Chapter 159: Ji Liang Saves the Day

"Not good! We must get to the mass grave immediately!" Realizing that the alignment of the seven stars had already begun, Zhou Yi was gripped by anxiety and panic. Although the zombie had fled and Chiyou currently lacked a physical body upon his resurrection, there was no guarantee that the Miao people wouldn't find an alternative vessel.

A previous incident was still fresh in their minds: that flying corpse was originally Chiyou's physical body. After Zhou Yi and the others destroyed it, the Miao people had found another zombie from the lands of Zhuolu. That precedent was not far behind them.

"Stop right there! Where do you think you're going? You're coming right back with me to Shenyang!" Seeing the three of them about to leave, Ji Liang quickly blocked their path.

"Get up. Master Zhou has no time to waste on your useless nonsense. If you try to block us again, don't blame me for being unpolite!" Zhou Yi pointed straight at Ji Liang's nose.

Ji Liang was genuinely intimidated by Zhou Yi's aggressive stance for a moment. Zhou Yi then handed Zhou Danjiang over to the Bat King and hastily set off toward the mass grave with peace of mind.

"Let me tell you, don't follow us, or I won't be responsible for whatever happens. We've rescued this many children, and the task of sending them back is up to you!" Zhou Yi pointed at Ji Liang's nose once more.

Ji Liang frowned and said, "Don't try to scare me; I'm no pushover. Men, take them down!" With a wave of his hand, the soldiers immediately chambered their rounds.

"You'll regret this!" Zhou Yi's anger flared, and he issued a threat. But at this point, his threats carried no weight, and Ji Liang was entirely immune to this routine.

"Go back to Shenyang with me first. I want to see how you make me regret this!" Ji Liang sneered coldly, then ordered the soldiers guarding Zhou Yi, "Take them away!"

Guarded by Ji Liang's soldiers, the three of them had no chance of escape even if they wanted to, as they couldn't withstand bullets. Zhou Yi was deeply preoccupied with the situation at the mass grave and felt terribly anxious, but with no way to break free, his hands were tied.

"Ji Liang, do you know who Chiyou is?" Since hard tactics weren't working, Zhou Yi decided to try a softer approach.

"Don't talk to me. I'm not listening to any of your nonsense!" Knowing that Zhou Yi was full of tricks, Ji Liang tilted his chin up and purposely distanced himself from Zhou Yi.

"Do you remember the zombie and the blood spring you dug up at the mass grave? The Miao people there want to use the nether-penetrating power of that blood spring to resurrect the ancient demon king Chiyou! If Chiyou is resurrected, you, Ji Liang, won't even have time to regret it!" Zhou Yi shouted loudly.

Hearing this, Ji Liang turned back with a smiling face and said to Zhou Yi, "Are you telling me fairy tales here? Chiyou's resurrection? How many years has Chiyou been dead now? Let me tell you, if you say another word, I'll have someone gag your mouth!"

"Everything he says is true. A man of religion does not speak falsehoods. Benefactor Ji can send men to investigate the mass grave. If there is any falsehood, hold this poor monk accountable!" Kechen spoke up.

Since Kechen had already revealed his background earlier as a monk from the Shaolin Temple, and spoke with such conviction now, Ji Liang couldn't help but feel a flicker of doubt in his heart.

"Huizi, you run fast. Go and take a look!" Fearing that he might genuinely ruin things, Ji Liang instructed a soldier named Huizi.

"It's too far from here to the mass grave. By the time he runs back and forth, it will be too late for anything. Let's all go together!" Mu Chen interjected.

Ji Liang was now starting to believe what the three men had said, and upon pondering it in his mind, it did indeed make sense. "Let's go, to the mass grave first!"

Arriving at the foot of the mountain, the group boarded vehicles and headed straight for the mass grave. Riding in the cars wasn't entirely bad either, as it gave them a chance to seize the moment and recover the spiritual energy within their bodies.

"Brother Yi? Why is he in Ji Liang's car?" Baozi was on his way to Fenghuang Mountain when he caught sight of Ji Liang and Zhou Yi halfway there. After a moment of thought, he quickly gave chase.

