"What is this?" When Wu Qi caught a glimpse of the white beam, his heart immediately pounded vigorously. Fortunately, it had become a habit for him to exercise the mystic technique from Scroll of Stealing. Right after his heart pounded once, he immediately exercised a mystic technique to conceal his aura, while the sound of heart-pounding was trapped within ten feet around him using a mystic spell. Before any sound or aura could travel too far away, they were already killed off by Wu Qi.
Guigu"zi and Ying Ziying totally had no idea that Wu Qi was already covered with a chilled sweat because of the fear of being discovered. With a solemn expression, Guigu"zi was now walking slowly around the turtle sh.e.l.l, and kept spraying mouthfuls of blood onto the white beam, while Ying Ziying was looking at him worriedly.
Amidst the white beam was a very simple looking and tiny turtle sh.e.l.l. On its surface, there were drawings of Nine Squares, an Eight Trigrams, and some other messy objects, which all seemed like the handwriting of some naughty children. With a brief glance at it, those drawings looked like some little tricks of a naughty child. But if one focused attention and gave it a careful observation, one would find that every single line, every single trace that was found on the turtle sh.e.l.l, all looked natural. There wasn"t any evidence that they were man-made. Obviously, it was a spirit item given birth by the Heaven and Earth.
The images right next to the Eight Trigrams and those messy looking traces were actually patches of complex and profound runes. As a matter of fact, they were the same characters that appeared in Wu Qi"s mind when he was inheriting the Scroll of Stealing, the Primordial Divine Script. It was a script where every single character represented some rules and principles of the Heaven and Earth, represented the force of the Dao of Heaven and Earth. It was a very profound script in which every single character represented countless meanings behind it.
When all the images and traces found on the turtle sh.e.l.l were added up together, they consisted a set of only forty-nine characters from the Primordial Divine Script. But when these characters were combined, they formed a very complex and profound cultivation technique, which consisted of several tens of thousands of characters. Carefully, Wu Qi shot a glance at the turtle sh.e.l.l, and he saw most of the words found in this cultivation technique were something like "Stars of Heaven and Earth, Celestial Dippers and Nether Evils, Ghosts, Deities and Magus Magic, Heavenly Fate and Mortal Destiny".
Wu Qi recalled the descriptions for all the spirit items that he read in Scroll of Stealing. In the time of great antiquity, during the age of the Human Emperor, the Yellow River Map[1] was brought to this world by a dragon horse. All the people under the heaven knew that this Yellow River Map was a jade tablet, but n.o.body actually knew that there existed the supplementary volumes to the Yellow River Map. What was recorded on the jade tablet was the general principle of the Yellow River Map, and there were a total of nine turtle sh.e.l.ls that contained the supplementary volumes, where the various actual usages of the Yellow River Map were found.
"This... this is a heavenly treasure of Innate Spirit Treasure level!!" Staring in bewilderment at the turtle sh.e.l.l, Wu Qi had completely given up the desire of stealing it. Without sufficient overall strength, it was better for him to not get any closer to this kind of an innate item, as it would definitely bring him a great calamity. This was also the lesson that the shadow figure, who taught Wu Qi the Scroll of Stealing, had repeatedly been warning him about - He could steal any acquired spirit items with any methods he liked, but he had to never strike at an innate spirit item blindly.
Unless it was something like the innate earth element energy essence he purchased earlier, an innate energy essence which had yet to take its final form, or he had a sufficient cultivation base, he would never touch the rest of the innate items which had taken their final form rashly, as that would definitely get him killed.
The turtle sh.e.l.l taken out by Guigu"zi was actually one of the supplementary volumes to the Yellow River Map. For an innate spirit item such as this, there was no way Guigu"zi could control it freely with his current cultivation base. What he could do was to refine it using his own blood essence, a method similar to blood sacrifice. Through that, he could barely borrow a tiny bit of Heaven and Earth powers from the supplementary volume.
As mouthful after mouthful of blood was being sprayed out, the images of rivers, mountains, peoples, and animals which were projected from the huge turtle sh.e.l.l slowly became clearer. Gradually, the scene of Ying Zheng sitting in his chariot, bringing together many of his ministers while flying in the sky appeared in the projection. However, it was at this moment that Guigu"zi"s face turned paler and paler, while his aura was slowly weakening.
Standing aside, Ying Ziying"s facial muscles were twitching violently. Abruptly, he dropped to his knees, kowtowed, and said, "Old Mister, your blood essence is too precious for anything. Please don"t waste them anymore! For a blood sacrificing art such as this, I can just kill several hundred of thousands of condemned prisoners and bring Old Mister their blood essence."
