The moment the palace doors swung open, it was as if the aurora borealis had fallen from the night sky—a dazzling cascade of light poured forth, so breathtaking it left one speechless.
Wen Shuangbai squinted against the blinding radiance and, after adjusting her vision, noticed a faint silhouette of a tower standing beyond the streams of light.
"Let's go in, but everyone be careful," she said, casting a glance at Xie Ziyin beside her, who had his eyes tightly shut.
Xie Ziyin had overused his Nine Infants' Ghost Eyes, leaving his vision strained, and the brilliant light only worsened his discomfort. He had closed his eyes the instant the doors opened.
Noticing this, Wen Shuangbai subtly flicked the tip of her Fire Plume Whip toward him, the rough yet sturdy material coiling around his jade-white wrist.
Xie Ziyin flinched slightly at the contact, then turned his head in her direction with a silent, questioning look.
Wen Shuangbai smirked. "Consider this my good deed for the day—helping a blind uncle into the palace."
"..." Xie Ziyin pondered for a moment before a faint smile curved his lips. "Thank you. Truly, dogs are man's best friend."
Wen Shuangbai: "??"
Damn it—he was calling her a guide dog!
With a sharp tug on the whip, she dragged him forward, striding ahead to catch up with Li Zhuohua and Shen Hefeng. "Xie the Dog, stop dawdling! Move it!"
Xie Ziyin stumbled slightly from the force and remarked coolly, "You're hurting me."
Wen Shuangbai: "...Shut up!"
Xie Ziyin: "."
Behind them, Lu Jiayao watched their exchange with keen interest before turning to Yin Xuan. "Brother Yin, if I recall correctly, didn’t Shuangbai’s whip once hit... feces back in the Taihua Mountain Secret Realm?"
Yin Xuan opened his eyes, glancing at the Fire Plume Whip before nodding faintly. "Indeed."
Lu Jiayao: "Ew."
The two hurried after the others.
[Wait, the Fire Plume Whip hit WHAT? Someone from Qingling Mountain, explain this!]
[Haha, I actually know the story—our elder told us! It went like this...]
On the Mystic Heaven Mirror, the user vividly recounted the exploits of Wen Shuangbai and her group in the Taihua Mountain Secret Realm, with special emphasis on the infamous monkey incident.
[Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.]
[Your Qingling Mountain is so weird. The jade valley spirits live in peaceful serenity, but your mountain’s monkey demons throw feces and steal food? And now these contestants in the tournament are just as bizarre.]
[Is it a sect tradition?]
[It must be a sect tradition.]
[No, the other disciples aren’t like this! The sect leader and most elders are perfectly normal!]
The Qingling Mountain disciples desperately tried to explain on the Mystic Heaven Mirror, but no one believed them anymore.
---
The grand hall was eerily empty, save for the lone tower at its center.
The six of them stopped before it, studying the structure.
The tower stood about a person’s height, but its base sprawled wide like a blooming lotus in the middle of the hall.
The dazzling streams of black, white, and green light emanated from within the lotus tower.
Wen Shuangbai immediately recognized that the petals were crafted from obsidian demon stone, while the stamen consisted of a cluster of raw spirit stones.
The raw spirit stones glowed with a milky-white radiance, channeling spiritual energy into the obsidian petals. The energy darkened as it flowed through the tower’s base, spreading across the underground palace and enveloping the entire Tian Family Village.
This lotus tower was the core of the Yin-Yang Ghost Play Formation.
Destroying the raw spirit stones powering the formation would dismantle the array, allowing them to kill the village chief, conclude the first round of the tournament, and leave the Sacred Tower.
Li Zhuohua gripped her Flowing Rainbow Sword eagerly. "Can I slash it?!"
Wen Shuangbai, who had been quickly circling the tower, called out, "Senior Sister, wait!"
Something about the raw spirit stones struck her as odd.
While they should emit a pure white glow, these stones shimmered with an unmistakable emerald-green hue.
There was something else mixed in with the spirit stones—something beyond her current understanding.
In moments like this, she trusted in divination. She turned to Shen Hefeng. "Ask your turtle shell—can we slash it or not?"
Shen Hefeng, who had just pulled out his tortoise shell, scowled. "This is a sacred tortoise shell!"
Xie Ziyin, standing nearby with his eyes still closed, massaged his reddened wrist where the whip had scraped him. "Is there a difference?"
Shen Hefeng sat cross-legged, preparing to cast a divination, but not without retorting, "Then what’s the difference between your hand being bound by the Fire Plume Whip and being smeared with feces?"
Wen Shuangbai chimed in, "I washed it thoroughly, okay?"
Xie Ziyin countered smoothly, "By that logic, Shen, since your hands have touched feces, and you eat with those hands, isn’t that the same as eating feces?"
Wen Shuangbai grinned. "Exactly!"
Shen Hefeng nearly hurled his tortoise shell at the two of them. Damn it, he wanted to strangle these two!
Li Zhuohua tapped her Flowing Rainbow Sword impatiently. "Crazy Junior Brother, hurry up and divine!"
Shen Hefeng: "..."
Grumbling, he resumed his divination. "You’re all ganging up on me. Just wait—revenge is a dish best served cold!"
---
While the others bickered, Yin Xuan dozed off, and Lu Jiayao circled the lotus tower with fascination.
The jet-black petals were adorned with intricate golden carvings—seventy-two panels in total, each depicting scenes from the events that transpired in Tian Family Village five centuries ago.
To Lu Jiayao, these carvings were like watching history unfold before his eyes.
