Qin Yi arrived at the Eternal Temple to find the Ascending Terrace already collapsed in the fire. Li Qinglin was instructing the soldiers to put off the fire and heavy, choking smoke filled the air.
Through the smoke, he saw as many as nine eunuchs lying on the ground next to Li Qinglin, which looked quite funny in such a forboding scene, so he asked, “What happened here?”
Li Qinglin chuckled. “My father, the king, sent them here to deliver a royal decree. Of course, they got lost on their way here, and I didn’t receive any order.”
Qin Yi chuckled and gave the jade pendant back to him. “Brother Li, thank you for your life-saving pendant. It’s a beautiful flower.”
Holding the jade pendant, Li Qinglin didn’t make any comment. He then said, “I’ve set up patrols in and around the city. As long as Donghuazi hasn’t dug a 30-mile underground tunnel leading from here to outside the city, it would be very difficult for him to get away. If he really had such a tunnel, I would give in to fate. As long as I have everything under control, he won’t be able to stir things up again.”
Qin Yi didn’t think a 30-mile underground tunnel was plausible, and the best Donghuazi could do was make one that could take him out of the city. Qin Yi admired Li Qinglin for how meticulous he was. With such a teammate on his side, the other side had no hope at all.
“So, you’ve asked me to come here because you want to search the underground palace?”
“Well… I tried to send smoke into the tunnel but found a strange formation inside, and the smoke was blown back up. I thought about filling it with water, but a channel couldn’t be completed so quickly. We can’t keep the surrounding area under lockdown for too long, so we might as well go inside and finish him. With each day, he has more chances to escape.”
Qin Yi nodded. A peculiar formation only proved further that the underground space had been built to sustain lives for a long time, and strange things like a demon-refining formation could be down there. He couldn’t imagine how many traps and tricks had been set up, and of course, Li Qinglin didn’t dare to go in without making preparations.
He went up to the entrance to find the charred branches removed by the soldiers and the lock on the gate blown off, revealing a dark, deep tunnel within. A stone staircase extended all the way down the tunnel, and he couldn’t tell how deep it was.
Li Qinglin said behind him, “I trust Brother Qin will be able to crack the formation in a matter of minutes, but with such a setup, if Donghuazi wanted, he could probably bury everyone who entered the underground palace. We have to come up with a plan first and avoid doing anything reckless.”
Qin Yi was worried about the same thing. He had watched enough TV series and novels to know that all underground bunkers came with a similar self-destruction function. It would be very dangerous for them to go in.
He pretended to walk around the place to observe the surroundings as he murmured, “Any idea what to do?”
That was obviously meant for Liusu, who said, “Set up a Solid Soil formation to tamper with the soil in this area. That way, he won’t be able to destroy the place.”
There was a formation for that? Qin Yi didn’t feel very confident, and he went on murmuring, as if talking to himself. “A Solid Soil formation… I’m not sure I have enough spiritual essence to pull it off…”
“You don’t have enough spiritual essence, but you can supplement it with some useful spiritual objects,” Liusu said. “With one glance, I already saw countless goods in the remains of the Ascending Terrace. A lot of them could be put to use.”
Qin Yi thought: Donghuazi is going to be killed by the treasures he’s extorted from the kingdom, and that sounds so satisfying. Feigning an enlightened look, he ran back to the remains and rummaged through them. He shouted at the soldiers as he did so. “You, move that log. Yes, take that cauldron over there… Well, see that jade on that tablet? Dig the jade out…”
The soldiers acted efficiently, and before long, they got Qin Yi everything he needed.
Qin Yi picked up a sword and pulled it out. There was a clang, and the black glinted in the light.
“Quite spiritual. It’s gone through sacrificial refinement,” Liusu commented. “It’s not powerful enough to qualify as a cultivation tool yet, but you can use the spiritual essence to carve the formation patterns.”
Following Liusu’s instruction, Qin Yi set all the objects in the designated spots before drawing on the ground with the sword. The soldiers watched in bewilderment as he made seemingly meaningless doodles and lines.
“Your Royal Highness, he’s…” One of the old generals frowned. “Is he another pretentious man like Donghuazi?”
Li Qinglin raised a hand to cut him off and smiled at him. “Donghuazi has some real skills, too. General Xie, I think you know what we’ve been opposing him for.”
