As Cunning as a Ghost

Chapter 207: Cunning as a Ghost

Qin Mu was truly horrified this time.

When State Master Yankang was fighting outside Daxiang City that day, he stood on the top of a mountain and looked at the battlefield, but he could not see the moves of those strong men clearly. Demon King Dutian watched the battle through his eyes, allowing him to see the moves of State Master Yankang, Master Qiong and others clearly, and even realize the mystery of the moves of such terrifying existences!

But at that time, Qin Mu thought he had concealed it well and did not alarm the Demon King.

But now it seems that his little thoughts are completely useless. The Demon King Dutian had already noticed his inner fluctuations and even guessed his inner thoughts!

"Foolish summoner, your seemingly clever tricks in front of the greatest ruler of Dutian are of no use at all."

The voice of the Demon King Dutian continued to echo in his mind, making his eardrums buzz: "You are such a weak life, so don't try to scheme in front of me. I am so powerful that you can't imagine! Submit to me and worship me. This is your only way out."

Qin Mu calmed down and suddenly laughed, "Great Lord of Dutian, I am the only one in this world who knows how to summon ghosts and gods, and I am the only one who can cast this spell."

The Demon King Dutian fell silent.

After a while, his voice sounded again: "Interesting little brat, you actually dare to bargain with me. Very good, very good..."

Qin Mu was feeling uneasy, not knowing whether his bargaining would be successful this time.

If this fails and this devil turns against me, I will probably be in big trouble.

If the bargaining is successful and my life is saved, after returning to the village, I will ask the village chief and others to slowly kill the Demon King Dutian.

Judging from the performance of Demon King Dutian, it is still possible to kill this demon king.

Because when Qin Mu was traveling with Master Yankang, the Demon King Dutian did not make any unusual movements and was very quiet hiding in Qin Mu's body.

When State Master Yankang was fighting with Master Qiong and other leader-level beings, Demon King Dutian dared to use Qin Mu's eyes to observe the battle situation, in order to see State Master Yankang's true strength and his weaknesses.

But at that time, Qin Mu was surrounded by masters of the Demonic Sect, so he did not say a word.

Later, Qin Mu treated the injuries of National Master Yankang along the way, and the Demon King Dutian remained silent all the way.

Qin Mu parted ways with Master Yankang, and when he arrived at Taixue College he met the Cripple and Master Ma again. The Demon King Dutian did not come out either.

Now that Master Ma and the Cripple were gone, only Qin Mu was left, so he showed up just then.

If the Imperial Master, Master Ma and the Cripple could not threaten him, he would not have to be so cautious.

In other words, he showed his weakness.

In other words, he can be eliminated, unlike Li Tianxing in Granny Si's mind who is almost impossible to be eliminated. As long as the means are clever enough, he can still be eliminated.

"My Dutian is finished and destroyed, leaving only endless darkness. So I need to find a new world for my people in Dutian, a place where they can thrive and reproduce."

The voice of the Demon King Dutian came: "I have spent a lot of effort to pass on the spell of summoning ghosts and gods to this world and to the people of this world. Now you are the only one who understands this spell. You should know that I will not let you go easily."

Qin Mu was completely relieved, he breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "So you want me to summon the demon again and call you over?"

The Demon King Dutian said in a gentle and persuasive manner: "I had this idea before, but now I have seen that the natives of this world are also some powerful beings, so I just want to borrow your hand to send some of my people to this world. I don't want to provoke a war between the strong men of the two worlds. It's not good for you, and it's not good for us. My Dutian is finished, I just want my people not to be extinct, and I have no intention of occupying this world."

"Believe? Ghost!" Qin Mu thought.

But he couldn't say this out loud, because if he said it, it would probably not be difficult for the Demon King Dutian to kill him.

Now his consciousness is parasitic in his own body, and he also has a magical power. The power of gods and demons is too strong for him to match. If the Demon King Dutian turns against him, it should not be too difficult for this consciousness and magical power to kill him.

He is using my place now, so he won't attack me. But if he finds out that I never had the intention of summoning him, he will probably turn against me and kill me.

"You don't have to call me, you can call out some of my officials."

The Demon King Dutian said, "After that, I will leave you and you can enjoy yourself. If you just do me a small favor, I can explain the words on the door to you."

Qin Mu smiled and said, "Most of my elders will recognize the words on this door, so there is no need to trouble the Demon King..."

"Haha, you recognize it? This is the language of Youdu. Even if you recognize it, can you read it?"

The Demon King Dutian said leisurely: "The words of Youdu are useless if you can't read them. And this book records the magic of Youdu. Don't you want to know?"

Qin Mu's eyes flickered. "I can't see the words on the book or the door clearly. It's useless to learn the Youdu language now. Besides, it won't make much difference to me if I don't learn the Youdu language. Demon King, there's no need for me to trade with you."

"Hahaha!"

The Demon King of Dutian laughed: "It seems that you still haven't really understood the true mystery of your realm! As long as you learn the Youdu characters on it, you will be stronger than Master Yankang in this realm! Didn't Master Yankang say that others are triangles and he is a straight line? As long as you learn the characters on the portal, your straight line will be longer than his!"

His voice ran around in Qin Mu's mind, with no fixed location, moving left and right. The voice sometimes sounded in front and sometimes came from the back of his head, making Qin Mu unable to grasp his hiding place.

"A lowly creature like you probably doesn't even know what Netherworld is. Let me tell you where Netherworld is!"

