Holy Bone

Chapter 2015: Stepping on the Seven Stars, Ruling the World, the Dragon-Locking Well Pattern Resurrected
He immediately realized what Li Pangzi meant as soon as he finished speaking.

He slapped his fist hard and said, "That's right, the new national advisor's true identity is that Yuan Yiban who came back from the dead."

"Yuan Yiban, the Corpse Immortal Heavenly Official, posed a threat to destroy a country a thousand years ago. Now he is suspected of breaking the Four Symbols Formation of Heaven and Earth. This person was born a treacherous person, and all righteous people dislike him."

"This explains why Master Jin'an had a grudge against him."

Jin An walked ahead, nodded slightly, and then said, "This new national teacher, Yuan Yiban, once attacked the Five Organs Taoist Temple."

Fatty Li exclaimed in surprise, "What!"

"When did this happen? This person is truly despicable, an utter scoundrel!"

Fatty Li gritted his teeth and cursed loudly.

Jin An said, "Just as the new national teacher Yuan Yiban returned from exploring the Immortal Mountain with Yujing Jinque, Zhenguo Temple, and Tianshi Mansion, and was almost back in the capital."

"I eliminated the headless monk and subdued the Beast-Creating Immortal. I dealt with two of the new National Preceptor's top officials, and he harbored a grudge against me. On his first day back in the capital, he attacked my Five Organs Taoist Temple."

After hearing this, Fatty Li couldn't help but curse again: "That headless monk deserved to die. As a member of the Immortal Mountain, he committed all sorts of evil deeds, cutting off other people's heads every day to prolong his own life. He deserved to die a thousand times over!"

"The fact that the True Man of Animal Creation abandoned darkness and embraced light, and joined the Five Organs Taoist Temple, has also deprived the Demonic Sect of a great general, which is also a great merit!"

"This new national advisor is dozens of times more wicked than the headless monk and the beast-creating immortal! Despicable! Despicable! Despicable!"

After finishing his rant, Fatty Li looked worriedly at Jin An, who was walking ahead, and whispered, "Daoist Jin An, you wouldn't... be going to seek revenge on the new Imperial Preceptor now, would you?"

"The new Imperial Advisor is currently the Emperor's most favored advisor. Since his arrival in Kangding, several unusual phenomena and auspicious omens have appeared in the kingdom, and there are many voices of concern among the people. If we were to take action against the new Imperial Advisor now, I'm afraid..."

Fatty Li didn't finish his sentence at once, but stopped short of saying anything, telling Jin An to carefully consider the consequences before taking any action.

"Ah."

Jin An simply nodded and said in an extremely casual tone, "You don't need to worry about the new Grand Preceptor; I have my own methods."

Upon hearing this, Fatty Li smiled and said, "I believe in Daoist Jin'an."

"I've known you, Master Jin'an, for so long, and I'm always the one who offends you, only to suffer the consequences of my own actions. I'm like someone who plays with fire and gets burned. On the other hand, Master Jin'an always manages to escape unscathed."

Jin An turned to look at Fatty Li with a smile and said, "You, you."

Then he said, "The new Grand Preceptor has ordered us to keep a close watch on all the tunnels and ditches in the city. I think this matter is not as simple as it is used to frame our Criminal Investigation Department. There must be a deeper reason."

"I plan to explore the tunnel again later to see if there are any new clues inside."

Originally, Fatty Li wanted to go along, but Jin An did not agree and instead asked Fatty Li to stay outside and wait for him to come out.

Since the new Grand Preceptor Yuan Yiban was able to arrange a tunnel to frame the Criminal Investigation Department, there might be other, more dangerous entities inside. If he were to engage in a magical battle with someone, he might not be able to protect too many people. Therefore, he simply decided not to bring anyone else with him.

Not long after, Jin'an, whose spirit had left his body, once again flew to the Spice Shop, one of the most bustling areas in the capital.

The Spice Shop boasts a tranquil environment, with a delicate, intoxicating fragrance that captivates visitors, making it a place they linger in, reluctant to leave. This has made it one of the busiest and most prosperous areas in the capital. However, those who frequent the Spice Shop are either high-ranking officials or wealthy merchants, all sharing the characteristic of being able to afford the shop's renowned spices.

Jin An did not linger in the bustling area of ​​the spice shop. His primordial spirit flew directly to the place where he had last investigated the academicians of the Imperial Medical Academy. He found that the place was in a remote location, with no tall buildings around, only a few scattered shacks built along the river, some of which were inhabited.

A foul, pungent odor wafted through the air, a mixture of sulfur, saltpeter, and other complex, pungent smells.