Guigu"zi took a deep breath. While continue exercising the Dharma spell, he scolded with a low voice, "This is absurd! How can the Dao of Heaven and Earth be deceived with such a foolish method? Only the cultivation base cultivated by oneself is considered totally belonging to himself. I"m disdainful of borrowing other people"s blood essence. Remember this well, there is no shortcut in the path of cultivating the Dao. You can murder one hundred thousand condemned prisoners today, using their blood essence to drive the supplementary volume of the Heavenly Book to predict the future fortune of Human Emperor. But, when you meet an even stronger opponent in the future, how many condemned prisoners are you going to murder? One million? Ten million? Or perhaps, you"re going to kill all the people of Great Qin just for one divination?"
Suddenly Ying Ziying"s face turned deadly pale as he stared stonily at Guigu"zi. At last, he gave Guigu"zi three heavy kowtows and said, "That is a lesson that I will never forget, Old Mister. My wit has been misled by the power in my hands. You"re right! For a spirit item such as this, it is best to refine it slowly using one"s own cultivation base."
Guigu"zi had his eyes fixed straight at the two turtle sh.e.l.ls hovering before him, while he kept spraying mouthfuls of fresh blood onto the smaller turtle sh.e.l.l, the supplementary volume of the Yellow River Map. He said coolly, "Although it seems like a strenuous effort for me right now, but during the process of using the supplementary volume of the Heavenly Book, I also keep refining it using my own blood essence. If we replaced my blood essence with the blood essence of condemned prisoners, although we could unleash its maximum power for a short period of time, but the blood essence of those condemned prisoners would definitely contaminate this Heavenly Book, and it will require me to waste hundred, if not thousands of times the effort to refine it slowly in the future. Isn"t that a work in which we lose more than we gain?"
While he was talking, the supplementary volume of the Yellow River Map began to emit wisps of white beams, which then slowly began fusing into the larger turtle sh.e.l.l under it. Countless shadows of ghosts and deities then emerged from thin air, standing with utmost respect right beside Guigu"zi, while they received the nourishment of the dark mist that shot out from the token hovering above Guigu"zi"s head. After being enhanced by the dark mist, these shadows of ghost and deities became clear. Then, they suddenly transformed into gusts of chilly wind and began wheeling around the large turtle sh.e.l.l at top speed.
With that, the glow on the large turtle sh.e.l.l became stronger, while a very clear projection was being shown above it. In the image was Ying Zheng, seen sitting proudly in his chariot, escorted by many civilian and military officials as they were advancing quickly in the sky. Very soon, they came to a scenic place with green hills and river, flower blooming like a piece of brocade. Nor far away from the river was a cl.u.s.ter of seventeen interconnecting hot springs pools. Vaguely, some beautiful girls were soaking in the hot springs, fully naked, joking, and making fun amongst themselves.
With a deep voice, Ying Ziying said, "Old Mister, those are the girls that His Majesty is searching for. It is said that one of the girls is cultivating some kind of a strange cultivation technique - the Heaven Breeding Script of G.o.ddess Su, which had given birth to a thread of innate Yin energy in her body. With the current level of His Majesty"s cultivation base, if His Majesty could have s.e.x with her, His Majesty"s cultivation base will take a leap into the realm of Heaven Immortal straightaway. According to His Majesty"s planning, he will have his cultivation base break through the realm of Heaven Immortal first, then he will settle the scores with that demon dragon Wanying. He would seize his blood essence and complete the cultivation of the first stage of Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic."
Guigu"zi remained expressionless, not saying a word as he began running in circles around the turtle sh.e.l.l. At the same time, those young boys and girls around him began gently waving the long banner in their hands. As they did so, stars could be seen appearing in the bright sky, while bits of starlight were falling down like the pouring of rain, sprinkling onto those long banners. Then, all the young boys and girls began reciting some incantation with a soft voice. Countless silver threads were shooting out from the long banners, fusing into the bodies of those ghosts and deities who had transformed into gusts of chilling wind, and were wheeling about ceaselessly. With that, the aura of those ghosts and deities were increased by a few times. Joyful laughs could be heard coming from them, while wave after wave of spirit energies kept spreading out in all directions.
Amidst the projection shot out from the turtle sh.e.l.l came the faint talking and laughing of Ying Zheng and Yuyao. After that, the chariot was seen flying forward at top speed, rus.h.i.+ng towards the cl.u.s.ter of seventeen hot springs pools. Then, the scene changed. It was now showing Bai Qi leading a ferocious army as he was charging towards an army of several thousand Chu soldiers. After that, it changed again, showing Xu Fu and Li Si, as they brought a group of many pract.i.tioners blotting the sky with countless runes and fireb.a.l.l.s, pressing towards the army of several tens of thousands of mountain spirits and water ghosts that shot up from under the lake.
After that, the projection shattered to shreds, leaving only large sheets of white mists whirling around the turtle sh.e.l.l. No more images could be seen.
"What happened, Old Mister?" cried Ying Ziying with a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"Someone has used an exceedingly powerful method to conceal the heavenly secret and fate in an area of one million miles in circ.u.mference." said Guigu"zi with great shock, "The divination I carried out for His Majesty had been completely twisted by someone, and I can no longer predict the current fortune of His Majesty! On top of that, the runes of soul that I left with His Majesty, Xu Fu, Li Si, and some other men are covered by a great force, and I cannot sense where exactly they are right now!"
