Chapter 47 – Evil Pit

It was noon, the time of day when the sun was at its strongest. Yet, with just a single step, Wei Yang felt a chill envelop his body. The warm sunlight seemed to be blocked by something, and the sky within the courtyard darkened slightly. A bone-chilling coldness wrapped around him, and a distant wind tore at the withered plants, as if trying to snatch away their last bit of vitality.

Wei Yang’s throat tightened, and his legs trembled slightly. Although he had seen many photos of the old mansion beforehand, no amount of mental preparation was enough when actually facing such a scene. However, Zhang Xiuqi acted as if he didn’t notice any of it, striding forward boldly. The murky, indistinct aura seemed to be split apart by something sharp, and even the cold wind hesitated in its path.

Behind them, Monk Chizhi sighed, “What a formidable killing blade.”

It was unclear whether he was referring to Zhang Xiuqi or the short knife the Little Celestial Master always carried with him. However, the old monk didn’t elaborate, merely nodding at Wei Yang. “Patron Wei, please work with Master Zhang to set up the formation. This old monk will wait for you in the room next to the study.”

This had been arranged beforehand. Monk Chizhi would guard the possessed Wang Ming, while Wei Yang and Zhang Xiuqi would set up the formation outside to suppress the connection between the earth’s energy and the evil force. At the same time, they would plant the core of the Celestial Star Formation. When the evil force erupted at night, they would harness the power of the celestial stars to completely eradicate the demonic entity.

Wei Yang took a deep breath. “Don’t worry, Master. I’ll stick close to Brother Qi.”

Steadying his nerves, he followed Zhang Xiuqi without hesitation.

Although he hadn’t studied the layout of the mansion beforehand, Zhang Xiuqi moved as if he had lived in this villa for decades. Without needing to check his bearings, he headed straight to the viewing pond behind the building. The pond had once been filled with fish, but now the water was murky, and a pile of dead fish floated belly-up, emitting a faint stench.

Zhang Xiuqi looked up at the distant mountain range and took out three five-inch-long nails from his pocket. He arranged them in a small triangular formation around the pond, with the pointed end facing the distant mountain. As he inserted the last nail into the soil, a gentle breeze stirred the surface of the pond. Soon, a small whirlpool formed in the center of the pond, growing larger and more violent until it began to churn fiercely, as if something was about to leap out of the water.

Zhang Xiuqi suddenly took a step back and flung a handful of dark red powder into the air. This was one of the items Director Sun had provided—red nitre. Like saltpeter, red nitre was a natural nitrate, red in color and dense in texture, with extremely low yields. In Taoism, it was considered even more effective than cinnabar in warding off evil, and it was traditionally used only by royalty and nobility. With someone else footing the bill, they had prepared a considerable amount of red nitre for emergencies.

The red mist spread out, caught by the fierce wind above the pond, and formed a red blade-like gust that plunged into the whirlpool below. As if a chemical reaction had occurred, a loud “boom” echoed, and the water in the pond exploded. A gust of wind swept through the courtyard, causing all the dried branches to creak and groan. However, the wind came and went quickly, and within half a minute, everything returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

Standing behind Zhang Xiuqi, Wei Yang widened his eyes. The small courtyard indeed looked unchanged, but the distant mountain had transformed. The oppressive feeling that had been suffocating him earlier was gone, and a faint mist rose from somewhere, veiling the mountain ridge like a thin curtain, gradually cutting off the connection between the mountain and the villa.

Zhang Xiuqi glanced at the changes in the distant mountain’s shape and then walked around the pond, setting up a few coin formations before turning to leave.

Was the Calamity Dragon dealt with? It didn’t seem as complicated as Monk Chizhi had described earlier. Regardless of his thoughts, Wei Yang didn’t hesitate to follow Zhang Xiuqi closely as they moved around the courtyard. Sometimes they moved a pile of rocks, sometimes uprooted a few withered plants, and sometimes drew ghostly symbols on the concrete ground. After nearly two hours of this, the formation in the courtyard was finally complete.

