"Please stop right there, brother. Do not go any further!"
Jiang Zhiyu ignored Wu Li's warning and quickened his pace to catch up.
This young man wore a cold face even towards his own wife, exuding a chilling and terrifying aura, let alone towards strangers.
Therefore, Jiang Zhiyu did not mind the offense.
On the contrary, he was quite interested in this young man.
As the young master of Lingyu Province, he had lived a pampered life since childhood. He was surrounded by servants who acted according to his moods, all subservient and compliant, with no one ever daring to defy him.
Over time, Jiang Zhiyu often felt that there was not a single person around him who spoke the truth.
That was until Song Yueyao appeared. Although she had a fiery temper, she was actually straightforward, open-minded, and pure-hearted. It was exactly this trait that deeply attracted Jiang Zhiyu.
The two of them walked up the steps, one after the other.
The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, as if they had suddenly fallen into an ice cave.
"If you don't leave now, it will be too late." Jiang Zhiyu looked around vigilantly. "Leave this monster to me. You retreat quickly."
Before he could finish speaking—
Bang!
With a loud crash, the main doors were suddenly slammed shut by a powerful surge of air.
A sinister laughter seeped in from all directions, androgynous and piercingly harsh:
"You think you can leave after entering my territory? It's not that easy!"
Amidst the swirling black mist, the layout of the second floor could barely be seen.
There were corridors on all four sides, each neatly lined with several rooms.
At this moment, a woman stood in front of every door, dressed in a bright red wedding gown and with her head covered by a bright red veil, obscuring her face.
The scene was bizarre and chilling.
Jiang Zhiyu suddenly felt an ominous premonition. He had a gut feeling that Yaoyao was very likely among them.
"Monster!" His heart tightened, and he raised his voice, "Release these people at once, and I might spare your life!"
"A little brat still wet behind the ears! I am of the same generation as your ancestors, and you dare threaten me?" The voice sneered. "Believe it or not, I will kill them all right now! Hahahaha..."
"Oh, then go ahead and kill them."
Wu Li suddenly chuckled. A smile like a spring breeze rippled across his jade-white face, clear yet indifferent.
"Or, should I kill one for you first?"
Jiang Zhiyu froze, unable to speak for a moment.
He opened his mouth, watching in disbelief as a snake slithered out of Wu Li's sleeve.
The red markings on it were as vibrant as the red wedding gowns. In the blink of an eye, the snake crawled along the railing and onto one of the women.
The snake's body coiled up from her heels, quickly wrapping around the woman's neck.
It suddenly exerted force!
The red veil instantly fell, revealing a bright and beautiful face, radiant as a lotus, with graceful eyebrows.
It was Song Yueyao!
Jiang Zhiyu turned pale with fright. Just as he raised his hand to stop it, he heard hideous groans echoing all around.
"Ah!"
Then, the Song Yueyao coiled by the snake slowly lost her human form, turning into a tree branch that struggled and twisted as it shrank back into the room.
At the same time, the restraints on the real Song Yueyao inside the room were instantly released.
Seeing the situation turning bad, she immediately leaped silently out the window.
It turned out to be an illusion created by a branch. Jiang Zhiyu frowned. He had almost fallen for the monster's trick due to his concern.
Just as Jiang Zhiyu was about to breathe a sigh of relief and praise the young man beside him for his decisive action, the brides all around suddenly rushed at them, turning into branches to entangle them.
Under a strong sense of suffocation, he only felt the scene before his eyes constantly changing.
Oh no, it's an even more powerful illusion!
While still conscious, Jiang Zhiyu quickly pulled out one of the talisman papers in his hand and burned it at his fingertips.
These talismans were all drawn by his master using spiritual power. Once ignited, his master would definitely sense that something was wrong.
He had snuck out of the imperial palace behind his father's back this time to crash the wedding, and he originally didn't want to reveal his whereabouts unless it was a critical moment.
Jiang Zhiyu nervously looked at the young man beside him, who was also entangled by branches. His face was pale, as if trapped in the agony of an endless abyss, caught in some unknown illusion.
Struggling in vain, he was on the verge of losing his breath the next second.
"Hold on, brother!" He only hoped his master would arrive quickly.
