"It's obvious I'm the first kind," Zhao Qingxuan replied calmly.
"What's their purpose for entering the courtyard?" asked Danyangzi.
"To kill."
When Zhao Qingxuan uttered those two words, there wasn't the slightest ripple of emotion in his tone. It was as if he were talking about something trivial—like asking if someone had eaten breakfast.
"Kill? Why kill? Don't tell me this place is some kind of competition to see who kills the most?" Danyangzi guessed.
Just as Zhao Qingxuan was about to answer, footsteps came again from outside. This time, he didn't crawl into the corner. Instead, he motioned with his hand for silence.
Danyangzi wasn't reassured. He tiptoed over and obediently lay down in the corner again, holding his breath.
Outside, footsteps and the sounds of fighting echoed from time to time. Every time a noise came, Danyangzi's heart would thump violently.
After a while, he got used to it. Even when he heard footsteps now, he could maintain a calm heart.
When the last wave of sounds faded, he crawled out from the corner, sat down on a stone chair opposite Zhao Qingxuan, and asked, "There are a lot of teams out there, huh?"
Zhao Qingxuan nodded.
At that moment, a loud roar came from outside. Danyangzi froze slightly, then asked, "Did you just hear that roar?"
"I did," Zhao Qingxuan replied.
"What's that about?" Danyangzi asked.
"There's someone outside calling your name. Every time they call it once, you'll hear that roar once," Zhao Qingxuan said.
"I didn't ask anyone to call my name," Danyangzi said in confusion.
"When you found out I was here, didn't you people investigate it?"
"I arranged for someone to call my name on purpose. You should've discovered that during your investigation. In this place, if no one outside calls your name, you'll be caught by the monsters in the rooms! And once you're dragged inside… you'll never come out again."
Danyangzi's eyes widened. "We did find out that you arranged for someone at Yan Yulou to call your name."
"Then it's simple," Zhao Qingxuan said. "Since you're here, someone will naturally call your name as well."
Danyangzi immediately thought of who it must be and grew anxious. "Calling someone's name—does it have side effects?"
When he saw Zhao Qingxuan nod, his tone grew urgent. "What kind of side effects?"
"Life and death are linked," Zhao Qingxuan said quietly. "Whoever calls your name—if you don't make it out alive—they'll die with you."
"Who's calling your name that has you so panicked?"
"It must be my wife!" Danyangzi said. "I have to make it out alive! My life doesn't matter, but my wife must live!"
"Hah, didn't expect such deep affection between you two old lovebirds," Zhao Qingxuan smiled.
"If we weren't, how could we have stayed together this long?" Danyangzi said.
"You two ever go through the seven-year itch?" Zhao Qingxuan asked curiously.
"We itch every day," Danyangzi replied seriously.
"…Show-off," Zhao Qingxuan muttered, speechless.
Then Danyangzi suddenly realized something. "Wait—so if no one calls your name, you'll be dragged into the rooms and die, meaning anyone who's still alive in here must've come in willingly!"
"All those running around outside—they all came in on their own!"
Zhao Qingxuan nodded. "This place is cruel."
Danyangzi lifted his gaze to the blood-red sky. "I keep feeling uneasy breathing this air. Won't staying here harm our bodies? And our loss of cultivation—does it have something to do with the sky?"
"I don't know," Zhao Qingxuan said. "Everyone who comes in loses their cultivation."
"What about the red lanterns on our ears? Why is yours so much bigger than mine?"
"When someone dies, their red lanterns are taken off and hung at the door. And if someone's still alive but their lanterns are torn off, the monsters will drag them into the rooms."
"The reason mine's bigger than yours," Zhao Qingxuan explained, "is because my cultivation was lower than yours. In here, the higher your cultivation, the smaller the lantern on your ear."
"Then I'd better protect mine," Danyangzi muttered.
Just then, a gust of wind swept through the courtyard.
Zhao Qingxuan stood and looked toward the gate. "When the wind rises, we must leave the courtyard immediately. Otherwise, it's certain death."
As he spoke, he pushed the gate open.
The two of them stepped out.
For the first time, Danyangzi saw what the outside looked like.
A narrow path—across from them, another small courtyard.
The gate to that courtyard opened at the same time, and several people stepped out. The last one held a large red lantern and hung it above the door.
Clearly, those ten or so people had just killed someone inside.
The people across from them had red lanterns larger than Danyangzi's, but smaller than Zhao Qingxuan's.
The two groups faced each other silently.
"What do we do now?" Danyangzi whispered.
"Do you know how I've survived alone all this time in such a deadly liandanlu?" Zhao Qingxuan said, pulling out a danyao and swallowing it.
"What's that for?" Danyangzi asked.
"To make me stronger."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhao Qingxuan charged toward the group opposite them.
Even without cultivation, the fight ended swiftly—shockingly so. One against many, yet the result was total domination, like a group of children facing an armed adult.
"Why didn't you kill them?" Danyangzi asked as they stopped at a corner.
The wind had stopped—but Danyangzi didn't notice that high above, faint white lines were tracing themselves across the red sky. Everyone who saw them tensed up instantly.
The entire mansion grew heavy with tension because of those lines.
Zhao Qingxuan looked up briefly. "I'm not someone who kills for fun. No need to waste lives."
"Run!"
Zhao Qingxuan suddenly bolted.
Danyangzi froze for a moment, then rushed after him—only to notice that everyone else had started running too.
"What's going on? Why is everyone running all of a sudden?"
"It's another rule here," Zhao Qingxuan answered as they ran. "Once this starts, you have to keep running. If you stop, the monsters from the rooms will drag you inside."
"There wasn't any warning!" Danyangzi shouted.
"There is," Zhao Qingxuan said. "Look up."
Danyangzi looked toward the crimson sky—and saw that at some point, a faint white human silhouette had appeared, running swiftly.
"When that figure stops, that's when we stop," Zhao Qingxuan explained.
Just then, Danyangzi saw a man trip over someone running from the opposite side.
A black, clawed hand reached over the courtyard wall, seized the fallen man, and yanked him inside—straight into one of the rooms.
"Even at a time like this, someone's still thinking about killing!" Danyangzi said in shock.