At the peak of Wudang Mountain, five formless and silent spirits appeared quietly. After floating to the top of the mountain, they paused briefly, communicated in detail, and then flew into the Chao Tian Palace.
Of course, the spirits do not speak; they communicate through a very mysterious vibration. I will translate the general meaning for you.
Spirit A: "Sisters, I smell the scent of living humans."
Spirit B: "But there are two annoying sword maidens guarding ahead."
Spirit A: "It's fine. They won't detect us. We just need to rush in, take control of those fragile human bodies, and make them kill each other. It's not difficult at all."
Spirit C: "But if we enter human bodies, we can't come out... At most, we can kill a dozen or so people, and then the remaining humans will kill us all. Isn't that a sure death?"
Spirit A: "But we will have killed a dozen humans!"
Spirit C: "But we will be dead too? Why should we risk our souls to kill a dozen humans? What benefit does it bring us?"
Spirit A: "...... Although what you said makes sense, I can't figure out why we should kill a dozen humans. But my body is uncontrollably rushing to kill. Sisters, let's go... let's kill..."
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As Spirit A said, the five spirits easily passed through the defense line formed by Yue Wang and Yue Ling, not even needing to go through the main gate of Chao Tian Palace, directly penetrating the walls.
Indeed, inside the Chao Tian Palace, countless humans were sitting on the ground, chatting and laughing, completely unaware that the spirits had already intruded.
Spirit A: "Sisters, everyone find your own target. After controlling their bodies, follow my commands and act together to kill the humans around you!"
The five spirits quickly dispersed, beginning to search for their targets... Choosing a target for the spirits to control is a very particular matter. First, they cannot choose strong men, as their robust bodies and abundant yang energy make it difficult for the spirits to control them quickly. When these men resist, they might foam at the mouth, babble, or jump around, showing symptoms similar to epilepsy, which would easily be detected by Gu Han. Moreover, the yang energy of these strong men can severely harm the spirits.
Especially the twenty-eight Taoist priests, who practice martial arts daily, have bodies as strong as oxen, and are completely untouchable.
Second, they cannot choose the elderly or children, as their bodies are too weak. They might be useful in the initial surprise attack, but once the humans react, they will be easily overpowered.
Thus, the best choice is young human females. Their physical strength, while much weaker than that of strong men, is still sufficient.
"That's her!" Spirit A quickly chose such a target, a beautiful girl of seventeen or eighteen. Around her, four or five young men were vying for her attention, playing out a tragicomedy of a goddess and her suitors.
A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl, whose mind is mostly empty except for thoughts of love, is extremely easy for Spirit A to control. In less than three seconds, the girl's original consciousness was suppressed deep into her mind, and Spirit A had taken complete control of her body.
"Yuruo, look, this is the morning glory I found on the back mountain. I heard the admiral say that morning glories have been completely extinct outside, and this is the last one in the world. I'm giving it to you!" A simple-looking young man held up a morning glory and flattered the girl possessed by Spirit A.
"Don't lie, the back mountain is full of them, and you say they're extinct? How can you say that?" Another young man pushed the simple-looking one aside and held up a small piece of a mirror. "Dear sister, this is my mother's heirloom, the Huntuan Mirror. It's one of the few mirrors left on Wudang Mountain. I stole it from my mother to give to you, hoping you will like it..."
"Yuruo, his is no good, look at mine..." The four or five young men surrounded the girl possessed by Spirit A, named Yuruo, desperately trying to win her favor. This gave Spirit A a better idea.
"Sister, control complete..."
"Sister, suppression complete..."
Soon, the other four spirits also sent messages, indicating they had controlled their chosen targets and were ready to attack the surrounding humans at any time.
"Not yet!" Spirit A transmitted this thought, temporarily calming her sisters. "I have a fun idea, let me play first..."
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In the early years of the game, the "Wudang Peak" dungeon was a huge challenge because players had no way to deal with the spirits' second-to-last wave of attacks.
The spirits entered the Chao Tian Palace at random times, and their chosen targets were also random. Their possession process was completely silent, and players had no way of knowing which survivor had been possessed.
A single player could not possibly monitor the actions of over seven hundred people. When the five spirits simultaneously attacked, players were overwhelmed. Even if they managed to block one spirit, they could not control the other four.
In the early years, the spirits' wave was impossible to defend against. As soon as this wave came, survivors would inevitably die from the spirits' ambush. Not only was an SSS rating impossible, but even an SS rating was unattainable.
Over time, a player with expertise in electromagnetic waves found a way to detect the spirits. This player was very interested in the ancient communication systems of Beijing from several hundred years ago and spent his free time studying them.
At one point, he suddenly noticed that the communication device was emitting a strong, staticky noise, which was very unusual. Without other electromagnetic interference, the communication device would not produce static. But now, on the peak of Wudang Mountain, in a world where human activity had drastically decreased, how could the communication device suddenly receive such strong electromagnetic interference?
Just as the player was about to study this further, the spirits suddenly attacked, killing a dozen survivors before the players managed to suppress them.
In an instant, he had a flash of insight and understood everything. Before the Great Catastrophe, studies had shown that spirits were real, but they did not exist in physical form; instead, they existed as electromagnetic waves.
In a sense, the human body is very similar to a robot. The human brain acts as the central processor, sending various commands through the nervous system in the spine as microcurrents to control all the body's organs and muscles.
Therefore, scientists hypothesized that when a human dies, their soul does not die immediately. The electrical activity in the brain continues for a considerable time before finally ceasing. This is similar to a capacitor, where the energy supply is cut off, but the capacitor still contains active electrons.
Of course, in most cases, the electrical activity in the brain of a normally deceased person gradually dissipates. However, if the person died violently, such as through torture, beheading, a car accident, murder, or extreme humiliation, their brain activity would be much more intense, hundreds of times more than a normal death. In such cases, the electrical activity in the brain is much harder to dissipate. If there is additional external electrical stimulation, such as lightning, the brain's electrical activity can form a higher-level brain electromagnetic wave, which detaches from the brain and becomes what humans call a spirit or ghost.
This brain electromagnetic wave, like a television signal containing a lot of image information, can suddenly intrude into another person's brain, inserting the ghost's memories and creating the sensation of seeing a ghost.
(Please don't say the author is making things up. This is the most plausible explanation for ghosts, based on many news reports and scientific hypotheses. It can be scientifically explained.)
In other words, spirits are actually very complex, strong electromagnetic waves. Communication systems that rely on electromagnetic waves for communication naturally receive interference from the spirits' electromagnetic waves, producing static.
Later, this player published his discovery on the forum and also shared a simple method to modify the communication device. His post immediately attracted the interest of many players. After testing, it was confirmed that the modified communication device could detect the arrival of spirits.
Further research by players revealed that the size, pitch, and frequency of the sounds could be used to determine the distance of the spirits from the communication device, allowing players to take preventive measures, significantly reducing the number of deaths caused by the spirits' wave.
Later, the Council even developed a spirit detector based on this discovery, making the previously difficult-to-defend ghosts much less of a threat. The player who first published his discovery was awarded great merit by the Council and became a rare example of someone who rose from a commoner to a citizen through their own efforts.
I've digressed a bit, let's return to Gu Han.
"They're here!" Gu Han, who had been sitting quietly on the ground, suddenly said. At the same time, the communication device on the ground began to emit static.
Shuihan, who had been instructed by Gu Han, immediately gripped her sword tightly, nervously watching the crowd, which seemed unchanged. Gu Han, with his eyes closed, listened intently to the static from the communication device, trying to determine the positions of the five spirit enemies.