Chapter 43: Entering the Soul (Part 2)

  "Lin Hao, I suppose you're aware of your current situation. You can't hand over the True Scripture of the Graph, which is worthless to us. My third brother was also made this way by you, so you must wake him up. If you succeed, I'll give you a quick death and a large sum of money for your family to enjoy their old age in peace. But if anything goes wrong, not only will you and your family die without a burial place, but even your relatives and friends will suffer together." As soon as he entered the office, Long Batian threatened me bluntly.

  On the screen on the wall, not only was my family's situation being broadcast in real-time, but also listed were the details of my relatives and friends, from my uncles to my aunts, from their addresses to their workplaces, all more detailed than I knew. This made my heart sink continuously, these things are more useful than any weapon, they instantly grabbed my weak spot, leaving me no room for resistance.

  "It seems you're also a sensible person, then let's start discussing the Soul Entry Ceremony now." Mr. Tan said, taking over Long Batian's words and walking in front of me.

  "What I'm going to say next is about the secret of Sanlonghui, so I hope you don't expect to leave with anything, but you can't not listen either, because it's related to whether you can awaken San Ye." Mr. Tan said lightly after putting a cigarette in my mouth.

  According to Jin De Dao Chang's explanation, entering the soul means stripping your soul out of your body and then using special means to introduce San Ye's soul into it. Of course, entering San Ye's soul is not just a matter of shouting "Hey, San Ye has come out, stop indulging in your own world!" because you will enter a new world, a world constructed by San Ye. It is precisely this world that makes San Ye forever 'infatuated'.

  "The past that can make San Ye 'obsessed' is likely to be over a decade ago, when the Three Dragons Association was at its peak. At that time, San Ye was in his prime, full of vigor and ambition, which is why he became obsessed. Your task is to make San Ye realize he's dreaming, to wake him up from this dream. In this process, you need to familiarize yourself with the historical trajectory of the Three Dragons Association back then, and you will also come into contact with many secrets, so it's best if you know these things in advance."

  "Listen up, I'm going to tell you the origin of the Three Dragons Society now. The Three Dragons Society was formed in the 1980s...” Mr. Tan began to talk non-stop about the rise and fall of the Three Dragons Society, including many unknown secrets. Meanwhile, Long Batian stood still at the window, staring outside without moving.

  Until three hours later, Mr. Tan's mouth was dry and my head was buzzing with the shocking news, many scenes were enough to make people's blood boil just thinking about them, my attention was often interrupted, and in the three hours, the names of people and places, as well as the secret plots, were no less than those in "Water Margin", how could I possibly accept all this in three hours, I'm not a genius with a photographic memory.

  "After saying that, Mr. Tan looked at me with a somewhat bewildered expression and thought to himself that it was probably pointless, damn it."

  "I don't know, you're speaking too fast and it's not systematic, I'm all confused," I shook my head and said. He emphasized many '陰' plots and tricks inside, what do I have to do with this stuff?

  "Don't bother him anymore, the things that happened back then can't be finished even if we talk for three days and three nights. Lin Hao, you just need to remember these few things: first, my big brother Cheng Long must die; only when he dies will Third Brother have a chance to wake up. Second, the one who killed my big brother is someone named Gao Qiang; it was him who poisoned my big brother. You must let Third Brother take revenge on his enemy; as long as Gao Qiang dies, the knot in Third Brother's heart can be untied and he will wake up." Long Ba Tian said, turning around.

  "Alright, I understand," I nodded in response. The name Gao Qiang was emphasized many times by Mr. Tan, seemingly a trusted assistant to their leader, but he was actually an undercover agent who poisoned and killed the leader Cheng Long during an operation. Afterwards, they went crazy trying to kill Gao Qiang, but never succeeded, which is why Gao Qiang became a thorn in Li Qinglong's side.

  ………..

  Long Batian's private hospital is a ring-shaped building, four or five stories high, with an area of several thousand square meters. So inside the hospital there are hundreds of square meters of empty space, except for those places that were built as gardens, and there is also a plot of land with an area of dozens of square meters, and at this time this piece of land was packed with people.

