“Can you move away from me? You’re too close, disturbing my train of thought,” the Ghost Gu Black Robe, who had been sticking to me like a stray dog, yelled.
“You… fine, I won’t hold a grudge against a petty person. I’ll move further away.” Although the Ghost Gu Black Robe didn’t have much temper with others, he was quite irritable with me. However, realizing that if he disrupted my concentration on deciphering the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram, he would be the one to suffer in the end, I could only pout and put some distance between us.
With this distance, I could boldly try to see if my ideas were correct.
The door had 108 raised dots, which perfectly matched the number of Heavenly Gang Seals. Although I couldn’t see the position of these dots, after touching them, I understood the arrangement order of the Heavenly Seals.
With this in mind, I glanced at the dwarf who was meditating with his eyes closed. I subtly formed a Heavenly Speed Seal. As soon as the seal was formed, I felt a slight pull from the door, which startled me, and I immediately abandoned the seal.
Could it be that the Heavenly Gang Seals were the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram?
That shouldn’t be the case!
If the Heavenly Gang Seals were the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram, my master would have told me, right? I still trusted my master on this, because some things couldn’t be used to their full potential without explanation, and hexagrams were the same.
Similarly, when casting a hexagram, different techniques and true qi would produce different effects. Although this difference was very small, it had a significant impact, even affecting the trend of the hexagram.
With a plan in mind, I stopped trying to rush and pretended to ponder how to break it, but my inner thoughts were about how to escape from here and leave them behind.
The Fifth Prince had only given me 48 hours. Regardless of whether I rescued the old Daoists or not, he would collapse the underground palace. This would not only protect the safety of his own tomb but also prevent anyone else from coveting his underground palace in the future.
The best method would be to use the same trick I used on Li Zuoquan, luring him into the underground palace and trapping him inside. However, this method was clearly not feasible now. They had too many people and their strength was far superior to Li Zuoquan’s. It would be difficult to repeat the same trick. Moreover, the remaining Heavenly Gang Seals only knew the incantations but had not practiced the unlocking techniques, making it difficult to open the door.
Just as I was pondering how to deal with the current predicament, a faint sound reached my ears. The sound was barely louder than a mosquito’s, but it called my name.
“Song Qingyun… Song Qingyun…”
A small insect landed on my shoulder, and the voice was coming from it. The owner of the voice was Fifth Princess. To attract the attention of the dwarf, I pretended to cough and replied, “Mm, I heard.”
I tried to lower my voice as much as possible, but it still attracted the dwarf’s attention. He stared at me with his small eyes and asked, “What did you hear?”
I cursed him inwardly, was he a dog? His ears were so sharp?
“I heard some movement inside the door. Don’t you believe me? You can listen too?”
“There’s movement?” The dwarf looked at me suspiciously for a long time, then walked to the door, put his ear against it, and listened himself.
After listening for a long time, he couldn’t make out anything. He angrily shouted, “Kid, there’s no sound there. You’d better not play tricks on me, or don’t blame me for being impolite.”
I spread my hands to show I wouldn’t dare, and continued to pretend to study the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram, while actually waiting for Yue’er’s next instruction.
“Don’t speak, just listen to me. My father’s army is lurking behind the door. In a moment, you will lure them all to the front of the door. I will cooperate with you to open the door. The moment the door opens, you run out. Remember not to look back, no matter who calls your name, don’t look back, do you understand?”
I nodded, indicating I understood, but a question arose in my mind. I could understand not looking back; during the passage of Yin soldiers, anyone who made eye contact with them would be taken away and joined them. But who would call me? I had never heard of Yin soldiers calling people?
Although I had doubts, I couldn’t voice them. I had to get through this hurdle first. If I couldn’t get through this, talking about anything else would be futile. I walked up to the dwarf and kicked him awake.
“I’ve found a way to open the door. Have them all come over to help.”
“What? You found a way? So quickly?” The dwarf jumped up in surprise, as if this was impossible. He had been at a loss just moments ago, and now he had found a way to open the door in the blink of an eye. Wasn’t that ridiculous?
Although the underground space was large, due to the silence, the dwarf’s shout attracted everyone. The fastest to arrive was Old Ghost, followed by Tian Can and Di Que, and the last was Old Blind Man.
Before Old Ghost even arrived, his voice came, “Dwarf, what happened? Did that kid play tricks?”
“He didn’t play tricks, it’s just…”
“If he didn’t play tricks, why are you shouting?” Old Ghost glared at the dwarf, very displeased that his rest had been disturbed. The others, although silent, also showed signs of dissatisfaction.
“This kid says he found a way to open the underground palace door.”
“What? You found a way?”
Everyone immediately turned their gaze towards me, especially Tian Can, who stared at me intently with his remaining eye, as if trying to see something else from me.
“Kid, you’re not lying to us, are you? We’ve been studying for decades without any results, and you found the trick in less than an hour?” Tian Can asked disbelievingly.
“I did find a way, but whether it’s accurate yet cannot be confirmed. I’m preparing to ask a few seniors to verify it. If you don’t believe me, seniors, look at the door.”
I didn’t explain further. As soon as I finished speaking, I formed the Heavenly Speed Seal. Immediately, a yellow dot lit up on the door, looking like a firefly, exceptionally conspicuous on the dark door.
