novellaaa Chapter 225 Imperial Edict to the Fire Palace: Burn the Yin!
Chapter 225 Imperial Edict to the Fire Palace: Burn the Yin!
Chapter 225 Imperial Edict to the Fire Palace, Burn the Yin! (4400)
As soon as those four words were uttered, the candlelight beneath the boulder suddenly receded inward.
The two flames that had been standing steadily suddenly seemed to be choked by an invisible hand, their light instantly dimmed by half and their color changed from dim yellow to a ghastly green.
The ash around the edge of the yellow cloth suddenly began to tremble with a soft rustling sound.
Tiny specks of ash, like living things, crawled outwards along the ground, only to be stopped by the lightning-struck jujube wood nails, forming a thin line of ash around the edge of the enclosure.
Lu Yuan's face darkened.
"They saw us."
Xu Erxiao's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice dry: "Brother Lu—what do we do?"
"Return to the altar."
Lu Yuan only said two words.
The three dared not linger at the edge of the boulder any longer and quickly retreated back to the altar, crouching low.
Almost at the same instant they retreated, the sound of gongs and drums rang out again on the stage deep in the valley.
This time, however, the singing was no longer the scattered and strange style of before, but instead became a rapid series of gong beats.
"Clang clang clang clang clang"
The gongs rang out more and more frequently, each one louder than the last.
It's like a death knell.
The eight pale white lanterns swayed simultaneously, and a layer of dark red water slowly seeped from the paper surface, dripping down the lines of the paper.
On stage, the old female roles, the young female roles, the martial male roles, and the old male roles all stiffly raised their hands.
Water sleeves, long spears, beards, and robe corners all pointed in the direction of the giant rock.
The next moment, from the bottomless darkness below the stage, came a dense sound of footsteps.
"rustle----"
"Sh ...
It looked as if many people were dragging their feet, slowly walking on the fallen leaves and broken bones.
Xu Erxiao suddenly turned around and stared intently at the darkness outside the altar.
Beyond the fragrant clouds, beyond three feet, nothing can be seen clearly.
But the footsteps were getting closer.
Approaching from all directions.
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Wang Cheng'an's forehead. He grabbed the copper bell on the ground and whispered, "Brother Lu, something is closing in."
Lu Yuan did not turn around.
He stood in the center of the altar, his left hand forming a hand seal, his right hand resting on the hilt of the magic sword, his eyes fixed on the compass.
The copper coins on the compass have stopped spinning slowly.
It seemed to be pulled by some force, and suddenly tilted to the due south.
The red rope was taut, and the copper coin trembled violently in mid-air, emitting a faint "buzzing" sound.
Meanwhile, the magnetic needle at the center of the compass began to rotate counterclockwise around the dial.
It keeps spinning faster and faster.
It's spinning faster and faster.
Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not here to test you."
"They need to break the jar first."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a hand suddenly reached out from the darkness.
It was a pale hand, with swollen skin, black fingernails, and a faded red silk ribbon wrapped around the wrist.
It silently peered in from outside the fragrant clouds, its five fingers outstretched, reaching straight for a stone weight on the edge of the yellow cloth.
Xu Erxiao reacted quickly, grabbing the wooden sword beside him and preparing to slash.
"Don't touch it!"
Lu Yuan gave a low shout.
Xu Erxiao's sword tip abruptly stopped in mid-air.
The pale hand had already touched the town stone.
But the moment his fingertips touched the stone, the yellow cloth talisman pressed under the stone suddenly lit up.
The vermilion lines shone with a reddish light, like red-hot iron wire.
"Sneer"
A plume of black smoke rose from that hand.
The pale hand instantly curled up, as if burned by a branding iron, and quickly retreated into the darkness.
Immediately afterwards, a sharp scream rang out from outside.
The scream was not a human scream, but rather like a female opera singer suddenly breaking her voice while practicing her singing, so sharp that it hurt the eardrums.
Xu Erxiao's face turned pale, but he couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, they really dare to lay their hands on me!"
Lu Yuan said in a deep voice, "Guard the four corners."
"Cheng'an looks north, Erxiao looks west."
