Chapter Twenty-Two: Unbreakable Command

Xi Yue told me of a method she was unsure would work. She recalled, albeit vaguely, the locations of the nine stone tablets within the Nine Tablets Dragon-breaking Formation, and proposed to use the same approach to suppress the evil dragon beneath the Spirit Spring Village once more. Yet, this was nothing more than an attempt; even Xi Yue could not say whether it would succeed, as the best moment to arrange the blood sacrifice formation had already passed.

But when we arrived at Spirit Spring Village, the scene before us stirred deep emotions within me.

The villagers of Spirit Spring Village, oblivious to any impending danger, continued to frolic and laugh as usual. When they saw me, they greeted me warmly and told me that the village chief, Wang Dabao, was in the ancestral hall.

Ancestral hall?

Only Wang Dabao could command the villagers now. No matter how much I tried to warn them, they simply wouldn’t believe me.

“Uncle, please go home and pack your things. Take your family and leave Spirit Spring Village at once. A great disaster is about to befall the village!”

The uncle listened, smiled gently, and reached out to touch my forehead. “Young man, are you ill? You’re speaking nonsense!”

He left without another word, heading back to his house. I could only offer a bitter smile and hurried toward the ancestral hall.

Spirit Spring Village, owing to past events, had later built an ancestral hall to worship a deity. But I never learned who this deity was; in most places, ancestral halls are dedicated to various gods or ancestors. Some worship forebears, others a single god.

When Xi Yue and I entered the hall, we were startled by what was enshrined—a dragon. Though only a statue, it struck me as eerily similar to the dragon that Xi Yue’s uncle had once suppressed.

Wang Dabao, upon seeing me, immediately stepped out from the hall.

“Sir, what brings you here…”

“Ah!”

Upon noticing Xi Yue by my side, Wang Dabao’s face changed dramatically, and he cried out.

“What’s wrong, Chief Wang?”

He backed away, keeping his distance. “Sir, at your side…”

I quickly understood and spoke softly, “This is an expert from our agency, here to help resolve the geomantic concerns of Spirit Spring Village.”

“To be honest, Chief Wang, the entire village faces unprecedented calamity. Grandpa Zhao has already gone to seek help because of this, and I’ve come ahead to take emergency measures.”

“Emergency measures?”

Upon hearing my words, Wang Dabao’s expression brightened. He took a few steps toward me, pulling me aside and saying, “Sir, I know you’re capable. Please, save Spirit Spring Village. Whatever you need, we’ll provide. These years, we’ve earned much from the spring—just name your price. If we can afford it, we’ll pay without hesitation.”

---

I gave a bitter smile, my anxiety plain. “Chief Wang, if you wish to survive, have everyone flee the village immediately. Leave Spirit Spring Village now, and never return!”

Unexpectedly, Wang Dabao looked as if he might cry upon hearing this.

He reached into his clothes and slowly drew out an aged red wooden tablet, inscribed with small characters.

By the moonlight, I could clearly read the words:

“In three days, the entire village will perish in the Blood Diagram.”

What?

My face changed at once.

“Chief Wang, what is this…”

Wang Dabao held the blood-red tablet in his hand. “This is the last message left by the master from years ago. His words have been passed down from chief to chief as a secret legacy; no one else knows. Only when you become chief do you learn it. If the formation is ever broken, we are to open a box he left behind. Last night, I opened it, and inside was this tablet.”

“Is all this truly fate?”

Suddenly, I recalled the vast blood sacrifice formation Xi Yue had arranged—the floating diagram of yin and yang surrounded by flecks of blood. Could this Blood Diagram refer to the blood sacrifice formation Xi Yue was to set up?

Now that I had forcibly interrupted it, had their fate changed?

I hurried to Xi Yue and whispered her uncle’s prophecy in her ear. Her face turned ashen. “This is bad. We’re trapped by fate now, and our strength cannot contend with destiny. We’ll become its victims. We must leave at once!”

Xi Yue’s words darkened my mood, but I was powerless.

Boom, boom!

As soon as Xi Yue finished speaking, the entire space began to tremble violently. From the ancestral hall, a sound echoed, like the roar of a dragon imprisoned in the abyss.

“This is not good. Smash the dragon statue now!”

Xi Yue shouted as she rushed toward the hall, raising her hand to strike the dragon statue.

Naturally, I followed, but Wang Dabao stepped in front of me, blocking my way and shouting.

“No, you mustn’t!”

“Xiao Dong, these mortals can’t sense the tremors or hear the dragon’s roar!”

---

“What? That makes things much harder!”

“Not necessarily. Use your blood to open the Yin Eye for the village chief, so he can see everything.”

The Immortal Lady guided me as she flew from my arm toward the dragon statue within the hall.

“Chief Wang…”

I bit my finger hard and drew a symbol in the air, pressing it to Wang Dabao’s forehead.

He shuddered all over.

He looked around, bewildered.

“What is this… what’s happening…”

Suddenly, a furious surge of power erupted from the ancestral hall. The dragon’s roar grew louder, unmistakable.

“Chief Wang, hurry—go and warn every household to leave now!”

Wang Dabao, now terrified, trembled as he stumbled away.

At that moment, I heard a voice.

“Who told you to use your blood?”

It was Xi Yue, her tone filled with anger and, beneath it, a helpless sense of resignation.

Suddenly, the ancestral hall collapsed. From within emerged a towering man clad in golden armor, fierce and imposing. Upon his head grew a pair of rhinoceros horns, and his face, terrifyingly, was entirely covered in golden scales.

“This blood is so fresh—ha ha ha! I, the Azure Dragon, have just awakened, and already such a nourishing offering awaits me. Truly, fate favors me!”

In an instant, wild storms swept through the space…