Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Chapter 392 The tip of the iceberg

Yan Zhaoming's eyelids twitched as he listened. In a trance, he seemed to see a fox tail emerging from Lu Wensheng, breaking his stereotype of Lu Wensheng. Only now did he realize that under that gentle and elegant appearance, there was a cunning edge like a fox - so why did he think that Lu Wensheng was a dutiful and strict person before?

Tang He rubbed his hands excitedly, this was the Senior Brother Lu he was familiar with, who seemed to be well-behaved, but was actually always testing the edge of danger - the taste was right, this was the Senior Brother Lu he was familiar with.

"Practice correctly, and do not be rude."

The carved wooden door creaked open completely, and a moon-white figure with a faint scent of ink came towards us.

Mr. Xike stood in the door frame, his thin shoulders were coated with a soft light by the candlelight, but it could not hide the sharpness of his brows - but his eyes were too tired, as if the years had drained away the spirit. Only the knuckles holding the pen were covered with red calluses from years of wear and tear, which was somewhat similar to the white lotus in the corner of the yard, which was withered but still had an upright stem.

"Everyone, come in."

The furnishings in the room were surprisingly simple: a bamboo bookshelf was crookedly stacked with half-man-high scrolls, a few thread-bound books were open on the desk, the undried ink had cast irregular circular spots on the rice paper, and on the top page there was still half a poem incomplete, the strokes as vigorous as a dead bamboo: "The crown and tassels on the Golden Throne Hall are heavy, yet not as light as a boat on the cold pond."

When Mr. Xike raised his hand to pour tea, Lu Wensheng noticed that his cuffs were polished to a shine and there were a few stains of ink on his wrist bones, making him look more like a real scholar than himself, a fake top scholar.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you all." Mr. Xike pushed the celadon cup across the table. Two white chrysanthemums stretched out their petals in the tea soup. The clear tea aroma mixed with the faint smell of medicine penetrated into the nose.

"Although Zheng Xiu's words were angry, they were not entirely false. This Xiangsheng City was originally a cage woven by Min Xiao using living souls as the warp and weft and illusions as the threads. We, the living souls trapped here, are both the bricks of the cage and the birds in the cage."

Mr. Xike's fingertips slid across the manuscript of poetry on the desk, "And I..."

He suddenly looked up: "This is the key to this formation."

Zheng Xiu turned around abruptly: "Sir!"

Mr. Xike waved his hand and continued, "This seemingly prosperous Xiangsheng City is nothing more than a cage for Min Xiao to feed his soul. We come from different places, but we are imprisoned here and built Xiangsheng City."

He looked at Lu Wensheng, "You just said that Your Majesty is a puppet, which is not wrong. The emperors, generals, peddlers and hawkers in this city are all transformed from living souls. They all rely on formations to survive. 'Mr. Xike' is a flaw I left for outsiders - so that those who are interested can follow the trail and find this place."

Yan Zhaoming suddenly spoke, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the teacup, "You know we are cultivators who can see through illusions, so you want to use us to break the formation?"

Mr. Xike laughed and started coughing. Zhengxiu quickly handed him a handkerchief.

He wiped the corners of his lips and said with a wry smile, "Breaking the formation? That's easier said than done. Min Xiao uses the soul as bait and the illusion as a prison, in order to trap the intruder in the illusion and slowly drain his spiritual power and life. The only way is to break the eye of the formation and find the core of the formation--" He suddenly looked at Zheng Xiu, and the young man turned his face away abruptly, "I don't know who the core of the formation is, but destroying the eye of the formation can free the soul..."

"You are the core of the formation, so we have to get rid of you?" Lu Wensheng suddenly spoke. His voice was as light as a feather, but it caused the temperature in the room to drop sharply. Zhengxiu trembled all over and glared at him. Mr. Xike closed his eyes and accepted this fact.

“Sir!” Zheng Xiu finally couldn’t help himself, his eyes reddened, “They don’t care about life or death! They only think about how to break the formation and make merit, and they don’t care whether your soul will be torn apart—”

"Zheng Xiu!" Mr. Xike scolded softly, "Zheng Xiu, do you know why I taught you to read and write? Not to make you an impulsive child, but to make you understand that some things are more important than life."

He turned to Lu Wensheng, his eyes burning, "You are playing the role of the number one scholar, right? Since you can find me, you must have been in the study. The original number one scholar was an ancient person. I don't know the exact year, but he also wore clothes like you and rode a white horse in a parade. In the end..." His voice gradually became lower, "In the end, his soul was scattered under Chengtian. The articles you have seen are all his."

"That's not important!" Zheng Xiu glared at Lu Wensheng and the others. "Although you are the core of the formation, there are more than one core. It's not that easy to break the core. Otherwise, this formation wouldn't be considered a prison formation. The core must be removed together, and at least three people must be willing to sacrifice. We also need to find the core and destroy it or make it ineffective. All the above conditions are indispensable."

Yan Zhaoming: "How many points are there in the formation?"

Zheng Xiu sneered: "I might as well tell you that there are four in total, namely the emperor, a great scholar, a young marquis and the master - the emperor is obsessed with power, the great scholar is obsessed with fame, the young marquis is addicted to beauty... They enjoy the glory and wealth in the illusion, and wish that the formation will last forever, not knowing how nourishing it is.

Only Sir... Only Sir wants to be the fool who exposes the falsehood."

Min Xiao gave them power, fame, and wealth, just to make the living souls willingly trapped in illusion and turn them into the most solid foundation of the formation.

Power, fame, wealth, and literature - the emperor holds power, the great scholar holds fame, the young marquis holds wealth, and the stream guest holds literature. Life is fleeting, and these are all that one seeks.

“The living souls are trapped in the formation, and their spiritual power has long been drained. Only outsiders like you still have hope of breaking the formation.

But Min Xiao was extremely cunning. He set up four array eyes to put the person who broke the array in a dilemma - if he didn't destroy the four array eyes at the same time, the array would backfire; but if he wanted to destroy the array eye, the owner of the array eye would have to be willing to die. "

Zheng Xiu seemed to not want Mr. Xike to do this, and always poured cold water on him: "In fact, everyone in Xiangsheng City knows that they are just deceiving themselves, muddling along, pretending to be ignorant when they know the truth. The common people want stability. There is no suffering and torture here, and there are family members to accompany them. What is fake is also real. Breaking the formation means making everyone an enemy."

Yan Zhaoming was a little curious: "Then why don't you want to be like them?"

"It's fake, even if it's fake. I don't believe that devil is so kind." They were afraid that if the person the devil wanted was really trapped to death, these living souls would be useless and would be discarded.

"I am unwilling to be a bird in a cage." Mr. Xike suddenly smiled, with a bit of sadness in his smile, "I was forced to stay here, and saw many living people who either strayed in or were thrown in for testing. It took me a long time to realize that the prosperity of this Xiangsheng City is all illusion.

I started writing articles, recruiting disciples, and leaving clues, even though every time I picked up a pen, the formation would backfire on me and I would cough up blood for three days—"

“We also want to let those who come after us know that there is a fool here, waiting for a group of crazy people who dare to break out of the cage.”

Mr. Xike's eyes flickered: "So, what do you think?"

Lu Wensheng played with the jade cicada around his waist, with a familiar curve at the corner of his mouth: "What a coincidence, I am a madman." The candlelight jumped in his eyes, reflecting a sharp edge.