Chapter 102: Breaking a Promise

Dragon head, lion body, deer antlers, fish scales, goat beard, eagle claws, ox eyes, horse hooves, dragon tail.

Cheng Xinzhan was certain he hadn't seen wrong; this was a Horned Qilin.

This Horned Qilin had a blue face and blue scales, but its horns, beard, hair, mane, and fins were golden yellow. The blue and gold intertwined, extremely eye-catching.

But even more eye-catching than the Horned Qilin's fur and scales were the scars covering its body.

Some scars broke scales and severed hair, some scars were deep enough to reach the bone, and even more scars penetrated this mountain-like huge body.

However, under these wounds, not a single drop of blood could be seen, only golden flesh and jade-colored bones.

Looking at the Horned Qilin's belly and nostrils again, there was not a single movement of breathing. Combined with the wounds all over its body, it looked as if it had been dead for many years.

But that fierce, arrogant, and unyielding momentum, woven together by the huge corpse, the towering scales and horns, and the pervasive scars, was deeply imprinted in Cheng Xinzhan's mind.

He stabilized the horror in his heart and retreated slowly.

When he turned his head, he found everyone staring at him.

The meaning revealed in their eyes was the same:

"Can you see it?"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

"Horned Qilin."

He said two words silently. Everyone looked at his lip shape and understood. Their faces were colorful.

"Has the Zhu family finally sent someone?"

At this moment, a man's voice sounded, a deep and thick sound of metal clashing.

Everyone's expression changed, and Cheng Xinzhan was even more shocked. A Horned Qilin injured like that was still alive?

"Why are you hiding so far away? You have the guts to do it, but no guts to meet?"

The voice said again.

Zhu Jianmo's round face turned pale. Listening to this, did his own ancestors manage to hurt the Horned Qilin? And manage to harm the Horned Qilin like this?

"Still not meeting? Does the Zhu family have no seed? Or are you all dumb?"

The voice gradually became impatient.

Zhu Jianmo was almost crying, but he still moved his feet forward gradually, came to the end of the tunnel, poked his head out, and replied tremblingly,

"Descendant of the Zhu family, pays respects to Senior."

"Why are you closing your eyes?"

The Horned Qilin asked again.

Zhu Jianmo thought that this Horned Qilin, dead or alive, still had very sharp eyes, so he opened his eyes slowly.

"Eh?"

He exclaimed in surprise. Why was the terrifying Horned Qilin corpse gone? Under the fire net was a man standing in mid-air.

A majestic man wearing blue scales and with golden hair.

"Fat and round, truly the seed of the Zhu family. And where is the other one? Why is he hiding behind?"

Zhu Jianmo was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. Although he guessed something immediately, he still pretended not to understand.

"Senior, I am the only one surnamed Zhu here. The others are my fellow disciples, not from the Zhu family."

The man was disdainful: "That person, although his flesh is not here, his essence, Qi, and spirit have always been one. Bloodline is not flesh and blood. He performed the soul-returning method, and he thought this deity couldn't tell? This deity isn't blind to that extent."

Everyone was even more shocked upon hearing this. Sun Miaoshu and Xu Jishen even began to look for the hidden seventh person.

Cheng Xinzhan said in a low voice: "No need to look, it's me. I will explain the flesh matter after we go out."

He walked to the edge of the tunnel and, like Zhu Jianmo, was stunned for a moment. The Horned Qilin corpse was gone, transformed into a man.

"Senior, I do not know my own background and did not intend to hide it. Now the Zhu surname is the imperial surname, and it has been peaceful for hundreds of years. I think the imperial bloodline has spread very widely. I only found out today, perhaps there is some Zhu bloodline."

The man looked at Cheng Xinzhan quietly. After ten breaths, he suddenly laughed: "You think any bloodline can see this deity? You look exactly like his eldest son, so how could it be a thin bloodline? At least, it is more authentic than this little fatty."

Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo looked at each other. The latter asked, "Senior, who is the 'he' you are talking about?"

"Who else could it be, Zhu Zhongba. But he later took a great name, but this deity has forgotten what it was."

Cheng Xinzhan was struck by lightning upon hearing this.

And Zhu Jianmo looked at Cheng Xinzhan in surprise, his mouth open wide enough to stuff a fist.

"Taizu's eldest son, Xinzhan, you, you are the descendant of the Crown Prince Yiwen!"

There were some words Zhu Jianmo didn't say, but all the fellow disciples present knew that the first Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty died young due to illness. Among his descendants, only the Jianwen Emperor and the Prince of Wu had descendants. But these descendants were either missing with the Jianwen Emperor or living a difficult life under the surveillance of the Yongle lineage. He didn't know which one Xinzhan was...

Cheng Xinzhan's breathing became rarely rapid, which had never happened since he ate Qi.

However, after only four or five breaths, his breathing returned to calm. He said: "This junior is an orphan, raised by foster parents, surnamed Cheng. The only connection between the Zhu family and me is that my mother's surname is Zhu. Everything else has nothing to do with me."

The golden-haired man's gaze turned between Zhu Jianmo and Cheng Xinzhan and didn't pursue this topic anymore, but said,

"You both have magic power, come down. This deity is not used to looking up to talk to people."

Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo looked at each other. Cheng Xinzhan asked,

"Senior, the Zhu family Central Capital dragon vein is contaminated with death Qi and is withering. Is it done by you on purpose?"

The golden-haired man was impatient: "Yes, you come down and talk. As long as you don't cross this net, this deity can do nothing to you. Since Zhu Zhongba could do it, didn't he tell his descendants?"

The two looked at each other again. They thought that such an immortal species and great power shouldn't deceive them. If he wanted to do them harm, if that fire net was useless, he might have already taken action.

So the two rode clouds, jumped down the karst cave, and stopped above the fire net.

The man rose slightly, and the red net on his head bulged with his movement. Finally, his line of sight was level with Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo. Cheng Xinzhan also saw more clearly that the man's facial contours were distinct, as if carved by a knife, and his appearance was heroic.

"Since Zhu Zhongba founded the country, how many years has it been?"

The man asked.

"More than four hundred and forty years."

Zhu Jianmo replied.

"It has been so long. You have magic power and are not people in the red dust. How did you find this place?"

Cheng Xinzhan replied: "We are all disciples of Mount Sanqing. We observed that the spring thunder in this area has decreased in the past ten years, suspecting that yin Qi is accumulating in the earth veins, fearing some changes, so we searched for mountains and observed Qi all the way. We found an earth vein that was almost withered and followed this earth vein to find this place, discovering that the source came from under this imperial tomb."

"Mount Sanqing?"

The man was somewhat surprised: "Is it the Daoist lineage of Immortal Ge?"

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he knew!

Zhu Jianmo nodded: "Yes, the Immortal is the founding ancestor of our Mount Sanqing. Have you heard of him, Senior?"

=9+Book_Bar

The man nodded: "Back then, I discussed the Dao of Golden Immortals with the Immortal. Many of the Immortal's insights benefited me a lot."

Everyone was shocked again!

They thought the man had only heard of him, but they didn't expect him to be a figure of the same era as the ancestor. That was already six thousand years ago!

"I thought it was the dragon vein of the Zhu family that was withering, and his descendants came to the door. I didn't expect you to stumble in by mistake."

Hearing this, Zhu Jianmo couldn't help but ask: "Senior, what kind of grudge do you have with the Zhu family?"

Cheng Xinzhan was also curious. A Horned Qilin actually hiding under the Zhu family imperial tomb, and it looked like it was sealed. This was too bizarre. No matter how wise and martial Ming Taizu was, he was ultimately a mortal. How could he do this?

This Horned Qilin was obviously not easy to handle. Even if sealed, it could use means to secretly kill the dragon vein.

The man looked at Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo, and then said: "Since you are his descendants and have inherited the Immortal's Dharma lineage, it can be considered a destiny. This deity will tell you, so that you know what kind of bastard your ancestor was!"

Cheng Xinzhan and Zhu Jianmo didn't dare to speak.

"This deity goes by the name Jin Mingzi, of the Jin Horned Qilin clan. I attained the Dao in the Jin Dynasty, but I could never grasp the essence of the Golden Immortal. I stayed in the mortal world for a long time, but to no avail. Helplessly, I ascended in the Tang Dynasty with the Heavenly Immortal Realm and continued to seek the Dao of Golden Immortals in the Heavenly Realm. However, I formed a feud with someone in the Heavenly Realm and was besieged by nineteen Heavenly Immortals, dying and falling into the lower realm."

Looking at the somewhat sluggish expressions of the two, Jin Mingzi smiled and continued: "Perhaps there is a will in the dark. My corpse fell into the Northwest Flame Mountain area. The earth fire refined this remnant body into a golden corpse. Added to the resentment and remnant thoughts of this deity that even earth fire couldn't burn, I was fortunate enough to be nurtured by the Earth Mother, which let me walk the path of the corpse. I practiced in a daze in Flame Mountain for seven hundred years and became a Corpse Immortal, remembering the events before death."

Everyone listened until their breathing slowed down unconsciously. A Heavenly Immortal in life and a Corpse Immortal in death—two proofs of the Immortal Dao?

"The feud of killing the body and destroying the Dao cannot be forgotten across generations. The events before death were even clearer in this deity's mind than in life. This deity thought about the origins of those nineteen people over and over again, but the more I thought, the more I felt it was not simple. It's just that this Corpse Immortal cultivation in this life is not as good as the previous life, so this deity didn't rush to ascend, but looked for ways to increase cultivation in the mortal world and thought carefully about the plan for revenge."

"This deity walked in the world, looking for a place to raise the corpse, until the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when this deity came to Fengyang, wanting to raise the corpse here. When looking for a cave, I met that Zhu Zhongba."

Jin Mingzi paused: "He was a general at the time, returning home in glory, repairing the ancestral graves, and met me by chance on the road. Hehe, he saw that my temperament was extraordinary and even wanted to recruit me as a general."

The man smiled, as if recalling that day: "This deity smiled and wanted to leave, but looked at him again unintentionally and found that Zhu Zhongba had dragon Qi on him. Fengyang is a place of dragon rise, and the Huai-Xi dragon vein all belongs here. It should produce an emperor. At that time, it was a chaotic world, and this deity saw that it was destined for this Zhu Zhongba."

