roccoschili Chapter 70: Half a sheet of rubbing paper pressing down on a door
Chapter 70: Half a sheet of rubbing paper pressing down on a door
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the words, and Lin Laoban's words echoed in his ears again.
The night after tomorrow, at the west entrance of Liulichang, in the back alley of Rongbaozhai.
A stick of incense was used to test the formation diagram.
What Boss Lin wanted was not just to lead the way; he wanted to use the third array diagram to measure the seventh one.
Cheng Xiaojin had just changed the gauze in his hand, and the bleeding hadn't completely stopped yet. He reached out to touch the rubbing paper, but Tong Kexin slapped his hand away.
"You're still touching me?"
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the back of his hand.
"I'll just take a look."
"Did they grow eyes on their hands?"
Cheng Xiaojin put his hands back into his sleeves and behaved himself.
Master Ma looked up at Aunt Zhang.
"Call Tang and tell her to come over and take away Lao Zhou's liquor."
Zhou Banxian immediately hugged the wine pot tightly.
"Why should I? I'm perfectly sober."
Master Ma glanced at him, and Zhou Banxian slowly placed the wine pot under the table.
"Okay, leave it at my feet for now."
Aunt Zhang went to make a phone call.
The well in the courtyard gurgled again, this time louder than before, and a ring of grayish-white steam seeped from the edge of the stone slab, creeping along the floor tiles toward the threshold of the main room.
Tong Kexin picked up the broom by the door and was about to sweep.
Cheng Xiaojin quickly said, "Don't sweep."
Tong Kexin stopped.
The grayish-white steam paused half an inch in front of the threshold, probing against the wood.
Zhou Banxian took out a crumpled piece of yellow paper from his pocket, dipped it in tea, and stuck it on the threshold.
The steam receded, and he wiped his face.
"The well in the yard is starting to look for a door too."
Master Ma moved the rubbing paper under the lamp.
"Let's look at the things first."
Half a sheet of rubbing paper lay flat on the table, with the door inscription taking up the upper half, and several sets of fragmented characters and numbers below.
There are pinholes between the broken characters.
It's very fine; unless you look closely, you can see it as insect damage on the paper.
Cheng Xiaojin narrowed his eyes.
"Pinhole".
Master Ma looked at him.
Cheng Xiaojin said, "There are also pinholes like this on the second volume of the incomplete scroll. I hadn't looked at them under a light before."
Master Ma walked to the hidden compartment and took out the second volume of the tattered scroll. The tattered scroll was wrapped in oilcloth, and the edges were already brittle.
Cheng Xiaojin recalled Liu Bai's excessively fair face, and then remembered how Master Ma had secretly changed the two digits on page ninety-three.
Master Ma turned the tattered scroll to page eighty-seven, then to page ninety-three, and placed it in front of the lamp.
The light from the oil lamp shone through the back of the paper, making the previously invisible pinholes appear as tiny stars on the paper.
Everyone in the main room crowded forward.
Tong Kexin couldn't understand, so she held her breath as well.
Master Ma pressed the rubbing paper next to the tattered scroll, and the pinhole positions matched in several places.
Zhou Banxian rubbed his eyes; the effects of the alcohol had completely worn off.
"This wasn't something you just casually stick together."
Tieguai Li brought over a piece of transparent paper, which he usually used to repair the gears of clocks.
He carefully traced the location of the pinhole and then transferred it to Cheng Shouyi's Nine Pile Diagram.
The original nine-point diagram only had nine points.
Outside Xizhimen, Deshengmen Inner Street, Panjiayuan East District, south of Taoranting, west of the outer wall of the Temple of Heaven, Yonghegong Back Street, Liulichang, outside Andingmen, outside Dongzhimen.
After the needle hole was placed, two points appeared outside the nine stakes.
One is located near the Dragon Locking Well, and the other is in a blank space on the map. There are no fixed buildings in that place, nor is it on a regular ley line node.
Zhou Banxian stared at the second dot, forgetting to put down the yellow paper in his hand.
Cheng Xiaojin asked, "Where is this?"
Zhou Banxian didn't answer; he first looked at Cheng Shouyi's handwriting again.
The seventh is immeasurable.
He murmured, "The third guide returns to the ruler, the fifteenth guard position. The third array guide can find the right eye of the third array and can also check the gate, but the seventh array is already loose. If we use the third guide to measure it, it's like using someone else's key to poke a half-open door."
Tieguai Li frowned.
What does it mean if the door is locked from the inside?
Tang Wanqing arrived at this time.
She was wearing a plain-colored coat, her complexion still pale, and carrying a compass box in her hand. As she entered, she noticed the dampness around the threshold and frowned.
"What have you brought in this time?"
Cheng Xiaojin raised his hand, which was wrapped in gauze.
"Miss Tang, the way you're saying it makes me sound like I run a courier station in the underworld."
Tang Wanqing ignored him and walked to the table to look at the rubbings.
Her expression changed after just one glance.
"Vulvar occlusion".
Zhou Banxian nodded.