"Don't chase, don't go out of bounds, and slap anyone who reaches out with a cinnabar talisman."
Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao responded at the same time, each grabbing a stack of yellow talismans and standing guard on either side of the altar.
Lu Yuan bent down, picked up a wolf-hair brush, dipped it in cinnabar ink, and drew a talisman in one go on the yellow talisman paper that had already been laid out.
He wrote extremely quickly, the tip of the brush moving across the talisman paper like a dragon or snake.
With the final stroke completed, he uttered a low command: "Imperial Edict!"
The moment the talisman was completed, the yellow paper rose without wind, and the cinnabar lines on the talisman's surface flashed with a dark gold hue.
Lu Yuan smeared the talisman on the magic sword, then the tip of the sword picked up the talisman and pointed it directly in front of the altar.
"The Thunder Palace of the Nine Heavens, cleansing away filth and impurities."
"The Patriarch lends his power, suppress!"
The talisman flew out from the tip of the sword and stuck three inches outside the circle of incense ash.
A muffled "boom" was heard.
There was no explosion of fire, but a visible shockwave emanated from the talisman, forcefully pushing the black mist in front of the altar back by half a zhang.
The moment the black mist dissipated, the three of them finally saw what was surrounding them.
They were a group of "spectators".
Densely packed.
There are countless of them.
They stood in the darkness, their bodies hunched, their clothes tattered; there were men and women, old and young.
Some were wearing long gowns in styles from decades ago, while others had rotten cotton-padded jackets hanging on their bodies.
Some were reduced to half their original size, standing there with a trail of dark red stains.
All the "people's" faces were deathly pale and stiff.
The eyes were all empty, black holes.
They had no pupils, no spirit, yet they all faced the altar beneath the giant rock.
It was like a group of audience members who hadn't been able to buy seats, standing quietly below the stage, waiting for the show to begin.
The old man at the front had half his face rotted away, leaving only bone, but he still had a long-extinguished pipe dangling from his mouth.
He slowly raised his head, his dark eyes staring at Lu Yuan, and the corners of his mouth gradually splitting open.
"Watching a play—"
"Let's watch the show!"
As he uttered this whisper, all the lifeless "spectators" around him began to speak.
"Watching a play—"
"Watching a play—"
"Come see the play, everyone!"
The sounds came in layers, surging in from all directions, like a group of people talking underwater, making one's chest feel stuffy.
Xu Erxiao's face twitched, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the yellow talisman bulged.
"Brother Lu, how much is this?!"
Lu Yuan's gaze was cold and indifferent.
"Not a wandering soul."
"It is the lingering resentment of those trapped in this Savage Gully."
"Willows are used to cultivate evil spirits, opera stages gather yin energy, and withered bones serve as seats; these things are its worshippers."
Wang Cheng'an gritted his teeth and said, "So, the opera troupe is performing for them?"
Lu Yuan shook his head.
"I'm not singing for them."
He looked up into the darkness beyond the altar, his voice low.
"It's a song for that willow tree."
"These onlookers" are the offerings.
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of gongs and drums on the distant stage suddenly changed.
The gong suddenly stopped.
The erhu produced a long, mournful note.
The long, drawn-out sound seemed to emerge from the very bones of a person, instantly drowning out all the whispers around them.
Immediately afterwards, the old man's melodious singing voice drifted from the stage.
"A cold moon shines on a lonely grave on a desolate mountain."
"A wronged soul is locked away deep in the wild ditch."
"Liuxia invites thousands of guests~"
"Tonight, we open the altar. — May the gods descend!"
When the last three words were sung, the entire valley trembled violently.
It wasn't an earthquake.
It's the earth's energy that's moving.
The yellow cloth beneath Lu Yuan's feet bulged slightly, as if something was pushing upwards from the ground.
The sandalwood incense in the incense burner suddenly bent.
The cigarette, which had been rising straight up, was forced to fall south by an invisible force, almost flying sideways past the yellow cloth.
Two white candles simultaneously burst into flames the size of beans.
"Crack!"
The candle wick cracked.
The green flame rose another inch.
With a "click," the magnetic needle on the compass broke in two.
Wang Chengan's expression changed drastically.
