Qin Bukong and I just sat there and smoked the entire cigarette. Although Qin Bukong was still wasting tobacco this time, he didn't choke again. It seems that tobacco is indeed a person's best friend when he is upset.
Later, we burned the old wooden root. The eight characters on this wooden root read "A cat has nine lives, but only one heart." This seemingly weird sentence, I don’t even understand the purpose of using it in Jingmen. Qin Bukong told me that if I guessed correctly, the person who set up the formation left this sentence on this section of wood because he felt that even if someone really destroyed the formation completely, the last gate must be Jing. Door. And leaving this sentence, "The cat has nine lives" means that the eight doors in front are dangerous enough to lose nine lives, while "One Heart" means that after we break the formation, we hope to maintain our original intention.
Original intention? What kind of original intention? Isn't it the only original intention to break the formation and get the soul? Qin Bukong shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn't know either. It was probably because the other party knew that the situation was over and he hoped that we would not go against the will of heaven.
When the entire Jingmen Gate is opened, the Eight Gate Formation will be complete. At the center of the formation is a cylindrical stone pillar that is only about three or four square meters in size but more than two meters high. The part of the pillar that is close to the ground is surrounded by eight circular holes that penetrate into the ground at equal distances. Qin Bukong gestured with the Vajra Prongs in his hand and said, these eight holes are used to place the eight Vajra Prongs, but in order, we have to bring all the Vajra Prongs here and then study them carefully.
There are some vertical, rectangular smooth areas on the pillars of the stone pillars. I counted them in a circle and found seven in total, but they were different from the previous eight. I asked Qin Bukong if there were more. One on top of the column, in the dirt we didn't dig into? Because this pillar has a load-bearing function, the top and bottom are embedded in the soil and stone respectively. Qin Bukong nodded and said that it was possible, but if we study now, we might be impatient and make mistakes, so we should plan slowly. We still have more time anyway.
On the way back, I asked Qin Bukong, how did you get this black vajra prong? He said that in the illusion just now, after fighting with his father for a while, he ruthlessly used the previous vajra prong. After killing Abba, the black one fell out. His tone was light, as if he didn't want to talk more. I also realized that my questions might unintentionally touch upon his sadness again, so I felt a little guilty, so I kept silent.
In the following period, the relationship between Qin Bukong and I improved a bit. It seemed that there was no such thing as a thorn in the side, but it was not close. I think that was because he and I were deliberately communicating with each other. keep distance. He would still often teach me something unintentionally. What was different from the past was that he not only taught me to remember the techniques, but also asked me to remember the lyrics and intonation of the spells. He would also give me some examples and let me dictate them. The way to crack it.
What must be admitted is that Qin Bukong and my master are obviously different as they both teach skills. First of all, Qin Bukong's skills are mainly magic and witchcraft, and he doesn't seem to have any intention of teaching me Gu. The biggest difference between folk magic and witchcraft and our Taoist Taoist magic is that it has quick effects and simple formulas. Some formulas are just folk vernacular. After adding movements, spells and other things, a combination becomes a practical form. Efficacy stuff. Although the content that my master taught me in the past can be used very quickly once I am proficient in it, from being unfamiliar to becoming proficient, I have to memorize some ancient and elegant sayings. At least the cost of memorization is higher than that of spells. And witchcraft is even simpler. Sometimes even the incantation is omitted and the effect can be achieved by just doing it as it is. Therefore, Qin Bukong's skills can be learned very quickly by someone like me who has a relatively deep foundation in metaphysics. of.
The second difference is that the way my master taught me was based on theory, while actual practice was based on the accumulation of experience. Qin Bukong would use some actual cases and ask me to describe the cracking method orally to deepen my memory. However, once spells and witchcraft are abused, the backlash will be much more serious than Taoism.
So in addition to studying every day, I often worked with Qin Bukong to arrange the eight collected Vajra Prongs according to certain rules, trying to find a combination that was most likely to open the center of the formation and take out the Soul of the Witch King. But I tried many methods, but in the end I still felt that it was impossible to ensure that everything was foolproof. So this matter was delayed for about half a month, but we made no progress at all, and we did not dare to insert the Vajra Prong into it rashly. Because the original purpose of the Vajra Prongs is to form formations. If we make a mistake, we might build the Eight Gate Formation again and break it again. I don’t have that much energy to spend on this matter. .
On New Year's Eve, Qin Bukong drank a lot again, and I drank a lot with him. But what was different from before was that we actually started talking and laughing after drinking for three rounds. He told me something I told him some anecdotes about my travels in the world when I was young, and I told him some stories about how I was arrested as a feudal element in my early years, lived in a mountain village, and was even slept with. And that night, Ganmu actually joined our fight, and that day I unexpectedly discovered that this stupid snake had left the good meat without eating, and came to snatch the beans and peanuts we used to drink.
