"You bastards!"
I cursed, but Xu Fu just laughed and shook his head.
"We didn't do anything to her. She came to us herself and gave us some of her blood. Rufina Howard, who has lived through countless reincarnations, already knows her blood can't seal the Wraithlord anymore. So she gave us a little, hoping we could find a way to seal him. But we couldn't. I tried everything, but nothing worked."
My eyes widened.
"When I was locked inside the Duality Seal, I tested Rufina Howard's blood against the Wraithlord's power. It no longer suppressed him. In other words, Mother Goddess Nuwa's blood is meaningless to the Wraithlord now. Rufina Howard chose to destroy herself. The current Rufina Howard, with a new consciousness and personality, lives on for one reason—she's tired of everything in this world. She's tired of the burden she carries. That burden forced her to reincarnate endlessly. At the brink of death, she used her blood to power the Duality Seal. But a few generations ago, she realized her power was useless. Only the Buddhist and Daoist sects still naively believed her blood mattered. The Duality Seal was a sham from the very beginning."
"What do you mean?"
Xu Fu beckoned to me. I looked at him in confusion. Xu Fu was squatting on the ground, biting his finger, and drew a circle on the ground with his black blood. Then he started drawing something that looked like a snake. When I looked closely, it really was a black snake.
A fiery ring appeared before my eyes, shaped like a snake biting its own tail. I saw the snake's eyes flash with gold and crimson light, and instantly my eyes widened.
"Why does the Spirit Snake..."
"Unlucky for you, I'm also born in the Year of the Snake. That means destruction and rebirth. When this guy was desperate, I took him in and gained some power. Normally, our powers made it impossible to use spells. But now I've gained something new. Come with me."
I followed Xu Fu, stepping slowly into the circle. Instantly, my eyes widened. Before me was a ruined palace, surrounded by massive pillars. The roof was gone, the walls collapsed, and on both sides stood pillars carved with snake patterns. The ground was covered with colorful snake motifs.
I followed Xu Fu and stepped slowly into the circle. Instantly, my eyes widened. A ruined palace appeared before me, surrounded by massive pillars. The roof was gone, the walls had collapsed, and pillars carved with snake patterns stood on both sides. The ground was covered with colorful snake motifs.
"This is the Serpent Hall. I can use this space to move around—it's a convenient ability. Too bad Ethan Zhang never learned how to use it. If he had, he could've avoided a lot of trouble. The shed serpent skin is the true body of the Serpent Hall. Or maybe the Spirit Snake didn't want Ethan Zhang to inherit all of this."
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
I asked, and Xu Fu smiled as he reached out his hand. I noticed his skin darkening, shifting into a blend of several colors. He pressed his hand onto the center of the carving.
A creaking sound echoed. I saw strange-colored vapors rising from all the pillars, and the ground began to rumble and shake.
In an instant, Xu Fu and I were on Mount Immeasurable. I stared in shock at everything around me.
"What you see now is just Mount Immeasurable as it was in the past. I can briefly use the power of the snake sign—destruction and rebirth—to distort time and space, letting us glimpse certain things. The Duality Seal is a formation built with part of Abyssal Hell as its anchor, completed with the Supreme Sage's immense power. But was it really meant to seal the Wraithlord's Earth Soul? When I entered the seal, I realized its real purpose wasn't to seal the Wraithlord. It was to use the intense yin-yang exchange to supply Hell with power."
"If what you're saying is true, shouldn't the Wraithlord have escaped long ago?"
Xu Fu shook his head.
"Don't forget, the Wraithlord only regained his senses a few centuries ago. Before that, he was still somewhat restrained by Mother Goddess Nuwa's blood. As for what really happened, only those who built the Duality Array know—and that means only the Supreme Sage knows. Why did he set up this array? Likely for his own reasons."
I didn't believe a word Xu Fu said, but I followed him up toward the summit of Mount Immeasurable.
"Take a good look. You may not know much about arrays, but do you really think such a crude array could seal the Wraithlord?"
I glanced at the giant Spirit Gourd before me, covered in Daoist Order carvings, and at the rough-looking circular array on the ground.
"But the power of the Duality Seal is real. How could it be fake?"
Xu Fu shook his head.
"Back in the world of shadows, I met the Supreme Sage many times. He always seemed to be hiding something, and he looked deeply guilty. I'm not certain, but inside this array, I felt the power wasn't constant—it was flowing somewhere else during certain processes."
"What do you mean?"
"I asked the Wraithlord about this. He told me he'd noticed it long ago. Whenever he used his power, the yin-yang exchange would restore the array's original form, using his own power to repair the damage. Over the years, even if only a little at a time, he could feel the array breaking apart. That's why he knew he could eventually escape—because during the yin-yang exchange, some power was diverted elsewhere. Where did that power go? That's why I think the Supreme Sage had his own motives. He left a loophole on purpose when he set up the array. If the array had been flawless, no outside power could get in, and the Wraithlord's consciousness, sealed in the Blood Jade, would never have seeped in."
I stared at Xu Fu in shock. What he said made sense. I'd wondered before—how could such a powerful array allow the Wraithlord to escape, and even regain consciousness?
"You know the conditions for merging the Three Souls and Seven Spirits. If one soul can't sense the other two, it's incomplete. Scattered spirits can't respond. But as the Wraithlord, with such immense power, once his three souls established a connection, the seven spirits would slowly draw near. They're originally one complete force, so even if separated, they would eventually reunite. The Supreme Sage who created this array must have known, yet he still left a gap. Why?"
Suddenly, everything around us changed. Xu Fu and I were instantly back in the Serpent Hall. Xu Fu looked exhausted. Everything I'd seen and heard just now left me deeply surprised.
"I asked some people from the Daoist Order, and also the wild Taoist Zhang Anle on our side. What he said was completely different from the Daoist Order. They said the Duality Array was flawless, but Zhang Anle insisted it was incomplete. That's strange—if the array is incomplete, how could it trap the Wraithlord for so long? Only after entering the array did I learn these things from the Wraithlord and deduce that the creator did it deliberately, probably for some secret purpose, using the Wraithlord's power for something else."
"What are you really trying to tell me?"
I looked at Xu Fu in confusion.
"Of course, it's all to prepare for entering the world of light. Think about it—the Forsaken live in the world of light. I've never seen it myself, but it's certainly unique, isn't it?"
After thinking for a moment, I looked at Xu Fu. He smiled, and suddenly a black door appeared beside us. Xu Fu turned and walked toward it.
"We'll talk about this once we reach the world of light. We have a guest."
I followed Xu Fu through the door. As soon as I stepped out, I saw Samuel Young. He sat cross-legged on the ground and, upon seeing us, stood up and walked over, though he looked a bit lost.
"Xu Fu, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Samuel Young put away his smile and stared at Xu Fu.
"Of course, I'm going to the world of light with the Heavenly Soul."
Samuel Young looked at me in shock, at a loss for words.
"That's all there is to it."
As I spoke, Xu Fu burst out laughing. At this moment, I began to doubt the Daoist Order—not because of Xu Fu's words, but because of everything they've done over the years.
"Heavenly Soul, do you really want to team up with this villain?"
"Samuel Young, let's skip the formalities. Let's talk openly—what do you want? In the world of light, you managed to solve the array issue and send us there so quickly because you wanted something from that world. If someone can accomplish something quickly, it's because they have a strong motive. Let's be frank—no need to hide anything."
Samuel Young frowned slightly. What Xu Fu said was exactly what I wanted to say.