Bang! Bang! Bang!
Arrows rained down on the city gates, piercing them like a hedgehog.
Strangely, all the arrows quickly turned into black smoke and dissipated, and then restored to their original state.
"Alaric!"
Voices from the black mist rose again, surging and rushing towards another area.
Li Yan was naturally unaware of all this.
Looking at the closed city gates, he felt a lingering fear.
Just now, those must have been the charge of the Golden Tent Wolf Country's iron cavalry in the past.
Why does such a thing still exist within the "Nine Gates Yin Ruins?"
His heart was full of questions.
Following the moving gates for half a day, all he saw was ruins, without a shadow of a ghost.
Li Yan knew that to go deeper, he might only be able to pass through the gates.
He wondered if using the Escape Technique later would fool the cavalry blocking the gate...
As he pondered, his eyes suddenly brightened.
In the distance, another gate appeared, also floating in the air, slowly moving.
On the gate were the words "Chongwen Gate."
The Nine Gate of the Capital each have different functions.
For example, Xuanwu Gate is also known as "Death Gate," a prisoner car passage connected to Caishikou execution ground, with the words "Too Late for Regret" carved on the tunnel.
Chaoyang Gate is "Grain Gate," the entrance for grain transport, with Tong State's grain wagons passing through here to enter the warehouse, decorated with sheaf reliefs on the tunnel.
Fucheng Gate is "Coal Gate," and Xizhin is "Water Gate."
The Chongwen Gate before him is "Tax Gate," where wine carts and trade goods pass into the city, required to pay taxes.
The different functions of the Nine Gates might be related to the Secret Realm Grotto Heaven.
Li Yan had his speculations but found it hard to confirm.
Just like the Zhengyang Gate he passed through earlier, which is the Emperor's exclusive "Dragon Car Gate," used each year for the Dongzhi and Jingshe ceremonies, but inside were the residual souls of Golden Tent Wolf Country's cavalry, perhaps symbolizing the decline of imperial power?
The two city gates simultaneously opened with a roaring sound as they overlapped.
Li Yan hesitated for a mont but rushed directly into Chongwen Gate.
The light and shadows before him flickered, revealing another scene:
Endless rchant caravans, stretching as far as the eye could see, all with pale faces and black eyes, like solitary souls on the road to Yellow Springs, slowly moving along the street without a word, even those rotting mules and horses do not neigh.
It seed lively, yet was deathly silent, very eerie.
Li Yan was pushed forward by the crowd within the rchant team.
Even he felt his skin crawl at such a sight.
Rumble~
Behind him, Chongwen Gate slowly closed again.
With things having co to this, Li Yan could only follow the rchant caravan without making any noise.
Fortunately, these things would not attack.
Following this bizarre procession, Li Yan shuttled through the streets, soon enveloped by gray mist.
The streets here were also twisted from buildings of different eras.
After walking for an unknown ti, the chaotic streets seed to beco familiar.
However, Li Yan's expression changed drastically.
Chongwen Gate appeared ahead again!
Having walked half a day, he realized he was just wandering in circles.
Li Yan gritted his teeth, broke away from the rchant team, and rushed into the surrounding ruins.
However, no matter where he went, he would ultimately return to Chongwen Gate.
Ghost Wall?
Or Secret Realm Array?
Li Yan glanced around, sowhat helpless.
He was not adept at breaking arrays, and besides, this place was bizarre, seeming to trap him in so sort of loop.
The only plan now was to leave quickly to avoid being stuck in this cycle.
Rumble~
Chongwen Gate slowly opened again.
Li Yan was just about to lift his foot when his expression changed slightly.
"Ding... Ding... Ding... Ding..."
The clear and peculiar bell sound broke the deathly silence of this area.
The sound seed to be made by the collision of fine porcelain.
Following the sound, he saw a strange procession slowly erging outside Chongwen Gate.
It was a small red sedan chair carried by eight people, worn yet exuding an eerie sheen.
The "coachn" carrying the sedan were not humans, but creatures with hairy bodies, slender limbs, smooth and strange heads, red mouths, and large eyes.
As he walked, the joints in his body emitted clicking sounds, upon closer inspection, they were actually composed of cicada molted limbs.
This is a "handicraft"!
Li Yan finally rembered this object.
"Handicraft" is a type of craft from the Capital.
Using cicada molts for the head and limbs, magnolia buds for the body, baiji adhesive, and climbing zuccini for props, it is extrely exquisite.
Skilled craftsn can create various scenes using handicrafts.
