AWB Chapter 189 The Earth's Vein Encroachment Plan
Chapter 189 The Earth's Vein Encroachment Plan
The entrance to the basement is hidden in the corner of the first-floor stairwell, blocked by a dilapidated wooden board piled with garbage, making it virtually invisible unless you look closely.
With a casual wave of his hand, Shen Yu blew the wooden planks and trash aside with an invisible force, revealing a dark hole.
A chilling aura, a hundred times stronger than that upstairs, surged out of the cave entrance, mixed with a strong musty and rotten smell. Jiang Xinlan subconsciously circulated her spiritual power to protect herself.
"Stay close to me." Shen Yu took her hand and walked down first.
The basement was lower and damper than I had imagined, with water dripping constantly from above, making a dripping sound as it hit the floor.
The ground was covered with ankle-deep black water, with garbage and rotting planks floating on the surface, emitting a nauseating stench.
Jiang Xinlan could clearly feel countless black yin energies swirling and twisting in the basement, staring at them like venomous snakes.
These yin energies coalesced into blurry human faces, all of them young people in their twenties, with empty eyes and eerie smiles on their faces.
"These are the souls of those twelve dead," Jiang Xinlan said softly. "They are trapped here and have lost their minds."
"Hmm." Shen Yu nodded, his gaze falling on the center of the basement.
The ground there had been cleaned, and twelve earthenware jars were neatly arranged in a circle, each jar decorated with a black chrysanthemum painted in vermilion.
At the center of the area surrounded by earthenware jars, the soil is slightly raised, and a faint, shimmering white light shines through from beneath the soil.
"The key to the formation is right below." Shen Yu released Jiang Xinlan's hand and walked to the center of the circular formation.
He made no unnecessary movements, but simply slowly raised his right hand, and a wisp of pale golden spiritual energy gathered at his fingertips.
"Buzz—"
The moment the spiritual energy was injected into the ground, the entire basement began to shake violently.
The twelve earthenware jars emitted a piercing buzzing sound at the same time, and the chrysanthemum patterns on the jars glowed with an eerie red light.
Countless black yin energies gushed out from the mouth of the jar, transforming into twelve ferocious black shadows that bared their fangs and claws as they pounced toward Shen Yu.
These dark figures are Yin Sha formed from the souls of the dead after they have been corrupted by Yin energy; each of them possesses power far exceeding that of ordinary vengeful ghosts.
If it were the previous feng shui master who came in, he would probably be torn to shreds in an instant.
But in front of Shen Yu, they didn't even have the right to get close.
A pale golden protective shield appeared out of thin air around Shen Yu. All the Yin energy that collided with the shield instantly turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished without a trace, just like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun.
"break."
Shen Yu uttered a single word, and the spiritual energy at his fingertips suddenly erupted.
"Click— Click—"
A series of crisp cracking sounds rang out as all twelve earthenware jars split open from the middle at the same time, scattering fragments everywhere.
The hair, nails, and residual blood essence sealed in the jar spilled onto the ground, instantly turning to ashes when burned by the golden spiritual power.
As the clay pot shattered, the souls trapped inside were finally released.
They were no longer the ferocious evil spirits, but had returned to their original forms, looking around with bewildered eyes.
Shen Yu formed hand seals and chanted a simple incantation for salvation. Warm golden light emanated from him, enveloping all the souls.
Under the golden light, the empty eyes of the souls gradually cleared.
They looked at Shen Yu with gratitude on their faces, bowed deeply to him, and then turned into starlight, slowly dissipating into the air.
The chilly atmosphere in the basement dissipated at a visible speed, the murky black water became clear, and even the musty smell in the air disappeared.
Jiang Xinlan breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Shen Yu's side: "Have they all been prayed for?"
"Hmm." Shen Yu nodded, squatted down, and used his hand to clear away the soil in the center.
Beneath the soil, a fist-sized piece of white jade was revealed.
The jade is smooth and lustrous, without any impurities, and exudes a soft glow and pure spiritual energy.
Even in a dimly lit basement, it can illuminate an area of half a meter around it.
"It really is a mid-grade spirit jade." Shen Yu's eyes lit up. He picked up the spirit jade and wiped away the dirt on it.
"Matsumoto Kenichi knows how to find things. This piece of spirit jade is of very good quality, and the spiritual energy it contains is even stronger than that jade bracelet. I'll take you to cultivate when we get back, and you'll definitely improve."
"Great!" Jiang Xinlan happily took the spirit jade and examined it carefully in her palm.
Just then, Shen Yu's gaze fell on the bottom of the pit where the spirit jade had been placed. There was a small, palm-sized hidden compartment covered by a stone slab.
He reached out and lifted the stone slab, revealing something wrapped tightly in oiled paper.
Unfold the oil paper; inside is a tattered cowhide map and a thin black notebook.
The map was yellowed, and the locations of seven cities were marked in red ink, with a small black chrysanthemum drawn at each location.
Anshi's location was marked with a checkmark, while the names of the other six cities were scraped off with a knife, leaving only blurry strokes visible.
The notebook belonged to Kenichi Matsumoto and was filled with dense writing in Japanese. Shen Yu scanned it with his divine sense and instantly understood its contents.
"This is the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's 'Earth Vein Encroachment Plan.'" Shen Yu's tone turned colder.
"They plan to set up this Yin Chrysanthemum Absorption Array at the seven most important ley lines across the country."
Once all seven formations are complete, the main formation can be activated to absorb the earth's energy from the entire eastern part of China in one go.
"Seven nodes?" Jiang Xinlan frowned. "Then we've only found one so far, and we don't know where the other six are."
"It's alright." Shen Yu put away the map and notebook.
"Lin Jianguo and his team will investigate. Matsumoto Kenichi was just the first group to carry out the operation; there will definitely be others behind him."
He paused, then continued:
"Just now, I found a piece of wood with the number '4' engraved on it in one of the clay pots. This means that this one in Anshi is the fourth node in their plan. The first three should already be in place."
Jiang Xinlan's face darkened: "Does that mean many people have already been murdered?"
"It should be." Shen Yu nodded. "But it doesn't matter. As long as we find the formation and break it, we can still help those trapped souls find peace."
The two packed their things and turned to walk towards the stairwell.
At the stairwell, Zhao Rui paced anxiously back and forth, gripping a military dagger tightly in his hand, his eyes fixed on the entrance to the basement.