They both stood sideways so Guo Changcheng could squeeze past, albeit with great difficulty. Then he took the bottle from Chu Shuzhi and tried to approach the floating girl. “Miss, please don’t be scared. We’re the police. Come down here to where I am. Let me take you back, all right?”
For a long time, Guo Changcheng stood in the wind and rain, getting drenched to the bone as he negotiated softly with the terrified girl. Finally, she let her guard down a little, accepting the reality of her death. Eyes on the bottle in Guo Changcheng’s hand, she carefully began to climb down.
Guo Changcheng breathed out a sigh of relief…just as a roar came from the other side of the bridge. Freshly frightened, the girl clung to the cold metal railing. Every last hair on Guo Changcheng’s body stood on end.
Chu Shuzhi curled his fingers as though drawing a bowstring back. A small bow made of rainwater materialized in front of him, and he slowly pulled out a yellow talisman for summoning thunder and chasing away evil. Rolling it into the shape of an arrow, he nocked it on the water bow.
Just as he was about to shoot, the surface of the bridge suddenly shook unnaturally. Chu Shuzhi paused, then saw Guo Changcheng stare past him, panic-stricken. An unspeakable smell of rot found only at the bottom of the Huangquan drifted by on the wind.
At last, the Corpse King broke out in a cold sweat.
Meanwhile, in the Netherworld, no one had been prepared for Ghost Face to blow himself up.
Shen Wei swept Zhao Yunlan into his arms. “Get down!”
There was a tremendous noise as the waters of the Wangchuan River erupted, forming a towering wall hundreds of meters high. It crashed back down like a tsunami, creating a huge vortex. Everyone with fast enough reflexes flew up to the top of the towering Yanluo Courts; everyone else was sucked into the ink-black Wangchuan.
Shortly thereafter, the entire Huangquan Road, the Naihe Bridge, and the Yanluo Courts themselves all shattered at once
The three men beat a hasty retreat, but Zhao Yunlan hesitated. “Zhu Hong’s still there…”
Shen Wei grabbed him and pushed him along. “Don’t worry, she’ll make it. I gave her a branch from the Great Divine Tree.”
They retreated out of Ghost City and had just reached the pagoda tree that stretched up to Antiques Street in Dragon City, connecting the yin and yang worlds, when they heard a loud meow. A black shadow flung itself into Zhao Yunlan’s arms.
“Damn fatty, why are you still here?” demanded Zhao Yunlan.
Daqing screamed into his ear. “I’ve been looking for you all over the world! You heartless dick! I almost turned the entire Netherworld upside down trying to find you! What just happened? Was there a gas explosion at the Yanluo Courts?! Me-fucking-ow, I was scared to death!”
Before Zhao Yunlan could respond, Shen Wei seized both human and cat and threw them up the tree. “Catch up later! Hurry and get up there!” This last order was roared at Lin Jing, who immediately obeyed and scrambled after them.
Shen Wei brought up the rear, shaping three consecutive seals with his hands. The shadow pursuing them stopped in its tracks, as if it had hit an invisible wall. Shen Wei stumbled back a few steps, exhausted. He slumped heavily against the pagoda tree, fighting for breath. Icy sweat dampened his temples.
The black shadow was now held back underground, but it was like a rapid river restrained by mud and sand. It smashed relentlessly against the invisible seal, and with every blow, the sound that rang out was enough to make the earth tremble.
Zhao Yunlan grabbed Shen Wei’s hand, all but dragging him up the tree. Shen Wei leaned against him, utterly drained. Once he finally caught his breath, the little group traversed the pagoda tree back to the Mortal Realm, where they found quite a welcoming committee. Wang Zheng, Sangzan, and many of the SID’s night shift were all there, with both lao-Wu and lao-Li, the nighttime and daytime guards.
Lao-Li had a huge bone in his hand, probably thinking of using it as a weapon. Even the old man guarding the pagoda tree had left his little shop, observing them from the doorway.
There was a sudden squeal of a car’s brakes as Zhao Yunlan’s father drove onto the pedestrian street at great speed—but no, it wasn’t his mortal dad. It was unmistakably Shennong’s mortar.
The mortar made a beeline for Shen Wei. The first words out of his mouth sent everyone into an uproar. “Has the Seal broken completely?”
Zhao Yunlan’s supportive grip on Shen Wei tightened.
Under the weight of all the confused, nervous, or undecipherable gazes, Shen Wei nodded. “The King of the Gui used himself to blow a hole in the Great Seal, but just now, I resealed the old Houtu Seal thrice on top of the fissure to keep it below ground. Besides that, the Soul-Executing Blade opened a substantial crevice at the resort. A little Chaos might leak through there, but it shouldn’t be too serious.”
“Nüwa disappeared thousands of years ago,” Shennong’s mortar said. “The old Houtu Seal has limited power. How long can you hold it?”
“No more than half a day,” Shen Wei replied. His voice was very low.
At that point, Wang Zheng quietly spoke up. “What is the Great Seal?”
Gently tugging her arm, Sangzan raised a finger to his lips to tell her to stop talking. Sangzan might’ve only understood seventy or eighty percent of what was being said, but he had helped Zhao Yunlan research ancient secrets and heard bits and pieces about the topic at hand. By this point, he had pieced together about half of what was going on.
Shennong’s mortar stared intently at Shen Wei. “What do you intend to do, Great Immortal?”
Unperturbed, Shen Wei met his gaze. Holding Zhao Yunlan’s hand, he said, “I intend to keep the vow I made all those years ago.”
After a moment of shock at his apparent serenity, the mortar looked down at Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan’s joined hands. A kaleidoscope of expressions crossed the mortar’s face before he stiffly averted his eyes. He gave a dry cough and then asked, “How can I assist you?”
Shen Wei’s gaze swept over everyone present, living and dead alike. “Long ago, Kunlun sealed the Four Pillars with the Four Hallowed Artifacts. Since then, it has been known that on the day the Seal weakened, the Artifacts would manifest in the world in response to the calamity. All four are now in my hands, and I must once again seal the Four Pillars that hold the earth and sky in place. I hope everyone here can help me stabilize the foundation of the sealing ritual.”
When he finished speaking, a vast Bagua appeared above Antiques Street. On it were the Four Symbols—shaoyin, taiyang, shaoyang, and taiyin14—pointing in their corresponding four directions: west, south, east, and north.