Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 165: Phase One

The yin energy rippled gently; the spirit-screening formation trembled slightly.

Someone had broken in!

A’Shou noticed the disturbance immediately and checked the formation’s status. The massive array had been tampered with—an additional one-way barrier had been added. In short, cultivators from the outside could still enter, but nothing from within could get out.

The site of the eighth taboo had become a completely sealed room.

This shield had appeared silently, without any signs. It was clearly part of a taboo. Coincidentally, when reviewing past files, A’Shou had just read about this one. She distinctly remembered this “one-way” taboo belonged to an old key-type Immortal E, not the will of the “Fang Xiu E”.

Which meant there was only one suspect—

Cen Ling was currently wandering through the lower levels of the hospital with three others. Hands in his pockets, he wore a casual smile while his fingers moved subtly beneath thick fabric, as if operating something.

In the face of this completely chaotic scene, A’Shou should have panicked. But the thought of Fang Xiu and Bai Shuangying wandering around trapped in a “sealed room” made her feel strangely reassured. Keeping those two locked up wasn’t a bad thing. It brought a comforting sense of safety.

To be fair, if the ritual had been managed by some indecisive senior Underworld officer, Cen Ling’s move would’ve been devastating. With abnormal conditions, a communication cut-off, and unknown Immortal E’s involved, any officer would crack.

But she was one of the most powerful ghost immortals in the Underworld.

A’Shou thought for a moment, tore off a piece of paper, picked up a pen, and scribbled a line of text. With a snap of her fingers, the paper turned into a white moth and flew toward Fang Xiu’s hospital room.

If they were going to collaborate, it had to be real collaboration.

At the same time

“They said something about a ‘master’ or a ‘god’. Don’t tell me they meant Fang Xiu?” Lu Yang was briskly leading a procession of corpses toward the basement exit.

“He is good-looking,” Xiao Tian said, “but he still seems like a mortal. He doesn’t have that… you know, divine vibe?”

“Think hard. Do you know any mysterious big bosses?”

Lu Yang was almost in tears. “I don’t have any other friends.”

Thanks to his ability, which became stronger the more corpses there are, plus his lone-wolf nature, most teams had suspected he’d stab them in the back. His survival so far had been thanks to his harmless college-kid vibe and the desperate survival tips Fang Xiu had given him.

Xiao Li: “But it doesn’t make sense for the Underworld to throw a god into a ritual. That’s way too unfair.”

He made an effort to walk ahead of Lu Yang to avoid walking shoulder to shoulder with the zombie army.

“No point overthinking this,” Song Zheng cut in. “Those spirits clearly aren’t hostile. That’s good enough. First priority is finding Fang Xiu. Xiao Tian, can you manage?”

Xiao Tian nodded solemnly.

At the basement entrance, she veered into a duty room and rummaged around until she pulled out a clean glass food container and a pair of sharp metal scissors.

She filled the container with clear water, opened the scissors so one blade pointed toward the hospital entrance, then bit her finger and scrawled a big, wild character for “Fortune” on the table in blood, circling it.

She placed the bowl and scissors in the middle of the blood array, then sucked on her finger. “It’s done.”

Lu Yang: “…”

That looked awfully familiar. His ex used the same method to find her lost cat. Was this really legit?

But Xiao Li and Song Zheng looked completely unfazed, so he swallowed his doubts and watched quietly.

Xiao Tian clearly called Fang Xiu’s name three times toward the scissors. A second later, the scissors slowly lifted, one blade balancing on the water, the other tilting toward a direction.

A few seconds later, it dropped like a dead chicken, going limp.

“Looks like he’s upstairs somewhere. Just a general direction,” Xiao Tian said, wiping away the blood on the table. She put the scissors and bowl back in place.

“Let’s go find Fang Xiu,” Song Zheng declared.

……

“Song Zheng and the others will come looking for me.”

Fang Xiu didn’t leave the hospital room right away. Instead, he picked up a watering can and tended to the green pothos plant by the window.

“They’re a larger group and have a high favorability toward me. They’ll definitely act. Lu Yang knows I’m here, so he’ll be the first to look for me… Odds are the four of them will team up.”

Water moistened the leaves, making the plant look vibrant and lush.

“Jiao Jiao and Yan Yan aren’t particularly strong in combat. Jiao Jiao will be curious about my goals and will proceed cautiously, most likely teaming up with the other two to find a base.”

“As for that base…” Fang Xiu chuckled. “I wonder how A’Shou is feeling right now.”

All the vengeful spirits in the room stayed silent, their eyes following Fang Xiu wherever he moved. The little black dog sniffed around the small hospital room. Cheng Songyun and Guan He were silently inspecting everything, especially the person on the bed.

Seeing a lively, powerful person now so weak and pale was jarring. Looking at the unconscious Fang Xiu, skin waxy and barely breathing, made it hard to focus on anything else.

