Early the next morning, having finished breakfast, the members of the Lower Court set out together on horses sent over by the yamen.
It was mid-seventh month, and the summer sun blazed like fire. Braving the heat, the party rode for the better part of the day, reaching Wu Family Village in the early afternoon, during the hour of the Sheep.
Even before entering the village, they spotted a massive crater yawning beside the entrance from a distance.
As they drew near, the blistering waves of heat roasted them until they could barely catch their breath.
Under the glaring sunlight, faint wisps of smoke could be seen shimmering above the pit, wafting a pungent stench of sulfur that stung their eyes and noses.
Without needing any command, the members of the Lower Court all cast the Golden Light Incantation upon themselves.
The Golden Light Incantation cleansed body and mind from within while warding off foul, evil qi from without—truly a first-rate, practical spell.
Wu Leng noticed that with a casual wave of Zhou Wuji's sleeve, a clear golden light flashed, completing the incantation's protection.
She felt a flicker of surprise. Everyone said Zhou Wuji possessed peerless swordsmanship and excelled in slaughter, yet he had mastered the Golden Light Incantation to such a consummate degree as well?!
Hailing from the Yuheng lineage, Wu Leng specialized in the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sword. Hearing that Zhou Wuji's swordplay was extraordinary, she had been immensely curious: what kind of swordsmanship could a disciple of Tianshu possibly cultivate?
Noticing Wu Leng's gaze, Zhou Wuji offered the female cultivator a faint smile.
Wu Leng hastily looked away. Zhou Wuji was indeed exceptionally handsome, but she merely wanted to test her swordsmanship against his.
More importantly, she was already at Rank Six cultivation, so challenging Zhou Wuji to spar would seem a bit like bullying.
She had simply wanted to gauge his capabilities from every angle. Now that he had caught her staring, she feared he might misunderstand her intentions, which would be rather awkward...
Around them, everyone was occupied with casting their incantations, so no one noticed the brief exchange between the two.
Standing at the very front, Zhihe pointed toward the crater and explained, "Senior Brother, this pit is roughly a hundred zhang across and forty to fifty zhang deep. Subterranean fire and earthly fiend qi pool deep inside, making it as scorching as a furnace.
"Cultivators can hardly venture deep, let alone stay for any length of time. If the malevolent spirit truly hides inside, there is little we can do."
For subterranean fire and earthly fiend qi to burst forth like this was no different from a volcanic eruption; both were natural releases of heaven and earth's colossal might.
Not to mention Rank Five cultivators, even a Rank One Celestial Master present would find what they could do against such cataclysms of heaven and earth quite limited.
During his last visit, Zhihe had risked going down once, only to return empty-handed. Confident that Zhichong would understand the difficulty, he spoke candidly.
Zhichong formed a hand seal and channeled his dharma, lightly sweeping his fingers across his eyes. Black and white spiritual light intertwined within his pupils, and the billowing smoke could no longer obstruct his sight.
After observing for a while, Zhichong could only see a crisscross of subterranean tunnels beneath the pit, discerning nothing out of the ordinary.
Standing behind Zhichong, Zhou Wuji narrowed his eyes slightly. Opening his spirit aperture to resonate with the star domain, he used the Big Dipper stars as his eyes to observe the collapsed chasm.
Daylight did not hinder the Big Dipper star domain; what truly impeded it was the earthly fiend qi.
Yet in an instant, Zhou Wuji caught sight of the malevolent creature through the Big Dipper star domain.
Lurking a hundred zhang beneath the ground, it blazed with crimson flames, blending seamlessly with the blistering earthly fiend qi around it. However, its life aura remained distinctly distinguishable from the surrounding fiend qi.
Taking only a single glance, Zhou Wuji immediately severed his resonance with the star domain. Maintaining it drained true qi far too rapidly, and he did not want Zhichong and Zhihe to notice anything amiss.
Though standing behind Zhichong, Zhou Wuji could deduce from the elderly Daoist's subtle movements that he had failed to spot the creature's location.
The old Daoist was a Rank Four cultivator whose cultivation far surpassed his own; Zhichong could even evade the observation of his Big Dipper star eyes.
Chiefly, his own cultivation level was not high enough, leaving him with little understanding of Rank Four cultivators. Furthermore, the old Daoist kept his aura deeply concealed.
