Chapter 1551: Opening the Seal

Zhao Xiongge said, "Isn't this all thanks to you?"

"Me?" Lü Wushuang did not understand. "What does it have to do with me?"

Zhao Xiongge gave Yuan Gang a sidelong glance. "Seeing the two of you, I finally understand what they mean when they say enemies meet on a narrow road. Truly, if you weren't destined adversaries, you wouldn't have come together. Before your husband was tortured half to death by you in the Sacred Realm, Wu Chang had no idea what the true secret method for refining Crow Generals was. His old half-baked method naturally wasn't good enough. But to save your husband, we took out the genuine refinement method and exchanged it with him. Tell me, what do you call that?"

What story was this? Shang Shuqing looked from one person to another. Of everyone here, she knew the least, having heard at most a few vague rumors.

Lü Wushuang understood. She could recognize the trouble she had once caused this side, though naturally she glossed over that. "So Wu Chang only refined them recently. No wonder that bastard stayed in Qi. It was because of Xianyin Mountain." Then she suddenly asked Zhao Xiongge, "Since you had the refinement method all along, why didn't you refine them yourself?"

Zhao Xiongge lifted his chin. "Someone already refined them. Why would I waste the effort? Besides, I didn't even know where this place was. Where was I supposed to refine them? You know as well as I do that Xianyin Mountain couldn't have been hidden from all of you. And Wu Chang kept his eyes on me for years because he wanted this secret method. Even if I'd wanted to refine them, I never had that much freedom or opportunity."

Not to mention that he had never wanted to do so back then. Even if he had, he did not possess the necessary resources.

Lü Wushuang said, "You mentioned Dong Guo Haoran earlier. In other words, Dong Guo Haoran obtained the Crow General refinement method from you?"

Zhao Xiongge neither confirmed nor denied it.

Shang Shuqing understood now. So this man had been the source.

Lü Wushuang snorted. "Shangqing Sect. Every last one of you from the Shangqing Sect has more nerve than sense." When she noticed Yuan Gang turn his head to look at her, her tone immediately softened into a faint hum, and she stopped talking.

Niu Youdao did not waste any more time. Using his sword one-handed like a walking staff, he started down the steps. Yun Ji protected Shang Shuqing and followed.

Zhao Xiongge had just started after them when a pained sound came from Lü Wushuang behind him. Everyone turned and saw Yuan Gang setting her down from his back.

Yuan Gang had plainly thought that now the place was brightly lit and easy to walk through, there should be no problem letting her walk on her own. The instant Lü Wushuang was exposed to the dense yin qi, however, she began swaying on her feet, shivering violently with cold.

Yuan Gang immediately caught her before she fell and could not help asking, "What's wrong?"

Niu Youdao looked back and said heavily, "Monkey, either carry her on your back or carry her in your arms. Without your blood qi protecting her body, she can't withstand the yin qi here. It could kill her within moments. If you want her dead, none of us object."

Several of the cultivators present had Dharma Eyes and had naturally noticed the problem long ago. Lü Wushuang's physical body was unusually strong; otherwise the concentrated yin qi would have overwhelmed her and knocked her unconscious on the spot.

Yuan Gang was speechless. Seeing that Master Dao was not joking, he had no choice but to turn and put Lü Wushuang back on his back.

Deliberately using some underhanded trick to kill his own wife was not something he could do.

An ordinary person carrying someone this heavy over such a long distance would have been exhausted long ago. For Yuan Gang, however, carrying one person was clearly nothing. The drain on his strength was probably no greater than an ordinary mortal carrying a stalk of straw.

No one thought he would tire, and no one felt any need to help him. This was, after all, the man who had cut down three Sacred Venerables with his saber.

The moment Lü Wushuang pressed close against Yuan Gang's back, she slowly recovered. His steaming bodily vitality seeped warmth into her, until even her internal organs felt heated. It seemed able to drive out the sinister chill that had already invaded her body.

No matter how she looked at it, Lü Wushuang had only one conclusion: holding on to this man was comfortable.

Those who had turned back to observe with Dharma Eyes also confirmed that Lü Wushuang would be fine. One after another, they muttered inwardly that Monkey's body was bizarre enough. It was even stranger than the sinister qi in this place.

Their Dharma Eyes could see it clearly. Yuan Gang's blood qi repelled baleful influences. In an environment like this, the vital force of his body was naturally radiating outward. It was the classic physique described as impervious to a hundred evils, the sort legends called divine protection.

None of this seemed especially strange anymore to the cultivators present. This was a freak whose severed arm could grow back. Compared with that, blood qi that repelled evil hardly counted for much.

Niu Youdao was once again struck by some unexpected marvel Yuan Gang himself did not even know about. What the hell was Chi You Wufang, anyway? Not everyone could cultivate the same thing successfully, and giving the art to other people was useless. Could it truly be an art handed down by the legendary Chi You?

Weapons stood planted everywhere like a forest. The group followed the narrow paths through them until they reached the center of the vast underground space, close to the great fire pit.

Niu Youdao stopped, turned, and looked directly at Shang Shuqing.

Being stared at so openly made Shang Shuqing a little shy.

Niu Youdao said, "Commandery Princess, time waits for no one. Let's begin unsealing these hundred thousand Crow Generals."

Shang Shuqing bit her lip, then suddenly asked, "Master Dao, may Qing'er ask you something first?"

"Ask."

Shang Shuqing looked around. "Qing'er doesn't understand. I have three elder brothers. Why did Father leave these hundred thousand Crow Generals to Qing'er instead? Master Dao, do you know?"

