After infusing spiritual energy, the Earth Book fragment lit up with a murky glow. The light flowed like water, igniting one incantation after another.
Xu Qi’an and Luo Yuheng leaped onto the stone disc in unison. The next moment, the murky light silently expanded, engulfing them both and making them vanish from the stone chamber.
Finding himself once again in a pitch-black environment, Xu Qi’an’s body tensed up imperceptibly, as if facing a great enemy. He couldn’t help but recall the scene of his silent “death” last time.
He remembered that terrifying, irresistible pressure.
At this moment, he felt his arm being lightly tapped by a fly whisk, and Luo Yuheng’s voice sounded in his ear: “Follow behind me!”
The fly whisk tapped him again, seemingly signaling that he could follow now.
It’s too dark, I can’t see anything at all. If I reach out to feel my way forward, could I touch Aunt’s perky bottom? I’d probably be killed on the spot… He thought while slowly walking.
The passage was silent and long. After walking for a full quarter hour, Xu Qi’an’s heart tightened, preparing to face that terrifying breathing sound and the mountain-like heavy pressure.
However, there was nothing ahead, all was calm.
Hm?
He maintained his composure and continued walking with Luo Yuheng. After a few minutes, a faint but pure golden light appeared ahead.
This is where I “died” last time, Xu Qi’an muttered inwardly, stopping in place.
He trusted that with Luo Yuheng’s methods and cultivation, she didn’t need his unnecessary reminders. If there was any danger, Aunt could handle it completely.
Besides, this was just Aunt’s avatar… Wait, if her avatar can’t handle it, wouldn’t I, in my true form, be doomed? As he was lost in thought, Xu Qi’an suddenly froze.
Amidst his wandering thoughts, he suddenly saw golden light blossoming from Luo Yuheng’s body, bright but not dazzling, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
Aunt turned her head, her exquisite features like a golden statue, and spoke softly: “There’s nothing unusual here, just a monk.”
Nothing unusual?! Xu Qi’an was stunned again.
Where was the terrifying pressure? The frightening breathing sound?
Puzzled, he and Luo Yuheng approached the golden light emanating a Buddhist aura.
As they got closer, they saw a spacious secret chamber ahead. In the center of the chamber was a stone bed and a bronze pill furnace. At the side of the stone bed was a cliff-like abyss.
On the stone bed sat a tall and burly monk, with a golden fist-sized pearl floating above his head.
His eyes were closed, showing no signs of life.
Master Heng Yuan… Xu Qi’an’s heart suddenly ached, feeling a tearing pain.
In an instant, various scenes of Heng Yuan’s past flashed through his mind – his embarrassment when asking for money, his seriousness when taking care of the widows and orphans at Yangsheng Hall…
Luo Yuheng stared at the fist-sized pearl for a moment and said: “A sarira, the fruition of a Second-Rank Arhat.”
After a pause, she looked at Xu Qi’an: “He’s only in a state of fake death.”
Only fake death… Xu Qi’an’s surging sorrow suddenly stopped. He exhaled in relief and then asked:
“The sarira represents an Arhat’s fruition, but Heng Yuan couldn’t possibly be a Second-Rank expert.”
Unless Heng Yuan was a hidden Second-Rank powerhouse of the Buddhist sect, which was impossible.
Luo Yuheng pondered: “Five hundred years ago, Buddhism once flourished in the Central Plains. This sarira might have been left by a high monk from that period. As for why he has it, either he’s a reincarnated Arhat, or he encountered some fortuitous opportunity and obtained the sarira.”
Xu Qi’an frowned: “I heard that Arhats are immortal.”
After saying this, he inwardly grumbled that the Buddhist cultivation system was much more stable than the Taoist one. The Three Sects of Taoism had completely gone astray.
Luo Yuheng glanced at him sideways and said calmly:
“In the Buddhist Zen master system, Fourth-Rank Ascetics are at the foundational level. Ascetics must make great vows, and the greater the vow, the higher the fruition.
