Chapter 73: Hidden Dragon Enters the Abyss
The token, carved from "Xuan Guang Jade," didn't open as expected after Chu Yun injected a wisp of Taiyi Yuan Qi into it. Radiance shone across its surface, and hundreds of tiny runes suddenly illuminated, intertwining and connecting, ultimately converging into a three-dimensional, intricate spiritual power combination lock at its center. Within the shifting light and shadow, one could faintly discern the sinister, layered aura unique to Elder Zhang within the lock core. "Hmph, this old fellow just loves these fancy things," Mo Li snorted disdainfully, but a certain fire instantly ignited in those clear eyes. It was the kind of excitement a master craftsman experiences upon seeing a masterfully constructed work of art, a mixture of admiration and a desire to conquer. She held her largely repaired mechanical arm armor in front of the talisman, her tone tinged with pride, "Just look at this! To me, this thing is no different from a child's toy." Before she finished speaking, the metal fingertips of the arm armor clicked softly, and several silver probes, thinner than a hair, emerged. Mo Li took a deep breath, and her entire aura changed instantly. The previous girlish innocence and pride disappeared, replaced by an absolute, heart-wrenching focus. Her fingers danced swiftly in the air above the talisman. The silver probes, following her movements, penetrated, shifted, and rotated at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, creating a crisp and dense collision with the tiny runes within the combination lock. "Da... Da... Da... Da..." The crisp collisions echoed in the silent cave, becoming the only sound. Chu Yun and Li Ge, one on each side, guarded her with bated breath, even breathing slowly, fearing that the slightest disturbance would affect her. Time slipped away in a suffocating silence. Fine beads of sweat began to form on Mo Li's forehead, sliding down her already pale cheeks, and her lips gradually lost their color. Her fingers manipulating the probe were still incredibly fast, but Chu Yun could clearly see that her body had begun to tremble slightly, uncontrollably. This kind of cracking was far more draining on her mind and body than one could imagine. "Mo Li, can you still hold on?" Chu Yun asked in a low voice, a hint of worry in his tone. "Shut up!" Mo Li squeezed out two words from between her teeth, her voice hoarse, "Just one last... core link..." Her breathing became increasingly rapid, almost like a bellows. Just when her body was shaking the most, as if she would collapse at any second - "Click!" A faint but clear sound...
The token, carved from "Xuanguang Jade," didn't open as expected after Chu Yun injected a wisp of Taiyi Qi into it. Hundreds of tiny runes suddenly illuminated on its surface, intertwining and connecting, ultimately converging into a three-dimensional, intricate spiritual power combination lock at its center. Within the shifting light and shadow, one could faintly discern the sinister aura unique to Elder Zhang deep within the lock core.
"Hmph, this old guy just loves these fancy things." Mo Li snorted disdainfully, but a certain fire instantly ignited in his clear eyes. It was the kind of excitement that only a top craftsman would experience when he saw a finely crafted work of art, a mixture of admiration and the desire to conquer.
She held out the mostly-repaired mechanical arm armor in front of the letter talisman, and said with a hint of pride: "Look, this thing is no different from a child's toy in my eyes."
Before she finished her words, the metal fingertips of her arm armor clicked softly, and several silver probes, thinner than a hair, popped out. Mo Li took a deep breath, and her entire aura changed instantly. The girlish innocence and arrogance she had previously displayed vanished without a trace, replaced by an absolute, heart-pounding focus.
Her fingers danced rapidly in the air above the talisman. The silver probes pierced, plucked, and rotated at a speed difficult to capture with the naked eye, following the movements of her fingertips, and collided crisply and intensively with the tiny runes inside the combination lock.
“Da…da…da…da…”
The crisp sound of collision echoed in the silent cave, becoming the only sound. Chu Yun and Li Ge stood on either side of her, guarding her with bated breath and concentration, even slowing their breathing deliberately, fearing that the slightest disturbance would affect her.
Time slipped by in a suffocating silence. Beads of sweat began to form on Mo Li's forehead, trickling down her already pale cheeks. Her lips gradually lost their color. Her fingers manipulating the probes remained astonishingly fast, but Chu Yun could clearly see her body beginning to tremble uncontrollably. This kind of cracking required far more mental and physical effort than one could have imagined.
"Mo Li, can you still hold on?" Chu Yun asked in a low voice, with a hint of worry in his tone.
"Shut up!" Mo Li squeezed out two words from between his teeth, his voice hoarse, "It's just... the last... core hub..."
Her breathing became increasingly rapid, almost like a bellows. Just when her body was shaking the most, as if she was about to collapse at any second—
“Click!”
A faint but clear sound of a mechanism unlocking was like a thunderclap in the dead silence.
