Moonlight faded, stars vanished.
Just a few steps out of the house, Gui Nianqiu complained that it was too dark to see the path.
Tao Bai recalled his own cultivation process;
He only gained basic night vision automatically after reaching the fifth layer of Qi Condensation.
So, he told her to go back and borrow a flashlight from the old woman.
Gui Nianqiu turned back and soon came out with a flashlight.
*Click, click.*
Gui Nianqiu pushed the flashlight's brightness to the maximum, illuminating the bluestone slabs on the ground, and followed carefully behind Tao Bai.
The darkness caused Tao Bai no trouble whatsoever, but for Gui Nianqiu, it was pitch black—
She couldn't even see her fingers in front of her face.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the entrance of a mud-brick house with broken tiles and crumbling walls.
Gui Nianqiu shone the flashlight on the doorway.
Some red characters had faded, and some writing had even disappeared, making it look rather eerie.
She picked up a stick, cleared away the spiderwebs at the entrance, stepped on the broken tiles, and pushed open the wooden door with the stick.
Then, the two walked into this gloomy and strange dilapidated house together.
"It's so cold!"
Gui Nianqiu said, pulling her cloak tighter.
"This is Yin Qi,"
Tao Bai explained.
"Shine the flashlight here."
"Ah, what is this?"
The beam landed on two black talismans behind the wooden door, startling Gui Nianqiu into a scream.
"Black talismans, often used to suppress malicious ghosts, summon spirits, or in magical combat,"
Tao Bai explained.
"Shine it over there."
"Ah!"
Gui Nianqiu screamed again.
In the main hall and along the corridor, over a dozen heavy coffins were laid out in disarray.
"Pan Yaoyin's aura is in the main hall. Let's go over there."
Gui Nianqiu was shivering, unsure if it was from the cold or fear.
Walking into the main hall, Tao Bai said to Gui Nianqiu,
"Go open the lids one by one and see which coffin she's in."
"I... I don't want to..."
Gui Nianqiu's voice trembled.
"You don't want such a good opportunity to temper your courage?
Then I'll leave you here and teleport away," Tao Bai said.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'll go, alright?"
Gui Nianqiu replied, then muttered to herself,
"Tempering, tempering..."
Gui Nianqiu held the flashlight in one hand and pushed the lid hard with the other, but it wouldn't budge.
"Give me the flashlight. Use both hands to push."
Gui Nianqiu pouted and handed the flashlight to Tao Bai.
She felt her heart start to race again.
Holding her breath, she pushed hard, opening a crack, her heart in her throat.
She patted her chest, trying hard to comfort herself:
It's okay, it's okay...
"Take the flashlight and shine it inside."
Tao Bai said, handing the flashlight back to her.
Gui Nianqiu was so angry she wanted to curse.
But she took the flashlight and shone it into the crack.
Nothing there. A false alarm...
"Give me the flashlight. Go push another one..."
...
A quarter of an hour later, Gui Nianqiu started pushing the seventh one.
This physical labor wasn't without benefits; at least now, she wasn't so cold anymore.
This coffin was placed on two wooden benches in a corner of the main hall.
The flashlight beam was getting weaker.
After pushing open a crack, Gui Nianqiu took the flashlight back.
When the dim yellow light shone inside, she shockingly saw a girl dressed in red!
She wore silver hair accessories and an exquisitely carved silver ornament around her neck.
Her eyes were tightly closed, her face ashen gray.
She lay quietly in the coffin, her smooth dark hair draped over her waist.
Is this a wedding dress?
Could it be the legendary ghost marriage?
Just as Gui Nianqiu was pondering this, the girl suddenly opened her eyes.
A fierce gust of Yin wind blew out from the crack, rushing straight at her face.
Gui Nianqiu screamed "Ah!" and dropped the flashlight.
Then she screamed again and again.
The array had been disrupted the moment the two entered the house;
The array setter would inevitably send someone to check.
Just then!
"Heh heh heh, so it's a little girl ruining our good deed!"
A high-pitched, thin laugh came from outside the door.
A man and a woman, utilizing Qinggong (lightness skill), stepped on the broken tiles on the ground.
As they reached the main gate, they leaped into the air, performed an extremely beautiful front flip, and landed steadily.
The man had mismatched eyes, one big and one small, with somewhat deep-set sockets.
He wore a color-blocked robe, white on the left and black on the right.