  Or rather, it's not just this open space that's packed with people. After all, apart from me, the cannon fodder sacrifice, those who can stand here are only the high-ranking members of the Three Dragons Association, Long Ba Tian and the various Dragon Envoys, as well as the spell-casting Jin De Dao Zhang. The real crowds are on the rooftops and in the outer areas.

  The Three Dragons Society attaches great importance to the awakening of Li Qinglong. To prevent any unexpected events from occurring midway, a cordon has been set up several kilometers away. They believe that under such strict defense, not even a mosquito can fly in.

  "Master Jinde, the time is almost up, can we start?" Xīn Tiān asked Master Jinde, who was sitting in meditation behind the altar. In front of the altar were arranged offerings similar to those in a movie: an offering table, yellow paper talismans, red wax candles, and long incense sticks. The surroundings were hung with yellow silk curtains, on which were painted mysterious symbols that I couldn't recognize.

  "Wait a bit, the 'yin' energy hasn't gathered yet," Jin De Dao Chang replied with his eyes closed. In the past, Zi Shi referred to the time period from 11:30 pm to around midnight, not a specific point in time. Now that the 'yin' energy hadn't reached its peak, he didn't dare act rashly. If Third Master Li Qinglong got into trouble, it wouldn't be good for him either.

  "Alright, we'll wait and see," replied Xin Tian, who was even less anxious than the others. No matter what happened, his responsibility would be the smallest.

  Then, the new Tian walked in front of me again and whispered, "Lin Hao, I know you have a lot of hatred now, but I ask you to clearly see your situation. Li Qinglong is very important to San Long Hui. If you want to make any moves, I advise you to give up this idea, because they will definitely use your family to vent their anger. Now, the focus of San Long Hui has shifted abroad. As long as we escape the country's borders, no one can do anything to us. So, you know what to do. You are the one I brought to Shen Xian Gu. This is my fault towards you. I can guarantee that as long as you try your best to awaken Li Qinglong, I will treat your family well. At least, food and clothing will be guaranteed."

  "Heh, so should I thank you?" I sneered at Heng Xin Tian's words. To be honest, if he hadn't forcibly brought me to the Valley of the Gods in Jiangbei, none of the subsequent events would have occurred. At this moment, I might still be fighting for my life with Lan Jie and San Shen Dao. Although I didn't entirely blame Heng Xin Tian for what happened, neither was I going to thank him for it.

  "Alright, when I didn't say anything, Xia Tian felt embarrassed and walked away shaking his head. Sigh, why is it so hard to be a good person?"

  After the new Heavenly Master left, I carefully observed the so-called soul-entering ceremony performed by Jin De Dao Chang. The ritual tools are not worth mentioning, but the altar is truly eye-catching. The altar is made of steel and stone, with the steel looking newly made, having some texture on its surface that is not very clear. The surface has been splashed with what appears to be chicken or dog blood, emitting a strong and unpleasant odor at this moment. As for the stone, it seems to have been around for some years, with dark red bloodstains seeping into the stone, giving the entire stone an eerie feeling.

  At this time, Li Qinglong was already lying on the stone, with a few wounds on his body, and his expression was calm, as if he had fallen asleep. Needless to say, the stone was left for me, and at this time, the stone was already covered with talismans, just waiting for me to lie down.

  "It's time, make the offering, hurry up!" Just as everyone was indulging in their own thoughts, Jin De Daoist suddenly jumped up and shouted, grabbing a handful of soybeans and scattering them towards the candle, which then burst into flames with a loud bang, drawing everyone's attention to his hands.

  Sacrifice, isn't that me? Without having to lift a finger myself, two tall and sturdy men have already lifted me up and laid me on the stone altar. Then they took out a red rope and started wrapping it around my body without tying any knots, and used needles to pierce the seven veins and ten fingers of my hands. The other end of the red rope stained with my finger blood was then tied to Li Qinglong's hand.

  "The offerings have been made, now the ritual begins. Onlookers, retreat! Gather the 'yin' array, gather!" The Daoist master shouted loudly again. After everyone retreated, he took out two talismans from the table and lit them on fire. The white smoke from the burning talismans did not rise upwards, but instead sank into the ground. Moreover, the white smoke attached itself to the black powder that had been laid out in a pattern on the ground, causing the powder to begin emitting a faint glow.

