"It truly is a baffling formation, Miss Lan. Your memory is quite impressive."
I quietly stared at Lucas Lu in the distance. He was still muttering to himself.
"I'm serious, I swear, I've definitely seen it somewhere before, really. I just can't remember where. It feels so familiar, and the most important thing is, the patterns on this diagram combined with the text—how many effects could there be? How could there be such a sophisticated formation in this world, one even I don't know about? Honestly, Jason Su, let's discuss this thoroughly. We can break the formation apart and test each section, see how many combinations there are, and what each combination does. And among those effects..."
"Shut up."
Annoyed, I stood up abruptly. For a moment, Lucas Lu looked at me, completely at a loss.
"Well, since you've already laid out the formation..."
I lunged forward, grabbed Lucas Lu by the collar, and threw him out of my room onto the road outside.
"I'm really annoyed. Can you just be quiet?"
"Daughter, you..."
My father hurried over while Jason Su just smiled.
"It's fine. That guy deserves it—he never knows when to stop."
My body still hadn't recovered, so I was staying here. Several Underworld Agents from the Hades Circle said it was best for me to fully regain my strength before leaving. They also planned to investigate this maze-like spell formation and the massive, ever-changing formation that kept generating itself here. And then there was the spatial domain I'd mentioned—the Tenfold Crossing, formed by the human mind itself.
Just then, a few people from the Hades Circle knocked on the door. They brought in new furniture and started hauling out the broken pieces I'd smashed. I was the one who'd caused all this—last night, I got drunk and let loose, smashing everything in the room. I woke up feeling oddly refreshed. My parents didn't stop me, and everyone else just watched, too afraid to say a word.
Samuel Young gave an awkward smile.
"Miss Lan, if you're tired, I can come back tomorrow."
"Sit down."
I said, and Samuel Young gave a helpless smile, turning his attention back to the maze-like formations I'd drawn from memory on four sachets. When combined, there was a square-shaped inward spiral at the center.
Samuel Young then grabbed some white paper, placing it in the middle of the four patterns, and started drawing with a pen. I noticed the four outer patterns actually grew larger, and if you followed the gaps in the outer designs, they would generate new maze diagrams—complex and endlessly evolving.
"Daoist, you're clever."
Jason Su couldn't help but comment. None of us knew what this spell formation was for, and even the Buddhist sect members were seeing it for the first time.
"For now, I think our priority should be rescuing Brother Yin. He's well-traveled and knowledgeable—maybe he recognizes this evil spell."
I woke up pissed off, determined to investigate this evil spell. If I find the bastard behind it who hurt Zhou Xiaomei and the others, I'll beat him so badly his own mother won't recognize him.
"Lan Ruoxi, I think you need to calm down. Your temper is too intense right now, too much hostility..."
I glared at him, childish and stubborn. Young Fulim, his voice still soft, immediately shut up and didn't dare say another word.
Just then, the door opened and Lucas Lu walked in again. I shot him a sideways glance as he leaned against the wall, covering his mouth.
"Forget it, I can't figure it out. I'll head back in a few days, find Ghost Painting Book Immortal and Deathcurse, and take them to rescue Yin Choujian."
As I spoke, I walked straight out of the room. The entire Snowveil Crossing was now under the control of the Hades Circle. As I made my way through, every Underworld Agent greeted me, addressing me as Circle Master Lan. The Hades Circle was never this respected before, but now it felt like they had both wealth and power.
This was a privilege granted to the Hades Circle by Redmond, as part of an agreement between the Underworld and the Hades Circle. Last night, my mother told me that when the war ends, Redmond will officially enter Hell as the Eleventh Yama King, and the Hades Circle will work for him. Right now, their salaries are paid by Redmond's Hongyun Corporation, which is growing bigger by the day—thanks to the Underworld giving them the green light.
Now, I have no choice but to turn to Deathcurse and Ghost Painting Book Immortal for help. One is a curse-type Blue Wraith, the other a formation-type Blue Wraith. Yin Choujian's men should still be waiting near the plateau by Burial Valley in the west. By now, they've probably heard that Bo Ziran has left. The only solution is to seek out Zhang Qingyuan's old friends for help.
