Techniques and Dao

Chapter 31 Trial Porcelain Box
"Blood Tai Chi?"

Upon hearing Qi Guang utter this word, the uneasy atmosphere intensified.

Hua Sheng hurriedly asked, "What do you mean?"

“The Bagua diagram shouldn’t be like this. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Tai Shang Xiao Jun stared intently at the Taiji diagram on the ground. “All the trigrams are correct, but why is the Yang in Yin and Yang red?”

"None of you have ever seen this before?" Hua Sheng asked, looking at everyone.

Everyone looked at each other.

“This blood-red Bagua diagram seems to hold some secret.” Tai Shang Xiao Jun stepped forward.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun squatted beside the Blood Tai Chi diagram, wanting to touch it, but before his hand could even touch it, he was bounced away as if he had been electrocuted.

“It’s like some kind of magical barrier,” Xuanwen said.

The trigrams surrounding Taiji are the eight trigrams: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui. The Supreme Lord pointed to the Qian trigram and said, "Look, there are a few drops of blood on this trigram."

Hua Sheng stepped forward for a closer look and indeed it was so. There were several drops of blood on the hexagram, and one of them happened to land on the outer edge of the Qian trigram.

“Look, only half a drop of blood remains,” said Taishang Xiaojun.

"What does this mean?" Mieying asked.

"This means that the hexagram is not just imprinted on the ground, but a mechanism that can be opened. The remaining half drop of blood should be under this hexagram."

Taishang Xiaojun pressed two fingers on the Qian hexagram, closed his eyes, and recited:
"The mysteries of heaven and earth, the root of all energies, have been cultivated for countless eons to prove my divine powers."

Within and beyond the Three Realms, only the Dao is supreme; my body is enveloped in golden light.
It is invisible and inaudible, encompassing heaven and earth and nurturing all living beings.
Reciting it once will bring light to the body, guard the Three Realms, and welcome the Five Emperors.

The pantheon of gods caused thunder, demons, monsters, and spirits to lose their courage and vanish.

Within lies the hidden power of thunder and lightning, a profound wisdom that permeates the five elements.
Golden light swiftly appeared, protecting the True Man; swiftly, as if the Jade Emperor had bestowed his decree.

A flash of golden light appeared, but no reaction occurred.

Having practiced for some time, Hua Sheng had gained some understanding of incantations and asked, "What are you chanting the Golden Light Divine Incantation for?"

“No, that’s not the incantation. Could it be the Purification of Heaven and Earth Incantation?” Tai Shang Xiao Jun pondered for a moment, then stretched out his finger, pressed it on the Qian trigram, closed his eyes, and began to chant the incantation.

"Heaven and earth are natural, and impurities disperse. The cave is mysterious and vast, bright and clear. The mighty gods of the eight directions make me natural. The spirit treasure talisman is proclaimed to the nine heavens; Qianluo Dana, Donggang Taixuan; slaying demons and binding evil, killing countless ghosts. Zhongshan divine incantation, primordial jade text, reciting it once will cure illness and prolong life; traveling through the five sacred mountains, it will be known throughout the eight seas; the demon king will bow his head and guard my abode; evil and impurities will dissipate, and the Dao energy will remain forever."

"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!" As soon as the Supreme Lord Xiaojun finished speaking, the large stone box began to shake violently!
The eight trigrams surrounding the blood tai chi symbol actually rose upwards. And beneath each trigram was a blue-and-white porcelain box, roughly the size of two palms put together.

“Each hexagram corresponds to a porcelain box.” Then Hua Sheng recalled the rules written on the ground—

"Guard the Bagua Porcelain Box...endure the trials of the box..."

Hua Sheng continued, "I guess this might be the Guardian Bagua Porcelain Box mentioned in the rules! Since it's the Guardian Bagua Porcelain Box, only by opening it first will the treasure box containing the divine and Buddha's path-guiding treasure appear."

At this moment, everyone noticed that the porcelain box that had been under the Qian hexagram had been opened. The inside of the box was not only small, but also very shallow, and it was clear that the box was empty even without getting close. However, several drops of dark red liquid had splashed on the white bottom of the box.

Considering the bloodstains all around, the blood inside the box must also be blood.

Taishang Xiaojun said, "Perhaps the porcelain box under the Qian hexagram was opened by Rongping, and because he opened this box, he encountered something!"

"What kind of hellhole is this!" Mie Ying was clearly getting anxious and couldn't contain himself.

Hua Sheng tried to comfort her, saying, "Mieying, don't worry. Perhaps this is just the trial itself, only this one is set up to be a bit difficult."

