Bearing Armor, Holding Talismans, Opening the Seven Gates

"We've been exposed?"

Feeling the approaching aura rushing towards him, Qiu Yan was startled, a strong sense of alarm rising in his heart. At the same time, a thought flashed through his mind and he had a guess.

"Fire Sovereign is under the command of Circuit City God, and they are connected by Fortune. This Yin-Yang Pagoda is the foundation of Circuit City God Lü Liang. Divine Sense disguise can deceive other gods, but it certainly cannot deceive Circuit City God."

Lü Liang's sudden ascent to the heavens gave Qiu Yan an opportunity, but he still needed to be careful while moving through the tower. The longer he stayed or the deeper he went, the more likely he was to be exposed. After all, Qiu Yan had no idea what kind of restrictions were hidden inside the tower.

The situation before them clearly showed that the two Fifth Grade deities had not noticed anything amiss, but the tower itself had reacted.

Faced with the change, the Prefect and the Child-Giving God were also surprised, their expressions changed drastically, and their gazes toward Qiu Yan revealed a palpable sense of vigilance.

The smoke spread out, along with seven distinct auras, each with an unbalanced quality, and all faintly connected to Qiu Yan's Divine Body.

"Hmm? Could it be...?"

Sensing this change, Qiu Yan's heart stirred. He activated the idea of his scholar clone, and in the nick of time, a line of poetry flowed from the Black Hole at the bottom of the Subordinate Deity—

Within lies True Person in golden robes, clad in armor and holding a talisman, opening the seven gates. This is not a branch or leaf, but the root; contemplate it day and night, and it will endure.

At the same time, what came was not just a poem, but also scriptural meaning and Literary Thought. As soon as it appeared, it shone brightly, disintegrated into strokes, scattered throughout the Divine Body, and then passed through the body, quickly merging into the surrounding smoke.

Then, the smoke paused, and the seven chaotic auras, guided by the verses of the article, circulated and reached a balance.

After a short while, the surging, howling smoke began to dissipate.

As the smoke dissipated, Qiu Yan was revealed inside. He still looked like Fire Sovereign Zheng, but he appeared somewhat disheveled, holding a wisp of black smoke in his hand.

"Good heavens, I don't know when I got into contact with this stuff! I almost got hurt!"

Qiu Yan imitated Fire Sovereign's tone and complained, then curled his five fingers and crushed the black mist!

Snap!

The black mist dispersed, unleashing a corrosive aura.

Then, the surrounding smoke completely dissipated.

The judge and the Child-Giving God, who had been on guard, were filled with doubt and surprise after sensing the black mist. They were only relieved when they saw the smoke dissipate.

The Prefect said in a deep voice, "It's some kind of Heart Demon entity that has corrupted your Divine Body. If it weren't for the protection of the seven gates, I don't know how long it would have taken you to discover it."

The Child-Giving God chuckled in a soft, feminine voice, "You overestimate him. I doubt he'll even notice."

"Hmph!" Faced with this provocative remark, Qiu Yan merely snorted coldly, feigning fear, which was very much in line with Fire Sovereign cowardly nature. However, his heart was in turmoil as he developed a strong interest in the structure of this Yin-Yang Pagoda.

"The Daoism Seven Gates states that the Heaven Gate is at the Mud Pellet Gate upper dantian), the Earth Gate at the Tailbone Gate, the Middle Gate at the Spinal Clamp Gate, the Front Gate at the Bright Hall Gate bright hall), the Back Gate at the Jade Pillow Gate point (jade pillow), the Tower Gate at the trachea, Life Cultivation life, where all the internal organs are connected. They are crucial points for the communication between internal and external Qi, like gateways. Hence the saying of the Seven Gates. As the poem just mentioned, it implicitly contains the ability to guard against and discern. And this tower..."

The situation was urgent, but Qiu Yan came up with a solution at the crucial moment, sending out a poem from the Soul Aperture, which turned the danger into safety.

Those few lines are from the Yellow Court Scripture, a Daoism classic containing the secrets of cultivation. Qiu Yan had seen a fragment of it in the Pan Household Library. The fragment did not contain any methods of cultivation, but it did contain the secrets of health preservation, which is why it left an impression on him.

He had just sensed seven different auras in the smoke from the door. Recalling the inscription on the door, he had a sudden inspiration. Using the Earthly Soul Bookshelf of his scholar avatar as a guide, he condensed a sentence, transmitted it, and integrated it into the smoke. This guided the seven auras and balanced the seven doors, barely averting the crisis.

After that, in order to dispel the two gods' vigilance, he separated the Heart Demon Fragment and crushed them, using this as an excuse to get away with it.

"Fortunately, Lü Liang wasn't there, so the tower was left unattended, which allowed me to slip through the cracks. Otherwise, I would have had to leave immediately and miss the chance to learn about the Heaven-Born Deity."

As Qiu Yan pondered, the Prefect had already reached a door.

The door was inscribed with the words "Tailbone Gate). He reached into the doorway and pulled out a ball of light.

The light shifted and solidified into a Military Tally.

Looking at the Military Tally, Qiu Yan sensed some fluctuations within it. After analyzing them, he could determine that they represented the intent of capture and encirclement.

"This Military Tally seems to have a predetermined tone, which cannot be manipulated by others at will; they can only guide it according to the tone it contains."

Instantly, Qiu Yan understood the principle behind this Military Tally; it was like a program with pre-defined functions in his previous life, possessing a specific scope of authority.

"No wonder Lü Liang wasn't worried at all, letting his men take whatever they wanted."

As he pondered, the divine magistrate blew a breath onto the Military Tally, and the breath contained Divine Sense that depicted the figure of a woman, which was firmly imprinted inside the Military Tally.

