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Captain Cheng had encountered many people from the pugilistic world before. Sotis, it was through sheer force, other tis through experience. But this was the first ti he had seen a team style like Li Yan’s, which was even more particular about coordination than his own.
He didn’t know that Li Yan, influenced by the ideas from his previous life, had a completely different mindset, entirely borrowing from the strategies of special forces, training his team based on each individual’s strengths.
Upon hearing the complint, Wang Daoxuan wasn’t bothered and shook his head, saying, "That person isn’t dead yet. The formation hasn’t been broken. Don’t act impulsively."
"This formation utilizes the Evil Land, implenting ’Qin Dunjia,’ and also employs the ’Hidden Ground Eight Techniques’ of the Taoists, using oneself as the ’Armor.’ The objects controlling the formation are hidden on him."
"Fortunately, the opponent is injured and has already fled. Find people born in the years of Dragon and Tiger, set out from these two directions, walk two hundred steps each, and start digging."
"Old Sha, give them so kerosene and salt."
"Everyone, no matter what you dig up, don’t be afraid. Burn it with fire, and the formation will break naturally!"
"Hurry, those born in the years of Dragon and Tiger, step forward!"
Captain Cheng ordered without hesitation, and imdiately, six n stepped out and followed Wang Daoxuan’s instructions, disappearing into the dense fog.
"One, two, three..."
They silently counted their steps, walking forward. Though they were quickly shrouded in thick fog behind them, obscuring their view of their comrades, the venomous snakes along the way surprisingly ignored them, giving them a boost of confidence.
These elite mbers of the Captain Bureau were bold enough, and after advancing two hundred steps, they imdiately wielded their scabbards to start digging.
In the bamboo forest, the soil was loose. After clearing the decayed bamboo leaves on top, they dug less than half a foot deep and imdiately found a small coffin.
The coffin was only about two feet long, made of locust wood, carved with various grotesque and terrifying inscriptions, and it had a small hole with countless maggots writhing inside.
A venomous snake crawled over the coffin.
Swish!
Suddenly, a small, blackened, and decayed hand reached out from the hole, swiftly pulling the snake into the coffin.
The elite mbers of the Captain Bureau felt their scalps tingle, rembering Wang Daoxuan’s instructions. Not daring to slack off, they imdiately poured kerosene and salt onto the coffin and tossed in a flint.
Boom!
A fierce fla surged up, accompanied by the sound of a baby crying from within the coffin. Then, a fierce wind swept through the forest, quickly dispersing the thick fog.
Though the Qin Formation had been broken, the bamboo forest was still dimly lit. However, the moonlight now glowed down, revealing the surroundings to everyone.
Unbeknownst to them, they had arrived in an unfamiliar bamboo grove. Surrounding them were dense, nurous old graves, piled with bricks and stones.
It was impossible to tell just how many years had passed, but they had long been damaged by bamboo roots, making the area a scene of devastation. Every hundred steps or so, there hung a cow’s skull from a bamboo stalk, decayed yellow and ghostly.
Ahead, in the forest, an ancient stone stele had collapsed, the inscriptions mottled and weathered. But if one looked closely, so words could still be discerned: ’The Heart is the Sovereign of the Nine Orifices, the Lord of the Five Senses...’
"It’s ’words of the mystical,’ by the Ghost Valley Sage."
Wang Daoxuan’s eyes lit up as he spoke.
Li Yan, suddenly rembering sothing, changed his expression slightly but kept it composed. "Let’s find the attacker first."
With that, he walked toward the direction where Sha Lifei had fired.
Wang Daoxuan also realized he had misspoken and quickly shut his mouth.
He too rembered sothing.
In Yunng Swamp, there were three treasures: Yunzhongjun Temple, the Soil, and Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Storage Forest.
They had once asked the Tuo Master to inquire, learning that Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Storage Forest was located near Xiangyang, and so mysterious people were secretly searching for it.
The attackers were likely related!
On another front, Li Yan moved quickly and, sure enough, found a pool of blood mixed with so pieces of flesh two hundred steps away.
At such a distance, even with Sha Lifei’s marksmanship, accuracy would be lost, especially with the dense mist obscuring visibility, hence the use of shrapnel.
The opponent had already fled, wounded.
Without any hesitation, they imdiately began pursuit.
Following the scent of blood, they soon saw a cave, beside which was a pile of bricks and stones that looked like a grotto.
