"Heh, those idiots from the previous dynasty just loved to brag. They'd pin anything on dragons."
This was an ancient method used to suppress the turbid energy of the earth veins.
Li Pingsheng understood that this place wasn't suitable for hiding treasures or teaching martial arts. It could only be used as a seal.
Old Qi clasped his hands behind his back and ambled over to the well, staring down into its bottomless mouth.
"On the surface, Azure Cloud Martial Hall teaches fist techniques. In truth, it's just an empty shell used to cover up the old era."
"The real job is being a doorkeeper, heh. Understand?"
He paused.
"Keeping watch over this earth-vein fissure, which can't be fully opened, and suppressing the filth bubbling up from below."
"The martial hall provides nourishment for this formation, keeping it running."
Li Pingsheng didn't say a word. He listened quietly.
That was how he learned that the broken stone stele he'd seen, the incomplete martial techniques, the forbidden grounds behind the mountain, and Old Qi sweeping the floor were all connected to this matter.
Azure Cloud Martial Hall stood atop the ruins of the old era, a sturdy defensive stronghold.
Li Pingsheng said two words. "The Grand Exam..."
"Right, back to the Grand Exam."
Old Qi said, "You think the Grand Exam is for selecting disciples? That's just what we tell outsiders, haha..."
On the day of the Grand Exam, all the martial hall's disciples gathered on the Martial Practice Field. Their qi and blood soared into the sky, and their fist intent could flip the roof off.
The human vitality, yang energy, and blood energy drawn out by the grand formation would sustain the formation outside. Every year, it also washed away the filth that had accumulated over the course of the year.
Li Pingsheng's view of the martial hall's Grand Exam changed.
This wasn't a festival of celebration. Wasn't it a sacrificial ceremony?
Using the qi and blood of every disciple to feed an unseen formation.
"The power outside gets drawn away, so naturally, it leaves the inside empty."
Old Qi kicked away a stone by his foot and said:
"Every year, the Grand Exam is when this place is at its weakest."
"Hall Master and I have to keep an eye on the Martial Practice Field and hold things together, making sure the 'offerings' are up to standard. Meanwhile, the real formation core behind the mountain will open a gap for a very short time."
He turned to Li Pingsheng.
"Now do you understand why those sneaky bastards insist on making their move on the day of the Grand Exam?"
They weren't there to steal anything at all. The well contained nothing but some stones and a pile of junk.
"They're there to wreck the place."
Old Qi said, "As long as they destroy the formation core, control of the grand formation outside will change hands."
"Then the earth-vein energy throughout Azure Cloud Martial Hall—and even half of Qingyun County—will be theirs to command."
The bigger picture, the formations, control...
Li Pingsheng had never thought about things that had nothing to do with him.
There was only one question on his mind!
Li Pingsheng interrupted Old Qi.
"Old Qi, let me put it this way. If something happens to the formation core and the turbid energy leaks out, who'll die first?"
Old Qi froze.
He'd thought that after learning the truth, Li Pingsheng might be frightened, might ask what treasures were in the well, or might simply panic.
He hadn't expected the boy to be worried about that.
Old Qi looked into Li Pingsheng's eyes without speaking. After a long while, he replied, "In my experience, the Inner City has high walls and formations reinforced by past Hall Masters. It also has Qingyun County's largest gathering of experts and Attendants."
"Outside the city, there's nothing."
Old Qi added another sentence.
"The Wealthy District sits at the lowest elevation. The underground watercourses are chaotic, and many abandoned wells from the previous dynasty lead straight to the shallow layers of the earth veins."
"Once the turbid energy of the earth veins goes out of control, that'll be the first place to be flooded. People and livestock will vanish without a trace, and not a blade of grass will grow!"
"What?"
The Wealthy District, where his family lived, would be the first place wiped out?!
At those three words, Li Pingsheng thought of Yunmei, his grandfather, his mother, and his second aunt.
The force he'd just managed to suppress surged up again.
It was killing intent!
Before, his killing intent had been aimed at enemies like the Zhao Family and the Black Water Gang.
Now, it had no clear target. Everywhere it reached, it threatened his family's lives.
Old Qi had thought reality might crush the young man, but instead, he saw a change come over him.
When he looked at Li Pingsheng—when he saw those eyes—he suddenly felt that his earlier judgment of him might have been wrong.
This wasn't just a boy with a talent for martial arts.
This was someone willing to do anything to protect his family.
Old Qi's opinion of Li Pingsheng changed, too.
He no longer saw him as a junior. He saw him as someone like himself.
"Come on, kid. Take this."
Old Qi pulled a piece of broken bronze from his robes and tossed it over.
The bronze fragment landed in Li Pingsheng's hand. Symbols he couldn't make sense of were engraved on it.
"This signal comes from the Well-Guarding Bronze Talisman. From now on, you're my temporary assistant on well-guarding duty."
"These things aren't magical treasures. They can't be used to fight. But on the day of the exam, if the three formation nodes in the Outer City show unusual activity, they'll heat up."
After he finished speaking, Old Qi's gaze shifted to Li Pingsheng's still-trembling right arm.
"What do you call that punch?"
"Thunderclap Explosion."
Li Pingsheng replied.
"Thunderclap Explosion, my ass."
Old Qi said, "That's the Black Tortoise Unity approach. You're forcing spiritual energy and qi and blood together. It's a death wish. Your meridians are too weak, and your body can't take it. Use it a few more times and that arm will be crippled."
He said, "You think it's that easy to destroy yourself and come back stronger? That takes luck one in ten thousand. More often, idiots just explode and die."
After saying that, he tossed over a small, dark-blue porcelain bottle.
"Specially made Ice Marrow Fluid can temporarily seal off the backlash in your right arm's meridians. It can suppress it at most three times."
"Don't use that punch unless you're at death's door. Otherwise, even the immortals can't save you."
Li Pingsheng took the medicine bottle and put it in his mouth along with the Well-Guarding Bronze Talisman.
The Peace Talisman Yunmei had sewn, hanging against his chest, was still warm.
So he began thinking about what he would do on the day of the Grand Exam.
The Zhao Family, the Black Water Gang, the mysterious mastermind behind the scenes... and the Dragon Locking Well.
Every clue pointed to the Grand Exam two days from now.
It had become a killing trap.
"Thank you, Old Qi."
Li Pingsheng cupped his fists to Old Qi, then turned and left.
He needed some time to think over what he'd learned tonight.
"Wait."
Old Qi's voice came from behind him.
Li Pingsheng stopped, then turned around.
The old man who swept the floor looked past him toward the Martial Practice Field and said:
"If people outside can plant spies, then the martial hall may not be clean inside, either."
"At the Grand Exam two days from now... you might face someone you'd never expect in your very first match."
Before you continue