What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

With each step he took, the bluestone slab beneath his feet would crack.

As the double axes were swung, they produced a series of sharp, piercing sounds as they cleaved through the air, heavily striking the invisible wall of energy that Li Qing had erected.

Each impact would stir up a burst of tiny golden light, which was the array runes operating at overload.

The person on the right looked much more sinister.

He stood still, his hands moving rapidly, forming hand seals, while he chanted incantations.

As he moved, the raging hailstones around him mysteriously hovered in the air, then condensed into sharp ice spikes.

The ice spikes, carrying a ghostly green poisonous light, rained down on every corner of Tingyuxuan.

"Hmph, this is interesting."

Li Qing sneered, strode to the bill in the center of the hall, and grabbed the compass.

Li Qing closed his eyes, his left hand rapidly calculating, while his right hand slammed down on the command flag on the bill.

"With the blessing of the Kun position, the fertile earth sustains all things! Rise!"

With a low shout from Li Qing, a deep rumbling sound came from under the floor of Tingyuxuan.

The swaying building instantly stabilized.

The aura at the gate shone brightly with golden light, and no matter how the axe-wielding giant chopped at it, he could not advance an inch further.

However, the other side's methods clearly did not stop there.

"Brother Chen, look outside!"

Jin Wanliang pointed to a surveillance screen on the tablet, his voice somewhat hurried.

In the surveillance footage, four pale white banners were found stuck in the four corners of the alley outside Tingyuxuan, indicating that the banners were being used to summon spirits.

The summoning banner fluttered wildly in the wind and rain, emitting wisps of thick black mist.

The black mist spread rapidly, frantically devouring and severing the connection between Tingyuxuan and the surrounding earth veins.

"This formation..."

I looked at the black mist and frowned slightly.

"They intend to cut off the source of the earth's energy for Tingyuxuan?"

"Li Qing, should I go out for a bit?"

As I spoke, the scalpel from my sleeve quietly slipped into my palm.

Li Qing opened his eyes, glanced at the monitor, and showed an extremely disdainful expression.

"Sit down and relax, Lao Chen. The hail outside can really hurt."

Cut off the earth's energy? With just these few tattered flags?

He chuckled casually.

"This kind of shoddy formation, if they want to sever my Li Qing's earth veins, they'll have to go back and practice for another fifty years."

As he spoke, he took out a few antique copper coins from his pocket and casually scattered them on the bill.

The copper coin landed and jingled, forming a peculiar hexagram.

"Old Chen, don't worry, let them fight outside."

With an attack of this magnitude, coupled with that flawed formation outside, do you really think you can break through my carefully constructed Listening Rain Pavilion?

Even if they bombarded it outside for three days and three nights, it wouldn't work!

Li Qing picked up a vermilion pen, drew several runes on the yellow paper, and then blew on it. The yellow paper spontaneously combusted without any fire.

"The earth's energy is like a dragon, a hidden dragon lurking in the abyss! Suppress it!"

Then, a faint blue aura was seen emanating from the cracks in the hall floor.

These air currents quickly converged around Li Qing's command flag, and then spread out along the formation's veins.

The four banners in the outer corners, upon contact with this blue aura, were like snow meeting a raging fire.

After emitting a piercing hiss, the flag began to rot and break apart rapidly.

The two gray-robed men who launched the attack were also shaken back more than ten steps by the sudden burst of earth energy.

I stood behind the door, watching this scene unfold.

Although Li Qing is arrogant, he never fails to get things done.

Although he usually seems unreliable, his talent in feng shui formations is truly astonishing.

This effortless switching between offense and defense proves that after returning from the Northwest, his control over the earth's energy had reached a remarkably sophisticated level.

But my doubts only grew stronger.

In the afternoon, those five evil cultivators came to scout ahead, but they were all wiped out.

Logically speaking, the person who made the move to test the waters should already know that Tingyuxuan is not to be trifled with.

But now, instead of backing down, they have sent out even stronger thugs and even used a formation specifically designed to target the earth's veins.

Could it be that there is something in Tingyu Pavilion that they are determined to obtain?

Is it because of Li Qing's status as a successor of a geomancer? Or because of me, the corpse stitcher?

Or perhaps... this building itself is hiding some secret that I don't yet know about?

I turned to look at Li Qing.

"Li Qing, do you have some incredible treasure hidden in Tingyuxuan?"

Why are they so fixated on this place?

Upon hearing this, Li Qing looked up at me with a somewhat blank expression: "What treasure? There's nothing else in Tingyuxuan besides some antiques and the magical artifacts I use."

At this point, Li Qing scratched his head and muttered to himself, "Could it be because of the dozens of gigabytes of resources I've saved on my computer?"

After rolling my eyes at him, I didn't press him any further.

The attacks from outside are still ongoing.

The burly man wielding the axe didn't seem to have given up.

He roared, his muscles bulged, and a strange bluish-purple pattern appeared on his skin.

The two axes in his hands were also engulfed in green flames, and each swing of the axe brought a strong wind.

The gray-robed man who was forming hand seals then took out a stack of black paper figures from his robes and casually scattered them.

The paper figures grew taller in the air as they were lifted by the wind, transforming into paper soldiers with ferocious faces and wielding spears.

The paper soldiers, in coordination with the ice spikes, frantically attacked the formation.

Li Qing stood behind the bill, her expression calm.

He would occasionally adjust the compass or change a talisman.

Tingyuxuan is like a reef standing firm in the raging waves, remaining unmoved no matter how strong the wind and waves are.

This tedious yet intense back-and-forth continued for a full half hour.

During this time, I noticed several times that the yin energy outside was fluctuating violently.

The thunder over Jiangcheng grew increasingly rapid, and occasionally a flash of lightning would rip through the night sky, illuminating the twisted and crazed shadows of the two gray-robed men outside.

However, at exactly 10 p.m.

The attacks from outside stopped without warning.

The previously dense sounds of axes chopping, ice spikes piercing the air, and paper soldiers roaring vanished completely in an instant.

I frowned slightly and peeked through the crack in the door.

The two men in gray robes actually retreated on their own initiative.

They moved swiftly and decisively, disappearing into the dark alley in a few leaps, not even bothering with the broken spirit banners.

"Gone?"

Jin Wanliang stared at the surveillance camera in disbelief.

"They're leaving already? I thought they were going to fight all night."

Li Qing frowned and put away the command flag.

He walked to the door and carefully sensed the changes in the energy outside.

"The ground's energy fluctuations have subsided."

Li Qing scratched his head in confusion.

"Strange, judging from their posture just now, they clearly hadn't even used their full strength. How could they just leave like that without any warning?"