Even so, using the Big Dipper stars as eyes was an exalted art that proved superior to the old Daoist Zhichong's spells.
Reaching this conclusion, Zhou Wuji felt rather pleased. Using the Dipper as his eyes was a secret technique he had comprehended on his own, and reality had proven it superior even to a Rank Four cultivator's methods.
Zhou Wuji did not utter a word. With experts like Zhichong and Zhihe failing to detect the creature, if he stepped forward claiming he had seen it, wouldn't that be humiliating the two seniors?
Besides, the thing was buried a hundred zhang underground, and those tunnels could collapse at any moment. Who knew how chaotic a fight would turn out down there?
He was better off staying quiet and not stealing the limelight.
Zhichong asked, "Have you attempted the blood bait method?"
"We tried several times, but never saw the creature. It is also hard to say whether someone might be pulling the strings behind the scenes."
Zhihe looked toward the depths of the village. With so many deaths, the surviving villagers had all moved away, leaving behind only a few dilapidated wooden huts.
The earthly fiend qi was as scorching as flame, withering and scorching the surrounding vegetation into brittle yellow.
Even the wooden huts had turned dark and discolored from the smoke, liable to burn into ruins at any moment.
The conditions in Wu Family Village were too severe; even the stationed cultivators had to lodge several li away.
If an evil cultist were indeed stirring up trouble, they would hardly hide within the village itself.
Zhichong sighed softly. "Faced with natural disasters and earthly calamities, there is little our kind can do."
Seeing how complicated the pit was, he too felt helpless.
Turning to Zhou Wuji at his side, he smiled and said, "Zhiyuan said you possess exceptional intellect, full of resourcefulness and sound judgment.
"Do you have any ideas regarding the situation at hand?"
In his letter to the Celestial Master Mansion, Zhiyuan had lavished praise upon Zhou Wuji, substantiating his claims with various deeds. Evidently, Zhiyuan had not been fabricating empty boasts about his own junior.
It was precisely because Zhou Wuji had performed so remarkably that Celestial Master Qingxu regarded him with such favor and bestowed generous rewards.
Zhichong did not doubt Zhiyuan's words, yet he remained curious about what extraordinary qualities this young Daoist, praised for his superior intellect, truly possessed.
Facing this dilemma that everyone found intractable, Zhichong wanted to hear Zhou Wuji's opinion.
He was not trying to put Zhou Wuji on the spot; he simply wanted to witness his intellect firsthand!
Since both he and Zhihe were at their wits' end, he did not hold high expectations for Zhou Wuji; as long as the young man offered something plausible, it would suffice.
Zhichong was the focal point of the entire group. With a single question from him, everyone's gaze snapped onto Zhou Wuji.
Lower Court Abbot Zhihe remained impassive. He actually knew a fair bit about Zhou Wuji; after all, even Real Man Zhihua had remarked that Zhou Wuji possessed pure cultivation, a decisive nature, and broad-minded caliber, displaying the demeanor of a genius.
Transferring Daoist Yiping to the Myriad Ghosts Cavern had not been an act targeted at Zhou Wuji; to Zhihe, it was merely routine reassignment.
The Myriad Ghosts Cavern was inherently a grueling post rotated every six months. Daoist Yiping had lounged in Feixuan Hall for years without budging, an utterly irresponsible seventh-rank Daoist.
Only because Zhiyuan was the previous abbot had the Tianshu lineage been indulged so leniently.
Zhihe was merely conducting official business and felt no need to explain himself to anyone. The fact that Zhou Wuji had not come to kick up a fuss had actually made Zhihe think more highly of him.
Zhou Wuji's commendation from the Celestial Master Mansion was also a prestigious honor that brought renown to the Lower Court.
Zhihe was curious as well: what would Zhou Wuji have to say about such a thorny problem?
Wu'ai, Wu Leng, Wuhe, and the others wore varied expressions. Some expected Zhou Wuji to make a fool of himself, some looked disgruntled, and others were filled with curiosity.
They acknowledged Zhou Wuji's superb swordsmanship, but none of them was willing to accept that his mind was sharper than theirs.
To achieve success in refining qi at their age, every one of them was exceptionally sharp. Fools had no right to stand here in the first place.