Zhang Qingyuan once told me, if he was ever gone from the Living World and I needed help, I could go to the Hall of Malice and ask these friends—they'd definitely help.
Come to think of it, isn't Black Moon one of the Naraku people? If I go straight to him, it might work out. I used to doubt that strange guy with a round head and crescent moon eyes and mouth, but Zhang Qingyuan told me he's trustworthy—I can tell him anything.
Zhang Qingyuan's old friends have all been through a lot with him. Back when he formed Blackfang, he told me his goal was to gather these people and help the Living World.
I even joked that maybe when we get back, we should start a ghost-hunting business together. If we gather all the Blackfang members, it'd be a sure-win venture.
I pressed a hand to my forehead, the sunlight above glaring in my eyes. Footsteps sounded behind me—my mother hurried up and grabbed my hand.
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"It's time to eat. Where are you going?"
"I want to go home."
My mother pulled me straight into a shop. The owner rushed over to greet us.
"Same as yesterday—make it light."
I sat down, frustrated, pressing my aching head. My mother comforted me, wrapping her arms around me.
"How about Mom takes you out to have some fun? Where would you like to go?"
"No."
That was my reply—just two words.
"Ruoxi, no matter how angry you are, there's nothing you can do right now. Solutions will come, just listen to Mom. Get ready to eat, and after, we'll walk around town."
After the meal, I didn't go shopping with my mother. Instead, I returned to my room, where everyone was still studying the pattern I'd drawn from memory.
"Maybe there's a hidden message in it. Something this complex wouldn't just appear out of nowhere—I doubt it's a spell created by humans. More likely, it's the work of ghosts or something else!"
Jason Su said, and just then Lucas Lu suddenly remembered something.
"I've really seen this thing before. A long time ago, I think it was on the back of some Naraku guy—I saw this spell on his spine."
The moment Lucas Lu finished speaking, we were all shocked. Samuel Young stared at him in confusion.
"Brother Lu, I think you might be mistaken. The Naraku people are extreme, but they're righteous—they'd never study such evil spells. In fact, they're ruthless toward anyone who uses them, and you know that as well as I do."
Lucas Lu hesitated for a moment, then laughed.
"Maybe I was mistaken."
Meanwhile, on the other wall, Fulim kept drawing diagrams. The spell really was powerful—new formations kept emerging and evolving, much like the strange phenomena of this place.
I walked over to the original diagram and sat down, recounting what happened when Chen Yuan helped me solve the formation.
Samuel Young produced a diagram of a derived spell and placed it in front of us. On the maze-like image, he'd marked several spots in red.
"What's fascinating about this formation is that, if you look at it through the Five Elements, it has both generation and restraint. But if you see it as an Eight Trigrams diagram, it has complete and utterly opposite hexagrams. If you combine the two, you get this."
As he spoke, Samuel Young kept marking the original diagram, then began connecting the dots with dashed lines. We all stared in amazement.
"As you can all see, it forms a grinning, faceless ghost. I don't think that's a coincidence—there's definitely something hidden in this spell. It's like the formation itself is built from these maze-like lines. Maybe what we need to do is find the exit to the maze."
"I actually think it's some kind of mark. This ancient spell structure is more like a brand burned onto a person or something else, showing its origin. I've studied ancient spell structures before—their main purpose was to mark locations, like treasure maps. I once asked the soul of an ancient spellcaster about it. Back when spellcasters first appeared, they used spell structures like drawings, because writing was still developing. They'd use pictures to form spell structures. As you know, words are the skeleton of spells—they need constant practice to stabilize their power. But pictures are different—they can easily affect a spell's power. This spell made of lines looks simple, but it's actually very complex. I think it's meant to mark a location, like a treasure map."
Fulim spoke as I stared at the maze diagram on the table, marked and connected by Samuel Young—a grinning, faceless ghost. The whole thing felt ominous to me.
Samuel Young smiled and flipped the diagram over, laughing.
"We should go eat. Let's move our research to the next room."