5: Slow down the video and capture the spooky shadow!

It was just dawn, and the morning mist on Mount Longhu hadn't fully dispersed, yet the entire internet was already abuzz.

"Mount Longhu Appears to Have a Divine Bell Toll! Daoist Repels Hundred Ghosts with a Single Talisman" — this bold, blood-red headline, like a heavy hammer, smashed onto the top of the trending lists across major short video platforms.

The video was only a dozen seconds long, but the visuals were extremely impactful.

Under the night sky, in front of an ancient Daoist temple, a slender figure held a yellow talisman, muttering incantations.

The next second, the giant bronze bell behind him, which had been silent for a hundred years, let out a resounding hum that pierced the clouds and cracked the stones!

Immediately after, the seemingly ordinary yellow paper talisman suddenly erupted with a golden light that shot to the sky, sweeping away the surrounding eerie ghostly aura.

The comment section completely exploded.

"Holy cow! Is this special effects? This golden light is more dazzling than a Hollywood blockbuster!"

"The guy upstairs knows nothing! Look at that bell, it's the guardian bell of the Longhu Mountain Tianshi Mansion, it hasn't rung in a hundred years! This is definitely real skill!"

"Has the contemporary Celestial Master Zhang revived? Daoist priest, stop cultivating immortality, start a live stream and sell goods! I'll be the first to order a talisman!"

"Tsk, it's just another internet celebrity Daoist priest seeking attention. Waiting for an official debunking."

Zhang Xuanyi scrolled through his phone, looking at these comments, some true, some false, some praising, some criticizing, and he couldn't help but feel both amused and frustrated.

The imagination of this generation of netizens was even more outlandish than a night parade of a hundred ghosts.

He was about to close the troublesome software when his fingertip stopped on a comment that had been pushed to the top of the hot reviews.

"Everyone, stop arguing! Zoom in and watch at 0.5x speed! Half a second before the bell rang, two words flashed across that yellow paper — 'Wanfa'! This absolutely cannot be a coincidence!"

Zhang Xuanyi's heart suddenly tightened, as if an invisible hand had clutched it.

This person... saw too accurately!

The characters on the "Myriad Laws Returning to One Talisman" were enhanced by the system, shimmering with flowing light, making them extremely difficult for the naked eye to catch, yet an unknown netizen had seen them clearly!

He subconsciously wanted to click on the person's profile to dig deeper, to see who this mysterious individual was.

But before he could act, a series of urgent and stumbling footsteps approached, breaking the tranquility of the woodshed.

"Daoist priest! Daoist priest, save me!"

Crippled Chen rushed in, holding his daughter. His weathered face was filled with terror, and his voice trembled uncontrollably: "Daoist priest! My daughter... she had a nightmare again last night! She kept shouting, kept shouting something about 'a white-haired person stepping on a tree'... Daoist priest, is that old demon after us again?"

Zhang Xuanyi's brows instantly furrowed into a knot.

White-haired person? Stepping on a tree?

This description immediately reminded him of the white-haired old woman who had attacked like a ghost, treading on treetops, last night!

She truly hadn't given up, using evil magic to enter the dreams of an innocent little girl!

"Don't panic," Zhang Xuanyi's voice was steady, comforting Crippled Chen, who was almost on his knees.

With a thought, he retrieved a verdant, jade-like bean from the system's inventory and handed it over, "Eat this."

"This... what is this?" Crippled Chen looked at the small mung bean, full of confusion.

"heavenly eye mung beans, they allow you to see things ordinary people cannot," Zhang Xuanyi said concisely.

Crippled Chen didn't understand, but out of trust in Zhang Xuanyi, he swallowed it in one gulp.

The next moment, he felt a cool sensation rush to his head, and his eyes stung. When he opened them again, the whole world seemed different.

A faint green light glowed in his cloudy old eyes!

"I... I saw it!" Crippled Chen suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on a certain direction outside the woodshed, his voice becoming sharp with shock, "It's on the mountain path! Last night... last night, at the spot where you set up your stall, there was a Deaf-Mute Daoist Child! He... he drew a gray circle by your stall in the middle of the night, when you weren't there!"

Deaf-Mute Daoist Child? Drew a gray circle?

Zhang Xuanyi's body trembled violently, and two words instantly appeared in his mind — Li Songyang! Guan Xin Array!

He no longer cared about anything else, taking a swift step out of the woodshed and heading straight for the open space where he had set up his stall last night.

The area had already been cleaned by the morning sanitation workers, and the ground was so clean that no traces could be seen.

In the past, the clue would have ended there.

But now, he had the system!

"System, exchange for one Heavenly Eye Mung Bean!"

"Ding! Exchange successful, 10 merit points deducted."

Zhang Xuanyi swallowed the mung bean without hesitation. In an instant, the scene before his eyes spun.

The entire world seemed to have been put in slow motion; even the dust motes floating in the air were clearly visible.

He bent down, his eyes almost touching the ground.

In the slow-motion vision granted by the heavenly eye mung beans, a miracle occurred!

The traces of talisman ash, swept away by the broom and seemingly long gone, actually seeped out from the cracks in the ground as if alive, slowly re-condensing and flowing in the air, finally forming an incomplete, semi-circular array!

The array was composed of seven complex talismans, with ancient and simple strokes, containing a strange power that could peek into people's hearts.

"It really is the Guan Xin Array!" Zhang Xuanyi gasped, "And, this semi-circular array pattern... is the 'Spirit Illumination Position' among the seven patterns!"