The alignment of the seven stars was a celestial anomaly—a phenomenon where seven planets—Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Earth, and Pluto—move within a certain range, rather than lining up in a straight line. The daytime turning into night at this moment occurred because the planets blocked the sun's light from reaching the Earth, causing such deep gloom during daylight hours.

If Uranus and Neptune were included, it would be the alignment of nine planets. Legend had it that the nine-star alignment was the most terrifying of all, but due to a lack of historical records, it would not be elaborated upon further.

Zhou Yi raised his wrist to check his watch; it was already past eleven-forty. The Miao people would undoubtedly choose exactly twelve noon to resurrect Chiyou, for that was when the utmost yin and utmost yang energies of heaven and earth merged into one—the intersection of yin and yang. If Chiyou chose his physical vessel for possession at that moment, success would be achieved in a single strike.

"Tell Ji Liang to go faster!" Zhou Yi couldn't help urging them on. Calculating the distance, if they traveled at their current speed, there wouldn't be enough time left by the time they reached the mass grave.

"This is already the fastest speed; we can't go any faster!" the driver shouted back over his shoulder. The roads were all dirt paths, and with yesterday's rain, the potholes were filled with standing water. Moreover, the manufacturing standards of the automobiles at the time were relatively crude; driving any faster on such a road would likely cause the vehicles to shake apart before they even reached the mass grave.

"Faster!" Thinking carefully about what Zhou Yi had just said, Ji Liang realized it made complete sense. Imagining the consequences in his mind, he shuddered and hurriedly urged the driver to step on the gas.

Zhou Yi checked his watch again; it was already eleven-fifty. He still hadn't come up with a countermeasure. Checking his watch once more, he knew for certain they wouldn't arrive before twelve.

"Give me a gun!" Zhou Yi reached out to request a firearm from a soldier. Having not used a gun since coming down from Changbai Mountain, he felt a bit insecure inside and wanted a weapon for self-protection.

The soldier looked at Ji Liang. After a moment of thought, Ji Liang unbuckled his Mauser pistol from his waist and handed it to Zhou Yi. "Use this one; it's reliable!"

Zhou Yi shook his head and refused to take it because he wasn't used to handguns, and their firepower didn't match the Type 38 rifles the soldiers carried. "I'm still more used to this!" With that, he grabbed a long rifle and immediately loaded the bullets into it.

Naturally, the Type 38 rifle was much handier than the hunting rifle Zhou Yi usually used. Yet with a gun in hand, he still felt something was missing, and upon seeing the grenades hanging across the soldiers' chests, he grinned broadly.

"Give me a few of these things!" As he spoke, he began strapping grenades onto his own body.

"It's still going to take a while to reach the mass grave. What do you want with these?" Ji Liang curled his lip and asked.

"There's no time left. Master Zhou is going on ahead!" Having said that, Zhou Yi leveraged the hood of the car for momentum and sprinted away at full speed toward the mass grave.

The elderly Miao woman and her group of followers had been chanting their incantations for a full hour without a moment's pause. The faster and smoother the chants became, the more the utmost yin energy generated by the seven-star alignment converged upon the mass grave.

This nethermost yin power formed a layer of black vapor above the mass grave, growing thicker and denser by the moment.

The mass grave had already collapsed, and since the blood pool below had been destroyed, there naturally should have been no more blood springs. Yet, the nether-yin force produced by the seven-star alignment possessed an unexpected suction power; several giant boulders at the bottom of the pit slowly shifted, as if someone down below were pushing against them from underneath.

As soon as twelve o'clock struck, the massive boulders at the bottom of the pit shattered with a thunderous roar. With a deafening boom, the crimson waters within the blood pool beneath the rocks shot upward like a fountain, surging straight toward the layer of black vapor hovering above the mass grave...

The chapter titles in the previous section were accidentally ordered incorrectly, and it took me forever to find them—what a headache! Another chapter will be coming shortly!