Chapter 52: Drunken Dream Peeks at Heavenly Secrets
Lu Qingyang was curled up in the Xuan Yin Jade Marrow Cave at the bottom of the cold pond, with a green Dragon scale phantom casting a winding Dragon shape on the stone wall. His Shura Vertical Pupil reflected the intricate patterns of the coral bell on his wrist; the soft touch of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's courtesan's wrist bone that day still lingered, yet the bell's core clearly embedded a miniature formation diagram of Taiyi Pavilion's 《Universal Stars Mirror》. "Debts of romance, life-and-death game..." He flicked the bell with his finger, and the sound waves shattered the floating ice on the pond's surface, startling three ghost-faced vultures carrying rotten flesh.
The purple-gold gourd developed frost patterns in the cold Qi of the jade marrow, and the nether river water overflowing from its mouth corroded the stone wall into a 《Geomantic Survey Map》. Lu Qingyang traced a certain mountain hollow on the map with his fingers; the moment a drop of blood from his fingertip seeped into a rock crevice, a desolate grave eighty li away suddenly exploded, startling the Taiyi Pavilion Sky Patrol Boat into turning its bronze ram. He took the opportunity to escape along the Yin Qi of the earth veins, scattering 《Great Void Maze Array》 along the way with the abacus beads in his sleeve; the taotie pattern engraved on the beads devoured the Spiritual Qi of the pursuers.
In the dilapidated City God Temple on the western fringe of the Rotten Bone Swamp, the Book of Life and Death in the hand of a half-mud judge's brush suddenly turned without wind. When Lu Qingyang kicked open the secret passage beneath the offering table, the cinnabar dripping from the judge's brush tip happened to smudge the rouge mark on his sleeve—that was Drunken Immortal Pavilion's powder, which he had gotten on himself three days prior while evading pursuers. The Netherworld Curse scriptures on the secret passage's stone steps twisted in his Shura Vertical Pupil, transforming into a Taiyi Pavilion Disciple Roster》, and a name struck out with a red brush overlapped with the portrait on the wanted poster in his embrace.
"Kan position, Zhen three, Li seven." He silently recited the Hidden Dragon Concealment Art, and a Dragon scale phantom wrapped around his body, merging into the shadows of the stone wall. Inside the bronze cauldron at the end of the secret passage floated a female corpse, with a coral sword tassel stuck in her heart, originating from the same source as the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's tent tassels. The moment his fingertip touched the sword hilt, the taotie pattern on the cauldron's body suddenly awakened; at the instant its sharp teeth clamped shut, he backhanded the purple-gold gourd into the beast's mouth, and the nether river water poured onto the beast's eyes, rising in a putrid smoke.
A Jade Slip that fell from the female corpse's embrace was engraved with Mortal World Undergoing Tribulation Chapter》, and the opening eight characters, "Seven emotions as firewood, six desires as cauldron," burned his palm red. Lu Qingyang sneered as he threw the Jade Slip into the lingering flames in the cauldron; as the flames licked it, a Taiyi Pavilion Sky Patrol Boat Construction Diagram》 appeared, with a marked secret compartment aligning with the location of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's cellar. A sound of machinery turning suddenly came from the bottom of the cauldron; he retreated three steps quickly, and nine poisoned death-gate nails shot out from where he had stood, their red threads extending towards the starry sky above.
His Shura Vertical Pupil stung as it analyzed the celestial phenomena; the arrangement of the Western White Tiger's Seven Mansions was exactly the same as the pearl hairpin in the hair of Drunken Immortal Pavilion's courtesan last month. Lu Qingyang cut the red threads and wrapped them around the abacus beads; the cinnabar powder erupting from the beads condensed into a 《Breaking Army Array》 in mid-air. When the pursuers' sword light split open the dome of the City God Temple, he was comparing the female corpse's earring to the star map; in the reflection cast by the jade pendant, the Taiyi Pavilion Elder's sword edge was only three inches from his back.
"Dui position, Ze Kun!" The Dragon scale phantom surged, enveloping him as he sank into the nether river water in the cauldron. The sword light unleashed by the pursuers split open the female corpse's clothes, revealing a collarbone tattoo that was clearly a secret pattern of the Ghost Calculation school. Gu Qianji's remnant soul at the bottom of the cold pond suddenly became agitated, and the purple-gold gourd shot out of the cauldron, its prison dragon pattern entangling the pursuers' swords; amidst the poisonous mist that exploded from the sword tassel's coral beads, Lu Qingyang had already escaped into the Ancient Battlefield ruins thirty li away.
The resentful Qi on the broken halberds in the ruins condensed into phantom Yin soldiers, but they all knelt down when they touched the bronze ring in his embrace. A tiger tally held by a certain general's skeleton suddenly cracked, revealing half a scroll of Yinfu Seven Arts hidden within. When the pursuers' soul-searching mirror shone upon this place, Lu Qingyang was using an abacus bead to pry out the skeleton's gold teeth; a jade piece stuck between the teeth was engraved with "Drunken Immortal Pavilion Room A-3."
At midnight, when the Yin Qi was at its heaviest, he squatted in the mass grave at the edge of the Ancient Battlefield, spreading out his day's findings on a broken stele: the coral sword tassel resonated with the Drunken Immortal Pavilion's tassels, the remaining ash of the Jade Slip revealed a construction diagram, and the missing part of Yinfu Seven Arts was precisely the romantic chapter. His Shura Vertical Pupil suddenly reflected a Spiritual Qi vortex a hundred li away—that was the trajectory of the Taiyi Pavilion Sky Patrol Boat descending on top of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
"So it's a den of pleasure-seekers." He wiped away the moss on the stele; the character 'Lie' (strong) on the 《Loyal Martyrs Stele》 beneath his fingers was missing half a stroke, which perfectly matched the hidden pattern on the wanted poster in his embrace. When the first ray of morning light pierced through the clouds, the general's tomb deep within the ruins opened with a roar, and on the bronze wine vessels buried inside, the Taiyi Pavilion cloud patterns and the Drunken Immortal Pavilion rouge marks intertwined like twin lotuses.