"What exactly did you call?" Yu Qi asked quietly, her tone calm yet edged with a sharp, probing curiosity.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" Master Chunwei replied, his smile widening into an unnaturally stretched grin. He turned toward the door and spoke in a low, commanding voice, "You can come out now."
The pounding suddenly stopped. An eerie silence followed, thick, suffocating, and heavy with dread. Then, a slow, deliberate creak echoed throughout the house as the ritual room door began to open from the inside. It moved inch by inch, as though whatever waited on the other side was savouring the moment, deliberately taking its time to step into the light.
