“Brother…. Are we going to end up like that too?” Lu Zhenling whispered while sobbing. She was truly scared.

It was her first time witnessing an accident firsthand. She had heard of similar incidents before, but never thought much about it. But this was different. Second Elder was an experienced elder, and had held several ceremonies over the years flawlessly. Yet, he still died on the spot with merely one accident, and was banished to the depths of hell.

It had a big impact on both Lu Quan and Lu Zhenling, who were both present to witness the horror firsthand.

“We won’t… Don’t worry, your brother is here,” Lu Sheng comforted her in a soft voice as he hugged his sister, patting her on the back.

His mind, though, was on something else.

How did the summoning and choosing of Protectors work? Especially the summoning. If he could find an extremely powerful Protector, could he save himself all his future trouble and take care of the leaky seal once and for all?

He was also concerned that directly improving his physical body would not be enough to take care of the seal and evil spirits, since they seemed to only exist in energy form.

 ‘It seems I must hold a ceremony when I have the time. I should try to communicate with these so-called Protectors and understand the situation before making a decision. I’ll see if I can directly take care of the evil spirits, then think about taking care of the seal afterward,’ Lu Sheng decided in his mind.

After Second Elder’s failed ceremony, everything soon returned to normal. Lu Dangfeng held a 10-day-long funeral and vigil for the dead; afterwards, everything returned to normal. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, finally managed to turn all of the Essential Essence into gold after constantly adjusting for the improvement provided by Essential Essence and 10 days of repeated evolution of the Unknown Essence Qi Technique that cost him 10 units of Mental Energy.

He named the golden Essential Essence Snake level to correspond to the powerful Snake level above Bind. Some parts of the outer technique cultivation method in the Ultimate Eight-Headed Devil Way had also been evolved rapidly using Mental Energy.

His strength, regenerative ability, and the protection provided by his skin had reached an astonishing level.

After making thorough preparations, Lu Sheng finally started to prepare for his private ceremony to communicate with the Protectors in secret. He had understood all the requirements of the ceremony during his one year of research, and the preparations went smoothly.

After lunch, he made an excuse to rest in his room, and sent away the servants and maids to start arranging the prepared materials while, at the same time, spreading out the white fur carpet that had already been carved with the required patterns.

Since he only had himself, there was only a limited number of Protectors he could summon. But he only wanted to communicate anyway, and that didn’t require the Protector to be powerful.

“Hisss.”

Lu Sheng carefully lit up the dark room with a white candle, then stepped back to stand on the middle of the carpet. He slowly began to sing the strange song that sounded like screeching and danced the weird dance.

As the song and dance went on, dark, looming shapes started to appear in the darkness just outside the edge of the candle light.

The shapes all stood outside of the candle light, quietly watching Lu Sheng’s dance and listening to his voice.

Lu Sheng observed the shadows while continuing the ceremony. According to the records, the choosing of Protectors depended on how dark the shadows were.

 ‘The darker the better?’

Lu Sheng glanced around, and quickly locked his gaze on a tall, muscular figure that looked like he had wild hair.

‘ Alright, you are the one! ‘ He gradually changed the rhythm of his dance, and extended his mind toward the shadow.

‘ Will you sign a contract with me?’ Lu Sheng asked.

‘Gifts? Don’t humans offer a suitable gift if they want a contract? Such is the rule set by our ancient agreement,’ a raspy and hoarse voice said slowly.

‘ What gift would you like? ‘ Lu Sheng asked again.

‘10,000 of the most beautiful white gold flowers. That is what I want, if you can do it ,’ the shadow said in a low voice.

‘I will try.’ Lu Sheng slowly retracted his mind, ending his first communication.

He stopped his dance. The white candle had burnt halfway through, and the flame soon went out as the dance stopped. Everything fell into darkness.

The dark shadows soon disappeared into the darkness, though Lu Sheng couldn’t tell where.

Lu Sheng quickly cleaned the room, and fell in thought as he sat behind his desk.

‘ Every shadow has its own requirements. No wonder Lu Dangfeng and the elders prepared different items every time.’ He stood up . ‘I will try a different one this time.’ 

He began his second ceremony.

The same dance and candle, the same shadows in the darkness. This time, Lu Sheng came with gifts.

Soon, many black shapes started to gather again.

After a while of dancing, Lu Sheng walked to the edge of the candle light and held up a pot of stuff.

‘Anyone who wants brined pig trotter come out now!’

 ‘…’

The crowd of black shadows suddenly stiffened.

In the shadow, a short figure laughed coldly.

“Who does this bastard think we are? Even his dad doesn’t dare be this rude. How dare he bait us with food instead of asking about our needs.”

“We need to teach him a lesson.” Another shadow nodded.

“I’ll go. Let him know that us Protectors kill as well.” A tall, skinny shape took a step.

“No, I will go,” the short shadow said flatly. “It has been a long, long time since I tasted a human…” He let out a low, sharp laugh.

The rest of the shadows instantly started to waver as if they were afraid.

Lu Sheng was still worrying, thinking that maybe he took the wrong direction. Why didn’t any shadow respond yet?

But soon, a short shadow walked toward him and dispelled his doubts.

“I want pig trotters. But I’m too weak…” The black shadow conveyed.

