Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Our goal for this trip was clear: Jin Wuya needed to find the culprit who harmed his master, and I needed to get my hands on that Golden Scale.
To achieve both, we had to start with the Rain-Seeking Formation at Jiyu Temple. This was why we both waited patiently for October First to arrive, even though we knew it was a trap.
But right now, I hadn’t seen Jin Wuya for over half a day, and that Supreme Lot was already pressed against the left corner of my mouth.
I didn’t panic, though. With Fengwu in hand, I had a certain level of self-protection.
Furthermore, the timing was wrong.
The six of us who had been chosen as Sacrificial Offerings had collapsed one by one at dusk. Calculating the time, it was only around eight in the evening. There were still nearly four hours until the early hours of October First!
A Sealing Sign was meant to be driven horizontally into the mouth of the deceased after they died. It required a specific ritual to truly seal the mouth.
Logically, what they should be doing now was… setting up the Formation!
Yes, they had to be working feverishly to set up the Rain-Seeking Formation before midnight.
Sure enough, I soon smelled the faint scent of Cinnabar.
The tip of that Supreme Lot had been dipped in Cinnabar. It tapped the left corner of my mouth, the right corner, and then my brow, leaving marks behind.
I was a bit puzzled. Why mark the brow?
Immediately after, I felt my ankles being exposed. Soon, a Red Rope was wound around my right ankle.
I carefully squinted my eyes and saw that the Red Rope tied to my ankle seemed to be hanging down from above.
Small Copper Bells were attached to the Red Rope at intervals. Strangely, even though the Copper Bells clearly had clappers inside, not a single one made a sound as they knocked against each other.
I didn’t dare move too much, fearing they would discover I hadn’t been drugged and cause further complications.
Once the Little Monk finished tying the Red Rope and went to fetch a Fire Basin, I dared to slightly adjust my position. I strained my eyes, squinting toward the other end of the Red Rope.
What I saw sent a jolt of shock through my entire body.
The other end of the Red Rope was wrapped around that bronze Bell. At this moment, the Bell was suspended high up, and directly beneath it sat the mummified body of the Former Abbot on the Six-Petal Lotus.
And inside the Bell, where the clapper should have been, hung a person!
That person was suspended upside down, feet up and head down, unconscious.
It was clearly Jin Wuya, who had been missing for most of the day!
The sound of messy footsteps reached my ears. Several Little Monks brought over Fire Basins and placed them beneath our suspended feet.
It immediately occurred to me that if we were hoisted up later, our heads would be positioned right over these Fire Basins!
The Little Monks were still moving about, incredibly busy.
They lit Candles on the petals of the Six-Petal Lotus, placed a ring of Water Vats around our perimeter-with live fish splashing inside-and set up the Altar and Altar Table to the west…
The entire process was long and tedious.
Lying on the ground with my eyes closed, my mind raced with a chaotic mess of thoughts.
Once the ritual began, how should I free myself first and then rescue Jin Wuya?
Had Li Qingying made any arrangements outside over the past two days? Could she arrive in time to save us?
How could I successfully take the Golden Scale embedded in the Former Abbot’s forehead?
…
As time ticked by minute by minute, the sky, where the bright moon had been hanging high, was gradually shrouded by dark clouds.
The wind picked up, and I felt the surrounding temperature steadily dropping.
It wasn’t just getting cold; it was becoming freezing.
A deathly chill!
After an unknown amount of time, a loud *thud* echoed as the Bell above suddenly rang out.
Someone had struck the Bronze Bell!
But there was no clapper inside the Bronze Bell; Jin Wuya was the one hanging there!
A dull sound erupted as a human body collided with the interior of the Bronze Bell.
Meanwhile, the Wish Plaques hanging on the surface of the Bronze Bell began to clatter loudly!
How ironic!
These Wooden Plaques belonged to people who prayed to Buddha, but in the end, whether their wishes were granted or their fortune was siphoned away remained a mystery.
As the Bronze Bell tolled rhythmically, the sounds of a Wooden Fish being struck and sutras being chanted drifted from the Altar.
It seemed midnight was approaching-the prelude to the start of the sacrifice.
Soon, the girls around me who had been unconscious began to wake up one by one. They opened their eyes in a daze, only to immediately break into panicked screams.
I opened my eyes as well.
Before I could even look around, the Red Rope on my right ankle suddenly tightened. My body was hoisted into the air, dangling higher and higher.
The air was filled with the girls’ terrified shrieks.
Before long, all six of us were suspended beneath the Bronze Bell.
With a single foot bearing the weight of my entire body, the Red Rope quickly chafed my ankle until it bled.
Being hung upside down made the blood rush to my head, causing a miserable, throbbing sensation.
I heard the Red Dress Girl screaming.
It started with demands for answers, then devolved into begging for mercy.
When her pleas went unanswered, she began to lash out, hurling every insult she could at Master Yinxuan and laying a Curse upon Jiyu Temple… When she still received no response, she actually started to cry, bitterly recounting how difficult her life had been over the years, how she had worked like a beast of burden only to be exploited at every turn…
It reminded me of the day I met her.
She had come to the Buddha to make a wish, and she had been so happy the moment she drew a Supreme Lot.
In that moment, she must have felt her luck was finally changing for the better, right?
Yes, her luck certainly changed.
But it wasn’t a turn for the better; it was a descent into calamity.
*Dong… drip…*
Accompanied by another heavy toll of the Bronze Bell, the time reached midnight on October First.
At that exact moment, I clearly saw blood falling from where the other five girls hung, dripping into the burning Fire Basins below.
One drop after another.
It was only then that I noticed the Fire Basins weren’t burning paper money or anything of the sort; they were filled with oil.
A yellowish, viscous liquid burned with blue-green flames, filling the entire space with a revolting stench.
Was that… Corpse Oil?
But… where was the blood coming from?
Why were the other five girls already bleeding while I wasn’t?
Just then, I felt a pulsing heat at the center of my forehead, as if something were trying to burst out from within.
So, when the Little Monk applied Cinnabar to our foreheads earlier, it wasn’t a mark-it was a means to draw blood?
I struggled to lift my head and look at the nearest girl. Sure enough, the center of her forehead was stained with blood.
Forehead Blood-it concentrated a person’s purest essence.
Using Cinnabar to break the skin and drawing Forehead Blood to power the formation… they were trying to harvest the Essence Spirit of us six girls for a ritual!
No wonder their foreheads could break open on their own just from being touched with Cinnabar.
And no wonder I hadn’t succumbed.
I had Fengwu protecting me. If they wanted to take my Essence Spirit, it wouldn’t be that easy!
As the blood continued to drip, the girls soon became delirious.
Even the Red Dress Girl’s cursing and weeping gradually grew faint.
A sinister Yin Wind rose abruptly, swirling upward. On the Red Ropes binding the girls’ ankles, the Bells suddenly began to jingle loudly.
Only my side remained still.
Soon, Master Yinxuan stood directly beneath me, looking up with his bald head.
He waved his hand, and the Red Rope holding me slowly lowered.
A cold, glinting Dagger had appeared in his hand!
He intended to draw my Forehead Blood personally!
Just as I was about to summon Fengwu and strike back, the Red Rope on my ankle jerked to a halt.
From above, Jin Wuya’s voice suddenly rang out: “Old Bald Donkey, you’ve committed too much evil. Your retribution… is coming…”