"Youdu is the final destination of mortals like you after death. All souls will eventually enter there. It is the place where Emperor Tubo lives and it is the place that rules over the afterlife of all living beings in the world!"

"He is a truly ancient god, a primitive god who controls all death. Even gods and Buddhas will be enslaved by him after death."

"Youdu is not the hell that gods and Buddhas talk about. Hell is used to scare mortals like you. Youdu is a hundred times more cruel than hell!"

"You have mastered the language and magic of the Netherworld, which will strengthen your soul. This is the ladder to becoming a god!"①

Qin Mu was very excited and said with a smile: "Words are not enough. Even if you say something exaggerated, it is hard for me to believe it. If you tell me a magic spell from Youdu, I will believe you."

The Demon King Dutian laughed and said, "You should be able to do it."

Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, and said in a lost voice: "Soul Pulling? Soul Pulling is a spell of Youdu?"

"Soul Pulling is not a complete Netherworld spell, but a Netherworld spell rebuilt by mortals in your world using mortal language. It is far from exerting the power of the real Netherworld spell."

Demon King Dutian said: "The real Netherworld magic uses Netherworld characters, which are much more complicated than the runes in your world. Your runes are just simplified Netherworld characters."

Qin Mu's heart was shaken as he looked at the shadow of the book in his hand. Were the words on this book written in the Youdu language?

Soul-pulling can bring the dead back to life. If one could master the language of Youdu and use it to cast spells, how powerful would the spell be?

Another point is that Demon King Dutian said that the characters of Youdu need to be read out loud and the language needs to be mastered before it can be used. This statement was not a lie.

On that day, on the surface of Yongjiang River, the Taoist priest from Jiuyou Sect who used the Soul-Leading Beacon to summon souls sang an obscure ballad, causing black fog to surge out, and a terrifying dark portal emerged in the middle of the river.

Many of the words of Demon King Dutian are false, but some of them are true.

"Demon King, I once saw an old man at the riverside at night, extraditing the dead. Someone told me that the old man was a ghost. What is the relationship between this ghost and Youdu?" Qin Mu asked, remembering something.

The Demon King of Dutian said, "I am just a messenger under Tubo, responsible for maintaining order. Do you want to learn the language of Youdu?"

"study!"

Qin Mu blinked and said, "Hurry up and teach me!"

The Demon King Dutian laughed and said, "Call the demons and call my ministers over, and I will teach you."

Qin Mu hesitated and said, "After I summon them, if you don't keep your promise, won't I suffer a loss? How about this, I build a wooden statue mechanism, you live in the wooden statue mechanism, you can summon the demons yourself, summon them. You first teach me the language of Youdu, and you summon the demons yourself, won't everyone be happy?"

The Demon King Dutian sneered, "That's a good idea. But if I run out of your body, you can call someone to kill me the next moment. Am I that stupid? I will stay in your body, and you will preside over the demon summoning ceremony! After you summon the demon, I will teach you the language of Youdu!"

Qin Mu sneered: "After I summoned your ministers, what will you do if you don't tell me? Your ministers killed me in a blink of an eye, and you were free, but I died and returned to the underworld! Don't forget, the last time I summoned you, you didn't care about my life or death!"

The scene fell silent.

After a while, the Demon King of Dutian laughed and said, "You little fellow is as smart as a ghost, and it's not easy to fool you. How about this, I will sign an oath with you, you summon the demons to call my subjects, and I will teach you the language of the netherworld. If you break the oath, Tubo will come in person and take away the soul of the one who broke the oath! What do you think?"

Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "Yes! But don't try to fool me. I also know some magic language. Don't think of making a fuss about the oath!"

The Demon King of Dutian laughed and said, "Dirty boy, you are as smart as a ghost. Okay, I will be generous for once and not make a fuss."

Qin Mu heard an extremely obscure magic language in his mind. This magic language was very difficult to understand. Even Qin Mu could only understand half of it. The young man's heart was pounding: "Calm down, calm down, I can't let this demon king see that I am a half-baked person..."

Not long after, the Demon King Dutian finished reciting the oath, and the shape of half a gate slowly emerged in Qin Mu's mind, like half of the gate to Youdu.

"It's your turn." said the Demon King Dutian.

Qin Mu calmed down and tried to figure out the meaning of the magic language that the other half couldn't understand. The Demon King Dutian was a little anxious and urged: "Hurry up, or the gate of Youdu will be broken!"

Qin Mu sneered and said, "You cheated me, I won't sign this alliance anymore."

The Demon King Dutian laughed and said, "You little bastard, you really know some magic language."

Half of the gates of Youdu disappeared, and the devil's language sounded again. Qin Mu understood most of it this time, but there were still some words that he was unsure of, so he continued to guess.

The Demon King Dutian smiled and said, "Okay, okay, you are capable." After that, he dispersed half of the gates of Youdu and made a new oath in the magic language.

Qin Mu suddenly laughed and said, "Demon King, you always cheat. How about we make an oath in the human language?"

The Demon King of Dutian was silent for a moment, then cursed, "You cunning little brat, you only know a little bit about the magic language, so you took the opportunity to steal my magic language, right?"

Note ①: Youdu and Tubo are from the mythology of the pre-Qin period. They are extremely ancient and can be traced back to the primitive society. They were formed many years earlier than the hell system and are one of the oldest and most primitive gods. Some records about Youdu and Tubo can be found in Qu Yuan's Summoning the Soul.

In addition, I would like to ask knowledgeable book friends to recommend a few books on the study of pre-Qin mythology, preferably textual research books, not novels. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is not necessary. Thank you everyone.