Chapter 81: The Trine Waters Convergence Array

“Why do you think it’s Lei Zhen? Tell me your reasoning,” Baozi asked. Normally, when something happened, Baozi would always ask Zhou Yi what to do, so it was rare for him to offer his own analysis.

Scratching the back of his head and grinning, Baozi said, “Think about it. This is an ancient burial ground, so it must have existed for a long time. But the people buried here can’t have died more than three hundred years ago, right?”

Zhou Yi smiled and nodded, not interrupting.

“If this person had been someone important in life, would they have been buried here, in a mass grave? Of course not. Only someone who had access to the key, yet was buried here, could have been hastily tossed in the ground without much ceremony. No one would have bothered to care that Lei Zhen’s element was yang and useless to yin spirits.”

Baozi’s analysis made some sense, but it wasn’t entirely correct. If this person hadn’t been prominent in life, or if someone intentionally tried to hide things after their death, why would the key have been buried with them?

If these eight keys were of the same level as the Li Fire and Xun Wind, then even someone with no knowledge would not have simply discarded them.

“Yi, does my reasoning make sense?” Baozi asked with a beaming smile.

“Not bad. Looks like your fever burned away some of your worries and made you smarter,” Zhou Yi teased, smiling.

Baozi rolled his eyes. “Yi, are you insulting me?”

Zhou Yi was about to reply when Baozi pointed at Ji Liang. “Yi, looks like they’ve dug something up.”

Zhou Yi quickly looked over at the burial ground and saw Ji Liang and Ji Yulin climbing down into the deep pit they had dug.

“What do we do, Yi? Are we getting involved or not?” At crucial moments, Baozi reverted to his old habits, deferring to Zhou Yi.

“Let’s wait a bit. Let them haul out whatever they find, and we’ll make our move afterward. It doesn’t look like anything major will happen anytime soon. Go get us some food and wine, and we’ll eat while Ji Liang digs up treasure for us.”

Baozi chuckled. “Got it. You wait here, I’ll be right back.” Having visited Beijing before, Baozi had picked up some of the local slang and would toss out a phrase or two now and then.

With that, Baozi ran off to buy food and wine. Zhou Yi gathered his spiritual energy and moved above the burial ground. From ground level, nothing seemed amiss, but from above, it was a different story.

The burial ground was surrounded by water on three sides, built along a slope with graves haphazardly arranged from low to high. If this were just a normal place, it would be unremarkable, but here, the three sides of water had quietly formed a triple-water Yin-gathering array. Dark energy hovered above the burial ground, not dispersing, shrouding the entire area for miles around.

Below, they had already dug four or five meters deep. The soldiers had excavated skeletons and piled them in one spot, forming a mound over two meters high.

“These soldiers are truly heartless, not letting the dead rest in peace,” Zhou Yi muttered, shaking his head in dismay.

Zhou Yi couldn’t remain suspended in the air for long, so he returned to the ground after his survey. By now, Baozi had returned, carrying a roast chicken and a bag of peanuts.

The live rabbit, of course, was for Xun Wind. As soon as the rabbit was released, Xun Wind pounced and bit it dead, gnawing away contentedly.

“Nothing yet?” Baozi set the food down and sat cross-legged.

“Don’t eat yet. Go up there and see if you notice anything strange,” Zhou Yi said, pointing upward.

Baozi stood, bent his knees, and leapt. At full strength, he could jump thirty meters, but couldn’t stay airborne. As soon as he reached the height, he began to lose momentum and started sliding toward the burial ground.

He was using a light-body technique for traveling, not true levitation. If he kept sliding, he’d fall right into the pit the soldiers had dug. Since he hadn’t reached the realm of purple qi, he had to release his spiritual energy halfway and let himself drop.

Zhou Yi smirked and had to leap up to catch Baozi. “What did you see?”

“Those soldiers are digging up people’s ancestral graves,” Baozi replied.

“I told you to look at the terrain, not at what the soldiers are doing!” Zhou Yi said, rubbing his forehead. He had hoped Baozi’s ordeal had made him smarter, but it seemed he was still the same as ever.

“Oh, then I’ll go look again,” Baozi said, preparing to leap again.

Zhou Yi quickly grabbed his arm. “Forget it, sit down and eat. We’ll talk while we eat.” He didn’t dare let Baozi try again—who knew where he’d land next time?

Baozi pouted and sat down, unfastened his wine gourd, and took a big swig, then tore off a chicken leg and, with his mouth full, mumbled, “Hurry up and tell me what you saw up there.”

Zhou Yi gathered his thoughts and began, “This place is surrounded by water on three sides, and the dead are buried along the slope. On the surface, it seems like a good spot, with excellent feng shui.”

“But if everyone in the area is buried here with no care, the new graves press down on the old ones. In geomancy, that’s a huge taboo—like building a new house on top of someone’s old home. How could the spirits in the old tombs be at peace?”

Baozi shook his head. “They can’t. Go on.”

Zhou Yi popped a couple of peanuts into his mouth and continued, “If the spirits in the old tombs can’t rest, resentment builds up. If this were an ordinary graveyard, that resentment would eventually dissipate. But here, with water on three sides forming a triple-water Yin-gathering array, the resentment never disperses. Ji Liang is in for some trouble.”

Baozi stared wide-eyed at Zhou Yi. “Why is he in trouble?”

Zhou Yi usually wasn’t talkative, but Baozi’s curiosity had been thoroughly piqued. If he didn’t get an answer, he’d never let it go, so Zhou Yi explained in detail.

“The dead here are full of resentment, and with nowhere to vent it, what do you think they’ll do? Ji Liang and his soldiers have dug up graves, tossing bones into the sun to dry. What do you think those angry spirits are going to do?”

“Just say there are ghosts here and they’ll harm people. No need to go on and on. They aren’t good people anyway, dead or alive. Let’s just have our wine,” Baozi said, taking another big gulp before handing the wine gourd to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi sighed and shook his head. After all that explaining, Baozi didn’t appreciate it at all. Feeling a bit stifled, he took a deep swig himself.

“Slow down, leave some for me,” Baozi said, grabbing the gourd back before Zhou Yi could drink it all. He shook it—empty.

“Well, now we’re out of wine. Tonight’s going to be tough,” Baozi said, flopping down on the ground.

The two of them weren’t in any hurry now; after all, someone else was doing the work they were supposed to do. All they had to do was supervise.

“Yi, you said that triple-water Yin-gathering array should produce zombies, right?” Baozi asked, propping his head on his hand.

Zhou Yi shrugged. “The conditions to create a zombie are actually very strict. The array is just one part. The person has to die with a tremendous grudge, and at the moment of death, the Yin and Yang energies must merge at the right time. Only then will the body not rot for a hundred years, preserving it for a zombie to form. Otherwise, the body decays long before it can become a zombie.”

“So if it doesn’t become a zombie, it turns into a vengeful ghost?” Baozi started to say.

Before he could finish, the sky suddenly clouded over. In an instant, thick clouds blocked out the sun.

A cold wind howled.

Screams rang out. “Ah! Help!” There was the sound of gunfire.