Chapter 154: The Sutra of the Ten Good Deeds

Of course, Master Jinguan was a man of great virtue and high standing, so it was inconvenient for Qin Xuan to voice his inner thoughts out loud. Fortunately, everything was currently well; with Master Jinguan present, the Thousand-Flames Ghost King would hardly dare to act presumptuously.

Seeming to perceive Qin Xuan's slight displeasure, Master Jinguan put his palms together and wore a benevolent expression. "Amitabha. Little friend Qin Xuan, this old monk was merely watching from the sidelines, wishing to see how you would handle such a situation, nothing more. Now it seems you truly have not disappointed this old monk."

Qin Xuan was left speechless. Could this Master Jinguan really be bored to such an extent?

"Even if you were truly in danger, this old monk could have stepped in to help at a moment's notice," Master Jinguan continued. "Today, Thousand-Flames Ghost King, if you do not leave something behind, I am afraid you will not be able to leave this place."

"Old man, you are courting death!"

Gazing at Master Jinguan before him, the Thousand-Flames Ghost King was filled with fury in his tone.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Master Jinguan raised an eyebrow.

"Hehe! Old man, do not think that just because you have disguised yourself as a monk, this king will not recognize you."

The black mist condensed by the Thousand-Flames Ghost King suddenly billowed outward, as if he were about to take some sort of action.

Hearing these words, Qin Xuan felt his heart skip a beat. Could Master Jinguan have some other identity? This was explosive news!

"Never think of this old monk as a good person..."

Master Jinguan's words from that night echoed once again in Qin Xuan's mind.

"Amitabha. So what if you did? What I am now is merely an old monk. Everything in the past has drifted away like dust and smoke," Master Jinguan said calmly, showing no surprise that the Thousand-Flames Ghost King could recognize him.

When it came to cultivation level, although Master Jinguan was somewhat stronger, in terms of longevity, the Thousand-Flames Ghost King was far more ancient than Master Jinguan.

"Hehe! Old man, since you look down on this king so much, this king shall personally test your brilliant skills."

While speaking with a sinister tone, the Thousand-Flames Ghost King erupted with intense momentum!

Qin Xuan felt a gust of chilling wind strike his face, forcing him to involuntarily take several steps back. He managed to steady himself only by grabbing a protruding brick inside the wine cellar, and then anxiously looked out toward the exterior.

He saw the black mist condensed by the Thousand-Flames Ghost King gradually transform into a massive black cloth that blotted out the sky and moon, descending upon Master Jinguan with overwhelming force.

In an instant, the massive black cloth completely enshrouded Master Jinguan inside, growing tighter and tighter as if it intended to wrap him up and crush him within.

"Old man! Hehe! Surely you aren't already finished, are you?"

The sinister voice of the Thousand-Flames Ghost King echoed from within the massive black cloth.

"Amitabha."

As Master Jinguan uttered a soft chant, a pillar of boundless golden light suddenly burst outward from the mass of black mist, shooting straight up into the heavens!

From this stream of golden light, Qin Xuan could clearly perceive an inherent, overwhelming righteousness, which instantly blasted a massive opening through the black fabric woven by the Thousand-Flames Ghost King.

Immediately following this, the giant black cloth split right down the middle, instantly transforming into two balls of black mist that scattered toward either side. Master Jinguan stood unharmed in the arena, except that his long eyebrows were now radiating a golden glow, miraculously floating upward and leveling with his eyes.

"The Ten Wholesome Deeds..."

The Thousand-Flames Ghost King muttered. The two masses of black mist rapidly merged back together as if that pillar of blinding golden light had not caused him the slightest damage, yet deep down, a tremor of dread had already taken hold of him.

This was because the casual move Master Jinguan had just executed had actually inflicted considerable damage upon the Thousand-Flames Ghost King—damage that targeted the soul directly.

Regardless of whether it was an ordinary person, a cultivator, a demon, or a ghost, the soul was the fundamental root of all existence. Once the soul suffered excessive damage, anyone would be utterly annihilated and erased from this world.

Qin Xuan's congenital deficiency was precisely due to an insufficiently powerful soul.

