To Qin Yi’s surprise, they didn’t run into anything strange from that point onward.
The underground palace was a vast place, but apart from that demon-refining formation, the rest of the place was used as accommodations for Donghuazi’s confidants and as a venue for the demons’ secret cultivation. In other words, since it was their living quarters, the area shouldn’t be covered with traps.
Instead, there were quite a few essence-gathering formations that were used to assist with cultivation.
As they advanced, they saw quite a few Taoist priests running for their lives, but Li Qinglin pursued them and killed them all.
Most of the rooms were empty and some had demons inside who were recovering from their injuries. The soldiers killed them as well.
The junior demons killed by Minghe’s formation didn’t create the same effect as Night Wing simply because they had all been hiding underground. The formation still nearly wiped out the demon population down here, and everything made sense.
Nothing seemed out of place.
Li Qinglin personally caught an advanced priest and smiled at him. “Priest Qingfeng, long time no see.”
The priest was drained of all color and was shaking from head to toe. As a confidant of Donghuazi, he had been working against Li Qinglin on a daily basis and he couldn’t imagine what Li Qinglin would do to him now.
“Don’t be so nervous,” Li Qinglin chuckled. “This place is too big, and we’re tired of running around. Why don’t you lead the way so we can find the master teacher sooner?”
The priest wasn’t going to sacrifice his life for his master, and he gingerly led the way. Before long, they reached another hall, where the gate was made from solid metal. It was tightly shut and was carved with ferocious faces around which tiny figures were dancing. The whole thing looked like some ancient ritual.
The priest said timidly, “The master teacher is inside, but I- I don’t know how to open the gate.”
Qin Yi examined the gate and Liusu said, “The gate mechanism is not guarded by witchcraft or some Taoist technique—it’s purely mechanical. Anyone who understands gadgets can open it easily. You can always smash the door open if you can’t figure out another way. It seems that Donghuazi really doesn’t know all that much. We’ve overestimated him.”
There was a whooshing sound inside as if an arrow had been shot and hit some target. With that sound, Li Qinglin held his head in pain again.
By then, everyone had realized that something was off. Was some sort of witchcraft being carried out inside to hurt Li Qinglin?
Qin Yi couldn’t wait anymore and smashed the spiked club into the metal gate.
The others then joined in. The gate couldn’t withstand their concerted force and before long, the hinge broke and the door opened.
They immediately saw a puppet looking identical to Li Qinglin inside. It had a vivid face and the same build and outfit as Li Qinglin. Arrows had been shot into the puppet’s forehead, throat, heart and dantian.
Donghuazi sat cross-legged on the ground and was chanting something.
The crowd was furious. Li Qinglin charged out first, pierced his spear through Donghuazi’s body, and nailed him to the wall. “You evil priest! How dare you try to harm me with your witchcraft?!”
Donghuazi spat out a mouthful of blood, but he then looked at Li Qinglin and burst into laughter.
Qin Yi had an ominous feeling.
It was obvious that the witchcraft wasn’t complete; otherwise, Li Qinglin wouldn’t still be alive. Theoretically speaking, all witchcraft and Taoist spells couldn’t withstand such lethal interruption. Witchcraft was useless when the caster of the spell was killed and the puppet burnt.
But why was he still laughing?
Li Qinglin obviously had the same question. He didn’t kill Donghuazi at once but had only pinned him to the wall because he still had questions to ask Donghuazi.
Blood was running out of Donghuazi’s mouth and he was obviously dying. However, he looked rather high-spirited and was smiling broadly. With the blood in his mouth, he looked quite creepy.
He only started talking after taking some breaths. “This soul-depriving method requires me to pierce all 365 major acupoints on your body, and it’s far from complete. It’d be another five days before my original plan could be completed, but Your Royal Highness is much more impressive than I thought. Your rapid response caught me off guard, and there’s no time to complete this.”
Such was Donghuazi’s original plan. The king roughly still had five to seven days to live, and if Li Qinglin dropped dead at the same time… Nanli would really be doomed.