The woman was dressed seductively, with a hot figure and flaming red lips that were glaringly bright in the night.
She also wore a color-blocked robe, but hers was black on the left and white on the right, exactly opposite to the man's.
In Daoist culture, or traditional culture, this kind of clothing is called "Mandarin Duck Clothing," also known as "Separation Clothing" or "Offset Clothing."
The meaning is often inauspicious.
It is generally worn only in two situations—
One is when a spouse leaves or dies, wearing Mandarin Duck Clothing to express grief;
The other is when an infant dies prematurely.
After the next child is born, the parents wear Mandarin Duck Clothing to avoid the same tragedy happening again.
"Not bad looking, and bold too,"
Said the woman in the left-black, right-white outfit.
"Why don't we capture her and take her back to claim credit?
The Youhuang Division lacks this kind of talent..."
"You are bold too, daring to covet BenZuo's Cultivation Vessel!"
Tao Bai carefully sensed their spiritual power fluctuations;
They were roughly at the fifth or sixth layer of Qi Condensation.
Although Tao Bai used the Wind-Devouring Gu's aura concealment technique to lower his spiritual pressure to the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, facing cultivators at the fifth or sixth layer, calling himself "BenZuo" was perfectly appropriate.
"May I ask which mountain Senior is from? Which sect and school do you belong to?"
The man looked at Tao Bai, who was leaning against the wooden door, feeling somewhat apprehensive.
He hurriedly bowed and asked politely.
How did I not notice there was another person in this room just now?
"Who set the array? Why choose that girl?"
Tao Bai walked out slowly, came before the two, shielded Gui Nianqiu behind him, and answered with a question instead.
"Hmph!"
The woman rolled her eyes, curled her lip, and said disdainfully,
"None of your damn business!"
She paused, then added,
"Who the hell do you think you are?
Does the Youhuang Division need to report to you when we do things?"
Hearing this, the man appeared even more nervous.
He was worried about whether they could walk out alive if the conflict escalated into a fight right now, but the woman fearlessly pulled out the banner of the "Youhuang Division."
She only knew that the Division Master of the Youhuang Division was very powerful and could retreat unscathed from Zhou Xuance, the captain of the Dragon Bureau's Seventh Squad.
But what she didn't know was that Zhou Xuance's strength was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
And Tao Bai's current strength was comparable to some early Core Formation cultivators.
Coupled with the assistance of the level-six Wind-Devouring Gu, an ordinary mid-Core Formation cultivator would be dreaming if they thought they could kill Tao Bai.
The only ones who could make Tao Bai run without hesitation were "Seniors" at the late Core Formation stage or above.
"Youhuang Division,"
Tao Bai suddenly had a cigarette in his mouth.
He took out a lighter, lit it with a "ding", exhaled a puff of smoke, and asked,
"Is it very powerful?"
"Not considered very powerful, but enough to kill you like crushing a bug."
Before Tao Bai's voice had even faded, the woman instantly picked up the conversation.
Her skill in snapping back was quite sharp.
For some reason, the man felt that Tao Bai before them was not simple.
Seeing the woman being so arrogant and unbridled, constantly provoking a stranger stronger than herself with her words, he furrowed his brows deeply and cursed inwardly.
This brainless, stupid woman!
Troublemaker!
If you want to die, go die yourself, don't drag me into it!
"Senior, as for why the higher-ups chose that girl, we do not know.
We were merely following orders to set the array.
If Senior has no other questions, may we take our leave?"
The man took a step forward and spoke with a respectful attitude.
Tao Bai had already made a preliminary judgment that the two before him were likely husband and wife.
Their first child had died prematurely, and they had a second one later, who was probably being raised by the older generation.
"Qiu Huan, why are you speaking so servilely?"
The woman glared at the man.
"Like a pug dog!"
Qiu Huan looked at Tao Bai's increasingly determined gaze and couldn't help but let out another mental sigh of despair.
He tugged at the woman's hand and whispered, "Let's go."
The woman shook off his hand, pointed at Tao Bai, and said,
"You little bastard, you broke the array we worked so hard to set, and you don't even say sorry?
Do you really think the Seal Holders of our Youhuang Division are useless freeloaders?"
"You two,"
Tao Bai flicked away the cigarette butt, snorted coldly, and his tone turned icy.
"Since you're here, you might as well stay!"