Chapter 264
Chapter 264
Yuan Fei readily agreed.
“Exactly. What’s more, the transmission of internal martial arts is even more secretive and rare than that of many schools of magical arts. Learning one discipline would already be fortunate, yet Xiao Wu has learned all three of the most powerful disciplines.”
Ni Yang became even more envious.
“What incredible luck! I wonder what extraordinary figure Young Mr. Wu’s Master is, and what sort of bearing they possess.”
Listening to the two of them chat left me rather speechless.
What did they mean, incredible luck?
My fate was miserable, all right!
Not only did I have a light bazi and a strange destiny, I was also fated to face three life-or-death tribulations…
If I could not survive them, I did not have long left to live.
Of course, I was now fully confident that I could defy heaven and change my fate!
Soon, the moon reached the center of the sky.
Thick white fog had long since risen among the surrounding grass and forests, spreading in every direction.
Because all the weeds had been cleared during the day, much less fog covered the flat ground in the center of the valley.
At first glance, it looked as though the dense white fog had formed thick walls around us, enclosing us within.
“Kid Wu, there’s something odd about this fog. Ordinary people probably couldn’t find their way out once they entered it. It carries its own bewildering ghost-wall effect.”
Roundy perched on the rock beside me and chattered away.
I smiled.
“Of course. This white fog is itself a byproduct of the feng shui formation.”
Then I exerted strength throughout my body. My bones and joints crackled sharply against one another as I rose from the rock.
At the same time, I took out the golden compass again and held it on my palm.
“Everyone, get ready. The passage through the formation nexus leading to Daling Village underground is about to open!”
Old Cao put away his smoking pipe and rubbed his hands together.
“Finally, it’s nearly time! Spending a freezing night out in the wilderness like this has nearly turned my old bones to ice.”
The skinny Ergou immediately replied from beside him,
“Don’t say that, Coffin-Bearer Cao. I’m the miserable one. I’m skinny, and I don’t have a sense of qi to protect me. All I can do is shiver to keep warm.”
Of course, the fellow was only joking.
He was wrapped in a thick padded coat!
The full moon directly overhead scattered countless rays of silver light.
The moonlight seemed to condense into something tangible. It tangled with the thick white fog around us, forming a strange, luminous haze that permeated the valley…
“Now is the moment!”
With a thought, I poured the qi within my body into the golden compass again.
The phantom golden compass instantly appeared. Its markings shifted continuously, incorporating the hour into its incomparably precise calculations and display of the surrounding mountains and terrain.
I immediately concentrated on the changing markings and numbers across the phantom compass, conducting my own deductions in tandem.
Two minutes later…
“Found it! It’s right there!”
I shouted in delight and pointed in one direction.
The golden compass simultaneously shot out a beam of golden light. Like a navigation guide, it fell upon a patch of ground roughly ten meters before us.
Ni Yang rubbed his hands excitedly and asked,
“Should we hurry over now?”
I nodded.
“Yes. Let’s go now.”
The whole group walked forward. That fat wretch Roundy spread its wings and flew from my shoulder, crowing smugly,
“This magnificent bird will arrive first!”
It circled in midair.
When we reached the formation nexus, I saw moonlight and mist gathering about seventeen centimeters above the ground into the faint outline of a “door.” This was clearly the route into Daling Village, which had sunk belowground.
Whew…
I took a deep breath, put away the golden compass, and said,
“I’ll demonstrate for everyone first.”
Old Cao reached out to stop me and said quietly,
“We don’t know what strange or sinister things might be down there. Let me go first.”
Warmth stirred in my chest. I knew he was worried about me.
I shook my head with a smile.
“Don’t worry, Old Cao. Since I was the one who saw through the Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation, naturally I need to demonstrate. Otherwise, none of you may know the correct way to enter. Besides, my cultivation isn’t much lower than yours anymore.”
“All right. Then go down by yourself first, and be extremely careful.”
Old Cao patted my shoulder and repeatedly warned me to take care.
I told everyone that to enter Daling Village deep underground through the feng shui formation’s nexus, they first needed to clear all stray thoughts from their minds.
Then they had to concentrate on their destination, cross their arms over their chests, and fall face-first toward the place wreathed in moonlight and mist!
At that moment, they must not hesitate or feel afraid. Otherwise, they would only slam heavily into the hard, cold earth, unable to pass through the formation nexus.
With that, I stepped forward first…
Facing the faint “door” formed from moonlight and white mist, I crossed my arms over my chest. Then I closed my eyes and pitched forward without the slightest hesitation.
Whoosh!
Wind seemed to rush past my ears. It did not feel like falling to the ground from a standing position, but like suddenly plummeting from a great height. It was probably much like jumping off a building, though I had certainly never done that.
Thud…
My soles met solid ground with a slight jolt and a tingling numbness. It did not hurt much. After all, I had passed through the nexus of a magical formation, not actually fallen ten meters.
I opened my eyes to complete darkness. I could not see my hand before my face!
I was underground, after all. There was not a single ray of light.
I reached back, unzipped my backpack, and took a high-powered flashlight from its side. There was no need to waste qi on “night vision” at a time like this. I needed to conserve my strength as much as possible.
Click!
The powerful flashlight came on, bathing the space ahead in brilliant white light.
The first thing I saw was a modest wooden gateway marking the village entrance. It was badly weathered, and even the wooden posts, each as thick as a man’s waist, had begun to rot.
The three characters for “Daling Village” had been painted in red across the top, but the paint had faded and weathered away.
A kerosene lamp hung on either side of the gateway, presumably to light the way for villagers returning after dark.
Around 2001, electrical lines had already reached most villages in Fubei County, but the power supply was extremely limited. On perhaps half the days of any given week, the electricity would go out after eight or nine at night.
Of course, there was little entertainment in the countryside then, so villages generally became very quiet after eight in the evening.
Hanging two kerosene lamps at the village entrance also helped guide villagers coming home late.
Now, however, I could see that the oil inside them had long since dried up. According to what we currently knew, almost six years had passed since the feng shui formation sank the entirety of Daling Village underground!
Beyond the small wooden gateway, narrow paths could be dimly seen crisscrossing the ground, with village houses scattered haphazardly along them. A stale, sinister, uncanny air emanated from them in the darkness…
When Daling Village sank underground, its residents certainly could not have escaped. They must have been carried down with it.
I looked up. A solid layer of rock formed the ceiling roughly five meters above me.
That meant at least another five meters of solid rock lay between the ceiling and the surface! Even large excavating machines could not break through it quickly.
I could not imagine how terrified those ordinary villagers must have felt when they suddenly found themselves ten meters underground with no way out, facing certain death.
Six years had passed. There probably were no living people here now!
Yet I still could not understand… why would anyone go to such tremendous lengths to sink an entire village belowground with a feng shui formation?
Perhaps the truth could only be uncovered slowly once we entered the village and began exploring.
Just then, a thud came from behind me.
I turned and saw Old Cao standing there.
“Any danger, Xiao Wu?”
He asked.
I waved a hand and answered,
“No. I’m not reckless. I’ve been waiting here for everyone to come down and regroup. I didn’t venture into the village ahead on my own.”
I pointed toward the houses barely visible in the darkness.
“Good. Let’s wait for the others to come down.”
Soon, the sounds of people landing came one after another from behind us. Ni Yang, Yuan Fei, Big Bull, and the others descended from the surface into this deep, shadowy underground world one by one.