Chapter 770 The Three Pure Ones Only Need Mud, But Buddha Requires a Golden Body [Monthly Ticket Lottery: One Day Left]
Below the artificial hill, inside a sealed ice cave.
The atmosphere at this moment is perfectly captured by a phrase:
It felt like falling into an ice cave.
The hearts of everyone who had just breathed a sigh of relief were now sinking into a chill, and even the blankets on their bodies couldn't suppress the goosebumps that were silently rising.
The sound of a zither, sometimes near, sometimes far, and from who-knows-where, seemed to haunt my ears like a death knell, accompanied by a striking red beam of light suddenly emanating from the expressionless young Taoist priest.
Lu Ya immediately became the focus of attention inside the ice cave.
The music appeared almost simultaneously with the fiery red beam of light emanating from his body.
The general connection is obvious to everyone.
Wei Mei, filled with surprise and doubt, pointed at Lu Ya and asked, "You... the pillar of light above your head, is it because of this zither music?"
Li Xian looked around anxiously: "Who's playing? Cover it up quickly!"
Lu Ya's expression changed, and he solemnly raised his hand, quickly sealing the acupoints that stimulated his hearing, thus blocking the sound of the zither from his ears.
The bright red beam of light was still hanging above his head.
Li Guo'er acted decisively, snatching the unused blanket from Li Xian's hand and tossing it to Lu Ya.
The latter took it and tried to cover his head with it.
Immediately, however, they discovered that the bright red beam of light, like the ethereal sound of a zither, pierced straight through the blanket and shot towards the ceiling.
It's conceivable that it could also penetrate the soil and rocks and be exposed outside the ice cave.
Sensing this outcome, everyone's expression changed drastically.
Lu Ya looked up at the ceiling, his brows furrowed, staring at the illusory pillar of light that was similar in color to the spiritual energy in his dantian.
"Oh no! Ouyang Lianghan's prediction was right again."
Li Guo'er's voice was deep, and her pretty face was as cold as an iceberg:
"This beam of light may be linked to spiritual cultivation, and it could reveal our location."
Lu Ya, Li Xian, and the others immediately recalled the earnest instructions that Ouyang Rong had left behind:
Xie Lingjiang, Lu Ya, and other Qi cultivators should run into Mount Lu to lure away the pursuers, and not stay in the ice cave together.
Wei Mei said, both angry and anxious:
"Master Lu, why didn't you listen to Tanlang's words? Look what you've done now! Tanlang risked his life to buy us time, and now look what's happened..."
"This poor, poor Taoist..."
Lu Ya was filled with guilt and felt utterly ashamed.
Li Guo'er took a deep breath, not immediately complaining or blaming. She quickly pointed her index finger at Lu Ya and calmly analyzed the situation:
"If we can't stop the source of the music, then there's only one way: destroy the spiritual energy dantian!"
The entire room fell silent.
Under the complex gazes of the crowd, Lu Ya trembled slightly.
The expressionless Taoist priest was biting his cheeks so hard that his face turned bright red.
At one moment, he suddenly faced Li Guo'er, Li Xian, Wei Mei, and others, and solemnly bowed once.
After bowing, before anyone could react, he raised his palm and was about to place it on his lower abdomen.
Li Xian cried out anxiously, "Master Lu, please don't..."
Just then.
"Thump—!"
A dull thud suddenly came from outside the ice cellar, followed by two more identical thuds:
"Thump—thump—!"
It was the sound of the large stone sealing the entrance to the ice cellar being struck.
Someone is breaking down the door.
Li Guo'er suddenly turned around: "Stop! They're here."
...
"Crackling and popping—"
On the ruins of the inner residence of the Prince of Xunyang's mansion, after the fire, the remaining roots and leaves, buried in the black and gray embers and not yet completely burned, occasionally emitted a muffled popping sound.
On the ruins, the group of pirates who were about to leave stopped in place, keeping their eyes turned to the side.
The atmosphere on the field was somewhat quiet, which made the loud "crackling" sound all the more prominent.
All eyes fell on the inconspicuous artificial hill in front of them.
"laugh."
The one-eyed man suddenly smiled, looked around at his companions, and exchanged glances.
The group of pirates wearing white cloth strips also grinned maliciously.
Although it's incomprehensible why anyone would dare to hide in a dark room during such a massive fire, risking suffocation and death... the facts are undeniable.
Some answers are already self-evident.
In front of everyone, the one-eyed man raised a finger and put it to his lips.
The group of pirates immediately fell silent and followed the one-eyed man to the artificial mountain emitting a red beam of light, surrounding it completely.
Before long, an inconspicuous hidden door to a cellar was cleared out.
The one-eyed man squatted on the ground and tapped his fingers.
A huge rock blocked the entrance to the cellar.
