A bone-chilling chill surged up your spine at the sight of Su Mei, her eyes seemingly gouged out, plunging you into an ice cellar of dread. In an instant, you realized you'd walked straight into a trap—caught like a turtle in a jar.
The Li family's men… No—*the mastermind's* men were here!!!
BOOM!
Without a moment's hesitation, you channeled your spiritual energy, severing your own heart meridian to activate the Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman. The phantom of a blood-colored demon bat materialized above your head, ready to whisk you away in a teleportation surge.
「Keke ke… What a decisive little brat. But do you really think you can escape?!」
An eerie cackle echoed through the room.
A burst of light, as brilliant as a galaxy, suddenly exploded forth, coalescing into a massive chain wreathed in spatial power. It snared the blood-colored demon bat in an instant, forcefully severing the teleportation effect of the Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman.
「A Celestial-tier Talisman! And a rare space-attuned one at that—it's the legendary Space-Sealing Talisman!」
As a talisman master, your pupils constricted sharply the moment you saw those space chains, your heart sinking to the bottom of your stomach.
The Space-Sealing Talisman was even rarer than the Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman, designed specifically to lock down the surrounding space and nullify all escape techniques.
They'd clearly been targeting you from the start—and they'd even known you possessed the Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman as your trump card.
Your first Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman was already rendered useless.
The only question was: did they have a second Space-Sealing Talisman on hand?
Your heart tightened. You tried to struggle, only to find your spiritual energy completely sealed off, leaving you immobile.
You refused to give up. Silently activating Supreme Mode, you forced yourself to calm down and began to wriggle against the restraints.
「Just as *that person* said—you really do have a Life-Substituting Blood Escape Talisman on you. If I hadn't brought this Space-Sealing Talisman before leaving, this would've been a lot more troublesome.」
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The door to your room suddenly swung open, and an elderly man with a sinister face, exuding an eerie aura, stepped out slowly, a wicked grin spreading across his lips.
「It's you!」
The moment you laid eyes on him, your pupils shrank to pinpricks—you recognized him instantly. He was none other than Ye Wuji, the Ghost Physician who'd left the Li family manor earlier.
What shocked you even more was the faint, boundless Celestial aura emanating from his body.
He was actually a Celestial!!!
The mastermind behind the scenes could actually dispatch a Celestial to target you!!!
Perhaps confident in his victory, or perhaps thinking you were as good as dead, he didn't make a move to kill you right away. Instead, he let out another ghoulish cackle.
「That's right—it's this old man!」
「I never expected to run into a little girl with the Ghost Curse Eyes while on an errand here.」
「But this little girl has a really tough mouth—so stubborn. Not only did she refuse to spill a single word about you, but she even tried to cast a death curse on this old man. If she'd succeeded, even I, a Celestial, would've been in huge trouble.」
「Keke ke… Lucky for me, I struck fast and crushed her eyes before she could finish.」
「If she weren't still useful as bait, I would've killed her long ago and fed her flesh to my spirit pets.」
「Brother… I… hurt… so… bad…」 Su Mei hugged her legs, curling up into a trembling ball.
Listening to his words, your gaze darted to Su Mei, huddled on the sofa with empty, bleeding sockets where her eyes had been. A surge of rage boiled in your veins, your killing intent spilling forth like a tidal wave.
After days of living together, you'd fully slipped into the role of her older brother, instinctively seeing Su Mei as your own sister.
Watching her lose her eyes to protect you, the fury in your chest threatened to consume you whole.
At this moment, you could only curse yourself for not ambushing Ye Fan earlier, for not finding a way to seize the Nine Steps of Treading the Heavens.
If you had, you would've fought this old bastard tooth and nail, even if it meant dying together.
Driven by rage, your heart began to pound wildly. Your Supreme Imperial Bone grew scorching hot, as if some terrifying power within it was stirring to life…
The seal binding your body began to waver…
「Even though I didn't get my hands on those Ghost Curse Eyes, you're full of secrets, boy from the Sun family.」
「Earlier, outside the Li family manor—how did you manage to slip past my senses and vanish without a trace? If you hadn't, I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble to set a trap for you.」
Ye Wuji the Ghost Physician looked at you with amusement, as if he'd known all along about your fake death escape plan.
Your eyes narrowed. So he'd detected you outside the Li family manor after all. If your red innate talent You Can't See Me hadn't clouded his perception, you would've been captured long ago.
Suddenly, you recalled the conversation between the Li father and son a few days prior—an Honorable One had arrived and captured Ye Fan…
Out of the corner of your eye, you glanced toward the room Ye Wuji had just emerged from. Faintly visible on the floor was a battered, half-dead figure with a severed arm, lying motionless.
Your heart skipped a beat—then quickly calmed down.
The reason they'd captured Ye Fan was definitely to seize the Nine Steps of Treading the Heavens. But the fact that they were still dragging him around like dead weight meant they hadn't gotten their hands on the secret technique yet.
Which meant there was still a slim chance to fight back.
You were ready to gamble everything—even your life—for a glimmer of hope.
If all else failed, you'd at least try to pry the mastermind's identity out of his mouth before you died.
「You're the Honorable One?!」
「Keke ke… What a clever boy. Seems like you know more than I thought.」
Ye Wuji the Ghost Physician looked slightly surprised. Not many people—even within his own faction—knew his title as the Honorable One. He hadn't expected this boy from the Sun family to be one of them.
「That assassin who disguised herself as Liu Yue—she's one of yours too!」
「To be able to order a Celestial around as your pawn… your master must be no ordinary person.」
You spoke up suddenly, still remembering the word he'd used earlier—*errand*—when talking about coming to Magic City.
At the same time, your peripheral vision remained fixed on Ye Fan, who lay on the floor like a dead dog, motionless.
The moment you mentioned Liu Yue's name, Ye Fan's body seemed to twitch ever so slightly.
Damn it—you should've known these fated protagonists were impossible to kill. They were all as slippery as eels, hiding in the shadows like cowards.
You cursed silently to yourself.
「Keke ke… Don't bother trying to get information out of me, boy from the Sun family. And don't hold your breath waiting for a rescue.」
「Right now, the Sun family is like a clay Buddha crossing the river—struggling to save themselves. They don't have the luxury to worry about you anymore.」
Ye Wuji the Ghost Physician sneered, dropping another bombshell.
「This old man can't lay a finger on that Supreme Imperial Bone of yours. But that little trick of yours— the one that can fool even a Celestial's senses—it has me quite interested. Hand it over, and I'll be generous enough to give you a quick death!」