Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 1378 The Hidden Shadows of the Octopus Temple

The vehicle passed the checkpoint and stopped in front of Maoshan.

Chen Chuan said to Zhan Jiyue, "Old Zhan, there might be some unusual changes in the mountains later. Don't worry about it, I'll handle it. If I need your help, I'll send a signal."

Zhan Jiyue said she knew.

He knew that this kind of anomaly was not an offensive one, but rather something that had a strong attraction for ordinary people. It shouldn't pose much of a threat to Chen Chuan and fighters like them. Even if he were called upon, he would probably only be doing some auxiliary work.

Chen Chuan got out of the car and walked up the mountain alone.

The driver sat in the driver's seat, watching Chen Chuan's figure disappear into the distance and quickly vanish into the shade of the trees, feeling slightly uneasy. He hadn't gone to the Hai family restaurant earlier, but he could hear the sounds coming from inside. He felt that the world had become absurd and strange, as if he no longer recognized it.

He instinctively reached for a cigarette, but then paused.

Zhan Jiyue glanced at him and said, "It's okay, you've had your smoke."

The driver held back; he was a professional and wouldn't do anything his superiors disliked. After taking his hand back, he suddenly sighed.

Zhan Jiyue asked, "What's wrong?"

The driver said, "Sir, I'm so sorry, I may never be able to eat the dishes at Hai's Restaurant again. Their spicy soup and braised chicken are really authentic."

Zhan Jiyue said, "Actually, you've been eating this for two years longer than usual."

The driver sighed, then thought for a moment and turned back to say, "Sir, I saw the news. It was really satisfying to execute those people. I heard that if it weren't for Sergeant Chen, this case wouldn't have been settled?"

Zhan Jiyue said in a deep voice, "That's right. If it weren't for Manager Chen, even if this case could be exposed, it might take a long time."

The driver said angrily, "There must be someone in the ministry protecting those people, otherwise they wouldn't have gone undetected for two years. These people should have been arrested as well."

Zhan Jiyue looked outside and said, "Don't worry, everything will be taken care of."

After Chen Chuan reached the top of the mountain, he headed directly towards the Fish King Temple. The temple's founding date and the earliest recorded anomaly were not far apart, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, it should be closely related to the anomalies.

And the fact that it can repeatedly cause trouble over at least seven or eight hundred years means it's definitely not simple. It might be relying on something, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. If we can find and remove that reliance, we can solve the problem.

This time, he didn't deliberately speed up his pace; he simply walked up the mountain at a normal pace.

When he reached the halfway point of the mountain, he seemed to sense something and looked up. He saw a long-haired woman standing in the woods at the bend of the mountain path. Her hair completely covered her face, and she was wearing a white dress.

He ignored her and continued uphill under her gaze. After rounding the bend, he continued until he reached a pavilion. He saw the woman again, but still ignored her and continued along the mountain path.

About ten minutes later, he arrived at the Fish King Temple. The long-haired woman was standing on the steps at the temple entrance, holding a camera in her hand, which she handed to him.

"I don't take photos, thank you."

Chen Chuan said something sincere, and then passed right through her. When the two collided, it was as if he had passed through a layer of ethereal smoke, and the woman's figure disappeared as well.

Because he refused, the other party never appeared in front of him again from that moment on.

This is the simplest way to handle this type of anomaly. But it won't work for others because it requires a firm attitude and a high level of mental strength. In other words, anomalies sometimes prey on the weak and fear the strong.

Ordinary people simply cannot do this; even martial artists can be caught off guard and fall victim to it.

However, it is said that a fighter went missing here, so it should not be solely due to the anomaly just now, as the strength is not enough to achieve that.

After crossing the gate, he arrived at the Fish King Temple, where he enveloped it with his spiritual power and focused his energy on sensing.

The abnormality in Haicun was only something that came into play later; the real root of the problem lies here.

However, it is precisely because the source of the Hai Village incident was removed that it dissipated on its own, which triggered the anomaly here, and some things hidden deep within it are very likely to be revealed as a result.

When his spiritual power enveloped the Fish King Temple, he quickly discovered the problem with the place.

The supernatural tales are officially referred to as anomalous matter, which is different from ordinary spiritual forces and fields, but in a broader sense, they can still be classified as large fields.

He now sensed an aura swirling around the fish bones enshrined above the temple, emanating a kind of "malice" that was exactly the same as what he had felt from the long-haired woman earlier.

It seems the root cause lies above. Removing it is simple: arrange a targeted ritual to wear it down, or use powerful spiritual energy or a specific energy field to do so.

Although he had come up with a solution, he remained where he was, not in a hurry to move. He sensed that things were not so simple.

Because the Fish King Temple is too conspicuous.

