Cruel ways of dying
Bai Er's hands and feet were tightly bound with the Immortal Binding Rope, and his head was wrapped in wide yellow cloth strips inscribed with runes, sealing off all seven orifices. No wonder they hadn't been able to find any trace or aura of Bai Er for so long...
Although monsters don't need to breathe and can't die immediately, sealing their seven orifices with runes like this prevents spiritual energy from entering their bodies for a long time, eventually exhausting their own spiritual power...
This process is like a drowning person who is constantly suffocating but not dying... The deeper the spiritual power, the longer the torment lasts... It's even more torture than human torture...
“Bai Er…” Xu Yi looked at Bai Er inside the formation, as if she could also feel the despair and suffocation beneath the taut strips of cloth…
How could anyone be so vicious? If they hadn't found Bai Er, he would have slowly felt his spiritual energy being drained away in the endless darkness and silence, until he clearly withered and died at the last moment...
Xu Yi's eyes involuntarily turned red, and a thick aura of malevolence and ghostly energy emanated from her, until it completely enveloped the entire formation...
"Xu Yi, don't rush, Yi Qing and I will break it together, it'll be quick..." Wu Zi quickly tried to persuade Xu Yi when he saw this, but Xu Yi only wanted to break the formation as quickly as possible and had no patience to wait for Wu Zi and the other two to slowly break it...
He then used his mind to control the ghostly energy to devour the energy of the magic shield, but this was undoubtedly a case of harming the enemy eight hundred while losing a thousand of his own... The black ghostly energy and malevolent energy dissipated a lot the moment they touched the magic shield. Although Xu Yi was constantly replenishing it, every bit of the magic shield was consumed required three times the amount of ghostly energy...
Xu Yi was focused on going faster and faster... she couldn't care less about anything else... she just kept compressing the black bead inside her body to release more ghostly energy, accelerating the control of the ghostly energy to devour the protective shield formed by the array...
Seeing this, Wu Zi was both anxious and distressed, and sped up the process of breaking the formation. However, the person who set up the formation was very experienced. The two formations, one above the other, were different from each other and operated in tandem, like a tangled mess of yarn. It was really difficult to find a clue in them...
Xu Yi's accumulated power finally came in handy. With most of the ghostly energy in his body depleted, the protective barrier was finally broken by Xu Yi's dense ghostly and malevolent energy... As the protective barrier shattered with a bang, Xu Yi was also backfired and spat out a mouthful of blood...
Xu Yi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, ran to the middle, and tried to tear off the strip of cloth from Bai Er's head...
But as soon as Xu Yi's hand touched the strip of cloth, it was bounced back by the runes on it. Xu Yi looked at her fingertips, which were being corroded by the runes, and was about to tear it off again when her hands were grabbed. Wu Zi's voice trembled slightly: "Xu Yi, let Yi Qing do this, it will be faster..."
Xu Yi looked anxiously at Wu Zi, and when she saw the pangs of heartache in Wu Zi's eyes, her agitated heart finally calmed down... She then looked at Yi Qing with anticipation...
With Qing's magical power, he wrote talismans, and the golden runes were transmitted one by one to the yellow cloth strip. They collided and canceled each other out. After the yellow runes on the cloth strip were neutralized, the cloth strip finally returned to its original appearance and slowly slid off Bai Er's head...
Xu Yi heard a long breathing sound, and then the spiritual energy within a hundred miles around Bai Er began to gather continuously, then swirled and entered Bai Er's body from between his eyebrows...
Wu Zi and Yi Qing also began channeling spiritual energy into Bai Er. After about fifteen minutes, the spiritual energy gathering around him finally helped to gradually soften Bai Er's purplish-red skin, turning it rosy... Bai Er let out a long sigh of relief, but his knees were too weak to stand up, so he knelt down again...
Xu Yi and the other two quickly went over and helped Bai Er up. Xu Yi looked at the listless Bai Er, and tears welled up in her eyes again: "Bai Er..."
"Xu...Xu Yi?" Bai Er seemed to be still in a daze... He just raised his hand to touch her, but then suddenly felt it was inappropriate and stopped between the two of them... Xu Yi simply grabbed Bai Er's hand and rubbed it, trying to make his skin, which had just warmed up, more awake: "It's me, Bai Er, are you alright?"
"Brother... Brother is in trouble..." Bai Er got up and tried to walk forward quickly, but he didn't know how long he had been kneeling and tied up. After taking only two steps, he fell back to the ground. Xu Yi never thought she would see Bai Er struggling to walk like this...
She cried and tried to pull Bai Er up, but she couldn't succeed no matter how hard she tried... A sense of resentment welled up in her heart, and with red eyes, Xu Yi fiercely covered her arm with ghost energy and pulled hard. Bai Er finally stood up under Xu Yi's pull, but due to inertia, he fell onto Xu Yi. Xu Yi supported Bai Er's ribs: "How are you, Bai Er?"
Bai Er didn't say anything, but simply pulled Xu Yi into his arms, his voice weak: "Xu Yi, you're here."
"Yes, I'm here," Xu Yi said, then pulled Bai Er's shoulders apart to look at his face and asked with concern, "Have you recovered?"
Bai Er glanced at Xu Yi but didn't say anything. He simply pulled Xu Yi back into his arms. Xu Yi heard Bai Er sigh with relief: "Let me have some more time."