  "When the powder's luster formed a mysterious rune, a gust of 'yin' wind blew over, sending shivers down my spine and numbing my hands and feet."

  "Hiss, hiss" The cold wind blew wave after wave, the temperature around me was extremely low, I didn't need to say that my whole body was trembling with fear, and I felt dizzy and my eyes were starting to blur. But what's even more infuriating is that Li Qinglong lying next to me seemed fine, still looking calm and serene, his face as rosy as ever.

  "Finally done." Jin De Daozhang, who had secretly opened his 'yin' and yang eyes, looked at me with a sigh of relief. Every person has three flames on their body, and he needs to extinguish the two shoulder flames in order to separate the soul from the flesh. However, Lin Hua's yang energy was unexpectedly vigorous, exceeding Jin De Daozhang's expectations. Under his 'yin' and yang eyes, it seemed as if he saw a small sun, with Lin Hua's fiery red yang energy filling his vision. With such intense yang energy, practicing Taoist magic would be effortless and progress rapidly. What a pity to waste such a good seedling.

  "Hurry up like the law, 'yin' and yang are like me, I am like 'yin' and yang, 'yin' and yang formation, spirit and soul all out, depart soul formation, array starts" With a loud shout, Jin De Dao Zhang quickly performed the incantation, and with his big yell, the spiritual symbols on the altar were all launched one by one. Those long curtains also began to flash golden light, the spell-casting process was slowly proceeding, everyone's eyes widened in anticipation of Jin De's next move.

  Only I, at this moment, rolled my eyes, and in my heart, I was wailing and begging Jin De not to make another move, because I was about to die, it was so painful, his head was about to explode, feeling like a watermelon had been stuffed into my brain, my own head was about to burst. The most painful thing was that I found myself unable to make a sound, I couldn't use a mournful cry to alleviate my pain, everything, everything, I could only silently scream in my heart, so it's not even worth mentioning that I turned around or rolled on the spot, I couldn't move at all. Those thin red ropes were more solid than those iron chains at this moment, no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't budge an inch.

  "Soul as I command, bestowed upon the spirit, urgent as a decree, pardon" Jin De's right hand pinched the sword finger, his left hand held a candle, and in front of the candle was a paper man. After finishing the spell, the sword finger pointed at the candle.

  Suddenly, Jin De Dao Zhang was frightened and sweated profusely.

  "Soul as I point, bestowed in the spirit, urgent like a law, pardon" Jin De Dao Zhang recited the spell again, his finger pointing once more, but still there was no response. Jin De Dao Zhang was frightened, the program was correct, how could nothing happen? It's impossible!

  Everyone's eyes were on Jinde, so when Jinde's actions didn't bring about the next reaction, the crowd was in an uproar, all discussing it cautiously. Only Long Batian furrowed his brow, clenched his fists tightly, as if he was about to get angry.

  None of them noticed me, or rather, they didn't notice the eye on my right hand, which was now wide open, staring angrily at everyone, and my consciousness returned to the world of the Wheel Eye once again.

  The world of reincarnation eyes is still so dazzling, and the whole scene is full of golden color. A light screen appeared again in mid-air.

  Inside the light screen is still that temple, that godly disc like the sun, it's the legendary Wishing Heaven 'Cave', the reincarnation disc.

  However, this time there was no human figure inside, only that wheel of reincarnation quietly placed.

  "What's going on, how did I end up here again? Is there anyone, reincarnation party, reincarnation eye, reincarnation disk, is there really no one at all?" The eerie atmosphere made me feel like I was standing in a void. This eerily quiet environment gave me a sense of fear that cannot be expressed, but can be clearly felt as my soul trembled.

  "The Great Way is fifty, Heaven's fate is forty-nine, only hiding one, attaining the Way, becoming an immortal, haha, haha, it's really a joke." As soon as my voice fell, a burst of laughter suddenly came from all directions in the Wheel Eye World, the laughter was pouring into my ears from all sides, making my eardrums throb with a loud response.

  "Who are you? Where are you? Come out!" That was clearly a man's voice. I thought that in this reincarnation of the world, someone would come out again, but after shouting several times, no one responded.

