**Chapter 71: I Shouldn’t Have Made the Oath!**
A corner of the Yongjie City waste treatment plant.
Lin Nian stood quietly at the side, fully focused on Lu Yibei’s execution of the directional soul-recalling spell. She had no objections to Lu Yibei’s suggestion of first calling the soul of the burly man.
She initially intended to learn quietly; watching once more meant an additional chance to learn.
A spell like soul-calling was an essential skill that most information traffickers wished to master, let alone directional soul-calling.
It is often said that d*ath is like a light going out, but if one could make the dead speak, it would surely become an important source of intelligence.
As she began to sneakily learn Lu Yibei’s directional soul-recalling spell, Lin Nian was full of confidence, having memorized the entire process and details of arranging the incense altar perfectly in her mind.
However, when Lu Yibei took down the suona from his waist and blew it skillfully, Lin Nian frowned.
Due to her great-grandfather, she often ran to the Jin Theatre when she was younger and had a certain understanding of the suona. Playing this instrument wasn’t particularly difficult; with practice ranging from a week to several months, one could master it. However, reaching the level of “Gu Qiqi” was no easy feat.
She was unsure what standard was required to perform this spell. If it had to reach such a level, perhaps several years of hard work would be needed… Lin Nian thought, continuing to observe “Gu Qiqi.”
Then…
She gradually began to despair.
When “Gu Qiqi” executed the directional soul-recalling spell, not only did she choose to perform it silently, but she also used her body to obscure certain critical changes on the incense altar, preventing Lin Nian from gleaning more details.
Indeed, Lu Yibei was vigilant against Lin Nian learning in secret. While it was rare for someone to learn such things just by watching once, it wasn’t impossible.
After all, the directional soul-recalling spell wasn’t complex; Lin Nian memorized it fully after just one demonstration by Qing Ji.
What if Lin Nian could also do it?
One should never underestimate anyone!
Moments later.
A disturbing wave of spirit energy suddenly descended, breaking through the spirit energy encasing the incense altar. With a loud “bang!”, the altar and its items were instantly blown into fragments, carried away by a powerful shockwave in all directions.
A fierce wind rolled in, and Lin Nian instinctively raised her arms crosswise to shield her face, as wood chips and copper fragments flew rapidly at her, causing her arms to sting. The howling wind made her ears ring, and in her daze, she caught a chilling laugh.
That laughter ignited a mental storm, like invisible hands throwing her consciousness into the heavens.
Her thoughts spiraled into chaos, with not a single coherent idea in her mind. Even the spirit patterns began to be affected, giving her a faint feeling of losing control.
After a while, the wind ceased, and the laughter faded away, allowing Lin Nian’s consciousness to gradually return to normal.
She steadied herself and looked towards “Gu Qiqi,” only to find her completely worn out, which made Lin Nian abandon her thoughts of learning in secret.
Even a major urban legend like Gu Qiqi could be tortured half to d*ath by such dangerous spells! Lin Nian thought.
—
Unintentionally glimpsing the existence of that unknown urban legend made Lu Yibei uneasy.
Her purpose in coming to Shizhou City, besides finding a way to obtain fragments of the Ling Tai Purification, was to locate Hu Chuan and through him find Zhang Shuo.
She had no intention of getting entangled with any unknown powerful beings.
She was contemplating whether to take a “if you can’t beat them, join them; if you can’t join, report them” approach when she suddenly heard Lin Nian’s voice.
“Did… did we fail?”
Upon hearing Lin Nian’s words, Lu Yibei pondered for two seconds and nodded, “How to say? It’s a failure but not a complete failure.”
After all, some significant discoveries were made… Lu Yibei added in her mind.
Wu Yutang, Liang Jiuyuan, and a certain item from Lin Nian’s great-grandfather all radiated a similar unsettling aura, and their bodies displayed a certain degree of fusion with that item…
Before Wu Yutang’s d*ath, he mentioned the “Secret Society” and “enhancing power through external objects,” which raised considerable concern. That strange folding fan in his hand might have been obtained from the Secret Society…
The chase that led to Lin Nian’s home involving Liang Jiuyuan and the accidental d*ath of the old man on the stage were all relevant to her undercover investigation into Hu Chuan, indicating a high probability that Hu Chuan had some close ties to the Secret Society, possibly even being a core member…
d*mn! Even though various pieces of information have finally connected, I roughly know where to find Hu Chuan, but things are becoming increasingly troublesome! Lu Yibei thought.
Seeing “Gu Qiqi” remain silent for a long time, Lin Nian weakly inquired, “Then… will you help me summon my great-grandfather’s remnant soul?”
I’m also quite conflicted about this… Lu Yibei murmured in her mind, shrugging, “In such matters, what I say goes, but right now it’s definitely not possible…”
As she spoke, she glanced at the mess left by the explosion of the incense altar, her brows furrowed deeply as she fell into thought once more.
When summoning Liang Jiuyuan’s remnant soul, the ghostly thing she saw was likely also related to the Secret Society. Not long ago, someone had issued a designated mission through the urban legend chat site for her to infiltrate the Secret Society.
