The two walked side by side out of the Scripture Depository, as Cheng Yi struggled to suppress his uneasy emotions.
Soon, very soon, once inside the Ancestral Master Hall, they could suppress this evil spirit.
"Daoist Cheng Yi, are you hungry? How about we grab a vegetable pancake before we go? It won't take much time," Chen Mu suddenly said.
Cheng Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly regained his composure, "Okay, let's eat first."
With a turn, they headed for the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Daoist He was absentmindedly washing dishes.
Cheng Yi had ordered that the Daoists of the observatory rise unusually early that day.
After breakfast, they were all arranged by Cheng Yi to practice on the square in front of the Ancestral Master Hall.
On one hand, to stimulate their Qi and blood for self-protection and on the other, to block the exits to prevent the evil spirit from escaping.
"I wonder if that evil spirit has been suppressed," Daoist He thought, lifting his head to see a figure with a pale face and dark eye sockets.
Daoist He's heart nearly stopped from fear.
"We've come to eat!" Cheng Yi quickly spoke up in advance.
Startled, Daoist He hurriedly prepared their meals.
Chen Mu wolfed down his two vegetable pancakes in just a few bites, nearly pouring his bowl of porridge directly into his mouth.
After finishing, he stared unblinkingly at Cheng Yi's vegetable pancake.
"I'm not very hungry, you eat," Cheng Yi's eyelid twitched.
"Alright!" Chen Mu, overjoyed, took Cheng Yi's pancake and chewed it with big bites.
Cheng Yi quickly finished his own porridge and sat down next to him, feigning ease, but his peripheral vision remained fixed on Chen Mu.
Seeing Chen Mu finish his pancake as well, he let out a sigh of relief.
Now it should be possible. As long as he lured this fellow into the Ancestral...
"Could I have another bowl of porridge? I've got something stuck," Chen Mu said, looking distressed.
"Sure!" Cheng Yi suppressed the urge to grind his teeth and waved to Daoist He.
Daoist He filled another bowl of porridge with a pained expression.
If they let this evil spirit eat its fill, how would they fight it?!
But if they refused, what if it went berserk?
Sadly serving Chen Mu porridge and watching him down it in one gulp, even letting out a satisfied belch, Daoist He felt itchy with nervousness.
"Young Master Chen, shall we go now?" Cheng Yi tried to keep his breath steady as he spoke.
"Let's go, let's go, the sooner we start, the sooner we're done," Chen Mu, satisfied, followed Cheng Yi to a towering great hall.
At the moment, seven or eight Daoists in their workout clothes were passionately practicing martial arts on the small square in front of the hall.
Chen Mu stood beside the square, watching the Daoists practice with interest.
Cheng Yi was anxious inside but didn't dare to rush too much, fearing the evil spirit would notice something amiss.
After a full quarter of an hour, Chen Mu reluctantly entered the Ancestral Master Hall.
Cheng Yi watched Chen Mu enter the Ancestral Master Hall and couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief.
"No matter what kind of evil spirit you are, with the Heartless Bell to suppress you, you are certain to die!" Cheng Yi immediately regained his composure, glanced at the brothers practicing vigorously, and followed into the Ancestral Master Hall with a relaxed face.
"Young Master Chen, please look, the scriptures are right here," Cheng Yi pointed to the east wall of the Ancestral Master Hall with a smile.
"Not knowing that the ultimate is but the flip of a coin, who could tell that the fire is the right place to plant the lotus. Leading the White Tiger home to nourish, a pearl will be born, round like the moon..."
The entire wall was a massive stone with mysterious scriptures engraved in a soaring dragon and dancing phoenix script.
The script was elegant and vigorous, and the scriptures were profound and strange, inspiring wonder in the reader and yearning for the celestial mysteries.
"Beautiful calligraphy, I'll start copying it now," Chen Mu found a table and spread out his writing materials.
Beautiful calligraphy? What does an evil spirit know about calligraphy, trying to bluff its way through!
"Young Master Chen, thank you for the trouble," Cheng Yi's smile slowly faded, his eyelids drooping, a flash of cold light in his eyes.
While Chen Mu was distracted, Cheng Yi quietly approached the offering table in the Ancestral Master Hall.
A Bronze Ritual Bell, with a hint of verdigris, was set in front of the incense burner on the offering table.
