"No... there is no. Just, the river water is indeed very difficult..."
Each word and sentence from Mao San speaks to the point.
"I am indeed facing problems, without hiding, I lay everything bare with Mao San."
"That's not your problem, it's Lao Gong's problem," Mao San said in even simpler words.
Lao Gong's problem?
"I looked at Lao Gong with a glance, and he was still turning his head to one side, his eyes were twinkling."
In that moment, his eyeballs were frozen in place, as if stiffened.
"As for the talisman you wish to place on the ghostly corpse, the Taoist talismans are much more effective than the Yin-Yang arts; make your own choice."
"There's a new person who has arrived in the underworld these days. I think he's very promising, let's not waste time talking, boy."
After that, Mao San hung up the phone.
The night wind grew stronger, blowing the trees creaking, the rustling of the leaves heavier, as if countless hands were pulling and flailing at those branches.
"He has someone else already." Lao Gong looked serious as if it were a matter of fact.
"I don't want you to change the subject." My brow furrowed slightly.
Lao Gong, however, looked glum: "Sir, it's unworkable... The river water is raging and turbulent due to the energy surge. To stop the river flow, we have to briefly interrupt the energy flow upstream. This means we must find a cave entrance upstream."
"You're not the master, you don't have a stabilizing object, and you can't draw talismans..."
"Oh... stabilizing object... talismans..."
Lao Gong tilted his head, a look of contemplation in his eyes.
"Sir, may I have a look at the broken mirror?"
Lao Gong was shocked and surprised. The broken mirror he referred to, was it the Four-Principles Mirror?
Otherwise, I don't have anything else on me.
From the closest inner pouch, he extracted the damaged Four-Principles Mirror.
As for the lightning-struck persimmon wood that I obtained in Jiang Huang City last time, I handed it over to Huayan when I left the city.
Even though she left without saying goodbye now, by the time I have everything I need, leave the Four Rules Mountain, contact her, or go find her, it will be much more convenient for me.
Lao Gong's eyes kept darting around, then he suddenly said, "Sir, you must be careful. Once this thing is inside, it won't be easy to take it out."
"What do you mean?" My brow tightened immediately.
"Good mirror, when it's whole, is a definite stabilizing object. Although it's broken, being broken has its own use. I possess your body, draw a stabilizing symbol on the back of it, place it at an upstream cave entrance, absorb the incoming energy surge, and do you remember the old Taoist under the cliff?"
"You beat his head to pieces, but it grew back," Lao Gong reminded me.
"I nodded, indicating that I remembered."
Only then did Lao Gong tell me that the point under Leishen Cliff is also one of the cave entrances.
The body of that so-called Taoist, nurtured by the divine power, is continuously absorbing the vital energy.
If there are no accidents, the broken mirror also has this effect. Moreover, because it is damaged, it is difficult to make it whole again. When vital energy is absorbed into it, it will spread everywhere, causing the terrain at Niutianshi Village to be disrupted. If vital energy spreads upstream, it will not reach the cave entrance and thus will not reach the gap in the rock, causing the river water to lose its momentum and become still.
Lao Gong's explanation was too profound, and I could understand the surface meaning but was not aware of its inner connotations.
However, understanding the surface meaning is enough for now.
Just... once it is inserted, it cannot be removed?
For a moment, this made me hesitate.
Although the mirror is broken, it is still a Four Principles Mirror, and to discard it completely is a very difficult decision to make.
I was silent for at least eight minutes before I muttered, "Come on."
Lao Gong kept licking his lips. His head suddenly disappeared, and I only felt a coldness that took over all my limbs and muscles. Then, two hands started feeling around my chest.
Even though Lao Gong was just looking for something normally, the thought of him possessing Liang Yu before and the unseemly behavior of that Gu sister still made me feel uncomfortable inside.
"Brushes and ink... hmm, no brushes..." Lao Gong sighed in frustration.
At this moment, my body was out of control while my heart skipped a beat.
In the past, I always carried brushes, ink, and inkstone with me; they were things that were always ready for drawing talismans.
Just before that at the Thunder God Cliff, all those items fell out of my backpack.
In the next second, I suddenly tugged a piece of the half-meter long whisker from the broom hanging on my waist. Then, I bit my finger and squeezed the blood onto the whisker.
The palm kept transmitting a scorching sensation, as if Lao Gong was being poked by a magical implement, which was extremely uncomfortable.
Later, I placed the two pieces of Four-Principles Mirrors on the ground and pieced them together into a whole.
I quickly drew a complete symbol on the joined mirror surface with that dust strand.
As the talisman took shape, my body shuddered violently, and Lao Gong's head landed with a clatter on the ground. His head was steaming and there were burn marks on his face.
My hand is okay, there are no injuries.
"It's still me," Lao Gong murmured, leaping onto my shoulder.
"Pick it up, sir," he glanced at the Four-Principles Mirror.
After I picked up the mirror, the talisman became two halves.
The mirror was originally like this, pieced together, and the symbol was complete.
Lao Gong had no objections, just muttering to himself as if analyzing something.
Soon, Lao Gong indicated for me to walk in a certain direction.
At first, we were still on the hillside. As we walked further, we gradually returned to the foot of the mountain.
The foot of the mountain is far from Niutianshi Village, and we followed the riverbank, heading deep into the area between the two mountains.
Lao Gong didn't call for a stop, so I didn't stop my steps.
In fact, the broken Four-Principles Mirror has only one symbolic meaning for me.
The True Mirror Master fears the real mirror, but upon seeing the broken one, what he holds in his hand becomes genuine.
Keeping this thing on me doesn't bring too much benefit.
Especially the lighting wood and copper, which have lost their effects and can only be replaced with new ones.
Just that I hadn't thought that even though it was damaged to this extent, it still gave me help at this crucial moment.
Saving one life, allowing me to complete the Four Rules Mountain experience and integrate into it...
By chance, it seems to be a fated item, as if helping me but actually... If I root out the external demons of the Four Rules Mountain, it is equivalent to helping the mountain?
Thinking of this, my heartbeat seemed to flutter, as if I had thought of something.
But that thing is unpredictable and fickle, and has already vanished.
"Sir, this is it!" Lao Gong yelled sharply.
I came to my senses and stopped.
The scene before me made my heart accelerate quite a bit.
The gorge river here has become extremely wide, and the roaring sounds come from about 15 meters away, a vertical waterfall.
It's called a waterfall, but in reality, the place is only about 5 to 6 meters high, like a water level fault.
The top can be seen to be extremely calm, like a river overflowing without end.
It's exactly the water that flows out, swirling and fierce.
No, the water stream is not just one; on the right side, at the foot of the mountain, there's a hole about 7 to 8 meters in size. The surging water gushes out from there, joining with the river water pouring down from the waterfall, becoming even more swirling as it rushes downstream.
If I walk a few more steps forward, I'll get caught up in the water.
"The water from the sand dragon is the water of the ghost dragon. The qi from the sand mountain is more important here. This is the first fengshui formation. Sir, do you see that?"
Lao Gong's eyes were squinting, and then I saw a pointed stone where the two streams of water converged.
"Jump up there, dig a hole with your copper stick, put the broken mirror inside, and it will be done!"
