dmims Chapter 93: The city's stakes are scattered, and Zhou Banxian's compass weeps blood.
Chapter 93: The city's stakes are scattered, and Zhou Banxian's compass weeps blood.
No one lit the water lanterns in the courtyard.
Tang Wanqing placed the four copper coins on the edge of the well, and the red thread went around the wooden support, deliberately avoiding the array diagram from drawing the main body.
Zhou Banxian sat by the well, his compass resting on yellow paper, and his wine pot beside his knees.
Master Ma stood behind him, holding a teacup; the tea had long since gone cold.
Cheng Xiaojin leaned against a pillar, with Tong Kexin standing beside him, holding a dry towel in her hand, her eyes fixed on his mouth.
Tieguai Li squatted beside the wooden tray, with the lightning-struck wooden abacus at his feet, the iron beads still damp.
Zhou Banxian glanced at the array diagram and muttered a curse under his breath.
"That old monk Yao Guangxiao, even after being dead for six hundred years, is still finding work for people."
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Take your anger out a little less; what if he actually offers after-sales service?"
Zhou Banxian raised his eyes and glared at him.
"Shut up, don't disturb my conversation."
Tang Wanqing looked at the well opening; the edges of the yellow paper on the well rim were already damp.
"The array diagram must not be too close to the well. The heartbeat at the bottom of the well has just awakened. If it is pulled over, the array will become disordered."
Master Ma nodded.
"Place it according to the three-foot-six-inch mark."
Tieguai Li measured it with a ruler and pushed the wooden support outward by half an inch.
"Three feet six inches."
Zhou Banxian pushed the compass to the edge of the well, and guided the Heavenly Pool to the array diagram.
The pointer swung twice before starting to spin randomly.
Tang Wanqing's face darkened.
"The door's energy is unstable."
Zhou Banxian pressed his hands against the edge of the compass, his palms wrinkling the yellow paper.
"The roots of the tree have scattered over the city. The third tree was pulled out nineteen days ago. The water veins found their own way and no longer recognized the original pit."
Cheng Xiaojin asked, "Can it be calculated?"
"able."
"And the price?"
Zhou Banxian picked up the wine pot.
"You'll reimburse me for the drinks."
Tong Kexin frowned.
"What time is it? Still thinking about alcohol?"
Zhou Banxian glanced at her; his lips were dry and chapped.
"Young lady, this old man has spent his whole life deceiving people with alcohol and saving people with his compass. If I don't drink tonight, my hands will really shake."
He finished speaking and took a swig, the smell of strong liquor spreading throughout the courtyard.
Then, he bit his fingertip, smeared the blood on the edge of the compass pool, and then, with wine in his mouth, spat it onto the surface of the compass.
The compass needle made a creaking sound.
Cheng Xiaojin's fingers went numb from listening, and he pulled his hand further inside his sleeve.
Tang Wanqing tossed out three copper coins, pressing them down on the corners of the yellow paper.
"Old Zhou, don't hold on for too long."
Zhou Banxian's lips turned white, and Master Ma looked down at the diagram, pointing to the back.
"The main waterway is interrupted in the southwest, and the auxiliary waterway deviates to the north."
Tieguai Li was looking at the abacus.
"Three beads are wet, seven beads are sunken."
Tang Wanqing stared at the compass.
"The needle of Tianchi returns to the southeast, then turns north."
Zhou Banxian closed one eye and pressed the other eye against the scale.
"Don't make a sound."
The yellow paper at the wellhead in the courtyard bulged.
The sound of water came up from the bottom of the well.
One.
Cheng Xiaojin's expression darkened.
"Count again?"
Tang Wanqing pressed down on the red line.
"It's not settled yet; they want to borrow a plate from the well."
Master Ma bumped the lid of his teacup.
"Well control".
Tieguai Li pushed the lightning-struck wooden abacus half a foot towards the edge of the well.
"Not enough, we don't have any Qianlong Tongbao coins."
The white light was still on in the west wing, and Aunt Zhang had the Qianlong Tongbao coin under her pillow.
Everyone in the courtyard avoided that area, and no one looked more closely at the west wing.
Cheng Xiaojin whispered, "Don't touch Aunt Zhang's."
Master Ma glanced at him. "Nobody moved."
Tong Kexin took a copper coin out of her pocket.
"Found it at an old stall near Huguo Temple. Tang Wanqing checked it; it's clean."
Tang Wanqing took the copper coin, dipped it in some mugwort ash, and pressed it onto the edge of the well.
The sound from the well has decreased.
Blood dripped from Zhou Banxian's fingertip down the edge of the compass and onto the yellow paper.
The blood didn't disperse; it crawled southeast along the paper's texture.
Zhou Banxian stared at the bloodstain.
"They're out."
Everyone looked at him.
Zhou Banxian clenched his teeth.
"Seven steps."
Tieguai Li asked, "Seven steps in total?"
Zhou Banxian shook his head.
"There are still three inches left."
Tang Wanqing stopped her hand on the compass.