“Yes, even if he has real skills, they’re not doing any good for the kingdom.” The old general sighed. “I’m just worried that Your Royal Highness will get too close to Qin Yi and make history repeat itself.”
Li Qinglin shook his head slightly. “But I’m Li Qinglin.”
The old general was a little baffled. He nodded and didn’t say anything else.
Li Qinglin suddenly put a hand over his forehead and swayed a little. The old general immediately steadied him. “Your Royal Highness?”
“I’m fine.” Li Qinglin soon recovered. He inspected himself and didn’t find anything out of place, so he said, “I probably have been stretching myself too thin these past few days.”
The old general said, “Once this is over, Your Royal Highness should get a nice rest.”
Over on the other end, Qin Yi’s aimless patterns seemed to have linked all the objects together. The big cauldron at the center then glowed and light ran through the lines on the ground, gradually lighting up the entire area.
The ground crunched and felt much more solid to step on. Qin Yi heaved a sigh and smiled. “It’s done. The ground has solidified, and he shouldn’t be able to bury us down there… If he has formations in there that depend on the energy in the soil, they will probably stop working as well.”
“Thank you, Brother Qin.” Li Qinglin cupped his hands at him and led his team inside.
Qin Yi was about to descend when he remembered something. He looked up and spoke to the sky. “Minghe, my friend, would you like to join us?”
There was no reply and Qin Yi shook his head, but he knew that Minghe had to be watching. He then walked down the stairs.
It wasn’t pitch black inside and the walls were illuminated by luminous pearls which shone dimly underground. Before long, the space became bright open, and they saw a spacious hall up ahead. Before Qin Yi could see what the hall looked like, Li Qinglin and his men had stopped.
Even Qin Yi was shocked when he saw the demon bones all over the ground.
The entire hall had been set up into a formation in the shape of the Big Dipper with monster faces on both sides. Strange red smoke was coming out of their mouths, and through the coiling smoke, they could see piles upon piles of skeletons. Most of them looked like human bones but there were noticeable differences. There was usually an extra tail or a pair of wings. The skeletons lay in different postures, but their spines were all snapped into halves from the middle, as if something had been dug out. It was a most miserable scene.
“Their newly formed demon cores were taken out while they were still alive, and that’s a very cruel method,” Liusu said. “That’s not how orthodox cultivators kill demons. It’s the dark magick of witchcraft. Donghuazi isn’t a Taoist cultivator but a wizard, and a dark one.”
Qin Yi reminded Li Qinglin. “Brother Li, this is witchcraft, not Taoist technique.”
“Witchcraft?” Li Qinglin was enlightened. “Xihuang was indeed behind this.”
After that, he frowned again. “I’ve been quite exhausted lately, and this smoke is making me sick. Let’s get out of this hall first.”
Qin Yi took out a talisman.
It was a low-level wind-controlling talisman.
A gust of wind blew from the center to all four directions, sweeping the heavy smoke. Moreover, it blocked the monster faces and stopped them from releasing more smoke.
Warriors couldn’t have done that so easily. Li Qinglin chuckled and said, “Well done, Brother Qin.”
The action of blocking the mouths might’ve set something off. The ground shook violently, and the hall threatened to collapse. However, after much shaking and swaying, only some sand and dust drifted down, and the ceiling didn’t cave in. Flames also appeared on the ground, but it was nothing serious. The tiny flames looked rather pitiful.
The formation Qin Yi set up earlier did the trick.
Even Xie Yuan, the old general, saluted Qin Yi. “Sir, you’re such a master. I said some offensive things about you earlier. Forgive me.”
Qin Yi waved him off and didn’t look satisfied with his accomplishment. Instead, he took out some pills and talisman paper and gave them to the soldiers. “Witchcraft is known for its poison, and it can temper with our minds as well. Everyone, please take an antidote and a mind-clearing talisman, just in case.”
His crash course on talismans didn’t just teach him how to make things float. He had prepared himself for actual combat as well. Although Qin Yi looked like a very reliable assistant desirable on any team, he didn’t have any confidence in handling what they might be facing later.
Because Liusu had told him that it knew nothing about witchcraft either as it was completely different from what it had learned.
If there was a witchcraft trap up ahead, no one here would know a thing about it!