"This deity calculated that the Yuan Dynasty's virtue belonged to metal at the time, so I made a deal with this Zhu Zhongba. This deity taught him the method of Iron-Skin Daoist Soldiers and the 'Horned Qilin Swallowing Gold' formation map. After he won the world, he would build a tomb for this deity to set up the formation, absorbing the virtue of the Yuan Dynasty to raise the corpse for this deity. He agreed."

"This deity designated this karst cave, located at the place where the Huai Dragon spits pearls. Beside it is the throat of his Zhu family dragon vein. He used the excuse of moving his parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law's graves to move earth and build momentum here. After winning the world, he indeed kept his promise and built the Central Capital on his Zhu family dragon vein with the 'Horned Qilin Swallowing Gold' formation map, borrowing the dragon vein and the formation map to gather the metal Qi of the world to this place."

So that's it!

Everyone understood the reason why Ming Taizu insisted on building the Central Capital.

"In the eighth year after he became emperor, this deity sent a letter asking him to see me. This deity told him that the formation was already set up, and building the capital city or not didn't matter much. Adding bricks and tiles wouldn't affect the formation."

Everyone realized that this was the eighth year of Hongwu, the reason why Ming Taizu ordered the work to stop immediately after inspecting the Central Capital.

"In addition, this deity made another deal with him. Now the metal Qi of the world is gathering here. This deity wants to retreat and sleep, borrowing the metal Qi to heal the old wounds on the corpse. But I am worried about enemies coming to the door, so I want to borrow the national fortune of his Ming Dynasty and the imperial blood to shield the heavenly secrets for me. In return, when this deity wakes up, I can do one thing for the Zhu family descendants that this deity can handle."

"He agreed again. This deity taught him the 'Blood Lock Heaven-Filling Net' and wanted to use the imperial blood of the Zhu family to perform the spell. However, his blood was not enough and needed to return to the imperial palace to summon all blood descendants to bleed to succeed. So this deity taught him the method of casting spells from a distance. A few days after he left, the blood Qi descended here, turning into a fire net. Sure enough, it shielded the heavenly secrets. Only the Zhu family blood descendants can see this net, and below the net, this deity's corpse."

"Up to this point, this deity still thought he was a person who kept his promise."

Jin Mingzi said calmly.

"Then what happened later?"

"Later, this deity slept peacefully until I was forced to wake up ten years ago."

Jin Mingzi's voice changed: "This deity found that the metal Qi entering the body was getting less and less. The metal Qi disappeared into thin air when it reached the karst cave, and even the metal Qi of this deity itself was disappearing. But this deity calculated that the metal virtue Qi of the old Yuan should be far more than this. Looking at the direction where the metal Qi escaped, this deity observed the foundation formation of the Central Capital and found that it had been tampered with, forming a 'Swallowing Gold and Prospering Fire' formation. This metal Qi had become the nourishment for the Zhu Ming dragon vein."

"And after the Zhu Ming dragon vein sucked up the metal Qi gathered in the karst cave, it actually began to suck the metal Qi on this deity's golden corpse, which woke this deity up."

"This deity wanted to go out and see clearly, but found that the 'Blood Lock Heaven-Filling Net' had changed its face at some point and became a sealing net locking this deity."

Zhu Jianmo didn't believe it: "Senior, you are an immortal for two lives, and the 'Blood Lock Heaven-Filling Net' formation was taught by you. The ancestor was a mortal, how could he change the formation? Even if it was changed, how could it suppress you?"

Jin Mingzi looked at him upon hearing this and said: "If it were an ordinary 'Blood Lock Heaven-Filling Net,' it naturally wouldn't keep this deity. But this one was taught by this deity to Zhu Zhongba, related to the imperial bloodline, the Central Capital formation, and the underground dragon vein. If this deity forcibly broke through the net, then the Zhu family bloodline would die suddenly, the Central Capital would sink, and the earth dragon would turn over. I don't know how many people would die. This deity is not willing to let thousands of people be buried with me for one person's fault."

"As for why he modified the magic array, this deity does not know. But you say it is impossible; this deity thinks it is not necessarily so. Zhu Zhongba had a man named Liu Bowen beside him back then. Although he was a mortal, he had the ability to observe the stars and drive ghosts and gods."

Zhu Jianmo was silent. He had heard a little about Liu Bowen cutting the dragon vein.

"So Senior released the yin corpse Qi in your body?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked.

"Not bad. This deity used corpse Qi to feed the Zhu Ming dragon vein. However, it is not that I want to destroy the dragon vein. This deity can do it at any time. It is just to let the Zhu Ming dragon vein gradually decay. The dragon vein is entangled with the Zhu Ming national fortune, which should be reflected in the Zhu Ming imperial family. After they are plagued by illness, they will naturally come to see this deity. By then, this deity can also ask clearly."

"However, the emperor didn't come, but you discovered it first."

Please vote for monthly tickets and recommendations. Comments and messages are welcome!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 103 =====