Chapter 61 Attendants Twenty-Six
The actions of the Poison King were certainly different from those of ordinary Taoist priests. The abbot had initially intended to watch the outsider's performance unfold, but out of consideration for the emperor's reputation, he neither revealed his intentions nor intervened. Unexpectedly, the Poison King's every move gradually acquired a sacred aura, leaving the abbot completely bewildered.
Folk beliefs feature numerous deities, but the cultivation world reveres the Jade Capital Immortals, with the Twenty-Four Supreme Immortals being the most prominent. The Poison King first brandishes his staff to invoke the gods, then draws talismans with a vermilion brush, hangs the talismans on a sachet, lights the talismans, and recites an edict to seal the spirits.
Then, four bronze mirrors were placed at the four corners of the trigrams Dui, Li, Zhen, and Kan, so that the bronze mirrors could reflect light. Without reciting the consecration incantation commonly used by Taoist priests, the King of Zhen directly used a vermilion brush to dot the heart of the twin lotus flowers, and the consecration was thus completed.
However, the King of Poison did not stop, for the most crucial step was yet to be completed. He removed his crown, hairpin, and headband, and with a flick of his fingertips, his Miao sword was drawn, instantly slicing off a section of hair with decisive and unwavering movements.
Her hair was tied up and sealed into a sachet. The King of Zhen gently stroked the crimson satin with his fingertips, his dark eyes filled with tender affection.
The abbot was utterly astonished. He hadn't expected that the god of war, the emperor, would have such a side to him. Yet, he still remembered the sachet the emperor had asked him to prepare—it was a beaded design, clearly something a man would wear… The abbot suddenly felt as if he had stumbled upon a royal secret, and hurriedly lowered his head, unable to look any further.
But he didn't stay still for long. He became curious about the response of the Poison King's men, so he looked around and found that the light in the ancestral hall was much dimmer than before.
He assumed it was just the sky turning overcast and didn't think much of it. But then a loud rumbling sound came from outside the hall, followed by a tremor in the ground, as if the heavy stone door had slammed shut.
However, the abbot knew that the underground doors were all made of wood and there were no stone mechanisms. Just as he was about to relax, two guards rushed in and hurriedly reported to the Poison King: "Your Majesty, a stone door has suddenly appeared underground, and the exit has been sealed!"
"..." The abbot stood there stunned.
The King of Poison flicked his sleeves and was about to walk out, intending to find out what was going on, but before he could step out of the threshold of the ancestral hall, thick smoke billowed in from outside, carrying an extremely pungent smell.
Everyone immediately realized that the smoke was unusual. One guard risked rushing into the thick smoke and discovered that it was coming from the adjacent alchemy room.
Just as the guard was about to report the matter to the King of Zhen, his body suddenly stiffened, and then he collapsed in front of the ancestral hall. Blood streamed down his nose, and vine-like bluish-purple lines instantly climbed up his neck and face. His eyes trembled violently and uncontrollably, then rolled upwards, leaving only a hideous black white.
The abbot was so frightened that his legs went weak. The Poison King grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him to a spot where the thick smoke had not yet reached him.
The King of Poison shouted sternly, "Cover your mouths and noses! This smoke contains deadly poison!" His face darkened as he finished speaking, knowing full well that they had fallen into a trap.
He suddenly remembered what the abbot had said earlier—that this place was formerly the Yun Guang Taoist Temple—and realized who was behind it.
The guards quickly tore off pieces of their clothes to cover their mouths and noses, and then scattered to search for any other exit.
The ancestral hall's ceiling wasn't very high, nor were there any beams or pillars. Even if one managed to climb to the top, given the speed at which the poisonous gas was spreading, it would likely be engulfed sooner or later. Only by blocking or destroying the source of the poison in the alchemy room could there be a glimmer of hope.
After careful planning, the King of Poison concealed his face with his cloak and rushed towards the adjacent alchemy room.
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On the other side of Yuncheng, Zhen Su was holding a sesame oil cake bigger than his face, eating it in small bites with sweet water. Sitting opposite him, Yan Shang was eating a bowl of plain noodles, which his subordinate had picked up on the way to do some shopping. He would have to return the bowl to Yan Shang after he finished eating.
Seeing the somber atmosphere, which seemed a bit unfair to the beautiful, sunny weather, Yan Shang tried to start a conversation, "I wonder if His Majesty has returned yet? The purchasing staff are gradually returning."
Upon hearing this, Shinjuku paused in his act of biting into the biscuit, suddenly feeling a dryness in his mouth. He reached for the sweet water instead. Unexpectedly, he accidentally knocked over the small bowl containing the sweet water, and with a "bang," the snow-white bowl shattered into several pieces. The sound of breaking porcelain was barely audible in the noisy environment, yet it struck Shinjuku like a heavy hammer blow to his chest, causing a pang of fear in his heart.
