Chapter 56 Fighting
"Phoenix tree?" The eldest son of the Wang family looked at the inconspicuous branch in the Taoist's hand. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that it was just an ordinary branch that was shriveled over the years. He thought to himself that the Taoist seemed to be joking.

He could collect as many of these sycamore branches as he wanted, as they were everywhere. If it was really as magical as the Taoist said, how could there not be any miraculous manifestations?
Although he thought so in his heart, he still acted respectful on the surface. The Taoist asked him to get something, and the eldest son of the Wang family naturally went to get it diligently.

The Taoist priest stood on the high platform, looking happily at the crooked, slightly black branch in his hand.

"It is true that the phoenix lives on the phoenix tree. I am lucky to have such a treasure in my lifetime." The immortal smiled and asked someone to put the branch away. He glanced at the offerings below the stage, and a cold look appeared in his eyes.

"You have followed me for so long, it is time for you all to take a rest." The Taoist muttered to himself and walked slowly towards the stage.

After that, the yellow-robed men were busy in the tomb. They placed candles on the steps one by one, nine in the south, one in the north, three in the east, and seven on the right. They lit them according to the numbers of the Nine Palaces Luoshu. They also moved the bronze tripods used for sacrifices in other halls and placed them around the high platform.

By the time all this was done, the Taoist had already changed into a new set of robes.

He wears a pure Yang scarf with Tai Chi Bagua painted on the top. He wears a bright yellow robe with a plain green background, but the embroidery is extremely gorgeous. There are dark patterns of auspicious clouds in the four directions, and two vertical rows of Eight Immortals in the front, with dragon and tiger swords. The edges are embroidered with winding branches of precious flowers, and Tai Chi Bagua. Behind him are the Three Pure Ones and the Three Terraces, the sun and the moon on the left and right, the two buckets in the north and south, and the twenty-eight constellations surrounding the twin dragons guarding Yujing Mountain. The Five Mountains show their true forms, and the four great marshals of Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan are majestic. On the sleeves, three dragons spit out pearls, and there are also misty mountains on the sea and cranes flying.

Few people in the Taoist sect can wear such robes, but now the Taoist is asked to wear them and walk on the nine-story high platform.

The Taoist looked calm and composed, neither slow nor hurried. He walked up the steps towards the golden coffin. Behind him, a strong man in a yellow robe held a wooden box and followed him respectfully.

When they reached the high platform, the Taoist first recited scriptures and knocked three times toward the coffin. Then he placed incense and candles in front of the coffin and bowed three times.

The Taoist priest stretched out his fingers to calculate, and said to the yellow-robed strong man with a smile: "The auspicious time has come, why don't you pour the ashes of the King into this coffin?"

"Yes." The yellow-robed man said respectfully. He opened the wooden box and took out a jade bottle. He shook the jade bottle off, and a fine gray dust slowly fell into the golden coffin.

After all this was over, the Taoist let the strong man go.

He sat alone in front of the coffin, making hand gestures and chanting incantations. The candles began to tremble slightly as the Taoist spoke.

"Soul, come back! Why do you go to all directions when you leave your constant place? You leave your happy place and stay away from those ominous places! ..."

Li Daoxuan listened to the Taoist's chanting voice and knew, no matter how ignorant he was, that it was Qu Yuan's poem "Calling the Soul".

He listened to what the Taoist and the strong man had just said, and then listened to the poem "Soul Summoning", and vaguely understood the Taoist's purpose.

"Could it be that he wants to resurrect King Yi from the body of the man in the coffin?" Li Daoxuan was shocked by the Taoist's idea. He had never thought that someone would do such a heaven-defying thing, to bring a long-dead person back to life using the body of someone who had been dead for a hundred years. This idea was really bold.

Is this a life-changing? A life-changing? A life-extending? No matter how Li Daoxuan thought about it, he couldn't believe it.

Thinking of the identities of these people, they were all remnants of the Taiping Army. Li Daoxuan seemed to have thought of something and could not help but marvel at the Taoist's plan.

If this Taoist could really succeed, then the resurrected Prince Yi could rebel in the name of Zhu Biao, the son of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. By then, it would be legitimate and in line with Confucian principles.

