Chapter 83 All laws of Earth and Heaven originate from the Dipper; all gods are subject to the Dipper. ...

Crows circled aimlessly over the mountains and plains, while snakes, insects, and rodents crawled everywhere on the ground, as if something had disturbed their nest underground, causing them to flee in panic.

The moment Chen Ying stepped into the mass grave, she abruptly pulled A Cong behind a pile of graves and hid herself, holding her breath. Just then, a green snake as thick as an arm passed by right under her nose, even coiling around her calf for a moment. As a Gu Master, Chen Ying was completely unmoved, ignoring the entangled serpent entirely, and listened intently to the sounds ahead.

Chen Ying gritted her teeth inwardly, not expecting that at the crucial moment, several unexpected obstacles would appear out of nowhere.

Moreover, Cheng Yaojin and his companions were quite chattering.

"How could I not believe it? That child said Tingfengzhi was carried into the mass grave in a bridal sedan chair. Is he really talking about Tingfengzhi?"

"Blindness, a blue robe, a bamboo cane, a musical instrument, and a folding fan that seems to float in the clouds—isn't that the standard attire for someone who can read the wind? Who would carry a folding fan in the dead of winter? It can't be wrong."

"Moreover, Senior Brother Liuyun just said that the villagers in Fengkou Village were attacked by the evil spirits, so there must be a big problem with the mass grave, right, Senior Brother Liuyun?"

Along the way, Li Liuyun observed birds, beasts, snakes, insects, and rodents, holding a homemade astrolabe in his hand. He walked and compared it with the stars in the sky, leading several fellow disciples through the graves.

The junior brother often felt that Senior Brother Liuyun was like the one who searched the mountains everywhere, leading them to patrol the mass grave. First, he would climb to a higher place, and then, like inspecting troops, he would check the several hills and mounds connected here. He would dig around at the slightest rustling of wind or grass, and as a result, he dug out a squeaking gray squirrel.

Li Liuyun was exceptionally steady and composed, doing things at a leisurely pace and with strong opinions. As a result, his fellow disciples often had the illusion that they were following the sect leader or the elder celestial master down the mountain on business.

Originally, after they had finished handling the aftermath of Bei Qu's death, they followed the trail of Wang Xiang and the Gu Master. Then, in the original village, they heard that the Iron-Mask Man, suspected to be close to the Gu Master, had killed a villager named Xiao Tiezhu. Furthermore, a dispute arose between the two families over a ghost marriage, resulting in a death in the mass grave. The matter was unusual and quite complicated.

So the disciples of Taihang Dao followed the clues and eventually arrived at Fengkou Village. The process was full of twists and turns, but in the end, they learned the whereabouts of Tingfengzhi from the grandson of an old doctor.

According to Li Liuyun, Tingfengzhi probably wanted to get involved himself.

If there are indeed evil spirits causing trouble here, then as disciples of the Taihang Sect, they naturally cannot stand idly by.

When asked by his junior brother, the usually taciturn Li Liuyun finally spoke: "The mass grave is filled with the remains of many who died tragically. The deathly aura in the ground is so strong that it's inevitable that misfortune will occur, but..."

All his fellow disciples turned to look at him, eagerly awaiting his insights. As everyone knew, Li Liuyun was always taciturn and never spoke nonsense, his words were much more concise than the lengthy lectures given by the elders.

The youngest junior brother, the most impetuous and impatient, asked: "But what?"

Li Liuyun looked up at the stars in the sky, then surveyed the terrain of the mountain plateau, and frowned, saying, "It seems there is a burial site here."

The burial site was named after the Big Dipper constellation, which surprised everyone: "This is clearly a mass grave!"

If there is a burial site with a large burial mound, a disciple said, "Who would build a tomb with a large burial mound in a mass grave? Isn't that reckless?"

Li Liuyun thought so too, which is why he hesitated, after all, he lacked practical experience: "I'm not very sure either, but it should be pretty close to the truth."

The junior apprentice also followed Li Liuyun's example and climbed to the high ground to look out, but he didn't pay attention and almost lost his footing.

"Sanmu!" His senior brother behind him quickly grabbed him.

The youngest junior disciple is named Lin Mu, a name supposedly given to him by a fortune teller while analyzing his birth chart. His fellow disciples from Taihang Mountain call him Sanmu (Three Woods). Several other disciples are named Zhang Miao, Xu Yan, Chen Gui, and Sun Jin, representing the five elements in Taihang Mountain, collectively known as the Five Elements of Taihang. While these names sound impressive, their actual abilities vary greatly; it's just a joke among the disciples.