“…No.” Shinju suddenly looked up and gazed in the direction where someone had left earlier. His golden eyes were no longer bright; instead, they were shrouded in gloom.
Seeing that his expression suddenly turned serious, Yan Shang quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Shinju turned to Yan Shang and asked, "Where exactly did His Majesty go?"
He had an extremely ominous premonition. This was the first time he had felt this way since entering this small world, a feeling a hundred times stronger than when he sensed Xi Shun's importance. This ominous sign, almost bursting forth from the ground, didn't seem to be directed at him; it could only be aimed at the Poison King, who was bound to this world by life and death.
Yan Shang shook his head. "I truly do not know. His Majesty did not specify his exact destination." If it were anyone else inquiring about the Emperor's whereabouts, he would certainly be wary for the sake of the Prince of Zhen and would not answer. However, the person before him was the one closest to the Emperor. He was completely unaware that he had regarded Zhen Su and the Emperor as one, and was completely unguarded.
After a moment's thought, Yan Shang said, "Why don't we ask the secret guards?" Although they might not be willing to tell them.
Shinju observed the ten Silver Scorpion Guards nearby through his divine sense and found that they seemed to have lost communication with the Silver Scorpion Guards around the Poison King and were in a state of great distress.
Fine, let him go himself.
"I'll be gone for a moment." With that, Shinjuku gracefully mounted his ponies, pulled on the reins, and leaped away, disappearing into the distance at the edge of the woods beside the street.
"???" Wait a minute, he just promised His Majesty that he would take care of Haoqing's attendants, how did he run away! Yan Shang was stunned, and for a moment he didn't know whether to chase after him or stay behind to guard the main force.
Seeing this, the silver scorpions in the shadows grew increasingly anxious and immediately split into two groups to catch up.
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The underground of Fujin Taoist Temple.
The Poison King stormed into the alchemy room, waving his cloak back and forth to disperse all the smoke, clearing a small, smoke-free space. The wind howled in his ears, and before him lay the unlit, dark golden alchemy furnace.
The King of Zhen paused for a moment, then immediately began searching for the true source of the smoke. However, his constant waving of his cloak obstructed his view, scattering the smoke and making its origin increasingly difficult to discern. The alchemy room was small and dark; after much searching, the King of Zhen finally noticed several dragon heads along the edge of the floor, continuously emitting white smoke. This meant there was another layer hidden below, and the true alchemy room was likely located there.
The King of Poison had no immediate solution and could only withdraw from the alchemy room.
"Your Majesty! Is the Emperor alright?! If there is anything, we will go and investigate. Please, Your Majesty, do not act rashly!" The guards, who had no chance to stop the King of Zhen, were terrified. Now that they had finally seen the King of Zhen, they were almost overjoyed and wept.
However, just as one of the guards breathed a sigh of relief, before the smile on his face had faded, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, his whole body convulsed, and his legs gave way, causing him to fall to the ground.
Even more terrifying was that not only him, but most of the thirty guards in the ancestral hall had already fallen silently, and the personal guards who had surrounded them also collapsed one after another.
For a moment, apart from the abbot who was terrified and had tears in his eyes in the corner, only the Poison King was still able to stand.
The King of Zhen was about to crouch down to check on their condition, but the moment he bent his knees, he felt as if he had stepped into thin air and stumbled forward. Fortunately, he managed to brace himself with his Miao sword and did not fall.
The closer he got to the ground, the higher the concentration of poisonous gas became. The Poison King had to move again, but after taking only half a step, he was struck as if by lightning, and his whole body became stiff and numb, unable to move at all.
As the vision faded, the abbot's helpless figure became blurry, and as the field of vision dropped sharply to a low point, a terrified face covered with bluish-purple spots came into view.
The King of Poison tried to get up from the ground, but his head was dizzy, as if filled with lead, and it felt as if monsters were about to burst out from his temples. The strange swelling and suffocation made him want to tear his body apart for some relief. Before long, the King of Poison's clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
The King of Poison's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, his mind felt like a boiling cauldron, and his flesh felt like it was being cooked by a raging fire, with poisonous insects crawling and gnawing inside. He bit his tongue hard, still not fully conscious, and could only bite several places until it bled profusely before he could barely regain a sliver of clarity.
Hah... Huff... Covering his mouth and nose was useless. This poisonous gas could not only seep into his body through his skin, but also damage his mind. Since just now, his Purple Mansion had been continuously eroded. If this continued, his Purple Mansion would probably collapse.
Thinking of this, King Zhen shuddered, his jaw muscles clenching like iron.
The Purple Mansion cannot, absolutely cannot, collapse!! His Qing'er must not disappear!!
