The old Taoist with white hair was greatly startled. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the “T” symbol, nearly within his reach, would suddenly explode. Uttering the word “Lin!” (“Approach!”), he saw a circular golden light disk suddenly appear before him. At the same time, his body transformed into a wisp of blue smoke, rapidly retreating backward.
The elderly man in black robes exploded into a cloud of blood mist. Those nearby, unaware of what had happened, reacted just like the Taoist, hastily activating their protective talismans and retreating in all directions.
Within the blood mist, a halo flickered several times before suddenly taking human form—the very Tao Zhongwen himself. His body transformed into a beam of bright light, directly aiming toward the group from behind, his target clearly being Mei Qing.
At this moment, although Mei Qing had regained consciousness, his body remained extremely weak. No one else was nearby except Lu Zeyou, who was supporting him.
Mei Qing sighed lightly. Mustering what little strength he had left, he prepared to fight again when suddenly he felt a hand gently pat the crown of his head from behind. He heard the word “Jin!” (“Seal!”), and immediately felt his entire body tighten—he had been completely sealed, unable to move even a trace of his inner energy.
Startled, Mei Qing saw Lu Zeyou shaking his head beside him, sighing, “Unexpectedly, even such a small matter requires me to personally intervene.”
As he spoke, the previously seemingly frail scholar, who appeared to possess no inner energy at all, suddenly extended his hand toward the approaching Tao Zhongwen and shouted, “Chi!” (“Command!”)
Tao Zhongwen, who had just moments ago been smiling triumphantly as he neared Mei Qing, suddenly wore an extremely strange expression. His body, unable to stop itself, continued straight ahead and was caught mid-air by Lu Zeyou, who gripped his neck and held him suspended. Tao Zhongwen’s eyes remained wide open as he struggled to speak: “You… you… how could you… this…”
Lu Zeyou snorted contemptuously: “Useless fellow!”
As he spoke, he extended his sleeve and suddenly enveloped both Mei Qing and Tao Zhongwen within it. With his other hand, he formed a mystical sign and shouted, “Feng Xing!” (“Execute!”)
Instantly, the several nightmare spirits that had previously been struggling within the combined entrapment of Zhang Yuchong and Master Ku suddenly became extremely violent. They instantly broke free from the two men’s restraints and charged outward in all directions.
Everyone was greatly startled. Taken by surprise, they were unable to react in time and were sent flying backward by the nightmare spirits. Seeing Mei Qing captured, they were both anxious and furious, quickly joining forces with those nearby to form formations and attempt to stop the attackers.
“Amituofo!” (“Amitabha Buddha!”) Seeing the worsening situation, several eminent Buddhist monks simultaneously cried out the holy name and joined hands to form a formation, forcibly trapping two of the nightmare spirits within.
There was a great deal of chaos. Fortunately, although the nightmare spirits had become significantly more powerful after their sudden frenzy, they lacked guidance from a master and attacked without any strategy. After being contained for a while, they gradually weakened and were eventually subdued and sealed by the group.
“Where is Mei Qing?” Lu Bing’s Taoist robe was torn in several places, and his expression was quite grim, clearly having suffered considerable impact. As soon as the situation stabilized, he hurriedly asked Zhang Yuchong.
Zhang Yuchong’s face was no better. He shook his head: “I can’t find him, nor sense which direction he went. Tao and Duan are also gone. Who was that guy? His techniques were so high-level!”
Lu Bing knew he was referring to Lu Zeyou. He sighed bitterly: “Lu is originally part of my Jinyiwei, serving as a civilian official. He has never shown any cultivation ability, and his background is clean and unremarkable. I only brought him along to assist with local officials. How could he… unless… there was some unexpected transformation. We’ll need to investigate this later.”
Zhang Yuchong continued shaking his head and looked around at the others: “This time, we’ve truly been humiliated. So many of us couldn’t stop our enemies from escaping without a trace, and we even lost several comrades.”
Lu Bing’s face was like iron. After a moment of silence, he turned to the large man with bronze-colored skin beside him and asked: “How is Zhang the Taoist from Longmen?”
The big man replied: “Zhang the Taoist exchanged a direct blow with Tao Zhongwen and sustained serious injuries, though fortunately his golden core wasn’t severely damaged. However… Lord Zhuang Liu didn’t make it.”
Zhang Yuchong looked somber: “None of us expected the Tianluo Formation to suddenly appear, and that Tao Zhongwen would strike Lord Zhuang Liu first… Although that female practitioner named Sun Buyi suddenly appeared and took the blow for him, she couldn’t withstand Tao Zhongwen’s full-force attack. Besides… it seems Lord Zhuang Liu himself didn’t have much attachment to the mortal world. Even if there were methods… I’m afraid it would be hard to keep him.”
Lu Bing’s face grew even darker with hatred. Far away, they heard the mournful cry of Bi Zhen rushing toward them, and his brows furrowed even tighter.
After being sealed, Mei Qing didn’t lose consciousness. Instead, he felt his consciousness strangely detached from his physical body, feeling no sense of confinement, yet unable to control his body, as if he were an observer watching Lu Zeyou first envelop himself and Tao Zhongwen in his large sleeve, then activate a spell to incite the nightmare spirits into a frenzy. As the others were busy dealing with the spirits, Lu Zeyou then scooped up Duan Chaoyong, threw out a cloud-like magical artifact, and vanished into the wind and mist, escaping the danger and hiding their presence as they flew eastward.
