Chapter 76

At this moment, the two brothers and their five subordinates also came over. The younger brother saw countless aquatic plants at the bottom of the pool that looked like hair, thinking that his master had not noticed, he pointed and said, "Look at the bottom of the water, what are those that look like hair? Are they water ghosts waiting to catch a substitute?"

Gui Buigui gave him a look, then said somewhat helplessly, "How can there be so many water ghosts? Darling, remember, the aquatic plants that look like hair are called Jianzhen, also known as Baohun grass or Jiandu grass. The characteristic of this aquatic plant is that it disintegrates upon contact with poison, even if it's just a tiny bit of poison. The Jianzhen grass will immediately rot and emit a pungent odor. In the past, fangshi and sorcerers used this Baohun grass to test for poison, but this aquatic plant had already gone extinct over a hundred years ago. I didn't expect to find so much of it here."

As he finished speaking, Gui Buigui already reached out to scoop up a handful of pool water and brought it to his nose to smell. He then frowned and muttered to himself, "Why does it have this smell? It shouldn't be... Pfft! Bleh bleh bleh!" At the end, he stuck out his tongue and licked the pool water in his hand. For some reason, his eyes glanced intentionally or unintentionally towards the opposite direction.

This glance was better left unmade. After seeing it, he almost vomited his gallbladder. He saw Ren San squatting on the pool platform, giving him a malicious smile. Of course, this wasn't the main point; the main point was that a pale yellow liquid was flowing from between Ren San's legs. Afraid of being discovered by Gui Buigui, Little Ren San pretended to squat, and the urine flowed into the pool water along the platform.

The old man felt a wave of nausea and gagging. As he was holding onto the pool platform, trying hard not to vomit, a flicker of light from the oil lamps in the hall suddenly caught his attention. Gui Buigui's gaze on the water's surface suddenly brightened. Without caring about his dignity, he turned to Wu Mian at the door and said, "Come over and take a look, there are words carved underneath."

Before Wu Mian could come over, his two disciples and the subordinates had already taken down several oil lamps from the wall and placed them next to their master. Although Gui Buigui's eyesight was good enough to see things underwater without the oil lamps, the densely packed words carved inside the pool were too blurry. Fortunately, with the light from the oil lamps, the words in the water became slightly clearer, but they still couldn't make out what was written.

At this moment, Wu Mian had already walked to the opposite side of Gui Buigui, standing next to Little Ren San, and leaned over to look into the pool water. Just like Gui Buigui, Wu Mian stared at the pool for a while but couldn't figure out what was written.

After a while, Gui Buigui discovered the problem: "The words are reversed, carved inside the pool to be read as a reflection." After saying this, he snatched the oil lamp from Gui Qu's hand and held it above the pool. Indeed, the reflection on the ceiling showed some faint words.

Seeing the words on the ceiling, Gui Buigui's eyes lit up. The words were mostly legible, but he still felt they weren't clear enough. He told his two disciples and the subordinates, "Go and get more oil lamps."

Just as the two brothers and the subordinates were about to get more oil lamps, a voice from the opposite side suddenly said, "No need for that trouble, I'll lend you some light." The two brothers and the subordinates turned back to see that Gui Buigui had already dropped the oil lamp and was running towards them, his face pale.

Before they could understand what was happening, a flash of lightning appeared behind Gui Buigui, and a fist-sized ball of lightning appeared where the old man had just been. Lightning was something the two brothers and the subordinates had seen a few times since Gui Buigui and Wu Mian came to freeload, so they weren't particularly surprised. However, this time the lightning remained above the pool without dissipating.

After running to the side of the two brothers, Gui Buigui looked at the ball of lightning, caught his breath, and glared at Wu Mian, saying, "I knew you would do this. The position was calculated to the millimeter, aiming right at me, right?"

Wu Mian rolled his eyes and looked at the old man, saying, "Do I need to aim at you? I could hit you with my eyes closed." He paused, then pointed at the ball of lightning still emitting arcs of electricity, saying, "Just a reminder, this light won't last long. If you want to see what's written in the pool, do it now."

This finally drew Gui Buigui's attention to the ceiling. There, reflected in the water, were a series of about a thousand words. Gui Lai, Gui Qu, and the others looked up for a moment, but they could only guess the meaning of a few words. The rest were vaguely familiar, but they couldn't read or understand them. These words were neither the small seal script of the Qin dynasty nor the scripts of the various states before the Qin.

However, Gui Buigui's eyes grew wider and wider, almost without blinking. As he read the words on the ceiling, he muttered to himself. After about half a stick of incense, the ball of lightning above the pool suddenly dimmed, flickered weakly twice, and then disappeared completely.

Even after the lightning disappeared, Gui Buigui still stared at the spot where the reflection had been, somewhat dazed. His two disciples and the subordinates didn't dare to disturb him. They had wanted to ask what was written in the pool, but seeing the old man's state, they decided to hold back their questions for now.

Fortunately, there was still one person who didn't take Gui Buigui too seriously. Wu Mian, looking at the somewhat dazed Gui Buigui, said, "Is there something you forgot to tell me?" This finally brought the old man back to his senses. When he refocused on Wu Mian, he resumed his usual playful smile.

Smiling at Wu Mian, the old man said, "There's too much to say. I need to organize my thoughts before I can tell you."

Wu Mian gave him a look and huffed, saying, "Nine hundred and eighty-one inscriptions, how long will it take you to digest? It's just the declaration of war by King Wu against Zhou, plus some miscellaneous stuff."

The old man was taken aback; he hadn't expected Wu Mian to recognize the words in the pool. However, after a moment, the old fox's smile reappeared on his face. "Miscellaneous stuff, hahaha, it seems you can't understand this miscellaneous stuff, can you?" After saying this, Gui Buigui smiled again.

Even as Wu Mian's face grew colder and a faint sound of lightning began to emanate from his body, the old man suddenly stopped smiling and looked at Wu Mian, saying, "It's a record of an immortal's ascension during the reign of King Kang of Zhou. This is the place where the immortal ascended. Before ascending, the immortal said he would return to protect the long-term peace and stability of the Zhou dynasty. King Kang then ordered Yan Aihou to build an underground palace here to welcome the immortal's return."

As he spoke, Gui Buigui's face showed a hint of a strange expression. He glanced intentionally or unintentionally at the two brothers. Then he continued, "Unfortunately, the Zhou dynasty has already been destroyed. It seems the immortal has broken his promise. Even if he returns, he can't change the situation."

After saying this, the old man returned to the pool, reached out to stir the water, and was about to take a sip when he suddenly saw Little Ren San grinning at him. He then remembered that the little brat had urinated in the water. He immediately shook off the water in his hand with disgust and glared at the ginseng doll.

Little Ren San threw back his head and laughed. After laughing, he said to Gui Buigui, "Be content. The urine of a ginseng of my age isn't something you can drink just like that. It can be considered a kind of essence of ginseng. Although it's diluted by the pool water, drinking a mouthful can still extend your life by ten to twenty years."