True Monarch Yellow Mountain immediately gave Song Shuhang a call, but after listening to a melodious caller tune that played over and over again three times in total, all he heard was, "I am sorry, the person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later!"

He hung up in frustration, ‘What is little friend Shuhang doing? Why isn’t he picking up his phone?’

At this moment however, Song Shuhang was busy making a contract with the ghost spirit. His phone was in silent mode, so of course he couldn’t receive the call.

What should I do, should I try to send him a message via the thousand mile sound transmitter? True Monarch Yellow Mountain thought to himself.

However, he shook his head immediately after. Even though Song Shuhang had a ‘thousand mile sound transmitter’ in his possession, his strength and capability were insufficient. If they were to have an exchange, it would only be a one-way conversation—the other side would only be able to hear, but not speak.

At that time, if Venerable White were to stand next to Song Shuhang and listen in on the contents of their conversation, it would be bad as it would be awkward.

I shall try again a little later. Also, the first batch of cars that was ordered would have to be sent to that parking area in Jiangnan tomorrow, so I might as well tell little friend Shuhang about Venerable White’s past then!

That was True Monarch Yellow Mountain’s plan.

***

On another side. Since it was still between 11 PM and 1 AM, Venerable White decided to redo the ‘Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar’ formation.

This time, the saliva of ghost dragon was not used. This was because the ghost spirit managed to escape from the spirit-binding ice bead, hence the saliva of ghost dragon would no longer be effective.

After erecting the formation, Venerable White directly pinned the fist-sized ghost spirit onto the center of the ‘Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar’. He did not even employ any sealing formation.

The ghost spirit fidgeted uneasily for a bit, but eventually settled down obediently in its original position. It was already very weak, to the extent that it could barely stir—well, even if it could move, it did not have the guts to do that anyway!

"Shuhang, in a moment, skip the five tribulations; directly activate the formation and make the contract with it," reminded Venerable White.

The ghost spirit was extremely weak at this moment, and also because its ‘middle rank’ was temporarily lowered, even the small golden shield could not be used by it. Not to mention the Five Tribulations, even the first ‘Metal Tribulation’ might be enough to take away its small life.

Song Shuhang nodded and started chanting the incantations, surrounded the formation and performed a round of the dance. Thereafter, he placed both hands on the formation, activating the ‘Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar’.

Upon activation, he skipped the first steps and directly engaged the power of the ‘Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar’ formation to create a ‘contract’ that he sent in the direction of the ghost spirit.

The ghost spirit shook slightly. It did not resist this time and obediently accepted the ghost spirit contract. It was already too weak—if it did not receive any supplements, it might well end up in danger of dissipating entirely.

Moreover, ever since the core of ghost spirit was gathered, its intellect was raised by quite a bit—it understood the logic behind the phrase "a wise man will not fight when the odds are obviously stacked against him". [1]

In order to survive and quickly recover its power, after completing the contract with Song Shuhang it needed to take the initiative to link its consciousness and energy with Song Shuhang.

Because of that, the time taken by Song Shuhang to synchronize and proceed with the process of sharing consciousness and energy would be significantly shortened.

It would take around a week at most for him to fully synchronize with the ghost spirit.

All preparations were in order, thus Song Shuhang shouted, "Contract, establish!"

The stones of the five elements above the Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar, as well as all kinds of materials of similar alignment all lit up. Ultimately, the power of the formation was transformed into two contract runes—one of them was integrated into the ghost spirit’s body, and the other merged with Song Shuhang’s heart.

"I succeeded!" Song Shuhang cheered joyfully. It only took him two attempts to succeed, this result was way better than expected.

Think about the number of times Soft Feather failed!

"You did well," Venerable White said and continued giving pointers, "take advantage of the fact that the contract just got established and thus the effects of the ‘Five Elements Spirit Contracting Altar’ have not entirely disappeared, quickly use your meditation technique to try and establish a connection with the ghost spirit. Strike while the iron is hot."

"Yes!" Song Shuhang sat cross-legged on the ground, using the ❮True Self Meditation Scripture❯.

Mental energy radiated from within his ‘True Self’, following the contract runes in an attempt to link with the ghost spirit.

The ghost spirit started to float over the formation. Following the rune within his heart, it entered Song Shuhang’s body.

Thereafter, Song Shuhang experienced a sudden zero gravity sensation that was felt when taking an elevator. His senses have then merged with those of the ghost spirit.

He could interact with the external world via the ghost spirit!

Just like human beings, ghost spirits had senses—be it hearing, sight, smell, or touch, they were the same.

However, their sense of sight could undergo further transformation—on top of having the same visuals as human beings, they also possessed "sight of god"—the ability to have a bird’s-eye view from the skies.

At this moment, Song Shuhang could feel—via the ghost spirit—that he was in a warm place; warm energy from all directions was surging towards the ghost spirit, allowing it to swiftly recover and return to its original state.

"This is...Heart Aperture?" Song Shuhang immediately understood—the place where the ghost spirit resided was the first aperture he had opened, the Heart Aperture. The energy that kept flowing towards the ghost spirit was in fact Song Shuhang’s qi and blood energy.

The energy consumption required for the ghost spirit to recover from its wounds previously had been huge, so its rank had dropped from middle to low. As of now, it required huge amounts of qi and blood energy to heal its injuries and then raise its rank back to a ‘middle-rank ghost spirit’.

What a waste, I opened only one aperture; the qi and blood energy I could provide for the ghost spirit would thus be limited. If I could open another aperture, I would be able to provide two times the qi and blood energy, and the ghost spirit’s recovery would definitely be faster, am I right?

