Holy Bone

Chapter 1990 The Taoist Yellow Court Inner Landscape Reappears
The outhouse was empty; there was no one there.

Then, Jin An opened the other two outhouses, both of which were empty.

His gaze began to change, gradually turning cold.

Jin An looked down at the ground, where there were no footprints, meaning that the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li had not come to the outhouse.

"Pretend to be a ghost!"

Jin An snorted coldly, then strode back. He went to the rooms and kicked open the door of the first room.

The room was empty; there was nothing inside.

Then he kicked open the second room, and there was still nothing there.

The third room...

The fourth room...

Even after Jin'an had checked all the rooms, he still couldn't find the old Taoist priest or Fatty Li.

Jin An acted decisively, taking out a compass and placing a Five Thunder Evil-Slaying Talisman drawn by the old Taoist priest on it, using it to locate the old Taoist priest's position.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a divine artifact!
The Luogeng Jade Plate actually reacted!

However, the direction indicated by the compass was not in this courtyard, but outside the courtyard.

Jin An did not hesitate and immediately walked out of the courtyard.

Strangely enough, the courtyard was completely deserted. All the elders from the Celestial Master's Mansion who had greeted the three of them earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Not only were the elders missing, but Jin An discovered that everyone else from the Celestial Master's Mansion was also gone.

The once grand Celestial Master's Mansion was now completely empty, without a single person in sight.

Jin An glanced down at the compass in his hand, snorted coldly, and ignored the Celestial Master's Mansion. Instead, he followed the compass to find the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li.

The direction indicated by the compass was actually at the main entrance of the Celestial Master's Mansion, which was outside the mansion.

This discovery intensified the coldness in Jin An's eyes.

Jin'an did not stop along the way, following the compass and jade plate, and went straight to the main gate of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The world outside the grand gates of the Celestial Master's Mansion was also empty and deserted. There were no imperial guards, no eunuchs or palace maids coming and going; only pitch-black darkness.

Jin An held the jade compass in his hand, standing still, his eyes following the compass as he searched for clues in the darkness. Soon, he spotted a figure.

The man knelt on both knees, his back to him, his face turned outward, and kept kowtowing, it was unclear what he was kowtowing to.

Jin An showed no fear and walked straight over.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the man was actually kneeling and worshipping a pair of men's shoes. The shoes were antique in appearance, not the kind worn by people today, but by people in the past.

Jin An glanced at the face of the kneeling man and immediately recognized him as the person the Celestial Master's Mansion had invited him for!
The first mysteriously missing person the Celestial Master's Mansion is looking for!
Han Yichuan!
Unexpectedly, they would encounter Han Yichuan, whom the Celestial Master's Mansion was looking for, in such an environment. Even Jin An frowned slightly in surprise.
Han Yichuan, who was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing repeatedly, did not notice Jin An's presence and continued to kowtow to the pair of antique-style men's shoes on the ground.

Jin An's gaze involuntarily fell upon the pair of antique-style shoes.

At first glance, these shoes give off a very archaic feel, so archaic that they seem to belong to this era. But upon closer inspection, Jin'an made a new discovery: the shoes are very new and clean, unlike antiques, and more like everyday wear.

Jin An looked slightly surprised, a thoughtful expression appearing in his eyes.

Just then, Han Yichuan carefully lifted the pair of shoes with both hands and walked towards the Celestial Master's Mansion.

At this moment, the pointer on the compass rose also moved, following the movement of the shoe, and was pointing towards the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Jin An did not hesitate and immediately followed.

He wanted to see where the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li had gone.
Strangely enough, Han Yichuan didn't react at all to the person following him. He continued walking ahead, holding his shoes in his hands and muttering to himself, as if he was in a hurry and didn't know that someone was following him.

Jin An's eyes flickered repeatedly as he watched.

He followed Han Yichuan all the way, winding through the Celestial Master's Mansion. The further they walked, the more astonished Jin An's expression became, and he would occasionally turn his head to look at the scenery on both sides.

Because the direction Han Yichuan was heading was none other than towards the courtyard where he lived.

Finally, Han Yichuan arrived at the residential courtyard.

Han Yichuan entered.

Jin An followed closely behind.

Han Yichuan remained unchanged, seemingly unaware of the person following behind him, and continued walking ahead.

