Hall Master Zhou looked at Madam Dan in surprise. He hadn't expected her to actually know Zhao Qingxuan!
"With what we've seen so far, we've already found his corpse," the Third Elder said in deep thought. "But the fact that he made her keep calling his name... There might be a hidden meaning in that. Perhaps... he really isn't dead!"
The woman, whose face had just regained a bit of color, went pale once again."Could it be... he used my life to come back from the dead?"
No one answered her.
After a moment of contemplation, Danyangzi turned to Hall Master Zhou and said,"Watch this woman carefully. I'm going to meet an old friend."
The words had barely left his mouth when his ear was suddenly pinched and twisted—by his wife, Madam Dan!
"An old friend? You'd better explain that properly. What kind of 'old friend' do you have here? Seems like you come around often!"
"Ow, ow, ow—please, not in public, give me some face!" Danyangzi grimaced helplessly and hurried to explain, "You know I have a sensitive sense of smell. The 'old friend' I meant is the Second Elder. When I came here, I caught his scent."
Madam Dan released him, though still suspicious. "The Second Elder? What's he doing here?"
Danyangzi shook his head.
He left the room and stopped in front of a door tucked in the corner of the building. He knocked lightly.
"Come in," came a voice from within.
Danyangzi pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Old Third! What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid your wife will find out?"
The room was messy, the bed unmade. A tall, lean old man stood by the window with a cup of tea in his hand. His face was thin, his eyes narrow and sharp—it was none other than Xuán Míngzi, the Second Elder of Tianhua Sect.
"Your sister-in-law is here," Danyangzi said dryly.
Xuán Míngzi's cup slipped from his hand, shattering on the floor and splashing tea everywhere.
"She's here? And you still dared to come?! Just how high is your position in your household?"
"I'm here for something else," Danyangzi said, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes. "But I think I've figured out what you're doing here. Didn't think someone your age would still be so... enthusiastic about this kind of thing."
Xuán Míngzi shot him a glare. "Don't talk nonsense. I'm just here to listen to music. Now, what business brings you here?"
"One of our sect disciples, Zhao Qingxuan, is dead," Danyangzi said gravely. "Before his death, he came to this place. How long have you been staying here?"
"About ten days," Xuán Míngzi replied.
"You sure have plenty of energy—ten days already." Danyangzi chuckled.
"Serious matters only," Xuán Míngzi said with a frown.
Danyangzi nodded and recounted what had happened two years ago.
"Having someone keep chanting his name... what does that mean?" Xuán Míngzi's expression turned grave.
Danyangzi could only shake his head.
——
By dusk, Danyangzi was among the mountain ranges.
At the Yanyulou, Xuán Míngzi himself stood guard.
The sun set, and the moon rose.
Then, the cultivators of Tianhua Sect witnessed something astonishing—out of thin air, a mansion appeared. Two red lanterns hung high at its gate, glowing with an eerie light.
Everyone's faces grew solemn.
"It seems the deaths of those people are connected to this mansion," Danyangzi said. "It didn't appear last night... but tonight, it's here."
As soon as he finished speaking, several disciples suddenly rushed toward the mansion's main gate.
Danyangzi reacted instantly, but it was too late—he couldn't stop them. He could only watch as they slammed into the gate, were violently thrown back, and hit the ground hard. Not one of them moved again.
"Fall back!"
He shouted, his voice echoing through the mountains. The remaining disciples quickly retreated.
Danyangzi, however, did not move back. Instead, he stepped forward.
"Third Elder, it's dangerous!" someone called out behind him.
"Leave this place," he ordered, his tone brooking no argument. "Return to the sect and bring reinforcements!"
He approached the mansion's gate and knocked.
At that moment, Zhao Qingxuan—who had been lying lifeless on the ground—suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were blood-red.
He sat up, turned his head toward Danyangzi, and smiled—a twisted, chilling grin.
Sensing something wrong, Danyangzi turned around. The sight of Zhao Qingxuan sitting up confirmed his fears—something was terribly off.
He had just opened his mouth to speak when Zhao Qingxuan's figure vanished before his eyes and reappeared behind him, wrapping his arms tightly around him.
What was even stranger—Danyangzi found he couldn't break free. Zhao Qingxuan forced his head forward, slamming it hard into the gate. Both of them collapsed.
——
When Danyangzi opened his eyes again, he was no longer outside.
He was in a courtyard.
There was no sun, no moon, no stars—only a sky dyed crimson, bathing everything in a faint red glow. It felt as though he was trapped inside a world of blood.
Danyangzi's expression darkened. He quickly realized something horrifying—his cultivation was gone. He was now nothing but an ordinary mortal!
For a cultivator—especially one at the Nascent Soul Realm—to suddenly lose all of his power after years of relying on it... the panic that seized him was unimaginable.
Then, he felt a strange warmth beneath him.
He scrambled to his feet and looked down. What he saw made him freeze.
Beneath him was a mirror. And reflected in that mirror... was his own face.
On his earlobes hung two tiny red lanterns.
He reached up and touched them. For all his experience and knowledge, he had absolutely no idea what was happening.
Creak—
The courtyard door swung open.
Startled, Danyangzi stood up abruptly like a frightened rabbit.
With no cultivation, no understanding of this place, and being an old man on top of that, he immediately looked for somewhere to hide.
But there was nowhere. The courtyard was bare. Just as he turned to run into the room, a voice called out behind him—
"Third Elder! Don't go into the room!"
He stopped right at the doorway and turned back.
It was Zhao Qingxuan.
Two red lanterns hung from his earlobes as well, though his were the size of fists—much larger than Danyangzi's, which were barely the size of a fingernail.
"You don't move," Danyangzi said warily. "Explain everything clearly. I'm here because of you—you're the one who grabbed my head and smashed it into that door. Right now, I have zero reason to trust you."
Zhao Qingxuan said solemnly, "No matter what happens, don't go into that room. If you enter... you'll die."
Danyangzi said nothing, but he subtly increased the distance between himself and the door.
Zhao Qingxuan continued, "We're inside an alchemy furnace."
Danyangzi cut him off sharply, "Answer my question first. Why did you grab me and force my head into the gate? Why drag me in here?"
"The one outside wasn't really me," Zhao Qingxuan said. "It was a dan yao—a pill—disguised as me. Everyone lying outside was actually a pill that had taken human form."
"You're saying... whoever crashes into the gate gets pulled inside, and the furnace spits out a pill that takes their form, which is then thrown out and lands dead on the ground?" Danyangzi asked, frowning deeply.
Zhao Qingxuan nodded.
"So according to you, this alchemy furnace has developed consciousness. Not only that, but the pills it refines can take human shape... and it manifests itself as a mansion to lure people in?"
Danyangzi narrowed his eyes. "Don't you think that sounds utterly absurd?"