Wiping the sweat from his face, Wei Yang felt much less fearful now, despite his exhaustion. This whole process wasn’t much different from home renovation. The only unusual occurrence had been at the pond, and after that, there hadn’t been so much as a gust of wind or a single falling leaf. It was as if the courtyard was no longer an evil pit but just an ordinary private residence.

After one last glance at the courtyard, Zhang Xiuqi finally looked away, and the cold glint in his eyes faded, returning to his usual calm and harmless demeanor. Wei Yang felt a wave of relief and smiled at him. “Brother Qi, are we done with the preparations?”

Zhang Xiuqi nodded slightly and took Wei Yang’s arm. “Enter the formation. Don’t leave.”

“The formation is complete?” Wei Yang raised an eyebrow. “I’ll listen to you, Brother Qi. Let’s go meet Monk Chizhi first.”

Zhang Xiuqi didn’t object, but he didn’t let go of Wei Yang’s hand either. Like navigating a maze, they made several twists and turns around the courtyard before finally entering the main building of the villa. Once inside, looking down from above, Wei Yang realized the courtyard had completely transformed. From a distance, it looked as if someone had carved out a series of Taoist symbols, connected to form a distorted version of the Fu Xi Eight Trigrams formation. He had been following Zhang Xiuqi the whole time, so how had he not noticed any of this?

However, Zhang Xiuqi didn’t give him time to examine it closely, pulling him further inside. By now, Monk Chizhi was already waiting in the living room next to the study. Wang Ming lay on the floor beside him, wearing an oxygen mask but breathing steadily and looking as peaceful as if he were asleep. Hearing the two enter, the old monk looked up and smiled at Zhang Xiuqi. “The formations of Longhu Mountain are indeed unique. Thank you, Master Zhang.”

Zhang Xiuqi nodded at him without saying much. He pushed Wei Yang onto the sofa and then began setting up a formation around Wang Ming. This time, he used red nitre as the base and copper coins as the guide, arranging sixty-four Kaiyuan Tongbao coins to cover most of the living room. While Hongwu coins could be used to ward off evil on Wang Ming’s body, the defensive formation required the small coins from Emperor Taizong’s era to be most effective. However, since most coins from the Tang Dynasty were Kaiyuan Tongbao, it had taken considerable effort to distinguish the genuine small coins from Emperor Taizong’s reign.

As the Little Celestial Master busied himself, Wei Yang finally found someone to talk to and cleared his throat. “Master, it seems like the arrangements in the courtyard didn’t completely eliminate the Calamity Dragon, did they?”

It wasn’t that he wanted to question things, but upon reflection, altering a dragon vein was no small matter. It should have caused some sort of celestial phenomenon, not just a layer of mist. However, what Zhang Xiuqi had done didn’t seem to sever the dragon vein but rather enveloped the entire courtyard in a large formation.

Monk Chizhi smiled faintly. “That is precisely Master Zhang’s brilliance. The dragon vein remains, and so does the evil pit. If it’s not completely eradicated, the two will inevitably reconnect. However, if we use the energy of the Celestial Star Formation to obscure the evil pit, the Calamity Dragon will connect with the formation instead. The Celestial Star Formation naturally contains dragon energy, which harmonizes with the dragon vein, thereby amplifying the formation’s power. Despite his youth and the loss of one soul, Master Zhang can still employ such methods. It seems he has fully inherited the teachings of the Divination Sect, and the depth of Longhu Mountain’s heritage exceeds what this old monk had anticipated.”

Wei Yang raised an eyebrow at this. Even with his limited knowledge, he knew that Longhu Mountain practiced the Talisman Sect’s methods, and the Divination Sect teachings Monk Chizhi mentioned likely came from the Zeng Family of Sanliao Village. He wondered where Master Zeng was now. With a month almost passed, he found himself hoping the man would return a bit later.