The dazzlingly complex spiritual power combination lock instantly dimmed and slowly retracted into the symbol. The tightly closed symbol emitted a soft white light and automatically opened to both sides.
"Hoo...Hoo..." Mo Li suddenly relaxed, her whole body slumping backwards, only to be caught by the quick-witted Li Ge. She was panting heavily, her face full of exhaustion from surviving a catastrophe.
Chu Yun's attention was drawn to the letter talisman. A beam of light emanated from the talisman, condensing into a massive, slowly rotating three-dimensional map on the open space before them. Countless points of light flickered across the map, and countless lines intertwined, forming a vast and sophisticated defense system. Along one side of the map, text written in the Tianshi Mansion's unique "Heavenly Seal Secret Language" scrolled down like a waterfall.
"What is this?" Li Ge supported Mo Li and asked with a frown.
"It's the formation diagram for the forbidden area in the mountain behind the Tianshi Mansion..." Mo Li's voice was still a little weak, but his tone became more solemn than ever. "Moreover, it's the most core part, responsible for 'defense' and 'sensing'. Elder Zhang... he actually got this."
Chu Yun's gaze fell on the densely packed text: "What about these words?
"It's an action log." Mo Li's expression became extremely complicated. "If I'm not mistaken, this records the specific time of each time Elder Zhang sneaked into the forbidden area over the past few decades, the route he took, and... the changing patterns of all the restrictions he encountered."
Li Ge took a closer look, a cold glint in his eyes: "This old fox... He actually spent so much effort and prepared for so many years for the things in the forbidden area."
"He's been preparing for years, and now, all the results are ours." Chu Yun's eyes lit up with a blazing fire of hope. This intelligence was a timely help. "With this map and this log, our success rate in infiltrating the forbidden area will increase by at least 30%!"
"Only 30%?" Li Ge raised his eyebrows. "How is this success rate any different from committing suicide?"
"That's right, so it's not enough." Chu Yun's voice was calm and powerful, his eyes sweeping over the moving dots representing the patrol teams on the three-dimensional map. "These fixed formations and mechanisms can be avoided with the blueprints. Our biggest threat is people. They are strong people like Xuan Chenzi who can move and provide support at any time."
He tapped his finger heavily on the map, pointing to the location of the Tianshi Mansion's mountain gate: "We must find a way to lure the main force of the Tianshi Mansion, especially Xuan Chenzi and his Law Enforcement Hall, away from the back mountain."
"How long will it take to divert them?" Mo Li asked.
"At least twelve hours." Chu Yun answered firmly, "We need an absolute 'safe window' where no powerful cultivators can interfere with us."
The cave fell into a brief silence. This was an almost impossible task.
"Leave this to me."
Li Ge suddenly spoke, breaking the silence. She stood up straight, a confident yet strange smile, the kind only found on the descendants of the Ghost Doctor, appearing on her pale face.
"I have a 'poison'. It's not truly fatal, but it can spread widely through the air and water in a very short time." She spoke slowly, her voice filled with a strange magic. "All infected will show the same symptoms as the legendary 'Nine Nether Blood Plague' that can shake the foundation of the country. Although it's only superficial and 'fake', I am confident that even the medical masters of the Tianshi Mansion will need at least twelve hours to distinguish the real thing."
Chu Yun and Mo Li's eyes lit up at the same time.
Li Ge's smile deepened. "Do you think that if the 'Nine Nether Blood Plague', a 'plague' not seen in a thousand years and enough to cause great panic in the entire cultivation world, breaks out, can the Tianshi Mansion, as the so-called 'leader of the righteous path', sit idly by? Xuan Chenzi will definitely personally lead the most elite forces of the Law Enforcement Hall to rush to the 'epidemic area' as soon as possible to seal off and control it."
An extremely crazy, yet logically perfect "Hidden Dragon into the Abyss" plan was gradually outlined in this small cave by three young people who were forced into a desperate situation.
Five days later, the night was as dark as ink.
In the vast mountains behind the Tianshi Mansion, which are shrouded in clouds and mist and where ordinary disciples would never dare to set foot, everything is silent except for the rustling of the wind through the treetops.
However, in this silence, three figures that almost merged with the darkness were moving silently.
"stop."
An extremely suppressed voice rang out directly in Chu Yun and Li Ge's minds. It was Mo Li.
The three of them froze in place instantly, their movements in unison, without making a sound.
Mo Li half-knelt on the ground, holding a strangely shaped instrument in her hands. It was a small "formation analyzer" she had improvised using the formation diagram in the letter talisman and her own mechanical arm armor. She called it the "stealth instrument." At this moment, a pointer made of "ghost magnet" on the instrument's surface was trembling wildly and slightly.