The "dragon and tiger records" recorded that the "Spirit Illumination Position" of the Guan Xin Array could reflect the direction where spiritual energy was most abnormal or where supreme treasures were hidden within the array's covered range!

He followed the end point of the flowing array pattern, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

The direction indicated by the array pattern was precisely the underground of the woodshed where he resided!

A long-forgotten legend exploded in his mind like a thunderbolt.

The elders of Mount Longhu once said that the area where he now lived was, three hundred years ago, the site of the "Wanfa Pavilion," which once shook the world!

And according to legend, within the Wanfa Pavilion, there was a forbidden magical artifact capable of "imparting laws to the people," which could subvert the foundation of the Daoist sect!

A three-hundred-year-old secret was actually unearthed by a Deaf-Mute Daoist Child using an incomplete array!

That night, the sky was as dark as ink.

Zhang Xuanyi slowly "packed up" as usual, folding the tattered cloth, as if everything was normal.

But he did not return to the woodshed; instead, he flashed and silently hid behind the enormous guardian bell.

The cold metallic texture of the ancient bell gradually calmed his chaotic thoughts.

He was waiting, waiting for the person who set up the array.

At the third quarter of the Zi hour, when the yin energy was at its peak.

A small, slender figure, like a wisp of green smoke in the night, silently appeared in the open space.

It was none other than the Deaf-Mute Daoist Child, Li Songyang!

He came to the spot where Zhang Xuanyi had set up his stall during the day, squatted down, his face expressionless.

He dipped his slender finger into a puddle filled with dew on the ground, then used his finger as a brush and water as ink, and began to continue drawing on the edge of the incomplete "Spirit Illumination Position" array.

His movements were not fast, even a bit clumsy, but every stroke, every line, carried an indescribable ancient and rustic charm.

The brushwork was exactly the same as what Zhang Xuanyi had seen in the "dragon and tiger records" concerning the lineage of "artifact guardians"!

So that's it, he wasn't trying to harm me, but rather using this auspicious geomantic location of mine to complete some kind of inheritance ritual!

Zhang Xuanyi understood in his heart and was about to reveal himself, but a system prompt sounded in his mind without warning.

"Ding!

"Detected deep contact between 'artifact guardian bloodline' and array formation, unlocking hidden product preview!"

"Product Name: reverse fate altering compass (Incomplete)"

"Product Effect: Can reverse a person's predetermined fate once, forcefully changing their life trajectory."

"Unlock Conditions: Requires collecting three 'Guan Xin Array Cores' for exchange."

reverse fate altering compass?!

Zhang Xuanyi's heart skipped a beat. He held his breath tightly, burying himself deeper into the shadows of the ancient bell.

This was a treasure that could defy fate and change destiny!

Even if it was incomplete, it was enough to drive the entire cultivation world crazy!

He forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart, remaining motionless like a stone statue, quietly watching Li Songyang draw two new incomplete patterns.

The Deaf-Mute Daoist Child seemed to have exhausted his strength. After finishing the drawing, he stumbled to his feet, glanced at the woodshed with complex eyes, and then quietly disappeared into the darkness.

Only when his aura completely vanished did Zhang Xuanyi emerge from behind the ancient bell.

He quickly went to the spot where Li Songyang had just squatted and, by the faint starlight, found a lost, fingernail-sized brass piece beside his footprints.

The copper piece was severely worn, but a clear ancient seal character was engraved on it — Xuan.

Returning to the woodshed, Zhang Xuanyi spread the tattered cloth with the words "fortune-telling" on the table, then carefully placed the "Xuan" character copper piece in the center of the cloth.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

The ordinary cloth, as if branded by a red-hot iron, began to show lines of blood-red characters emanating from the copper piece, shimmering with an ominous light under the dim oil lamp:

"Xuanmen's lineage severed, myriad laws to be continued... Seek three eyes, return to the origin."

Xuanmen? Myriad Laws?

Zhang Xuanyi stared at the blood-red characters, still trying to make sense of them, when his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Su Qingzhu.

"Zhang Xuanyi! Something big has happened! The netizen who pointed out the words 'Wanfa' is a major research enthusiast. He teamed up with some history students and dug up the location of your woodshed! They say it's the foundation of the 'Wanfa Pavilion' from three hundred years ago! I also found an old Daoist priest from a temple to ask, and he said that three hundred years ago, the first generation of 'Quansheng' demons emerged from there, and then they were jointly suppressed by the entire Daoist sect!"

At the end of the message was a terrified emoji.

Zhang Xuanyi slowly raised his head, his gaze shifting from his phone screen to the "Xuan" character copper piece, then sweeping over the blood-red words "Xuanmen's lineage severed" on the table, and finally looking down at the land beneath him.

All the clues, at this moment, connected into a complete and terrifying chain.

He suddenly tugged at the corner of his mouth, letting out a cold laugh of unclear meaning.

"Well, well, after all this, my fortune-telling stall is probably perfectly situated right on top of the tomb that the entire sect dared not mention three hundred years ago."

Night faded, and dawn approached.

The new day, it seemed, was destined not to be peaceful.

On the road down the mountain, the roar of car engines could already be heard, and not just one.

At the Tianshi Mansion's mountain gate in the distance, there seemed to be many more bustling figures than usual, and the clamor could be faintly heard from afar.

A bigger storm was brewing.