Instantly, all their eyes were drawn to the bright spot on the door. Tian Can confirmed that there was no yellow dot on the door before. Seeing my hand still in the sealing posture, he said to everyone, “That’s right, this kid has indeed found a way to unlock the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram.”
Tian Can’s words made everyone laugh heartily. Old Ghost even laughed with his eyes closed and mumbled, “Good kid, you are solely responsible for getting into the underground palace this time. If I can find the Half-Yin Realm, I might consider letting you live.”
I naturally thanked him for sparing my life, but my face showed a look of hesitation, as if I had something to say but hesitated.
“Is there any difficulty?”
I nodded and replied, “It is indeed a bit troublesome. To open the underground palace, one must open the Ghost Mark Yin Hexagram. However, my strength is limited, and I cannot break the hexagram in one go. Therefore, I need everyone’s help.”
“How can you help?”
“I need to set up a battle formation here. Seniors can input their true qi into the formation, and I can use the seniors’ yang energy to perform the seals. I don’t know if the seniors agree.”
“This…”
Upon hearing about borrowing yang energy, the old fellows became vigilant, especially Old Ghost, whose eyes widened before he slowly said, “Is there no other way besides this?”
I shook my head, indicating there wasn’t. This was the only method I could think of. Otherwise, I would have to wait until I advanced another cultivation level.
“Dwarf, take this kid to eat something. We’ll discuss it among ourselves.”
The dwarf nodded in agreement and then took me away from the underground palace door.
They finished their discussion very quickly. Before the instant noodles were even ready, they had already concluded. Tian Can, Di Que, the Dwarf, and Old Blind Man would provide yang energy to me. As for Old Ghost, he was responsible for supervision. Firstly, he was too old, and his yin energy was greater than his yang energy. If he provided it to me, he would die immediately. Secondly, he was the strongest among them, and if there was any unforeseen situation, he could handle it. Su Dan Novel Network
With the plan confirmed, I didn’t waste any time. I took out my belongings and began to set up the Six Yao Profound Yang Array on the ground. However, while setting up the array, I made a slight modification, changing the Profound Yang Array to the Reverse Profound Yang Array. As long as they input their yang energy into the array, the array would continuously absorb their yang energy to maintain its operation, giving me ample time to escape.
As for Old Ghost, who was not participating, he knew that there were Yin soldiers to deal with, so I didn’t need to worry about him. With everything ready, I told them that they could begin.
Without any doubt, they all injected their yang energy into the array. I, standing in the center of the array, felt a warmth all over my body, as if I had fallen into a milk bath, only lacking the urge to hum.
With this great opportunity and abundant yang energy to waste, it would be a disservice to myself not to practice the Heavenly Gang Seals. As I performed the Heavenly Gang Seals, the yellow dots on the door gradually increased.
When I had performed seventy-two seals, the door finally cracked open. This made Old Ghost rub his hands excitedly. The others also showed excited expressions. Seeing that they were all staring at the palace gate.
I cast the Heavenly Speed Seal on myself and bolted. Before they could react, a whistling sound came from behind me, and countless Yin soldiers and ghost generals rushed out from the crack. Tian Can and Di Que, who were closest to the palace gate, didn’t even have time to let out a sound before they were instantly killed.
Old Ghost was stunned for a moment, then let out a roar.
“Kid, you tricked me! Wait until I…” The rest of his words were completely drowned out by the ghost’s howl.
I thought I was running very fast, but I felt like something was following me. At the same time, I heard a murmuring sound, which sounded somewhat like Sanskrit.
Just as I was about to listen carefully to what it was, a clear shout reached my ears: “Don’t listen, this is the sound of Yin soldiers.”
Yue’er’s words made me shiver. I covered my ears and ran desperately. At this moment, the cave also began to shake violently, and stones the size of human heads began to fall. Fortunately, the Heavenly Speed Seal allowed me to detect danger in advance.
Seeing the light ahead, I rejoiced, finally escaping. However, before I could be happy for too long, a stone slab the size of a door slowly descended from the sky.
If I rushed forward, I would be crushed to death by the stone slab, but if I didn’t, I would be trapped here to die. Since death was inevitable either way, I gritted my teeth and exerted all my strength to rush out. I felt like I was flying, soaring through the air like Superman, and then I knew nothing more.
When I woke up again, I found myself lying in a hospital. There was a person slumped by my bedside. Upon closer inspection, it was Yue’er. I slightly moved my hand, which had gone numb from being pressed by her, but I didn’t expect to wake her up.
“You’re awake? That’s great. I’ll go call the hospital in a moment…”
The doctor examined me and said there was no major problem. I could be discharged after resting for ten days to half a month. During my rest, I learned the entire story from Yue’er.
Zhang Dabiao and the others brought the sleeping Daoist and Heavenly Master Fang to Qingfeng Mountain. However, Gui Jianchou and his group perished in Zhongshan, and the entire Qingfeng Mountain collapsed, attracting the high attention of the local government, which dispatched a large number of personnel to investigate.
I should have been invited for a cup of tea by them, but for some reason, it was dropped.
While I was unconscious, Wang Defa visited me once and left a handbag, repeatedly emphasizing that only I could open it.
When I opened the bag, it contained several photos. Looking at the people in them, I was stunned because they were none other than my father and master. They were tied up in a secret room, covered in blood, as if they had been tortured.
A note read: “If you want to save them, come to Kyoto. I’ll be waiting for you here…”