"Thank you very much, Senior Brother Lian Zhao."

Lian Zhao reminded him, "Be careful, don't jump around like that."

"I just wanted to see this burial ritual." But with his current experience, he couldn't figure it out, so he turned his head away in frustration, staring at Senior Brother Liuyun with his innocent almond eyes. The other party was clearly only a few years older than him, so why was there such a big difference in their ages?

Li Liuyun was stared at by him for a while, feeling a little confused, but soon understood and handed over the astrolabe in her hand.

Lin Mu stared wide-eyed in shock, accepting the self-made astrolabe from the descendant of the Celestial Master in disbelief.

After handing it over, Li Liuyun walked past him and headed towards the direction he had indicated.

Lin Mu remained frozen in the position of receiving the star chart for a long time, unsure whether he was flattered or something else. He had just said he wanted to see the burial, and then Senior Brother Liuyun kindly lent him the star chart. How generous!

Who said the Celestial Master's successor was aloof, arrogant, and difficult to get along with?!

Seeing that he was still standing there, Lian Zhao urged, "What are you standing there for? Come on."

Lin Mu immediately grabbed the astrolabe and followed, taking great care of the opportunity to study it as he walked. However, he was not very skilled and couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried: "How did Senior Brother Liuyun know it was a Dou Zang?"

Li Liuyun paused, then suddenly turned around and pointed to the lodestone on the star chart: "The heavens follow the earth, and the celestial phenomena are the terrain. This place corresponds to the celestial stars, so it is clear that someone used the earth to follow the heavens and set up the Big Dipper formation. It cannot be seen from here, but it can be seen from above."

Therefore, his effort to climb to a high place and look into the distance was to take a comprehensive view of the overall situation.

These words were like a wake-up call. Lin Mu suddenly realized the truth and exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "Senior Brother Liuyun, you are amazing!"

Li Liuyun: "..." He felt like he had been stung hard by those words. The Taihang Sect was taught by the Elder Master himself. Aren't these the most basic things? Little bee, oh no, junior brother, there was no need to "sting" him like that. He stung Li Liuyun so much that he turned around and left.

Lin Mu blinked, somewhat bewildered: "What was Senior Brother Liuyun's expression just now?"

Lian Zhao thought for a moment: "Isn't that awkward?"

Does he feel embarrassed when others compliment him?

Lian Zhao only came into contact with Li Liuyun after coming down the mountain recently, and didn't know much about his personality: "He probably doesn't like being praised."

After their trip to the Northern Ghost Office, they truly witnessed Li Liuyun's abilities and were all filled with admiration. Lin Mu wondered, "If he's so powerful, wouldn't the Celestial Master often praise him?"

Lian Zhao believes: "He is a disciple personally taught by the Celestial Master. The Celestial Master has high hopes for him and must be quite strict with him on a daily basis, and would not praise him easily."

"That's true."

The two followed behind Li Liuyun, whispering all the way, and Chen Ying, who was hiding in the shadows, overheard everything they said.

“A direct disciple of the Taihang Dao Celestial Master Jingzong,” Chen Ying peeked out, her gaze fixed on Li Liuyun’s back. She watched as the young man, relying on the so-called “battle formation,” led a group of teenagers to the opening of the gate with perfect accuracy. “His background is indeed extraordinary.”

When Chen Ying was hiding in Bei Qu, she didn't expect that the Celestial Master Jing Zong would personally take action. She thought that the leader should at least be a respected elder over fifty years old. However, the Taihang Sect only sent a few inexperienced young men to settle the matter.

Perhaps this was an excuse to send them down the mountain for training.

Despite the commotion caused by Bei Qu at the beginning, this disciple of the Celestial Master remained calm and handled the situation in an orderly manner. He then arrived at the site without delay and found the entrance to the burial site almost without wandering around the mass grave.

Chen Ying thought to herself with a heavy heart: "I've been stuck in this place for two or three years, running from one side of the mountain to the other, digging and burying, and I never knew there was another world here."

These teenagers were able to find the right door as soon as they arrived, which made her want to go to the Taihang Mountains to become their apprentice.

Ah Cong silently gestured beside her.

To avoid alerting them, Chen Ying gestured for him to wait. It wasn't that she was afraid of these Taihang Dao disciples, but she felt that she should proceed with caution.

Only after the group of chattering teenagers stepped through the gate as if on an adventure did Chen Ying appear from behind the burial mound.

As the saying goes, "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," these people are all paving the way for her.

The boys, who were chosen as pathfinders, were caught in a storm as soon as they passed through the gate. They were thrown off their feet and tumbled about, and in the chaos, they grabbed and hugged each other, trying to huddle together.

