Chapter 23 Supplement
The air beneath the earth was as stagnant as iron. The flickering candlelight in the hands of the crowd distorted the shadow of the stone platform, casting its shadow on the damp rock wall, eerily reminiscent of the souls struggling in the mass graves a century ago. Lin Shen clutched the blood-stained paper, his fingertips clearly feeling the raised lines of dried blood. The edges of the paper had long since become brittle, crumbling with the slightest pressure, as if reminding them that the truth had been hidden underground for so long that even time was wiping it away.
"The ancestors of the Zhang family used their blood to suppress the resentment... but after their blood became thin, why didn't they find other ways, and instead let the blood formation backfire?" Lin Munan squatted beside the stone platform, his fingers gently brushing across the deeply engraved runes. As soon as his fingertips touched the remaining blood color of the runes, he suddenly retracted them as if burned - there was still a faint trace of evil energy under the runes, which climbed up his arm along his fingertips. Frightened, he quickly took out the peach wood nail and held it in his hand, and the evil energy slowly subsided.
Chen Ba placed the bronze compass fragment on the stone platform. The fragment's blue light intertwined with the rune's dark red glow, creating tiny specks of light in the air. She stared at the trajectory of the compass needle, her brow furrowed. "Look, the compass needle isn't pointing in a fixed direction, but is circling the stone platform—this indicates the source of the blood formation isn't elsewhere, but beneath this platform. And these runes..." She pointed to a spiraling rune on the platform. "This is the core rune of the 'Blood Binding Array,' usually used to bind resentment to a specific carrier. But this rune has been altered, with an additional 'Soul Locking Pattern,' as if to trap something beneath the stone platform."
"Trapped down there?" Meng Yao took a half step back, her back accidentally hitting the rock wall. The cold touch made her shiver. "Could it be... the remains of the Zhang ancestors?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the temperature of the underground space seemed to drop a few degrees. A wind rushed in from the entrance of the secret passage, carrying a damp, fishy smell, and making the candlelight crackle. Li Ye gripped the fire axe tightly, the axe blade gleaming coldly in the candlelight. He walked to the side of the stone platform and knocked on it with the back of the axe. A hollow "dong dong" sound was heard. "There's nothing down there. Maybe there's something there. Should we pry the stone platform open?"
Lin Shen didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the edge of the rock face and carefully examined the marks on it by candlelight. The rock face was covered with scratches of varying depths. Some resembled the scratches of fingernails, while others were symbols carved by sharp objects. One of the symbols bore a striking resemblance to the signature of the Zhang ancestor in the blood letter. He reached out and touched the symbol, and suddenly noticed a patch of rock below it that was slightly lighter in color than the surrounding area, as if it had been added later.
"Li Ye, come try this." Lin Shen beckoned Li Ye over, pointing to the light-colored rock. Li Ye understood, raised his fire axe, wedged the axe blade into the gap between the rock and the wall, and pried it with all his might. With a crisp "crack," the rock fell away, revealing a hole barely wide enough for one person to pass sideways. From the hole emanated a stronger fishy odor than that in the secret passage, tinged with a faint odor of decay.
Chen Ba immediately lit a piece of talisman paper and threw it into the cave entrance. The flame of the talisman paper flickered a few times at the cave entrance, but did not immediately go out. She breathed a sigh of relief: "There is air in there, so we should be able to get in. But everyone must be careful. The resentment below is more than ten times stronger than that above. Once you are entangled by resentment, ordinary peach wood nails and talismans may be useless."
Lin Shen carefully folded the blood letter and placed it in his arms. He then took out the few remaining Yang Qi talismans from his backpack and distributed them to everyone. "Stick the talismans on the inside of your clothes to temporarily block the invasion of resentment. Li Ye, you should go in front. I'll follow behind. Meng Yao, you should go in the middle. Hold on to Lin Munan's clothes and don't fall behind."
Everyone nodded in agreement and entered the cave entrance one by one. The passage inside was even narrower than the secret passage, forcing one to stoop. Water dripped from the rock walls onto one's neck, icy cold and carrying a rusty smell. After about a dozen steps, the passage suddenly widened, revealing a stone chamber about half the size of a room. In its center stood a black sarcophagus, its surface engraved with the same runes as the stone platform. A dark red liquid, like congealed blood, lingered in the cracks between the runes.
The lid of the sarcophagus wasn't completely closed, leaving a finger-width gap. Wisps of black resentment slowly leaked out, lingering within the chamber. As the candlelight entered the chamber, it was engulfed by the resentment, instantly turning an eerie turquoise. It illuminated a line of small characters carved into the side of the sarcophagus: "Zhang Mingshan, the seventeenth generation descendant of the Zhang family, uses his body as a coffin to suppress this resentful spirit, forever and ever."
"Zhang Mingshan... must be the one who wrote the blood letter." Lin Shen walked to the side of the sarcophagus, his eyes fixed on the small characters. He spoke in a low voice, "He didn't let future generations find a way to crack it. Instead, he chose to lie down in the sarcophagus himself, using his body to continue suppressing the resentment. But his body has long since decayed. Now, I'm afraid the only thing that can trap the resentment is this sarcophagus engraved with runes."
Chen Ba walked around the sarcophagus, reached out and touched the runes on the surface of the sarcophagus, and suddenly stopped in front of the sarcophagus: "There is a problem here. Look, this rune has been damaged." Everyone came over to take a look, and sure enough, there was an obvious crack in a key "resentment-suppressing pattern" on the front of the sarcophagus, as if it had been hit by a sharp weapon. The color of the rune was also much darker than other places, and it had obviously lost its effectiveness.
