One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

Inside the storage room, Xia Qiu's face turned red, and the muscles in her arms trembled slightly, but the heavy oak wine cabinet remained completely still.

"No, this door is too heavy. There must be a mechanical hydraulic system behind it. We can't push it open by hand!" Xia Qiu gasped for breath, shaking her slightly sore wrists, her delicate eyebrows furrowed tightly.

If we get blocked by a door here, then all the risks we took to sneak in today will have been for nothing.

"Captain Xia, please step aside, let me try."

Jiang Shou stood to the side and gently patted Xia Qiu's shoulder, signaling her to step back.

Xia Qiu looked at him with some suspicion. Even she, a criminal police captain who had undergone physical training for many years, couldn't move something even an inch. How could this young man, who looked tall and even a little thin, possibly move it?

Before Xia Qiu could even voice her doubts, Jiang Shou had already stepped forward.

Unlike Xia Qiu, he didn't adopt any powerful stance; he simply extended one hand and placed his palm on the edge of the wooden lattice where he had just touched the mechanism.

"drink!"

Jiang Shou gave a low shout in his heart, and the vibrant "bud" in his dantian trembled violently. A surge of true energy instantly flowed along his meridians and poured into his right arm!

Under Xia Qiu's incredulous gaze, Jiang Shou suddenly pushed his arm forward with all his might.

"Creak~~ Rumble..."

A dull, teeth-grinding screech of mechanical bearings echoed in the storage room.

This solid wood hydraulic wine cabinet, estimated to weigh over a thousand pounds, slid smoothly to one side under Jiang Shou's single-handed push!

A downward staircase entrance, exuding a chilling aura, appeared before the two of them!

Xia Qiu stared wide-eyed, her mind a little blank.

"You... how could you...?!" Xia Qiu couldn't understand what kind of terrifying power was hidden in this seemingly well-proportioned and slender body.

"If you drink more milk and eat more meat, you'll naturally become stronger," Jiang Shou casually made up, not giving her time to be surprised.

He stared intently at the bottomless entrance, his expression grave, and said in a low voice, "Captain Xia, you stay behind me. The yin energy down there is extremely heavy. If you sense anything amiss, immediately call for backup from your police force to rush in."

Upon hearing this, Xia Qiu quickly came to her senses. While raising her hand to activate the miniature law enforcement recorder hidden in the chest of her black suit, she instinctively replied, "Okay, uh... no! You stand behind me!" As she spoke, Xia Qiu reached out to pull Jiang Shou behind her, taking the lead herself.

However, Jiang Shou ignored him completely. He crouched slightly and stepped into the hidden door, directly blocking Xia Qiu behind him, and quietly walked down the dark stairs.

"You bastard..." Xia Qiu gritted his teeth, no longer caring about arguing, and could only touch the pistol at his waist, closely following behind Jiang Shou.

The stairs were long, and the further down you went, the stronger the chilling, fishy smell in the air became, and the temperature dropped sharply.

The moment the two of them finally climbed the last step and entered the basement.

Even though Xia Qiu had heard Jiang Shou describe the terrifying scenes that might exist in the basement before, she was still shocked and felt her scalp tingle when she witnessed the scene in front of her. A chill ran down her spine and straight to the top of her head!

In the dimly lit basement, the eerie green light of the ever-burning lamp flickered with a pale glow. The four walls were densely covered with yellow paper inscribed with strange runes in vermilion, like some kind of ancient and evil seal.

And in the very center is the thousand-year-old ebony altar.

Sitting upright is a young male corpse with a pale, bluish complexion, dressed in the attire of an ancient groom!

In front of, to the left and right of the male corpse, lay the corpses of three young and beautiful women in a triangular formation. All three women were made up with extremely heavy and eerie morbid makeup, and wore strikingly bright red traditional wedding gowns!

Their hands were tightly bound by red, wet, and seemingly bleeding threads, the other end of which was tied tightly to the male corpse's wrist.

"brute!!!"

Xia Qiu's eyes instantly turned bloodshot; she recognized the three pale faces at a glance!

Those were the three missing girls she had been searching for day and night! They were once such vibrant lives, but now they were like puppets without any dignity, cruelly murdered, dressed in such bizarre wedding gowns, and reduced to sacrifices for the sons of the powerful to be married in ghost marriages!

Xia Qiu's concealed body camera glowed a faint red light. The entire eerie scene of the basement, the sinister altar, and the girls' horrific suffering were all clearly recorded into the device!

The proof is like a mountain!

This time, even if Zhao Jianguo had extraordinary abilities, he absolutely could not cover up this heinous and shocking case!

At this time.

Behind the altar, behind that layer of black gauze curtain.

Bai Gusheng, who was presiding over the grand formation with a sinister expression, was also both shocked and furious!

His spellcasting was at its most critical moment! The soul-summoning banner in his hand was forcibly drawing away the overwhelming, chilling resentment of the three girls and frantically channeling it into the corpse of Young Master Zhao in the center.

