Chapter 183: The Precious Paper of Haojing

Blood light filled the well's depths, spreading everywhere.

On the Nine Dragons Protective Wall, golden runes flickered, unable to withstand the terrifying corpse aura, crackling with electric fire as each character burst apart.

"Pure Yang Divine Light!"

Jingming Daoist felt a great shock in his heart, his mana surging from his hand as he lunged toward the Pure Yang Mirror, attempting to unleash the divine power of this great treasure.

But the blood light rippled, as if soaking every inch of void at the well's bottom, dragging his soul and spiritual sense into a terrifying vision.

Cutting off his connection to the outside world!

Strange omens shifted, and before him he seemed to see countless troops charging forward.

Blood light and black mist transformed, the scene before him appearing as a Shura battlefield, filled everywhere with the sounds of slaughter.

On one side, clad in black armor, the "rebels" surrounded a great city.

On the other side, wearing red armor like blazing flames, they desperately defended the city, though clearly retreating and collapsing, yet black-armored soldiers surged forward like a tide into the city, rushing deep into the imperial palace, burning, killing, and looting.

Deep within the palace, at this moment a tall figure in vermilion imperial robes gazed upon this scene, his face ashen with death.

Yet upon closer inspection of this figure,

one saw deep crimson in the emperor's eyes, filled with boundless resentment.

The red light directly overwhelmed Jingming Daoist's mind and spirit!

"Emperor Ai of Shu, do not act recklessly!"

Jingming Daoist's face was cold and stern, a cold smile in his eyes, yin-spirit level mana flowing through his body, a Diagram of the Cave God Bestowing the Dao appearing behind him, draped over his form, with boundless Cave God thunder flowing behind him, breaking through that mysterious and unfathomable spiritual influence.

In his hand appeared a great seal.

It was the Cave God Seal.

And also a supreme treasure of the Cave God Observation left to him by the Cave God Ancestor.

The Cave God Sect has long transmitted an ancient legend, heard that the Cave God Ancestor, in his youth when his yin spirit had attained completion, once by chance entered a special place.

This is the Thunder God Heavenly Palace.

An immortal led him into a palace hall, within which stood many racks, layered shelves filled with various magical implements.

On one rack, the upper level held seals, the lower level held swords; the immortal let him choose one, and the Cave God Ancestor selected the seal.

This seal is the Cave God Seal.

For this, the immortal also boasted that the Cave God Ancestor had keen insight, for the seal could command the various Thunder Gods of the Thunder God Heavenly Palace, while the sword could only rely on the power of the heavenly thunder generals, making superiority clear.

Though it is a legend, it still suffices to show the marvel of the Cave God Seal.

"Cave God Five Thunder Method!"

Only seen, Jingming Daoist activated his great power thunder method in his hand, the Cave God Seal above his head, the yin spirit manifesting as a thunder god dharma form, and then five majestic thunderbolts shot forth, striking the golden coffin, lightning wrapping the coffin body, and that boundless blood-red corpse aura indeed contracted considerably.

The thunder method erupted by Jingming Daoist was indeed terribly formidable.

The power of heavenly thunder is irresistible, sufficient to suppress and slay all evils.

However, after one strike, Jingming Daoist's expression changed, he saw on the golden coffin the bundled iron chains sparking, the countless fine runes on the chains beginning to crack inch by inch.

There was a tendency toward collapse.

He clearly had been deceived; doing this not only failed to harm this imperial corpse, but instead helped it wear down part of the sealing talismans on the golden coffin, bringing it one step closer to escaping confinement.

Yet if he does not use the thunder god thunder method, how can he suppress this imperial corpse?

His gaze fell upon the Pure Yang Mirror nearby; for now, the plan is first to attempt to cleanse the Pure Yang Mirror with mana, reopening the Pure Yang Golden Light Demon-Suppressing Seal.

Only thus can he suppress the imperial corpse in the golden coffin, buying himself time to repair the Nine Dragons Wall, and even the broken talismans on the Qiankun Golden Lock.