Niu Youdao said, "Look at the thing that was on your face and you should understand. Your three brothers were already older. If something unusual had suddenly appeared on any of their bodies, it would have been easy to arouse suspicion. You were different. You had just been born, and almost no one had seen you yet."

After speaking, he could not help quietly exchanging a glance with Zhao Xiongge.

Both men had read the Demon Canon and could more or less guess what had happened. The truth was too cruel to tell this woman. Neither wanted her to know that her own father had once done something so ruthless to her.

Just as Zhao Xiongge had once been unwilling to explain it to Niu Youdao, that charlatan Dong Guo Haoran had truly committed a sin, then fabricated a story to cover it up.

They had said Shang Shuqing cried without stopping after she was born. Considering what Dong Guo Haoran had done, how could she possibly not have cried? It was fortunate she had not cried herself to death.

One Crow General meant one needle. A hundred thousand Crow Generals—how many needles had been driven into Shang Shuqing's face?

Even if a cultivator had used a spell to keep her under control, that could only last so long. Once she woke after suffering something like that, of course she would cry.

Naturally, with cultivators using spells to help, it would not have endangered Shang Shuqing's life.

And all that talk of bitterness first and sweetness later—was the "bitterness first" supposed to mean enduring that torment in exchange for command over a hundred thousand Crow Generals?

Shang Shuqing nodded slightly after hearing him, then fell silent for a moment.

She was an intelligent woman. She had simply never felt she had the right to be willful, so she kept her sensitive thoughts hidden rather than showing them. Now she seemed to have guessed something and asked again, "Master Dao, I heard that when Qing'er was first born, I cried and cried without stopping. Was that connected to the refining of these Crow Generals?"

"Uh..." Niu Youdao did not know how to answer. He feared telling the truth might leave resentment in her heart and ruin matters, so he could only muddle through. "That, I don't know. I wasn't there to see it myself."

Sometimes evasion was itself an answer. Shang Shuqing sensed it. Seeing that her question had put him in a difficult position, she hurriedly said, "It's all right. Qing'er was only asking. I was so young then that I didn't know what pain was. It doesn't count as suffering."

Her words left both Niu Youdao and Zhao Xiongge feeling secretly awkward.

Shang Shuqing drew a deep breath, lifted her head, and gathered her courage. Determination filled her eyes. "Master Dao, let's begin. What does Qing'er need to do?"

"Good." Niu Youdao nodded, but first warned her, "Commandery Princess, opening the seal will consume some of your essence, qi, and spirit. You may feel somewhat unwell afterward. It won't cause any major problem, but it will drain some of your vitality."

Shang Shuqing straightened her back and smiled encouragingly at him. "Master Dao, it's all right. Qing'er has been on a battlefield before. I'm not some delicate woman. I can endure it."

Her words brought an old memory back to Niu Youdao.

Not long after Shang Chaozong's party escaped the capital, another group had intercepted them on the road and tried to kill them. To carve out a road to survival, Shang Chaozong had personally taken up his saber and fought. This woman had carried the military standard and followed behind him. Someone cut her across the back, yet she had gritted her teeth without making a sound and followed the charging troops until the very end before finally collapsing.

She truly was someone who could endure pain.

"Good." Niu Youdao smiled and nodded again. He casually pulled three silver needles from his belt, then suddenly moved with blinding speed.

Shang Shuqing only saw a blur. Her face felt as though a dozen mosquitoes had bitten her at once, but there was no serious pain.

Niu Youdao had already put the needles away. He smiled. "Done."

That was all? Shang Shuqing raised a hand toward her face, but Niu Youdao shook his head to stop her. "Don't touch it. Wait."

Shang Shuqing could not see it herself, but everyone else could see more than a dozen beads of blood emerging across her face.

Since Niu Youdao had told her to wait, she obediently stood with her hands still. Yet she could feel that on her burning, swollen face, something seemed to have found a way out. Something seemed to be seeping free.

Something truly was seeping out.

Tiny black specks began floating out through the needle punctures in her face, one after another, more and more of them.

Those with Dharma Eyes could see clearly. Every tiny black speck flew toward one of the Crow Generals arrayed in all directions.

When a black speck reached a Crow General, it settled on its head, seeped through the feathers at the crown, and disappeared inside, as though drawn in together with the yin qi the creature absorbed.

Every Crow General that absorbed one of those black specks convulsed violently as though struck by lightning. One after another, they gave off a rising force—or perhaps a current of wind—that swept toward Shang Shuqing.

The more black specks emerged, the stronger the gathering winds became.

Gradually, Shang Shuqing was actually lifted by the force of the wind.

Yun Ji, who had been protecting her, was startled. She immediately used spiritual power to hold Shang Shuqing down and asked urgently, "What's happening?"

Niu Youdao's expression turned grave. "Let her go."

Yun Ji said, "No. Without protection, her body can't withstand the yin qi here."

Zhao Xiongge said, "Let go! She's the formation eye here. While the formation eye is being activated, the yin qi in this place will be drawn away. It can't reach her."

Yun Ji looked from side to side. It truly did seem so. The gathered whirlwind had already churned the yin qi away from Shang Shuqing. Yun Ji immediately released her.

Shang Shuqing found herself caught in the fierce wind, slowly lifted higher and higher. She had no idea what to do.

Niu Youdao immediately reassured her, "Commandery Princess, don't worry. Nothing will happen. Relax. Don't resist."

[End of Chapter 1551]