The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 133 East University Bermuda

The golden light of merit entered the Yin spirit of the old Taoist Ji Liang, transforming into a magnificent cocoon of light that enveloped it.

Before long, the cocoon of light slowly receded, revealing a square-faced middle-aged scholar who looked just like a real person. This middle-aged scholar was eight feet tall, wearing a long-winged black gauze hat and a parrot-green official robe. He held a pen in one hand and a book in the other. He had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square face that made people feel awe.

He looked at Wang Wen with a complicated expression, his eyes flashing with sudden realization.

When Wang Wen sensed that the other person's cultivation level was only one level lower than his own, the pain in his heart was relieved considerably.

Chen Sandao was loyal and cunning, but his experience was limited. When Wang Wen first entrusted him with the management of the Huangshan Temple, he was already prepared for Chen Sandao to turn the temple into a branch of the Canal Gang.

But this was truly choosing the best among the worst, since there were more reliable candidates, and he wouldn't let Chen Sandao take over the Huangshan Temple for him.

With the addition of the old Taoist Ji Liang, this problem was easily solved.

Ji Liang was a proper Taoist priest who had also served as an official. He had relevant experience in managing temples and monasteries as well as in managing the gods and warriors within them.

With him in charge of the Huangshan Temple, this makeshift operation can hopefully get back on track...

A few breaths later, Ji Liang concealed the complex expression on his face, and respectfully clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant Ji Liang greets Your Excellency!"

After Wang Wen waited for him to bow, he reached out and helped him up, saying with a smile, "We're family, there's no need for such formalities."

Ji Liang, the old Taoist priest, looked up at him, his lips moving as if he wanted to speak but hesitated for several breaths before finally letting out a long sigh: "Master... Your Excellency, you are truly tight-lipped!"

'That makes sense now, everything makes sense now!'

He muttered to himself, 'No wonder Qimen Dunjia couldn't predict my master's fate; no wonder forcibly predicting it would summon divine punishment; no wonder the Huangshan God appeared as soon as my master arrived at Huangshan; no wonder the Huangshan God was so responsive to my master's every request... I'm truly as stupid as a pig! Such obvious facts are right in front of me, how could I not have thought of them at all?'

He muttered to himself in self-pity, but then a sudden thought struck him, and his mindset calmed down: 'I'm not the only one who couldn't think of that; even the most accomplished masters of this era, like the three sect leaders and the Celestial Master, couldn't think of it either.'

"Hahaha……"

Wang Wen laughed and patted Ji Liang on the shoulder. He didn't explain much, but simply said casually, "As the saying goes, 'When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.' I had no choice but to do it."

Ji Liang, observing his bold demeanor, seemed to understand: 'Indeed, with the world undergoing great changes and everything renewed, even gods must act with caution… My uncle is truly unfathomable. Who could possibly connect a boorish, unrestrained commoner with the otherworldly, ethereal, and beautiful God of Huangshan? If such a person existed, he himself would probably doubt his own sanity…'

He immediately calmed himself down, apologized, sat down cross-legged, and began to assess his own condition.

He felt no resentment at suddenly becoming an official under the Earth God; in fact, he felt a sense of joy and security, as if he had just come ashore.

It is common for Maoshan disciples who fail to attain immortality to take up positions in the underworld after death. Before the Heavenly Court and the Underworld were separated from this world, many orthodox cultivators of the Xuanmen sect, feeling that their virtue was shallow and their pursuit of immortality was hopeless, would start to scheme and maneuver at a young age to obtain an official position in the Underworld, so that they could take up a position in the Underworld after death and escape the suffering of reincarnation in an alternative way.

Among them, the disciples of Maoshan are the most numerous!

After all, the Celestial Master's Mansion has better options, and they usually wouldn't choose to work in the Underworld unless absolutely necessary.

At that time, within Maoshan, the most direct and important way for masters to express their care for their disciples was to use their own connections to pave the way for their disciples in the underworld...

Within the Xuanmen (Taoist) community, this tradition has a very high-end and sophisticated name: conferring ordination.

