dognovel Chapter 921 Cooperation
Chapter 921 Cooperation
Su Yan's fingers pinched the letter paper, which was slightly wrinkled due to repeated rubbing. The candlelight jumped on the letter, making the words "destroy the world" and "eternal damnation" flicker. In the main hall of the Dali Temple, Chen Shaoqing paced back and forth. The sound of his official boots on the blue bricks and the sound of the clock were intertwined, which was particularly clear in the silent night. "Gather the elite and set off at yin time tomorrow." Chen Shaoqing suddenly stopped, his eyes flashing with determination, "But this trip is a life-threatening one, and we must be fully prepared." He turned around and took out a sandalwood box from the depths of the bookshelf. Ten gold-painted talismans were neatly placed inside, and the cinnabar handwriting on the talismans was glowing. "This is the exorcism talisman that I asked the Taoist priest of Zhongnan Mountain to draw overnight. It may come in handy at a critical moment." The next morning, before the gates of Chang'an were opened, twenty yamen runners in black armor had gathered in front of the Dali Temple. The sabers on their waists shone coldly in the morning light, and the quivers on their backs were filled with poisoned arrows. Su Yan distributed the exorcism talismans to everyone, and his eyes swept across every young and resolute face: "This time in the tomb, life and death are unpredictable. If anyone retreats, you can leave now." After the voice fell, only the sound of the cold wind passing through the flags was heard, and no one moved a step. According to the records in ancient books and the clues of the Wuchang Temple, everyone found the entrance to the ancient tomb under a cliff in Zhongnan Mountain in the south of the city. The entrance was blocked by a huge bluestone slab, which was engraved with hideous animal face patterns. A dark red gem was embedded in the pupil of each animal, which glowed with strange blood in the sun. Su Yan and several yamen runners worked together to push the mechanism, and the bluestone slab slowly rose. A fishy and rotten smell came to their faces, as if opening the door to hell. The tomb passage was pitch black, and Su Yan lit a torch, and the dim light illuminated the surroundings. The walls were painted with colorful murals depicting bizarre sacrificial scenes: priests wearing high crowns danced around the bronze tripod, and the smoke rising from the tripod turned into distorted human faces. "Be careful!" Chen Shaoqing suddenly shouted, and before he finished speaking, dozens of hidden arrows shot out from the holes on both sides of the wall. The yamen runners reacted quickly and immediately raised their shields to block. The arrows hit the shields and made a "ding-dong" sound, and sparks flew. Everyone continued to move forward cautiously. Suddenly, a winding thin line appeared on the ground, shining with a metallic luster under the torch. Su Yan frowned, remembering the record in ancient books that "if you meet the line, you will fall into it", and hurriedly signaled everyone to stop. He untied the long rope from his waist, tied it to a stone pillar beside him, held the other end in his hand, and slowly reached to the ground. When the rope touched the thin line, the ground collapsed, revealing a bottomless trap, which was full of sharp bamboo thorns and still had white bones left on it. After passing through the tomb passage, everyone came to a huge bronze door. The door was engraved with dense runes, and a circular groove was inlaid in the center, which was exactly the same as the pattern on the altar of the Impermanence Temple. Su Yan took out the bronze key seized from the black-robed man and inserted it into the groove with trembling hands. With a "click", the bronze door slowly opened, and a faint hum came from behind the door, as if countless wronged souls were crying. Inside the door was a huge circular tomb. The dome was painted with a star map, but the positions of the twenty-eight constellations were contrary to common sense. In the center of the tomb, a three-story bronze tripod exuded a faint blue light. In the light, a black shadow was looming, pulsating slowly with the rhythm of light and darkness. The body of the tripod was engraved with strange inscriptions. Su Yan took a closer look and found that those inscriptions were moving like living things, piecing together a series of tragic war scenes: the city was shrouded in black fog, the people turned into bones, and the people of the Netherworld Cult danced wildly in the black fog. "That's it!" Su Yan shouted and rushed towards the bronze tripod. At this moment, the black shadow suddenly turned into a human form, and it was the mysterious old man in gray. The old man's face looked increasingly gloomy in the dim blue light, his eyes flashing with madness and despair: "You shouldn't have come!" The old man's voice echoed in the tomb, making everyone's eardrums hurt. "Twenty years ago, we accidentally triggered the mechanism and released the Soul Devouring Demon that had been sealed for a thousand years. In order to trap it, we established the Netherworld Sect, sacrificed blood, and suppressed it with evil magic. But as time went by, the power of suppression gradually weakened. We can only keep looking for those who participated in the tomb robbery and use their lives to extend the seal!" Chen Shaoqing clenched the sword in his hand and shouted angrily: "Then we shouldn't kill innocent people!" The old man laughed bitterly, his voice full of sadness: "Innocent? Back then, they did not hesitate to kill the gravekeepers for the treasure, and their methods were as cruel as the Soul Devouring Demon! But it's too late to say these now, the demon is about to break through the last seal, and the whole Chang'an will become a purgatory on earth!" Before he finished speaking, the bronze tripod suddenly vibrated violently, the dim blue light became stronger, and a huge black shadow slowly rose from the tripod. The shadow was human-like, but without facial features. It was surrounded by black mist, and countless slender tentacles extended from the mist from time to time. At the end of each tentacle was a distorted human face, which made a shrill scream. The Soul Devourer let out a deafening roar, and the stones on the top of the tomb fell one after another, shaking everyone to the ground. "Use the exorcism talisman!" Su Yan shouted. The yamen runners quickly took out the talisman, which burned in their hands and emitted a golden light. However, the Soul Devourer seemed to be immune to the talisman. It waved its hand and a black air wave swept over. Several yamen runners were unable to dodge and were hit by the air wave in an instant. Their bodies quickly shrank and turned into dry bones. Su Yan and the old man looked at each other and rushed towards the Soul Devourer at the same time. The old man waved the peach wood sword in his hand. The runes engraved on the sword body flashed red light, and each sword accurately stabbed the vitals of the Soul Devourer. Su Yan cooperated on the side, his saber stained with cinnabar, and he kept slashing at the Soul Devourer's tentacles. The battle was extremely fierce, and the tomb was full of splattered black blood and broken tentacles. During the fierce battle, Su Yan found that every time the Soul Devourer attacked, a faint red light would light up at the bottom of the bronze tripod. He was moved and realized that this might be the Soul Devourer's weakness. But at this time, the Soul Devourer was already crazy. It opened its bloody mouth and sprayed a cloud of black poisonous mist at everyone. Wherever the poisonous mist went, a huge pit was corroded in the ground in an instant. "I'll lead it away!" The old man shouted and rushed towards the Soul Devourer. He poured all his strength into the peach wood sword, and the sword body emitted a dazzling light, piercing the Soul Devourer's chest. The Soul Devourer felt pain and concentrated all his attacks on the old man. Su Yan took the opportunity to go around the back of the bronze tripod, looked at the faint red light at the bottom of the tripod, took a deep breath, and jumped. His saber fiercely plunged into the gap at the bottom of the tripod. The huge recoil force caused his palm to crack, and blood flowed down the handle of the saber. "Break it for me!"