Just give him two more hours! In just two hours, the terrifying forbidden technique [Yin Embryo], which the Luo Yin Sect has failed to complete for a century, will be fully accomplished!

Although he vaguely sensed that something might have happened upstairs—even the secret door to the basement had been opened—he couldn't afford to be distracted at the moment. He could only shout loudly, trying to scare the intruder away:

"Who are you people?! Get out of here right now! Didn't Secretary Zhao instruct you that no matter what happens upstairs, you are absolutely not allowed to come in and disturb this old man?!"

Bai Gusheng subconsciously assumed that the man and woman who barged in were Zhao Jianguo's bodyguards or confidants who didn't know the rules.

However, what responded to him was a cold and authoritative shout.

"County Criminal Investigation Team, on duty!"

Xia Qiu gripped his sidearms with both hands, the dark muzzle pointed directly at the figure behind the black curtain. His voice was as cold and sharp as a knife: "Listen up, you inside! You're surrounded! Immediately put down what you're holding, put your hands on your head, get up, and crouch against the wall!"

While scolding, Xia Qiu freed one hand and reached for the mini walkie-talkie at his collar, preparing to immediately notify the criminal police officers waiting outside to rush in and take control of the scene.

"police?!"

Behind the black veil, Bai Gusheng heard these words, and his sharp eyes, like those of an old owl, suddenly narrowed.

How could he not understand what had happened! That good-for-nothing Zhao Jianguo, despite the seemingly impenetrable defenses outside, managed to sneak into the basement without the police noticing, and even broke through the [Yin Fetus] magic array!

"court death!"

Now that the police have taken notice, this Yin Fetus Formation will definitely not end well today.

A crazed glint flashed in Bai Gusheng's eyes. He bit his tongue and forcefully stopped the array that was in operation.

"Pfft!"

The forced shutdown at the critical moment triggered a terrifying backlash from the immense Yin energy within the formation. Bai Gusheng shuddered violently, a trickle of foul-smelling black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

But he nonchalantly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, letting out a chilling laugh like that of a night owl: "Hehehe... You really dare to come and wade into the gates of hell! Since you've seen what you shouldn't have seen, then don't leave! You might as well stay and become Young Master Zhao's fourth ghost wife to be buried with him!"

"Phew!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a fierce gust of cold wind swept up from the basement floor!

The black veil was instantly torn away by the eerie wind. Bai Gusheng's withered, skeletal figure was revealed, and he violently waved the soul-summoning banner stained with dark red blood!

"BOOM!!!"

As the summoning banner was waved, the heavy hydraulic security door above the stairs, which Jiang Shou had pushed open, was suddenly locked shut by an invisible force!

The entire basement instantly transformed into a sealed death cage!

Faced with this extremely bizarre and dangerous evil path, Xia Qiu did not back down in the slightest. As a well-trained criminal police captain, she reacted decisively.

"Don't move! I'll shoot if you move again!"

Xia Qiu issued a stern warning and prepared without hesitation to pull the trigger and fire a warning shot.

However, facing the dark muzzle of the gun, Bai Gusheng merely gave a disdainful sneer, his withered fingers suddenly shaking the brass Sanqing Bell in his other hand.

"jingle!!!"

A sharp, clear bell rang.

On the altar, the three female corpses dressed in bright red wedding gowns suddenly and without warning erupted with an extremely dense black-red evil aura!

This murderous aura was like several venomous snakes, moving at incredible speed, sweeping out in an instant and directly wrapping around Xia Qiu's hands that were holding his sidearm!

"what!"

Xia Qiu suddenly felt as if her hands had been placed in an ice cellar tens of degrees below zero. Then, it felt as if countless cold steel needles were piercing her bone marrow simultaneously. The excruciating pain that struck her very soul made her cry out in agony.

Her ten fingers instantly lost all sensation and strength.

With a "click".

A black police pistol fell onto the cold stone floor.

"Heh heh, you mere mortal, how dare you act so fiercely in front of me?" Bai Gusheng looked at Xia Qiu, who had lost his weapon, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He waved the Soul-Summoning Banner again, and the black and red evil aura suddenly surged, as if it was about to completely engulf Xia Qiu and Jiang Shou!

"You evil Taoist priest, aren't you celebrating too soon?"

Jiang Shou, who had been standing beside Xia Qiu, snorted coldly and quickly pinched the [Yang Qi Lantern Talisman] that he had prepared beforehand.

Within his dantian, a surge of vital energy, sprouting from the nascent Qi, burst forth and infused the talisman's core!

"break!"

Jiang Shou suddenly jerked his wrist.

The yellow paper with its intricate vermilion patterns flew into the air above the basement in an instant!

Above the great formation, the talismans began to burn!

"BOOM!!!"

As the talisman burned completely, a dazzling golden light, extremely yang and strong, suddenly burst forth from that bit of ashes!

This golden light was like a dazzling miniature sun rising out of nowhere in this dark and gloomy hell!