Lin Mu shouted, "Something's not right! How can there be a gale-force wind in this 'Battle Burial'?! Senior Brother, hold me tight!"

"Sanmu!" The senior brother closest to him shouted, suddenly grabbing Linmu and being swept up into the air with him.

"A ghost—" someone screamed, the last syllable of their voice splitting into two. It's quite strange that cultivators are afraid of ghosts.

The boys caught in the storm stared in terror, only to see a gigantic skull open its massive maw in mid-air and devour the five boys in one gulp.

The Taihang Dao disciples had never seen such a massive skull before, as big as a mountain, and what's more, they were swallowed whole by the skull, leaving them utterly despairing.

At that moment, the only thought that flashed through their minds was: It's over, it's over, we're dead.

Before the thought of "death" had fully settled, the sight of a barrage of arrows terrified him to death.

What exactly is this hellish trap that's supposed to be called "Fighting Burial"?

The disciples had no time to process the scene of being devoured by the skeleton and about to be pierced by a thousand arrows. They were so shocked that they were dumbfounded. How could they have imagined that they had stepped into a desperate situation?

Even Li Liuyun, who would remain calm even if the sky were to fall, changed his expression; the situation had clearly exceeded his expectations.

However, the dense barrage of arrows did not turn them into hedgehogs riddled with arrows; instead, they were swept up into the storm from above.

Startled and breaking out in a cold sweat, Li Liuyun belatedly realized what was happening, turned his head, and sure enough, saw Tingfengzhi with her clothes fluttering in the storm.

Tingfengzhi seemed to sway slightly, as if it couldn't support itself.

The Taihang Dao disciples, who had thought they were doomed, miraculously survived. They stared blankly at Tongling's large eyes, holding their breath until they almost suffocated. It was as if their souls had escaped from the underworld and returned to their bodies. They gasped for breath and crawled up from the ground like zombies, witnessing an unprecedented scene of one person fighting against ten thousand arrows. No, it wasn't one person fighting against ten thousand arrows, because there was clearly a white shadow in the air, moving as fast as a phantom, stirring up a magnificent frost and snow in the storm.

The dazzling array of Taihang Dao disciples spoke in unison.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

"You'll know if you listen to the wind!"

Zhou Yaren had no time for anything else.

While none of his fellow disciples noticed, Li Liuyun clearly saw what had swallowed them—a mound of corpses sealed within.

“The tomb is actually a mound of Jingguan.” Li Liuyun blurted out, “Judging from the wind, this is a twelve-kill formation formed by the killing aura of the ancient battlefield.”

"What?" Lian Zhao asked three times in a row, "What Jingguan? What ancient battlefield?"

Li Liuyun didn't have time to explain further to him, and said to Zhou Yaren under the storm, "This murderous aura is from a battle back then."

The murderous aura transformed into a volley of arrows on the battlefield, instantly dragging them back to the battlefields of ancient times.

Regardless of how these Taihang Dao youths found their way here, Li Liuyun was adept at discerning various magical formations, and his arrival would be of great help to Zhou Yaren: "What Twelve Killing Formations?"

"This is a battle formation that uses the earth's laws to suppress the spirits of the fallen soldiers, making their souls imprisoned at the Big Dipper. As you and I both know, the Big Dipper connects space and time, and the direction the handle points can be used to distinguish the four seasons and the twelve earthly branches."

Without Li Liuyun needing to explain further, Zhou Yaren understood immediately. This was celestial astrology, a method of observing the stars to determine the time. The palace had celestial officials specifically responsible for calendars, astronomy, and astrology, who always followed the natural order of the heavens. The Big Dipper completes one revolution in a year, and the twelve Earthly Branches are used to record time and months. When using the Earthly Branches to record time, a day is divided into twelve two-hour periods, which is what Li Liuyun referred to as the Twelve Killing Formations.

Lian Zhao wasn't a fool either. Staring at the crisis that had been averted by the storm and frost, he couldn't relax at all: "So, that means there will be murderous intent every single hour of the day?!"

Li Liuyun remained noncommittal: "All laws originate from the Big Dipper, and all gods are commanded by the Big Dipper." This means that all Taoist practices are inextricably linked to the stars, and all deities are commanded through the stars. Li Liuyun continued, "The dead and filthy are even more so among the soldiers who died on the battlefield. The one who sets up the formation uses the Big Dipper formation to command the evil within the Jingguan, driving and activating the killing scheme, which is to cause annihilation and make it a place of death."

The words “extinction” and “death zone” sent chills down the spines of the Taihang Dao disciples.