Then, he raised his hand and tossed it to Qiu Yan.

After Military Tally, Qiu Yan nodded without saying anything more, turned around and walked back. When he arrived at the entrance to the fourth floor, he stepped on the Eight Trigrams Disk embedded in the ground, transformed into light and rose up, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

As the "Fire Sovereign" departed, the Prefect and the Child-Giving God had different expressions; one was slightly relaxed, while the other smiled.

"Now that Wu Fan has gone, the matter of the Ghost Mother can be considered settled. However, the matter of the Hemp-Robed Daoist still needs to be considered. Who should be sent?" The Prefectural Governor pondered for a moment before speaking.

The Child-Giving God smiled slightly upon hearing this, "To deal with the Hemp-Robed Daoist, all we need to do is summon Sixth-Rank Deity and hold a long meeting, and the problem will be solved."

The prefect was taken aback for a moment, then smiled knowingly, "Oh? Brother Feng, what you mean by that is..."

The Child-Giving God laughed and said, "The Hemp-Robed Daoist has been wandering around for many years. This time he came from Southern Mountain Circuit, but he did not go deep into Jiannan Circuit. Judging from the intelligence he has received, this god is very likely to enter the territory controlled by the Xiongwu Commandery. We only need to wait a few hours and we will not have to worry. The Xiongwu territory is not under our jurisdiction, so why should we need to conquer it?"

"That makes sense." The magistrate nodded in agreement.

After saying this, the Child-Giving God turned and walked towards the Eight Trigrams Disk. As he walked, he said, "Compared to this, the Ghost Mother is the real problem. This goddess is lingering in Jiannan. Even though Wu Fan intervened and given us an excuse, it's still not good to leave this trouble behind. So, I plan to follow her and see what happens."

Upon Divine Hearing narrowed his eyes, scrutinized the departing figure of the Child-Giving God, and remained silent for a while before finally saying, "Very well, then I'll trouble you, Brother Feng."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure of Feng Zhen, the Child-Giving God, transformed into a streak on the Eight Trigrams Disk, heading straight upwards and disappearing into the tower.

"The Ghost Mother... the Child-Giving God... Feng Zhen has been thinking about this for so long, but in the end, he couldn't resist anymore."

In the blink of an eye, only the Prefect God remained on the fourth floor of the Yin-Yang Pagoda. He frowned slightly, a thought flashing through his mind.

"He said Wu Fan wanted to take advantage of the Circuit City God's absence to do his own thing, but wasn't he having the same idea himself? If it weren't for his interference during the previous sieges, the Ghost Mother would have been captured long ago."

As he pondered, the Prefectural Judge shook his head, then turned around, his gaze sweeping over the seven doors, a look of eager anticipation in his eyes.

Here, Qiu Yan's divine essence borrowed the Yin-Yang Pagoda and entered the Yin-Yang Road of the Circuit City God. It flew swiftly within it, sensing the various People's Wishes circulating around it. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he flicked his fingers, sending out Heart Demon Fragment that merged into the People's Wishes. Then, his Divine Body moved and sped past.

"This is like playing a small, albeit perhaps useless, move that's better than nothing. Hmm? I didn't expect it to have an effect so quickly."

As he was thinking, he suddenly felt another figure fly past the spot where he had just placed the Heart Demon Fragment.

The figure was not moving fast, and paused from time to time, as if intentionally concealing its movements. However, its figure was clearly captured by the Heart Demon Fragment disguised as People's Wishes.

"It's that Child-Giving God Feng Zhen. What's he doing here? This time, he and that prefectural god's flattery and coercion were undoubtedly trying to use me, the 'Fire Sovereign,' to profit from the chaos. If I accept the Military Tally, their goal will be achieved. Why follow them so closely? Hmm, let's hold back and observe the situation..."

Soon, the two deities left the Yin-Yang Road one after the other and appeared beneath the City God Temple in Yuanning Prefecture, heading south.

As the true form of the deity journeyed south, the scholar's avatar, who had spent the night in Xiongwu City, opened his eyes and got out of bed.

He looked at his hands and sighed, "I thought I'd have to use Summoning God Method to escape, but unexpectedly, I ended up with the Military Tally to lead the encirclement and suppression..."

As he pondered this, he got out of bed to wash up.

That night, the true deity first visited the Fire Sovereign Domain to restrain it, then disguised himself and infiltrated the Netherworld Foundation of the Circuit City God to comprehend the operation of the Domain of Law and the power of the deity. He then competed in acting with the Child-Giving God, the Judge God, and others. Finally, he obtained information about other Heaven-Born Deity and went there. It was quite a rollercoaster ride. However, the scholar's clone had a peaceful night.

After washing up and getting dressed, Qiu Yan led Hu Qi and Dai Guo to have a simple breakfast. After checking out of the hotel, they took horses from the stables and walked around for a while. After leaving the city, they determined their direction and continued north.

They rode at full speed and, after half a day, the three of them reached the edge of Xiongwu City. Once they passed the checkpoint ahead, they would be in the Shannan Circuit territory.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've left Jiannan since I came into this world."

As he was thinking, his brow suddenly furrowed, and he tugged on the reins, stopping the horse from moving.

"Young master? What's wrong?"

Qiu Yan stopped abruptly, and Hu Qi and Dai Guo behind him almost couldn't react in time. They hurriedly turned their horses around, took a few steps to slow down, and when they looked back, they found a person standing in front of Qiu Yan's horse. It was an old man wearing a loose robe and with his hair tied in a hemp braid.

"Huh? When did this old man appear?"

Upon witnessing this scene, Hu Qi and Dai Guo's eyes widened in shock.

ps:

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