Blood light fills the air, permeating the bottom of the well.
On the Nine Dragon Wall, golden runes seemed unable to withstand the terrifying corpse qi, roaring with electric fire, each character exploding in succession.
"Pure Yang Divine Light!"
Jingming Daoist felt a deep shock in his heart, and magical power surged from his hand. In an instant, he directed it towards the Pure Yang Mirror, attempting to invoke the divine power of this treasure.
But blood light rippled, seeming to seep into every inch of void at the bottom of the well, pulling his soul and divine thought into a horrifying vision.
Isolating him from the outside world!
As omens swapped places, he faced the seeming onslaught of thousands of troops storming forth.
Blood light and black qi transformed into a battlefield reminiscent of Asura Land, filled with the sound of slaughter.
On one side were "rebels" clad in black armor, encircling a mighty fortress.
On the other side were soldiers in red armor, like blazing flames, desperately defending the city, yet they were evidently retreating, collapsing, as soldiers in black armor surged like a tide into the city, plunging into the depths of the Imperial City, pillaging and plundering.
Deep within the Imperial Palace, a tall figure clad in a bright red Emperor's robe gazed upon this scene, his face ashen.
As he looked more closely at the figure.
The Emperor figure's eyes were deep red, carrying boundless resentment.
The red light fiercely targeted Jingming Daoist's spirit!
"Emperor Ai of Shu, do not act recklessly!"
With a cold visage, Jingming Daoist sneered, Yin Spirit level magical power circulated around him, and a Dong Shen Dao Transmission Map emerged behind him, cloaked over him, as boundless Dong Shen thunder circulated, breaking the mysterious influence of the divine thought.
A large seal appeared in his hand.
This was the Cave God Seal.
It was also a supreme treasure of Dong Shen Temple left to him by the Ancestor of Dong Shen.
A legend long circulated within the Cave God Sect told that when the Dong Shen Ancestor was young and had achieved Yin Spirit, he fortuitously entered a remarkable place.
This was the Thunder God Celestial Palace.
An immortal led him into a palace, filled with shelves of various Dharma artifacts.
There was one shelf where the top held seals and the bottom held swords. The immortal allowed him to choose one, and the Dong Shen Ancestor chose the seal.
This seal is the Cave God Seal.
Thus, the immortal praised the Dong Shen Ancestor's wisdom, declaring that the seal could command all Thunder Gods within the Celestial Palace, while the sword could only rely on the power of celestial thunder, making its superiority clear.
Though a legend, it indicates the profound mystery of the Cave God Seal.
"Grotto God Five Thunders Technique!"
Jingming Daoist activated a Great Power Thunder Skill, the Cave God Seal overhead, his Yin Spirit manifesting the Thunder God Dharma Aspect, as five grand beams of thunder light shot forth, striking the Golden Coffin, enveloping it, suppressing much of the boundless blood red corpse qi.
The thunder technique unleashed by Jingming Daoist was indeed terrifying.
The power of Celestial Thunder was unbreakable, capable of subduing all evil.
Yet after one strike, Jingming Daoist's expression changed as he saw sparks fly from chains binding the Golden Coffin, runes on them beginning to shatter inch by inch.
There was a trend of collapse.
He was clearly deceived; this action not only failed to injure the Emperor Corpse but also helped it erode part of the sealing seals on the Golden Coffin, bringing it closer to breaking free.
But without using Thunder God Thunder Skill, how could he suppress the Emperor Corpse?
His gaze fell upon the Pure Yang Mirror beside him; the plan now was to firstly rewash the Pure Yang Mirror with magical power, reopening the Pure Yang Golden Light Demon Ban.
Only thus could the Emperor Corpse in the Golden Coffin be subdued, giving him a chance to repair the Nine Dragon Wall and even the ruptured runes on the Qiankun Golden Lock.
"Roar!"
Realizing what Jingming Daoist wanted to accomplish, the Emperor Corpse within the Golden Coffin struggled fiercely, vast corpse qi nearly breaking through the Nine Dragon Arch, as endless dragon vein purple qi surged like a flood towards the Golden Coffin.
At the same time, from another side of the Three-Eyed Well, came a piercing howl.
Ferocious Yin Qi and Evil Qi erupted.
The corpse on that side also attempted to struggle free.
Seeing this, Jingming Daoist's heart was somewhat relieved; thankfully, he came down to investigate early, and the Pure Yang Golden Light Demon Magic could still have some effect. Also, the series of Dharma artifacts around that suppressed grievances and slowed the flow of Yin Qi had not been completely destroyed.
If he had been late, caught off guard, everything might not have been salvaged!
Jingming Daoist dared not delay and felt fortunate to have carefully gone to Zhang Jian and sought a script; in a place unsuitable for performing thunder techniques, that piece of script was the best demon-suppressing item.
As he took out the script, lines of characters began to emit light, with a vast artistic conception surging forth.
"The universe has righteous qi, mingling in diverse forms. Below, it is rivers and mountains; above, it is sun and stars. For humans, it is the Vast Righteous Qi, filling the vast heavens..."
With the script activated, eternal celestial music seemed to emerge, with a roar of thunder in the void, as boundless righteous qi was attracted, transforming into a long river of righteous qi pouring into the Three-Eyed Exorcism Well.
Deep within the Three-Eyed Exorcism Well, sun and moon light formed from the Vast Righteous Qi appeared, filling the dark well bottom.
Vast and mighty, the Vast Righteous Qi cascaded down, seeing the boundless corpse qi blood light like snow and ice under sunlight, dissipating inch by inch.
The light of Vast Righteous Qi spilled into the Golden Coffin, sizzling on the coffin, as if living demons were fried in fire oil, with faint terrifying wails sounding, countless blood qi bubbling forth from the depths of the Golden Coffin, tightly enveloping the coffin.
