vrcanaries Chapter 135 Chaos
Chapter 135 Chaos
Liu Qingyuan was indeed deceiving Li Huaiwen. Putting aside whether he had the ability to "save people," Li Huaiwen was a person who had committed great sins in this world, and no matter how much he intervened, he could not possibly get involved here.
I'm saying all this just to get the other person to cooperate. This person's mental state isn't good right now, and I need to calm them down before I can ask them questions properly.
According to the customs of the underworld, if the other party does not cooperate, they can be tortured directly. If Liu Qingyuan is in a hurry, the ghost messengers do not mind helping to go through the procedures. However, the visual impact of the torture instruments in the underworld is too great, and Liu Qingyuan does not want to witness it with his own eyes.
He didn't want to see the other person being forcibly sawed in half, and then having to continue questioning Li Huaiwen, who had turned into a "丿＼" shape. That scene was too bizarre, and he felt it would become a nightmare for a long time.
Hearing that Li Huaiwen wanted to be "extradited," Liu Qingyuan went along with his words and fooled him. Anyway, he said he "could consider it," and the final result and interpretation would be up to him after consideration, so it wasn't just empty promises.
So Liu Qingyuan brought up his Buddhist friend and told Li Huaiwen that as long as he cooperated with the following questions and answered truthfully, he could get the liberation he wanted. Jingtao, who was standing next to him, chose to join in the deception.
Please, Jingtao is a master of strategy. Wise men have so little conscience; they save it for their loved ones and don't care about the victims.
Moreover, Li Huaiwen is indeed difficult to communicate with in his current state; he is terrified and it's unclear what he has been through.
Where was he before we looked for him?
Taking advantage of the moment when Jingtao Jun was on top, Liu Qingyuan dutifully asked the child next to him that before coming here, Li Huaiwen was still being tortured in hell. It was only because the underworld knew that he was looking for someone that they took him out again for him to use.
"I am not sure."
Then, this little boy, who looked to be under ten years old and had an innocent appearance, started counting on his fingers and said some very scary things.
"However, according to what I've heard, given the severity of this person's crimes, he should be punished by being sent to the Hell of Tongue-Pulling, the Hell of Retribution, the Hell of Copper Pillars, the Hell of Knives, and the Hell of Boiling Oil..."
"Okay, that's enough, I understand."
Liu Qingyuan felt a chill run down her spine and quickly ordered someone to stop. Li Huaiwen was the leader of the Sanbao Sect. From the moment he began planning his rebellion and recruiting soldiers, all sorts of sins followed, each step bringing disaster to the people. It was no surprise that he was sentenced to so many levels of hell.
Considering the execution scenes in each level of hell, it's no surprise that Li Huaiwen was driven insane by fear.
After a barrage of empty promises, Li Huaiwen finally stopped muttering things like "relief" and "I was wrong" and began to cooperate with the interrogation.
The Sanbao Sect got its name because it was led by three people who were equals and handled all kinds of affairs together. They even took in and taught disciples together. According to the people involved, this was an imitation of the Oath of the Peach Garden, where "they slept in the same bed and were as close as brothers."
Liu Qingyuan: The Three Treasures of Buddhism, the three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang, how much have you three borrowed? Li Huaiwen, have you used all your knowledge from your studies here?
Oh right, of the three White Lotus Cult leaders, one was captured by an illegal time traveler, and the other two turned into a zombie and a demon, respectively. Li Huaiwen was the headless zombie at the City God Temple, and the other demon had long since gone insane and couldn't be extracted from him.
Why are we being questioned again in the underworld when we already asked once at the City God Temple? This is related to another evil spirit, but the City God's underlings simply pulled the evil spirit out without cleaning up the effects of the evil spirit's possession on the host.
Although Li Huaiwen became a zombie by mistake, his level and strength were very low. After being possessed by his colleague who had turned into an evil spirit, his consciousness was directly suppressed by the other party, his body ownership was given to the other party, and his own will was also affected by the evil energy.
In summary, this person was even influenced by evil spirits and was still in a state of memory confusion in the City God Temple. It wasn't until he was sent to the underworld that his soul truly awakened, and naturally, more information could be extracted from him.
"Let me confirm again, there are no women among your apprentices, right?"
"No, you wouldn't see any women at that time."
Li Huaiwen shook his head honestly. Given the situation back then, with droughts and famines, cults and rebellions, women who could survive simply couldn't leave their homes, let alone voluntarily go to a cult leader to become his disciple.
"You don't know them either?"