"Who destroyed it?" Meng Yao's voice was tinged with tears. She watched the resentment bubbling out from the cracks in the sarcophagus. She seemed to picture the townspeople murdered by the shadow, and Xiuxiu, forever lingering by the dry well. "If this rune hadn't been destroyed, the resentment wouldn't have gotten out of control, and Sister Xiuxiu wouldn't have..."
Lin Munan patted Meng Yao's shoulder, wanting to comfort her, but found he didn't know what to say. Li Ye gripped the fire axe, his eyes growing more determined. "No matter who vandalized it, the most important thing now is to stop the resentment from leaking out. Chen Ba, do you have a way to repair the rune?"
Chen Ba shook her head, her expression solemn. "The 'Resentment Mark' requires pure yang blood and specially crafted cinnabar to repair, and we currently have neither. Furthermore, the resentment within the sarcophagus has accumulated to a critical point. Even if the runes are repaired, it can only be suppressed temporarily. It won't be long before it spirals out of control again." She paused, pointing to a groove in the top of the sarcophagus. "The shape of this groove is very similar to the compass fragment I have in my hand. Perhaps... a complete bronze compass is the key to completely destroying the source of the blood formation."
Lin Shen suddenly remembered something and pulled out another compass fragment he'd found on the altar in the ruined temple from his backpack. He'd found it among the rubble when he'd defeated the black shadow, but he'd never had time to examine it carefully. He put the two fragments together, and the edges fit together perfectly, forming a complete circular compass. However, the center needle was missing a small piece, preventing it from turning.
"One more needle is missing..." Lin Shen stared at the compass, his brow furrowed. "The blood letter said that Zhang Mingshan hoped future generations would find a way to crack it. Could the last needle be hidden somewhere?"
At that moment, the chamber's rock walls suddenly began to vibrate. The resentment emanating from the cracks in the sarcophagus instantly grew violent, coalescing into blurry black shadows in the air and lunging towards the group. Chen Ba immediately raised the intact compass, and its blue light instantly surged, enveloping everyone. As the shadows encountered the blue light, they let out shrill cries and dissipated in wisps of black smoke.
"Oh no! The sarcophagus can't hold on any longer!" Chen Ba's voice was a little hurried. "The resentment is forcibly breaking through the sarcophagus. We must find the last pointer before the sarcophagus completely cracks, otherwise the entire Qingwu Town will be overwhelmed by the resentment!"
Lin Shen looked up at the rock wall of the stone chamber and suddenly noticed a faint light at the top, directly above the sarcophagus. He raised his candle and shone it upwards, discovering that the light came from a small box embedded in the rock wall. The shape of the box was very similar to the black box that had contained the blood letter.
"Li Ye, use your axe to get that box down!" Lin Shen shouted, pointing at the light at the top. Li Ye immediately raised his fire axe high, extending the axe handle toward the box. After several attempts, he finally hooked the edge of the box and pulled hard. The box fell off the rock wall with a "clack" to the ground. The lid broke open, revealing a bronze fragment about the size of a fingernail. It was the missing needle of the compass!
Lin Shen immediately picked up the needle and inserted it into the center of the compass. The moment the needle returned to its original position, the compass suddenly emitted a dazzling golden light. The golden light spread along the runes of the sarcophagus, enveloping the entire sarcophagus. The resentment that surged from the cracks in the sarcophagus was instantly suppressed by the golden light, and the dark shadows that had formed also disappeared in the golden light.
The tremors in the stone chamber gradually ceased, and the golden light slowly faded, returning to the compass. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground, their clothes already soaked with sweat. Lin Shen, holding the intact compass, walked to the sarcophagus and gently opened the lid. There were no bones inside, only a pile of long-rotted clothing. Beneath the clothing, a jade pendant engraved with the word "Zhang" still lingered, a faint trace of yang energy, like Zhang Mingshan's final obsession.
"He used his own body to suppress resentment for a hundred years, until his body decayed. He also left behind a compass to guide future generations to break the blood formation..." Chen Ba looked at the jade pendant in the sarcophagus, his voice filled with admiration. "Now that the compass is complete, we can go to the altar and completely destroy the source of the blood formation."
Lin Shen placed the jade pendant in his arms and handed the compass to Chen Ba. "Take the compass and find your way. We will go to the altar now. This time, we must completely resolve the crisis in Qingwu Town. No one can be sacrificed again."
Everyone stood up, gathered their gear, and headed for the secret passage's entrance. The flickering candlelight in their hands illuminated the path ahead and the resolve in their eyes. Despite enduring countless dangers and losing important companions, they knew that as long as they persevered, they would see the day when Qingwu Town regained peace.
The sky outside the secret passage was already turning pale. The first rays of sunlight filtered through the window lattices of Zhang's residence into the courtyard, falling on the red cloth-tied branch beside the dry well. The red cloth fluttered gently in the breeze, as if Xiuxiu was bidding them farewell, or perhaps cheering them on. Lin Shen glanced back at the branch and said silently to himself, "Xiuxiu, once we destroy the blood formation, we'll come and take you home."
After saying this, he turned and followed the others, heading towards the altar. The sunlight shone upon them, dispelling some of their fatigue and strengthening their resolve. Although the road was difficult, they would keep going until Qingwu Town returned to its former tranquility and all evil spirits were completely eradicated.
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