Dong Hua Underground Palace

Seeking the Dao in the Mortal World!

Rushing to Longevity Temple, I saw that the Ascension Platform had burned down. Li Qinglin was directing soldiers to put out the fire, the thick smoke making it difficult to breathe.

Through the smoke, I could see nine eunuchs lying at Li Qinglin's feet. The grim scene had a touch of the absurd. Qin Yi asked, "What happened?"

Li Qinglin smiled, "Father came to deliver an imperial decree. Well, of course, they got lost. I haven't received any decree."

Qin Yi couldn't help but laugh. He returned the jade pendant to him. "Thank you, Brother Li, for the life-saving talisman. This flower is very beautiful."

Li Qinglin weighed the jade pendant in his hand and said nothing. Then he added, "I've already arranged for people to spread out and enforce martial law both inside and outside the city. As long as there isn't a tunnel leading dozens of miles outside the city from below, it will be difficult for Dong Huazi to escape. If there really is such a long tunnel, then we'll just have to accept it. By stabilizing the situation, he won't be able to cause much trouble."

A tunnel dozens of miles long was unlikely. At most, it would lead to somewhere inside or outside the city. Qin Yi admired Li Qinglin's meticulousness. With such a divine teammate, the other side truly wouldn't know how to turn the tables.

"So you called me over because you want to search the underground palace?"

"Yes... I tried to send smoke down just now, but I found there's a strange array below. The smoke would retreat on its own. Trying to flood it with water and digging a channel wouldn't be fast enough. We can't maintain the perimeter lockdown for long. If we don't go down and eliminate him soon, the possibility of him escaping doubles with each day we delay."

Qin Yi hummed in agreement. The more a strange array protected it, the more it proved that the area below was a core area where one could stay for a long time. Things like the Demon Refining Array, for example, were likely all down there. Then there would truly be countless mechanisms and strange arts. Li Qinglin naturally wouldn't dare to go down rashly.

He walked to the entrance. The charred wood next to it had been moved away by the soldiers, and the mechanism at the entrance had also been blown up, revealing a dark passage with stone steps leading down, its depth unknown.

Li Qinglin said from behind, "I believe Brother Qin can easily break the array below. But in this environment, if Dong Huazi is capable, it's not difficult to bury everyone who goes down alive. We must discuss this first and not act rashly."

Qin Yi was also worried about this. Having watched many TV shows and novels, those who managed underground palaces often had such self-destruct methods; it had almost become a rule. Going in would be very dangerous.

He pretended to walk around the entire area to observe the situation, muttering to himself as if talking to himself, "Is there a way?"

Of course, he was speaking to Liu Su. Liu Su said, "Set up the Wu Earth Grand Array to solidify this entire area. Then even if he tries to self-destruct, it won't collapse."

There was such a powerful grand array? Qin Yi felt a little uncertain and continued to mutter thoughtfully to himself, "If it's the Wu Earth Grand Array... my mana might not be enough..."

"Your mana isn't enough, but you can supplement it with some useful spiritual objects," Liu Su said. "Right here in the ruins of the Ascension Platform, I saw countless good things at a glance. Many of them are exactly what's needed."

Qin Yi thought to himself that this was truly using Dong Huazi's own treasures to kill him, which felt quite satisfying. He put on a look of sudden inspiration, rushed back to the ruins to search for things, and shouted, "You, you, you, go move that piece of wood away. Yes, yes, move that cauldron below... That, see the jade on the plaque above? Pry that jade off..."

The army moved swiftly, and in no time, they had neatly moved all the things Qin Yi needed.

Qin Yi picked up a sword and drew it with a clang, a cold light flashing.

"Very spiritual, it's been refined," Liu Su commented. "It's not qualified to be called a magic tool, but using this spiritual energy to carve array patterns is quite good."

Qin Yi then followed the instructions, arranging the various objects in their positions and quickly outlining the patterns in the center with the sword. All the soldiers just stared blankly at him as he seemed to be carving random lines, drawing meaningless lines haphazardly.

"Your Highness, he..." An old general frowned and said, "Isn't this just another Dong Huazi pretending to be a god?"

Li Qinglin raised his hand to signal him not to speak and smiled slightly. "Actually, Dong Huazi also has true techniques. General Xie, what are we opposing? Don't you know in your heart?"

"Yes, even if he has true techniques, they are useless to the country," the old general sighed. "This subordinate is afraid that Your Highness is too close to this Qin Yi and is going down the old path again."