However, in the next second, Jiang Zhiyu's eyes grew hazy, and he too fell into the illusion.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Chai Xiaomi crawled back through the dog hole in the same posture she had used before.
Tucked in her arms was a glass bead the size of an egg, smooth and slightly cool to the touch.
"Awesome! I searched high and low for it, only to get it with zero effort!"
She couldn't help but chuckle to herself.
Who would have thought that the major treasure from the beginning of the novel could be obtained just by crawling through a dog hole once.
In the original plot, Wu Li had to kill Qi Lao to seize this Phantom Color Stone.
If he knew that all he actually had to do was bend down and crawl through this dog hole to steal it... I wonder if someone with his aloof and arrogant personality would stoop to crawl through it just once?
Chai Xiaomi imagined the scene of Wu Li with a cold face, stiffly crawling through the dog hole.
"Pfft—"
She held back her laughter and was about to stand up.
But before she could stand straight, her forehead solidly bumped into someone else's head.
"Ouch!" Chai Xiaomi cried out in pain, rubbing her forehead, alarm bells ringing in her heart.
She cursed inwardly, "Youtiao! What about the promised cheat? Didn't you say that no one except dogs would discover this loophole!"
Youtiao defended weakly, "Host, you do have a cheat, but she has a protagonist halo."
Chai Xiaomi froze.
She looked up.
Under the moonlight, Song Yueyao was standing quietly in front of her.
She had clearly been taken away by the suddenly crazed Qi Lao just now, yet here she was, appearing safely.
As expected of the protagonist halo.
Song Yueyao was also startled for a moment by this person who suddenly popped out of the dog hole, her hand already resting on the short blade at her waist.
But the girl suddenly grabbed her hands excitedly, leaving her momentarily stunned.
"Song Yueyao! I knew you would be fine!" Chai Xiaomi's eyes sparkled, and she spoke rapidly. "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Chai Xiaomi, from Lingyu Province, and I'm here specifically to protect the romance between you and the young master!"
As she spoke, she pulled the glass bead from her clothes and solemnly placed it into Song Yueyao's palm.
"Here, this is the Phantom Color Stone. I specifically stole it for you."
"Don't worry, with me here, no one can tear you two apart!"
A look of astonishment flashed in Song Yueyao's eyes as she frowned at the bead in her palm.
The entire bead displayed seven colors, glowing faintly in the dark night.
It was undoubtedly the Phantom Color Stone.
She raised her eyes again and carefully examined the young girl in front of her.
With red lips, white teeth, and bright, expressive eyes, her smile revealed two small canine teeth, looking charmingly dazzling.
As the eldest legitimate daughter of the Lord of Liangya Province, she had been sent to Lingyu Province as a hostage since childhood. Accustomed to a life of open and hidden attacks, she was highly guarded against everyone.
But for some reason, the smiling face in front of her made her feel an inexplicable sense of unprovoked intimacy. Her heart even softened for a moment, and she actually developed a bit of a protective urge.
Song Yueyao suppressed that strange feeling, gripped the Phantom Color Stone tightly, turned around, and walked away:
"Thanks!"
This was not the time to look into this woman's identity; she had to go back immediately to save people.
She had just taken the opportunity to escape and specifically came to steal the Phantom Color Stone to deal with the monster, never expecting it to be handed right to her.
"Where are you going?" Seeing her anxious expression, Chai Xiaomi felt a faint sense of unease in her heart.
"We need to save them!" Song Yueyao said without even looking back. "The two of them are still trapped in the illusion. If they stay stuck in there, they will definitely die!"
The two of them...
She couldn't be talking about Wu Li and Jiang Zhiyu, could she?!
Jiang Zhiyu was protected by his protagonist halo, allowing him to turn any crisis into a narrow escape. The only thing in this world that could truly threaten him was the villain after a complete descent into darkness.
But if something unexpected happened to the villain right now, causing him to turn evil ahead of schedule and completely derailing the plot...
How was she supposed to return to her own world?!
At the thought of this, Chai Xiaomi was struck with horror, a cold sweat instantly breaking out on her back.
Not daring to delay for another second, she hurriedly picked up her pace, huffing and puffing as she chased after the other girl.
"My precious female lead! Wait for me! I'm coming with you!"