“It’s fine.” Lu Sheng tried his best to smile kindly. “We are companions. I wouldn’t think you are weak since you responded. I would actually be very grateful. ”  ¹

“Really?”

“Of course.” Lu Sheng carefully handed the pig trotters forward as he continued to sing the strange song.

The black shadow looked at Lu Sheng before carefully extending a swirl of shadow forward to the wooden pot. But he still looked hesitant, and suddenly stopped halfway through.

“Are you sure… you don’t mind?” the short shadow asked.

“Of course. I’m overjoyed in fact, why would I mind?” Lu Sheng smiled again softly.

The short shadow made a swallowing sound, and his hands again reached toward the wooden pot.

When it was about to touch the wooden pot, it suddenly stopped.

“I… I’m still worried…”

“No need to worry.” Lu Sheng tried his best to make his smile look harmless. “I am human. Even if I have ill intentions, I can’t harm you, can I? There is no need for you to be this afraid at all.”

“But… But…”

“But what?”

“But I still have the feeling you are tricking me…” The short shadow hesitated. “Maybe if you come a little closer. Or I wouldn’t believe you!” He could drag him into the darkness and begin his feast as soon as he left the candle light!

“A bit closer? Of course, of course!” Lu Sheng took a step forward without any hesitation.

He did take the step, but it gave the short shadow the impression he was the one who couldn’t wait.

“Alright… then… then I’m grabbing it?”

“Take it, take it!” Lu Sheng hurriedly pushed the wooden pot forward.

The short shadow again reached out with a swirl of shadow from its depth toward the wooden pot.

“Wait!” he suddenly shouted again.

Lu Sheng tried his hardest to maintain the smile on his smile, and asked, “Yes?”

“I… am still a little.. afraid!”

“Then what else do you need? You could tell me all at once,” Lu Sheng asked again.

“I… I… Come a little closer, I will whisper it to you…” the short shadow said timidly.

“Of course… of course, of course!” Lu Sheng hurriedly went closer.

“I want…” The short shadow was ecstatic, and sent another swirl of shadow toward Lu Sheng from the side.

“Boom!!!”

But before he even acted, a human shape as hot as a fiery furnace charged into the crowd of shadows.

“Ahahahaha! Stop right there! Anyone who runs will die!!!”

Lu Sheng grabbed the short shadow like a hungry tiger hunting for its prey and threw him backward. The Essence Qi surrounded his whole body like a layer of white mist, his strength even stronger than a herd of stampeding bulls. He grabbed again with his hand, this time at the shadow with the tallest figure, and threw him backward.

The crowd of shadows was in an uproar. Many were enraged, and frantically tried to charge into Lu Sheng. But all shadows were blocked by something strange, with no single exception.

Lu Sheng accurately grabbed the shadows one by one, and threw them into the dim formation pattern. In a few seconds, he grabbed a dozen already.

The rule was that entering the circle meant signing a contract with whomever held the ceremony.

These Protectors all possessed shocking strength, and had black mist for bodies. They had never met someone that could go toe-to-toe to them, let alone a monster like Lu Sheng, who treated all other strength as inferior.

Those who resisted too much were slapped once before being thrown into the candle lit circle after they fainted.

“The agreement!! You broke the ancient agreement!!” a black shadow screamed.

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng walked up, and slapped him so hard the shadow split apart. Then he grabbed his hair, and threw him toward the candle light.

“Agreement my a*s! Be glad I even offered you a pot of trotters!”

The rest of the shadows were scared half to death, and hurriedly dispersed, trying to escape. In the end, Lu Sheng couldn’t do anything about it, either, and returned after he failed to catch any more. His gaze landed on the shadows inside of the candle lit circle.

18 shadows stood dumbly inside the candle light. The atmosphere was extremely awkward.

“Wonderful, wonderful, that proves that be it Protectors or evil spirits, they can all be harmed by physical contact. That make things easier.” Lu Sheng was greatly satisfied when he returned.

“Does anyone here know how to deal with Evil Spirits?” He sent his thoughts to the dozens of shadow present.

No one responded.

Lu Sheng laughed coldly.

“It seems you refuse to cry unless you see your own coffin…” He had confirmed that these shadows were pseudo-energy life forms, and had, by some chance, gained the ability to communicate and bond with humans to mutually benefit each other.

And since they were alive, they could die.

“You will die!” The short shadow’s icy thoughts came through.

“You dare treat us like that, then no Protector would ever help you with the evil spirits. No way!” another shadow said icily.

“Kill us if you dare, or release us and give us gifts as compensation. Or you could kill yourself to make up for your crimes,” a third shadow said coldly.

“Kill myself?” Lu Sheng laughed coldly.

“Bam!”

He landed a hit squarely on the shadow that just talked.

After a sharp sound, the black shadow twisted, then abruptly exploded, merging into the surrounding darkness.

Lu Sheng incorporated the power of his spirit in that strike—while his fist struck out, his spirit also formed shark spikes, and penetrated the shadow’s mind.

A Divine Lord level spirit could bend reality to a certain point, let alone initiating a basic spiritual attack like this.

Combined with his fist, the black shadow instantly dispersed into the primal darkness, annihilated.