"This isn't just difficult, it's extremely dangerous!" Mie Ying clearly didn't want to listen any further.

"Perhaps, what we're being tested is our courage? Like those scary game rooms in an amusement park?"

Hearing this, Mieying seemed to calm down a bit. If this was just a trial, then Rongping's disappearance might simply mean he was eliminated.

But this was just a consolation from Hua Sheng. Hua Sheng himself understood that "testing courage" was not a good explanation for his current predicament. This was not to say that the Tianmu Trial could not involve testing courage, but rather that Hua Sheng noticed that the main theme of each round of the Tianmu Trial was actually reflected in the third word. If the "Candlelight Battle" tested "battle," and the "Divine Calculation" tested "calculation," then this "Clever Box Seizure" tested "seizure."

"夺" clearly means to take something away from its original owner. If it is a test of courage, then "闯" (chuǎng), "突" (tū), or similar words would be more appropriate.

But clearly, so far, apart from seeing these porcelain boxes, they haven't sensed any information consistent with the theme of "secretly seizing the box." This makes the current situation seem both like the Heavenly Eye Trial and not.

Each round has a number of participants, and it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't any in this final round. But what about the Inspector Immortal Master? In the previous round, the Inspector Immortal Master was hidden among the participants, and the possibility of that happening again in this round is extremely slim. This is because the previous round had a special participant like Shadow Extinction.

Why hasn't the Celestial Inspector arrived? Is he not yet involved, or is he hiding somewhere?
After comforting Curly-haired Shadow, Hua Sheng still couldn't find an answer that could convince himself. So, besides moving forward, he couldn't think of a better way.

The trigrams surrounding Tai Chi are Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui, commonly known as the Eight Trigrams. Hua Sheng had spent considerable time studying at the Daoist Academy, and naturally understood the interpretations of these Eight Trigrams. The meanings represented by the Eight Trigrams are infinitely varied; the most common interpretation is:

Qian represents Heaven, Kun represents Earth, Zhen represents Thunder, Xun represents Wind, Kan represents Water, Li represents Fire, Gen represents Mountain, and Dui represents Lake.

From the text visible only in the rules, we can deduce that this is the "Trial Box" in the Clever Box Game. The Qian Box has already been opened, while the other seven boxes remain unopened.

“So, if we want to find an explanation, we need to open the other seven puzzle boxes,” Hua Sheng said.

"I won't open it! You can open it if you want!" Mie Ying shrank back. "This young lady has no interest in this. If I had known that the Heavenly Eye Trial would turn out to be such a awful place, I wouldn't have come."

Instead, Tianjizi stepped forward and, to everyone's surprise, opened the porcelain box containing the "Gen" trigram.

*Snap!* The lid opened and gently tapped against the box underneath.

Tianjizi stood beside the porcelain box, glanced at it, and said, "It's empty."

"Empty?" Qi Guang slowly stepped forward to confirm. Just as Tianjizi had said, the box was indeed empty.

Tianjizi then walked to the box under the "Dui" trigram, reached out his hand, and slowly opened the lid.

"It's still empty." Tianjizi glanced into the box.

The "Gen" box and the "Dui" box, which were opened one after another, were both empty!

Mieying stepped forward: "That's not right! If that's the case, what do those words actually represent? Could it be that our understanding of the Trial Box is wrong?"

The "Qian" box was indeed opened, and it had bloodstains on it. But if both the "Gen" and "Dui" boxes are empty, does that mean there's no necessary connection between Rongping's disappearance and the trial boxes?
Qi Guang said, "I'll give it a try."

As he spoke, Qi Guang walked up to the "Kun" box. But just as he cracked the lid open, a scarlet shadow darted out from within!
At the same time, a foul stench wafted over. Before anyone could react, the scarlet shadow bit Qi Guang's waist! Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a monster with sharp horns on its head, a pair of giant wings on its back, and its entire body covered in red spikes.

Qi Guang let out a heart-wrenching scream! He pounded the monster's head with both hands.

"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Hurry... ah..."

This mortal disciple was like a broken puppet being tossed around by the monster, his blood splattered everywhere.

As the strange beast leaped out of the porcelain box, a figure dressed in white was also brought out with it.

"Oh no! It's a monster! Qiongqi!" Taishang Xiaojun was the first to pounce, striking the monster on the forehead with a palm. Blood gushed from the monster's forehead.

At the same time, Taishang Xiaojun landed in a flash and said, "Look at Qiongqi's eyes!"