"Roar!"

As if sensing what Jingming Daoist intended to do, the imperial corpse within the golden coffin went mad with struggle, corpse aura surging and nearly breaking the Nine Dragons Arching Wall, the boundless dragon vein purple aura from deep underground rushing like a flood into the golden coffin.

At the same time, from the other side of the Three-Eyed Well came a mournful, wailing cry.

Fierce yin aura and killing aura erupted.

The corpse of the empress there also wished to struggle, to break free.

Seeing this, Jingming Daoist still felt some relief in his heart, fortunate that he had come early to investigate, for the Pure Yang Golden Light Demon-Suppressing Method could still have some effect, and furthermore, the series of talismans around for suppressing resentment and delaying yin aura flow had not yet been completely destroyed.

If he had been late, caught off guard, there would be no way to redeem everything!

Jingming Daoist dared not delay; at this moment he was fortunate to have taken precautions, personally going to Zhang Jian and obtaining a character sheet, which in this inconvenient place for displaying thunder methods would be the best demon-subduing object.

As he took out the character sheet, he saw a line of text on it begin to emit light, a vast artistic conception rushing forth.

"Between heaven and earth there is righteous energy, mixed and assuming form. Below it becomes rivers and mountains; above it becomes sun and stars. In man it is called the浩然, overflowing and filling the dark azure void..."

As this character sheet was activated, it seemed as if a vast heavenly sound emerged, the void hearing a rumbling sound, boundless heavenly and earthly righteous energy being drawn in, transforming into a river of righteous energy pouring into the Three-Eyed Demon-Subduing Well.

Deep within the Three-Eyed Demon-Subduing Well, it seemed as if the浩然 righteous energy condensed into sun and moon light filled the dark well bottom.

Overflowing, the vast浩然 righteous energy continued to fall, and one saw the surging corpse aura and blood light rising to the heavens, like ice and snow under sunlight, actually melting away inch by inch.

The浩然 righteous energy radiance sprinkled within the golden coffin, the coffin's outer shell making a sizzling sound, as if a living demon were being fried in hot oil, and within a faint tragic cry arose, countless blood energies bubbling forth from the depths of the golden coffin, tightly wrapping the coffin shell.

Yet still unable to match the cleansing of the浩然 righteous energy on the character sheet, the gold coffin trembled violently.

The dragon energy in the dragon veins below surged even more violently!

Seeing this, Jingming Daoist felt apprehensive, yet his hand did not slow; he quickly sent a bolt of purple thunder striking the Pure Yang Treasure Mirror, activating the divine power within, continuously refining the corpse stains on the mirror.

This treasure's power remains, but hampered by having no master, it has always been passively releasing its power, eroded by the imperial corpse's corpse aura.

Now, aided by the Cave God Thunder Method, its power grows daily; moments later, countless golden runes appeared around the mirror's surface in the Pure Yang Mirror, this Pure Yang Eight Trigrams Mirror emitting fierce divine light, refining much resentment and yin aura.

At the same time, the character sheet in the void began to burn without wind, firelight spreading, the river of浩然 righteous energy gradually disappearing.

Seeing this, Jingming Daoist felt some regret.

This imperial corpse's evil aura is too strong, also containing dragon aura, truly difficult to find anything to restrain it; this character sheet itself is of ordinary material, unable to withstand the backlash of the imperial corpse's corpse aura and self-immolate, which is not surprising.

Fortunately, thanks to the time bought by this character sheet, he can finally reinforce the seal and repair the leakage of the Three-Eyed Demon-Subduing Well.

"Only await my master's return, then I must find a way to completely deal with this imperial corpse!"

Jingming Daoist's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

The dragon veins and dragon qi remaining in Shu State had almost been drained dry, of course the key was these two imperial corpses; if the later corpse was not dealt with, serious problems would surely arise, so he could only decisively cut it off.

……

At this time, within the imperial city, during the turmoil of the imperial corpses, several other figures seemed to sense something, their eyes all showing strange colors.