Meeting their varied gazes, Zhou Wuji bowed slightly with cupped hands before speaking in an unhurried manner, "The ground's collapse is a power of heaven and earth, impossible to conquer by mortal strength alone."
These words alone prompted sneers of contempt from many seventh-rank Daoists nearby.
Zhichong had just said the exact same thing; for Zhou Wuji to repeat it was nothing but empty prattle!
If this was what counted as 'exceptional intellect,' it was laughable to the extreme...
Zhihe and Zhichong, however, were more composed and did not rush to speak.
Zhou Wuji kept his eyes on the crater ahead, but his Heart Mirror reflected every shift in expression around him.
The few disciples curling their lips irked him slightly. Brainless fools, daring to mock me...
Yet with a calm face, he continued, "Wu Family Village lies along the middle stretch of the Yunming River. Downstream from Wu Family Village are more than twenty other villages, and anyone wishing to reach Yunming must take the road passing through Wu Family Village.
"If the malevolent entity in the Wu Family Village crater is not dealt with, this road remains severed, which brings tremendous disruption to the villages along the Yunming River."
Zhou Wuji turned and pointed toward the northeast. "A few li away lies the Yunming River. Because the elevation drop in this stretch of water is steep and certain sections are riddled with reefs, boats cannot navigate it.
"I believe we can dig a canal to divert the Yunming River into the crater. Doing so will naturally extinguish the earthly fiend qi. The malevolent spirit hiding within will either flee far away or be forced to come out and meet its doom."
Zhichong and Zhihe both took on contemplative looks. Zhou Wuji had just stated that the crater was a force of nature difficult to resolve; diverting river water to counter the earthly fiend qi and subterranean fire with water was indeed a viable approach.
The issue was that digging a canal several li long would be no easy feat.
Immediately, a Daoist of the Wu generation retorted, "Easy for you to say! For such a massive project, do you have any idea how much manpower and resources it would take?!"
Zhou Wuji did not even glance at the Daoist. Cupping his hands toward Zhichong and Zhihe, he said, "Those twenty-odd villages are not small; together, their population exceeds ten thousand. With the road cut off, the taxes from those villages cannot be collected.
"This matter is of utmost importance to Yunming County. The county magistrate will undoubtedly be willing to conscript corvée laborers and cooperate with all his might."
Hearing this, Zhichong and Zhihe both nodded slightly.
Digging a canal to flood the pit was not an exceptionally brilliant scheme in itself.
What truly mattered was that Zhou Wuji understood the significance of Wu Family Village, knew the local terrain and hydrology, and recognized the Yunming county magistrate's desperate desire to resolve the crisis.
Zhichong and Zhihe could not help but silently praise him. Although Zhou Wuji's strategy seemed plain on the surface, he grasped the timing of heaven, understood the advantages of earth, and above all, saw through the hearts of men. It was truly ingenious!
Lowering his gaze, Zhou Wuji cupped his hands and said, "This is merely junior's humble opinion. If there are crude or ill-considered points, I pray the Master and Abbot will pardon me."
As he had traveled along the way, he had continuously observed the lay of the mountains, rivers, and terrain, and the previous day he had spent a long time chatting with the inn's attendant, gaining a solid grasp of the conditions in Wu Family Village and Yunming County. Only thus was he able to form such a judgment.
Zhichong burst into hearty laughter and praised, "An excellent plan! Zhiyuan said you possess exceptional intellect, and it is truly so."
Turning to Zhihe with a smile, he added, "Your sect is brimming with talent—it truly makes me envious."
"Senior Brother jokes."
Zhihe replied modestly, "It is merely a clumsy approach.
"Still, if it solves the problem, it is good."
That final sentence was nonetheless an expression of approval for Zhou Wuji.
Wu'ai and the other seventh-rank Daoists were filled with envy. Most of them focused solely on cultivation, and their worldly experience was too shallow to perceive why Zhou Wuji's proposal was so brilliant.
Wu Leng, being perceptive and observant, recognized his subtle grasp of human nature. In her heart, admiration grew, mingled with a touch of wariness.
Zhou Wuji's calculating mind and methods were far too formidable; she would have to be careful not to fall into his traps...
Chapter 130