After the college entrance examination, my identity as a Mahayana Immortal Venerable could no longer

Chapter 91: Nails in the Coffin, Someone Operating the Pump Above the Well

"The first breath of spiritual energy from your girl has already been memorized at the bottom of the well."

The stone chamber was dimly lit, and when the old man finished speaking, even the thin tube used to deliver medicine in the wall trembled twice.

Lu Yuan didn't rush to move; he first glanced at the black wooden coffin.

Nine copper chains were attached to the coffin, locking the nine palace positions. The outermost chain was tarnished and had been replaced in recent years; the eight inner chains were much older, with thick layers of verdigris. Someone was guarding it, stealing from it, and trying to continue using it—their methods were very dirty, and the accounts were very messy.

"You're asking for a price using my sister? You're asking for trouble."

The old man grinned, a laugh escaping his throat.

"If all you know is killing, you wouldn't have made it this far tonight. I'll lay my cards on the table for you to hear, then you can strangle me later."

You have three sentences.

The old man held up one thin, dry finger.

"First, what's being suppressed underground isn't evil spirits, it's an earth eye."

Lift the second finger.

"Secondly, last night a surge occurred in the south, loosening the earth's channels and causing well energy to leak out. Whoever absorbed the new spiritual energy first will be the first to be recorded in the account."

The third finger also lifted.

"Third, that girl outside, Engineer Zhou, and those old geezers in the Heavenly Bureau's warehouse are all fighting over this nail in the coffin. If you want to protect the person in your family, get the nail first."

After listening, Lu Yuan neither said he believed it nor he didn't.

The old man's three sentences were seven parts truth and three parts concealment. He was right about the Earth Eye. And he wasn't entirely wrong about Lu Qingxue being held accountable. Last night, the first wave of spiritual energy surged in from the mountain, cleansing Lu Qingxue's marrow and tendons; her new spiritual energy was the purest, and something like that half-awake being at the bottom of the well would crave it. But the claim that "nails can protect people" was somewhat exaggerated.

If a well could be sealed with just one nail, the Astronomical Observatory wouldn't be in this situation today.

He considered it in his mind and first asked the easiest question.

"Who are you."

"Tao Xuan, the former well keeper of Jiangnan."

"People from the Astronomical Bureau?"

"The Astronomical Bureau is a young upstart; when I was guarding the well, their director was still breastfeeding."

"It's blown pretty round."

Tao Xuan gasped for breath, and the three silver needles in his chest trembled.

"You look down on them, and so do I. But for now, we still need to borrow their name to maintain order. If you ask higher up, even that girl Shen Qingci might not know everything. She only knows there's a well in the old town, but she doesn't know there's a door under the well, let alone a nail behind the door."

Lu Yuan walked to the coffin and placed his hand on the coffin lid.

The wood was cold, but it had veins inside, thin and weak, almost like a human heartbeat.

There really was something alive inside the coffin.

Tao Xuan's breathing quickened when he saw him touch the coffin.

"Be gentle. The copper chain isn't completely broken yet, and the person inside isn't fully awake. If you open it recklessly, the people upstairs will be the first to die."

Who's in the coffin?

"My junior brother."

"You're using your junior brother to suppress the well?"

"He volunteered."

"Do you think I'm three years old?"

Tao Xuan choked and coughed up two mouthfuls of black blood. He raised his hand to wipe it away, and the back of his hand was covered in black blood.

"You young man, your words are sharper than knives. Fine, I'll put it another way. He made a mistake back then and jumped in here on his own. I've been guarding this place for twenty-seven years, and all I've seen is a bunch of ingrates. Things are going missing from the warehouse, talismans are being leaked, Engineer Zhou took the prescription to save his son, and that girl outside stole the wooden plaque from the warehouse—they're all eyeing that well-suppressing nail in the coffin. If you ask who's the dirtiest, I'm not even in the running."

"Then why are you knocking on the door?"

"Find someone who can put an end to this mess."

"You think highly of me."

"Last night, the earth's veins in Jiangnan stirred, and tonight a great tide has risen on the mountain. Even the evil winds from Antarctica have blown over. At this critical juncture, there is no other place in the entire Jiangnan region that can remain steadfast."

Lu Yuan flicked his wrist, and the outermost black copper chain snapped with a "clink" and fell to the ground.

Tao Xuan's face twitched.

"you......"

"You've finished your three sentences, now it's my turn to ask."

"Go ahead and ask."

What would happen if we took that nail out of the coffin?

Tao Xuan stared at the broken chain, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"The wellhead will open, the earth's eye will be exposed, and the three old waterways in the city will all have to be dredged. If the town is rebuilt before midnight, things won't get too chaotic. If it's delayed past midnight, black water will be seeping from every stove in the old town."

"How long until midnight?"

"In less than an hour."

That's enough.

Tao Xuan felt a lump in his throat, stared at Lu Yuan for a long time, and then suddenly laughed.

