Chapter 404

Pitter-patter...

Stones of various sizes poured down.

Wu Ba shrank his body back, covered in dust, and Li Yan lit a torch and crawled out, clutching the rock wall and looking around.

This Yang hole cave on Shennong Peak was even larger than what he saw in the illusion, winding into the mountain, often filled with rubble and wasteland along the way.

If it weren't for knowing in advance, no one would have thought that there would be another world inside Shennong Peak, which is desolate and uninhabited.

Looking around, Li Yan secretly thought it was indeed so.

In front of him was a karst cave, which had obviously been transformed by humans, excavating caves one by one, huge and messy, not for people to live in.

On the stone wall next to it, depressions were dug, a bit like a hanging coffin resting place, but inside were skeletons with one arm and one leg.

This place should be the ancestral land of the Divine Kui tribe.

The Divine Kui tribe in Inside Shennongjia had traces of Fangxian Dao sorcery transformation, and they were placed here, obviously to guard something.

This technique also came from Fangxian Dao, capturing and driving strange beasts to guard tombs.

Could it be that someone is buried here?

Li Yan became more and more curious, took a deep breath, probed the terrain below, and jumped down with a torch.

After two efforts, he landed at the bottom of the cave.

The others also climbed down from the cave one after another.

"Good fellow, this... this wouldn't be the Shennong Mausoleum, right!"

Sha Sha Li Fei's eyes widened, obviously also thinking it was a tomb.

"You think too much."

Li Yan looked around and shook his head. "Look at those carvings, they haven't been there for long, they should be other things."

Speaking of this, he already had a guess in his heart.

This place was originally guarded by the Divine Kui, but this spirit tribe had already moved away, so naturally there was no danger.

According to the memory in the illusion, Li Yan led everyone through many twists and turns and soon found the bronze door.

"Here, it's this place!"

Li Yan raised the torch and looked carefully.

There must be something strange about this place, even the Dragon Lady's dream could not peek into what was inside.

"Roar..."

Just at this moment, "Zou Yu" who followed in let out a few low roars.

Lu San frowned, hurriedly used the Shangyu language to talk to it, and then explained, "Mountain God said that there is a force here that repels it. It feels uncomfortable all over as soon as it gets close, so it will wait for us outside."

"Oh?"

Li Yan's eyes narrowed, and he understood.

This place should have arrangements against gods, so neither the Dragon Lady nor "Zou Yu" can get close.

He stepped forward with the torch and looked carefully at the bronze door. It was covered in copper rust, and the surrounding patterns were ancient, but with a trace of novelty.

"This is Song Dynasty craftsmanship."

Wang Wang Daoxuan on the side also looked left and right and said, "The Song people worshipped the ancient. From the palace to the folk, they all loved to imitate Shang and Zhou bronze vessels, and they would also make them look old."

"Hmm, be careful."

Li Yan nodded, took out the strange-shaped keys, aligned them one by one, inserted them, and slowly twisted them while holding the front end.

Creak~

Inside the bronze door, the sound of machinery immediately came, and finally, accompanied by falling dust, it slowly opened.

Instantly, a foul smell rushed towards them.

"It stinks to death, what is this?"

Sha Sha Li Fei covered his nose and raised the torch to check.

Looking at this, he was immediately surprised.

He saw that inside was also a karst cave, but the stalactites presented a strange structure, layered, winding, forming a fine scale-like shape, and circling and arching.

"Dragon Cave!"

Wang Wang Daoxuan was surprised when he saw it.

He had seen this kind of thing.

In the Zhenwu Dragon Cave of Mount Wudang Mountain, there were similar things, but they were on the top, looking like five giant dragons entangled.

And this one in front of him was protruding from the ground, looking like half of a giant dragon's body arched up, simply created by nature, a work of ghost and god.

On that strange "dragon body," one after another huge bronze pillars were nailed, and they were connected by chains, all covered in copper rust.