These smells are emanating from the dried-up riverbed, which is piled high with garbage and waste, all leftover residue from the processing of various spices.

Spices can be used as seasonings to enhance the flavor of food, as well as to make incense, sachets, and cosmetics. The latter three are the most profitable, but the refining process is often very complicated and inevitably produces a lot of waste.

The more complex the production process, the more waste is generated. With the spice workshop thriving, there always needs to be a place to dump the waste. In addition, the distillation and purification process also causes significant pollution to the water source. Over time, the rivers and canals here became polluted, dried up, and turned into dumping grounds. Dozens of pungent odors mixed together, and this place slowly became a dark corner that no one dared to live in.

Then outside the building was a dry canal, but now this dry canal has become a stinking ditch with sewage flowing everywhere. Rats and insects grow rampant in it. Several dirty rats with long gray-white tails run around in the canal, and they all look very fat.

Jin An didn't linger on the road; his spirit flew directly to the location where the body had been dumped during his last investigation.

The location where the body was dumped is not important; what is important is that there is an entrance to a tunnel that leads directly into the ruins of the previous dynasty.

This tunnel used to be a secluded place, often used by the academicians of the Imperial Medical Academy to commit murder, brew spices, and dispose of bodies. However, since it was discovered by the Criminal Investigation Department, it has been under their strict supervision and sealed off with large stones to prevent outsiders from entering.

However, Jin An appeared in a state of astral projection, so the sealed tunnel had no effect on him. His spirit floated straight forward and entered the tunnel without any obstruction.

He came here alone to investigate, hoping to find out what else was in the tunnel and whether he could find any clues to use to convict the new Grand Preceptor.

Although he felt that with the new national advisor's intelligence, he wouldn't have left such an obvious oversight, he still wanted to investigate.

As for why he chose this place as the entry point for exploring the tunnels, rather than entering through the tunnels themselves, it was because the tunnels here are related to the ruins of the previous dynasty.

If we're talking about the most suspicious place, this is definitely the most suspicious place.

He is currently in a state of spiritual projection. With the speed at which his spiritual sense can sweep across the entire capital, it would only take him a short while to survey the entire city. Therefore, he came here to investigate first. If he really cannot find any clues here, he will then use his spiritual sense to sweep across the entire capital.

It's just that when facing a few places like the Jade Capital Golden Palace, Zhenguo Temple, and Celestial Master's Mansion, one's divine sense may be limited, and the scanning of one's divine sense may be restricted.

Jin An's primordial spirit entered the tunnel. As he looked at the tunnel, where the traces of the previous dynasty were becoming more and more obvious, he couldn't help but recall the scene he had seen when he was walking through the underworld in the capital.

The capital city of the underworld is filled with towering buildings, hundreds of buildings stacked upon each other, and hundreds of buildings with abyss-like depths are revealed beneath the cracks in the streets. Many such buildings also exist on the ground.

The buildings were a mix of new and old, some magnificent with green tiles and red eaves, brightly lit, while others were dilapidated and dark.

New dynasties are established on the foundations of old ones, and new capitals rise from the old sites. As the capital of seven dynasties, Beijing has been rebuilt time and again on ruins...

The tunnel was very long, passing through collapsed roads, forks in the road, and new culverts overlapping with old ones. There were also one locked iron fence after another.

These details all look as if they have been deliberately altered.

The goal was to create an underground labyrinth, preventing people from easily discovering the truth within.

Fortunately, Jin An had been here once before and was quite familiar with the place. He moved through the secret passage with ease, flying around. Because he was flying instead of walking, he moved very fast. This time, five forks appeared in front of him, each locked with rusty iron chains.

This time the iron fence is a bit different; it looks very new.

A gentle breeze caressed each of the secret passages, indicating that they were connected to the outside world.

Jin An merely glanced at the other secret passages before entering one of them—the same one he had entered before. Soon after entering, he saw a coffin.

When the coffin was opened, it was found to be empty, having already been cleaned by the Criminal Investigation Department. Next to the coffin was a huge bronze coffin, its surface carved with hornless dragons, with more than a dozen iron chains hanging from its head. Following the direction of the iron chains, several winches were found in a corner.

The coffin was engraved with the seven stars of the Big Dipper: Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Yu Heng, Kai Yang, and Yao Guang. The handle of the Big Dipper pointed north, and it was winter all over the world. This was a giant coffin with the seven stars.

Jin An raised his hand and pointed in the air, and the winch started to turn on its own. The chains rattled and vibrated. As the winch continued to turn, the lid of the giant seven-star coffin was lifted up. Moo!
A sound that was neither quite a cow nor quite a dragon came from the coffin, and a cloud of cold earth energy rushed out.