Bai Shuangying, on the other hand, was quite entertained. He didn’t understand mortals, but he liked watching Fang Xiu manipulate them.

As for the physical body—well, the Underworld’s craftsmanship wasn’t bad. If need be, he could always grab a dozen new ones for Fang Xiu.

“What does finding a base have to do with that ghost immortal?” Bai Shuangying asked curiously.

Fang Xiu smiled at his ghost. “You’ll see soon.”

Barely thirty seconds later, a folded paper moth tapped against the window. Fang Xiu cracked the window open, and it fluttered inside.

He quickly read the message. “See? She noticed.”

Bai Shuangying stroked his chin and closed his eyes to sense the intruders. In almost no time, he detected the cultivators sneaking into the ritual space—a group of mortals slipping right through the formation. The Underworld’s reputation was in shambles.

Wait a second. Cen Ling could steal Immortal E’s from the Shrine of All E’s. Maybe this intrusion was the work of one too.

Immortal E’s…

A spark of clarity hit Bai Shuangying.

“Once this ritual ends, Cen Ling will leave the Tower. He won’t get another chance to smuggle out Immortal E’s like this.”

He tried to keep pace with Fang Xiu’s thinking. “So he’s using this moment to get his people in and smuggle them out.”

“Once they each get one, they’re basically holding divine weapons. That’s quite dangerous.”

Fang Xiu crumpled the note and tossed it in the trash. “Exactly. Once he distributes the goods, Cen Ling can safely finish the ritual. By the time the Underworld catches on, they’ll already be long gone.”

“And with the Shrine of All E’s suddenly emptied, the ritual Tower’s sealing power plummets. The enraged Corner of Heaven’s Will will descend, and the Underworld will be too busy cleaning up the mess to care about the stolen Immortal E’s.”

Bai Shuangying, who wasn’t particularly enraged: “…Hmm.”

If he just refused to finish the sealing and stayed here enjoying the show, wouldn’t Cen Ling be in trouble?

Wait. There’s a catch.

Cen Ling wouldn’t let his allies escape before the sealing was done. If they fled with the powerful relics and he died mid-ritual, that’d be a hilarious ending.

…And the one relic they had to seal together was called “Fang Xiu”.

At this moment, the final safeguard to the Guishan Sect’s victory, the core figure of the ritual, was leaning against the window, smiling ever wider.

“Isn’t this perfect?” Fang Xiu rested his face on his palm, gazing out at the white mist. “Everyone sent to claim an Immortal E must be a key figure from the sect.”

“I can’t wait.”

As he spoke, he pulled out Mei Lan’s silk scarf and tied it around his wrist.

Bai Shuangying keenly noticed that when Fang Xiu moved, a corner of a familiar book peeked out of his pocket—for some reason, he had brought the Immortal Encounter E with him.

……

Song Zheng’s group returned to the first floor. As soon as they set foot on solid ground, the Murder-Intent Seismoscope in his hand erupted with static. Strangely, the killing intent was coming from all directions.

“Enemy ambush!” Song Zheng called out.

Lu Yang jolted to attention. A dozen corpses quickly spread out, forming a protective ring around them. They opened their mouths and sprayed foul, yellow corpse mist in all directions.

“Huh?” Lu Yang frowned. “I’m sensing suitable material.”

Seeing his teammates’ confused expressions, he quickly rephrased. “I mean, I smell living humans. If they touch the corpse mist, I can track them.”

Song Zheng asked gravely, “How many?”

“Five or six just now. All ran off. But wait, there shouldn’t be this many people here… and they’re hiding.”

Lu Yang shivered.

How could there be so many people? Extra living people were scarier than ghosts in a place like this.

“Killing intent from living people?” Song Zheng clicked his tongue and grabbed Lu Yang’s robe. “No more sightseeing. We’re finding Fang Xiu. Something’s off.”

“Shouldn’t we warn the others?” Lu Yang nearly tripped from the tug.

“They’re Disaster Resolvers, not daycare kids waiting for their parents to pick them up.”

Xiao Li ran up the stairs with Song Zheng. “Let’s find Fang Xiu. This whole thing’s his setup. He knows what’s going on.”

The corpses split into two groups. The swift ones cleared the path, while the slower ones brought up the rear. Xiao Tian sprinted ahead, out of breath, trusting her instincts at every fork in the corridor.

Behind them, a few muffled coughs echoed through the corpse mist.

“Don’t chase them? That team’s trouble.”

“No need. Ignore the irrelevant ones. Find Mr. Cen first. The leader ordered us to help him complete the ritual before sunset.”

“Once we get the Immortal E’s, the rest of them are just ants.”

“And if there are others near Cen Ling?”

“Kill them all.”

Swish.

In a shadowy corner of the first floor, Jiao Jiao quietly drew a tarot card.

“Hmm~”

She toyed with the upright Death card and clicked her tongue.

“…The fun’s about to begin.”

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The author has something to say:

Of course Xiao Tian’s cat-finding method works for finding two cats (?

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