The Eight Scenic Pavilion was essentially a formation corresponding to the Eight Gates Golden Lock. To Grandmaster Qi, this was no challenge. Soon, she led Li Qingxiao to the position of the Death Gate among the Eight Gates.
What met their eyes was a scene of desolation, as if a fierce battle had taken place. Everywhere they looked were broken walls and ruins, almost turning into a wasteland.
Li Qingxiao was speechless with shock. This was the "hidden residence" of the Grand Master. How could it have become like this?
Not to mention who dared to fight in the Grand Master's ancestral home, even if someone really did, why didn't the Li Family patriarch rebuild it?
Could this have something to do with the Death Gate in the Eight Gates Golden Lock?
What had happened to the Eight Scenic Pavilion?
Grandmaster Qi remained silent and continued moving forward.
Soon, a building ruin appeared in Li Qingxiao's sight.
The building had been destroyed for the most part, leaving only the foundation. However, what was strange was that the entire foundation was actually inverted.
In other words, there was originally a building here, but this building wasn't built upward normally, but downward inverted.
This was different from ordinary underground palaces or tombs. Although underground palaces were located underground, they were built upright. This building, however, was built in reverse, completely inverted, even the mural patterns on the foundation were inverted.
Grandmaster Qi pointed with her finger: "There was originally an inverted tower of yin and yang here, part of the Daoist 'White Jade Capital in Heaven' plan. Now the tower has broken and fallen into the Netherworld."
Li Qingxiao could only respond with one word: "Ah?"
This morning he was still worried about his livelihood, but in the blink of an eye, he had been dragged into such a grand proposition? Could the Supreme Daoist Patriarch be playing a joke on him?
Grandmaster Qi continued: "The Li Family sealed this place. I want to break the seal, but don't want to alarm the Grand Master who set it. So I need to borrow your blood."
Li Qingxiao finally couldn't help but ask: "Grandmaster Qi, you said I have the aura of chaos in my body. Because of this aura of chaos, I was polluted by 'Great Wasteland Heaven', and because of this aura of chaos, I am different from other Li family members. May I ask the Grandmaster, where does this aura of chaos come from?"
Grandmaster Qi held up two fingers: "There are only two ways. One is external injection, which is usually only possible for extraterrestrial beings. The other is inherited from parents, and after being filtered by the first-generation host, the aura of chaos in the second generation is no longer fatal, but temporarily dormant."
Li Qingxiao felt a chill in his heart.
Both his parents had died in the line of duty - his father died before he was born, and his mother died soon after giving birth to him. As for the exact cause of death, the Daoist sect had always been vague, only saying it was an accident. Could it all be related to this so-called aura of chaos?
Could his parents have died because they accidentally came into contact with the aura of chaos from extraterrestrial beings?
And as a posthumous child, did he inherit this aura of chaos from his parents?
Grandmaster Qi continued: "The aura of chaos is very hidden, ordinary people can't detect it, but I'm an exception. If even I can't see it, then there are few people in this world who can. Alright, let's get to the point, prepare to draw blood."
Saying this, Grandmaster Qi grabbed Li Qingxiao's wrist and lightly scratched it with her fingernail. Blood began to flow, but the wound was smooth like a mirror, and the blood didn't flow everywhere, but rather floated by itself, each drop distinct, like individual crystal beads.
As Grandmaster Qi had said, at first glance, this blood didn't seem special, indeed, ordinary people couldn't detect it.
Until Li Qingxiao's face turned pale, showing signs of excessive blood loss, Grandmaster Qi wiped the wound, not only stopping the bleeding but also making the wound completely disappear without leaving any scars.
Then Grandmaster Qi stretched out her hand and gathered all the blood drops, using her fingers as a brush and blood as ink, writing one stroke per drop, a total of three hundred and sixty-five strokes, perfectly matching the number of heavenly stems - drawing a huge blood talisman.
"Command!" Grandmaster Qi pointed at the blood talisman.
A faint cracking sound could be heard, as if something in the void had been broken.
In an instant, the scene before their eyes became distorted, as if the flowers in the mirror had been shattered and the moon in the water disturbed.
The foundation was still the inverted foundation, but the ground around it had disappeared, turning into a bottomless abyss. The foundation hung above the abyss, with darkness stretching endlessly below.
Li Qingxiao cautiously leaned forward to look and found that there were many building ruins floating in the abyss, which must be the so-called inverted tower.
"Is that the legendary Netherworld?" Li Qingxiao muttered.
Grandmaster Qi took out a lamp, made entirely of crystal, clear and transparent. A small flame burned inside, emitting seven colors of light, gradually changing and cycling.
Grandmaster Qi held up the lamp with both hands, illuminating the remaining foundation and the ruins in the abyss, muttering incantations.
Li Qingxiao thought it was the supreme Daoist spell, so he hurriedly leaned in to listen carefully.
He heard Grandmaster Qi chant: "First invite the soul of the Supreme Daoist Patriarch, second invite the Profound Sage to possess me. Third invite the Eastern Emperor and Yao Ancestor, may our ancestors protect the righteous energy. South invite the Celestial Master to observe the ceremony, North let the National Master know. Summon all the literary and martial figures of the three teachings, protect old Qi in stabilizing the world. Three Pure Ancestors return to their positions, Qi family ancestors stabilize the divine soul. All the waters of the four seas stand upside down, the clouds of the nine heavens cover the world. All heroes work together, old Qi will repay the favor in the future. Will repay the favor!"
Li Qingxiao was speechless for a long time. This sounded like the lines of a street performer rather than something that should come from the mouth of a great Daoist master.
But in the next moment, time stopped, everything turned completely into black and white.
Then time began to flow backward.
The various building ruins that had fallen into the bottomless abyss flew up from the abyss, constantly piecing themselves back together.
The ground was paved with blue stones, the walls were built with red bricks, the eaves were made of tiles, and even a rusty copper bell flew out of the abyss and, before their eyes, shed its green rust, turning back to its original yellow copper color, hanging from the eaves again.
Various talismans, true words, and totems on the tower also reappeared, showing the extraordinary significance of this giant tower.
Then more broken pieces of the tower continued to fly up from the abyss, rejoining the base in their proper order, making the inverted tower grow taller and taller, extending downward into the unknown depths of darkness.
Finally, a tower hanging above the abyss appeared in Li Qingxiao's sight, looking brand new.
It had thirty-three stories, corresponding to the thirty-three heavens of Daoism.
This scene was breathtaking, a true miracle.
Li Qingxiao couldn't speak for a long time.
Grandmaster Qi said to Li Qingxiao: "Three years. If you're still alive after three years, we will meet again."
As she spoke, a jade pendant fell into Li Qingxiao's hand.
"Hold onto this token and find Chen Jian in Borneo. He will understand."
Grandmaster Qi's voice faded away as she walked toward the inverted tower.
The inverted tower door slowly opened.
Everything inside was also inverted. After Grandmaster Qi entered, she walked on the ceiling, with the ground above her head.
Then the tower door slammed shut.
The blood talisman slowly faded and finally disappeared, everything returning to its original state - no abyss, no inverted tower, only an inverted foundation, as if nothing had happened.
But the disappeared Grandmaster Qi and the jade pendant in his hand reminded Li Qingxiao: what just happened was not an illusion, but a real event.
A vice-grandmaster of the Daoist sect had gone to the Netherworld through the inverted tower, and promised to meet Li Qingxiao again when she returned to the mortal world - on the condition that Li Qingxiao could survive the pollution of "Great Wasteland Heaven."