Mei Qing heard the wind whistling outside the sleeve, clearly indicating extremely high speed. Looking beside him, he saw Tao Zhongwen and Duan Chaoyong, both obviously unconscious, completely motionless under Lu Zeyou’s control.
Mei Qing thought for a moment and tried to activate his golden core. However, as soon as his consciousness entered his spiritual sea, an extremely powerful force surged in. Countless thoughts and memories suddenly flooded in like a tidal wave. A massive influx of text, sounds, images, and various other pieces of information simultaneously surged into his spiritual sea like a raging sea, instantly causing Mei Qing unbearable head pain, as if thousands of blades were slicing and chopping inside his head, nearly causing him to faint.
What made things worse was that Mei Qing couldn’t control his body at all—he couldn’t even pass out. He felt his very essence like a small boat in a raging storm, tossed about on the waves, constantly at risk of being shattered; like a flickering candle in a howling north wind, unstable and wavering. Mei Qing knew that one wrong thought at this moment would lead to his spiritual annihilation, so he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to concentrate all his consciousness while enduring the excruciating pain, barely maintaining that tiny glimmer of awareness.
But the tide of information was like a waterfall, endless and unrelenting. Eventually, Mei Qing’s consciousness gradually became hazy. Realizing the danger, he suddenly jolted awake, scolding himself for being so foolish—how could he possibly stabilize his mind and suppress these intrusive thoughts using only his own strength? As Master Ku’s wise eyes flashed through his mind, a verse suddenly rang out in his ears like a great bell:
I see the Yellow River’s waters, how many times have they run clear?
The current flows like an arrow; human life is like drifting reeds.
Delusion is the root of karma; love is a pit of suffering.
How many cycles of rebirth, yet still bound by ignorance.
With the continuous chanting of the verse, Mei Qing’s turbulent consciousness gradually calmed. A sense of understanding arose in his heart. The small boat of his consciousness, though still tossed about by the raging waves, was no longer in danger of capsizing. It drifted with the waves, enduring the rain and wind, gradually returning to calm.
When Mei Qing finally fully regained control and calmness, he noticed his body had also returned to normal. The seal that had bound him had weakened considerably. However, when he tried to think about the massive amount of information from earlier, his head pain returned fiercely. This time, he almost cried out in pain, but he quickly caught himself, suppressing his reaction and stabilizing his mind. He temporarily set aside his thoughts, focusing instead on quietly recovering his energy while cautiously observing his surroundings. It was then that he noticed Lu Zeyou had flown to a mountain range at some point.
Knowing he was in dangerous territory and unable to take risks, Mei Qing remained still and observed quietly. He felt as though they had passed through a barrier. Mei Qing could sense the unique energy fluctuations of the barrier briefly passing over him before he found himself inside a cave dwelling.
Although called a cave dwelling, this place somewhat resembled the estate where he had previously seen Bi Zhen’s grandmother—it was more like a mountain villa. However, compared to Bi Zhen’s grandmother’s estate, this place was much simpler, with only a few stone chambers and a few mountain springs. The spiritual energy here was extremely rich, making it a fine location for cultivation.
Soon after, he felt a sudden lightness, followed by a hard surface beneath him. He realized that Lu Zeyou had already released them from his sleeve. Mei Qing remained motionless, cautiously extending his consciousness. A quick scan revealed that although they were no longer inside the sleeve, this place was clearly under another rather complex formation.
Mei Qing was momentarily startled. This formation was quite unusual—he should have never seen it before. Yet, for some unknown reason, as soon as his consciousness touched it, he immediately recognized its core and understood its flow and changes. Without dwelling on the reason, Mei Qing quickly used this opportunity to observe the formation’s strengths and weaknesses.
This formation was indeed peculiar, completely different from the formations of the Celestial Master sect taught by Zhang Yuchong. It did not rely on the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, the Four Symbols, or the Three Powers as its core points. Instead, it was flexible and dynamic, constantly changing, possessing a remarkable sense of fluidity and adaptability. In fact, it bore a striking resemblance to the divine Xiao lightning techniques Mei Qing had studied.
At the thought of the Xiao lightning techniques, Mei Qing suddenly understood. Looking at the formation again, it became even clearer. With just a few glances, Mei Qing had already grasped its general structure and understood most of its variations. Only then did he turn his attention to Lu Zeyou.
He saw Lu Zeyou standing there, staring blankly, his gaze shifting between the inside and outside of the mountain estate, as if lost in thought, his expression shifting between joy and sorrow.
As Mei Qing observed Lu Zeyou, the latter’s senses proved extremely sharp. He immediately noticed something unusual with Mei Qing and couldn’t help showing a trace of surprise, though he made no move, only speaking indifferently: “Since you’ve already awakened, why pretend to still be bound and lying on the ground?”
Knowing that he had been discovered, Mei Qing no longer feigned unconsciousness. With a slight shake, his body stood upright on the spot. Tilting his head slightly, he looked at Lu Zeyou and smiled, saying: “How should I address you? Officer Lu Zeyou? Or… Master Mei Hua, Fan Wentai?”
Lu Zeyou gave Mei Qing a cold glance, responding without answering: “And how should I address you? Officer Mei Qing of the Thousand-Household? Or… Zhang Liusun, the leader of the Xuanjiao sect?”
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