After exchanging a few more words with Monk Chizhi, Wei Yang obediently fell silent. He understood better than anyone that these two still needed to conserve their energy for the battle tonight. The most challenging part of this exorcism was the iron Buddha. The Buddha itself was harmless and even had the power to suppress the evil within. If they simply destroyed the iron Buddha, the evil entity would likely break free immediately and possess Wang Ming, erasing his soul. By then, even with Monk Chizhi and the Little Celestial Master’s formidable abilities, they likely wouldn’t be able to defeat such a powerful demon.

Therefore, their plan was to rearrange the formation, awaken the iron Buddha’s suppressing power, and use Wang Ming as bait to lure the evil entity into thinking it could escape. Once it expended most of its energy breaking free from the Buddha’s suppression, they would use the Celestial Star Formation to destroy it completely. In simpler terms, this was a classic tactic of surrounding the enemy to intercept reinforcements. However, the formation had to be maintained perfectly; otherwise, if the evil entity broke through, the three of them—plus Wang Ming as an extra—wouldn’t stand a chance.

The actual ritual would likely take place at night. With the sun still up, watching the Little Celestial Master busily at work, Wei Yang’s initial nervousness had almost completely faded. He had even grown somewhat accustomed to the chilling cold around him. In fact, this was the most at ease he had felt in days, even though he was standing in the heart of an evil pit.

It seemed his courage could be trained after all. With a bitter smile, Wei Yang decided not to waste any more time and began unpacking the supplies they had brought. This time, they had brought a considerable amount of equipment, including various antique ritual tools. There were even a few packs of dry rations, which Wei Yang had specifically requested from Director Sun. His Brother Qi tended to get hungry after performing rituals, and he couldn’t let him face demons on an empty stomach.

Each of them busied themselves, and several hours passed in the blink of an eye. The entire Ye mansion gradually transformed. As the sun set, the armed police stationed outside suddenly found that they could no longer clearly see the old mansion. It was as if the massive villa had been enveloped in mist, hidden by the night. Inside the room, Wei Yang looked up at the sky and noticed that the mist he had seen earlier was gone. The sky was free of clouds, but there was no moon either. The night sky, usually obscured by smog, now seemed brighter, with faint starlight twinkling in the clear expanse.

“Is this the Celestial Star Formation?” Wei Yang couldn’t help but murmur to himself, though no one answered his question.

Zhang Xiuqi had already finished eating and neatly packed away the disposable lunch box and chopsticks. He stood up and took out the last few items from the bag, handing two of them to Wei Yang.

They were two bronze mirrors. Upon closer inspection, the mirror surfaces weren’t as smooth as one might expect but slightly concave, like polished funhouse mirrors. In ancient times, these were known as “Yangsui,” tools used to ignite fires. However, Yangsui mirrors of this size could only have one purpose: to light the sacred fires used in royal ceremonies. In ancient times, all royal rituals required the use of celestial fire, not ordinary flames, symbolizing the emperor’s divine right. But today, these two Yangsui mirrors weren’t for igniting celestial fire but for channeling the power of the celestial stars.

However, Yangsui mirrors naturally carried a strong Yang energy. If someone like Zhang Xiuqi or Monk Chizhi held them, it would be like holding a torch, alerting the evil entity within the iron Buddha. Therefore, only Wei Yang, a true ordinary person, could enter the study and place the Yangsui mirrors in the correct positions.

This had been agreed upon beforehand, but as he handed over the mirrors, Zhang Xiuqi couldn’t help but frown and whisper, “I’m right behind you.”

Wei Yang smiled and nodded firmly. “I know. Brother Qi will protect me.”

With those few words, the fear in his heart completely dissipated. Wei Yang took a deep breath, picked up the two mirrors, and walked toward the neighboring room.

The neighboring room was the study—or rather, a modified display room. The temperature and humidity had been carefully controlled, and the lighting minimized to preserve the antiques in their best condition. However, this careful arrangement had now become the source of the evil pit. Just standing at the study door, Wei Yang felt a bone-chilling cold seep into him.

If this had been a month ago, he might not have been able to stand steadily. But now, his steps were firm. Holding his breath, he pushed open the study door.