Several bronze pillars had already fallen off, obviously destroyed by humans, and there were dense piles of human bones around.

Although their clothes were tattered, they could vaguely distinguish that they were all Daoist robes, and there were scattered precious swords, tokens, and formation flags on the ground, but they had all rotted and lost their spiritual charm.

"This is a Dragon-Locking Stake!"

Wang Wang Daoxuan was surprised, then took out a compass, checked it, and shook his head. "The dragon energy of the earth veins is scattered, and I can't see any trickery."

Sha Sha Li Fei twisted his head left and right, looking like there was no treasure, and was greatly disappointed. "Tsk tsk, another wasted trip."

Li Yan also frowned tightly.

The scene in front of him was also beyond his expectation.

He went to those skeletons and checked carefully.

All the bones were neat, but the throat and skull parts had turned ink-black and looked very loose.

Li Yan raised the scabbard of the Dust-Breaking Sword and poked it lightly.

Crack!

The bones shattered at the sound, and inside were dense holes, winding and twisting, as if gnawed by some kind of insect.

Buzz buzz buzz...

Lu San's demon gourd immediately began to shake.

He listened for a while and said in a muffled voice, "The demon gourd has a response, saying it is a powerful Gu insect, but it has already dissipated."

Li Yan nodded and checked carefully in the pile of corpses again, and finally found an iron box. After opening it, inside was a Daoist certificate and a secret letter.

The Daoist certificate said it was Boyangzi of the Taixuan Orthodox Sect, a Quanzhen Daoist with a cultivation of the third floor.

Li Yan opened the secret letter again and said while reading, "It says here that there are bandits Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun in the Bashu area, who rebelled under the name of Li Erlang, and the war situation is rotten. Let these people come here secretly to break the Dragon-Locking Stake... the signature is Wang Ji'en."

"Eunuch Wang Ji'en?"

Wang Wang Daoxuan nodded. "I have heard of this person. He was a confidant of Emperor Taizu of Song and supported Emperor Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi to succeed to the throne. He was deeply favored, but later demoted due to palace changes."

"Back then, the chaos in the Heavenly Mansion was commanded by this person."

Li Yan pondered for a moment and said, "The Dragon Lady mentioned this when she entrusted me with a dream, but her words were not detailed."

"Li Bing built the Dujiangyan, and sorcerers suppressed Jiang Shen Da Jun. Its dragon energy was hidden in Mount Daba Mountain and suppressed by Guanjiang Li Erlang."

"Back then, the Later Shu sealed Li Erlang as the 'Protecting Country Spirit-Responding King'. Emperor Taizu of Song, in order to suppress Bashu and unify the national sacrifice, stripped him of his title."

"Later, the people in Shu lived in misery, so they rebelled in the name of Li Erlang. Li Erlang Shen had a prominent reputation among the people in Bashu. Wang Ji'en probably wanted to play tricks here to strike at Li Erlang Shen's reputation."

Wang Wang Daoxuan heard this, and a trace of disgust flashed in his eyes. "If the Dragon-Locking Stake is destroyed, Jiang Shen Da Jun's dragon energy will run rampant, and Bashu will surely suffer from floods. This person is truly insane!"

Li Yan shook his head. "People like them, for the sake of power, even dare to participate in the struggle for the throne. What does it matter if a few people die?"

"Sigh~"

Wang Wang Daoxuan sighed. "Before the Song Dynasty, they sacrificed to the Haotian God. The Great Song promoted the belief in the Jade Emperor, and Emperor Emperor Huizong of Song even called himself the son of the Jade Emperor."

"There is a rumor among the people that Li Erlang listens to the call but not the proclamation, which is mostly caused by this matter, being interpreted and arranged by others."

"These are not important..."

Li Yan looked at the skeletons on the ground and said in a deep voice, "It seems they only pulled out a few Dragon-Locking Stakes before being beheaded."

"This Dragon-Locking Stake was set up by Fangxian Dao back then, and the Divine Kui guarding this place also had traces of Fangxian Dao sorcery transformation."