Bai Er didn't know how long he had been trapped in the darkness... He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't even smell anything, but he could clearly feel his spiritual energy draining away. However, his hands and feet were bound, and his mouth was sealed... He couldn't even access spiritual energy, and could only slowly feel death drawing ever closer in the darkness and silence...
So when he was freed from the seal and first saw Xu Yi's concerned eyes, a surge of emotion, carrying the meaning of redeeming his destiny, instantly filled his entire being... But his brother was still missing, and he only wanted to rescue his brother as soon as possible... But after taking two steps, he stumbled twice...
He slumped to the ground, feeling helpless, but mostly angry at his own powerlessness... But when he met Xu Yi's tear-streaked, red eyes, and sensed her determination to pull him up, he felt that knowing Xu Yi in this life was truly a blessing... So, the moment he fell onto Xu Yi's shoulder, he still couldn't help but hug her tightly in his arms...
All I could think was: This is good, just let me rest for a little while.
Xu Yi was worried about Bai Er's physical condition, while Bai Er was preoccupied with his own emotional turmoil. Neither of them noticed Wu Zi's dim eyes behind them. Yi Qing, however, noticed and gently patted his shoulder to comfort him...
After a short while, Bai Er finally felt his strength return, so he slowly released Xu Yi and said to the three of them, "Brother's whereabouts may be difficult to find. He may also have his five orifices sealed like me. Let's leave first and then make further plans..."
After the four returned to the Imperial Observatory, Bai Er recounted the series of events he and Bai Da had experienced...
Upon arriving in the capital, Bai Da changed his name to Bai Zhouji. At the famous Gushan Temple, he met the prime minister's youngest daughter, Xiang Qi. Bai Da, captivated by her beauty, immediately inquired about her identity. This was initially a trivial matter, and the two brothers paid little attention to it. They simply rented a house in the capital, spending their days writing letters and their evenings dealing with supernatural events to make ends meet…
The news of the prime minister posting the notice spread like wildfire. Bai Da, upon hearing that a young woman he had previously admired was in trouble, considered offering his assistance. However, Bai Er was much more level-headed. When high-ranking officials were in trouble, the Imperial Observatory would usually be consulted. The fact that a notice was being posted outside seeking help meant the Imperial Observatory was unwilling to handle the matter, hence the leak… and if even the Imperial Observatory was unwilling to deal with it, it was even less appropriate for them to get involved…
They advised Bai Da not to get involved, but Bai Da only wanted to see Xiang Qi one more time, saying he would consider the matter after seeing it. That's why they went to the Prime Minister's residence. After things were settled, Bai Da and Xiang Qi were inseparable and unwilling to leave. He even considered becoming a live-in son-in-law...
Although Bai Er felt it was inappropriate, he had finally seen his brother find love, and putting himself in his brother's shoes, he probably couldn't let go either. That's why he moved into the Prime Minister's residence with his brother.
What happened next was pretty much as the Prime Minister had predicted. While planning their engagement banquet, the two were expelled from the Prime Minister's residence after their identities were exposed. Bai Er thought their earthly relationship was over and wanted to leave the capital, but Bai Da and the Prime Minister remained entangled, unwilling to leave... So the two built a thatched hut on the outskirts of the city to live out their days...
Later, they were found by Jiu Yin. Neither of them had ever done anything wrong and weren't afraid of being questioned by the righteous path. However, Jiu Yin claimed that Bai Da had interfered in karma he shouldn't have and wanted to take him back for questioning. Since all the cultivators they had encountered since leaving the mountain were righteous, they hadn't suspected anything, assuming they would be released after the questioning… Moreover, Bai Er hadn't interfered in karma, thinking that even if his brother were in danger, he could protect him…
Unexpectedly… as soon as Bai Da stepped into the causal array, gray causal lines appeared on his body, trapping him within the array. Bai Er, shocked and about to resist, was immediately bound by the pre-drawn demon-binding array… Instantly, both of them lost the ability to resist…
Later, due to the fact that runes were written on his yellow cloth, his seven orifices were sealed off. He was only just rescued by Xu Yi and the others...
"A gray, faded line of cause and effect?" Xu Yi looked at Wu Zi: "Do lines of cause and effect have different colors?"
“Hmm,” Yi Qing continued, “normal karmic lines are usually yellow, but those karmic lines from past lives that cannot be touched are grayish-black. This karmic line should be caused by Xiang Qi’s matter…”
"A causal array?" Xu Yi asked curiously, "What kind of array is that?"
"That was carved by a powerful being in ancient times. Entering the Cause and Effect Array reveals cause and effect," Wu Zi looked at Xu Yi. "This array was originally intended to reveal the cause and effect of everyone, using cause to dissect effect. It was an extraordinary array. Later generations added control artifacts to the cause and effect revealing array and refined it together. After that, anyone burdened by bad karma would be bound and unable to move if they entered, and it gradually became an array for identifying and controlling all spirits in the Three Realms..."
"Using cause to effect? That's impressive."
“Hmm,” Yi Qing nodded, “In ancient times, powerful beings could separate cause and effect, which was based on seeing cause and effect before separating them… But the magic for separating cause and effect was lost, and the tool that used to be used to observe cause and effect was modified into a formation for judging all living beings. It’s really a pity.”
After listening to Bai Er's explanation, Xu Yi finally realized what she had missed: "It's Xiang Qi."
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