In the past, he would have disregarded such damage to his Purple Mansion, but now he dared not take the slightest risk. Having entered the history books, he was already limited by eighteen restrictions, and the cultivation methods he could use were extremely limited. When he summoned the giant scorpion to his side, he broke the restrictions, which triggered the heavenly lightning, resulting in an additional crack in his Purple Mansion.
At this point, breaking the restriction was out of the question, so only one brute-force method remained to try...
In just a few breaths, the Poison King had made his decision, and a ruthless and vicious aura surged in his half-closed phoenix eyes.
With a slight parting of his thin lips, the incantation, transformed into crimson chains, pierced into his skull, imprisoning his dantian layer by layer.
In this way, the Purple Mansion is completely isolated, and the poison gas can no longer invade it. However, on the contrary, due to the closure of the Purple Mansion, his five senses will gradually disappear.
They must escape underground before they completely lose their five senses.
The King of Poison, gripping his Miao sword, stood up again and strode to the abbot's side, intending to take him out with him. However, he found that the abbot had already died, staring intently at the spot where he had just been standing, his hand outstretched.
"..." Zhenwang closed his eyes, circled the ancestral hall again, and found that no one in the room was alive. In an instant, a feeling of exhaustion swept over his body, but when Zhenwang recalled the sad look on the grassland where Zhensu seemed to be crying but hadn't, his heart ached. In a moment, the veins on the back of his hand bulged, and with a flick of his sleeve, he picked up his Miao sword and ran out of the ancestral hall.
"Where are you rushing off to, Your Majesty?" Before they even reached the passageway, two figures suddenly emerged from the alchemy room ahead.
One man peered at the Poison King with his slanted, bluish-white eyes, while the other stretched his shoulders and neck, hoisted a large sword, and casually twirled his white beard.
"I told you long ago that His Majesty wouldn't fall so easily. Even this mercury gas made from cinnabar couldn't harm him. He truly deserves to be called 'our' renowned God of War! He's really hard to kill." Wen Bi stuck his greatsword into the crack in the ground, his words laced with sarcasm.
Although the poison gas had thinned considerably by this time, it still lingered in the tunnel.
The King of Zhen frowned slightly. Wen Bi seemed to see the King of Zhen's doubts, shrugged, and "kindly" explained: "We two old bones have long been accustomed to this level of elixir energy."
“His Majesty doesn’t seem surprised by our appearance,” Fu Yin suddenly said.
The King of Poison let out a groan from his chest, holding his knife in silence.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen that kid. Doesn't His Majesty always treat people like treasures wherever he goes? It seems rumors can't be taken at face value. Or perhaps, they had a falling out?" Wenbi was still angry about being tricked by Shinju, so his tone was extremely sarcastic.
The King of Zhen realized that the "kid" he was referring to was Masaki, and that the other party actually intended to wipe them all out. While relieved that he hadn't taken Masaki with him, a murderous aura rose in his eyes, and he said in a vicious voice, "Don't even think about touching him."
"Once His Majesty is buried here, what use will it be to us as we deal with that brat? Tsk tsk, how interesting." Wenbi's eyes flashed with malice. "Considering that His Majesty carved out a large chunk of Feng Kingdom for us, after all that hard work, I'll give you a piece of news—you should thank the two ominous stars beside His Majesty for your current predicament. A certain sage has predicted that the closer you two are, the greater the disaster will be. You're reaping what you sow, Your Majesty! Hahahaha!"
Seeing that Wenbi was about to continue mocking him, Fuyin, fearing that he would reveal too much inside information, patted him hard on the shoulder and shook his head.
Wenbi then shut his mouth, picked up his greatsword, the blade scraping against the bluestone wall and sparking as he swung it forward, slashing upwards.
The Zhenwang Miao Dao was drawn with a clang, its extremely long blade almost blocking the entire path. It clashed with the heavy greatsword with a resounding clang, and the blade's energy and wind scattered and whistled past the two men's ears.
"After that brat destroyed the old site, didn't His Majesty discover the secret passage of our Taoist temple? What, His Majesty didn't expect that there would be a secret passage here as well?" Wen Bi provoked the King of Zhen while wildly swinging his giant sword. His muscles were bulging and his strength was extremely astonishing. The angles of his thrusts and slashes were extremely tricky and ruthless. His stable lower body and slow, methodical attacks forced the King of Zhen back into the depths of the ancestral hall.
The Miao sword is not the most agile type of sword. Without a shield for defense, even the most shrewd swordsmanship and the most meticulous footwork will inevitably leave some openings. Therefore, the Poison King's attack style tends to be wide and sweeping, using weaknesses as bait, and then employing powerful leg techniques and the scabbard as alternative attack methods, weaving them in.
