Knife splashing

Chapter 641: The Ghost Emperor's Traces
As soon as the tiger squatting cannon was fired, the scene suddenly fell silent.

The Taoists in Shangqing Palace were a little confused.

Of course they knew that this was a cannon, and they could even tell that it was not an ordinary thing.

After all, in this era, everyone is seeking change.

When the Meishan School of Law invented the technique of using a fire gun, almost all of the Xuanmen in Shenzhou went to exchange ideas. They also bought a lot of it at a high price and even hired people from the government to practice gun skills.

The problem is, it’s fine to use guns in gang fights.

What's the matter with holding a cannon? !
For a moment, the Taoist priests with guns were at a loss.

On the other hand, everyone on Li Yan's side had cold eyes and murderous intent.

They started their journey from Guanzhong and fought in countless battles, both large and small, and had taken countless lives.

According to the saying in the underworld, those who love blood and swords have to kneel down and call them grandpa when they see them.

If you can't talk properly, then beat him first.

Seeing their appearance, several old Taoist priests headed by Shangqing Palace felt a chill in their hearts.

The old Taoists are experienced and know that they are facing a tough opponent.

But if there is no explanation, Shangqing Palace will definitely be ridiculed if news of today's incident gets out.

The old Taoist leader in the middle, with thunder patterns embroidered on his robe, is none other than Dan Qingzi, the abbot of Shangqing Palace.

Looking at the tiger squatting cannon in Wu Ba's hand, he glanced with his triangular eyes and suddenly sneered: "You still say it has nothing to do with you, but you use such a firearm to blow up the mausoleum. I see that you are also people from the Xuanmen, so you dare not take responsibility for it?"

Yin Jiuge, who was standing by, could not stand it any longer and said sternly, "Shangqing Palace is also considered an orthodox sect. How can they be so indiscriminate? Where is Taoist Guanglingzi? Call him out. I want to ask him what kind of disciples he has taught!"

Dan Qingzi narrowed his eyes slightly, "Master has long passed away, you are..."

Yin Jiuge said coldly: "I am Yin Jiuge."

Dan Qingzi shook his head calmly, "I haven't heard Master say that."

Yin Jiuge laughed angrily, "What a great... Shangqing Palace."

He is a master of the older generation of Xuanmen, even older than Zhulin Liuxian. Although he keeps a low profile, he is known to many old masters in the martial arts world. He did not expect that his old friend's disciple would not recognize him and even look disdainful as if he wanted to make friends with him.

At this moment, "Golden Eye Feng" in the back hurriedly stepped forward and anxiously said, "Misunderstanding, it's all misunderstanding."

"Master Dan Qingzi, I am 'Golden Eye Feng' from Luoyang. I spoke to you at the banquet in the palace on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month last year. I can testify that this person is indeed a demon..."

"shut up!"

Dan Qingzi's face suddenly changed, "I know you are involved in the Luoyang Paper Figure Case and you escaped from prison without permission."

As he said this, he looked at everyone with gloomy eyes, "In my opinion, you are monsters!"

"Golden Eyed Feng" was surprised when he heard this.

In his impression, Dan Qingzi usually appears to be a gentle and virtuous person.

Why are you so unsympathetic now?
What he didn't know was that due to the vibration of the earth veins in Mangshan, a furnace of precious elixirs was destroyed in Shangqing Palace.

Not to mention that spiritual materials are difficult to obtain, but time is also not enough.

Dan Qingzi was filled with anger, so it was natural that he was difficult to reason with.

"What a fool!"

Li Yan lost his patience and said in a cold voice: "Luoyang City will be in great trouble. If you can't help, get out of the way. If you keep making noise, I will send you to see the Three Pure Ones first!"

"Hahaha…"

Dan Qingzi also sneered, "I also want to see if you monsters can leave Yuzhou!"

"Stop! Everyone, stop it!"

When the two sides were on the verge of a fight, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the mountain path.

Just over ten riders came galloping over, and in the front was a woman in a bright red robe, who was none other than Madam Pei from the Longmen Inn.