Yet still unable to compete against the cleansing of the Vast Righteous Qi from the script, causing the Golden Coffin to violently pulsate.
Below, the Dragon Qi within the dragon vein surged more fiercely!
The Jingming Daoist saw this scene, his face full of apprehension, yet his hands didn't slow down, quickly sending out a bolt of purple lightning to strike the Pure Yang Treasure Mirror, activating the divine power within and continuously refining the corpse spots on the mirror.
This treasure still retained its power, but due to lack of control, its power had been passively exerted and eroded by the corpse qi of the Emperor Corpse.
Now, with the aid of the Grotto God Thunder Skill, its power surged, and moments later, countless golden runes appeared around the surface of the Pure Yang Eight Trigrams Mirror, radiating a blazing divine light and refining numerous resentment and yin qi.
At the same time, that piece of writing in the void began to spontaneously combust without wind, flames spreading as the river of Vast Righteous Qi gradually faded away.
Seeing this, the Jingming Daoist felt a bit regretful.
The evil qi of this Emperor Corpse was too strong, and paired with dragon qi, it was hard to find anything that could restrain it. The writing material was ordinary, unable to withstand the backlash of the Emperor Corpse's corpse qi and self-immolated, which came as no surprise.
Thankfully, the time gained by this writing allowed him to reinforce the seal and repair the leaks in the Three-Eyed Exorcism Well.
"Just wait until the master returns, and we'll find a way to thoroughly deal with this Emperor Corpse!"
The Jingming Daoist's eyes flickered with a sharp light.
The remaining dragon vein dragon qi of Shu Kingdom was nearly exhausted. The main issue was these two Emperor Corpses; if the latter corpse wasn't dealt with, it would likely pose a significant problem and could only be decisively abandoned.
...
At this moment, within the Imperial City, as the Emperor Corpse went berserk, several other figures seemed to sense something, and their eyes showed traces of peculiar colors.
Within the Sports and Arts College, as the writing containing Vast Righteous Qi erupted, Zhang Jian sensed it.
The Vast Righteous Qi contained a part of his essence, so naturally, it couldn't escape his perception.
He intuitively sensed the change within the Three-Eyed Exorcism Well.
"These are truly two ticking time bombs!"
During this period, he had been intentionally searching for historical records regarding the last emperor of Shu, Emperor Ai of Shu, but the related records seemed to have been artificially erased, and the information he obtained was limited.
Yet, with the part of the information he had acquired, it wasn't hard for him to deduce that the Daqian was undoubtedly using the corpse of Emperor Ai of Shu for some special purpose.
Combined with the existence of the dragon vein deep in the Three-Eyed Exorcism Well, Zhang Jian could guess it with nine-tenths accuracy.
Zhang Jian dispelled certain thoughts in his mind.
He originally planned to make use of the opportunity to do something, but now the benefits had been almost entirely consumed by the Daqian Court, and only trouble remained. The remaining bit of Emperor's Qi, though useful, was of limited benefit.
No need to take risks for it!
...
Meanwhile, the Sports and Arts College received a constant stream of guests. Since the visit from the Jingming Daoist, many Daoists from Dong Shen Temple have continuously entered the college, attempting to seek writings from Zhang Jian, but he refused them all.
He responded to the many distinguished guests seeking his writings with the idea that "articles are naturally formed, genius occasionally obtains them."
The notion of something being unobtainable makes it most valuable.
It's like speculation; rarity often elevates the price.
Furthermore, Zhang Jian didn't want to end up as a court writer for the Haojing nobility.
Time was something he was short of now.
But Zhang Jian's reluctance to write only made the Taoists of Dong Shen Temple feel even more that it was precious.
Adding to this, since Jingming Daoist himself came in person and paid a considerable price, many from Dong Shen Temple didn't feel offended and instead found it very normal.
After all, valuable sage manuscripts have always been rare.
Each one is a treasure.
Not mass-produced.
But this couldn't quench the enthusiasm of the Taoists of Dong Shen Temple. Many of them turned their attention to the people around Zhang Jian, especially the Eldest Princess's Mansion that was within reach.
...
After Qi Yi and others returned to Fengyang County, the Eldest Princess and her husband, in name, were the closest relatives to Zhang Jian and his wife.
Prince Consort's Mansion.
Princess Qingfeng and Qi Yuanwu looked at the two Daoists from Dong Shen Temple in front of them, their eyes showing difficulty.
These two Daoists were disciples of Dong Shen Temple, having entered two hundred years ago from the Daqian Royal Family. Their Dao practice wasn't exceptionally high, but backing them were certain grandmasters whom the Eldest Princess and her husband couldn't afford to neglect.
Qi Yuanwu gave an awkward smile and said.
"Uncle Ancestors, we fear we cannot intervene in this matter. Recently, not only you but many elders have come to us, yet Ah Yu is primarily focused on compiling the 'Daqian Complete Book' and has no other writings; we are powerless!"
Upon hearing this, the two Daoists expressed regret.
One of them asked.
"Does Scholar Zhang usually have any special interests? Like women?"
Hearing this, Princess Qingfeng and Qi Yuanwu exchanged glances and shook their heads, indicating they didn't know.
...
Seeing the situation going astray, Zhang Jian felt that if it continued, it wouldn't be good, so he personally went to Dong Shen Temple to meet the Jingming Daoist, and only then did this unhealthy trend gradually stop.
However, his exposure while holding Vast Righteous Qi not only attracted Daoists from Dong Shen Temple.
Other alien races also had their eyes on him.
Yet due to the suppression of the Daqian Cauldron, these alien races didn't dare approach Haojing!