Chapter 136

Did Dou Zhifu carry Bai Xian'er into the mountains on his back?

That's right.

If it weren't for the Dou family's descendants charging ahead, how could the formation array surrounding that mountain possibly be broken so easily?

This Dou Zhifu is truly a white-eyed wolf!

Bai Xian'er originally had no skin; after our several bouts of sparring, the thorns on her body were all oozing pus and rotting.

Now that her spirit tablet's offerings have been withdrawn, Liu Junyan has essentially cut off her retreat completely.

Without external support, Bai Xian'er's fate should have been to rot to death in the Bai Family.

I said, "Why has the Bai Family had no movement these past few days?" It turns out they were waiting here.

I took another careful look at Dou Jinsuo's physiognomy; indeed, black qi swirled between his brows and under his eyes, and his whole body exuded a thick aura of death.

By contrast, Dou Zhile, who indeed possesses some Dao cultivation, is in much better shape.

I asked concernedly, "How is the situation at the Dou family ancestral grave now?"

Dou Zhile opened his mouth, but seemed not to know where to begin; finally he sighed and said, "The feng shui of the ancestral grave has already been ruined by Bai Xian'er; whether we can hold it or not is actually not important; what matters is my family's Hui Xian—I want to ask Seventh Lord for help to take him back; Seventh Lord, you see clearly, our branch has always been utterly loyal to him,"

Dou Zhile used the word 'shou'.

It's not about helping to save Hui Xian, but about collecting Hui Xian.

This shows the sincerity of the Hui Xian lineage.

"I will certainly do my utmost to help," I said, "but this matter needs to be asked of Seventh Lord; I cannot make the decision for him."

"No need to ask me."

Liu Junyan's voice sounded from outside the door, and immediately his tall figure appeared beside me, with the mysterious cat perched on his shoulder.

Dou Zhile hastily stood up and bowed, his gaze toward Liu Junyan more reverent than before: "Seventh Lord."

Liu Junyan nodded in return, then said to me, "Each of the enshrined ones at the Dang Pu needs you to personally invite them; after they return, they will accept your offerings, so you can fully decide this matter yourself."

Although that's what was said, I am unfamiliar with all of this—who can be invited back and who cannot also needs Liu Junyan's oversight.

I looked at Liu Junyan with a questioning gaze; receiving his encouraging look, I said, "Okay, I'll go invite Hui Xian."

Dou Zhile was overjoyed: "No delay, let's set out now."

Liu Junyan looked at Dou Jinsuo and said, "Stay with me at the Dang Pu; I will help you dispel evil."

Dou Jinsuo nodded repeatedly like pounding garlic.

Liu Junyan then handed me a purple talisman paper, saying, "I must stay at the Dang Pu to hold the fort; I cannot go with you, take the soul-guiding lamp and the mysterious cat; that should be enough."

I put away the purple talisman, and as I took down the hexagonal palace lamp from the corridor, the mysterious cat leapt into the lamp.

Li Qingying drove, and the three of us headed straight for the mountains.

When the car stopped at the foot of the mountain, we were stunned by the sight before us.

Originally lush and verdant, the entire mountain summit is now everywhere withered trees and grasses; as we walked up, we could occasionally see the corpses of various rodents.

Those corpses: some rotted and oozing pus, some torn apart with shredded flesh, bloody, and some pierced through by flesh spikes into a sieve……

At a glance, one knows this is the work of Bai Xian'er and that little monster.

After going up only a dozen or so meters, seven large rats suddenly appeared ahead.

They huddled tightly together, heads inward, tails outward, forming a circle, and died collectively.

Their bodies showed no obvious wounds, but upon close inspection, one would see that all seven orifices were flowing with black blood.

At the sight of this, Dou Zhile abruptly turned and ran back several dozen meters, then, near the mountain's base, went around to the mountain's rear.

Li Qingying and I immediately kept pace with Dou Zhile, running and asking, "What's going on?"

"The entrance to the ancestral grave has been found." Dou Zhile said, "Those large rats died to protect the formation; there must be many more such situations in this mountain; I only hope it's not too late."

Soon, Dou Zhile led us around to the mountain's rear, where we found the entrance to the Dou family ancestral grave at the ground level.

More dead large rats lay at the entrance, with bursts of black qi issuing forth from inside.

Dou Zhile, anxious, shoved aside the rats' corpses and prepared to descend into the tomb; Li Qingying and I both reached out to pull him back.

Li Qingying lowered his voice and said, "You don't care about your life anymore, knowing they're probably inside right now; there might be an ambush!"

"I can't worry about that much." Dou Zhile urged, "Hui Xian bears heavenly punishment; it cannot come out; if we don't rescue it in time, once it dies, our entire Dou family will have to be buried with it."

I can understand Dou Zhile's feelings.

Now, the purest bloodline of the Dou family remains only Dou Jinsuo alone.

Even if Dou Zhile dies himself, he must protect Hui Xian; protecting Hui Xian means protecting Dou Jinsuo.

Dou Zhile said this, and again prepared to go down into the tomb.

Just then, the mysterious cat sprang from the hexagonal palace lamp, arched its back and leapt up, directly lunging in front of Dou Zhile.

As the mysterious cat lunged down, a cold-glinting axe fell in response.

Immediately after, a tall man leapt out from inside, wielding a slightly smaller axe, his eyes full of murderous light as he chopped toward Dou Zhile.

If it hadn't been for the mysterious cat blocking that blow, two successive axe strikes would have left Dou Zhile unable to escape disaster.

With a "zi" sound, a black ink-line cord shot out, wrapping around the axe's sharp blade; Dou Zhile's reaction was still fairly quick—he grabbed the cord with both hands, flipped his body, and had already wound the cord down onto the attacker's wrist.

The attacker was none other than Dou Zhifu.

These two master-brothers always clash when they meet; from my previous experience, it's hard for them to determine a winner.

Li Qingying drew his long whip to help Dou Zhile, while I followed the mysterious cat's steps, leapt down, and steadily landed inside the tomb.

The tomb entrance is a long passageway; originally there were oil lamps on both sides of the walls, but now they have all been extinguished, leaving pitch darkness.

Waves of yin wind blew out from the tomb, and the hairs on my arms instantly stood on end.

The mysterious cat walked ahead; its emerald-green pupils and the tiny spark at the tip of its tail could guide my way forward.

Moreover, I was still holding the hexagonal palace lamp in my hand.

The golden light of merit glimmered hazily, like the morning star in the night, illuminating the path beneath my feet.

After walking forward for over a hundred meters, the terrain kept sloping downward; upon reaching the end of the passage and turning left, where there should have been a door, a large pile of wood was stacked.

It's not hard to imagine that these pieces of wood were once forged into a door with exquisite Lu Ban craftsmanship; if one weren't an expert and couldn't find the crucial piece, the whole door could not be opened.

This is probably another masterpiece of Dou Zhifu.

After climbing over the wood pile and going further in, I passed another three wood piles, and suddenly the view opened up.

That was a huge burial chamber; the walls all around were hung with countless coffins.

In the center of the burial chamber stood a creature wearing a gray robe, with a rat's face and a human body; when its tiny eyes, the size of soybeans, met the Soul-guiding Lamp in my hand, they flashed with a sharp light.

He placed one hand before his chest, bowed toward me, and said, "Thank you, Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, for guiding me back to my divine position…"