At this moment, Jin An was almost right behind Han Yichuan, but Han Yichuan continued to move forward on his own, ignoring the pursuer behind him as if he were invisible.

Jin An followed Han Yichuan all the way to Han Yichuan's room.

When Jin An entered the room, he paid special attention to the door. The footprints he had left when he kicked the door were still there and had not disappeared.

Jin An hesitated for a moment, and just then, Han Yichuan, carrying shoes in his hands, entered the room and carefully closed the door.

Then the situation inside became a mystery.

The outside world knew nothing about what was happening inside the room.

Strangely enough, after Han Yichuan entered the room, he did not turn on the lights. The room remained dark, and outsiders could not see the direction of the person inside.

Jin An didn't take this to heart. As a martial arts immortal, his seven orifices were far more sensitive than ordinary people. His ears were so sharp that he could hear many sounds from a hundred feet away, let alone sounds from inside the room right next to him.

He clearly heard Han Yichuan walk around the room after closing the door, but he didn't stay near the doorway.

Immediately, he exerted a burst of energy in his hand, breaking the latch behind the door, and then pushed the door open and entered the room.

As soon as Jin An entered the room, his attention was drawn to the unusual situation inside.

The room had become somewhat old and musty, and a row of small straw dolls had appeared on Han Yichuan's desk.

These little straw dolls are all dressed in the robes of the Celestial Master's Mansion, and are about the size of an adult's fist.

That's not enough. Among them, three small straw dolls are the largest, about the size of a fist and a half, and are arranged at the front.

Upon seeing these little straw dolls, Jin An's expression shifted slightly, and for some inexplicable reason, he thought of the people who had mysteriously disappeared from the Celestial Master's Mansion.

According to the elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion, in addition to the disappearance of some disciples, three elders have also mysteriously disappeared this time.

Looking at those little straw dolls dressed in the robes of the Celestial Master's Mansion, and the three largest straw dolls, it's hard not to feel something.

However, Jin An didn't pay much attention to these little straw dolls. He was more concerned about the whereabouts of Han Yichuan, the pair of shoes, the old Taoist priest, and Fatty Li.

His gaze fell on Han Yichuan.

Han Yichuan was also at the desk. At this moment, he was kneeling in front of the desk, muttering something under his breath, and kowtowing to the desk repeatedly.

And on the desk, there was the pair of shoes.

Learn about Soso...

The room was silent, so silent that only Han Yichuan's constant low muttering could be heard, which continued for quite some time. Jin An saw the shoes placed on the desk, and I couldn't help but walk closer to the desk, wanting to see more closely what the shoes truly were.
And they wanted to find out the whereabouts of the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li.

According to the compass in his hand, the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li were also over there at the desk!
That is, the location of the shoes!

As Jin An approached the desk, he also approached Han Yichuan, and he could roughly hear what Han Yichuan was muttering.

"……enlightened……"

"...Never abandon..."

"...Father..."

...Words are like lamps...

"...the thoughts in my heart..."

"……god……"

"……host……"

“...recite…”

"……sublimation……"

"...to make the will clear..."

"...May...truth...freedom..."

"...The Incense Offering..."

……

Because Han Yichuan's voice was very soft, only fragments of words could be heard, but from these general words, Jin An had already deduced that it seemed to be a prayer.

Han Yichuan seemed to be praying something to the shoes?
Jin An stopped paying attention to Han Yichuan. After following him all this way, he already knew that the pair of ancient shoes was the key. He would now focus all his attention on those shoes.

After a moment's thought, Jin An reached out to touch the pair of antique shoes. Just as his palm was about to touch the shoes, an unexpected event occurred.

The antique shoes on the desk have disappeared.

The desk has also disappeared.

Even Han Yichuan has disappeared.

The room had changed drastically, becoming a completely unfamiliar mansion, and he was standing in the middle of the courtyard, all alone.

A cold glint appeared in Jin An's eyes. Without hesitation, he decisively extracted his primordial spirit from his physical body and flew into the sky to check his surroundings.

Upon seeing this, Jin An's expression changed drastically.

because!

The city before us!
It's neither the Celestial Master's Mansion!

It wasn't the capital city he was familiar with either!
It was an ancient city that felt both familiar and somewhat unfamiliar to him after their separation!
That ancient city within the inner landscape of the Taoist Huangting Temple!
That ancient city he attacked countless times, and finally, by sheer luck, obtained the martial intent of the Martial King!