A water curtain formed in mid-air, revealing the faces of Lan Ying and Yi Yang. Of the four illegal transmigrators, only two looked human; the other two were too abstract to be used as a reference.
"do not know."
I don't recognize either of them, but we can't rule out the possibility that they've changed their appearance.
"Then who taught you this method of refining corpses to seek immortality?"
The book that Shuangxiu found, Liu Qingyuan had already read, as had others. The methods and principles recorded in it were completely invalid according to the laws of this world. If you really followed the steps in the book, you would not get any results in the end.
Of course, this analysis has been done by professionals. People like Li Huaiwen, who have taken the wrong path, cannot see the problem. They will only think that the method is weird, but they will not think that it is unusable.
If someone joins a cult, practices evil arts, and commits murder, arson, and rebellion, and succeeds in all of these, then even the most wicked method is worth trying.
But as the saying goes, "try it and you'll die." Sure enough, not only was he used as a pawn, but he also unwittingly became the corpse that was refined.
The zombie that Li Huaiwen became was not born according to the original laws of this world. It is very likely that someone used the method in the book. Although theoretically this evil method cannot create a zombie, when it comes to actually doing it, isn't there a system that can cheat?
"Yes... he is one of my apprentices."
Li Huaiwen carefully recalled that he was beheaded in life and his corpse was refined after death. After a hundred years of living in a daze, he was possessed and controlled by his colleague who had become an evil ghost. His consciousness was tormented, and his past memories became blurred. Even with the nourishment of the Yin energy of the underworld, he lost many details of his past.
For example, he knew that the method was given to him by his apprentice, who said it was found in a tomb. At that time, the Sanbao Sect was in a hurry to accumulate funds, and he had done a lot of tomb raiding work. In a world with gods and monsters, it was not surprising that others could find treasures that had never been seen in the world from some hidden tombs.
But Li Huaiwen couldn't remember which tomb it came from or why it was brought up in the first place. Also, because the original appearances and identities of the two disciples who could be confirmed as illegal transmigrators had long been invalidated, Liu Qingyuan didn't ask him which disciple they were.
However, Liu Qingyuan didn't ask, but Li Huaiwen spoke first.
"By the way, one of our apprentices is incredibly talented, learns quickly, and is very young. That little bastard ran away later. It must be him... he must have plotted against me!"
Li Huaiwen remembered that among his former apprentices was a young man with exceptional talent who could learn many things very quickly. Li Huaiwen was very fond of this young apprentice.
It is said that he was once educated, but unfortunately he was born in the wrong era. His family could not afford to send him to school, and although he had the ambition to govern the country, he never had the opportunity.
At that time, the Three Jewels Sect was recruiting followers, and its mission was to save the world and help people. That boy, who was only a teenager, came over, became a disciple, and became a Dharma Master.
“He betrayed us and let the human sacrifice escape. We haven’t heard from him since. Of the three apprentices in charge of researching immortality, I chose him. He knows everything. He must have been the one who plotted against us!”
The Three Treasures Sect has three leaders, each with a highly valued disciple. When they planned to research the art of immortality, they all brought their most valued disciples along.
While Li Huaiwen was accusing his former disciples of deserting, Liu Qingyuan and Jingtaojun couldn't help but exchange a glance. The other party's description sounded exactly like that of the mural creator who left the Sanbao Sect and left behind a lot of clues and information for later generations.
The old monk's appearance was based on that painter, but when the painter was murdered, he already looked like an old man. This was because several decades had passed since the painter left the Sanbao Sect. Even if he were asked to look like a monk now, Li Huaiwen would definitely not recognize him.
"What's your little apprentice's name?"
"His...his name is..."
"Zhou Nian, right?"
Zhou Nian is the name of the painter that the old monk told Jian Feidao and Meng Danqing about their past.
"Yes! It's him! It's definitely him..."
"Okay, next question."
Interrupting Li Huaiwen's impending hysteria, Liu Qingyuan and Jingtao continued asking questions.
……
In Changqing County, Jian Feidao and Ren Pingsheng returned to the Snake Cave. This time, they did not go inside, but instead searched for traces of the seal along the surrounding environment.
"The seal roughly covers these points, somewhat resembling the Bagua (Eight Trigrams)..."
Following the monks' directions, they found the Buddha statue that had been knocked over by the workers. The bottom of the statue was stuck in the ground, confirming that it was indeed part of the seal.