"These people were probably killed by Fangxian Dao experts, and that expert also stationed the Divine Kui tribe here to guard it."

Wang Wang Daoxuan also nodded. "During the Five Dynasties, there were still many experts in Fangxian Dao. Although they were unknown, they stirred up the world, leading to the establishment of the Taixuan Orthodox Sect."

"I don't know who this expert is."

"Brother Li Yan, that Black Scale Young Master is probably because of the destroyed Dragon-Locking Stake that it obtained that wisp of dragon energy." "Did the Dragon Lady say how to deal with it?"

Li Yan said helplessly, "I don't know either, but the dragon energy has already leaked, so playing tricks here probably won't be of any use."

"If we alarm Jiang Shen Da Jun and a few more wisps of dragon energy run out, that would be troublesome."

"Forget it, let's seal this place first to prevent others from doing evil."

After saying that, he led everyone to close the bronze door and left the cave.

Rumble!

Just after leaving the cave, he saw dark clouds pressing down on the sky, strong winds roaring, thunder rolling, permeating the entire sky.

Seeing this, Wang Wang Daoxuan was shocked:

"Damn, the battle was lost!"

Rumble!

As soon as the words fell, another burst of thunder roared.

As if the sky had a hole, it was visible to the naked eye that in the southwest, rain fell from the sky like a waterfall, rushing towards Inside Shennongjia.

In an instant, heavy rain poured down on the mountains.

"Ang——!"

!.

A long neighing sound came from the southeast.

Wang Wang Daoxuan pinched the Dharma seal and looked up, but saw a black energy rolling up like a long dragon, dancing up and down in the heavy rain.

"The flood dragon is leaving..."

Wang Wang Daoxuan gritted his teeth, not knowing what to say.

The others also fell into silence.

Unexpectedly, after working hard for a long time, something still went wrong.

Although they were on an imperial court mission, they were essentially righteous. After the flood dragon leaves, the Ju River will rise sharply, and countless people downstream will surely die.

Just thinking about that scene is terrifying.

"Roar!"

Just at this moment, the mountain god "Zou Yu" also roared at the sky, seeming very angry, its black and white fur all standing up.

Lu San said in a deep voice, "The Black Scale Young Master is leaving the flood, and the earth energy of Inside Shennongjia will also be disordered, causing many casualties to living beings. The mountain god 'Zou Yu' wants to go see."

Li Yan gritted his teeth. "Let's go, we'll go too!"

"Roar!"

"Zou Yu" let out another roar, and those coffin beasts appeared again, carrying everyone, along with many ferocious beasts and donkey-headed wolves, running towards where the Black Scale Young Master was.

The heavy rain poured down, and water soon accumulated on the mountain road.

First it gathered into a small stream, then it turned into a mountain torrent, carrying amazing momentum, wrapped in broken wood and rubble, rushing down from the top of the mountain.

Many animals were fleeing. If they were not careful, they would be swept away by the mountain torrent and rushed to unknown places.

The mountain god "Zou Yu" let out roars, and the earth energy surged along the way, causing the earth and stones to collapse, making the mountain torrent change its course so as not to affect everyone's progress.

In the heavy rain, everyone's figures gradually disappeared...

………………

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Gongs and drums sounded, and the imperial army retreated rapidly.

The short and sturdy general was furious. He didn't expect that he would fall short at the last moment, but he couldn't think about it at this time and had to run to the top of the mountain.

If he was slow, most of the troops in his hands would suffer heavy casualties.

In the team, several Daoists carried the unconscious Master Yulongzi, dejected, and the Five Dragon Sons were even more gnashing their teeth with anger.

They had already set up a sword formation and tried their best to block it.

But they didn't expect that Xiao Xiao Tianxiong was a master expert. Although he hadn't recovered yet, it was enough to drag down the sword formation.