"Your tone is just like..."

Before he could finish speaking, a muffled thud came from above the stone chamber.

"Thump!"

The second sound is closer.

"Thump!"

Water began to seep from the cracks in the wall. The thin tube used to deliver the medicine bulged up and then deflated, with air bubbles mixed in.

The smile on Tao Xuan's face vanished instantly.

"The pump's started!"

Lu Yuan looked up at the crack in the rock. The water was muddy, and the mud contained iron filings. It wasn't that the well water had overflowed naturally; someone had tampered with the factory's old water pump, pouring all the wastewater into the well in an attempt to use the dirty water to open the second door.

Engineer Zhou.

That old bastard is definitely not clean.

Inoue, the third layer of the blockade was in complete chaos.

A roar came from the direction of the pump house, the ground trembled, and the steel frame at the wellhead was pushed up by the steam, emitting white smoke. Two team members rushed out of the pump house, shouting as they ran.

"Director Shen, pump number three is on and can't be turned off!"

"Where's the power distribution room?"

"It's locked, and we don't have the spare key!"

Shen Qingci stood by the wellhead, her face so dark it could wring water. She held a hard drive she'd just pulled from the monitoring vehicle; the screen displayed Zhou's movements from half an hour prior—that bastard had gone to the outer edge of the warehouse first, then to the pump room, leaving without a trace. She'd just had someone follow him, and he'd already bypassed her by going around the maintenance well.

A team member was pinning down a petite woman, Gu Ning from the archives. She still had the keychain for the Gu Archives' nameplate on her wrist, and her face was streaked with tears.

"Director Shen, I really didn't mean to harm anyone. It was Engineer Zhou who suggested borrowing a plaque for comparison..."

"How many times have you lent it out?"

"Just three times."

"Who took it?"

"I don't recognize her. She wears a mask and always comes during the night shift, paying in cash."

Shen Qingci closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, the fire had been extinguished.

Now is not the time to punish people.

The people in the well haven't come up yet, and the pump room is running again. Once the old waterway is filled, the balance down in the well will collapse. If she orders the pump to be blown up, half of the old factory building will collapse, and the people down in the well will be buried alive. If she doesn't blow it up, the dirty water will continue to flow, and something will still happen down in the well.

She mentally considered the situation, then raised her hand and shoved the walkie-talkie to the teammate next to her.

"Go to the electrical room, get the hydraulic shears, and tear down the door!"

"yes!"

"Get two more groups of men to apprehend Zhou's entire family; don't let a single one escape!"

"clear!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a muffled tremor came from the well, and the cracks along the edge of the steel mesh burst outwards, sending several rivets flying into the air, grazing her ear.

The team members who were standing nearby all took two steps back, and no one dared to peek forward again.

Shen Qingci stood still, her palms sweaty.

Now she can only gamble, gamble that the person below can hold on.

Inside the stone chamber at the bottom of the well, the water had already reached above ankle level.

Tao Xuan sat cross-legged, the hem of his gray robe soaked in muddy water. The thin tube at the tip of his nose was completely broken, and the medicine was dripping down the wall. He raised his hand to press down on the wooden coffin, the veins in his palm bulging, and he muttered incantations in a weak voice.

"With the pump running, that girl outside should get moving too. She's been waiting for this opening..."

What does she want?

"Nail, plus this mouthful of blood in the coffin."

"Who is she?"

Tao Xuan gasped for breath, squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth.

"The one who survived the Gu Ku case."

Lu Yuan looked up.

Speak like a human.

"Ten years ago, there was a theft at the Jiangnan warehouse. Of the seven people guarding the warehouse, six died and one escaped. The one who escaped was a little girl, the daughter of one of the guards, surnamed Jiang. Before her father died, he gave her half a page of the 'Zhenjinglu' (Record of Town Wells). I thought she had been buried long ago, but I didn't expect her to be alive today and even learn how to raise clay puppets."

Once this line is connected, all the previous fragments are linked together.

Gu Kumu plaque, wellhead yellow talisman, medicine packet formula, and her words, "I've invited someone who really knows the ropes down." Tonight, she doesn't want Lu Yuan's life; she wants to use Lu Yuan's hand to open the door, and then use the dirty water to flush out the mess, to gather the nail in the coffin and half a page of "The Record of Suppressing Wells."

That's quite a ruthless scheme.

Where is she?

Tao Xuan opened his mouth, about to reply, when a crack appeared in the blue stone wall to the right rear of the stone chamber.

The woman surnamed Jiang slid in through the crack, her hair half-wet, and the copper bell in her hand replaced with a short knife, the tip of which was still covered in mud.

She didn't look at Tao Xuan, but stared at the coffin next to Lu Yuan.

"I told you, you're the one who has to open the real door."

Tao Xuan was so angry that his chest heaved, and he raised his hand to form a hand seal.

The woman surnamed Jiang raised her hand, and a short knife flew out, piercing through the sleeve of the man who was pressing the coffin, pinning half of his hand to the corner of the coffin.