In the past, a divine position like the Grand Judge under the God of Huangshan would have been something countless cultivators of the Xuanmen sects would have fought tooth and nail for, begging and pleading, but to no avail!

Now that it has fallen so easily into Ji Liang's hands, he is naturally overjoyed and would never complain that the path of gods is not as promising as the path of immortals.
Wang Wen instructed Chen Sandao and the others outside the gate to bring food into the hall.

Despite the long delay, the food is still piping hot...

Magic is indeed a good thing!
Wang Wen ate with relatively refined manners, quickly devouring the fragrant delicacies. At the same time, he pointed to Ji Liang beside him and said to the group of Yellow Turban warriors, "We are all acquaintances, so I won't introduce them further. From now on, Judge Ji will be in charge of internal affairs in the palace, and Chief General Chen will be in charge of external affairs. If there are any unresolved matters, Judge Ji will be the one to decide."

Many of the Yellow Turban warriors in the Huangshan Temple, including Chen Sandao, a Yellow Turban general, were once the Astronomical Guards of Yangzhou, so they all recognized Ji Liang.

Speaking of which, more than 10,000 heroic souls still live in the Huangshan Divine Palace. They are all good sons of the various prefectures' Heavenly Guards who died in battle in Huangshan in the past. Among them are many promising ghost soldiers and generals with good karma.

However, Wang Wen's accumulated merit was always in short supply. Even now, with the addition of merit, his expenses were increasing. He simply didn't have enough merit to enlighten those heroic souls. He could only take them in as reserve troops and reorganize them when he had more money in the future.

Thinking of this, Wang Wen said, "Ma Feng."

Ma Feng stepped forward, clasped his hands, and said, "Your humble servant is here!"

While pondering, Wang Wen said, "Quickly return to the Divine Palace and select one hundred elite soldiers to accompany me back to Yangzhou to serve."

Upon hearing this, Ma Feng was overjoyed and, barely suppressing his excitement, loudly proclaimed, "I will obey Your Majesty's decree!"

Chen Sandao stood to the side, staring at Wang Wen with an envious yet resentful gaze.

Wang Wen continued eating and drinking without looking to the side, pretending not to see it.

A moment later, Ji Liang awoke from his meditation, his face beaming with joy.

Wang Wen waved to him without turning his head: "Nephew, come over and talk to me."

Ji Liang bowed and walked to sit opposite Wang Wen.

Wang Wen put down his chopsticks, picked up a clean white handkerchief and gently wiped the grease from his lips, then slowly began to speak: "Tell me about your trip to the Southwest."

Ji Liang clasped his hands in acceptance of the order, and then replied, "Previously, I accompanied my Master Uncle to Nanchang to quell the ghost plague and deliver the souls of the dead. Suddenly, my Master Uncle received a message from Zhang Tianshi of Longhu Mountain, saying that the Ghost-Dispelling Well, which was used by the Ancestral Celestial Master to suppress all evil spirits in the human world, was showing strange occurrences and might become a great calamity. He strongly invited Maoshan and Gezaoshan to travel southwest to investigate the situation at the Ghost-Dispelling Well..."

Wang Wen was aware of these circumstances, but he did not interrupt Ji Liang's report, allowing him to explain in detail.

"We, a group of more than sixty people, followed our headmaster and headed southwest. On the twenty-first day of the cold month, we met up with the high-ranking monks of the Longhu Mountain and Gezao Mountain sects in Chengdu and then joined forces to head to Heming Mountain."

"On the 24th of the cold month, more than 300 high-ranking Taoist priests from the three sects arrived at the foot of Crane Cry Mountain. Zhang Tianshi, carrying the Three-Five Demon-Slaying Sword, searched the mountain for three days and finally found the entrance to the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation left by the Ancestral Celestial Master. He used the 'Yangping Zhidu Gong Seal' as the key to open the formation..."

"The Ghost-Slaying Well is called a well, but it is actually the eye of evil energy in Sichuan. The Yin energy inside is as pervasive as rain clouds and the evil energy surges like a gushing spring. The Celestial Master used the Three-Five Evil-Slaying Female Sword as the array eye and set up the Eight Gates Golden Lock Killing Array to suppress the Yin evil energy in the well and intimidate the remnants of the Six Heavenly Demon Kings and the Eight Ghost Generals in the well."