"Thirty feet ahead, there's a lawn that looks like an open space." Mo Li's voice echoed in their minds again, a hint of nervousness. "That's a 'Phantom Killing Compound Array,' a combination of an illusion array and a killing array. According to the logs, it has a fixed patrol frequency, and we only have three breaths to pass. If we exceed that, or take a wrong step, the alarm will be triggered immediately."
Chu Yun took a deep breath and walked to the front.
"Follow me closely." His voice echoed in their minds, undeniably calm. "Remember what I taught you before. Focus your mind and align your breathing and heartbeat with mine."
As he finished speaking, the Taiyi Qi, which had already largely recovered within him, began to circulate in an unimaginable manner, reversing its meridians. In an instant, all the life force and spiritual energy fluctuations within him were completely drawn inward, compressed, ultimately reaching a state of near-death. Simultaneously, this power quietly extended, enveloping Li Ge and Mo Li behind him.
In the face of those sensory restrictions that only react violently to "living things" and "spiritual power", their presence is reduced to the lowest level at this moment.
"Walk!"
Chu Yun let out a low cry, and without further hesitation, he seemed to transform into a weightless shadow, stepping onto the murderous grass with a strangely rhythmic pace. Each of his steps precisely landed on the only "lifeline" node that Mo Li had deduced through mental calculations and instruments.
Li Ge and Mo Li followed closely behind, their footsteps, breathing, and even heartbeats all in perfect sync with Chu Yun in front of them. At this moment, the three of them seemed no longer three independent individuals, but a whole with perfect coordination.
One breath, two breaths...
Just as the third breath was about to end and the spiritual power fluctuations of the formation were about to change, the three of them safely passed through the death grassland and stepped onto solid ground.
Almost simultaneously, the three of them felt a chill on their backs, already drenched in cold sweat. If any of them had made the slightest misstep in their rhythm, they would have faced a devastating stranglehold.
"continue."
Chu Yun didn't give anyone time to breathe. He simply uttered two words and led them deeper into the forbidden area again.
Along the way, they encountered "wood and stone monsters" disguised as ancient trees, whose roots were wriggling in the soil less than three feet beneath their feet; they avoided the "sea patrol Yaksha" hidden in the deep pool of the waterfall, its lantern-sized eyes sweeping across the crevices of the rocks where they were hiding; they even held their breath and concentrated for a full incense stick of time less than ten feet away from a "Taoist patrol team", and clearly heard the dull metallic sound of the armor blades rubbing against each other when those golden-armored warriors moved.
Each time, they relied on Mo Li's miraculous "Stealth Device" for early warning and Chu Yun's "Breath-Concealing Technique" that almost made them disappear from the face of the earth for cover, and they narrowly slipped away under the noses of countless powerful guards.
After an unknown amount of time, when they passed through the last layer of foggy illusion, the scene before them suddenly became clear.
A massive active volcanic crater loomed before them. Scorching air rose, distorting their vision. And in the very center of the crater, a magnificent, ancient Taoist temple stood suspended in mid-air. Constructed entirely of some unknown black stone, it exuded an air of age and majesty, as old as the heavens and the earth.
On the plaque of the Taoist temple, three large gilded characters are engraved in a flamboyant style. Each character seems to contain the supreme Taoist rhyme, which makes people's hearts sway at a glance.
Ascension platform!
"We're here." Chu Yun gazed at the Taoist temple, seemingly unreal amidst the distorting heatwave, his voice filled with an indescribable mix of emotions. There was nervousness, excitement, and the anticipation of uncovering all the mysteries. This was the core forbidden area of the Tianshi Mansion, and the ultimate reward Xuan Chenzi had promised to all the world!
However, at this moment!
“Buzz——!!!”
An unprecedented shrill buzzing sound suddenly erupted from the stealth device in Mo Li's hand. The sound was so sharp that it hurt the eardrums of Chu Yun and Li Ge!
The "ghost magnet" pointer on the instrument, which had been performing stably until now, seemed to have gone completely crazy at this moment. It spun wildly at a speed that could not be seen by the naked eye, and made an unbearable "clucking" sound!
"Not good!" Mo Li's face turned pale as paper in an instant, and for the first time, his voice was filled with unconcealable fear.
"What's wrong?!" Chu Yun asked sternly.
"There's something here... there!" Mo Li's voice was trembling. "Something that's not even marked on our formation map... Something so powerful... that the instruments can't measure it at all!"
Before she finished speaking——
“Squeak—”
A long and ancient sound of a wooden door turning, as if it had been covered in dust for a thousand years, slowly sounded from the main entrance of the "Ascension Platform" Taoist temple in front.
The tightly closed black door opened by itself without any external force.
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