Before the horse's hooves stopped, she had already jumped up, stepped on the horse's head, and landed on the water like a beautiful swallow. She clasped her hands and said loudly: "Everyone, please wait! Taoist Dan Qingzi, there is another hidden story behind this!"

Dan Qingzi frowned and said, "Manager Pei, is the Heluo Chamber of Commerce also going to intervene in the grievances of the Xuanmen?"

Facing this Xuanmen senior, Madam Pei did not dare to use her rhetoric skills. She bowed and said solemnly: "Senior, these are the Twelve Yuanchen. I'm sure you have heard of them."

"They came to Yuzhou to rescue their brothers and secretly investigate the paper figurine case. They went to Mangshan for this purpose. Also, the 'soul-collecting boat' that floated on the Yi River came from an ancient evil sect, Yin Fu Sect. This must be related to them. If Shangqing Palace fights among itself at this time, wouldn't it be a way for the evil spirits to reap the benefits?"

"Yin Fu Sect?"

Hearing these three words, Dan Qingzi's heart skipped a beat.

As they were talking, other people from the Heluo Chamber of Commerce had also arrived.

Yue San'er, who was also known as "Earth Listening to the Strings", was among them. Upon seeing Li Yan, he naturally bowed to him.

Moreover, he actually knew Yin Jiuge, and his face was full of surprise, and he kowtowed to him as a junior.

The Dark Cult rarely appears in the Taoist world, but it is well-known among the people in the market, especially among the sorcerers who make a living by performing weddings and funerals.

Yue San'er can also be considered an old senior, but Yin Jiuge is his idol.

Listening to everyone reminiscing about the past, Dan Qingzi's eyes became uncertain.

He spent most of his time in Luoyang and preferred to socialize with dignitaries, so he really didn't know Yin Jiuge.

But the name of the Underworld Cult is still clear.

These Twelve Yuanchen, in particular, became famous throughout the world because of the Battle of Chengdu.

He was so focused on refining the elixir that he didn't expect so many dragons from across the river would come to Luoyang.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the collapsed Jingling Mausoleum in the distance, "What is going on here?"

Li Yan was too lazy to pay attention, Yin Jiuge took a step forward and asked in a deep voice: "Do you know about the Nine Cauldrons?"

As he spoke, he recounted the entire cause and effect.

The more Dan Qingzi listened, the more surprised he became, and an inexplicable chill rose in his heart.

Behind him, another old Taoist said in a muffled voice: "Even if it is as you said, it is a fact that my palace's talisman furnace was destroyed by you. The 'Earth Marrow Powder' refined by jujube wood for three hundred years was destroyed in one night. This account... someone has to pay for it, right?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yan and others were immediately filled with contempt.

"Shut up!"

Before Li Yan could make any sarcastic remarks, Dan Qingzi shouted to stop him, then said with a gloomy face: "We'll talk about this later."

After that, he asked Li Yan and the others in a deep voice: "Since we have broken into the fake underworld, have you caught the demon?"

Li Yan shook his head and said, "I don't know where he went."

"Ah."

Dan Qingzi nodded, and looked at the red light coming out of Jingling, "What should we do here?"

Li Yan frowned slightly and shook his head, saying, "The demon army of the six nations is in a stalemate with the Suihou Snake Pearl. If the Snake Pearl is broken, the demon army will come out. If we ignore it, the Yuzhou Ding will be fished out from the dragon vein. Either way, it will be a catastrophe. I want to ask you what to do."

Hearing his words, the Taoists in Shangqing Palace looked at each other with pale faces.

They didn't expect that the matter would be so serious.

In particular, the Nine Cauldrons are also involved.

The court has just raised this matter. If something goes wrong in their territory, I am afraid that the name of the orthodox religion will be revoked.

At this moment, no one was thinking about making elixirs to please the emperor.

As they were talking, the monks from Xiangshan Temple also went up the mountain. Although the Buddhist and Taoist sects in Luoyang were fighting each other, no one dared to act recklessly in the face of such a thing, and they exchanged information with each other.

"Amitabha."

Master Kuzhu, the abbot of Xiangshan Temple, bowed and said to Yin Jiuge, "To be honest, I have heard of your name before. You are a geomancer and are good at turning bad places into good places. Could you give me some pointers to prevent the people of Luoyang from suffering?"