And that Huang Liu took the opportunity to cast a vicious curse, causing Master Yulongzi to fail in the battle and suffer a backlash and fall into a coma.

Thinking of this, they looked fiercely into the distance again.

On the mountain opposite, the Lord Tian Sheng Sect and Ghost Sect people were also frantically climbing the mountain, wanting to reach the top.

They knew that the area where the trapped flood dragon Black Scale Great King was located had several huge lakes connected. If they poured down, they would be unable to dodge, and even they would suffer.

The short and sturdy general saw their appearance and sneered, "Everyone, your Mount Wudang is too arrogant. You caused such a thing, let's see how you explain it."

"There is still a chance!"

Gulinzi's face was cold and stern, ignoring his mockery, and said in a deep voice, "We had already sent a letter back to Mount Wudang before, asking experts on the mountain to come and help."

"After going up the mountain, immediately build a Dragon-Slaying Platform, and when that trapped flood dragon rushes down, suppress and kill it!"

The short and sturdy general gritted his teeth. "Okay, let's listen to you."

Now that things have come to this, he had no other way, so he could only listen to these Daoists. If he was blamed in the future, he could push it onto them.

"Take action, cut down the trees!"

Upon reaching the top of the mountain, the general gave an order, and the soldiers immediately cut down the trees on the top of the mountain and built a Dharma altar together with the Daoists.

In the heavy rain, everyone worked together.

In the face of this great disaster, there is no difference between sorcerers and mortals...

…………

"Here, it's right in front!"

In the dense forest, Li Yan suddenly let out a low shout.

Although the heavy rain was pouring around, he couldn't see clearly beyond ten meters, and his olfactory supernatural power was weakened, but his ear supernatural power could still be used.

He had already heard the noise of people in front.

Splash!

Rushing out of the dense forest, a large lake appeared before his eyes.

This place was originally surrounded by mountains, but on the side close to Baokang County, a trench had been dug, winding towards the outside of the mountain.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the lake had turned yellow, with a huge whirlpool in the center, and a huge black shadow faintly rotating with it.

Beside the lake, the craftsmen of the Lord Tian Sheng Sect had already cut down wood and built a large ship. The appearance was very rough, but it was strong enough.

At this moment, they were waving big hammers, smashing the wooden frames used for fixing, looking like they wanted to use this large ship to go downstream after the flood dragon leaves, and break through the imperial army's interception in one fell swoop.

"Roar!"

The mountain god "Zou Yu" rushed out of the dense forest with a roar.

"That... what is that?"

The Lord Tian Sheng Sect members looked up one after another, dumbfounded.

Before they could react, ferocious beasts rushed out of the dense forest, tigers, leopards, bears, donkey-headed wolves, coffin beasts... the ferocious beasts in Inside Shennongjia almost gathered here.

"Mountain God is angry!"

Many people turned pale, scared to retreat repeatedly, and climbed onto the ship in panic.

The main force of the Lord Tian Sheng Sect and the Ghost Sect had all run to attack the imperial camp, and those left here were mostly ordinary believers.

How could they not be afraid of such a formation?

However, it was too late.

The furious wild beasts ran in the heavy rain, rushed directly into the crowd, and bit wildly. Soon, screams continued, and blood flowed on the ground.

Li Yan and the others rode on the coffin beasts, their eyes indifferent.

No matter what the origin of these people, they all deserved to die.

This wooden ship was huge. After the people who escaped climbed up along the ropes, they hurriedly drew their bows and shot arrows.

The heavy rain was too big, and the firearms were useless.

At this height, ordinary wild beasts couldn't get up, but the donkey-headed wolves spread their toes and jumped up like mountain goats, continuing to chase and kill.

Soon, the deck was a mess.

And Li Yan couldn't care about it, holding his sword and standing by the lake, staring at the water in the distance.

"Roar!"

The mountain god "Zou Yu" roared again.

Splash~

Immediately, a wave of water rolled towards the lakeside...

(End of chapter)