Song Shuhang thought to himself.

He had to put in some extra effort—before the ghost spirit made a full recovery, it would keep consuming the qi and blood energy from within his aperture until it recovered and it would be unable to accelerate his cultivation speed. Eventually, it would end up increasing the difficulty of him opening another Heart Aperture.

However, sharpening your ax does not delay your job of cutting firewood. I will just take this consumption as payment for the preparations pertaining to the ghost spirit add-on. [2]

This thought flashed across Song Shuhang’s mind. Meanwhile, the ghost spirit within the Heart Aperture started shaking all of a sudden.

Thereafter, the body of the ghost spirit started dissipating—apart from keeping the core of ghost spirit and maintaining the minimum amount of energy necessary to sustain its body, other parts of its body turned into pure energy that was being sent straight into Song Shuhang’s Heart Aperture.

In the next moment, this pure energy overflowed steadily from the Heart Aperture, following the channel between the Heart Aperture and the Eye Aperture, pouring into the latter.

What did this mean? Song Shuhang didn’t need to take long and quickly realized—the ghost spirit meant to help him open his Eye Aperture!

Next, Song Shuhang once again experienced the same refreshing sensation he once felt when he stood at the coordinates given to him by the seniors outside the Moon Saber Sect—when his blood and qi quantity within the aperture rocketed.

But this time, the qi and blood quantity within the Eye Aperture increased at a much faster rate… and even more violently!

Venerable White on the side quickly sensed Song Shuhang’s unusual condition.

He gave Song Shuhang a quick examination and laughed heartily.

"As expected, the luck of this young fellow daoist isn't half bad, "Venerable White softly said to himself. Soon after, he took out the old bronze ring that once belonged to the man in green daoist robe whose flying corpse flew from far away and landed on the ground.

To an esteemed figure like Venerable White, a Third Stage equipment like this ring was of a grade that was too low. Even if it was the most useful spirit gathering formation, it was still useless to him—the effects of the spirit gathering formation which Venerable White drew himself inside the fridge would not be any weaker than that of the bronze ring.

Of course, to the First Stage Song Shuhang, the effects of the spirit gathering formations on it would be very good!

Venerable White reached his hands out and rubbed on the bronze ring, removing the seal of the original owner, Li Tiansu. After that, he squatted next to Song Shuhang, putting the ring on his hand.

He laughed and said softly, "At least this can offset some of the money you used to buy a computer, mobile phone, and other items for me."

Such a gift from Venerable White, to Song Shuhang, had the same effect as bringing a painted dragon to life by adding pupils to its eyes. [3]

When the ring was worn on his finger, it was automatically activated. In an instant, the spiritual qi around him became stronger. When he breathed, he could breathe in quite an amount of pure spiritual qi.

In his Eye Aperture, qi and blood quantity kept on rising and rising!

At last, just like the Heart Aperture, under the right conditions, the Eye Aperture opened!

Song Shuhang opened his eyes; rays of light shot out from both of them. At the same time, black tears flowed from the corners of his eyes—that was the result of impurities, which blocked the Eye Aperture earlier, being expelled from his body upon the opening of the Eye Aperture.

The second aperture, Eye Aperture—open!

Having been practicing for only one month, to accomplish the feat of opening two apertures consecutively for a First Stage was rare, even for disciples from big and famous sects. Even though Song Shuhang resorted to more tricks than others, luck to cultivators was also one of the many forms of strength and capability!

Fate was a mystery of mysteries, but no cultivator would belittle fate and destiny. If luck was enough to defy the natural order, a small useless being could eventually become one of the most almighty figures in the world.

Cultivating was a job that relied a lot on fate and destiny!

Song Shuhang wiped the black tears from the corners of his eyes and lightly blinked.

At this moment, he felt like the entire world seemed like it upgraded from a standard-definition video to a high-definition video. The feeling was such a rush that he just stood there with a blank face!

***

On another side, inside Jiangnan’s prison.

Zhao Bulu sat on the bed.

The western monk was in front of him. His face was stern as he was chanting, "From now till death, do not kill. Do you obey?

Zhao Bulu with tears in both eyes said, "I obey."

The western monk continued to ask, "From now till death, do not steal. Do you obey?"

Zhao Bulu choked with sobs, "I obey."

The western monk asked for the third time, "From now till death, do not tell lies. Do you obey?"

Zhao Bulu quivered as he responded, "I obey."

The western monk nodded his head in approval and used his fingers like a knife to lightly scrape Zhao Bulu’s head.

Strands of Zhao Bulu’s black hair kept falling.

The western monk asked once again, "From now till death, do not consume alcohol. Do you obey?"

Zhao Bulu answered expressionlessly, "I obey."

The western monk was full of satisfaction as he shaved all of his hair—all that was left was just a shiny bald head. Last but not least, he said, "From now till death, do not lust. Do you obey?"

Zhao Bulu’s eyes and face were devoid of emotion. "I obey."

"Excellent, excellent!" The western monk retrieved the special incense stick, which he prepared earlier, and poked Zhao Bulu’s head six times in a row, creating six neat burn scars.

The western monk blew at his head and admired his masterpiece with much content, "I’m so nice to you—I gave you six scars at one go. Unlike your teacher’s master, who only gave me four scars—I had to add two more myself."

Zhao Bulu’s lifeless eyes finally showed a tinge of emotions, one that was full of grief and sorrow— I wish you were as stingy as your master, it would have been even better if you did not burn a single scar on my head !