"However, when we entered the formation, the Three-Five Evil-Slaying Female Sword, which should have been suspended above the formation's core, had already disappeared. The Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation had lost most of its divine power and could no longer suppress the Yin energy in the well."

"At that time, the Jin Ping Master of Gezao Mountain exclaimed that it was fortunate we arrived in time; if we had been ten or fifteen days later, the Yin energy of the Ghost-Breaking Well might have completely broken through the seal of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation..."

Wang Wen had tried his best to control his temper and listen to him explain in detail, but when he heard this part, he really couldn't hold back anymore.

"Is the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation a killing formation?"

He asked, puzzled, "Does that mean that even the Celestial Master Zhang Daoling didn't dare to chase them into the Ghost-Dispelling Well back then, and could only leave his sword outside to scare away the demons and monsters inside?"

When Ji Liang heard him say that, he subconsciously felt that his words were somewhat disrespectful to the Ancestral Celestial Master. When he looked up again, he saw Wang Wen... and the dignified and majestic statue sitting on the altar behind him.

He immediately lowered his eyelids, organized his thoughts, and said cautiously, "This humble official is of limited talent and shallow virtue, and dares not presume to deduce the intentions of the Celestial Master. Judging from the arrangement of the Ghost-Dispelling Well... perhaps that is the case!"

Wang Wen was even more confused: "Even Zhang Daoling didn't dare to jump in back then, so who gave you the courage to jump in?"

"That's not true, that's not true..."

Ji Liang quickly shook his head: "We are not fools, how could we be so ignorant of our own limitations? Even if we are unwise, would the three sect leaders sit idly by and watch us put ourselves in danger?"

Wang Wen frowned, raised his chin, and gestured for him to continue.

Ji Liang continued, "The three sect leaders decided that, firstly, they should send someone to investigate the scene to see if the disappearance of the Demon-Slaying Female Sword was caused by human intervention; secondly, they should repair the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation as soon as possible. If the female sword could not be found, they would have to temporarily use the male sword as the array's eye to deter the Ghost-Dispelling Well, leaving the matter for another day to eliminate this hidden danger..."

Wang Wen nodded, indicating that this was indeed a prudent approach.

Ji Liang: "We followed the methods of the three sect leaders until the end of the cold moon. That night, the stars and moon were not shining, and it was so dark that you could not see your own hand in front of your face. Suddenly, a huge burst of Yin energy erupted from the Ghost-Binding Well. In an instant, it broke through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation and submerged our camp."

"We only felt a sudden darkness before our eyes, and when we opened them again, we found ourselves in a desolate wasteland, littered with bones, barren of vegetation, and shrouded in darkness..."

Upon hearing this, Wang Wen felt a strong sense of déjà vu, like watching male and female supporting characters in horror movies engaging in all sorts of reckless acts of self-destruction, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly they had done wrong.

Should we blame them for meddling?

The Ghost-Breaking Well was sealed by the Celestial Master Zhang Daoling himself. If there is a problem with the Ghost-Breaking Well, it will directly affect the reputation and merits of the entire Zhengyi sect.

All the talismans of the Three Mountains belong to the Zhengyi sect, and the Celestial Master Zhang Daoling can be considered one of the founders of the three sects. They received the legacy of Zhang Daoling, so they naturally have to acknowledge the responsibilities left by Zhang Daoling.

This point is undeniable.

From another perspective, if these people cherish their reputation and stand idly by while the Ghost Well erupts and wreaks havoc on the world... then what does their life or death have to do with Wang Wen?

Is it because they are incompetent?

But even Zhang Daoling couldn't completely solve the problem of the Ghost-Breaking Well before his ascension. Now, with the spiritual energy revival less than three years ago, what can they do?
If a bunch of novice cultivators who have been cultivating for two and a half years can handle the Ghost-Breaking Well, wouldn't it make Zhang Daoling's title as the Celestial Master seem undeserved?
Or is it their fault for not being careful enough?

