Once such ghosts are refined, they develop a strong sense of rebellion against their masters.
It's not uncommon for them to resort to schemes like killing by proxy, betraying their masters to collude with others, or even sacrificing themselves to confront the evil sorcerer who created them.
Over time, the sorcerers managed to devise a special spell to deal with this problem.
That's the Puppet Spell.
The soul is split into two parts. One part is kept in the sorcerer's control, while the other remains in the ghost's original body.
The separated part of the soul is then placed inside a puppet. Although this will relatively weaken the ghost's power,
the sorcerer can now manipulate every move of the ghost, including its thoughts.
This was the case with the sisters Wei He and Wei Xi.
However, the puppet ghost they used was created by directly extracting the soul for control, without splitting it into two.
Such a soul basically has no independent thought, hardly different from a dead one.
It's probably because the creator's cultivation wasn't advanced enough.
"The Soul Lamp uses the principle of the Puppet Spell. The soul is split in two, and one part is placed inside a lamp. Then, with the assistance of the Seven - Star Formation, the lamp flame is kept burning. In fact, what's burning inside is our soul. Thanks to the formation, once our soul gets close, it will be sucked into the lamp. When the entire original body is absorbed by the lamp, the balance of the formation will be disrupted, accelerating the burning of the soul. At that time, the only outcome is to be trapped inside and be completely destroyed."
The old man didn't hesitate to explain everything in detail to Nian Nian. He didn't expect the little girl to understand much.
He just wanted to show that he had no ill intentions.
He was willing to trust Nian Nian whole - heartedly without reservation.
"Back then, when I created this spell, I had the thought of achieving immortality. Later, the Tu family developed various ghost - controlling spells. Immortality wasn't that important anymore. We just wanted to live longer and eliminate demons and protect peace in the world."
The old man sighed with emotion, and his thoughts drifted back to the distant past.
Nian Nian thought carefully and finally understood the principle of the Soul Lamp.
She couldn't help but admire the old man's wisdom.
Only an extraordinary person could develop such a strange and unique spell.
Nian Nian always had great respect for the most powerful people.
At the same time, she was also thinking about a way to counter it.
Her master always said that there was no spell in this world that couldn't be broken; it was just a matter of finding the right method.
There must be a way to protect their souls from being drawn by the Soul Lamp.
Nian Nian suddenly thought of the triangular formation she had created.
Three talismans placed together could isolate external spells.
This could be seen as a form of imprisonment, but also a form of protection.
Maybe it would work?
But she couldn't be sure until she actually tested it.
"Grandpa, I have a self - created talisman formation. It seems to be able to counter the effect of the Soul Lamp. But I can't guarantee its effectiveness until I've tested it. If you're not in a hurry, I can test it first. However, I haven't figured out how to conduct the test yet."
Nian Nian scratched her head. Her little face wrinkled up like a steamed bun as she slowly spoke.
The old man looked surprised, and his thoughts blurted out: "How old are you? You've already created your own spell, and it's a talisman formation?"
"Hehe, I'm six years old this year."
Nian Nian reported her age without hesitation.
The old man was speechless.
He was shocked! Incredibly shocked!
He wasn't really asking about her age!
The little girl was so small that she barely reached his thigh. Who couldn't tell that she was under ten?
The key was, how could someone under ten create a formation, while it had taken him half his life to develop such a spell.
Although the Tu family's spells had become more and more mature over time, it was the result of generations of hard work.
The spells weren't that powerful in the beginning.
Sure enough, comparing people can be infuriating, and comparing goods can make you want to throw them away.
"I know, I know. You're so amazing at six. You're really making the rest of us feel useless."
The old man felt a complex mix of emotions. He really couldn't describe how he felt at that moment.
It was as if there was a big stone blocking his chest, and at the same time, several swords had been stabbed into it.
Don't ask, because he just wanted to find a noodle to hang himself with.
The gap was too big. All his previous little pride had been shattered.
"Grandpa, do you have any idea how we can test it? If my formation really works, aunt won't be destroyed."
Nian Nian was a bit hesitant to go looking for the Soul Lamp in the Hu family.
She really couldn't do such sneaky things.
She was so bad at lying that she would surely give herself away in a second.
So, this arduous task should be left to the aunt.
Nian Nian thought her responsibility was to protect the aunt's soul.
The old man thought and thought.
For a moment, he was at a loss.
They couldn't just let a random soul go and test it on their own. One wrong move, and it would be completely destroyed.
It would be better to just go straight for it.
But they didn't have a Soul Lamp on hand...
No, if they couldn't use a dead person for the experiment, they could use a living one.
"I do have a way, but it's a bit difficult. In the Tu family, we extract the soul of a child right after they're born and make a Soul Lamp while they're still alive. When a living person gets close to the Soul Lamp, they'll have a certain sense, but because they're not a soul body, they won't be greatly affected, and their soul won't be sucked into the lamp.
So, we can just use a living person for the experiment. You use your formation and see if they can still sense the Soul Lamp. Then we'll know if the formation works.
The problem is, we don't have a suitable candidate for this."
The old man expressed his opinion and also pointed out the difficulty in actual operation.
There was simply no suitable candidate.
The Soul Lamp was easy to make. Every generation of the Tu family would extract a soul, and everyone knew this spell.
But the question was, who would be willing to hand over their soul for the experiment?
Use these two kids in front of them as experimental subjects?
No way.
They really couldn't do such a thing.
Asking for help and making someone a guinea pig, and these two looked like they were still just kids. It would seem really greedy.
"Let me think. But for now, let's get out of this cave first. There's some movement outside. I don't know if it's the Hu family's people coming."
Nian Nian sensed some fluctuations around them. These fluctuations didn't come from inside the cave but from outside the huge rock.
There seemed to be shouts of people mixed in.
It was just too far away to hear clearly.
But apart from the Hu family's people, no one else could enter the Hu family's forbidden area.
Nian Nian didn't want these ghosts to fail before they even started.