Chapter 31

Beliak looked at the panting Xie Yuchen with a slightly surprised expression on his face and said, “I didn’t expect you to come out.”

Xie Yuchen only hesitated for two seconds before passing by him directly and walking out of the door.

It might still be possible to get thirty kilometers away from this place. That was such a specific number so distance was definitely a key factor.

“It can’t get past this door. This is the boundary. You don’t have to run,” Beliak said. “We can talk.”

Xie Yuchen glanced at Beliak, who froze in shock. The murderous look in the other man’s eyes was something Beliak had never seen before.

But Xie Yuchen only gave him a passing glance before disappearing from his sight. Beliak immediately fell deep into thought. He had been distracted just now so he didn’t understand what the look in the other man’s eyes meant.

Once Xie Yuchen rushed out of the door, he headed for the main entrance, where there was only one servant on duty. He ran up to the German car they had ridden in before and then felt around in Zheng Jingyin’s pocket. Sure enough, he found the car key. After unlocking the door, he dumped Zheng Jingyin into the passenger seat and then rushed over to the driver’s side. He turned the car on, slammed his foot on the accelerator, and drove away from the building complex.

There was another huge manor close by but the road was simple and very easy to navigate. He quickly turned on the GPS with one hand, chose a place a hundred kilometers away, clicked on one at random, and started driving towards it at breakneck speed.

As the car veered around several turns, he glanced at the huge, ancient monster-like buildings by the lake, raised his hand, and felt Zheng Jingyin’s pulse.

It was becoming more stable.

As it turned out, you could just run away.

Of course, he was good at running. In fact, there weren’t many people in the world who could run like this.

Zheng Jingyin had fallen into a deep coma by this point. Not only would the concussion he received earlier not heal that quickly but it seemed that whatever power was inside of him was affecting his mind as well. It was possible that Zheng Jingyin may have escaped because of the concussion.

As the car quickly got on the highway, the accelerator was pushed all the way to the floorboard and they practically flew along. There were no other cars on the road. One of the essential skills of bosses his age in the Beijing antique circle was being able to turn corners quickly. Xie Yuchen checked his seat belt, adjusted his breathing, and pushed the car to go even faster.

Then, his phone suddenly rang.

Xie Yuchen saw that it was Su Wan calling and immediately picked up. The young man sounded very anxious as he spoke, “Teacher Xie, I haven’t been able to contact my master. Is he with you?”

“Why are you trying to get a hold of him? He’s probably very busy right now. Shouldn’t you be studying?”

“Before Master left, he told us to do something. Yang Hao and I are already in place, but we can’t get in touch with him so we don’t know whether we should do it or not.”

“Tell me about it in more detail.”

“He said that if he encountered the most dangerous situation, he would notify us to use that measure to solve the problem. It can’t be activated unless it’s a last resort. But we have to remain close to that measure in order to activate it. We’ve been on standby for four days. We’ve been living in a tent and freezing to death.”

“Are you in Japan?”

“No, we’re in Beijing.”

“Nothing you do in Beijing can help him.”

“No, this method can definitely help.”

Xie Yuchen frowned, “What is it?”

“We’re going to find Ba Ye’s Wuchang Bingma⁽¹⁾ Temple. Qi Ba Ye left his own soldiers in a Wuchang Temple in the wild mountains near Beijing. If the Qi family’s descendants want to use them, they’ll have millions of powerful masters at their disposal.”

Wuchang Bingma…wasn’t it just superstition?

Among the local Taoist practitioners in the southwest, Wuchang Bingma was the most popular spell. The Yuan Huang Sect and Meishan Sect⁽²⁾ practiced it very frequently, but Ba Ye wasn’t an orthodox Taoist priest so it was hard to tell which secret sect he belonged to. But as long as it was a local sect, Wuchang Bingma was sure to be used.

The so-called “Wuchang” were mountain spirits that were created from the ghosts of those who died in areas on the mountains where the feng shui was strange. These creatures full of yin energy would gather in those places but couldn’t leave, which was very pitiful. At that time, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty saw that countless soldiers had died in the barren mountains after many years of military chaos so he ordered the feng shui masters and Taoist priests to travel to all these places. As long as they saw a place where the qi of the heavens and the earth met, they would immediately set up a temple and an altar.