"Havoc in the Heavenly Palace," "Parade of Officials," "Life in the Marketplace"... Each handicraft plays its role, lifelike and vivid.
In essence, it's the ancient people's version of collectibles.
Li Yan knew about this item because during a previous intelligence gathering, he heard that discerning Mystic Sect craftsn in the Capital could use handicrafts as vehicles to nourish yin souls and drive them, performing "handicraft plays" at midnight, a unique highlight of the Capital's Mystic Sect.
At the mont, all these "handicrafts" have been enlarged.
Besides the eight handicrafts carrying the sedan, the others also appear as if living beings, wearing official hats and robes, so carrying flags, others acting as military officers.
Their movents are stiff, joints emitting "click" sounds, resembling string puppets, neat and uniform.
Through the vermilion sedan's beaded curtain, a faint glimpse of a fat figure seated inside can be seen.
Dressed in military officer attire, wearing a tiger skin hat, his plump white body, with two large rabbit ears atop his head.
It's indeed the legendary Rabbit God!
The Rabbit God's tour!
This team of "handicrafts" carrying the Rabbit God's divine carriage entered Chongwen Gate, followed by the chis from the sedan, the lingering residual souls from the rchant teams along the way dispersed like flowing water, giving way to the central street.
As the Rabbit God's divine carriage moved forward, black mist rolled ahead, surprisingly forming a new path.
A flash of brilliance appeared in Li Yan's eyes, imdiately recalling previous events.
The old Fox Immortal worshiped by Hu Yuanyuan had ntioned the Rabbit God wanting to save a child, thus learning about the "Nine Gates Yin Ruins."
Earlier, the "Old Ghost of the Capital" also advised to follow the "Rabbit God" upon entry.
He's the only Good God in the "Nine Gates Yin Ruins."
Without any hesitation, Li Yan promptly leapt out of the crowd, following behind the procession.
The Rabbit God in the divine sedan seed to sense sothing, slightly twisting his head, yet didn't respond.
Upon entering the new path, the gray mist behind rolled once more, and the street vanished accordingly.
Li Yan dared not neglect, persistently keeping close.
The Nine Gates Yin Ruins are truly bizarre.
The incense wrapped around him has already started to fade, indicating the approaching midnight 23:45.
If he hasn't found it by then, Wang Daoxuan will perform magic to pull him back.
After walking for an unknown length of ti, the view suddenly opened up.
This is a huge abandoned city wall, forged from ramd earth, ancient in years.
A gigantic tree stands atop the broken wall.
Since entering the "Nine Gates Yin Ruins," it's the first ti Li Yan has seen plants, but he felt no joy.
It's a bizarre peach tree.
The trunk robust like small hills, roots twisted, coiling atop the dilapidated city wall.
On closer inspection, the twisted bark is astonishingly composed of countless tightly attached, agonizingly spasming child faces!
Above the peach tree, verdant leaves seem tender and dripping, dense roots indeed appear blood-colored, rooted upon accumulated white bones below the city wall.
Amidst the leaves, several enormous flat peaches have already ford, rosy as if celestial treasures.
Yet seeing it, Li Yan felt nothing but an unbearable nausea.
His awakened second Divine Skill allows him to hear the sound of ghosts and gods.
At this mont, the continuous wailing of myriad children echoes incessantly within his mind…
But what truly shocks Li Yan is those white bones beneath the peach tree.
Densely piled bones faintly form the shape of an altar.
The altar isn't an ordinary design; at its core position, there's surprisingly an offering to a rough stone statue:
Human body with leopard tail, tiger teeth adept at roaring, flourishing hair and crest.
It's indeed as recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Queen Mother's Evil God Statue governing disasters and executions!
Li Yan found a Queen Mother Divine Statue identical to this one inside Shu's "Dragon Palace Water Mansion."
The Queen Mother has evolved from an evil god to a deity of good fortune over many years.
Yet the ancient fierce statue astonishingly begins to receive incense.
It turns out the source is here!
Directly in front of the altar, it's not empty.
There are several officials in tattered ancient robes conducting rituals.
These people's faces are blurred and distorted, movents stiff like puppets, yet carrying a profound solemn and eerie rhythm.
They're paper figures!
And behind them, yellow papers with recorded birth dates and nas are pasted.
Vice Minister of Ministry of Revenue Zhou Mingyuan, Salt Transport Envoy's wife Lin Family, Marquis of Anping Xiao Jinghuan…
All attendees of the "Pantao Conference"!
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