Chapter 41: The Evil Art of Capturing Souls

  The six paths of the heart god, each went to a different place. The three flat paths' ancient mirror was indeed formidable, one of which had not yet reached the range of the seal in front of the main hall, and was broken by the huge copper mirror hanging above the gate of the main hall, instantly dispersing under the sunlight. Dao Jing left one path to look after himself, while the other four changed direction and went to explore the back hall.

  In the back hall, in addition to the accounting room that was discovered yesterday, there were two dark corridors. It's strange that no one is guarding them, so it's a good opportunity to investigate. One of them looked at the accounts, one explored the space outside the temple, and the other two went in different directions to explore the dark corridors.

  In the past, it was just a game, and all that was needed was to spare a thought. But this time, it's a real enemy, and I have to be on high alert and respond carefully. However, each of my split selves cannot reveal its tracks while searching for information, and in the quiet residence, I need to summarize the information from each place. This is truly a case of one mind with multiple uses, and if I focus too much on one place, I might overlook the situation in other places. As a result, even before a minute has passed, the thought outside the temple was forgotten due to lack of news and dispersed on its own.

  At this moment, the two figures in the corridor encountered the same problem as before, only to see the dimly lit corridor, but it seemed impossible to reach the end no matter how they walked. According to time calculations, even if they walked slowly at this moment, they should have arrived at the hiding place of the wall outside with plenty of time to spare. But the scenery in this corridor seemed to have never changed.

  The path on the left was still passable, but it was intentionally guided through walls and floor tiles to create an optical illusion. After a slightly longer time, finding the rule would reveal that there was actually no progress, only the trajectory of walking was always repetitive, and the real door was hidden in the intricate patterns on the wall. However, entering the door was quite disappointing for Dao Jing, it was just a warehouse for storing medicine. In the center of the room, a dan furnace was set up, with some raw materials around, and two disciples were packing the refined dan medicine.

  Although so, Dao Jing noticed that there was also a door next to the wooden frame where the medicine was placed against the wall. The pattern of this door was very similar to the one he had just tried to open. Although he had been wandering around before, his sense of direction hadn't been disrupted. Judging by the position, it should be the other side of the door on the wall in the room where he was currently standing. That's right, this was a warehouse, and it made sense that it was connected to the pharmacy.

  But this also means that what Lu Jian said earlier about entering the gate and being in the main hall is false!

  Dào Jìng believed that Lù Jiàn would not deceive himself in this matter, and it was very likely that she was also unaware of it, but rather had coincidentally entered the grand hall.

  The Deer Arrow may not be able to deceive people, but this sect in front of us is based on this business, and that Mirror Immortal is a master of it.

  The long corridor on the right side is still endless, although it seems to be the same corridor, but at this moment, looking carefully, I find that everything around me has become blurred. If not for myself and other selves, at this moment, even the concept of time and space would have been lost together.

  Wait.

  Changes in direction, twists in space, shifts in time...

  It's an illusion!

  Originally, Lu Jian was not able to pass through the seal, but Jing Xian made her think she had passed through that door. In fact, she herself did not move, but Jing Xian used the ancient mirror as a medium to absorb her spirit and bring it to the great hall to meet.

  What I encountered should also be a kind of illusion, making people lose their ability to perceive and allowing the practitioner to manipulate at will.

  Dao Jing couldn't help but carefully search his memory for his understanding of the illusion technique, forgetting where he had seen it before. Humans have three souls and seven spirits, and when they are frightened or severely injured, some of them will escape from their bodies, causing people to become dizzy and seriously ill. This illusion technique originated in the north and was initially used by wizards to summon the scattered souls back into the body, but later gradually developed into an evil technique that could lead to spiritual possession.

  This soul-transferring technique was passed down to the southern border and merged with local sorcery before developing into the substitute technique.

  Among the various deeds of Sanping Dao, only those who were seriously ill had their wishes fulfilled and returned to Chang Le, but no one was able to revive from death. It can be seen that there is no substitute technique in this sect. Either they have reserved something for hiding their identities or these summoned spirits have other uses.

  No matter which one, it goes against the heavenly way, and the determination to eliminate this evil cult has become more resolute!

  When the Tao is still and calm, it gathers its spirit and returns to unity, but this does not mean returning to the treasury. Rather, all of its manifestations, along with its true body, return to the realm of illusion.

  Only after actually entering the illusion did Dao Jing realize that previously, due to having no physical body and only seeing with his eyes, he hadn't personally experienced it, thus neglecting a very important piece of information.

  Wind!

  A warm and humid wind blows from a certain direction. This indicates that this long corridor is real, at least part of it is real, and it connects to some underground space.

  As long as you follow the direction of the wind, you can walk out of the illusion and reach this space.

  Although Dao Jing didn't have the power to seal and suppress at this moment, his talismans were still effective. He thought for a moment, then casually cast an invisibility spell that made it impossible for others to see him. With a calm heart, he merged himself into the void, becoming one with it, and concentrated on sensing the faint direction of the wind.