"Seven steps and three inches off?"
Zhou Banxian pointed to the scale with his blood.
"Seven steps and three inches to the southeast, a place of great misfortune and death."
The courtyard fell silent.
The lamp wick made a soft popping sound.
Cheng Xiaojin straightened up, leaning against a pillar.
"So, you can't put it back in the original hole?"
Master Ma said, "If you stick it into the original hole, the iron won't be able to take root."
Tieguai Li then spoke.
"If it can't connect with its roots, who will suffer the consequences?"
Zhou Banxian looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"Whoever supplies the gas will suffer the consequences."
Tong Kexin clenched the towel in her hand tightly, her palms were sweaty.
"Then don't let him deliver it."
Tang Wanqing looked at her.
"If we don't deliver, Zhenhai Railway won't be able to return to the pile."
Tong Kexin stared at her.
"You orthodox sects, besides making him pay with his life, do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?"
Tang Wanqing's expression turned cold.
"have."
She raised her hand, the red thread on her wrist was pulled open, and a copper coin fell into her palm.
"I used the three-layered copper coin formation of the Zhenlong lineage to suppress the city's earth veins for half an hour."
Zhou Banxian looked up.
"Can you handle it now?"
"Even if we can't suppress it, we must suppress it."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at her.
"Miss Tang, what you're saying doesn't sound proper; it sounds like you're buying something on credit at Panjiayuan."
Tang Wanqing glanced at him.
"Those of low character can take lives, but the orthodox are not just for show on an altar."
Master Ma asked, "Is half an hour enough?"
Zhou Banxian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"Enough for him to set his bones."
Tieguai Li frowned.
How are bones set?
Master Ma looked at Cheng Xiaojin's hand.
"Before the Zhenhai Iron returned to its original position, the array diagram was used to fix its off-center position. Xiao Jin used Xin metal energy to reconnect the iron root and the severed rift in the earth vein."
Tong Kexin's voice was strained.
"What's the current state of his hand?"
Tang Wanqing looked down at Cheng Xiaojin's fingernails.
"About 30%, but after the initial examination, it dropped by another 50%."
Cheng Xiaojin tucked his hands back into his sleeves.
"Don't be so precise, it sounds like you're selling pork to me."
Tong Kexin looked at him.
"How can you handle a 30% connection? What if you mess it up? How will you make a living after that?"
Cheng Xiaojin's smile couldn't hold up any longer.
He looked down at his hands, then gazed at the white lamp in the west wing.
No one spoke.
The yellow paper at the wellhead moved again.
two.
Tang Wanqing immediately pressed the line.
"We can't waste any more time by the well."
Zhou Banxian coughed twice, clutching the wine pot to his chest.
"Bone setting requires at least 50% skill; if it's off by an inch, the iron root is off by an inch; if it's wrong, the whole city's pit can drain his yang energy."
Cheng Xiaojin twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Mystic, could you please be a little more tactful?"
"There's no way to be tactful; the old man just coughed up blood and isn't in the mood to comfort the child."
Tong Kexin turned around and walked towards the west wing.
Cheng Xiaojin asked, "What are you doing?"
"Fireworks."
Tang Wanqing caught up with him by two steps.
"It hasn't even been three days yet."
Tong Kexin turned around.
"What should we do then? Burn paper money for him in three days?"
Tang Wanqing stopped.
Master Ma looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"A third strong soak might save the hand, or it might leave permanent damage."
Cheng Xiaojin took the Zhonghua cigarette from behind his ear and tapped it on a pillar.
The cigarette wasn't lit.
"Mr. Ma, don't put it so elegantly, it's just gambling."
Master Ma's teacup lid was pressed very low.
"bet."
Cheng Xiaojin looked towards the west wing.
The white light shone on the paper windows, and there was no sound in the room.
"Aunt Zhang is still lying there, and the pit in the whole city is still gaping open. If my hands are afraid of pain, Grandpa would really beat me from down there."
Tong Kexin stood at the door.
"I don't want to listen to your sweet talk. If you want to seduce someone, I'll stand by you."
Cheng Xiaojin glanced at her.
"Boss lady, you can stay here, but don't cry. I can't stand seeing people drink water for money."
Tong Kexin's eyes were red, and she immediately started cursing.
"Shut up."
Tang Wanqing collected the copper coins one by one.
"I'll prepare the medicine; you can control the heat as I see fit."
Tieguai Li picked up the array diagram and wrapped it again in red cloth.
"I'm looking at the Zhenhai Railway and trains."
Zhou Banxian leaned against the edge of the well and took a couple of breaths.
"Let me calculate it again, so that seven steps and three inches doesn't become seven steps and two inches and nine inches."
Master Ma looked at the few people in the courtyard.
"Everyone does their own thing."
Cheng Xiaojin walked to the west wing door and glanced back at the well.
The sound of the well stopped at point two.
He whispered, "Wait, stop counting."
There was no response from the well.
Only the edges of the yellow paper were damp.