When Qin Yi rushed to Longevity Temple, he saw that the Ascension Platform had already burned down. Li Qinglin was directing the soldiers to put out the fire, and the thick smoke was enough to make one choke.
Through the smoke, Qin Yi could see no fewer than nine eunuchs lying at Li Qinglin's feet. The killing intent in the scene carried an oddly comical air, so he asked, "What is this?"
Li Qinglin smiled. "They came bearing Father King's decree. Well, naturally, they got lost. I never received any decree."
Qin Yi could not help laughing. He returned the Jade Pendant to him. "Thank you for the lifesaving charm, Brother Li. This flower is beautiful."
Li Qinglin weighed the Jade Pendant in his hand without saying anything, then added, "I have already deployed men throughout the city and outside it, spreading out to maintain a strict cordon. Unless there is a tunnel below that leads dozens of miles beyond the city, Dong Huazi will have difficulty escaping. If there really is such a long tunnel, then we can only accept it. So long as we stabilize the situation, he will not be able to turn the heavens upside down."
A tunnel extending dozens of miles was unlikely. At most, it probably led somewhere within or outside the city. Qin Yi greatly admired Li Qinglin's meticulousness. With such a godlike teammate at his side, the other side probably had no idea how to turn the tables.
"So you called me here because you want to enter the underground palace and search it?"
"Yes... Just now, I tried sending smoke down there, but discovered a strange array below. The smoke returned on its own. I considered flooding it with water, but digging a channel would not be so quick. We cannot maintain the outer cordon for long. If we do not go down and eliminate him soon, every day we delay will double his chances of escape."
Qin Yi gave an "Mm." The more a strange array guarded the place, the more it proved that the place below was a core site where one could remain for a long time. Something like the Demon Refining Array, for example, was very likely all down there. There was no telling how many traps and strange arts lay within, so naturally Li Qinglin did not dare descend rashly.
He walked to the entrance. The charred wood beside it had already been moved away by the soldiers, and the entrance mechanism had been blown apart, exposing a pitch-black passage with stone steps leading downward into unknown depths.
Li Qinglin said behind him, "I believe breaking the arrays below will be no more than an ordinary matter for Brother Qin. But in such an environment, if Dong Huazi knows what he is doing, it would not be hard for him to bury everyone who goes down alive. We must first discuss this carefully. We cannot act recklessly."
Qin Yi was worried about that as well. He had watched too many television dramas and read too many novels; anyone who operated an underground palace generally had this sort of self-destruction method. It had practically become a fixed rule. Going in would be very dangerous.
Pretending to circle the entire area and inspect the surroundings, he muttered as though talking to himself, "Is there a way?"
Naturally, he was speaking for Liusu to hear. Liusu said, "Set up the Wu Earth Grand Array. Compact this entire area, and even if it self-destructs, it will not collapse."
There was such an awesome grand array? Qin Yi felt somewhat unsure of himself, but continued muttering thoughtfully, "If it is the Wu Earth Grand Array... my mana may not be enough..."
"Your mana is insufficient, but you can make up for it with some useful spiritual materials," Liusu said. "They are right here in the ruins of this Ascension Platform. At a glance, I can see countless good things, and many are exactly suited for this purpose."
Qin Yi thought to himself that using Dong Huazi's own hoarded treasures to kill him really was satisfying. Putting on an expression of sudden inspiration, he dashed back to the ruins and began rummaging through them while shouting, "You, you, you—go move that piece of wood away. Right, right, move that cauldron underneath over there... That one—do you see the jade on the plaque above? Pry that jade off..."
The army sprang into action. Before long, everything Qin Yi needed had been arranged neatly before him.
Qin Yi took a sword and drew it with a clang, cold light flashing forth.
"It has considerable spiritual energy and has been refined," Liusu evaluated. "It does not qualify as a magical artifact, but its spiritual energy will do nicely for carving array patterns."
Following her instructions, Qin Yi arranged the various objects in their proper positions and swiftly traced patterns between them with his sword. All the soldiers could do was stare blankly as he seemed to scratch lines at random, drawing a chaotic mess of meaningless strokes.
"Your Highness, he..." An old general frowned. "Could he be another Dong Huazi, putting on tricks and playing the ghost?"
Li Qinglin raised a hand to stop him and smiled faintly. "Dong Huazi does possess genuine arts. General Xie, do you and I not know in our hearts what we oppose?"
"Yes. Even if he possesses true arts, they bring no benefit to the nation." The old general sighed. "This subordinate merely fears that Your Highness has become too close to this Qin Yi and will walk the old road again."