That ancient city where he, along with Daoist Zhanmu, Daoist Qingfeng, True Man Qingxi, Master Zunzhu of Zhenguo Temple, Marquis Pojun of the Celestial Master's Mansion, and Old King Ling, joined forces to attack King Wu's Mansion, but failed to defeat King Wu. They only managed to pass through by sheer luck!
How could Jin An's expression not change drastically at such a scene? The reappearance of the ancient capital city was truly shocking and terrifying.

When Jin An first saw it, he couldn't help but be shocked and pale.

Jin An gritted his teeth, lifted his physical body with his primordial spirit, and flew through the city. As a result, everything here echoed the details in his memory.

From the arrangement and layout of large buildings.

Even the location of small vendors.

Everything matched my memory perfectly, without the slightest error.

You must know that he attacked the King Wu's Mansion many times in the ancient city and was trapped for several years before finally managing to pass through. Therefore, he was extremely familiar with this ancient city, no less so than the original inhabitants of the ancient city.

Next, Jin An originally intended to use his flying and earth-遁神通 (flying and escaping supernatural powers) to thoroughly investigate this ancient city and find out what kind of situation it was.

But at that moment, several war gods flew into the sky from the ancient city.

Jin An frowned.

By employing a few minor supernatural abilities and strategies, he managed to evade the inspection of those war gods.

Afterwards, Jin Anfei landed back at the house and thoroughly examined it, even digging three feet into the ground, before finally making a discovery.

He found a map of the entire city in the house.

It wasn't a rough map from the general public, but a detailed map that depicted every building, what kind of business each building operated, how many people lived in each building, and so on.

This map, when unfolded, is over ten feet long.

After a thorough examination, Jin An discovered that the map was most detailed in its depiction of the six Martial King's Mansions and the City Lord's Mansion, describing in detail all the buildings within a radius of three to four hundred feet, even including the staff's duty hours and rest times in great detail.

The more Jin'an looked at this map, the more alarmed he became.

This map is so detailed that...

Give him a feeling...

Someone wants to attack the ancient capital city...

And the person attacking is the owner of this map!

Ancient shoes, illusions, and ancient kingdoms and cities—each surprise was more astonishing than the last. Therefore, Jin An seemed rather indifferent to the bizarre case of someone wanting to attack the ancient kingdom and city.

Compared to the reappearance of this ancient city, everything else becomes secondary.

Jin An looked at the map, pondering what exactly was going on with that ancient shoe? What was its origin?
Why is this involving ancient kingdoms and great cities?
And why would they want to attack the ancient capital city?
If they didn't intend to attack the ancient capital, why would they draw such a detailed map of the city?
Unfortunately, Jin An explored the house again but found no useful clues. After thinking for a moment, he decided to go out and wander around the ancient city to look for clues from the outside.

Before leaving, Jin'an restored the house to its original state.

After replicating the map, I also restored it to its original position, leaving it completely untouched.

Then he left the house and headed towards the Prince's Palace.

As Jin An walked toward the Prince's Mansion, he took out the compass. At this moment, the compass was pointing randomly, sometimes to the east, sometimes to the west, and sometimes to the north and south.

Jin An frowned.

This is not because the compass was obscured and lost its function, but because the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li were constantly changing their positions, and the compass was also constantly changing its position accordingly.

As Jin An walked, he pondered, his eyes constantly scanning the buildings and pedestrians on both sides of the road... It seemed that the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li were in this ancient city, but this ancient city was a bit strange, as the old Taoist priest and Fatty Li's location kept changing and never settled.

The Wu King's Mansion that Jin An went to this time was the very same Wu King's Mansion that he knew so well!

It's the Martial King's Mansion that's going to form a marriage alliance with Xuan Guang Cave Heaven, one of the Thirty-Six Cave Heavens!
When Jin An arrived outside the Prince Wu's residence, he found that everything was normal and nothing unusual had happened. Red lanterns and red cloth were hung high in the Prince Wu's residence, and large double happiness characters were posted. The place was bustling with activity and full of joy.

Jin An's eyes flashed with a few cold glints. He was all too familiar with this scene. It was the very day he had experienced countless times in the inner landscape of the Taoist Yellow Court, the grand day of the marriage alliance between the Martial King's Mansion and the Profound Light Cave Heaven!
(End of this chapter)