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墨書 Inktalez
On the turtle shell, nine cracks appeared around the small hole in the center. The cracks were very fine but clearly visible. Among them, eight were relatively short, but one crack extended all the way to the edge of the shell.
"What happened?" Zhang Yang asked.
"The divination is not good," Yu Qingwei replied.
"What did you divine?"
"The fortune of this journey."
"What was the result?"
"Nine deaths and one life!"
After Yu Qingwei finished speaking, he hissed in a breath. Although Zhang Yang had not spent much time with Yu Qingwei, he could sense that Yu Qingwei was not someone who would joke about such matters. The result of "nine deaths and one life" was indeed oppressive.
"Could there be some problems on this trip to Earthly Branch Mountain?" Yu Qingwei seemed to be asking Zhang Yang, yet it felt like he was talking to himself.
"Since we are here, we should face it calmly. Let's go take a look and be extra careful," Zhang Yang said. Yu Qingwei nodded; yes, since they had come, they needed to see it through. It would be safe to go back directly, but they had to confront what needed to be faced.
The night passed without conversation. The next morning, the two hired a taxi and headed straight for Earthly Branch Mountain. Earthly Branch Mountain was not very high, only a few hundred meters. At the foot of the mountain, there was a small path leading directly to Zichen Temple at the summit, and cars could not drive up. Yu Qingwei paid the driver for the fare to get there and arranged for him to wait at the foot of the mountain while he and Zhang Yang went up together.
Both of them were light and agile, so it didn't take long to reach the top. However, when they arrived at the open area at the summit, both were stunned.
Originally, they could see Zichen Temple from the foot of the mountain, and there was only this one path up. But upon reaching what should have been in front of Zichen Temple, they found only a small grove of trees!
Yu Qingwei looked back down at the mountain and measured their position again. "That's right; this is indeed in front of Zichen Temple."
"Why has it turned into a grove? Could it be..." Zhang Yang asked.
"Yes, it should be Toothless Cloth's formation. If I'm not mistaken, this grove is behind Zichen Temple. In other words, if we walk into this grove, we are actually bypassing Zichen Temple and heading toward the back mountain," Yu Qingwei said as he glanced at his watch. "Let's move forward together; I'll keep track of the time."
Sure enough, although they felt they hadn't walked far, it took them a full minute before they could touch the trees in the grove.
"Look!" Zhang Yang pointed to a large tree with a section of bark stripped away. Eight characters were inscribed vertically on it: "Stop here, do not offend the well and river; stubbornness leads to the abyss of suffering."
"This is Toothless's attitude," Yu Qingwei smiled. "He doesn't want to get entangled with us."
"That's not right," Zhang Yang said. "It's not just that he doesn't want to; he's a bit scared. Only those who feel fear inside would threaten others. This 'stubbornness leads to the abyss of suffering' is clearly meant to intimidate us."
"Hmm?" After hearing Zhang Yang's words, Yu Qingwei suddenly said, "By the way, last time you broke through the formation, since it was set by him, I suspect he was injured as well." Yu Qingwei continued, "He must be recuperating. Moreover, a cunning person like him should not be inside Zichen Temple right now."
"This person is good at calculations; he should be able to predict that we would come looking for him, which is why he set up this formation. He definitely has some fear inside him, but more importantly, he needs a secluded and suitable place to recover and doesn't have time to deal with us," Yu Qingwei analyzed further.
"Are you confident in breaking the formation? If he's not here, we can take a look inside," Zhang Yang said.
"Let me think," Yu Qingwei pondered.
Generally speaking, formations are primarily based on the five elements. Since Toothless set the formation so that those nearby cannot see it but can from afar, it means that if he used the five elements to set it up, it should be around Zichen Temple, encircling it within a small area.
Having figured this out, Yu Qingwei began to observe the surroundings: the earth, trees, and small ponds represented wood, earth, and water. Meanwhile, not far from one side of the temple was an iron frame of a signal tower, which naturally represented metal. So where does fire come from? Yu Qingwei searched for a long time but found nothing.
As Yu Qingwei contemplated this while walking back with Zhang Yang through the forest to their original position.
"The color of the ground seems off," Zhang Yang said after looking down. Normally, the soil should be reddish-yellow and grassy areas should be green; however, there was a circular area on the ground where the soil was grayish-black.
"Ash!" Yu Qingwei suddenly realized! The Five Elements Formation set by Toothless could not find any fire material in nature, so he used ash instead. Ash has been through fierce flames and possesses fire properties; when scattered on the ground, it is very concealed.
The two broke off several dense pine branches and used them as brooms to start sweeping up the mixed ash and soil into a pile.
"Why can't we see Zichen Temple yet?" Zhang Yang asked.
"Don't rush," Yu Qingwei took out his Swiss Army knife and peeled one of the pine branches before inserting it into the pile of mixed ash and soil.
The upright branch overcomes the soil. Just then, a cold wind blew by; Zhang Yang shivered and in an instant saw Zichen Temple before him.
The gate was locked. For Zhang Yang, the two-meter-high courtyard wall was not a barrier. He reached out his hand, intending to pull Yu Qingwei up to jump over. "No need," Yu Qingwei said, taking a running start, placing both hands on the top of the wall, and easily flipping over. Zhang Yang smiled and jumped over with a burst of energy, entering the courtyard.
Zichen Temple was small, consisting of one courtyard and three main rooms. The largest room served as the main hall, while the two side rooms acted as auxiliary rooms. Surprisingly, there were no deities enshrined in the main hall; only an offering table and a large bronze incense burner filled with burnt incense ash. On the ground to either side, a few mats were placed.
On either side of the main hall were the auxiliary rooms: one resembled a study with an Eight Immortals table and four wooden chairs; the other looked like a bedroom with only a neatly made bed, a wardrobe beside it, and a washstand holding a large bronze basin with a towel hanging above.
In the courtyard, there were two guest rooms on each side. On the west side were a woodshed and a toilet; on the east side were a room for storing candles and incense offerings and what appeared to be a kitchen equipped with a stove, rice jar, and water tank.
The two of them explored Zichen Temple thoroughly. The furnishings were extremely simple; it seemed that only Toothless had ever lived here, and even then, not necessarily full-time. After searching around, they found nothing—no sign of Jiazi Rainbow Shadow or even a decent book.
"Without encountering Toothless, we can't find anything. We might as well go back; how could the divination indicate nine deaths and one life?" Yu Qingwei pondered while standing in the courtyard.
"I mean, you could interpret it this way: nine deaths are minor dangers, while one life represents the great path," Zhang Yang said from the side.
"That's about all we can interpret it as," Yu Qingwei replied, looking up at the sky outside the courtyard when suddenly she gasped.
Zhang Yang followed Yu Qingwei's gaze and saw a sparrow flying in the sky that appeared larger than the entire temple!
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