Within the Wen Ti Academy, when the calligraphy scrolls containing righteous vigor burst forth, Zhang Jian felt something stir in his heart.

That righteous vigor contained part of his essence and spirit, so naturally it could not escape his perception.

He faintly sensed the changes occurring in the Three-Eye Demon-Subduing Well.

"These are truly two time bombs!"

During this period, he had also been deliberately searching for materials related to the last emperor of Shu State, Emperor Ai of Shu, but relevant records seemed to have been artificially erased, and the information he obtained was truly limited.

However, based on the information he currently possessed, he could easily see that the Great Qian dynasty must have been using the corpse of Emperor Ai of Shu to achieve some special purpose.

Combined with the existence of this dragon vein deep within the Three-Eye Demon-Subduing Well, Zhang Jian could naturally deduce this with eight or nine out of ten accuracy.

Zhang Jian dispelled certain thoughts in his mind.

He had originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to do something, but now the benefits had basically been gnawed away by the Great Qian court, leaving only troubles; although the remaining imperial aura was somewhat useful, the benefits were limited.

There was no need to risk it for that!

……

At this time, the Wen Ti Academy also welcomed an endless stream of visitors; since Jingming Daoist had come, many Daoists from the Dongshen Guan had entered the Wen Ti Academy one after another, attempting to obtain calligraphy from Zhang Jian, but he refused them all.

He responded to the numerous nobles who came seeking calligraphy by saying that writing is born of nature, and skillful hands obtain it by chance.

What cannot be obtained is the most precious.

This is just like hype—rarity and scarcity often raise value.

Moreover, Zhang Jian did not want to become a scribe for the nobles of Hao Jing in the future.

He simply did not have enough time now.

But Zhang Jian's refusal to pick up his brush only made many Daoists from Dongshen Guan feel even more that it was precious.

Furthermore, since Jingming Daoist had personally come to the door and had also paid that great price, many Dongshen Guan did not feel offended, but rather thought it quite normal.

After all, precious sages' manuscripts have always been rare.

Each one is a treasure.

Not mass-produced.

But this did not dispel the enthusiasm of the Dongshen Guan Daoists; many of them turned their gazes toward the people beside Zhang Jian, especially those residing in the Changzhi Princess's mansion.

……

After Qi Yi and the others returned to Fengyang Commandery, the Changzhi Princess and her husband nominally became the closest relatives to Zhang Jian and his wife.

The Fuma Duyuan Fu.

Changzhi Princess Qingfeng and Qi Yuanwu gazed at the two Dongshen Guan Daoists before them, the couple exchanging troubled looks.

These two Dongshen Guan Daoists were disciples who had joined Dongshen Guan from the Great Qian imperial family two hundred years ago; their cultivation was not particularly high, but behind them stood someone else of high standing, so the Changzhi Princess and her husband also dared not neglect them.

At this moment, Qi Yuanwu forced an awkward smile and said.

"Two Uncle-Grandfathers, we probably cannot interfere in this matter; during this time, not only you, but many elders have come knocking, but A Yu is still mainly occupied with compiling the《Great Qian Complete Book》, and has no other writings, so we are also powerless!"

Upon hearing this, the two Daoists wore expressions of regret.

One of the Daoists then asked himself.

"Does Zhang Xiuzhuang usually have any special hobbies? For example, fondness for women?"

Upon hearing this, Changzhi Princess Qingfeng and Qi Yuanwu exchanged a glance and simultaneously shook their heads, indicating they did not know.

……

But seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly skewed, Zhang Jian also felt that if this continued, it would not be right, so he decided to personally go to Dongshen Guan to meet Jingming Daoist, in order to gradually quell this unhealthy trend.

However, when he revealed his possession of righteous vigor, it attracted not only the Dongshen Guan Daoists.

But also the gazes of other strange beings.

Yet, restrained by the Great Qian's cauldron vessels suppressing evil, these strange beings did not dare approach Hao Jing!