"Old man, don't move."

After she finished speaking, her gaze turned to Lu Yuan's face.

"I originally wanted to borrow you a little longer, but you're too clever for your own good; that fake coffin on the right path couldn't fool you. So, I'll just have to lay my cards on the table."

"You try setting one up."

"OK."

She stepped on a loose brick on the ground, and with a "click," a hidden hole appeared in the top of the stone chamber, allowing sewage to pour down onto the coffin.

"You're capable enough to protect yourself. If you still want to protect that girl on the mountain, pull out the nail and give it to me. Once the well gas is recorded, only the well-suppressing nail can change the record."

Tao Xuan hissed and cursed, "Jiang Huichun, if your father were still alive, he would have strangled you first!"

Jiang Huichun didn't even turn her head.

"When my father was alive, he guarded Guku his whole life, and even his coffin was old when he died. You well guards and officials from the Astronomical Bureau, all you talk about are rules, but when it comes to the dead, you even dare to change the register. Now it's my turn to take the blame, and anyone who tries to stop me will die."

Lu Yuan looked at her and finally spoke.

"So you went through all this trouble, but you still wanted to save people."

The copper bell in Jiang Huichun's hand paused.

"Don't try to trick me with your words."

"Zhou Gong's son, the Gu Ku case, the Zhenjing record—you've used nothing but tricks to save your life. If you really wanted to let the well devour the city, you could have done it last night; there's no need for me to open the door."

Jiang Huichun stared at him, a crack appearing on her hardened face, which then closed again in the blink of an eye.

"So what?"

"That means you still have room for negotiation."

"talk?"

She laughed, a laugh that seemed to carry fire.

"I've been talking for ten years, and all I've got are blank files, six dead people whose names I don't even know. And now you want to talk to me?"

Lu Yuan raised his hand and broke another copper chain.

"Then let's not talk, let's do business."

"What are you going to use to do this for me?"

"If you want a well anchor, I'll show you. If you want to change the accounts and save people, I'll give you a faster way. The condition is that you stop the pump above and hand over Engineer Zhou."

Jiang Huichun's eyelid twitched.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Once the nail is out of the coffin, it's hard to say who will get it first."

"Do you have another way?"

After hearing that sentence, Jiang Huichun paused for two breaths.

The sound of water outside grew louder, and the wooden coffin lid began to tremble slightly. Inside, it sounded like someone was tapping the wooden board with their knuckles, one tap after another. Tao Xuan's face turned completely ashen, and he was panting as he chanted incantations, clearly on the verge of losing control.

Jiang Huichun's palms were sweaty.

She had been planning for ten years, waiting for this very night. But things had already gone awry. The pumps were running at a pace she had planned, Tao Xuan was half-crippled, and the person in the coffin had woken up too quickly. If she tried to snatch it by force, she would most likely lose herself as well.

Her heart clenched, and she gritted her teeth as she spoke.

"I'll stop the pump first, then you can open the coffin."

"Wrong."

Lu Yuan looked at her.

"You took off your headphones, threw away the bell, threw the knife at me first, and then knelt down to talk."

Jiang Huichun's temple throbbed twice.

"You're dreaming."

"Then keep wasting your time."

Lu Yuan placed his palm on the center of the coffin lid, while his other hand gripped the third copper chain.

"Once that person in the coffin climbs out, you'll never have time to dredge up your father's old grievances again."

Jiang Huichun's chest heaved, his eyes fixed on the coffin lid, listening to the increasingly dense knocking inside, when finally the copper bell in his hand clattered to the ground.

She took off her headphones, tossed them with her hand, and the short knife flew to Lu Yuan's feet.

Tao Xuan's eyelids twitched as he read it.

This woman, who had been fierce all night, was finally silenced by Lu Yuan with just three sentences.

Jiang Huichun bent his knees and knelt in the mud, his voice hoarse.

"I can stop the pump, and I can give it to you, Engineer Zhou."

"Now, open the coffin."

Lu Yuan looked down at her.

"You missed one sentence."

Jiang Huichun gritted her teeth and forced out the sentence.

"Please."

Lu Yuan then raised his hand.

The third copper chain broke, and the coffin lid bounced up half an inch.

A wisp of white steam emerged from the crack in the coffin and shot straight up to the top of the stone chamber.

A low dragon roar was carried on the white mist.

Tao Xuan froze, his lips trembling.

Jiang Huichun looked up at the crack in the coffin, her pupils filled with the reflection of white mist. She had waited ten years, and this was the first time she had seen the real thing inside the coffin emerge.

Lu Yuan didn't look at the white mist; his gaze fell on the hand inside the coffin.

The hand pressed against the edge of the coffin, the back of the hand was pale, and a piece of old red rope was tied around the wrist.

A small brass lock was attached to the end of the red rope.

Two small characters are engraved on the copper lock.

"The Lu family."