The one-eyed man smirked slightly, raised his hand, and gestured to his subordinates behind him.
Soon, the hundred pirates dispersed in unison, splitting into several small teams to head to the outer courtyard and search for wooden stakes to break down the door.
The one-eyed man and the other three mid-level pirates remained where they were, coldly looking down at the hidden door of the ice cellar.
While waiting for his men to break down the door, the one-eyed man, having nothing better to do, looked around.
He listened to the music that had been announced in advance, and looked around at the surrounding scenery.
Soon, several anomalies were discovered:
First, deep within Mount Lu, there was indeed a large red pillar of light moving "slowly" northward, followed closely by five other large red pillars of light, also moving "slowly" northward, seemingly in pursuit.
After a moment's thought, the one-eyed man guessed the reason.
It was that Xie woman, who was being chased by the five mid-ranking river pirates he had sent.
It was unclear whether the Xunyang Prince's family was following Xie Lingjiang or hiding in the strange secret room beneath his feet.
No matter what, you're not getting away today.
Secondly, there were some other pillars of light in the city, but they were all concentrated in Xingzifang and Xunyangfang in the distance. I wonder if they were rebels from the Jianghu in the south who had infiltrated the city... The one-eyed man quickly looked away and didn't pay much attention to them.
Today, this group of "water bandits from Hukou County" is only responsible for the massacre at the Xunyang Prince's Mansion. As for the fierce battle surrounding the Buddha at Shuangfengjian, that is not their concern.
At that moment, the one-eyed man's gaze was drawn to a very conspicuous strange phenomenon on the western horizon.
It seems to be in the direction of Shuangfengjian, above the Xunyang Grottoes, there is an eye-catching beam of azure light.
Unlike normal low-grade blue light pillars and mid-grade red light pillars, this azure blue light pillar shot straight into the sky, like a sharp sword.
I wonder what's happening at the Xunyang Grottoes.
The one-eyed man watched for a while, and soon the first group of pirates returned with the materials needed to break down the door. The one-eyed man put his hands behind his back and made way for the pirates to start building the structure and ramming the stone door of the secret cave below.
The sounds of "thump" echoed one after another.
However, there are still not enough people, and the efficiency is quite slow. We need several more batches of people to return and reinforce us so that we can break through the goal together and speed things up.
The one-eyed man closed his eyes to rest, while supervising his men as they rammed the door. He waited for a while.
But a quarter of an hour passed and no one returned.
The one-eyed man was somewhat displeased. He waved his hand to summon two river pirates, gave them a few instructions, and the two pirates obeyed and left with a message to search for the person.
Fifteen minutes later.
Still, no one returned.
The two pirates who carried the message never returned.
The one-eyed man frowned and gestured to a mid-level pirate next to him.
The latter immediately turned around and went to look for the person with a cold face.
Half an incense stick later.
No one returned.
The one-eyed man's expression changed slightly.
Seemingly sensing something was amiss, he suddenly gave the order:
"Stop ramming the door, everyone assemble..."
He paused halfway through his sentence, as if sensing something, and turned around to look.
The other two mid-ranking pirates and the pirate subordinate who had rammed the door also turned their heads in response to his actions.
From the direction of the outer courtyard, a bearded young man was slowly walking towards them.
His face was pale, he was clutching a stack of white cloth strips in one hand, and in the other hand he was holding something that looked like a small clay pellet.
The bearded young man crushed the mud seal, stuffed the pale red pill into his mouth, puffed out his cheeks, and began to chew.
The one-eyed man remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the pill in the hand of the bearded young man who was walking slowly towards him.
This Qi-replenishing pill was provided by the Prince of Wei's mansion and is extremely rare. Although it cannot compare to the legendary Ink Dragon pill, it is still a good pill of medium to high quality. Each of the medium-grade water bandits who came today was provided with one, but at this moment, this bearded youth was chewing it like a candy.
One of the river pirates sent by Wei Wu suddenly spoke up: "He is Li Fusu! The heir of the Prince of Xunyang."
Upon hearing this, the one-eyed man did not shift his gaze for a moment, his tense body remained unchanged, and his eyes were fixed on the top of "Li Dalang's" head.
At this moment, amidst the sound of the Buddha's zither, the pillars of light that appeared were either red or blue. The more powerful ones were the purple pillars of light belonging to Granny Song from the Xunyang Prince's Mansion. There were also some more special ones, like the bright azure pillar of light in front.
However, the one-eyed man saw that the beam of light appearing above the bearded youth's head was gray.
It was as dim and inconspicuous as the ashes after a fire had burned out, and could not even be seen clearly from a distance.
Only upon closer inspection can one vaguely discern its eerie, deathly gray color.
Especially after taking the pale red pill, a faint red thread appeared in the gray mist above his head.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, "Li Dalang" approached and glanced at the one-eyed man and his group, who looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
"The Heavenly Venerable Who Saves All Beings."