“Different levels of fruition distinguish between Arhats and Bodhisattvas. Once a fruition is formed, it cannot be changed. In other words, an Arhat will always be an Arhat, with no chance of becoming a First-Rank Bodhisattva.
“Thus, there’s a method of reincarnation and re-cultivation. If an Arhat wishes to achieve First Rank, they must reincarnate and re-cultivate, giving up everything in their current life. Every time an Arhat reincarnates, the Buddhist sect would spare no effort to find them, then implant their previous life’s sarira into their body to protect them.
“Five hundred years ago, when Confucianism suppressed Buddhism and forced them back to the Western Regions, this sarira was likely left behind. Therefore, this monk might have obtained the sarira by chance, not necessarily being a reincarnated Arhat.”
This is Heng Yuan’s secret, this is why Daoist Jin Lian gave him the Earth Book fragment… Whether Heng Yuan is a reincarnated Arhat or obtained the sarira by chance, his future achievements will undoubtedly be extraordinary… Did the sentient sarira protect Master Heng Yuan, saving him from danger? Xu Qi’an suddenly realized.
At the same time, he recalled how Arhat Du’e had called him a “Buddha’s son” before.
Could Du’e have suspected that he was the reincarnation of some Arhat?
As his thoughts wandered, Luo Yuheng extended her finger and lightly touched the sarira.
She used a Taoist secret technique to awaken the primordial spirit, which wasn’t aggressive.
The sarira gently rippled with a soft halo.
A few seconds later, Xu Qi’an heard the once-silent heart in Heng Yuan’s chest begin to beat again, starting to pump blood. After another ten seconds or so, the big monk’s eyelids trembled and opened.
“Young Master Xu? Imperial Tutor?”
After looking around in confusion, Heng Yuan saw Xu Qi’an and the brightly glowing Luo Yuheng.
“Master, you have quite a tenacious life!” Xu Qi’an smiled.
Just as Heng Yuan was about to speak, he suddenly startled, giving the impression of a bristling cat. He abruptly looked towards the bronze pill furnace, where there was no one.
The raised “cat fur” slowly settled, and Heng Yuan gently exhaled, his expression visibly relaxing.
Heng Yuan’s reaction made Xu Qi’an somewhat uneasy. He chose his words carefully and briefly explained how he had discovered the secret passage and sought help from the Imperial Tutor.
Then he asked: “What did you encounter here?”
Only at this moment, after hearing Xu Qi’an’s description and verifying the details, did Heng Yuan believe that the two people before him were real.
He immediately swallowed back the sarira, put his palms together, and began to recount: “That day, after I was taken away by Prince Huai’s secret agents, they brought me here through the transmission formation in Marquis Pingyuan’s mansion. Here, here…”
At this point, he showed an extremely terrified expression: “There’s an evil being living here.”
An evil being?!
Xu Qi’an’s face changed slightly, the muscles in his back tensing one by one, his hair standing on end.
“He wanted to eat me, but because of the sarira, he didn’t succeed. However, the sarira couldn’t defeat him either, and eventually, it would be refined by him. To fight against him, I fell into a death-like state, fully activating the sarira,” Heng Yuan said with a deeply aggrieved expression.
“What does he look like?” Xu Qi’an asked hurriedly.
“The feeling he gave me was very similar to the demonic Taoists of the Earth Sect. His eyes were full of malice as if one look would make you fall with him. Cruelty, greed, lust… all kinds of evil thoughts sprouted. This is also why I chose to enter a ‘nirvana’ state. If I didn’t, I couldn’t maintain my true nature in the struggle against him,” Heng Yuan said, still shaken.
It is another avatar of the Earth Sect Patriarch! Xu Qi’an instinctively looked at Luo Yuheng, seeing that she was also looking at him. Both showed expressions of sudden realization.
“Then where is he now?”