He grew engrossed—flinching at the ghostly attacks, shedding tears when the old village chief perished, relieved when a young hero returned to turn the tide, and cheering as the villagers, led by their new chief, fought back and built the underground palace.
But then—
His smile froze, replaced by confusion.
He scratched his head, staring at the latest carvings before backtracking to earlier panels.
Something was wrong.
"Everyone, come look at this!" he called out urgently.
Wen Shuangbai hurried over. "What is it?"
"Shuangbai, see here!" Lu Jiayao pointed at the series of carvings showing the villagers constructing the underground palace under their chief’s guidance. "This person appears in all these panels, but—" He moved to the latest one. "After the formation was completed, she vanished. She’s missing from the next few panels too."
Wen Shuangbai followed his finger, studying the carvings closely.
The stone carvings had simple lines, making most details indiscernible. The only clear figure was a slightly plump woman standing among the villagers, blending in so seamlessly that she could easily be overlooked if one didn’t look carefully.
And just as Lu Jiayao had pointed out, after the underground palace was completed, she vanished from all subsequent carvings.
Wen Shuangbai and Lu Jiayao examined the stone carvings once more, confirming one thing: this slightly plump woman had only appeared after the village chief returned from Qingling Mountain. Then, once the formation was completed, she disappeared.
Lu Jiayao mused, "Back then, did she leave Tianjia Village after helping the village chief set up the Yin-Yang Deception Formation?"
"Most likely," Wen Shuangbai pondered. "San Tu, don’t you find it strange? The carvings give the impression that they’re both trying to hide this woman’s presence and commemorate her at the same time."
Lu Jiayao nodded. "Exactly. When I immersed myself in the carvings, I sensed that she was subtly the core of the villagers. That’s why I kept noticing her—until the underground palace was finished, and she disappeared."
Upon hearing their description of the anomaly in the carvings, Xie Ziyin, who was temporarily blind, asked, "Who is this person?"
Wen Shuangbai frowned. "We don’t know."
This woman had never appeared in their awareness before. She emerged out of nowhere and vanished just as mysteriously, leaving them baffled and unsure how to analyze her significance.
The group could only wait for Shen Hefeng to finish his divination.
The more difficult the question, the longer the divination took.
This time, Shen Hefeng visibly weakened as he performed the ritual, and the already sparse hair on his head shed several more strands.
Lu Jiayao picked them up, his eyes filled with sympathy. "Keep losing hair like this, Brother Shen, and you’ll soon resemble the monks of the Divine Evolution Temple."
Nearby, Yin Xuan instinctively touched his own long, silver hair—thick and smooth, a testament to ample rest and sleep.
After a while, Shen Hefeng finally completed the divination.
He showed the group the turtle shell’s revelation: an image resembling a sheet of paper.
Clutching the strands of hair Lu Jiayao had handed back to him, Shen Hefeng mournfully explained the omen: "Force won’t work. You must use paper to overcome hardness."
Paper.
A thought struck Wen Shuangbai—she remembered the Qingling Mountain talisman paper she had taken from the village chief’s house.
---
Proceeding with caution, the five of them meticulously combed through the hall once more, ensuring no clues or items were overlooked. Only then did Wen Shuangbai take out a sheet of Qingling Mountain talisman paper to break the formation.
After a moment’s thought, she drew a Three Purities Talisman.
Qingling Mountain had absorbed all the major and minor sects of Qingzhou five centuries ago, including the village chief’s former sect, the Ling Mountain School.
The talismanic teachings passed down to Qingling Mountain disciples today were largely inherited from the Ling Mountain School. However, after five centuries of refinement and evolution, the methods had diverged significantly from those of the past.
Only one talisman remained unchanged in its execution: the Three Purities Talisman.
The Flower Blossom Pavilion Master had once mentioned during her seclusion that this talisman was a protective charm, capable of warding off unclean entities.
Many common folk would purchase a few during festivals to paste in their homes for protection.
The bright yellow talisman paper fluttered like a leaf into the lotus tower. The moment it touched the formation’s core, ripples of light surged through the hall, shaking the entire underground palace!
From the lotus stamen, a radiant emerald glow flared, overpowering the original white luminescence of the spirit stone. Dazzling as fireworks, it was nearly blinding.
The group averted their eyes, shielding themselves from the brilliance.
But in an instant, the emerald light surged toward Wen Shuangbai, enveloping her completely!
"Junior Sister Shuangbai!"
"Shimei!"
"Shuangbai!"
Xie Ziyin sensed something amiss and forced his eyes open despite the searing pain, staring toward the lotus tower.
Amid the swirling radiance, Wen Shuangbai was drawn into the tower.
In a flash, the figure of the green-robed woman vanished from the underground hall—and from the Mystic Heaven Mirror’s reflection.
While the others were gripped with worry, Wen Shuangbai herself felt no hostility or danger. Instead, she was embraced by a sensation as gentle as a spring breeze.
The emerald light transported her to the entrance of Tianjia Village.
Or rather, a phantom version of it.
In this illusion, time stood still, and the world was bathed in lush greenery.
Beneath the village archway stood a mulberry tree, and under it sat a young man with a faint, translucent figure.
His back was turned to the village as he gazed outward, as if guarding—or waiting.
Wen Shuangbai stood still for a moment, realization dawning. She bowed respectfully toward the young man’s back and said, "Shuangbai pays her respects to the elder. May I ask for your esteemed name?"
The young man turned his head, revealing a handsome, youthful face.
"I am Tian Sang," he said.
"You’ve finally come for me." His smile carried the weight of centuries, and he exhaled softly in relief. "You know the Ling Mountain School’s Three Purities Talisman—are you a fellow disciple?"
