Chapter 23

Wu Mian walked to the well and looked down for a while. With his keen eyesight, he saw nothing but overgrown weeds. At this moment, the steward mustered his courage and came over. He peered into the well from the other side for a long time, then stood up. He didn't dare to provoke Wu Mian and could only turn to Gui Bu Gui and say, "It's all dark and I can't see anything... Is the elixir of immortality really hidden here?"

Gui Bu Gui, with his arms crossed, ignored him. The old man seemed to have little interest in the dry well, just looking at Wu Mian with a half-smile, as if waiting for the white-haired young man to ask why he couldn't find the entrance on the map.

But Wu Mian had no intention of speaking first. After looking for a while, he raised his head and fixed his gaze on Gui Bu Gui, staring at him without speaking. Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui stared at each other, neither of them saying a word, making the steward, who was crouching by the well, quite uncomfortable.

The steward looked back and forth between the two, and seeing that neither of them was going to speak, he finally couldn't help but say, "Well, it's almost dawn..." After he said this, Gui Bu Gui was the first to speak. He smiled at Wu Mian and said, "Aren't you going to ask?"

Wu Mian raised an eyebrow and replied, "Aren't you going to tell?" As he spoke, a few faint electrical arcs appeared around him, but they disappeared after he finished speaking.

Gui Bu Gui laughed and said, "Fine, I can't outlast you. I give up." As he said this, Gui Bu Gui walked over to Wu Mian, looked down into the well, and continued, "This is the work of the old man Xu Fu. But that old man is really bold, to dare to turn the national altar below into his Daoist chamber..."

Before Gui Bu Gui finished speaking, the steward's face had already changed. He couldn't help but interject, "You mean the national altar is below? Impossible... I was there at the time, and I would have known about such a big event."

"Do you think the title of Great Fangshi is just for show? If Xu Fu doesn't want you to see it, you won't see it even if it's right in front of you," Gui Bu Gui shot a glance at the steward, then ignored him and turned his attention back to Wu Mian, continuing, "Thirty-three wells, and only this one has been drained. This breaks the Three-Three Endless technique."

At this point, he suddenly turned to look at the steward, baring his teeth in a smile, and said, "Give me your hand, I'll show you something good." As he spoke, he reached into his robe as if to take something out.

This was clearly an offer to do him a favor, and the steward didn't hesitate, smiling and extending his hand. Unexpectedly, Gui Bu Gui suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled his palm to the top of the well. Before the steward could react, Gui Bu Gui's hand, which had been in his robe, came out holding a shiny dagger.

The dagger in Gui Bu Gui's hand was the one Lin Huo had left on Wu Mian's chest. With a flash of the blade, a bloody wound appeared on the steward's palm. The steward, startled, tried to pull his hand back, but the old man Gui Bu Gui held it tightly, not letting his hand leave the well's edge.

Fortunately, not much blood was needed. After a moment, Gui Bu Gui let go. The steward, wincing, pulled his hand back, looked at Gui Bu Gui, then at Wu Mian, and after a deep breath, swallowed the curses that had risen to his throat.

Gui Bu Gui ignored him, looked down into the well again, and then turned to Wu Mian with a smile, saying, "I've opened the door for you. Whether you go in or not is up to you."

Wu Mian turned his head to look at the well. The weeds below had all withered, revealing a series of incantations on the stone platform. Black mist was faintly rising along the strokes of the incantations. After looking, Wu Mian raised his head and met Gui Bu Gui's gaze, then turned to the steward and said, "You, go down first."

The steward, as the head of the fangshi in the imperial palace, could immediately see the unusual phenomena in the well. From past experience, such places hidden by a Great Fangshi were often filled with powerful arrays and mechanisms. One misstep could lead to immediate death, or worse, the loss of one's soul.

After staring at the bottom of the well for a long time, the steward still didn't have the courage to go down. He turned to Gui Bu Gui with a pained expression, hoping the old man would speak up for him. Unexpectedly, Gui Bu Gui seemed to have anticipated this. As the steward turned his head, the old man was already looking up at the night sky, shading his eyes as if he could see something in the stars, and muttered to himself, "The broom star is in the palace, something big is going to happen tonight..." As Gui Bu Gui spoke, an orange-red meteor streaked across the dark sky, heading west and disappearing into the night.

The sudden celestial phenomenon made the steward even more anxious. He stammered, "W-well, actually... I b-bought my position as the fangshi steward, don't expect..."

Before he could finish, he felt a tight grip on his neck. Someone had grabbed him from behind, and the steward's feet left the ground as he was lifted up. Then he heard Wu Mian's cold voice, "Don't scream, close your eyes, we'll be there soon..." As he spoke, Wu Mian was already standing at the edge of the well, holding the steward by the neck and lowering him into it.

The steward felt a sudden darkness, then a "thud!" as he landed at the bottom of the well. Fortunately, Wu Mian hadn't dropped him headfirst, but even so, the steward was thrown off balance. Luckily, the well was wide enough; otherwise, he might have been seriously injured.

Still dazed, the steward heard Wu Mian's voice from above, "Are you awake? If you are, get up and find the entrance..."

Before he could finish, Gui Bu Gui's old voice echoed, "Don't just look at your feet. Follow the cracks in the well wall. This Daoist chamber is designed for future visitors, so there must be a way in and out. Don't touch the indented stones! Did your master not teach you about the soul-binding array? Who told you to touch the protruding stones? Didn't she teach you about the Ao array?"

Gui Bu Gui's shouting made the steward flustered, and he couldn't find a place to start. He looked around, trying to find a stone that was neither indented nor protruding, but there was none to be found.

Finally, the steward couldn't take it anymore and looked up at Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui, saying, "Why don't one of you come down? My eyes are really blurry. I don't want to trigger the array and mechanisms without finding the entrance."

Gui Bu Gui, apparently having had his fun, laughed and shouted down, "Look for it within three feet of the ground. Xu Fu's habit is to balance yin and yang. Look for something that seems out of place, hidden behind a stone."

After hearing Gui Bu Gui's words, the steward knelt on the ground and turned around. Suddenly, he shouted, "I found it! There's a palm-sized stone here, neither indented nor protruding, smooth like a bronze mirror!"

Gui Bu Gui, who was leaning over the well, glanced at Wu Mian with a smug look, made a face, and then said to the steward, "That's it. Kick that stone hard. Be careful not to touch the stones around it. Don't say I didn't warn you, the surrounding stones are part of the Unparalleled Array. If you kick them out of place, you won't be reborn in your next life. This life will be your end."