Xu Qi’an’s gaze swept across the stone chamber, noticing something unusual – the chamber was sealed, with no passage leading to the surface.
He immediately looked towards the abyss on the right side of the stone bed, suspecting that the fellow might be at the bottom of the abyss.
Heng Yuan frowned: “Not long ago, I felt the pressure from outside suddenly disappears…”
He also turned his gaze towards the abyss.
Luo Yuheng lightly flew up and plunged into the abyss.
About five minutes later, Luo Yuheng rode the golden light back up. For the first time, Xu Qi’an saw extreme anger in her eyes and expression.
“Imperial Tutor?” he called out tentatively.
“It’s safe down there,” Luo Yuheng said without expression.
What could be at the bottom of the abyss that made her expression so grim? Xu Qi’an wondered, seeking her opinion: “I want to go down and take a look.”
Luo Yuheng’s delicately sculpted lips curled into a cold smile: “As you wish.”
Xu Qi’an leaped into the abyss, free-falling. After about ten seconds, there was a thunderous crash as he slammed into the bottom of the abyss.
Martial artists are so crude, not elegant at all… He inwardly grumbled. Immediately after, he heard another loud “boom” behind him – Heng Yuan had also crashed down.
Warrior monks are equally crude! Xu Qi’an added mentally.
Unaware of Xu Qi’an’s mockery, Heng Yuan spat out the sarira. Its soft, solemn golden light broke through the darkness, allowing them to see the scene at the bottom.
Xu Qi’an’s expression suddenly froze.
As far as the eye could see, there were bones everywhere – skulls, ribs, leg bones, hand bones… They formed four characters: “Mountains of Corpses.”
It was impossible to estimate how many people had died here, accumulating into piles of bones over the years.
These were the people kidnapped by Marquis Pingyuan from the capital and its surroundings over the past forty years.
Men, women, and even children.
They were sent to the bottom of the palace, above the dragon vein, to be slaughtered here, their lives taken for some reason.
Forty years, how many people died here… Xu Qi’an’s facial muscles twitched bit by bit, and two words escaped through his clenched teeth: “Beasts!”
He felt as if he had returned to Chu State, back to Zheng Xinghuai’s memories, where people fell like grass.
“Amitabha…”
Heng Yuan put his palms together, lowered his head, and chanted the Buddha’s name. His burly frame trembled uncontrollably.
For someone who embraced compassion, a tsunami of rage surged in his heart – the rage of Vajra subduing demons.
The trembling wasn’t from fear but from anger.
After a long while, Xu Qi’an calmed his tumultuous emotions and looked towards a place not covered by bones. It was a huge stone disc carved with twisted, strange symbols.
Was this transmission formation the only way to the outside world?
Did the Earth Sect Patriarch leave through it?
Why leave, why choose to leave at this time… Was it because of my previous exploration that alerted him?
“Imperial Tutor.”
He called upwards.
Golden light descended from above. Luo Yuheng hovered in mid-air, looking down at them, at the abyss, at the mountains of bones.
Luo Yuheng said coolly: “Your previous entry might have alerted him, causing him to choose to leave. Throw the Earth Book over; I’ll transmit to that end to check the situation. You two return now and wait for me at Marquis Pingyuan’s mansion.”
The other end of the formation might be a trap.
She was merely an avatar; if lost, so be it. She didn’t mind being a sacrificial pawn. As long as she cut off the connection between her main body and the avatar in time, she could avoid the Earth Sect Patriarch’s pollution.
Xu Qi’an took out the Earth Book fragment, manipulated the spiritual energy, and sent it to the stone disc. Then he infused spiritual energy from a distance.
A murky glow lit up, illuminating the symbols and activating the transmission formation.
Luo Yuheng transformed into a beam of golden light and plunged toward the transmission formation. Upon touching the glow, her body suddenly vanished, transmitted to the other end of the formation.