"Correct. I would not have thought the benefactor could recognize this move of mine..." Master Jinguan stood calm and unmoving, saying with a benevolent smile, "The Scripture of the Ten Wholesome Deeds is the combat technique practiced by this old monk."

Earlier, when Master Jinguan was dealing with Yang Ling's soul, the technique he employed came from the *Samsara Scripture*.

As for this *Scripture of the Ten Wholesome Deeds*, it was a technique utilized entirely by Master Jinguan for combat. One could tell from the towering golden light just now that this scripture was extraordinary indeed!

"Old man, take another move from this king!"

The black mist of the Thousand-Flames Ghost King coalesced once more, sweeping fiercely toward Master Jinguan with a howling gust of wind.

"If one abstains from taking life, one attains the ten fearless qualities... bestowing fearlessness upon all sentient beings..."

Reciting Buddhist scriptures, Master Jinguan flicked a single hand, sending a wave of golden light surging forward to shatter the black mist gathered by the Thousand-Flames Ghost King in one blow.

That mass of black mist instantly tore apart into fragments. This time, it did not merge back together, but instead drifted away with the wind in the air, gradually dissipating completely—as though it had merely been ordinary dark vapor rather than the hiding place of the Thousand-Flames Ghost King.

The Thousand-Flames Ghost King was attempting to use this opportunity to escape!

Master Jinguan's expression remained unchanged as he continued to chant the scriptures.

"If one abstains from sexual misconduct, one attains the four praises of wisdom... with all senses disciplined... praised by the world..."

Flipping both hands, a cluster of golden flames suddenly ignited in mid-air not far away. At the same time, a piercing, miserable scream rang out: "Old man! What exactly do you want?"

The golden flames grew increasingly fierce, soon casting a brilliant golden radiance across the earth that completely overshadowed the faint moonlight in the sky.

Presently, a dark shadow tumbled down from the burning golden flames—it was none other than the Thousand-Flames Ghost King, who had just tried to flee.

"Hand over the evil object, and this old monk will let the benefactor leave."

Witnessing the pathetic state of the Thousand-Flames Ghost King, Master Jinguan spoke with the same benevolent expression.

"An evil object? This king refuses to believe he cannot escape the palm of an old man like you!"

Unconvinced, the Thousand-Flames Ghost King split his mass of black mist in two, then four, then eight... forming clusters of smaller black mist that scattered in all directions toward the surrounding sky to escape.

His true form was concealed within only one of those small wisps of black mist, and he believed this maneuver would surely secure his getaway.

When it came to eerie movement techniques and escape skills, ghost cultivators surpassed the ninjas of the Sun Country by several orders of magnitude. The most crucial factor was that ghost cultivators were formless and shadowless; even Nascent Soul stage ghost cultivators who had grown physical sense organs such as eyes, ears, nose, and tongue could easily render themselves invisible in the air, impossible to capture by anyone lacking supreme supernatural powers.

"If one abstains from false views, one attains the ten virtues... forever departing from erroneous paths to walk the holy path... never falling into hardships..."

With profound cultivation, Master Jinguan's expression did not alter in the slightest as he tightly clenched one hand into a fist!

At this single clenched fist, even Qin Xuan in the distance was struck by the shockwave! It was a shudder that originated at the level of the soul. Although Qin Xuan was not the target of Master Jinguan's attack, he was still forced back two large steps, his mind buzzing with a loud hum.

As for the wandering souls and scattered spirits gathered all across the sky, they fared even worse, startled backward by several hundred meters in an instant.

Fizz, fizz, fizz!

"Ah, ah, ah!!"

A wretched scream from the Thousand-Flames Ghost King echoed out, though Qin Xuan had no idea where the Ghost King was, as he must have turned invisible. Meanwhile, the decoy wisps of black mist scattered all around abruptly collapsed, shattering almost as if detonated from their centers, and instantly vanished into thin air.

"Benefactor, hand over the evil object."

Master Jinguan opened his eyes, his sharp gaze immediately locking onto a faint shadow lingering upon the open ground.