Chapter 4 - Chapter 4: The Calamity of the Celestial Master's Order

The neon lights of Jinling City blurred into eerie patches in the morning fog. Chen Jiuzhang stared at the lingering golden light in his palm. The heat that coursed through his veins during the resonance with the Celestial Master's Order seemed to still be rampaging. His phone vibrated wildly on the table. Zhang Chengying had sent over twenty messages, and the latest one came with a wailing voice recording: "Help! My electric bike's brakes are blocked by the powder of those thirty - six copper - armored corpses!"​"You shouldn't have touched that." Shen Qingluan appeared behind him out of nowhere. Beneath her archaeology professor's white coat, the patterns of a Taoist robe were faintly visible. She pushed a tablet towards him. On the screen was a scanned copy of the Secret Records of Longhu Mountain in yellowed pages. One page was circled in cinnabar, stating, "The bloodline of the Zhang family has been severed, and the Celestial Master's Order has been divided into two halves." "Now that Old Daoba has the complete Celestial Master's Order, the Xuanmen Council will soon—"​Before she could finish, the entire building shook violently. Chen Jiuzhang's bronze compass soared into the air. The diagram of the twenty - eight constellations on its surface materialized, projecting the Big Dipper formation on the ceiling. Seven dark figures crashed through the windows. The middle - aged man at the front wore a token of the Xuanmen Council, but his eyes were as venomous as poisoned daggers. "Chen Jiuzhang, for secretly hoarding the Zhang family's treasures and colluding with evil cultivators, come with us!"​"Bullshit!" Zhang Chengying kicked open the door. Glutinous rice residue still clung to his electric bike key. "Old Daoba is the real mastermind. You bunch of—" His words were cut off by a talisman, and he was sent flying backward, crashing into a bookshelf. Shen Qingluan raised her bronze mirror. In the reflection, cherry - blossom - shaped seals were swirling under the feet of the council members. "They've been controlled by Japanese onmyoji!"​In the chaos of the battle, Chen Jiuzhang felt the fragment of "The Classic of Shaking the Dragon" in his pocket. The Shadow of Emperor Hongwu suddenly emerged. Wherever his dragon robe swept, all the talismans turned to ash. "Protect my dragon vein..." The voice of the Shadow carried the Pressure of a thousand years, but it suddenly froze when it touched the fragment of the Celestial Master's Order. Chen Jiuzhang felt as if his chest had been struck by a sledgehammer. Countless fragments of memories flooded his mind—what his father had drawn in blood before his death wasn't "escape," but the pattern of half of the Celestial Master's Order.​"I see." Old Daoba's voice echoed from the void. He emerged slowly, holding the complete Celestial Master's Order, followed by twelve copper - armored corpses dressed in Ming Dynasty official robes. "Back then, your father stole half of the Celestial Master's Order to make you, a vessel of the Zhang family's bloodline, the key to unlocking the Purple Star Enclosure." As soon as the words fell, the Celestial Master's Order burst into intense light, and all the fengshui nodes in the city lit up red simultaneously.​Shen Qingluan suddenly tore off the jade pendant around her neck. It was actually made from a fragment of the Imperial Seal of China. The pendant transformed into a shield of light, blocking in front of Chen Jiuzhang. Her hair gradually turned white under the impact of spiritual energy. "Go! Head to the Demon - Suppressing Stele in the Ming Palace! Only the origin of the dragon vein can suppress the Celestial Master's Order!" Zhang Chengying crashed through the window on his smoking electric bike. The basket was somehow filled with thunder - struck wood USB drives and cinnabar spray paint cans. "Get on! This delivery order is called 'Save Jinling'!"​The wail of police sirens intertwined with the roars of a dragon in the city sky. Chen Jiuzhang gripped the compass tightly. As the electric bike sped past the Qinhuai River, he saw the Bixi sleeping at the bottom of the river open its eyes. What oozed from the cracks in its turtle shell wasn't blood, but golden liquid shimmering with runes—the last remaining power of the Jinling dragon vein. And at the ruins of the Ming Palace, Old Daoba's laughter mixed with the recitation of the fragment of "The Classic of Shaking the Dragon," dragging the entire city into the abyss of eternal damnation.​