But in the face of such a dangerous place, what essential difference does it make whether they are careful or not? With the array masters from Gezao Mountain accompanying them, and with them setting up camp around the Ghost-Dispelling Well, they must have set up arrays to protect them.

But the Yin energy erupting from the Ghost-Breaking Well could break through the Eight Gates Locking Gold Formation in the blink of an eye, so what good would their protective formation do?

Powerless...

Wang Wen felt powerless after listening to the whole process.

This incident seems like an open conspiracy with no solution.

You know it's dangerous there, but you have no choice but to go.

You know it's dangerous there, but you can only watch helplessly as the evil energy sweeps you away.

If even he, an observer, was so powerless, how desperate must the Hunkun Zhenren and the others who were in the midst of it all be?
"Let me ask you a question first."

Wang Wen remained silent for a while before speaking: "You were the Eight Gates Locking Gold Formation that entered the twenty-seventh month of the cold moon. You were swept away by the Yin Sha Qi tide at the end of the cold moon. You had three whole days. Did you thoroughly investigate the scene?"

Ji Liang glanced at him, thinking to himself: 'His Majesty's previous vengeful demeanor wasn't entirely feigned...'

He pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said, "I dare not judge the facts before Your Excellency. I can only say that, up until the last night before we were swept away by the Yin Sha Qi, I never heard anyone mention that anyone had discovered any trace of human sabotage of the great formation."

"You really are an honest person."

Wang Wen sighed deeply, unable to tell whether he felt disappointed or relieved.

Now that the details of what happened are clear, based on your understanding of the scene, is there anything I can do now to help them?

Wang Wen continued.

Ji Liang looked up, a mixture of delight and confusion on his face, and asked, "You are the God of Huangshan. What can you do? You're asking me?"

Wang Wen met his gaze expressionlessly.

Ji Liang pondered for a moment, then cautiously crossed his hands and said, "Please forgive my impertinence, but may Your Majesty show mercy and bestow divine power to save my teacher and junior from this imminent danger?"

"I'd like to use divine power to clear a path for them..."

Wang Wen nodded without hesitation: "But the problem is, I don't know where they are, and they don't carry my consecrated statue with them, so my divine power can't reach them."

Yesterday, he remotely helped Hunkun Zhenren and received 1500 points of merit in team battle experience.

The time I asked the Heavenly Lord to intervene and save Ji Liang, plus the cost of creating a golden statue of merit for Ji Liang, it cost a total of 2500 merit points.

With this inflow and outflow, he now has 4281 merit points and 16 yin virtue points left.

If all four thousand merit points were spent and used to create a single powerful attack...

No matter how big or small the monsters and demons are, Wang Wen will make sure he can't finish them all and has plenty to take with him!
Even if he loses his good deeds and merits, he can still earn them again.

Once a person is gone, they're truly gone.

Master Hunkun had at least called him his junior brother for so long...

Upon hearing this, Ji Liang frowned slightly: "Just now, when Your Excellency cast the spell to summon my soul back, I did catch a glimpse of them. They seem to be inside a sinkhole."

"A sinkhole?"

Wang Wen was stunned: "Didn't you say they were below the Ghost-Dispelling Well? How did they end up in the sinkhole?"

Ji Liang was stunned for a moment after hearing this. He quickly clasped his hands and said, "Your Excellency, after we fell into that perilous place that day, the three sect leaders combined the three methods of Qimen Dunjia, Plum Blossom Divination, and Ziwei Doushu to calculate the situation there. However, the five elements were in chaos and yin and yang were reversed in that perilous place, and many of the divination methods were wrong, so it was difficult to find the truth."

"However, the three sect leaders all agreed that the perilous place was most likely no longer on Crane Cry Mountain. It should be that when that Yin energy broke through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, it triggered the contingency plan left by the Ancestral Celestial Master. It was only because the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation was so incomplete and powerful that it mistakenly sent them to that perilous place."

Wang Wen suddenly realized, thinking to himself, 'He's got some skills!'