When the firecrackers outside the door started to sound loudly, we realized that another year had passed. After Qin Bukong said Happy New Year to me, he went back to his room to sleep. I also cleared the wine table, meditated on the bed for a while, and then fell asleep.
Around three o'clock in the morning, a violent shaking woke me up. I was confused and frightened, so I kicked out, but it seemed that I kicked someone. With an ouch, I asked loudly, who is there! As a result, a man climbed up from the ground and said to me cursingly, "You are such a little bitch, you kicked me again."
It turned out to be Qin Bukong, but I didn’t understand why he came here to flirt with me when he stayed up late at night. So I asked angrily, "What are you doing? I wonder what day it is now?" Are you a thief if you stay up in the middle of the night? After saying that, I rubbed my head. I drank a little too much the night before, and now my head is still dizzy. There is a swelling and pain in my temples, as if my brain is shaking around in my head.
Qin Bukong turned on the light, made a "shh" gesture to me, and then whispered to me, come to my room quickly, go to bed and listen carefully. I was stunned for a moment, what the hell was that? Was it the young couple next door who were having an affair, coming in and out of you and me? I said you are such a shameless person, you are so old and still so nasty...
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted again by Qin Bukong. He said, "I feel like there is some sound coming from underneath the cave."
I was startled, immediately rolled over and got up, and quickly rushed to the back room where Qin Bukong was sleeping. Since the opening of the hole was under his bed, when I was about to move the bed, I was stopped by Qin Bukong. He asked, "Are you stupid? If the other party hears the sound you make by dragging the bed, what to do? I asked who the other party is. Do you mean there is someone under this cave? Qin Bukong nodded, then pointed to his bed and said, put your ear to the bed board, the wood is a sound transmitter, so you can hear it directly.
Only then did I understand that the reason why Qin Bukong came to me in the middle of the night to tell me this was because when he was sleeping, he was probably lying on his side with his ears directly attached to the bed, so he heard the sound coming from underneath. I climbed onto the bed, resisting the stench of Qin Bukong's body emanating from the dirty sheets, and put my ear against the bed board, then tried my best to make the auricles fit the bed as completely as possible, then took a deep breath, Just start listening carefully.
In addition to my own thumping heartbeat, I also heard the sound of iron hitting hard stone, just like the sound made by Qin Bukong and I forcibly cutting through the wall of Jingmen.
The distance between Qin Bukong's bed and the Eight Gate Formation would take about ten minutes if you just walked. But in fact, the distance is not that far in a straight line as it is winding and diagonal. This sound didn't sound too loud, but because it was night, and the underground passage itself had echoes, not to mention that the sound transmission effect on the stone floor was very good, I still heard it very clearly. But if it were daytime, it might not be easy to detect.
I raised my head and said to Qin Bukong, it seemed like someone was really chipping away at the stone below. Qin Bukong also said, this is too inappropriate, because we have walked back and forth through this passage more than a hundred times, and there is no other entrance or exit. If there is someone down there, the only way is under my bed. Ask yourself, neither you nor I are incompetent, how could someone sneak in without noticing?
I nodded, I also felt strange, so I said to Qin Bukong, how about we go and have a look? Qin Bukong agreed, take the Luban ruler you use to make talismans, and I will take Ganmu with me. We should try to be as gentle as possible, so as not to let the people inside notice it. If we escape, it will be difficult to catch him.
So I immediately got dressed, hung my canvas bag on my body, and put on a pair of cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, so that the sound of my walking would be quieter. I stuffed a few charms into my satchel and bumped into a Luban ruler. I thought I had never used this trick to defeat an enemy. If the people below had bad intentions, I would give it a try today.
After preparing everything, I followed Qin Bukong and jumped into the cave one after another. In order to prevent the sound from hitting the wall, we didn't even bring a kerosene lamp, but brought two flashlights. Following the familiar road, we quickly and quietly arrived at the edge of the Eight Gate Formation. After turning off the flashlight, the sound of chiseling stones became even louder. But after touching the wall and circling around, I couldn't see any light at all.
So we found it strange that people starting to cut rocks without lighting under the ground were almost the same as lunatics. So we touched a place not far from the center of the formation, turned on the flashlight, and carefully looked for the direction from which the sound came.
Soon, we were only about five or six meters away from the center of the formation in a straight line, and discovered that the sound was coming from the stones under our feet.