"Brother Lu!"
Lu Yuan pressed down on the compass, and a bloody mark appeared on his palm from the broken needle. The blood droplet fell onto the bronze plate and quickly seeped into the engravings on the surface.
He didn't even frown.
"It's waking up."
Outside the boulder, in the direction of the willow tree, a very faint laugh suddenly came.
The laughter was indistinguishable between men and women, young and old, and also between near and far.
It seemed to emanate from every single willow leaf.
"laugh----"
"whee----"
"Hehehe————"
Immediately afterwards, in the center of the valley, the huge old willow tree began to shake violently.
Countless drooping willow branches, like long hair, swirled and danced wildly in the darkness.
The raised burls on the tree trunk split open one after another.
What seeped from the cracks was not tree sap, but a dark red viscous liquid.
The sap dripped down the bark and onto the withered bones around the roots, making a sizzling, corrosive sound.
In the center of the tree trunk, the originally tangled and twisted bark slowly separated.
It's like a face that has been closed for many years, finally opening its eyes.
That was an eye.
An eye growing on the trunk of a willow tree.
Huge, murky, and covered in blood vessels.
His eyes darted around for a moment, then finally looked straight at the Sanqing altar beneath the boulder.
Lu Yuan felt a tightness in his chest.
The amulet stuck to his chest cracked open with a "snap," leaving a scorch mark.
Xu Erxiao let out a muffled groan, took half a step back, and almost fell onto the yellow cloth.
Wang Chengan hurriedly helped him up, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his own mouth.
Just a glance from that eye nearly crushed the protective auras of the three.
"Don't look at that eye!"
Lu Yuan shouted sternly.
He grabbed three sticks of incense with his left hand, held his sword in his right hand, and suddenly flicked the incense sticks.
The sword's edge sliced through the white smoke.
The smoke seemed to be cleaved in two by a sword, flowing around the altar to the left and right, transforming into a thin layer of white mist.
The white mist blocked the view from the tree eye, and the oppressive feeling in the chests of the three people eased slightly.
But the onlookers outside became restless at this moment.
They no longer stood still, but moved closer and closer to the altar step by step.
Outside the circle of incense ash, pale hands, rotting feet, and a mutilated half-face kept emerging from the darkness.
Mouths opened and closed, repeating only one phrase over and over: "Come—to—watch—a—show—"
"Come—to—watch—the—play—"
Xu Erxiao gritted his teeth and slapped a yellow talisman onto the outstretched palm.
"Sizzle!"
The yellow talisman lit, and the hand withdrew.
But in the next instant, three more hands reached out from different directions.
Wang Chengan shook the copper bell.
"jingle!"
The bell rang crisply, carrying a righteous aura, and resonated around the altar.
The closest "spectators" froze, and the white powder on their faces began to peel off in a flurry.
But then something else immediately pushed up in front of it.
There are too many of them.
Like a tide.
They cannot be killed or driven away; they are merely pushed by the willow trees and the stage, pressing down on the altar layer by layer.
Lu Yuan knew he couldn't wait any longer.
The first play has already reached the point of "inviting the gods to descend".
If we wait any longer, until the willow tree has completely received the "incense offerings" from the stage.
Even with the help of the earth's veins, this temporary altar couldn't withstand the backlash of the Yin energy from the entire Savage Valley.
A resolute glint flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes.
A flash of light appeared in Lu Yuan's hand, revealing a black cloth pouch.
The black cloth bag was no bigger than the palm of your hand, but it was wrapped with seven red ropes, each with a cinnabar rune as thin as a fly's foot pressed on it.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, pressed his left hand on the black cloth bag, and with his right hand, he drew a line across his chest with his fingers together like a sword.
"Second child, Cheng'an."
His voice was deep, yet extremely steady.
"I will activate the ancestral master's true artifact."
"You protect the corners of the altar, don't retreat even half a step."
Xu Erxiao was shocked to hear this.
Wang Chengan's expression changed, and he immediately bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the copper bell.
When the copper bell was stained with blood, the tiny runes on its surface immediately glowed with a line of red light.
"Don't worry, Brother Lu."
"7
"As long as the altar stands, we will live!"