Just by looking at the method of opening the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, which requires the "Yangping Zhidu Gong Seal" as the key, one can know that the Ghost-Dispelling Well is actually a burden left by Zhang Daoling to the Zhang family of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

As ancestors, leaving such a mess for future generations, shouldn't we have prepared more backup plans?
We can't just stand by and watch our descendants be wiped out in one fell swoop while we're making a mess, can we?

No wonder my senior brother said that he himself didn't know if they were in the Ghost-Breaking Well.

But having just escaped one dangerous place, they've fallen into another perilous one. The luck of these three Taoist priests is just too bad, isn't it?
and many more……

Wang Wen's eyes lit up, and he pressed on, "You just said that the Ghost-Breaking Well is called a well, but in reality it is the eye of the evil energy in Shu?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Liang had a flash of inspiration, but he couldn't quite grasp it: "Your Excellency, the Shu region is treacherous..."

"I didn't ask you that."

Wang Wen interrupted his introduction, thinking to himself, "Do I need you to tell me how dangerous the Sichuan Basin is?"
"Let me ask you, within the Shu region, are there any other dangerous or perilous places that can rival the Ghost-Dispelling Well?"

Ji Liang's heart suddenly lit up, and he exclaimed, "Your Majesty means..."

Wang Wen: "Let's get to the conclusion first!"

Ji Liang forcibly suppressed the joy in his heart and racked his brains to recall the many ancestral masters' handwritten notes he had read in his sect over the years.

After a long while, he suddenly blurted out, "Emei Black Bamboo Valley!"

"Black Bamboo Valley?"

Wang Wen felt the name sounded somewhat familiar.

In his previous life, he drove a truck to transport goods, and the routes he traveled most often were in Sichuan and Chongqing. He had been to most of the cities, districts, and counties in those two regions.

In that era when even small towns were desperately developing their tourism resources, if any place had even the slightest bit of tourism potential, the local government would enthusiastically display it on all the main roads leading in and out of the city.

Thanks to the extraordinary memory of the Yin Spirit of the Day Traveling Realm, he quickly retrieved information related to the three words "Black Bamboo Gully" from the deepest corners of his memory.

Heizhugou in LS City is a strange and niche tourist spot that even locals advise against visiting, but a small number of enthusiasts call it the intimidating "Bermuda Triangle of the East".

Of course, the claims about the University of Tokyo being called "Bermuda" are definitely exaggerations. Similar names are everywhere in the University of Tokyo; even the haunted houses at rural markets dare to hang up signs saying "Bermuda."

But according to Wang Wen's memory, that place was indeed eerie; even professional outdoor adventure teams had suffered quite a few casualties...

As always, when in doubt, seek help from God!
Wang Wen stood up and waved his hand. Instantly, a palm-sized piece of dead wood from the mountains shot into the hall, shaking off countless wood chips as it flew. By the time it reached Wang Wen, it had transformed into two Holy Grails.

He received the two Holy Grails, held them aloft in his hands, and fervently murmured, "Heavenly Lord, please grant my most loyal, courageous, diligent, and wise leader a mere sliver of enlightenment!"

He actually wanted to flip a coin, but then felt that doing so would be disrespectful to the Heavenly Lord.

After thinking about it, I decided to use the Holy Grail, as it would have a more ceremonial feel.

What if the Lord of Heaven falls for this kind of thing?

"Snapped."

With a crisp sound, the two wooden chalices fell to the ground, spinning, tumbling, and leaping under Wang Wen's unwavering gaze before slowly settling down.

One convex surface faces upwards, and the other flat surface faces upwards.

Holy Grail!

Master Hunkun and his group are indeed in Black Bamboo Valley!
"Damn it, I was blind to your true colors! You country bumpkin are truly a 'Bermuda Triangle of the East'!"

While inwardly complaining, Wang Wen was secretly pleased that he had found a way to get free resources without spending any merit points...

[Merit - 200]

Wang Wen: …

It seems that the Heavenly Lord doesn't buy into this.

Let's just flip a coin next time.

(End of this chapter)