As a result, Wuchang temples appeared in the most inaccessible places in the mountains, even in no-man’s land. In other words, feng shui masters looking for dragon acupoints would pass by these places and, knowing that they were eight hundred li from anything, do everything possible to build a temple to offer sacrifices and shelter the lonely souls of the world.

According to folklore, most of these lonely souls belonged to mandrills⁽³⁾ and soldiers, which were very fierce and completely unrestrained. They were just like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, so-called ferocious soldiers whose image was very frightening. Basically, if the spellcaster wasn’t careful, these souls would hinder them and turn on them, just like a disaster.

When the Wuchang were dispatched, the altar would be destroyed from flying sand and stones and everything would be leveled to the ground wherever they went.

As for the sect’s most powerful troops, only the general who the spellcaster kept in his heart would be able to lead the Wuchang. That general was a grandfather who could defeat ten thousand enemies.

Xie Yuchen smiled when he thought of this. “Do you really need to rely on this kind of thing? Why don’t you just call Wu Xie? After all, there’s a commander in Wuchang called Zhang Wulang.⁽⁴⁾ Ask Wu Xie to bring that guy over here. He’s tougher than anyone else.”

“We’re just doing what Master ordered. But what should we do now? We’re in the mountains around Beijing and we’ve run out of toilet paper.”⁽⁵⁾

“Go ahead. Since it’s supposed to be used for the most dangerous situation, you should do it,” Xie Yuchen said.

When the line remained silent, Xie Yuchen added, “Trust your master.”

“Ok. I hope Ba Ye’s spell works.”

Then he hung up the phone. Su Wan was the most reliable one among the three kids so Xie Yuchen felt a little relieved. He took the last turn and glanced in the rearview mirror—the house was so far away that it was almost out of sight now.

Then he turned his head and saw that Zheng Jingyin had sat up. The whites of his were eyes showing as he looked at him from the passenger seat and he started to make a series of strange noises that Xie Yuchen couldn’t understand.

Xie Yuchen turned the steering wheel hard so that the car swung violently, causing Zheng Jingyin’s head to slam against the side of the window, effectively knocking him out again.

<Chapter 30><Table of Contents><Chapter 32>

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TN Notes:

(1) Can directly translate as “Five Fierce Troops”. Wu (五)=5, Chang (猖)=Fierce/Ferocious, Bing (兵)=troops/soldiers, Ma (马)=horses. It’s a Taoist spell to help with exorcising evil. According to historical records, it’s the embodiment of the generals and soldiers who died in battle under the Yellow Emperor. At that time, the Yellow Emperor sealed their souls in the mountain with a talisman. A priest went up the mountain and gave them immortal mana, but in exchange they lost their self-awareness and could only obey orders. Since then, they became the most widely used magic weapon in Taoism and Shamanism. I think they’re essentially minor protector gods or something. This was the best info I was finding on it.

(2) Yuan Huang Sect is widely spread in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hunan and other places. There are many techniques in the Yuan Huang Sect, such as self-defense, tricking people, fighting and attacking, and exorcising demons and evil spirits. It’s also good for dealing with interpersonal affairs, such as wealth, academic careers, marriage, praying for blessings, and eliminating disasters. Info here.

The Meishan Sect originated in Hunan. Its rituals are used for a wide range of purposes, such as curing diseases, exorcising evil spirits, eliminating disasters, attacking, self-defense, fighting, preventing fighting, conducting rituals, praying for blessings, moving altars, and collecting souls. Info here.

(3) Like the monkey…I think.

(4) Ha, I see what you did there Xiao Hua. Very funny. Zhang Wulang is one of the local deities of the Meishan culture. He’s always represented in a position where it looks like he’s doing a handstand. Here’s a thorough breakdown.

(5) Ya’ll, I laughed WAY too hard at this.

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*Super high-pitched fangirl screaming* SU WAN! My love, light of my life, cinnamon roll of my heart, oh how I’ve missed you! σ(≧ε≦σ) ♡