Chapter 150: Destroying the Formation Core

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“If Old Ma truly knew nothing, why would he have told us to find the formation’s core? He’s only guarding against you,” I said.

We had already reached the base of the black wooden stake. The iron chains pinning the three-headed serpent down plunged deep into the earth, while the black stake stood directly above them. From the way it looked, the stake seemed to have been placed there specifically to suppress the three-headed serpent.

“Don’t try anything clever, or I’ll take your life at once!” said Lord Guo the Third.

No wonder Yun Mutian was always trying to kill people. Like master, like disciple—this old man truly treated human life as worthless.

I had no idea how to seal away the spirit inhabiting the serpent, detach it from the snake’s body, and attach it to a human body. The very thought sounded absurd. I even suspected that the old man had simply imagined the whole thing.

It was true that the three-headed serpent could possess a person by some unorthodox method. But according to his explanation, what difference was there between it and a demon? This was no longer a matter of the same order at all. If what he said was true, then he was practically refining demons!

I stared at the black stake thrust upside down above us. There was something thoroughly sinister about it. Whoever had arranged such a thing could certainly not be an ordinary person. Nor could the one who had created this enormous underground place be anyone commonplace. Compared with this, the buried-bones ghost refinement and the Nine Corpses Soul Refinement we had encountered before were mere child’s play.

A scream drifted over from far away. Old Ma’s situation was clearly turning grim. We knew the way out now, but the old man surnamed Guo and Yun Mutian blocking us made things exceedingly troublesome. And strictly speaking, Lord Guo the Third was not even the greatest threat. The truly fatal danger was Yun Mutian. If the three-headed serpent possessing the corpse “returned” to its own body, then even finding both the formation’s core and the way out would do us no good.

We had no other choice. We could only risk everything. Otherwise, forget those two men—the two-headed serpents alone would be more than enough to make our lives miserable!

“You understand the structure of this formation and the runes above it better than I do, so I won’t waste my breath. The final step isn’t difficult in itself. We simply don’t possess the ability to complete it,” I said, putting on an air of solemnity.

“Hmph. How do you know I don’t possess that ability?” Lord Guo the Third replied coldly.

The old man was rather unable to keep his temper whenever the subject of ability arose. It probably had something to do with the time he had lost a contest to a blind man.

“To complete the final step, one needs the art of forbidden incantations. Might I ask whether Your Lordship is proficient in it?”

He snorted and said nothing more.

Tu’e stared at me in confusion, unable to understand what I meant.

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To be honest, I knew nothing about forbidden incantations. Old Ma had never mentioned them to me. Besides, the claim that Tu’e used forbidden incantations had come from Lord Guo the Third, and there was no telling whether it was accurate. But it was merely an excuse, so its truth did not matter.

I walked once around the stake, taking in every detail of its surroundings. Then I turned to the bewildered Tu’e and said, “Follow my instructions. Prepare the same technique you used against Yun Mutian just now.”

He looked completely lost, but he did as I told him. He raised one hand and began murmuring under his breath. His voice was always so faint whenever he recited an incantation.

The old man’s eyes remained fixed firmly on us, guarding against any trick we might attempt. From the look of him, he was ready to strike and take our lives at any moment, whether we succeeded or failed.

I glanced at Tu’e. He should be ready by now. His first two attacks had both been extremely swift, without any wasted time.

I motioned for him to look at the black stake. “Do you see the rune at the very center? The most complicated one.”

He nodded.

“Do it!” I ordered at once.

Lord Guo the Third sensed that something was wrong and cried out, “What are you doing?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Tu’e pointed toward the rune.

A gust of wind swept past us. With a tremendous crack, the black wooden stake suddenly split apart!

The stake was no small thing. It seemed Tu’e’s abilities were far greater than I had imagined.

I had no idea what kind of damn method was involved, but there was no doubt that this was the formation’s core. Since we had no way to summon Old Ma and let him study it at leisure, we could only act decisively and destroy it outright. The situation was dire on every side. Taking a gamble was our only chance.

As the stake broke, a dense surge of sinister, baleful energy burst forth. The yin energy around us plunged into violent disorder, and waves of bone-chilling cold pierced through my body again and again. It seemed that once we got out of here, I was bound to fall seriously ill.

Yun Mutian suddenly let out a loud cry. The talismans covering his body burst into flame and vanished completely. In their place appeared that mass of bluish fire, exactly as we had seen before. It seemed the spell Lord Guo the Third had placed on him had lost its effect.

Lord Guo the Third’s expression changed drastically. He immediately ran toward the exit, abandoning even the chance to kill us. His abilities were clearly inferior to Old Ma’s. I did not know how he had controlled Yun Mutian before, but one thing was obvious: he was no match for the possessed Yun Mutian.

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Heh. He might have given up on killing us, but I had no intention of letting him leave. My walk around the stake had not been to study the patterns carved upon it. The way out was now behind us. If he wanted to pass, he would first have to get past us. Possessed Yun Mutian was difficult to deal with, but stopping this old man was still within our capabilities.

“Stop him!” I ordered immediately.

Tu’e rushed forward and struck at Lord Guo the Third. With a nimble twist, the old man evaded to the side.

He glared viciously at us. “You two truly have no regard for your lives. I choose not to kill you, and yet you insist on seeking your own deaths!”

“I don’t know whether we’re seeking death, but with the surrounding baleful energy now so dense, I doubt your evil techniques are still working. Which do you think is harder—your old bones, or our fists?” I called out.

Lord Guo the Third was enraged beyond measure. “Did that old bastard ever teach you anything properly? Destroying the formation’s core means certain death! Not only will everyone down here be finished, the snakes beneath us will crawl out as well, and the people outside will suffer too!”

When he himself had tampered with the formation’s core earlier, why had he not thought of that? Now that his own life was at stake, he suddenly knew how to panic.

I did not waste words on him. I told Tu’e to keep him at bay. We absolutely could not let the old man reach the surface first. Quite apart from refusing to let him escape so easily, there was no telling what tricks he might set up along the passage if he got ahead of us.

Lord Guo the Third ground his teeth in fury. His gaze toward me was murderous enough to flay me alive. He kept glancing between the entrance and Yun Mutian, his expression growing increasingly alarmed.

The screams in the distance grew louder, mingled with Old Ma’s thunderous curses.

“Which idiot touched the formation’s core? Damn it! I’ll—”

The voices were drawing steadily closer. Old Ma and the others were coming this way.

It seemed the consequences really were severe. I was certainly going to receive a thorough scolding from Old Ma.