Cheng Yi bowed respectfully, and after standing up, he quickly picked up the bell.
The bell was palm-sized with a handle, the top of the handle sharp like a spear tip.
The surface was engraved with human faces and floral patterns, adorned with specks of verdigris rust, giving it an ancient and substantial feel.
Turning over the bell, it was open at the bottom, surprisingly without a clapper.
Cheng Yi turned to look towards Chen Mu, who was diligently copying the scriptures on the wall, and sneered coldly, "Pretending!"
Cheng Yi stabbed the sharp tip of the handle into the palm of his left hand viciously, and then held his bleeding palm over the mouth of the bell.
An invisible suction force arose, turning the cut in his palm into a faucet turned on full, his fresh red blood rapidly flowing into the bell.
It only took five breaths before Cheng Yi's face turned deathly pale.
Blood floated in the air within the bronze bell, swirling and converging to form a blood bead the size of a peanut grain, crystal clear.
"Heartless Bell sounds, command you to reveal yourself at once!" Cheng Yi glared at Chen Mu's back, fiercely shaking the bronze bell.
The crystal-clear blood bead, acting as the bell's clapper, crashed against the bronze wall.
Clang!
A distant bell chime suddenly rang out.
An invisible wave spread rapidly around the Dharma Bell as its center, then was refracted and bounced back by the walls of the Ancestral Master Hall, echoing and gathering within, but never spreading outside the hall.
Chen Mu, who was earnestly copying scriptures, shuddered and instantly froze in place.
Haha! Let's see what kind of evil spirit you are!
Cheng Yi gazed eagerly at Chen Mu.
"Er..." A prolonged belch emanated from Chen Mu's mouth.
Cheng Yi: "..."
How could it not work?
The Heartless Bell had clearly been activated?
Could it be that its power wasn't enough?
Cheng Yi gritted his teeth, broke open his left hand again, and injected fresh blood, then shook the bell vigorously.
Clang!
The distant bell sound rose again.
Chen Mu's figure stopped moving once more.
Cheng Yi clenched his left fist tightly!
It's done!
"Taoist priest, keep ringing it, that bell sound is quite pleasant to listen to," Chen Mu, frozen in place, suddenly turned around and said.
Cheng Yi: "..."
"You don't feel anything unusual?" Cheng Yi cautiously asked.
Chen Mu frowned in thought: "I just feel a bit bloated in the stomach."
Cheng Yi: "..."
"Keep shaking it, the bell sound matches the scripture really well," Chen Mu said with a laugh, scratching his head.
"Heh..." Keep ringing it? You probably want me dead!
Holding the bronze bell, Cheng Yi approached Chen Mu and peered at the texts that were just copied.
The structure was coordinated, and the handwriting was elegant, basically consistent with the first time he saw Chen Mu's writing, even prettier and with a slightly more ethereal charm.
Could I have been wrong?
Was the evil spirit frightened away by the Heartless Bell last night?
The Heartless Bell is an heirloom of Qingfeng Observatory, said to originate from the ancient Pure Yang Dao, specifically overcoming various ghosts and evil spirits.
The fact that the man in front of him showed no reaction to the Heartless Bell indicated that his spirit and body were in harmony, and he was definitely not possessed by an evil spirit.
With this thought, Cheng Yi felt a wave of dizziness and blurred vision overcome him.
This Heartless Bell is so powerful at draining evil spirits and souls, but its consumption is also severe, requiring a large amount of human blood to activate.
Even as a robust man whose daily practice kept his blood circulation vigorous, he had turned pale after only activating the bell twice.
The key was that it still had no effect, like he was expending energy against air, with no result!
The more he thought, the more he felt lightheaded and weak in the knees.
This is no good, no good at all, I need to quickly take some medicine.
After placing the Heartless Bell aside, Cheng Yi clumsily left the Ancestral Master Hall. He was afraid he would faint right there.
Watching the hastily departing Cheng Yi, Chen Mu couldn't help but purse his lips.
I just asked you to shake the bell a bit, why run?
That bell sound was indeed very comfortable.
Looking up at the semi-transparent gray wall in front of him.
Writing: 135/10000/Second Rank;
How come it popped up all on its own like a popup window.
Hmm, I gained some more experience.
Never mind, let's hurry up and copy the scriptures.