"Don’t enter, there’s poisonous miasma inside!"
This was the enemy’s real trap, using the formation to lure them into the cave, to interfere with their Divine Skills. By the ti they noticed the poisoning, it would already be too late to escape.
After giving instructions, Li Yan led everyone around the miasmic cave and through another stretch of bamboo forest, which opened up before them.
In front of them was a clearing halfway up the mountain, with a study room cottage, and it was surrounded by a fence, giving it a tranquil appearance under the moonlight.
However, the fence gate was wide open, and there were bloodstains on the ground.
An elderly man in a Confucian robe, pale, sat on the steps, clutching his chest as blood oozed from it.
The misfortune for this old man was that although Sha Lifei used shrapnel, a piece had penetrated his chest, injuring his lung.
At this mont, his face was ashen, gasping for breath like a dying fish, filled with unwillingness in his eyes as he gazed at the group.
Even Li Yan felt a sense of suffocation upon seeing it.
This old man’s spells were surely not ordinary, but injuring his lung left him unable to chant spells or use magic, barely managing to return to his hideout.
Li Yan surveyed the surroundings, and had a thought, shaking his head. "Without the formation as cover, the arrangents in this yard can’t deceive us."
"Isn’t that right, An Fade, sir?"
He suddenly recalled that when Mr. Lu had tried to stop the chaos back then, he suggested to Captain Zhou to seek out a hermit nad An Fade in the mountains of Lu.
This person before them was likely him.
"Yes, that’s ..."
The old man spoke in gasping breaths, his face growing darker with anger, muttering venomously, "Just you wait, my disciple will avenge !"
"Hmph!"
Li Yan snorted coldly and suddenly leaped into the courtyard.
Bang, bang, bang!
Dust flew up in the yard as iron animal traps, snapping shut, faintly ford a shape like the Eight Trigrams.
If one took a wrong step, their leg would be caught and broken.
However, Li Yan was quick-footed, evading the traps and reaching the old man, placing the Duan Chen Blade against his neck quietly saying, "Rest assured, Wang Chan Ancestor’s Scripture Storage Forest—your disciple won’t find it."
Upon hearing this, the old man’s eyes imdiately widened.
It seed this shock was the final straw that caused him to lose his strength entirely, eyes filled with unwillingness as he clutched his heart, taking his last breath.
Li Yan hadn’t expected his probing words to claim the old man’s life; presumably, the lung injury had induced heart problems.
"Tsk, tsk, what’s the point of risking your life at such an old age..."
Li Yan shook his head, searching the elder’s body and finding only a few flutes and poison pouches.
Then, he glanced at the cottage.
Performing a spell, he searched inside, and suddenly signaled for everyone, "All right, co in, there’s a discovery here!"
Everyone hurried into the cottage. The floorboards had been lifted, revealing a tunnel beneath.
Upon entering, they found a stone chamber below.
Straw was piled on the floor, emitting a foul stench, with drag marks leading into another tunnel.
Without wasting words, they continued searching along the tunnel.
With soone lying in ambush, it indicated their information had been leaked. It was likely the dicine Saint’s Li family was hidden here and had been relocated.
The tunnel was dim and deep, but fortunately, there were no traps.
After walking for about the ti it takes to burn a stick of incense, they finally found another stone chamber, with a disheveled person lying inside, bound tightly with rope and unconscious.
"It’s Doctor Li!"
Captain Cheng quickly rushed over and, after checking his breath, finally let out a sigh of relief.
As long as they rescued him, the mission wouldn’t be a failure.
"Tsk, tsk!"
On the other side, Sha Lifei exclaid in admiration, "Well, well, Old Sha’s eyes have been opened!"
From the corner of the stone chamber, he lay, peering through two holes, observing sothing unknown outside.
Li Yan frowned, looked around, then ca to a corner and pulled on an iron chain.
Rumble!
The entire stone wall began to slowly pivot.
In an instant, a decadent scent wafted in.
They filed out, and the scene before them was shocking.
It was clearly a Buddha hall, with an offering to Guanyin above.
However, inside the hall, n and won were all haphazardly tangled together, their clothing disheveled, each with foolish smiles on their faces, drooling.
"Careful above!"
Li Yan unsheathed the Duan Chen Blade, pulling everyone back.
On the beam of the Buddha hall lay a gigantic gecko, camouflaged with the beam’s color, breathing deeply over the group, seemingly absorbing so kind of energy...
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