Qin Cheng coldly.
Qin Cheng faced Lin Chuan's questioning without answering.
For the safety of Zhou Kai and the others, Lin Chuan had no more concerns. Seeing this guy remain silent, he kicked Qin Cheng with two swift blows.
Ah...
Qin Cheng screamed miserably and rolled on the ground in pain.
"Will you speak or not?" Lin Chuan shouted again.
Qin Cheng writhed in agony, but still did not answer Lin Chuan's question.
Lin Chuan flared in anger and kicked Qin Cheng twice more, with enough force to fracture bones.
Ah...
Qin Cheng didn't expect Lin Chuan to be so ruthless; the intense pain on his face showed he felt as if his body was falling apart.
"Don't hit me, please don't hit me, I'll break it for them." Qin Cheng finally realized that if he didn't remove the illusion souls from these people today, he wouldn't survive.
Hearing Qin Cheng's plea, Lin Chuan stopped attacking, lifted him up, and coldly said, "Quickly."
Enduring immense pain, Qin Cheng walked over to the unconscious Zhou Kai and others, formed a cross with his hands, and mumbled incantations.
Qin Fang felt somewhat dizzy, curious about what kind of person Lin Chuan was who acted so ruthlessly.
After a few minutes, Zhou Kai woke up first, seeing Lin Chuan and a strange woman, along with a man, and couldn't help but shout, "Brother Chuan!"
"Kai, are you alright?" Lin Chuan approached Zhou Kai and asked.
Zhou Kai paused, flexing his fibula, and said, "Brother Chuan, I'm fine."
Turning, he saw Ma Yilin, Zhou Rui, and Huang Bo still unconscious, and rushed to embrace Ma Yilin, shouting, "Yilin, Yilin."
Under Zhou Kai's calls, Ma Yilin gradually woke, shook her head at Zhou Kai, and asked, "Zhou Kai, where are we?"
Zhou Kai wasn't sure either and glanced at Lin Chuan.
Seeing the illusion souls on the two had been broken, Lin Chuan relaxed and said, "Zhou Kai, help Xiao Ma outside first."
Zhou Kai acknowledged, supported Ma Yilin, and headed outside the room. Lin Chuan also awoke Huang Bo and Zhou Rui; Huang Bo looked at Lin Chuan dully, while Zhou Rui couldn't resist and threw herself into Lin Chuan's embrace.
Lin Chuan comforted Zhou Rui briefly, then instructed Huang Bo to assist Zhou Rui out of the room. Only Qin Cheng and Qin Fang remained inside.
Lin Chuan turned to Qin Fang and said, "Please step outside, I have a few questions for him."
Qin Fang hesitated, glanced at Qin Cheng, and left without saying anything.
Lin Chuan's eyes glinted coldly, glaring at Qin Cheng.
Recalling how Lin Chuan had dealt with him earlier, Qin Cheng was frightened, and said tremblingly, "Wh-what do you want?"
Lin Chuan coldly said, "I just need you to answer a few questions, I won't trouble you."
Qin Cheng, now in such a situation, could only nod.
Lin Chuan asked, "Where is Maoshan Tao's headquarters?"
Qin Cheng hesitated for a while and said, "Our Maoshan Tao's main hall is within Double Dragons Mountain."
Having visited Double Dragons Mountain, Lin Chuan continued, "What place is Double Dragons Mountain?"
Qin Cheng said, "Double Dragons Mountain is Heavenly Dao Temple."
Having found out the location of Maoshan Tao's headquarters, other questions weren't important. Lin Chuan gave Qin Cheng a cold glance and said, "I hope you behave well in the future; if I find you're harming others with evil arts, I won't spare you."
Aware of the benevolence in Taoist teachings, Lin Chuan wasn't as ruthless as before, embodying the Taoist belief in Heaven's virtue of nurturing life.
Qin Cheng nodded repeatedly and said, "I dare not try again; I'll pack my stuff and head home, never coming out again."
Lin Chuan said nothing more and turned to leave the room. Zhou Kai and the others greeted him outside.
Lin Chuan exchanged greetings briefly, then went to the car, taking them to a town to settle into a hotel.
Knowing Maoshan Tao's main hall was within Double Dragons Mountain, Lin Chuan decided to seize the chance to eliminate Maoshan Tao, opting to stay, settle the others, and prepare to go to Heavenly Dao Temple.