Chapter 64: Inviting Demons to a Banquet (1/2)
After a long time, the sound of moving bowls and chopsticks gradually ceased. Jiang Li turned around and saw that the entire table of dishes and wine had been completely consumed.
At the eight directions of the Eight Immortals Table, eight tiny shadows had unknowingly sat down.
They raised their heads and tilted their heads, either lying down or sitting down. They actually ate and drank their fill before the table and slept soundly.
”Everyone, are you satisfied with your food?”
It was as if Jiang Li could not smell the stench. He walked forward and gently patted the table.
However, the eight figures sitting on the chairs were all drunk and did not hear him at all.
It was not until Jiang Li slapped the table a few more times that the eight of them woke up in a daze.
Squeak!
When the eight of them woke up and saw Jiang Li beside them, they let out a strange cry and immediately tried to escape.
However, Jiang Li had already sealed the doors and windows with talisman papers.
He pulled a chair over and sat down, watching the eight shadows scurry around the guest room.
After a short while, when the eight guests saw that they were truly unable to escape, they trembled as they crawled out from the shadows and stood before Jiang Li like eight tiny figures.
”Friends, I've set up a banquet to invite you to eat food and drink wine. It's not good for you to leave without saying goodbye after eating.”
Jiang Li looked down at the eight guests standing in a row on the floor in front of him.
The eight guests were shifty-eyed and their fur was shiny. They were less than three feet long! They were four long-bearded weasels and four black-furred rats!
After Jiang Li returned to the sect, he had exchanged for another Yin attribute spell technique, and it was the famous Spirit Summoning Technique!
If an Immortal Buddha executed this technique, he could easily summon the Heavenly Star Spirits or eight hundred Enlightened Monks!
If a certain Monkey King were to execute this technique, he would be able to summon the Deity of Thunder, or even the Deity of Mountains and Rivers!
However, later on, this world seemed to have experienced a calamity of heaven and earth. Dao techniques were crippled, and there were no Immortals or Buddhas to be found.
The orthodox Maoshan Immortal Sect with a background that covered the Three Realms had also been reduced to dust and lost many people.
The great Dao technique—Spirit Summoning—was simplified countless times. In the end, it could only communicate with some lonely ghosts and demons, or be used to invite ghosts to possess the user.
It was almost completely in an unorthodox position now.
Now, the cultivation world was flourishing again. All kinds of buried Daoist texts and secret scriptures were dug out by people again, and only then did Jiang Li learn it in the Scripture Storage Pavilion.
Of course, Jiang Li did not have much expectations for this technique.
From its introduction, one could tell that the key to cultivating this spell technique was not whether one was skilled or not. This Spirit Summoning Technique relied heavily on the user's reputation.
Therefore, Jiang Li used the temptation of a table of sumptuous food and drinks to invite a few weasels and rats that could barely be considered to be 'spirits'.
(In certain texts, those who had yet to gain human form were called spirits, and those who could already become human-like were called demons. There were also some who say that awakened animals were called demons while plants were called spirits.)
Despite how they stood there and cupped their hands in a respectful manner, as if their cultivation was not shallow, the truth was, as long as an experienced hunter brought along three to five hounds, he could make them cry.
”Squeak squeak, many… thank you for your hospitality, master host! We, Old Huang and Old Hei, and our descendants are grateful!”
After the eight spirits chattered for a while, a rat spirit wearing a red robe walked forward and actually spoke in human language to Jiang Li.
”Oh? You can actually speak?”
Jiang Li was surprised. This rat spirit had only barely developed intelligence. The demonic power and spiritual qi in its body were practically negligible. It could actually speak like this?
”Squeak squeak, it's my fortune. I secretly ate a few drops of lamp oil in a dilapidated temple outside the city. I don't know why, but my throat has turned soft, so I can spit out human words.”
As the rat spirit spoke, its voice was a little indistinct, but the words it spoke were indeed true. It was not using some sinister technique.
”Hmm, this is quite interesting. Brother Rat, you are very fortunate.”
”Then, friends, since you are not leaving, why don't you answer a few questions?”
Jiang Li prepared a banquet and used the Spirit Summoning Technique to invite them over. It was not because he was bored, but because he had something to ask them for help.
”Master host, please ask. We've eaten wine and meat. We'll tell you everything we know.”
Little spirits of their level were only capable of fleeing. Now that they were trapped in the room and were at someone's mercy, how could they dare to not obey?
”Two nights ago, a flying ship crashed outside the city. A total of 12 heretics fled into the city. You're the locals here. Have you seen those suspicious people?”
The eight spirits gathered together and chattered again. Then, the red-coated rat raised its head again and cupped its hands towards Jiang Li.
”Master host, we've never seen such heretics.”
”We saw the ship that crashed outside the city, but we didn't dare to go forward.”
Jiang Li was slightly disappointed, but this was something that he had expected.
If the whereabouts of the defected cultivators led by a Core Formation elder could be discovered by this group of tiny demons, they would have been captured long ago. Jiang Li did not expect them to help find them at all.
He asked a few more questions, and the rat spirit answered them one by one. Jiang Li opened the map and drew out a few details in a few places.
”There's another river under Cloud Stream City?”