  He soon felt a faint, intermittent airflow blowing slowly. He quietly moved against the current, and after a distance that was not particularly long, the feeling of being blocked weakened greatly, and the appearance of the surrounding space gradually revealed itself. The ground changed direction, now sloping downward, with an obvious incline, and at the bottom of this incline was the end of this illusionary realm.

  A copper gate!

  There are several small holes on the door, although it can't be seen inside, but it can be seen that this door is very thick and heavy. Several chains of locks sealed the door tightly, with a suppressive charm stuck on it, which made it clear that the place inside was extremely secretive.

  Although it was like this, after all, it was still a worldly thing, and for Dao Jing, it wasn't difficult. At this moment, he was still formless and empty, so he simply followed the small hole on the door and slipped in quietly.

  As soon as he entered, Dao Jing felt a surge of invisible power rapidly capturing him. This power was extremely strong, like a whirlwind sweeping him towards a place. He had to immediately transform into his original form to barely stop the momentum.

  Even so, he was still under the influence of this power and his body was unstable. He rolled on the ground twice before stopping.

  "I was underestimating." Dao Jing got up and brushed off the dust on his clothes. Before, he thought that illusions were not a big deal, just small tricks, nothing to worry about. But after finally seeing the entire underground space, he felt that his own views had been refreshed.

  This is a huge space, overall like a cave, with countless copper casting shelves neatly arranged on the ground. Each shelf is as high as a zhang, with six layers up and down, similar to stacking beds together.

  These numerous shelves are not empty, each shelf and every layer is covered with white cloth, for the time being it's hard to tell what objects are under the white cloth. But all the shelves are arranged in a strange shape, like a wind totem. In the center of these shelves there is a circular open space, right in the middle there is an altar.

  With the altar as the center, the entire space was enveloped by a huge array of laws. At the top of the law array, an ancient mirror floated in mid-air, slowly rotating. Once the mirror stopped moving, the direction it pointed to would have spiritual energy sucked out from under the white cloth. One side would temporarily weaken and then turn to another direction. As the mirror continued to change directions, all the objects on the copper racks were alternately drained of their spiritual energy.

  A steady stream of spiritual energy was guided into the ancient mirror, and the entire formation was surrounded by a ring of dark fire, flickering on and off, coldly indicating the withering of life force.

  Dao Jingxiang, he already knew what was under the white cloth...

  In this underground space, the source of the law array was on a copper frame. Row after row, layer after layer, densely packed with people!

  To be specific, most of them are living people, while those transformed into yin fire are dead people whose spiritual energy and souls have been drained away.

  Four per floor, six floors per building, and over forty buildings, that's more than a thousand people. How many disciples does Tian Tai Mountain have in total? How many people are there in Qiong Tai Town? Even the entire Qing Ji County doesn't have more than ten thousand people. In just one short year, so many lives were lost.

  These three flat roads cannot be explained by greed alone.

  But they indeed accumulate wealth, have a source of wealth, are admired by people, and absorb such a large amount of spiritual energy...

  This is probably going to be something big!

  The quiet gaze was heavy, looking at the ancient mirror in the sky, and all the spiritual power finally flowed towards it. The bronze mirror is an object that generally does not have the power to store spirits. An ancient mirror with a spirit of its own is one that has been cast while infusing the pure spiritual energy of a certain object into it, as the mirror's spirit. However, there can only be this one spirit, and it is absolutely impossible to contain so many and varied spiritual energies. The technique of casting bronze mirrors in Wu Yue was extremely high, and indeed there had been such a method before, but not many were used for sacrificial purposes, and they were not something that ordinary people could come into contact with.

  It seems that this ancient mirror, as the core of the entire formation, extracts all the spiritual energy. Then, as a medium, it is diverted to another place, which is the ultimate destination of this formation and the true purpose of the existence of Sanping Island!

  Dao Jing thought of this, decided to transform into spiritual energy again, and entered the ancient mirror. Along with all the spiritual power, he went to the final destination. However, just as he was about to touch the surface of the mirror, the entire formation suddenly changed.

  The ancient mirror shone brightly, suddenly flipping upwards. The spiritual energy that had been sucked out of the air had not yet entered when it suddenly lost control and dispersed aimlessly in mid-air. For some reason, the magic array stopped rotating at this moment. On each copper frame above, a spell lit up, suppressing the people on the frames who were dead but not yet awakened, preventing them from waking up.

  The road was quiet and deserted, with a puzzled gaze around, just then, a woman's laughter came from the void.

  "Oh dear, has this young master gotten lost? Hurry back home, it's no fun here."

  Laughter like a devil's voice pierced through the brain, the sound of the wind howling in the magic array, swirling around Dao Jing's body.

  "Clang!" A clear sound pierced through the wind barrier, a long sword was unsheathed, and its clear light immediately repelled the countless phantasms lurking on the side.

  "Who are you?"