The forest grew darker and colder. As they went deeper, the wild grass had grown as tall as a person. Everyone felt confused that they hadn’t encountered any spirits or evil beings yet.
With her jade bracelet, Xing Shuishui felt braver. She pushed aside some intertwined black vines and paused at what she saw.
“Sister Guanyu, look at this,” she called out.
A sword flash cut through the vines, clearing their view. What lay before them was a flat clearing: no vegetation grew there, but strange talismans covered the ground.
It was a formation, written in human blood, looking sinister under the pale moonlight.
Xing Shuishui recognized it immediately.
A Ghost Summoning Formation.
An extremely dangerous formation that had been strictly forbidden by Lingshan.
On the fifteenth of each month, using human blood as bait and drawing ghost-summoning talismans could call forth vengeful spirits that would only obey the summoner’s commands. Before it was banned, various nations had used it in warfare, causing many innocent deaths. After Lingshan intervened, this technique was lost to time.
She had only seen records of this formation in Guan Yinzi’s notes in her previous life. She vaguely remembered… once someone tried to break the formation, the vengeful spirits within would immediately be released to wreak havoc.
Li Guanyu’s face changed dramatically.
This could destroy all of Qingzhou City!
Li Guanyu immediately sent a message talisman to Guan Mulan: “Master, you were right! There’s a Ghost Summoning Formation hidden in the outskirts!”
Li Guanhang’s face turned ashen: “She… she’s gone mad! She already made a huge mistake, and now she’s making another! How could she use such an evil formation with so many innocent people in Qingzhou? She’s sending everyone to their deaths!”
It might not have been set by Shangguan Houyue, but it wasn’t impossible given how desperate she was – she could either use the formation to threaten Lingshan into backing down, or simply silence everyone.
Xing Shuishui stared at the Ghost Summoning Formation.
What a way to… keep someone from leaving Qingzhou.
She asked casually: “Is the Ghost Summoning Formation hard to break?”
Li Guanhang gritted his teeth in anger: “That’s not the issue! Once this formation breaks, vengeful spirits will fly out and scatter everywhere!”
“She’s completely lost it! Why do this? If she just came back to Lingshan with us, the Shangguan family might still find a way to protect her!”
Xing Shuishui knew this was bad. Just as she feared…
Bad news came from the other end of the message talisman.
Guan Mulan said: “I told uninvolved people to leave Qingzhou, but just got word they can’t leave the city. Someone set up a barrier outside that only allows entry, not exit. I’m heading there now to deal with this.”
She added: “The Huayu Tower suddenly cancelled the matchmaking event. Has your presence been discovered?”
Li Guanyu frowned: “Not sure.”
Li Guanhang: “How can they just suddenly cancel it?”
It was too coincidental.
Xing Shuishui raised her lowered eyes, finding it somewhat amusing. She guessed the other party had likely discovered her reincarnation.
The matchmaking event, the Ghost Summoning Formation, the mechanisms in Huayu Tower – everything was connected, all targeting her. They suspected she hadn’t died, suspected she had possessed someone and been reborn. She had unknowingly walked right into their trap.
Were they that confident they could kill her?
Xing Shuishui hid her emotions and asked: “Sister Guanyu, what should we do now?”
Should they break the formation or not?
Before she finished speaking, the quiet formation suddenly burst with red light, staining the night bloody. The wind howled like ghosts as the formation cracked open, countless red-eyed vengeful spirits flying into the sky toward Qingzhou City!
The sky turned pitch black with the mass exodus of spirits.
The Ghost Summoning Formation had activated on its own!
Li Guanyu cut down several ghosts and threw some talismans to destroy the formation’s eye, her expression more serious than ever: “Regroup with Master! Protect the Qingzhou citizens. Hurry!”
Before Xing Shuishui could react, He Liansheng grabbed her. The young man moved incredibly fast – she realized he had held back during the Huayu Tower incident.
Previously he had grabbed her by the collar, but now his arm was around her waist as they left the forest in the blink of an eye.
Afraid of falling, Xing Shuishui lightly gripped his arm, her head against his back.
He Liansheng looked down, unreadable emotions in his eyes.
He said: “Don’t leave my side by more than three steps.”
Xing Shuishui snapped back to attention and agreed.
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