Xu Qi’an recalled the Earth Book fragment, and he and Heng Yuan quickly evacuated the secret chamber, sprinting through the passage, and then transmitting back to Marquis Pingyuan’s mansion.
After the two left the stone chamber and exited the rockery, taking advantage of the time, Xu Qi’an told Heng Yuan about Emperor Yuanjing and the Earth Sect Patriarch’s “relationship,” recounting that hidden major case.
He also told him that Daoist Jin Lian was the good conscience of the Earth Sect Patriarch.
Heng Yuan was speechless for a long time, then sighed: “So that’s how it is. This poor monk always found it strange that Daoist Jin Lian could entangle with a Second-Rank expert’s demonic thoughts. Hmm, how does Young Master Xu have the Earth Book fragment?”
Xu Qi’an’s expression remained normal: “Second Brother has gone to war in the Northern Frontier, so the Number Three Earth Book fragment is temporarily in my care.”
Master Heng Yuan, you are my last stubbornness…
Heng Yuan, who trusted Young Master Xu implicitly, nodded without a trace of doubt.
They waited in the back garden for a long time until a golden light, invisible to ordinary people, flew over and descended on the rockery.
Luo Yuheng stood on the rockery and shook her head lightly: “The other side is an uninhabited mansion in the inner city.”
An uninhabited mansion? The other end wasn’t the palace, but an uninhabited mansion.
Xu Qi’an fell into silence.
The Earth Sect Patriarch had already left. This… he left too decisively. Where did he go? Was he so frightened by my disturbance that he fled?
Or did he go to the palace?
What about the Censor-in-chief? Did the Censor-in-chief know he had left? Would the Censor-in-chief allow him to enter the palace?
Seeing his prolonged silence, Luo Yuheng asked: “The trail has gone cold again?”
Xu Qi’an shook his head, then nodded: “The Earth Sect Patriarch’s avatar must have retreated. Perhaps he was alerted during my first exploration. But what I can’t understand is why he left so hastily, without properly dealing with his hiding place.”
Heng Yuan frowned and said: “Perhaps for the Earth Sect Patriarch, his goal has been achieved, and what happens to the capital no longer concerns him?”
Xu Qi’an looked at him: “How do you know his goal has been achieved? However, if the Earth Sect Patriarch doesn’t care about Emperor Yuanjing’s situation, then he indeed could leave quite easily.”
Xu Qi’an rubbed his face and exhaled heavily: “Never mind, I’ll go directly to the Censor-in-chief.”
With the Earth Sect Patriarch gone, there were no more clues to this case. Although without the Earth Sect Patriarch’s personal confession, his speculation remained just that – speculation, but these weren’t important.
The mountains of bones underground were the crucial evidence.
With Duke Wei gone, this matter could only be handled by the Censor-in-chief. The fear was that the Censor-in-chief would refuse to see him again, like last time.
“Thinking about it now, the Censor-in-chief must have known about these things. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that the last time I wanted to explore the dragon vein, he just happened to not want to see me? But I don’t understand why he’s been a cold observer,” he said softly.
Luo Yuheng frowned: “Indeed, it’s not logical.”
Xu Qi’an was about to speak when he felt a slap on the back of his head. He rubbed his head while taking out the Earth Book fragment.
The Number One Earth Book fragment initiated a private chat with Number Three.
I want to slap back, what would it feel like to slap a goddess on the back of her head… He grumbled internally while choosing to accept.
[One: I’m at the Xu mansion, come back quickly.]
[Three: What’s the matter? By the way, I’ve rescued Heng Yuan.]
Huai Qing didn’t respond for a long time. After a while, she finally sent a confused message: [Safe and sound?]
She meant, you rescued him safe and sound just like that?
[Three: Indeed, there wasn’t much danger. We’ll discuss the details in person. By the way, what did you want to see me about?]
[One: There’s a problem with your case. We’ll talk when you return to the mansion.]