Li Qinglin gently shook his head. "I am Li Qinglin."

The old general was startled for a moment, then nodded and said no more.

But at this moment, Li Qinglin suddenly covered his forehead, seeming a little dizzy. The old general quickly supported him. "Your Highness?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Li Qinglin quickly returned to normal. He checked himself internally and found no problems, then said, "Perhaps I've been too exhausted recently."

The old general then said, "When this matter is over, Your Highness should rest well."

But looking over there, Qin Yi's seemingly random strokes somehow connected all the artifacts placed according to their positions. Then, the central great cauldron's light suddenly intensified, and the radiance began to spread from the ground patterns, gradually covering the entire area with brilliant flowing light.

There was a creaking sound from the ground, and a distinct feeling of greater solidity was transmitted. Qin Yi exhaled and smiled, "It's done. The earth veins are solidified. We probably won't be buried alive when we go in... If some arrays below rely on the earth vein changes, they might even become ineffective."

"Thank you, Brother Qin." Li Qinglin cupped his hands and led the team straight down.

Qin Yi stood at the entrance of the stone steps, about to descend, when he suddenly remembered something and looked up, asking, "Daoist friend Minghe, aren't you coming down to watch the show?"

There was no response. Qin Yi shook his head. He knew Minghe was definitely watching, but he ignored her and turned to descend into the underground chamber himself.

The underground was not dark. Night-Shining Pearls dotted the walls all the way down, providing a faint, clear light. After not long, it suddenly opened up, and a vast hall appeared ahead. Before Qin Yi could see what the hall looked like, Li Qinglin and his group had already stopped.

Even though Qin Yi was prepared, he couldn't help but be shocked when he saw the ground covered in demon bones.

The entire hall was outlined in the shape of the Big Dipper array, with ghost faces on both sides. Strange red smoke emanated from the mouths of the ghost faces. Amidst the swirling red smoke were countless layers of bones. Most of them clearly had human shapes, but they were slightly different from humans, often having a tail or wing bones. They died in various ways, but the common point was that the center of the bone marrow was broken, as if something had been extracted from within, a truly tragic sight.

"This is the newly condensed Demon Core being squeezed out from the bone marrow, incredibly cruel," Liu Su said. "This is not the righteous method of slaying demons; it is Witchcraft and evil sorcery. This Dong Huazi's foundation is not Daoism, but Witchcraft, and of the evil witch type."

Qin Yi then reminded Li Qinglin, "Brother Li, this is Witchcraft, not Daoism."

"Witchcraft?" Li Qinglin suddenly said, "As expected, it's an internal spy from the Western Wilderness."

As soon as he finished speaking, he frowned again, "I've been feeling weak lately, and this thick smoke makes me uncomfortable. Let's leave this hall first."

Qin Yi then took out a talisman.

A low-level Wind Control Talisman.

A strong gust of wind surged out from him, blowing away all the thick smoke. Not only that, it also blocked the mouths of the ghost faces around them, preventing them from emitting smoke.

This was something martial arts could never achieve so easily. Li Qinglin smiled, "You've got it, Brother Qin."

Perhaps the action of blocking the wind triggered something, and a violent shaking occurred. The entire hall seemed about to collapse. However, it shook and shook, but only sand and stones lightly fell; it simply wouldn't collapse. Flames rose from the ground, but they couldn't burn, only some small flames flickered gently, looking quite pathetic.

It was the great array that had been set up earlier, solidifying the earth veins, that was working.

Even the old general Xie Yuan couldn't help but cup his fists and salute Qin Yi, "Mr. is truly a noble scholar. This subordinate was disrespectful to Mr. Qin before, please do not blame me."

Qin Yi waved his hand, without any hint of complacency. Instead, he cautiously took out some pills and talismans and distributed them, "Witchcraft often uses poison and can also disturb the mind. Each person gets one Antitoxin Pill and one Mind-Calming Talisman for backup."

He had been practicing talisman techniques intensely in the past few days, not just learning useless things like floating. He had indeed prepared a lot for combat. His performance looked like a top-tier support in the team, a beloved healer, but in reality, Qin Yi had no confidence in the potential Witchcraft ahead.

Because Liu Su said that it didn't understand Witchcraft either; it was a completely different system from what it had learned.

If there were any Witchcraft arrangements inside, none of them would understand!