"Humph!"

Yin Jiuge looked unhappy. Although he didn't like these people, he said, "If I had a way, would I have to waste my words with you?"

Li Yan, who was standing beside him, was moved and said, "Senior, Xu Fu left behind three bamboo slips. There is no need to care about the road to immortality, but he left behind the Luoyang slips. This means that the fake underworld and these arrangements are inseparable from Luoyang. Perhaps the answer lies in them."

Yin Jiuge shook his head and said, "The question is, who knows where Luoyang Jian went?"

Master Kuzhu, the abbot of Xiangshan Temple, seemed to be thinking about something. He said, "The ground veins of Mangshan Mountain are shaking, and the Vairocana Buddha in Longmen Grottoes has also undergone strange changes. Perhaps this is one of them."

A young Taoist priest from Shangqing Palace also came close to Danqingzi and whispered, "Master, in the Sanqing Palace..."

Before he could finish his words, he was forced back by Dan Qingzi's sharp eyes.

But everyone is not stupid, so they can see that something is wrong.

Madam Pei was no longer polite and sneered, "Master Dan Qingzi, although our Heluo Chamber of Commerce is not from the Xuanmen, it is not without connections with the court. We have kept our distance from you before, but you have caused such a big trouble and are trying to conceal it. I will definitely report it to the Golden Palace!"

Dan Qingzi's face turned pale and blue, and then he gritted his teeth and said, "It's the Dutian Five Thunder Talisman."

"That was left by our great master Zhang Daoling in the past and is enshrined in front of the statue of Laojun in the Sanqing Hall. It is also the treasure of my Shangqing Palace."

Li Yan frowned and said, "It must be related to the dragon vein of Mangshan. Why did the old Taoist hide it?"

Dan Qingzi obviously didn't want to say it, but under the gazes of everyone, he could only sigh, "This matter is indeed a secret of my Taoist temple."

"In the past, Master Zhang Daoling left this treasure behind. He said that it was used to suppress the evil spirits in Mount Mang. It must not be revealed under any circumstances."

"But when the Golden Horde invaded, Chen Shoujing, one of the ten great masters of Shenzhou and the head of Xuandu Temple on Mount Mang, released the Yique demon dragon and perished together with the enemy. Our ancestors thought that the Dutian Five Thunder Talisman suppressed the demon dragon, so they took it away to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Golden Horde."

"Later, I went to the south to seek refuge. On the way, I encountered an old monster in the mountains. I used this trick again..."

When everyone heard it, they immediately understood.

Master Zhang Daoling must have seen something back then, so he left behind a magic talisman to suppress it.

However, the people in Shangqing Palace were afraid that the treasure would be lost, so they took it away secretly.

Although it was a misunderstanding, the difference was obvious when compared to Grandmaster Chen Shoujing.

Xuandu Temple was originally the leader of Luoyang Taoism, but because of this incident, its strength declined and it never recovered.

After Shangqing Palace returned from the south, they were no longer the same people as before, and they secretly used tricks to become the leader of Luoyang Taoism.

If this matter were to get out, it would really damage their reputation.

"Come on, take me to have a look!"

Yin Jiuge was too lazy to say more and spoke in a deep voice.

Dan Qingzi needed a favor from others, so he didn't dare to act like that again. Without saying a word, he led everyone to Cuiyun Peak.

Shangqing Palace is a thousand-year-old temple with naturally beautiful scenery.

However, the crowd had no intention of sightseeing and went straight to the Sanqing Temple.

Looking up, I saw that the Sanqing Temple was shrouded in blood-red light and had already been damaged.

The nine bluestone steps in front of the hall were cracked with fine lines, and wisps of evil spirits seeped out from the cracks.

The bronze wind chimes hanging from the eaves of the palace trembled without wind, making intermittent clear sounds.

"It is indeed connected to the earth veins!"

Yin Jiuge noticed something strange at once, and walked into the hall with a serious expression.

Everyone followed the progress and saw that the golden statues of the Three Pure Ones in the hall were sitting high on the altar, but something went wrong.