Xu Erxiao grabbed three yellow talismans, stuck them to his arms and chest, and roared with glaring eyes, "Anyone who dares to come closer, I'll fight them to the death!"
Lu Yuan said no more.
He glanced down at the black cloth bag in his arms, and slowly untied the first red string with his fingertips.
As soon as the red rope was loosened, the three sticks of incense on the altar shot upwards.
The cigarette rose straight up, condensing into a blurry lightning pattern in mid-air.
The second red rope is loosened.
The names of the twenty-eight constellations on the yellow cloth lit up at the same time and then went dark at the same time.
The third red rope was loosened.
The "spectators" outside the boulder seemed to sense something; their previously numb and listless faces suddenly revealed a twisted fear.
Even the gongs and drums on the distant stage seemed to falter at that moment.
The old man in the center of the stage, who had been chanting with his eyes closed, suddenly turned his head, his pure white eyes fixed on the black cloth bag in Lu Yuan's hand.
His lips parted in a wide grin, and his voice suddenly became shrill: "Stop—him—"
"Don't let him bring him out—"
"Don't let him bring him out!"
The moment that sound rang out, the "onlookers" surrounding the altar erupted in chaos.
Instead of slowly approaching, they roared and pounced.
Some crawled on all fours, like wild dogs.
Some stretched their necks out, their heads almost sliding across the ground.
Some of them had their chests and abdomens split open, and several blackened arms stretched out, grabbing at the incense ash circle.
Suddenly, a chilling wind swept around the altar, and a foul stench filled the air.
Xu Erxiao roared and threw out three yellow talismans at the same time.
"Go to hell!"
Three talismans were pasted on the faces of the three evil spirits at the front, and three balls of red fire burst out.
The three evil spirits screamed and fell backward, but the thing behind them paid no heed and continued to pounce forward, stepping on their broken bodies.
Wang Chengan shook the copper bell vigorously.
"Ring ring ring—"
'
The bells rang in rapid succession, creating ripples beneath the boulders.
The evil spirits near the altar were stunned and their movements became sluggish, but only for a moment.
The next moment, several pale, rotting hands simultaneously touched the incense ash ring.
"Hiss hiss hiss"
Black smoke billowed up.
The incense ash circle trembled violently, and the pale golden light was suppressed, flickering uncertainly.
The weight stones at the four corners of the yellow cloth began to tremble, and the jujube wood nails struck by lightning also made a slight cracking sound.
Xu Erxiao's face turned pale.
"Brother Lu!"
"Hurry up!"
Lu Yuan has already untied the fifth red rope.
There was no light inside the black cloth bag, but an indescribable, heavy aura slowly seeped out.
The aura it possessed was neither as sharp as that of ordinary magical artifacts nor as agile as that of talismans; rather, it was deep and resonant.
It was as heavy as an ancient mountain pressing down on the underworld.
The air around the black cloth bag seemed to be compressed and slightly collapsed.
Lu Yuan's forehead was beaded with cold sweat.
He cannot yet wield this item at will due to his current level of cultivation.
Forcibly removing them will inevitably damage their vitality.
But at this point, there is no other way.
The sixth red rope is about to be loosened.
Just then—
"The Qian Yuan star is fixed, the sword falls and evil perishes!"
A clear shout suddenly rang out from the darkness on the east side of Yeren Gully.
The voice wasn't deep; it even carried a hint of youthful sharpness.
But as this shout was uttered, a bluish-white light suddenly pierced the darkness, like a rainbow, slashing diagonally from the eastern cliff into the group of evil spirits.
"Buzz!"
The sword light touched the ground.
But it is not a sword.
Instead, it was a line of energy formed from talismanic light.
The beam swept across the ground, and wherever it passed, the outermost row of "spectators" seemed to be cut by an invisible blade, their bodies all pausing in unison.
The next instant, they broke in two at the waist and abdomen, turning into a large cloud of black smoke and exploding.
Xu Erxiao was stunned for a moment.
"What the heck?"
Before he could react, two more voices rang out from the southwest at the same time.
"By imperial decree, Fire Palace, burn the Yin!"
"Thunder Talisman clears the way, break!"