Ying Ziying immediately cried out in great panic, "Who else could compete with you in the field of Yin and Yang, Ghost and Deity?"
While running at top speed in circles around the turtle sh.e.l.l, Guigu"zi cried out harshly, "Qu Ping, only Qu Ping!! The great Chu has mixed their bloodline with barbarians, and back in those years, the Imperial Shaman of Great Chu was an expert in the art of divination using ghosts and deities. Besides that, barbarians are well-known for their expertise in the divine ability to control ghosts and deities with spells. When the both are combined, if there is one man who can deceive my divination, that will be Qu Ping! Also, the manpower and resources he used in this are just simply incredible!"
Gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth, Guigu"zi cried out, "Ying Ziying!"
Ying Ziying sprung to his feet immediately and answered with a loud voice, "I"m here!"
With a deep voice, Guigu"zi said, "Even without any divination, I can predict what they are trying to achieve. His Majesty is in a perilous situation now, and so is the Great Qin! Quickly activate all the teleportation formations, heedless of the cost, and a.s.semble all available armies and pract.i.tioners from Xian Yang. Bring them here to the Meng Mountains to rescue His Majesty! The great Chu and Great Yan have formed an alliance!"
Before his words could fade away, a stream of dark gas suddenly burst out in the sky above Guigu"zi and Ying Ziying. A group of thirty-six undead warriors, each standing ten thousand feet tall, and escorted by an army of countless mountain ghosts and strayed deities, shot out from behind the dark gas in a very mighty manner. The leader to those ghosts and deities was a Yin G.o.d, who was clad in an outfit of n.o.bility, carrying a jade seal in his hand and having a grand and magnificent visage which made him look similar to an emperor of the mortal realm. While holding the seal in his hand, he controlled all the undead warriors, ghosts and deities, then summoned innumerable dark clouds and black winds to circle around the lone peak.
The Yin G.o.d looked at Guigu"zi and cried out, "Are you Mister Guigu"zi? By the Imperial Decree of the Emperor of Great Chu, I bring an army of thirty-six thousand ghosts and deities here, and I just want Old Mister to have a quiet meditation here for six hours."
Wu Qi stealthily exercised the Mystic Eyes of Universe. Through it, he saw that the great seal held in the Yin G.o.d"s hand had already unleashed a tremendously powerful energy ripple, which had completely sealed off the s.p.a.ce around the lone peak. On top of that, the time on the lone peak had also slowed down by a few times. Approximately, when one day pa.s.sed in the outside world, only about two hours would have pa.s.sed on the lone peak.
Looking at all the ghosts and deities that filled up the sky, Guigu"zi shook his head and said, "What an excellent divine ability, what a great Dharmic power! You can accurately find my exact position through the fluctuation of the Heaven and Earth power caused by my divination. Qu Ping"s cultivation in the Dao of Ghost and Deity has indeed reached an unfathomable stage! But unfortunately, this is far from enough if you wish to defeat me!"
Under the pressure that came from all the ghosts and deities in the sky, suddenly Guigu"zi pointed his finger out. Abruptly, from the long banners held in the hands of those young boys and girls came bursting out golden lights that were over ten thousand feet tall. After that, large sheets of golden flame that looked like golden molten gla.s.ses were being sprayed out in all directions, together with a frighteningly high temperature and blinding gleams.
"The True Flame of Sun, burn off everything for me!" cried Guigu"zi, "Qu Ping, the True Flame of Sun is the object that is feared the most by all ghosts and deities. So, how could these mountain ghosts and strayed ghosts of yours defeat me?"
Wu Qi could not help but gasp. Guigu"zi had lived up to his reputation, as he actually hid the True Flame of Sun that could wipe out all ghosts and deities in the long banners, which he used to control ghosts and deities, and increased their menacing aura. This was an experienced and vicious approach, as even Wu Qi did not think that a ghost controlling magical item could be crafted in this way.
Right after the True Flame of Sun was unleashed, the place was immediately filled with wailing and despair.
[1] Yellow River Map - Sometimes referred to as River Scheme, River Diagram, is an ancient Chinese concept. The concept of the Yellow River Map has a contextual apparatus a.s.sociated with ancient Chinese cosmology. Various myths or legends are connected with the idea of mapping, involving correspondences between the earth, the sky, and/or abstract diagrams. The idea of a simple division of a flat/square earth into the very basic 3x3, (9-square) grid is historically attested in literature as early as the Tian Wen"s "Heavenly Questions", together with a suggested corresponding mapping solution for a round heaven/the sky (Hawkes, 136-137 [notes to Tian wen]). This text from the Chu Ci dates to pre-221 BCE. This basic grid is a.s.sociated with the plan of Yu to control the Great Flood of China. (Source: #Cosmological_background)