Only then did everyone realize that the monster, which Taishang Xiaojun had called Qiongqi, was blind, with two iron rods stuck in its eyes. The monster's blood mixed with Qi Guang's blood, splattering everywhere.

Curly-haired Shadow was so terrified that she almost jumped out of her skin and hid to the side.

Tianjizi also joined the attack, pointing at Qiongqi and shouting, "Sword Control Technique!" A sword light then flew from Tianjizi's finger and pierced directly into the monster's belly.

The monster suddenly bit down, and Qi Guang fell silent. Qiongqi, having bitten Qi Guang, retreated.

At this moment, Hua Sheng lunged forward, trying to grab Qi Guang's arm. However, Qi Guang's arm was already soaked with his own blood. Hua Sheng only felt his hand slip, and the monster bit Qi Guang and they both shrank back into the "Kun" box.

The lid of the "Kun" box was then retracted, but it didn't close properly; instead, it clicked open and closed repeatedly before finally popping open again. Hua Sheng rushed forward; the "Kun" box was already covered in blood, but there was nothing inside.

"No, they're gone!" Hua Sheng searched frantically. But the monster and Qi Guang had both vanished.

All that remained were the people standing there, still shaken.

"How is this possible?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun rushed forward and examined the porcelain box carefully. Sure enough, there was nothing there except for bloodstains.

Before the two could even react in surprise, Xuanwen shouted, "Look! Whose body is this?"

Hua Sheng immediately turned around and saw Xuan Wen lying on the ground, his hand trembling as he pointed at a white shadow in front of him.

Could it be Rong Ping? Hua Sheng immediately thought, but upon closer inspection, he was surprised to find that it was a woman dressed in a white dress. He stepped forward for a closer look and couldn't help but gasp.

The corpse Xuanwen described was a misidentification; it was actually a life-sized doll. The doll was sculpted so realistically that it resembled a living person perfectly, from its white dress to its black hair. From a distance, it looked like a young woman lying on the ground.

What's horrifying is that both of the doll's eyes had been gouged out, and although they were fake, they looked like a bloody mess.

No one could have imagined that this cleverly planned game would turn out so bizarre and bloody in the blink of an eye.

"Dead...dead people?" Mieying asked weakly.

“No, it’s just a mannequin. A puppet,” Taishang Xiaojun replied.

"Not Rongping?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun shook his head: "Of course not."

Xuanwen asked, "What just happened? Who... is this person?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun covered her mouth, examined it closely, and shook her head, saying, "I don't recognize it. But this doll's attire doesn't seem to belong to Sheng Ping Ning."

Tianjizi stepped forward, glanced at it, and said, "It looks like the attire of a mortal woman."

Xuanwen asked, "Where was Qi Guang dragged to just now? What exactly happened here?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "Mie Ying, do you recognize this puppet?"

"I won't watch! I won't watch! I won't watch!" Mieying said three times in a row.

"We still need to take a look; perhaps we can find out where this doll came from."

Having no other choice, Mieying covered her eyes and slowly approached, peeking through her fingers before whispering, "I don't recognize it! I don't know it, and I have no idea where this thing came from! I've never seen anyone like this before!"

The atmosphere grew even heavier, and everyone felt as if a stone was pressing on their hearts.

Hua Sheng asked Tai Shang Xiao Jun, "I just heard you say that this monster is called Qiongqi? What does that mean?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun replied, "Qiongqi is a strange beast."

"Exotic beast?"

"good."

"From Saint Pingning?"

"No, the Qiongqi is inherently cruel and enjoys eating people. There is no such monster in Shengpingning."

Where did it appear?

"world."

"The human world?" Hua Sheng exclaimed upon hearing this. "How could such a thing exist in the human world?"

"It should be said that it has now disappeared. Qiongqi appeared mostly in ancient times. It was a ferocious beast that ancient humans feared greatly."

Hua Sheng asked, "How could something from ancient times appear in Shengpingning?"

"I really don't know why."

“It didn’t appear in Shengpingning!” Hua Sheng and Taishang Xiaojun looked over, and it was Tianjizi who spoke. He said, “We can’t say it’s in Shengpingning, because we are still in the Tianmu Trial.”

Xuanwen said, "No! This could never be the Heavenly Eye Trial! How could the Academy of Arts and Sciences allow this to happen during the Heavenly Eye Trial?"

“I’m afraid this is not the intention of the Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Tianjizi said. “It is because the Heavenly Eye Trial has been corrupted by something.”

(End of this chapter)