Chapter 56 The Arrow is Poisonous
"Come here quickly!" Pei Zhi pulled her and swam towards the shore.
As soon as I stepped ashore, I saw a stone tablet standing by the pool, with the words "Pond of Rebirth" engraved in large characters, and some smaller characters below: "Those who enter this pool will forget all their past lives."
Ye Wanning's heart skipped a beat: This is not something to restrain Tantric Buddhism, it is clearly something to make people forget their past lives!
The wind on the shore was colder than in the water. Ye Wanning wrapped her wet clothes tighter, shivering slightly. She looked at the cave in front of her, her heart trembling. The cave was larger than she had imagined, filled with strangely shaped stalagmites, each adorned with water droplets that echoed in the empty cave, sending chills down her spine.
"Are you alright?" Pei Zhi held her arm; his face was even paler than before, and his lips were slightly purple.
"I'm fine." Ye Wanning shook her head. "Your injuries..."
"It's just a minor injury, nothing to worry about." Pei Zhi waved his hand, looking at the stone tablet by the pool. "Forgotten the past? What's going on with this Tantric sect?"
Ye Wanning didn't speak. She walked behind the stone tablet and found several lines of blurred characters carved there, seemingly left by someone from before. She brushed away the dust and recognized her mother's handwriting:
"The Pool of Rebirth is not a place to forget worries; the chamber for refining Gu poison lies beneath it. Esoteric Buddhism uses living people to feed Gu poison, collecting their essence and blood, grinding it into powder, dissolving it in water, and then administering it into the body, easily confusing the mind. There's a mechanism at the bottom of the pool leading to the altar!"
Finally, there's the small character "Su," which is the mother's surname.
"Poisonous insect refining?!" Ye Wanning was startled and took a step back. "That white powder..."
"Gu powder!" Pei Zhi's tone turned serious. "No wonder it made us dizzy; luckily we held our breath quickly."
Suddenly, there was a sound of rocks falling from the cave ceiling. The two quickly hid behind a stalagmite and saw Duke Li leading several Tantric disciples, sliding down along an ancient vine.
"Search carefully! They must be nearby!" Duke Li's voice echoed in the cave.
Ye Wanning's heart nearly leaped out of her body. The hole was so big, there was nowhere to hide. She touched the dagger at her waist, ready to rush out and fight, but Pei Zhi grabbed her arm.
"Don't be impulsive!" he whispered, pointing to a large rock by the pool. "There's a crack there; someone could hide there."
Ye Wanning and Pei Zhi quietly circled around behind the rock and found a crack just wide enough for one person to pass through. They had barely squeezed in and caught their breath when they saw Duke Li and his men approaching with torches.
"Master said the Gu powder in the Rebirth Pool can make people tell the truth," a disciple said. "If we can capture Ye Wanning, we can force her to hand over the cultivation technique."
"Hmph, that little brat is incredibly cunning," Duke Li sneered. "But she can't escape. There's only one path through this cave, right below the altar. We just need to keep watch."
Ye Wanning and Pei Zhi exchanged a glance, both seeing worry in each other's eyes. It seemed that Duke Li must have known about the cave's structure all along and had deliberately lured them here.
Once Duke Li and his entourage had gone some distance, the two of them emerged. Pei Zhi clutched his shoulder, groaning in pain.
“I’ll pull it out for you,” Ye Wanning said.
Pei Zhi nodded, leaning against the stone wall in pain, gritting his teeth as he looked at her. Ye Wanning took out some wound medicine from her bosom, about to use it, when she suddenly noticed that his wound was slowly turning black.
This arrow is poisoned!
Pei Zhi, of course, noticed it too, and his face immediately turned grim: "This...this is the Tantric sect's Bone-Corroding Powder...I didn't expect Duke Li to be so ruthless..."
Bone-Corroding Powder is a poison used in Tantric Buddhism; those who are poisoned will have their bones slowly corroded, and will inevitably die within seven days. Ye Wanning's tears immediately fell: "Then...then if we go out...won't we die even faster?"
Pei Zhi pulled her face close and wiped away her tears: "I remember my mother's medical book saying that the water in the Rebirth Pool is poisonous, but the silt at the bottom of the pool can neutralize all poisons..."
"Really?" Ye Wanning's eyes lit up.
"I'm not sure, but I can only give it a try."
The two jumped into the Rebirth Pool again, the icy water making Ye Wanning shiver. She held her breath and dived to the bottom. The bottom of the pool was full of silt, black and smelly, and there was a pile of strange bones, the origin of which she didn't know. After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, her hand finally touched something hard. She pulled it up; it was a small porcelain bottle with the character "Su" engraved on it.
"Found it!" She excitedly surfaced and handed the porcelain bottle to Pei Zhi.
Pei Zhi took the porcelain bottle, which contained some grayish-brown powder with an earthy smell. He poured it out and applied it to his wound, nearly fainting from the pain.
"How is it?" Ye Wanning asked him nervously.
Pei Zhigang caught his breath, and the color around the dark wound had actually lightened a bit: "It worked..."
Just then, a loud noise came from the top of the cave, and countless rocks fell down, completely blocking the way to the shore.
"Oh no! They're trying to trap us here to die!" Ye Wanning shouted.
Pei Zhi suddenly laughed: "It can't trap us." He pointed to the bottom of the pool, "Didn't your mother say in her writings that there's a mechanism at the bottom of the pool that leads to the altar?"
Ye Wanning then remembered. The two dived back down to the bottom of the pool and, sure enough, found a stone slab where they had touched the porcelain bottle earlier. It moved easily when pushed. A narrow passage was revealed underneath, with a strong current. The two drifted with the current, and after drifting for an unknown amount of time, they suddenly felt a bright light shining in. They rushed out of the passage and found themselves at the center of the altar.
The altar was covered with skulls, with a black pillar in the center, several venomous snakes coiled around it, creating an eerie and terrifying scene. Duke Li stood on the altar, holding a copy of the "Esoteric Buddhist Manual," chanting mantras.
"You've finally arrived." Duke Li turned around, a strange smile on his face. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
The torches around the altar flickered, making Duke Li appear ghostly. The "Esoteric Buddhist Manual" in his hand was opened, and the symbols on it seemed to come alive, twisting and writhing.
"What exactly do you want?" Ye Wanning gripped her dagger and stood in front of Pei Zhi. Although his poison had been somewhat neutralized, his complexion was still poor, and he clearly hadn't regained his strength.
"What for?" Duke Li laughed loudly. "To dominate the world, of course! With this cultivation manual, I can control the esoteric sects, and then use the rubbing of the military tally to mobilize the vassal kings of the Western Regions. The Great Qi's empire will be mine!"
"You're dreaming!" Ye Wanning shouted. "My mother was killed by your Li family, and I will never let you have your way!"
"Su Wanqing?" Duke Li's smile vanished abruptly, his eyes turning fierce. "That bitch! If she hadn't meddled and discovered my secret with the Tantric sect, she wouldn't have ended up like that!"
Ye Wanning's heart pounded: "My mother's death was indeed related to your Li family!"
"So what if she is?" Duke Li said smugly. "She thought she could get away with it by hiding the rubbing? Little did she know I already knew it was in your hands. This time, I lured you to Begonia Valley to kill two birds with one stone: obtain the cultivation manual and reclaim the rubbing!"
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