"Is this also a saying among the Zhenlong lineage?"
Tang Wanqing put down the compass box, took out the compass, and the compass needle turned half a circle, stopped in the direction of Liulichang, and then slowly veered towards Panjiayuan.
She whispered, "The door is locked from the inside out. It is the door to the underworld that was originally locked inwards. When it is subjected to external force, it will close outwards. When the door closes, people and objects caught in the gap will be brought into the underworld's inner layer."
Tong Kexin's face turned pale upon hearing this.
"Can I bring it in and then it come out?"
Tang Wanqing glanced at her.
"It depends on fate."
Cheng Xiaojin continued, "Those with strong luck get out, while those with weak luck stay inside as property managers?"
Tang Wanqing finally looked at him.
"You can give it a try."
"Forget it, I'm poor, I can't afford the property management fees for Yin City."
This sentence eased the tension in the room slightly, but then the well in the yard started making noise again.
gudu~
A bubble emerged from the crack in the stone slab, and when it burst, the wick of the lamp in the main room dipped slightly.
The yellow paper on the threshold was soaked and couldn't stick, so it fell to the ground with a thud.
Grayish-white moisture crept in along the floor tiles, bypassed the table legs, and headed straight for the rubbing paper.
Cheng Xiaojin was closest, and his right hand was already reaching for the Qianlong Tongbao coin.
Tang Wanqing was a step ahead of him, pressing the compass onto the table.
"Don't touch the rubbing paper!"
The moisture clung to the edge of the table, reaching towards the half-sheet of paper.
Master Ma poured the hot tea from the teacup out. The tea fell to the ground and mingled with the grayish-white steam, making a soft hissing sound.
Zhou Banxian pulled out a wine pot from under the table, uncorked it, and poured it on the ground.
The aroma of alcohol wafted up, while the steam receded two inches.
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.
"Wasn't this wine stored away?"
Zhou Banxian glared at him: "Use it when it matters most."
The moisture didn't dissipate; it circled around and crawled towards Cheng Xiaojin's feet.
Cheng Xiaojin could hear the counting sounds.
Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four.
He knew this thing was targeting him. He had touched the ashtray, the Zhenhai Iron, and even used Xin Metal to guide the evil spirits.
Tang Wanqing looked at his finger: "You can't touch the Xin metal energy again."
Cheng Xiaojin looked down at her fingertips; the bluish-black color under the gauze was still pulsating.
He pulled half of the Qianlong Tongbao coin out of his sleeve, without using it directly.
"Then what should we do? Invite it to sit down and have a cup of tea?"
Master Ma took a piece of old red rope from the drawer and tossed it to Tong Kexin.
"Tie his ankles."
Tong Kexin didn't ask any questions, and squatted down to tie him up.
A red rope wrapped around Cheng Xiaojin's ankle, and grayish-white water vapor rushed towards it, pausing for a moment.
Cheng Xiaojin muttered to herself, "If I go out looking like this, people will think I just ran away from the matchmaking office."
Tong Kexin looked up: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tie a knot for you."
Cheng Xiaojin shut up.
Tang Wanqing placed the compass next to the rubbing paper, and Zhou Banxian aligned the pinhole rubbing with the map.
Master Ma circled the two new dots with a pencil.
The first one is Lock Dragon Well.
The second one landed in the empty area next to where Cheng Xiaojin had just been standing.
Cheng Xiaojin leaned over to take a look.
"Isn't it on the ground?"
As Zhou Banxian stared at that spot, the smell of alcohol on his face completely disappeared.
"That's uncertain."
Tang Wanqing said, "Try to be flexible."
Master Ma's teacup lid scraped against the rim of the cup twice more.
Cheng Xiaojin felt a tightness in his chest as he listened.
What is a live point?
Zhou Banxian looked up at him.
"Nine pillars are the bones, and the two missing ones are the joints. One is in the Lock Dragon Well, which governs the formation's core; the other is not on a fixed ground, but must fall on a person, which governs opening and closing."
Tieguai Li stared at the picture.
"If the bones don't move, but the joints shift, the whole city will become displaced?"
Zhou Banxian nodded.
Tong Kexin stopped when she finished wrapping the red string around her hand for the last time.
Her fingertips touched Cheng Xiaojin's ankle; the skin beneath the red rope was cold and hard.
Tieguai Li looked at Cheng Xiaojin, his face darkening.
Tang Wanqing turned the compass towards Cheng Xiaojin, and the needle wobbled three times before pointing to his chest.
The ashtray on his chest pressed against his clothes and warmed slightly again.
Zhou Banxian picked up the pinhole rubbing and stared at it under the light for a long time.
"This diagram can no longer be called the Nine-Stage Diagram."
He looked at Cheng Xiaojin, his throat dry.
"This is a diagram of the eleven joints."
No one answered from inside the house, and another bubble rose from the well in the yard.
The red rope tightened a little around Cheng Xiaojin's ankle.
Zhou Banxian stared at him and spat out each word.
"The two missing points are one at the Locked Dragon Well and the other on a person."