  "Outside the Five Elements, within the Three Realms, the eternal life I've been searching for in vain is actually like this. Heaven has deceived me!" But not long after, another sentence with a resentful tone came, making me cry out loud.

  "What the f**k, who are you guys anyway? Leave a name, will ya? What did you discover, is it the secret of the reincarnation eye?"

  Unfortunately, my question is destined to have no one answer it.

  After that, many more voices came, all with a tone of resentment, as if they had been deceived. The words were full of mystery, and I didn't understand them until I heard a familiar voice.

  "Long life, long life, Heaven's decree cannot be defied. Knowing clearly what should not be done yet doing it, we are not wise. The Heavenly Way is cyclical. Your Majesty, the old Dao has exerted its utmost effort."

  Kou Qianzhi, this is actually Kou Qianzhi's voice, I'm completely stunned, isn't he supposed to be dead and gone, how can there still be a sound left behind, and it's even words like these, no matter how you look at it, it's clearly his last words.

  No, the last words. Thinking of this, I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. If Kou Jian's words were his last words, then the previous ones were also. So, those who spoke were the masters of the reincarnation eyes of the previous few lives? What about their final words before death?

  Damn it, isn't reincarnation supposed to make people live forever? Master, master, why didn't you tell me earlier, is there a 'conspiracy' here or what's going on, come and tell me.

  I'm so frustrated I could cry.

  "Ah, ah, what's going on again? The reincarnation disk has collapsed?! No way!" Before I could even recover from the shock, the reincarnation disk in the light screen changed again. At first, it was spinning rapidly, and then it slowly started smoking. What a rhythm of collapse!

  What are you doing, Wheel of Reincarnation? Are you trying to tell me something?

  "Boom" very quickly, the wheel of reincarnation burst, the entire light screen turned into a more dazzling golden light, bursting out from the eyes of reincarnation, and in the next moment my eyes were blinded by the light, completely unable to see.

  "Alright, alright, it's started. All irrelevant people, retreat quickly! Hurry up, as if the law has been issued! The decree has been issued!" My eyes couldn't see anything, but I heard Jin De Dao Zhang's urgent voice.

  Outside, Jin De's hands were already stained with fresh blood. He looked at the red glow emanating from the talisman paper and felt a sense of relief in his heart. The Soul Separation spell had not taken effect, which was a very serious matter. If things went wrong, the backlash from the spell could cost him his life. At this point, he didn't even have the chance to regret it, so he steeled himself and continued on. Initially, he thought it was because his spiritual power was insufficient, so without hesitation, he pierced his own fingers and dripped blood onto the candle.

  But even with his own blood added, it still didn't work. After trying several times, his fingers were all pricked and sore, but to no avail. This time, he realized that the problem wasn't with his own abilities, but rather with Lin Hao's body, or more specifically, the reincarnation eye on him. He ran over to take a look, and the angrily staring eyes made Jin De's heart skip a beat, as an ominous feeling rose up from within.

  To be honest, he really wanted to throw in the towel and quit, as things were going to end in disaster if they continued like this. However, it wasn't that simple for him to just up and leave now. Long Batian was right next to him, eyeing him with an extremely impatient expression. Long Batian's personality was all too familiar to Jin De - back in the day, he had been a hot-headed young man who only knew how to shout and fight, with a murderous aura that was simply terrifying. It wasn't until his older brother died that he toned down a lot, but whenever it came to matters involving the three brothers, Jin De believed that Long Batian would once again become a harbinger of doom.

  So he had to grit his teeth and continue, reluctantly starting to inspect the various instruments while secretly opening his heavenly eye to check Lin Hao's soul state. This didn't seem like a big deal at first, but as soon as he took a look, he was startled again, because under the heavenly eye, Lin Hao no longer had a soul; all he saw was an eye, and it was identical to the one on his own hand.

  He was so scared that he almost threw away the candles in his hand, rubbed his eyes and looked again, fortunately, his soul returned, and the spell continued.

  "Hong" slowly drew out Lin Hao's soul, but before it could pass through the talisman paper person into the red line and to Li Qinglong, the talisman paper person suddenly exploded.

  The paper man burst open like a sun, and under its radiant light, everyone fell silent and fainted.