In this way, they are legally orthodox and not thieves.

"What a good plan. This method of stealing the truth is truly extraordinary." The more Li Daoxuan thought about it, the more he felt that the strategy was so profound that it was beyond his imagination.

If it weren't for the fact that this Taoist didn't treat these living sacrifices as human beings and dared to tell everyone about his plan along the way, Li Daoxuan would never have thought of these relationships no matter how hard he tried.

"I guess this group of people have put in a lot of thought and effort for this plan." Li Daoxuan could imagine that in order to carry out such a plan, the Wang family's substitutionary plan was probably just a small scheme.

It takes many years to get this opportunity, and it may not come once in a century.

If possible, Li Daoxuan didn't want to disturb these Taiping thieves from rebelling. After all, if they could really overthrow the Qing Dynasty, would the subsequent events that humiliated the country change?

But things did not always go as he wished. The Taoist had told them so many secrets, which meant he had made up his mind not to let them leave alive.

In order to survive, Li Daoxuan has to break this situation.

"It's all your fault for doing this." Li Daoxuan thought to himself, and began to make hand gestures with his hands hidden in his sleeves. He listened to the Taoist chanting, and he followed the Taoist chanting. His voice was so clear that no one could hear it. The Taoist's voice was so loud that it echoed throughout the tomb.

Feeling the flow of Dan Qi in his body, Li Daoxuan realized that invisible changes began to take place around him.

When the Taoist curse fell to the last word, Li Daoxuan's curse also finished. And under his sleeves, his fingers were pinching the Thunder God Technique.

"Offer the sacrifice." The Taoist called out to the audience.

Just listen to the pleas of wolves crying and ghosts howling, which stop with the screams.

The blood sprayed on the arranged bronze tripod and gradually merged into a dragon pattern.

Candles flickered all around, with little sparks of fire rising from them. In full view of everyone, these sparks fell into the cauldron, and a raging fire ignited.

"The human fire appears, to offer sacrifice to the two fires of heaven and earth." The Taoist said coldly.

The yellow-robed men immediately rushed in like hungry wolves into a sheepfold, and pulled out a few more men, who raised their swords and slashed the man's head, causing it to roll to the ground. Blood splattered everywhere, as horrible as the underworld purgatory.

The head in the cauldron also gradually turned into ashes under the firelight. Then it slowly merged into the blood in the cauldron, and with the boiling of bubbles, the bright red and hot blood plasma flowed along the steps towards the golden coffin.

"Prince Yi, I have been waiting for you for almost ten years." The Taoist looked at the blood flowing into the coffin, his eyes filled with melancholy and loss.

He kept chanting spells with his hands as he walked around the golden coffin and chanted incantations.

"Wandering souls, where do they stay?"

"The three souls descend early, and the seven spirits follow"

"False alarm, strange thing, soul possession."

"The soul returns."

Every time a roar was heard, one person's head was chopped off as a sacrifice.

The entire staircase was covered with human blood, which slowly fell to the ground like water after rain.

When there were only five sacrifices left on the stage, Li Daoxuan looked at the anxious expressions of Master Li and his eldest brother and knew that he could not delay any longer.

At the moment when the man in yellow robe stepped forward to pull Li Mingda, Li Daoxuan took out a yellow talisman from his sleeve. His eyes were sharp, like a young eagle for the first time, and he uttered the last spell.

"Hurry up as a law!"

Suddenly, thunder roared and lightning flashed. The roaring sound spread throughout the cemetery, making everyone tremble.

Even the Taoist on the high platform was shocked by this sudden situation, and stared at Li Daoxuan below the stage with wide eyes.

"You!" The Taoist pointed at Li Daoxuan in shock and anger.

"Three thousand five thunders will descend, and millions of thunder and fire soldiers will come! All those who are about to fight will march forward in formation!" Li Daoxuan ignored him and started to recite the fighting tactics.

He pointed at a bronze tripod and said, "Break it!"

Blood splattered and flames flew everywhere. The Taoist saw this scene, his eyes were bloodshot and he angrily slammed the coffin.

"Okay! Okay!"

(End of this chapter)