Li Qinglin said coldly, “If that’s the case, why are you still diligently working on this spell here? Is it your last struggle before you die?”
Donghuazi didn’t answer the question. Instead, he changed the subject. “Your Royal Highness, did you know that I was sent here by Xihuang with a hidden agenda? However, His Majesty trusted me, and the people have loved me since. I have a heart, too, so instead of betraying Nanli, I’ve sincerely been helping Nanli over the years.”
Li Qinglin chuckled. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re a loyal subject and I’ve forced you to plot this rebellion?”
“I can’t say I’m a loyal subject. I was born in the wild and didn’t learn much about civility, so I don’t know many major principles,” Donghuazi said slowly. “Maybe to you, I’ve brought chaos to Nanli and deserve to die because of that. But to His Majesty and me, everything we’ve done was to achieve immortality. Compared to that, everything else is meaningless. When even the king himself believes that, why should I take all the blame?”
Qin Yi pursed his lips. He knew that what Donghuazi said was very similar to Liusu’s beliefs, and maybe Minghe thought the same as well.
Cultivators like them couldn’t care less about mortal affairs, especially state ones. Why should they concern themselves with figuring out who was loyal and who would benefit a small kingdom?
Li Qinglin smiled. “Are you trying to say that you were really trying to help prolong my father’s life? With those poisonous pills?”
“According to Taoist scriptures, lead and mercury are ingredients that can work in harmony. I’ve consulted with my fellow cultivators, and everyone has been doing the same thing. I believe that if this recipe didn’t work, some key ingredient must be missing, and that was what all the demon cores were for. Do you really think His Majesty didn’t know about my demon-refining work? He knew, but he still took the pills.”
Li Qinglin flared up. “He’s dying from your pills! How dare you try to confuse other people with your nonsense?!”
Donghuazi said slowly, “According to you, His Majesty is dying. How do you know he’s not escaping his physical form and reaching a new stage?”
The others were speechless. Despite how ridiculous that sounded, by the looks of it, Donghuazi actually believed it.
Li Qinglin couldn’t be bothered to listen to this gibberish either, so he said, “Go to your new stage, then.”
He then raised a hand and was about to shatter Donghuazi’s heart.
Donghuazi said, “Your Royal Highness, do you know why I’ve stayed here to cast the spell when I knew I wouldn’t have enough time?”
Li Qinglin paused.
Donghuazi grinned. “Because you would be furious when you saw this and would immediately try to kill me yourself. I’ve used the real spell on myself, and anyone who kills me will be cursed. That puppet is only a red herring. I’m the real weapon.”
The look on Li Qinglin’s face changed.
“Your Royal Highness is an outstanding man. You have the courage, the brain, and great talent. However, all men are flawed. For instance, you’re the type of warrior who would lead the way on every occasion. It’s supposed to be heroic, but it can get you killed sometimes, like now.”
Li Qinglin listened in silence and said quietly, “Thank you for your teachings, Master Teacher.”
Qin Yi listened in silence as well. Even if they knew witchcraft, they wouldn’t have been able to stop it, not to mention that they didn’t know a thing about it. Li Qinglin had already walked into the trap when he pierced Donghuazi with his spear.
He whispered to Liusu, “Can we do anything?”
Liusu sighed. “I don’t think it’ll kill him, but…”
Donghuazi’s smile grew broader as he coughed out more blood. “Your Royal Highness doesn’t believe in immortality… Or should I say, you’d despise immortality even if you were given the opportunity. All you care about is making great accomplishments and taking care of your country, the kingdom, and the world. That’s all because you’re still young and your time hasn’t arrived yet… I’m curious—when you grow old and become a gray-haired man, will you still be the same Li Qinglin who doesn’t believe in immortality? Ha… Hahaha…”
He closed his eyes as he laughed, and his voice trailed off.
Li Qinglin still stood there, holding his spear that was sticking to the wall. However, everyone could see that he was trembling a little. Behind him, Qin Yi watched as the color of Li Qinglin’s black hair faded until his hair all turned white.
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