What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

I opened the door, and a cool breeze carrying the scent of earth and a faint smell of sulfur rushed in.

The alley was deserted, with nothing left but hail and puddles.

The area that was originally shrouded in black mist has now returned to its deathly silence.

I stood behind the door and quietly watched outside for a while.

After confirming that the two people had completely disappeared, I closed the heavy red lacquered wooden door again and locked it with a wooden bolt.

"Just like that, you left?"

Jin Wanliang stared at the monitor screen, his fat face full of disbelief.

"What are these people up to, all talk and no action?"

Li Qing stood in front of the bill with a furrowed brow, scratching his hair in frustration: "Something's not right."

Although those bastards didn't go all out just now, their posture was definitely aimed at breaking the formation.

This sudden retreat, without even a word, is just like...

It executes a pre-set program, and then immediately withdraws when the time is up.

I walked back to the armchair and sat down. I picked up the tea that had cooled down a bit and took a sip. I said in a calm tone, "Something unusual must be going on."

Since they can't take down Tingyuxuan, they'll naturally find another way to deal with us.

Tonight, Jiangcheng is a grand chessboard, and we are just one of its pieces.

Just wait, their next move will be made soon.

The hall fell into that suffocating silence once again.

The hail outside gradually stopped and turned into a torrential downpour.

Rainwater poured down the wooden eaves, making monotonous and dull sounds as it hit the bluestone slabs.

The overhead light inside cast long shadows of the three of us.

This kind of waiting is the most agonizing.

You know perfectly well that a large net is closing in on you in the darkness, but you don't know where the edge of the net is.

Time passed by, second by second.

About half an hour later, around 10:30 p.m.

Jin Wanliang, who had been staring at the tablet and the encrypted phone, suddenly shuddered.

He quickly grabbed one of the phones with the screen lit up, pressed a few buttons, and played a short, intermittent audio clip.

The audio was mixed with loud static, rapid gunfire, and some kind of beastly roar.

"...This is Special Operations Team Three...We've been ambushed at the Jinxiuyuan residential complex in the west of the city..."

A large number of high-level corpse demons... Requesting backup... Director Lu is injured...

The defenses are about to be breached... Repeat, requesting...

The sound abruptly stopped there, leaving only a chilling "buzzing" sound.

Jin Wanliang's expression instantly turned serious. He looked up at me and said in a tight voice, "Brother Chen, it's Director Lu!"

Her team is trapped in Jinxiuyuan in the west of the city!

Judging from this last message, the situation is not optimistic.

It might even be that they've reached a dead end.

"Grass!"

Li Qing slammed his hand on the table, grabbed the compass, and was about to leave.

"Jinxiuyuan isn't too far from here, only a twenty-minute drive. Old Chen, let's go get them!"

"stop."

I remained seated, my voice calm, devoid of any anger or anxiety.

Li Qing stopped and turned around, his eyes filled with confusion and anxiety: "Old Chen, what do you mean?"

Although Lu Yan seems cold and aloof most of the time, she's actually quite nice to us.

We can't just stand by and watch her perish inside, can we?

I slowly stood up, walked to Li Qing, patted him on the shoulder, and said gently:

"Li Qing, calm down."

"We definitely need to save them, but you can't go."

"Why?" Li Qing frowned.

I turned to look at the bottomless rain outside the door, my eyes deep: "Because the timing of this news is too coincidental."

I pointed to the newly drawn talismans on the bill and continued my calm analysis:

"Half an hour ago, those two gray-robed men launched a strong attack on Tingyuxuan with an array that cut off the earth's energy. After realizing they couldn't break through your feng shui formation, they immediately and decisively retreated."

Then, just half an hour later, news that Lu Yan was trapped and in dire straits reached us precisely through Lao Jin's connections.

"I trust Lao Jin's intelligence network, but the timing of Lu Yan's imprisonment is too coincidental."

I looked into Li Qing's eyes, my voice tinged with coldness: "This is an open conspiracy."

A trap tailor-made for us, or more precisely, for Tingyuxuan.

Li Qing is a smart man; he's just too lazy to use his brain normally.

Upon hearing this, his expression immediately changed: "You mean... to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"That's right."

I nodded.

"The enemy knows that as long as you are here, Tingyuxuan is an ironclad bastard, and they can't take it down by force."

So, they used Lu Yan as bait to force us to go out.

Once we leave, the formation of Tingyuxuan will lose at least half its power without your personal supervision.

At that time, it will be much easier for them to break through Tingyu Pavilion.

Jin Wanliang, listening from the side, broke out in a cold sweat: "Then...then we're just going to ignore Director Lu?"

"Of course we'll take care of it."

I walked to the coat rack, picked up the black waterproof trench coat that Li Qing was wearing, and put it on.

"Since it's an open conspiracy, someone has to get involved in this mess. I'll go."

As I buttoned my trench coat, I said to Li Qing, "Li Qing, you stay here for now and guard Tingyuxuan."

At least on the surface, you can't come with me.

As for Lu Yan, I'll go see if they're after Tingyuxuan itself, or... if they're after me.

After I finished speaking, I whispered a few words to Li Qing and Jin Wanliang.

Li Qing opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.

He knows my current strength: I'm at the initial stage of the Core Formation realm, plus I have a lot of hidden cards up my sleeve.

As long as you don't encounter any monster-level beings, escaping unscathed shouldn't be a problem.

"Then be careful."

Li Qing said in a deep voice, and took out two golden talismans from his pocket and handed them to me.

"This is my most treasured Liuding Liujia amulet, which can ward off disasters in critical moments."

Thanks.

I smiled at him, put the talisman into my inner pocket, and then touched the willow-leaf knife on my sleeve and waist to make sure the black bone needles I kept close to my body were still secure.

After taking the headset from Jin Wanliang and putting it on, I didn't say anything more and turned around to push open the door of Tingyuxuan.

The rain poured down, and a cold wind carrying moisture hit us in the face.

I opened a black umbrella and walked into the dark alley.

Behind him, the red lacquered wooden door of Tingyuxuan slowly closed.

Li Qing restarted the illusion array, hiding the wooden building once again within the feng shui energy field.

The water in the alley was already above ankle level, making a "splashing" sound as you stepped on the bluestone slabs.

The streetlights were all out, and the old houses around them looked like silent giants in the rainy night.