The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Despite the excruciating pain, Shen Yifei asked, "Mengli, do you recognize this thing?"

Liu Mengli did not answer.

The golden light in her peach blossom eyes swirled rapidly, as if she were searching for some long-forgotten memory.

After a long while, she murmured, "Shi Yan... it's Shi Yan's aura."

"Shi Yan?" Shen Yifei was taken aback. "Shi Yan, the Time Demon God?"

"Yes, it's him." Liu Mengli withdrew her hand, her expression somewhat solemn. "This curse... is no ordinary curse. It contains a wisp of the fundamental law of time evolution, but... how did he end up in the Underworld?"

Liu Mengli paused, then looked at Thirteen Sister, "Where did you get this mask?"

Thirteen Sister picked up her clothes from the ground and slowly put them on, one piece at a time. "This is a long story. Sit down first, and I'll tell you slowly."

Strangely enough, Shen Yifei was so captivated by Thirteen Sister's dressing movements that the pain in his mind actually lessened considerably.

Thirteen Sister dressed herself and sat down at the table. "When I was alive, I was a gambling den owner. I'm not a cultivator, just a mortal, but I have a hobby: collecting strange and unusual stories from all over the world."

She sighed softly, her eyes filled with longing for her past life.

"Once, I spent a lot of money to buy a tattered ancient book from a tomb raider. The book was full of pictures. In the pictures was an altar, and on the altar stood a man wearing a mask."

She pointed to the mask still in Shen Yifei's hand, "That's it! When I was examining that painting closely, the mask was pressed directly against my face, and the ancient book turned to ashes."

"From that day on, I've had this mask on my face, but I can't take it off myself. Many people have tried, and no one can take it off!"

Upon hearing this, Shen Yifei felt incredibly frustrated. It turned out he was the one who was doomed. This mask wasn't meant for Thirteen Sister; it was just waiting for him to take it off!

"I was originally an ordinary person, but after putting on that mask, I stopped aging. Even at ninety years old, I still look the same. I was scared, so I ran to a temple to find a monk. The monk chanted sutras for three days and three nights, and finally only said one sentence: 'Benefactor, what's on your face is not something an ordinary person can touch.'"

Liu Mengli asked, "Since you can't die, why did you end up in the underworld?"

"It's still this mask. One night, it spoke! It said that I, a mortal, couldn't withstand its power, and sent me to the underworld, where it could help me cultivate... And so, I ended up here!"

Shen Yifei hurriedly asked, "Thirteenth Sister, are you dead or alive?"

When Thirteen Sister sat on his lap, he felt the warmth of a living person, a temperature that was definitely not that of a ghost!

Thirteen Sister shook her head. "I don't know either. Ever since I put on this mask, I feel like I'm not myself anymore. After living in the mortal world for so many years, I no longer know whether I'm alive or dead."

Shen Yifei sighed, "Thirteen Sister, you're a pitiful person too. What is the Demon God trying to achieve by pulling this trick at this time?"

Thirteen Sister shook her head. "This mask also told me that as long as I meet someone who can beat me in a gambling game, they can help me remove this mask! That dice cup was made from rare and precious materials that the mask helped me find!"

Liu Mengli suddenly realized, "I see..."

"Mengli, what's wrong?"

"Master, if I'm not mistaken, Shi Yan is here waiting for you! Waiting for Wan Shuo's successor."

How did he know he would definitely wait for me?

Liu Mengli pointed to his dice cup!

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be made of one of the five elements. The successor of Wan Shuo will definitely go to collect the essence of the five elements, and sooner or later they will find this place!"

Shen Yifei suddenly realized a problem!

"Thirteen Sister, just because I won ten consecutive games against Old Cui with Ghost Hand, do you already know... that I'm the one who can expose your mask?"

Thirteen Sister's face, capable of captivating anyone, blossomed into a full bloom. "Young Master Shen, what do you say?"

Shen Yifei forced out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Thirteenth Sister, from the very beginning, you've been plotting against me."

"What did I scheme against you for?" Thirteen tilted her head. "You were the one who chose to gamble, you were the one who took off the mask, you were the one who subdued the dice cup, and I even let you see everything."

Thirteen's smile slowly faded. She looked at Shen Yifei and said, "I've waited here at the gates of hell for so many years, and you're the first person who has given me hope."

As soon as she finished speaking, her body suddenly went limp and she fell straight to the ground.

Shen Yifei subconsciously reached out to help her, but he froze the moment his fingertips touched her wrist.

This feels completely wrong.

When she sat on his lap earlier, her skin was warm and smooth, with the warmth of a living person.

But what he was touching now was rough, like tree bark.

"Thirteenth Sister!" Su Huan grabbed Thirteenth Sister and cried out in surprise as soon as her hand touched her face.

Thirteen's face was aging rapidly. Her smooth skin gradually wrinkled, her full lips faded quickly, and her once black hair turned gray in an instant.

"What's wrong with her?" Su Huan's voice changed.

Liu Mengli took two steps forward, placed one hand on the back of Thirteen Niang's neck, and channeled the power of reincarnation into her.

"The curse on the mask has been transferred, and the source of her 'immortality' has been severed. This woman endured hundreds of years in the mortal realm wearing the mask; time seemed to freeze over her. Now that the mask is gone, she must repay the years she owed."

"How many more years?" Su Huan asked.

"Return it all." Liu Mengli uttered two words.

Shen Yifei looked down at the mask in his palm and understood what Liu Mengli meant.

Shi Yan's curse was transferred to him, and Thirteen Niang's time began to flow again.

Then she will catch up with all those hundreds of years in a short time.

She will transform from a vibrant young woman into a hunched old woman, and then her soul will vanish.

"Master, should we save her?"

Looking at the aging Thirteenth Sister in his arms, Shen Yifei didn't know why, but he blurted out, "Save her!"

Liu Mengli gritted her teeth, diverting half of her Reincarnation Power to protect Thirteen Niang's lifeline, "But I can't hold on for much longer."

"Hold on for as long as you can!" Shen Yifei squatted down, looking at Thirteen Sister's rapidly aging face.

She remained conscious, her eyes open, quietly watching Shen Yifei. There was no fear in her eyes, only a calm that seemed to have settled down.

"Are you scared?" Shen Yifei asked her.

"I'm not afraid," Thirteen Sister said slowly in her aged voice. "Today, I thought that by losing to you, I could break free from the curse. I never imagined that I would lose my own life."

Just as Shen Yifei was about to say a few more words of comfort, a loud bang suddenly came from outside the door.

Old Cui's voice came from outside the door, "Surround them! Don't let a single one escape! Starting today, I, Old Cui, take over the Life and Death Gambling House!"