Li Qinglin gently shook his head. "I am Li Qinglin."
The old general froze for a moment, then nodded and said no more.
Yet Li Qinglin suddenly covered his forehead, as though a spell of dizziness had struck him. The old general hurriedly supported him. "Your Highness?"
"Oh, it is nothing." Li Qinglin quickly returned to normal. He examined himself internally and found no problem, then said, "Perhaps I have exhausted myself too much these past days."
The old general said, "Once this matter is settled, Your Highness should rest well."
Over there, the patterns Qin Yi had seemingly been scratching at random had, without anyone noticing, connected all the objects arranged by position into one whole. Then the great cauldron at the center blazed with light. Radiance spread from the patterns on the ground, gradually covering the entire area in a dazzling flow of light.
The ground itself seemed to creak and groan, and a distinctly more solid feeling spread through the earth. Qin Yi let out a breath and smiled. "Done. The earth veins have been condensed. We probably will not be buried alive if we go in now... If any arrays below rely on changes in the earth veins, they may even become ineffective."
"Thank you, Brother Qin." Li Qinglin clasped his hands in salute, then took the lead and descended with his troops.
Qin Yi stood at the top of the stone steps, about to go down, when something suddenly occurred to him. He raised his head and called into the sky, "Fellow Daoist Minghe, will you not come down to watch the show?"
There was no response. Qin Yi shook his head. He knew Minghe was definitely watching, but paid her no further heed and turned to descend into the underground cavern.
The underground was not dark. Night-Shining Pearls dotted the walls all the way down, casting a faint, ghostly glow. Before long, the passage opened up. A vast hall appeared ahead, and before Qin Yi could make out what it looked like inside, Li Qinglin's group had already halted.
Though Qin Yi had been prepared, he could not help being shocked at the sight of demon bones carpeting the ground.
The entire hall was laid out in the shape of a Big Dipper array. Ghost faces lined both sides, and eerie red smoke poured from their mouths. Amid that red haze lay layer upon layer of countless skeletons. Most clearly had humanoid shapes, yet differed somewhat from humans; one might have a tail, another wing bones. Their manners of death varied, but they all shared one thing: their bone marrow had been severed through the middle, as if something had been extracted from within. It was an exceedingly miserable sight.
"They forcibly squeezed out the Demon Cores that had only just condensed within the bone marrow. It is cruel beyond measure," Liusu said. "This is not the Righteous Path's method of slaying demons. It is a wicked art of witchcraft and gu. Dong Huazi's foundation is not in Daoist Arts, but in witchcraft—Evil Witch witchcraft, at that."
Qin Yi warned Li Qinglin, "Brother Li, this is witchcraft, not Daoist Arts."
"Witchcraft?" Li Qinglin suddenly understood. "So he truly is a spy from the Western Wasteland."
As soon as the words fell, he frowned again. "I have lacked energy lately, and this thick smoke makes me uncomfortable. Let us leave this hall first."
Qin Yi took out a talisman.
A low-grade Wind Control Talisman.
A violent gale surged outward from him in every direction, blowing away all the thick smoke. Not only that, it forcibly blocked the ghost faces around them, preventing any more smoke from pouring from their mouths.
This was something martial arts could never accomplish so effortlessly. Li Qinglin laughed. "Well done, Brother Qin."
Perhaps blocking the vents had triggered something. The earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the entire hall seemed ready to collapse. Yet it shook and shook, while only sand and stones fell lightly. No matter what, it would not collapse. Flames sprang up from the ground, yet could not burn. Only a few tiny tongues of fire swayed feebly, looking rather pitiful.
The grand array set up earlier had condensed the earth veins, and now it was showing its effect.
Even the old general, Xie Yuan, could not help clasping his hands toward Qin Yi in salute. "Sir is truly an exalted man. This subordinate previously spoke disrespectfully to Sir Qin. I hope you will not take offense."
Qin Yi waved his hand, showing not the slightest pride. Instead, he cautiously took out pills and talismans to distribute. "Witchcraft often employs poison, and it may also disrupt the mind. One Antitoxin Pill each, and keep one Mind-Calming Talisman in reserve."
During the past few days, when he had crammed talisman arts, he had not only learned useless things like levitation. He had indeed prepared quite a bit for combat. From this display, he looked exactly like the party's top-tier support, a beloved great healer. Yet in truth, Qin Yi had no confidence whatsoever against the witchcraft and gu arts that might lie ahead.
Because Liusu had said that she did not understand witchcraft either. It was a completely different system from what she had learned.
If there were any witchcraft arrangements inside, not a single one of them would understand them!
Before you continue