Yuanshi Tianzun holds the Hunyuan Pearl in his hand, which is covered with a layer of blood...

The jade ruyi in Lingbao Tianzun's palm was covered with cracks, and the Big Dipper beads embellished with it turned into powder...

The alchemy furnace in front of the Lord of Dao fell over, the incense ash fell out, and it was pitch black inside...

The lights in the hall flickered, reflecting the distorted and angry faces of the generals of the Thunder Department on the murals in the hall.

Yin Jiuge took out the compass and looked at it. After walking a few steps, he suddenly looked up and said, "This is one of the nodes!"

Li Yan looked up when he heard this and immediately understood the reason.

On the caisson above the Sanqing Hall, there is a painting of the "Twenty-Eight Mansions of Ziwei Doushu", just like the fake underworld.

At this moment, the vermilion lacquer on the Tianshu and Tianxuan star positions had already peeled off, revealing the talismans underneath.

All the cinnabar in the engraved marks of those talismans were taken away, and they were slashed into a mess with all sorts of vertical and horizontal strokes.

Yin Jiuge took the compass and looked at the alchemy furnace on the square of the main hall. He said in a deep voice: "The Sanqing Hall and the alchemy furnace outside were all arranged in the past. They were originally connected to the Qin Palace and the dragon vein, and were suppressed by the ancestor Zhang Daoling with a magic talisman."

"The talisman has been uncovered, and there has been some tampering here... Do you know who repaired it?"

Dan Qingzi knew the seriousness of the matter and did not dare to hide it, so he said, "This Sanqing Temple has been repaired twice."

"One time was in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. Due to the chaos in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Sanqing Temple was burned down by fire, so we invited a master painter of the time to repair it."

"Another incident happened a few years ago when a Taoist priest who was on night watch dozed off at night and the candlelight ignited the curtains..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Yan suddenly had an idea and asked in a deep voice, "After the Sanqing Temple was repaired, did something strange happen in Mangshan?"

Dan Qingzi was stunned for a moment, "I don't know, but the records of that time are still preserved."

He quickly asked his apprentice to fetch a thick ancient book, and after carefully checking it, he nodded and said, "Indeed, it says that in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, after the Sanqing Temple was built, a strange phenomenon of 'ghost soldiers borrowing the road' appeared on Mang Mountain. Then it rained heavily, the mountain slid down, and a stone tablet rolled out..."

Golden Eyes Feng interrupted, "There are four words engraved on the stele: Xuan Mo returns to Mang!"

Dan Qingzi was surprised, "Why do you know?"

Golden Eyes Feng smiled bitterly and said, "This incident is also recorded in a rare copy of the 'Heshuo Monster Records'. We went to the ghost market to get this book. I believe someone must have seen it and left a record, but we didn't know about it."

Li Yan nodded and said, "There was definitely something wrong with the craftsmen back then."

"impossible!"

Taoist priest Dan Qingzi shook his head and said, "He is one of the ten great masters of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he is from the Kong family in Qufu. Although it has been a long time, you should have heard of the name of 'Lan Du Master Kong Hui', right?"

"Kong Hui?"

Yin Jiuge was also a little surprised when he heard this. Seeing that Li Yan was puzzled, he said, "This is a master from the Northern Song Dynasty. He has been familiar with the classics since he was a child. The classics in the Kong family's library have been torn apart by him, so he was called 'Mr. Rotten Du'. Later, he entered the palace to become the emperor's teacher."

"Humph!"

Li Yan said coldly: "Just because someone has a big name doesn't mean he has no problems. Besides, a master came here to help you build a palace. Don't you think it's strange?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in Shangqing Palace was speechless.

"That's all."

Li Yan shook his head and said, "It's been too long. We'll talk about this later. Who is the other one?"

Dan Qingzi replied: "The other one is still here, he is the famous painter Lu Mo in Luoyang City, Master Lu."

"what?!"

The abbot of Xiangshan Temple nearby, Kuzhu, screamed in surprise.

Seeing everyone's gaze, he sweated on his forehead and said in a trembling voice: "I also invited him to repair the Vairocana Buddha..."

(End of this chapter)