Wenbi couldn't figure out the Poison King's attack patterns, because the opponent didn't follow any set patterns at all. When he tried to attack the back, the Poison King grabbed him by the armpit with the scabbard and lifted him up sharply. With a crisp "crack," his right shoulder was dislocated.
"Ah!!" The greatsword, which had to be held with both hands, fell to the ground with a thud. Wenbi roared in pain as he rolled backward, hastily reattaching his arm. He shouted angrily, "Big brother, what are you waiting for! Come and help me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a slender figure joined the battle, his thin sword steadily blocking the final slash from Zhen Wangchao on Wenbi's body.
"Heh, don't let Big Brother's thin frame and frail appearance fool you. His swordsmanship is still renowned in the martial world. However, no one knows that the 'Sword Madman' feared by everyone in the martial world is none other than him." Wen Bi spat out a mouthful of blood, took the opportunity to lean on his sword and catch his breath for a moment, then raised his greatsword again to fight against the Poison King with Fu Yin.
Fu Yin's swordsmanship is unpredictable and truly lives up to its reputation. Although his strength is not particularly strong, his sword strikes are so fast that they are difficult to catch with the naked eye. He is also not greedy with his sword, and his advances and retreats are measured. His main approach is to use softness to overcome hardness and to counter each move.
The King of Poison remained expressionless, his steps shifting and changing like a meteor, his waist and back strength incredibly powerful. Every strike and every move he made concealed immense, soaring power, tyrannical and domineering. In his twisting and turning movements, he managed to simultaneously parry the fierce encirclement of the two.
As their wounds multiplied and the stench of blood fueled their fighting spirit, the situation became a stalemate for the time being.
“…What monster…” Wenbi was panting, his hands trembling slightly, and he could hardly hold the greatsword.
Fu Yin's face also looked bad; he was getting on in years, but they really hadn't expected to be at a disadvantage even when fighting two against one.
The King of Poison still stood as elegantly as a crane, but his phoenix eyes narrowed more and more as his senses gradually waned. His vision was already blurred, and he was only kept going by the battle instincts honed over countless battles. However, the pain from his wounds could no longer keep him awake; his dormant inner self was pulling him back from all his senses.
As the King of Zhen's condition became increasingly precarious, Fu Yin smiled coldly. Suddenly, four more auras appeared in the ancestral hall. Even Wen Bi, who was less perceptive, noticed them and couldn't help but sneer, "Your Majesty, your retribution has come. After capturing their sect leader, all the disciples have come to take your life."
The King of Poison's breathing grew increasingly heavy as he struggled to open his heavy eyelids. However, through his blurred vision, he could only barely make out a phantom in each of the four directions—east, west, south, and north—each holding a red-tasseled spear with its gleaming tip pointed directly at him.
His eyelids finally closed heavily, and in the instant before they closed, he caught a glimpse of the shimmering water.
As Shinju rode his dwarf horse for several miles, the panic in his heart grew wider and wider, like a crack in a deep pit. He searched everywhere with his divine sense, but could not find any dragon energy.
Unable to pinpoint the exact location of his target, he worried that he was going in the wrong direction and wasting his time. So he turned his horse around several times to search along the perimeter. After circling around for a long time, he finally caught a glimpse of a purplish-red mark.
"It's over there!"
However, before he could see clearly, the range of his divine sense suddenly contracted. It turned out that his divine sense had far exceeded its capabilities, and at the same time, his lower abdomen was throbbing with pain, as if it were being constantly hammered. With his head throbbing, Zhen Su could only temporarily memorize the location of the crimson purple, and then use his internal energy to create a wind-driven boat, urging his short-legged horse to rush even faster, heading straight for that crimson purple.
When he finally reached the range that his divine sense could detect, the crimson figure finally appeared in the far distance.
Just as Shinju was about to rejoice, he discovered that there were six figures around the King of Venom. Four of them were wielding long polearms and were approaching the King of Venom at an extremely fast speed, while the King of Venom swayed like a candle in the wind.
The sharp spearhead was about to pierce the Poison King's body, and Shinju's heart pounded wildly, his golden pupils almost shrinking into vertical slits. Just then, the flow of all lines within his divine sense suddenly slowed down, as if in accordance with Shinju's will.
Stop...stop!!!
However, the "execution" did not stop. Four long spears pierced through the chest and back of the Poison King with a thud, the red-stained spear shafts intersecting like the Chinese character "米" (rice), and the Poison King's head drooped.
"No—" Shinichi Masaki cried out in despair.
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Author's note: To keep my promise, I'm posting it today. I don't have time to polish it yet. I'll find time to polish it after tomorrow's chapter is finished. It's a bit rough, so please bear with it.
[Revised] Polishing complete.
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