Following this clue, they found the locations of several other Buddha statues and roughly described the scope and shape of the seal. It was quite large and very precise, with this shape... the form of a Bagua diagram, using Buddha statues as the fixed point of the formation. What kind of genius came up with this?
"A Taoist magic array, a Buddhist ritual implement, and it even absorbed the spiritual energy from the ground... What a talent!"
What a gathering of talents! What kind of people could pull off such a feat? Ren Pingsheng was becoming increasingly curious.
The well inside the cave didn't seem to be a temporary structure. From the remaining parts at the wellhead, it was clear that the well was designed as a proper well for drawing water. But who would dig a well inside a cave? Based on the surrounding geography, this place wasn't suitable for drilling a well either.
The cave was teeming with snakes, preventing the two from entering and thus making it impossible to approach the well for observation. The giant snakes inside could completely block the well opening with just their heads, making it impossible to see anything from a distance.
There's also the giant snake in the well. The well opening itself is very large, with an inner diameter of at least one meter. The diameter of the snake's head is at least half a meter. Based on the proportion of the snake's head, the giant snake inside must be at least twenty meters long.
How big must the space at the bottom of the well be to support such a huge snake? Besides this giant snake, there are countless smaller snakes going in and out. The two suspect that the bottom of the well has long been hollowed out, and there may be an even larger snake den inside.
Fortunately, the seal was only broken in one place. If the seal had been completely destroyed, thousands of venomous snakes would have escaped, and the entire population of Changqing County would have been in danger.
"It's a combination of Buddhism and Taoism, the formation is indeed intricate, but it's also difficult to repair. Why don't we ask the String Master to come and take a look?"
Ren Pingsheng looked at the Buddha statue in his hand. The person who made the array probably designed it so complicatedly because he was afraid that one day the snake cave's protective covering would break and the snakes inside would run out and harm people. So he created such a complex array that combined multiple elements.
The effect is very good, with one link leading to another. The snakes in the cave cannot escape, but for those who want to repair it later, the repair is also very difficult. I don't understand the logic of the creator.
Changqing County is in Shandong, as is Laoshan Mountain. Cangshan is the closest to them, making it very convenient to come over. Moreover, he is considered an expert in sealing formations, so the British sent him to handle this complex array.
Even if Cang comes over, he might bring Taoist priests from Laoshan with him. The prestige of Laoshan Taoist priests is self-evident... Speaking of Taoist priests, where did Master Li go? He said he went to help his junior brother, but how come he just disappeared?
"By the way, hasn't Master Li been helping for too long?"
Meng Danqing's appearance was so shocking, and what happened afterward was also shocking. In the end, everyone started to play conspiracy theories and forgot about Master Li's matter.
There's been no news for so long, could something have happened?
Given Master Li's character, even if he didn't return after helping his fellow disciples, he would definitely send them a message explaining the situation. However, these days, they have only received messages from Xiantianren, not from Master Li.
...Did something really go wrong?
"It's getting late, let's head back to the temple."
Currently, the two are still living in the temple, mainly because they are afraid that there will be another accident in the snake pit behind the mountain. Snakes can bite people all the time, and only the two of them can help each other.
The temple is bustling with activity now, because a master who has been resurrected has found time to reunite with his disciples and continue his practice in the temple.
This decision was perfectly normal for the monk, but in the eyes of the original owner of this body—that spoiled brat's servant—it was not only abnormal, it was utterly devastating.
From their perspective, ever since their young master narrowly escaped death at the hunting grounds, he has stopped eating delicacies, wearing fine silks and satins, and even refusing to touch his beautiful wives and concubines. In the end, he went to a small temple for a visit and decided to become a monk on the spot.
It's like being possessed, but I've only ever heard of people becoming crazy when they're possessed, I've never heard of someone suddenly becoming a monk... No, that kind of behavior is pretty crazy too, suddenly converting to Buddhism without a word.
Therefore, the temple is currently very lively. The news that their young master wants to become a monk and not return home quickly spread back home. His family members certainly disagreed. Servants tried to persuade him, and messengers sent messages to persuade him. It was also clear that his original parents would come to persuade him. In short, it was very lively, so lively that it was somewhat frightening.
"Let's go back and ask if the string player can come. Master Li... let's write a letter to ask him too. If something unexpected happens, then we'll go and help."
Given Master Li's cultivation level, nothing unexpected should happen to him. However, because of what the White Lotus Sect did, all sorts of demons are very angry now, and there is a possibility that Master Li and his fellow disciples will be affected.
Write a letter first to test the waters. If there's no reply, then something's wrong.