Jin'an, a master of the primordial spirit, was unaware of these chilling auras. Instead, he floated directly to the bronze coffin, peered inside, and saw a well inside. The well walls were inlaid with many stone dragon heads, and the torch could not reach the end. There were at least dozens of dragon heads.

Each dragon's head was pierced by chains and connected to a winch in the outside world. Whoosh, a cold wind kept blowing out of the Dragon Locking Well. The Dragon Locking Well was not a dead end; there was another world below.

The sound that resembled both a bull and a dragon came from this Dragon-Locking Well.

As the coffin lid was opened, the change in airflow inside and outside caused various strange phenomena.

-

"This place has the Seven Star Coffin, the Dragon Locking Well layout, and the ruins of a previous dynasty. Could all of this be part of a feng shui arrangement?"

"Could the remains of the dragon vein of the previous dynasty be locked beneath this Dragon-Locking Well?!"

"Standing on the Seven Stars, commanding the army of the world, born with the destiny of an emperor. Some have trampled the dragon veins of the previous dynasty under their feet, rising to prominence by stepping on the dragon veins of the previous dynasty!"

"Someone wants to rise to power by stepping on the Seven Stars and the remains of the previous dynasty's dragon vein, becoming the king of all under heaven! Wherever their military might points, all will submit!"

This is what the old Taoist priest once said about this place.

Therefore, Jin'an later destroyed the layout of the Dragon Locking Well to prevent this evil dragon from taking form and causing havoc in the area.

No matter who wants to keep this Dragon-Locking Well in the ruins of the former dynasty in the capital, if it is detrimental to the world and causes the people to suffer from war and chaos, he will destroy it and restore a peaceful world for the people.

Next, following the layout of the Dragon Locking Well that he had destroyed, Jin An floated down and arrived at the second level of the former dynasty's ruins.

The underground space is very spacious, enough to accommodate about twenty people. There are seven statues of gods standing on the well wall, and each statue has a bronze altar in front of it.

The altar was covered with a thick layer of dust, the incense burner was covered with cobwebs, and the candlesticks for holding incense and candles were either overturned or rolled on the ground. These details gave people a sense of desolation, as if no one had come to clean and worship here for a long time.

The bronze statues are dragon-headed human figures, each with a different expression: joy, anger, worry, thought, grief, fear, and surprise.

Being stared at by so many eerie expressions at close range made the atmosphere here even more sinister and bizarre.

However, when Jin An saw those bronze statues, his expression changed. He had destroyed them all when he last investigated this place!

But today!

These bronze statues have all been restored by human hands!
Exactly the same as the original!
Absolutely no difference!

Jin An's gaze turned stern. He saw that there were many bloodstains near the hole in the statue's chest. Some of these bloodstains were fresh, while others were old. They were very thick and there were even some pieces of flesh. Some of the flesh had dried out and existed for who knows how many years.

The eerie wind in the well blows out from the holes in the chests of these statues.

Seeing the bloodstains and flesh fragments on the surface of the statue, Jin An thought of the man-eating monsters he had encountered when he came here last time. He could no longer contain his anger. His primordial spirit and Dao Qi expanded and spread like a ball. The Dao Qi of the late fourth realm was as domineering as the Heavenly Gang Wind Disaster. Bang!

boom!
boom!
……

All seven bronze statues exploded, shattering into countless fragments and revealing enormous caves in the rock face.

These caves were previously hidden by bronze statues and therefore not visible.

Now that the bronze statues have been destroyed in Jin'an, the truth about these caves has been revealed once again.

With a cold look in his eyes, Jin An immediately went behind one of the caves.

He had explored these caves before, and they all ultimately led to the same place, so it didn't matter which one he chose to enter.

After walking a distance into the cave, we saw a huge stone platform that looked like an altar, and on the platform we saw a four-legged bronze square cauldron.

Bronze square ding vessels have always been closely associated with sacrificial rites, alchemy, and cooking.

He saw many human skeletons inside the bronze square cauldron.

The world beyond the cave is vast, a huge and complex underground world like a mausoleum. Along the way, you can see cannibalistic cooking pots that are exactly the same as the bronze square cauldrons in front of you. The further you go in, the more foul the stench becomes.

This place had been completely wiped out by Jin An; everything had been destroyed. But today, he witnessed a scene that enraged him: it had actually risen from the ashes. Someone wanted to recreate the Dragon-Locking Well layout here, wanting to stand on the Seven Stars, control the army of the world, and be born an emperor! He wanted to be the king of all people! Wherever his army pointed, all would submit!

Jin An was furious. He never expected that the place he had sealed off and destroyed would actually rise from the ashes!