Throughout history, he didn't believe that no one had come here to resolve the anomaly, nor could he be the only one who discovered the problem. Yet, the anomaly was still there, and it had not been eradicated.

Looking back now, the Fish King Temple was so conspicuous, it seemed as if it was deliberately waiting for someone to come and target it.

The proper way to handle anomalies is to find the root cause. If the root cause is not found, the situation will become increasingly complicated, and sometimes it can even worsen the anomaly. Could it be somewhere else?

The spirit instantly magnified, instantly enveloping the entire Maoshan Mountain, and then continued to spread outward, also encompassing Chengze Mountain and Xiaochi Mountain.

"Is that so..."

Chen Chuan's eyes flickered slightly, and when the three mountains appeared in his mind at the same time, he quickly saw something.

Between the two mountains on the left and right, there are two subtle anomalies, one of which triggered the anomaly in Haicun.

but……

He looked up at the fish bones at the top and found that there were still problems with those two places. The real core was actually inside the fish bones, but it was hidden very well.

If the person responsible for resolving the anomaly here realizes immediately that the Fish King Temple might not be the key point, and then discovers the anomalies in the other two locations, they might assume they have found the correct location and go to those two places to carry out their methods.

However, this is actually a trap. If you abandon the Fish King Temple and go to those two places instead, due to the mistakes in the steps and the target, you will not only fail to eliminate the anomaly, but you will also end up encouraging its existence.

The person who orchestrated this anomaly is truly insidious, targeting experts, and one can easily fall into the trap if they're not careful.

And even if you manage to avoid this pitfall, there's still another challenge waiting for you.

The real problem lies in the fish's spine, which has a total of one hundred vertebrae. In his perception, it seems to be changing every moment, and the underlying pattern is not immediately apparent.

If the calculation is wrong, it may lead to an abnormal increase in intensity.

This was undoubtedly left intentionally by the person who made the unusual arrangement.

He observed for a while, and the pattern seemed to be related to the operation of the heavens and some unique ritual steps. For someone who didn't understand it to figure it out in a short time, it would require extremely powerful computing power.

He was too lazy to calculate it, so he contacted Hong Fu directly.

Supported by his mental strength, Hong Fu summarized and deduced the algorithm in less than a second and pinpointed the crux of the problem.

At this juncture, the source of the anomaly lies on the ninety-fourth segment of the fish's spine.

Incidentally, it was also deduced that no matter how this anomaly jumps, none of them exceed the number 95.

Chen Chuan seemed to be deep in thought. It seemed that the person who arranged this was very likely someone from the imperial court.

This guess is actually quite reasonable. Anyone who could calmly mobilize forces and deploy these things near Zhongjing must be related to the imperial family, and they were probably used to protect Zhongjing at the time.

The anomaly was not removed, either because the person who made the arrangement was no longer around, or because they were not aligned with the people who later established the dynasty, and therefore were unwilling to resolve it.

He came to the bottom of the fish bones, glanced at them, and stopped just as he was about to target the vertebrae.

The steps taken to resolve the anomaly are important. Given the cunning of the person who orchestrated this, is what they are doing now truly the right thing to do?
He stared upwards. For hundreds of years, no one had solved this problem. He couldn't believe that no one before him had ever reached this point.

But going any further would exceed his understanding of the anomaly; the person who orchestrated it was far more skilled in this area than he was.

However, it doesn't matter. No matter what kind of anomaly it is, especially one that is obviously man-made, it must require a specific spiritual force in the field to support the change.

Now that he had confirmed that the key point was on the fish's spine, all he had to do was remove the abnormal energy covering it, thus eliminating any possibility of it activating.

Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed, and an immense spiritual power surged upwards, slowly peeling it away from the fishbone.

The person who set this up back then probably never dreamed that later generations would use this method to crack the anomaly.

Because the abnormal energy is extremely large, especially when combined with this mountain region, forcibly separating it from the fishbone requires not only the ability to destroy three mountains in one go, but also the ability to maintain this intensity for a period of time. The difficulty here is so great that even the fighters of Dongxuan Temple cannot withstand it.

However, Chen Chuan was able to do just that.

Once the abnormal energy field was separated, Chen Chuan reached out and took off that section of the spine.

In an instant, the abnormal aura around them seemed to lose its source. The field that was originally gathered together quickly dissipated outwards, and after only a few breaths, it could no longer be seen at all.

The Fish King Temple trembled slightly, and dust rustled down from its roof.

After seeing it, Chen Chuan sensed it for a while and realized that the anomaly had been resolved. He turned the fish spine in his hand, put it in his pocket, and then turned and walked out.

Ok?
When he arrived at the temple gate, he suddenly stopped, looked back, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

……

……

(End of this chapter)