Chapter 39: A Plan

This heartbeat can only indicate one thing, and that is that I am very nervous. The weather was already hot, and in this tense atmosphere, my sweat almost wet my entire body. My already very dirty clothes were stuck to my body, making my whole body itch even more. However, under these circumstances, I felt a strange oppression. I couldn’t even move, let alone scratch the itch.

At this moment, I felt a gaze. The corner of my eye caught a glimpse of my master’s gaze. It was a gaze of inquiry, as if seeking an answer from me, seeking peace of mind.

Once upon a time, no… not long ago, I often looked at my master in this way when I was helpless. I never thought that one day, in such a situation, I would also be able to feel my master’s gaze like this.

This gaze was like a thousand-pound weight pressing down on my shoulders, but it also inspired the strongest will in my heart, allowing me to calm down in an instant. I felt that I had grown up, and that my master had grown old. One day, I would be the mainstay, and become my master’s support, just like my master, who had never let me down.

Almost subconsciously, I often let out a sigh, gently placed my palm on my master’s back, and without turning around, whispered to him, “They will leave. I’m sure of it. What’s important now is that we don’t act rashly.”

“Not leaving? Wouldn’t it be safer to retreat into the secret passage?” Master didn’t deny my words, but instead asked me for my opinion.

Without answering immediately, I thought for a moment and said, “Let’s stay here. If we leave now, it will only alert them. Someone will definitely find out. Staying put is the best option.”

“Chengyi, you’ve grown up.” The master said softly, his voice full of gratification.

Almost at the same time, my master and I began to suppress our breaths. The highest realm of Taoist qigong is naturally the realm of fetal breath. My master and I, as practitioners of the Li school, which emphasizes technique, could never reach this realm.

So, I never understood how my master and his friends were able to meditate for so long in the mysterious Gui Dao Bay.

But now, my master and I have chosen the tortoise breath technique to suppress our breath at the same time. Under this kind of qigong, the heartbeat, breathing, and even the flow of blood will become extremely slow. People with power can naturally maintain the liveliness of their thinking, but beginners are definitely unable to do this.

Neither my master nor I were novices, so we could still keep our minds active. Our breaths had become so faint that even the powdered medicine on our bodies was not enough to keep snakes, insects, and rodents away. But at this time, a small snake hurriedly crawled past my master and me.

I guess it just thought we were a cold, smelly rock.

My eyes were fixed on Yang Sheng. When I and my master were talking quietly, he had already jumped off the car and was moving back and forth next to it. He also turned his head from time to time to look up at the mountain, and then he turned to the people in the car and spoke. Because the distance was too far, I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Anyway, after he spoke, two people got off the car, the two people holding binoculars, and began to search the mountain with binoculars. I subconsciously buried my head, and suddenly pressed my master’s head down.

Hiding in the grass, I could see nothing but the weeds in front of me. Under the influence of the turtle’s breath, the heat in my body slowly dissipated as my heartbeat slowed down… I knew that Taoist magic was amazing, and that someone could detect a person’s breath through spiritual power. I just hoped that there was no such person in Yang Sheng’s group.

Time passed by minute by minute, and my sense of danger did not diminish. But my intuition told me that I could look up. I told my master not to move, and then slowly raised my head a little. Then, through the gaps in the weeds, I saw that the two men holding binoculars were now putting down their binoculars and walking towards Yang Sheng, who was pacing back and forth on the side of the road. Then, shaking his head, he was respectfully and carefully reporting something?

Yang Sheng’s face was covered by a scarf, and he was wearing sunglasses and a hat, so I couldn’t see clearly what expression he had or what kind of emotions he was feeling. But I saw that after listening to the two men’s report, he seemed to casually kick the tire, and the tire was actually directly kicked through, and then deflated, suddenly deflating… The car began to lean to one side.

It seemed that Yang Sheng was very angry.

At this time, the two men were trembling in fear, afraid that Yang Sheng’s anger would spread to them. But Yang Sheng didn’t seem angry enough to kill someone to relieve his anger. He just seemed to have ordered something, and the two men went to get the spare tire in the back of the car.

Then Yang Sheng turned to the people in the car and said something. The people in the car jumped down one after another, all looking at the mountain. It seemed that they wanted to come to the mountain to search.

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva to moisten my thirsty throat. Could it be that for the first time, my master had relied on me so much that I had made a wrong decision? At that moment, I almost wanted to give up!

Yes, the area of this mountain slope is not small, and the search work can be extended infinitely, but it also depends on what kind of person they are looking for. Under Yang Sheng’s leadership, there are two holy kings, plus several other people who are full of danger. Once such a team goes up the mountain, it is only a matter of time before they find me and Master. In the face of such a lineup, even if Master and I fight hard, what are the chances of winning?

So, how could I not blame myself for this situation, and be a bit depressed? But Master was very quiet next to me. Out of his trust in me, he didn’t even lift his head.

I forced myself to calm down and didn’t say anything. Since I had already made a decision, I had to believe that it was the best choice to stay calm.

With this firm will, my emotions finally eased a little, my breathing became steady again, and my gaze still lightly fell on Yang Sheng and his entourage. At this time, I saw the lama who had been sitting still in the car get off.

He slowly walked over to Yang Sheng and whispered something in his ear. Yang Sheng seemed to respect the lama’s opinion, and after a few words in the loudspeaker, he called back all the men.

At that moment, I almost suspected that the lama was sent by God to help us, but the next moment, before I had time to breathe a sigh of relief, I saw the lama sitting beside the car, then his hands were strangely pointed to the temples on both sides, and the whole person suddenly seemed to be as quiet as an old monk entering meditation, as if he did not exist in this world.

What was he doing? I couldn’t figure it out for a moment, but my attention was all on the lama. A thought seemed to tell me to close my eyes and feel.

I subconsciously followed my own consciousness, focusing all my thoughts on the lama, and slowly closed my eyes… I thought I needed to open my third eye, but at this moment I felt my eyes go dark, and then my spiritual awareness became extraordinarily keen.

I knew that opening my spiritual eyes would destroy this spiritual acuity, so I tried to keep a calm state of mind and slowly felt it, gradually… In my spiritual world of thought, I seemed to sense the presence of the lama.

I felt a wave of spiritual energy emanating from him, spreading out in all directions, eventually forming a ten-square-meter “spiritual energy field” that slowly moved towards the hillside.

I was shocked to find that this was really happening to me. I suddenly opened my eyes. The sweat that had been gathering on my forehead finally formed into beads of sweat, which rolled down into the mud beneath me.

But how could I be happy in this terrible situation?

With this first development, my spiritual awareness seemed to have become more acute. Now I didn’t even need to close my eyes to feel the lama’s spiritual awareness slowly exploring the hillside.

Since using this secret technique, the lama’s expression has become somewhat serious and laborious. In the glorious era of ancient cultivators, this secret technique was described as miraculous. It was said that powerful cultivators could release their spiritual awareness in an instant to search for a region, and the area searched could be large or small depending on the strength of the cultivator.

I know that history is never short of exaggeration and human subjectivity… but I at least understand that this lama is still very laborious in performing this secret technique, far from the ancient cultivators.

But so what? I was annoyed… Even with this half-baked secret technique, I couldn’t break it… How do I solve the dilemma between me and my master?

But at this moment, a cold voice echoed in the depths of my consciousness: “Hmph, such a powerful spiritual awareness, but you’re afraid of this half-baked secret technique. It’s really disappointing.”

I was all too familiar with this cold voice—it was Tao Tongzi!