For a moment, the mausoleum was filled only with the wailing of the ghostly general and the uncontrollable chanting he kept uttering. Both me and Old Gong maintained a certain distance from him, not getting too close.
He appeared to have become a vortex in the center of his body, still contracting constantly, and the human skin scroll became even thicker.
"Om! Ah! Moo!"
The general ghost's face was fierce and menacing. After growling these three words, he instantly disappeared completely into the scroll of human skin!
At that time, the Abbot relied on this technique to confront Xinbo in mid-air. Both were living manifestations of the divine, demonstrating their formidable strength.
The general ghost, having fallen a level due to the destruction of feng shui, lacked the ability to resist and was directly subdued.
The scroll lay quietly on the ground, motionless.
For a moment, I hesitated to touch it.
Quiet, so quiet that you could hear the sound of a needle falling.
Old Gong's eyes rolled around wildly, but he didn't utter a word.
This silence lasted for about five to six minutes until I approached and picked up the scroll of human skin. This time, the scroll was tightly contracted and could no longer be opened.
"He can hold it, but he can't destroy it. Even though he has been demoted, this ghost thing has always been a highly accomplished spirit ghost." Old Gong said cryptically, "Old Abbot Agon is waiting for me here."
Although I didn't say or do much, Old Gong still noticed that the scroll might be affecting him.
That lingering dread persisted unabated.
"Don't take this thing away; if you do, the other parts of the soul will have to chase after us and confront us. Just leave it here," Old Gong said to me.
It was only then that I threw the scroll of human skin back onto the ground.
Old Gong still stared at the ground, remaining silent for a while longer.
I turned my head to look in the direction of the coffin.
The headless general corpse stood quietly, and the thin, white gas threads that extended from his body continued to penetrate the bodies of the martial monks and Jinshu.
I wasn't sure if he had any residual souls on him, but even if he did, it seemed his goal was simply to maintain the dragon vein of General Mountain.
Stepping a few steps forward, I reached in front of Jinshu and pressed my fingers against the side of his neck, feeling a strong pulse.
I inspected the other martial monks, and they were all the same.
"These undead men who didn't die have spirit energy seeping into their bodies. Although it has been vented out, it continues to flow in, and they won't die even after several months; it could take them three to five years. They will only die when the spirit energy within these feathered corpses is completely expended, or by accident, the earth dragon rolls and repairs the dragon vein, and they either die along with this dragon vein or break free." Old Gong finally spoke again.
"Have you thought of a way?" I asked in a hoarse voice.
Old Gong fell silent again.
"At least, we have to take Jinshu with us." I spoke up again after a moment of silence.
"Sir, this isn't about lowering your standards. Unless there's a path here that allows us to leave unobstructed, in a few minutes, or even ten or fifteen minutes, otherwise you can't say anything about taking Jinshu with you. Even if you want to take his head away, that's not possible," Old Gong shook his head, his expression one of bitterness.
"You must have a way, there must be," I said this sentence, and the silence in the mausoleum resumed.
Old Gong moved away from my shoulder, regaining the use of his limbs. He looked at the coffin, at Jinshu and the martial monks, slowly circling around.
I slightly lifted my head to look at the air vent from which we had entered.
An idea suddenly occurred to me, but I suppressed it immediately.
This method won't work. Once carried out, it's no different from not scrupulously adhering to means and ends.
Moreover, the screams from before indicated that another part of the general ghost had encountered people above. Based on their strength, they might have suffered a complete defeat.
Fortunately, that part of the general ghost didn't come down, otherwise it would have been another fierce battle, and I have no idea how to resolve it.
It might have been ten minutes, or maybe half an hour. Old Gong sat down on the ground abruptly, tapping his fingers against his teeth.
"It's hard for a skilled person to accomplish something without the necessary means. Moreover, this isn't something that can be replaced by simply changing people. Even if the people above didn't all die, they cannot replace these bald-headed monks, as their vitality is strong and they haven't achieved enlightenment. At the end of the day, this is General Mountain's opportunity, and it will continue to maintain the continuous flow of dragon veins like this."
"If we break it off, from a causal point of view, we would also cut the dragon, as the outcome is uncertain and we don't know if he will be drained completely or if there will be a land dragon rolling here. The former would result in retribution for those who caused the mountain to explode, while the latter means that his fate is better and his karma is greater. If you two terminate this lineage, it means that the last breath of this dragon vein was destroyed by you, resulting in a tremendous divine retribution and bringing calamities upon yourselves!"
"They deserve it; that's the truth, sir. Man should not fight against heaven. Let's go."
"Once again, Old Gong advises me."
I could feel that Old Gong was genuinely at a loss.
If there was a way, he would definitely say, "The thief doesn't leave empty-handed."
I vaguely remember that he mentioned something about "corpse dan" during his conversation with Wu Jinluan. He also said that Ding RuiPo didn't have it because she hadn't reached enlightenment for long enough.
The general corpse is certain to have enough, and if there's an opportunity, Old Gong will definitely take away that so-called dan.
Now is not the time to act. It's impossible to take it anymore.
In fact, as long as it can save people, I can bear the retribution.
In fact, what they are doing is actually helping me. If my life has to be put here, I should bear the retribution and help them. It's not fair to just use them like this.
However, it's really like a clever woman can't make food without rice...
Just then, a rustling sound suddenly echoed, coming from one of the air vents - someone was climbing down!
My heart slightly jumped, and I looked over at the direction of the sound.
This vent is not the one we came down through! It's another one!
Are there others?
Old Gong also looked up, seeming to be on high alert.
I quickly returned to the position where I had previously pierced Gao Tian's sword, kicked my legs against the ground, and pulled it out hard!
I felt a bit tired, but I wasn't at my limit yet.
A person suddenly popped out of the air vent, fell straight down, and landed with a thud after twisting his body in mid-air. His legs touched the ground.
I instantly felt like I was in the midst of a fierce battle and stared at him intently!
This person wore a bamboo hat, his lower half of the face covered by a mask, and he was dressed in white robes.
The rustling sound didn't stop, but kept on coming, and actually, four more people came down one after another, making a total of five!
These hat-wearing Taoists have been following me all along?
I truly believed they had run away, after all, three of them had died under the hands of me and Old Gong, with a significant loss of manpower, which was extremely heavy.
Moreover, their combined strength was not as great as ours.
The coldness intensified, fortunately, they were following me. If they were targeting the Hajia family, there would be more trouble and danger. In certain situations, their combined strength would surpass that of Ji Kui.
"It's like being struck by lightning in a downpour. Losing three of my fellow monks and brothers, I can't return to report. They're here to kill you, old man." Old Gong instantly returned to my shoulder, leaving only his head there, looking particularly fierce. A faint grey-purple ghost mist began to swirl around him.