This person not only knew her background but also seemed to know something about the Secret Society; their identity was probably not simple.
Who could that person be? What was their purpose in assigning me this mission?
Did they genuinely want me to assist in investigating the Secret Society, or were they actually a member of the Secret Society, setting a trap for me?
Now that the black-clad man selling “magical items” might be a lead to the Secret Society, I could have Fang Girl initially contact him to probe into their details, but how can I ensure her safety? Lu Yibei pondered.
Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated. She took it out to check and saw it was a call from Sheim.
“This guy… wasn’t he supposed to take good care of Fang Girl? Why is he calling me out of the blue? If I had known, I wouldn’t have given him my contact information!”
Lu Yibei grumbled, answered the call, and her expression changed as she heard the words on the other end.
“What? Fang Girl is missing? How can you two grown men lose track of a girl?!”
“Your Grace, please calm down!” Sheim explained on the other end, “It’s not that we didn’t watch her; my and Salih’s rooms were right next to hers, and we took turns guarding her door. But we never expected she would climb out through the window’s drainage pipe; this is the twenty-third floor!”
“Even if that’s the case, it’s fine, we noticed her before she went far, but just as we were about to chase her, something unexpected happened…”
Listening to Sheim recount a series of incomprehensible incidents he and Salih experienced, the corners of Lu Yibei’s eyes twitched uncontrollably.
“…Your Grace, that’s how things happened. I suspect we encountered these bizarre events because we were tainted by her bad luck.”
“Uh…” Lu Yibei fell silent for two seconds and replied faintly, “I understand. You two just look for her nearby, I’ll head over in a bit.”
After hanging up, she looked at Lin Nian and instructed, “I have something urgent to attend to and need to leave for a bit. As for summoning your great-grandfather’s remnant soul, I’ll help you later. For now, you should collect the materials and items needed for the soul-calling.”
“If convenient, please also help me gather those strange rumors about spirit ability users over-relying on objects that you mentioned before. I’ll transfer the payment to you later.”
“And finally… be careful. If you run into trouble, it’s not shameful to run away!”
After saying that, she quickly headed out of the waste treatment plant while silently concentrating her spirit to communicate with Zhipianxian.
During the time it took to get to the Nightless Street, she prepared to have a good conversation with Zhang Hainan.
—
In the dead of night, behind Dachunyang Palace, in the Moon Cave.
After a restless night, Zhang Hainan turned off the lights, lay down on the bed, and prepared to sleep.
The reason he could live such a long life wasn’t unfounded; besides his formidable strength, he also maintained a good rhythm of rest.
Staying up so late tonight was already against his routine.
However, as he lay on the bed and began to feel a bit sleepy, he noticed the paper cicada spirit stand up on the table, waving at him.
Seeing this, Zhang Hainan hurriedly got up and approached the table, communicating with the paper cicada. Then, he heard “Gu Qiqi’s” voice in his ear.
“Old man, are you there?”
“Hey, I’m here.” Zhang Hainan responded with a smile, “I didn’t expect you to contact me so soon. Just say what you need!”
Thinking about how he wanted to sleep, Zhang Hainan added in his mind.
“Old man, have you heard of the Secret Society?”
Zhang Hainan paused for a moment, his expression suddenly turning serious, “Oh? The Secret Society? Where did you hear that name from? Did Lu Yibei tell you?”
Lu Yibei, “…”
“Yes, he did. He discovered some things related to the Secret Society and thought I should inform you.”
“He learned about an urban legend that might be hidden behind the Secret Society through certain special channels.”
Zhang Hainan, “???”
That guy had only accepted a designated mission a few hours ago, and he already found crucial leads?
No wonder he’s a descendant of Qing Ji! The efficiency in causing trouble is top-notch. However…
This made it feel like I’m a bit useless!
Zhang Hainan thought, hastily asking, “And then? What urban legend is it?”
“Uh, I ran into some issues on my side; I’ll explain more later… let’s leave it at this for now, bye!”
After a pause, Lu Yibei added, “Oh, and by the way, before I contacted you, you must not spy on me; you swore!”
“Rest assured! Am I someone who goes back on my word?!” Zhang Hainan responded, putting down the paper cicada and sitting quietly waiting for “Gu Qiqi’s” response.
This wait lasted the entire night…
This was a sleepless night. Zhang Hainan sat there quietly, gazing at the paper cicada, suppressing the increasingly strong impulse to contact “Gu Qiqi” through it, feeling deeply tormented.
The paper cicada was right at his side; he clearly only needed to consume negligible spirit energy to contact “Gu Qiqi” and inquire about the information she hadn’t finished telling him.
But due to the oath, he could do nothing and could only wait.
Thus, thoughts whirled in his mind, feeling unbearably itchy, as if a cat was scratching inside.
When the morning sunlight poured in, Zhang Hainan finally couldn’t help but gnash his teeth and let out a curse, “d*mn it, I shouldn’t have made that oath!”
Why do I feel like she resembles Qing Ji’s descendant more than Lu Yibei?
It’s just too tormenting!