After waking up, the old Taoist priest, having circled the city to the utmost and found several rare items to delay time and protect the prince's physique, chanted a siren and politely said:
"Please lend me a few more elixirs."
...
Inside the ice cave.
As Li Guo'er shouted loudly, Li Xian quickly stepped forward and stopped the lost and bewildered Lu Ya.
"Thump—thump—thump—"
Outside the ice cave, the sounds of heavy objects striking the stone door echoed continuously.
It struck everyone's hearts like a death knell.
The massive stone gate was teetering on the verge of collapse.
Even from just a wall away, one could faintly hear the snarling laughter and conversations of the pirates outside.
Lu Ya suddenly picked up the broken peach wood sword, walked forward, and stood by the door where the banging sound had come from.
His back was positioned at the very front of the crowd, and without turning around, he said:
"I am sorry to Young Master Ouyang, and to Your Highness and the Prince. I will use the thunder talisman to try my best to slow them down. Everyone, please try your best to escape as far as possible..."
Upon hearing this, Li Xian and the others looked sad and desperate.
But just then, the sounds of impact outside suddenly disappeared, replaced by boundless silence.
The pirates' laughter, the sounds of their collisions, and their voices all vanished, as if they had evaporated into thin air.
Li Guo'er was the first to notice this, tilting her head and staring at the stone gate.
Li Xian and the others also noticed this one after another, looking ahead with puzzlement.
About three breaths later, a voice came from outside the door:
"Come out."
It was Li Dalang's voice.
But the tone of voice was somewhat unfamiliar.
Lu Ya, who had been hanging his head, suddenly looked up and stared at the stone gate in front of him.
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Li Xian called out, "Da Lang?"
Wei Mei immediately stepped forward to open the rickety stone door.
Li Guo'er didn't stop them. She glanced at Lu Ya's expression and followed him, helping Wei Mei open the stone door switch.
With a rumbling sound, the stone gate gradually rose.
The sunlight streamed in, illuminating the lone figure standing by the door.
Li Guo'er saw that "Brother" was standing among a pile of corpses.
The area was filled with the corpses of pirates, but they all died strangely, with white strips of cloth covering their eyes, obscuring their wide-open eyes. It was impossible to know what they had experienced before they died.
Especially the one-eyed man who was closest to him, his only eye was so wide it almost bulged out, his face full of fear and regret.
Li Guo'er also saw that "Brother" had a few small mud-sealed pills in his hand. While waiting for everyone to open the door, he put them into his mouth one by one, chewed quietly, and calmly looked at them as they came out.
Li Guo'er also noticed something else: there was a faint gray aura above "Brother's" head, with a few red strands in them, like incense sticks, gradually shortening, as if it were some kind of countdown.
However, before she could take a closer look, the music suddenly stopped, and the pillars of light above "Li Dalang" and Lu Ya's heads disappeared completely.
Wei Mei looked at the seemingly different "Li Dalang" with a worried expression, but was stopped by Li Xian, who cautiously called out:
"Dalang?"
Li Guo'er asked, "You're not my brother, you're... Mr. Yuan."
The old Taoist priest nodded gently.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and even Li Guo'er's expression relaxed considerably, as if she was well aware of the power of this highly respected old Taoist priest in Shangqing.
"Great! Master Yuan is here! How did you know we were in danger? Did Dalang encounter thieves and just happen to summon your spirit?" Now that they were out of danger, Wei Mei, a mother, couldn't wait to ask with concern, "Master Yuan, where did that brat Dalang go? He almost ruined everything."
The old Taoist priest didn't say much.
You can't exactly say he woke up under the young lady's skirt, can you?
The arrival of Master Yuan after many years brought joy and relief to everyone who had left home.
The old Taoist priest turned his head towards the Xunyang Grottoes, where the music had just come from. He clasped his hands together as if calculating, and after a moment, he sighed and shook his head. Everyone heard him mutter, "The Three Pure Ones only need to be covered in mud, but Buddha needs a golden body, alas..."
Li Guo'er followed his gaze and asked with some keen insight, "What do you mean, Master? Is that music coming from the Buddha statue in Xunyang Grottoes? Is there something unusual about this Buddha?"
Li Xian immediately worried, "Tan Lang is still over there, won't he also be exposed by the music?"
The old Taoist priest didn't answer, but suddenly turned to Lu Ya, who was standing silently at the back of the crowd, and spoke:
"Foolish disciple, you knowingly stayed here, almost causing trouble, just to see your master?"
The young man with the expressionless face lowered his head deeply, his neck flushed red, speechless with shame.
——————
(PS: Waaaaah, it's another redefining of daytime. I said I'd do it but didn't... I'll try to finish this chapter tomorrow! or 2)
(End of this chapter)
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