Chapter 57: Summoning
Jiang Hong had hoped to find some broken stones to use as tools, but after searching, he found none, only rock walls everywhere.
"Maybe there's something," Jiang Hong said, "that could be inserted into a crevice to pry it open?"
"It might be..." Zhu Jinling perhaps wanted to say "of little use, but you can try."
Jiang Hong asked, "Before I came, you all must have discussed many times how to escape, right?"
"Yes," Huo Ran said.
The result was obvious. Countless days and nights locked in this darkness, they must have initially tried to find a way out, but as time passed, everyone eventually stopped speaking.
Perhaps Jiang Hong's arrival was just repeating the same process.
A single chain was all it took to imprison these skilled exorcists with their unique powers, reducing them to ordinary people locked in the dark underground, unable to do anything.
"Uh," Jiang Hong scratched his head and suddenly felt a bit amused, saying, "Am I clueless about everything?"
The exorcists quieted down again, and Jiang Hong realized that indeed, he was just a freshman, and it was natural to have unrealistic fantasies when faced with these magical devices.
"Thank you," Yang Feiyao said softly in the darkness.
A moment later, Chen Shun sighed again.
"Jiang Hong, have you found anything that looks like an exit?" Chen Shun asked.
"Not yet," Jiang Hong, walking around the cell again and again, said, "Did you see how I got in here? No, wait, I was already in this cell when I arrived, so could the door be behind this iron cage?"
Jiang Hong thought about trying to crawl back.
"Don't go back in," Chen Shun said, "be careful, or you'll get stuck again."
Huo Ran reminded, "He can only return to the cage to be connected to the chains of the earth's veins."
Yang Feiyao said, "Don't go back, Jiang Hong!"
Huo Ran said, "Without the chain's connection, he'll eventually die of hunger or thirst."
Jiang Hong sat cross-legged in front of the iron bars. He was already feeling hungry, but not so thirsty, thanks to the slightly damp environment of the cave.
"I won't go back," Jiang Hong said, "even if I have to lie here and starve, I won't let myself be chained."
Jiang Hong yawned again, guessing it might already be midnight.
Leaning against the bars, extremely tired, he said, "I think I need to sleep for a bit. If only I had a cup of coffee..."
Everyone left him undisturbed, and the cell once again fell into silence.
Suddenly, Yang Feiyao softly called out, "Junior?"
"Don't disturb him," Chen Shun whispered, "let him sleep for a while."
Jiang Hong suddenly jolted awake and said, "Senior sister, did you think of any plan? It's okay, I'm awake now."
Yang Feiyao asked, "Do you have any magical item that recognizes you as its master? Like a dagger, or something that can enlarge itself... or do you and Senior Lu Xiu have any way to send messages to each other?"
Zhu Jinling said, "As soon as he uses his psychic powers, he will be immediately chained."
"Ah," Jiang Hong said, "I do have a scale that can summon Senior Lu Xiu anytime, anywhere."
"Lu Xiu is that dragon?" Chen Shun asked, "The one who attacked the Exorcism Committee last time?"
Jiang Hong: "Wow, he's really famous, huh? Even you guys know about him."
Yang Feiyao quickly said, "If he transforms into his original form, could he break this cell?"
Zhu Jinling said, "There's a good chance that you'll just bring another prisoner in. As he reverts to his original form, the earth's vein chains will immediately bind him, and the demon power released during transformation will be absorbed."
Huo Ran said, "We haven't really tested how much magical force these chains can withstand."
Zhu Jinling: "If directly connected to the earth's veins, theoretically, the capacity to absorb magic is limitless. Everything, including humans, is part of nature, and the earth's veins are this world."
Huo Ran: "The infinite capacity of the earth's veins doesn't mean these chains can withstand limitless force."
Jiang Hong: "What does 'recognizing a master' mean?"
Everyone: "......"
Zhu Jinling: "Recognizing a master is a resonance between the master and the magical item, usually accomplished through soul splitting or blood absorption. Soul splitting is 'spiritual', and blood absorption is 'physical', and these are the only two methods."
Yang Feiyao said, "Once a magical item recognizes its master, within a certain distance, you can summon it with your psychic thoughts, and the item will try to find you."
"Oh," Jiang Hong said, "We haven't covered magical items in class yet, but I've seen them. Can they come from any distance?"
In his exorcism practice classes, Jiang Hong had seen his classmates often reach out into the air, and their thrown magical items would fly back to them.
Yang Feiyao said, "It depends on the strength of your magical power."
Chen Shun cautioned, "Don't be reckless, he might not be able to summon his magical item."
Zhu Jinling hummed in agreement, saying, "First, we're not sure where this cell is located, and secondly, using psychic power will be restricted by anti-magic."
Jiang Hong looked at the cave walls and said, "Can it go through walls?"
Yang Feiyao: "Well... if your magical item can go through walls, then it's possible... but never mind, forget I said anything."
Chen Shun asked, "Can a dragon scale go through walls?"
Jiang Hong said, "No, and the scale Lu Xiu gave me isn't bonded to me."
Everyone fell silent again. Jiang Hong suddenly had a bit of hope — although the dragon scale hadn't been bonded with his blood, might it resonate with his soul? He wasn't sure. Should he try summoning it? But even if he did, could it fly over? Surely, the dragon scale wouldn't defy the laws of physics and just phase through the mountain, right? And even if it did come in, and I shouted "Lu Xiu," and Lu Xiu came, what if he got trapped in the cell too? Then I'd really have caused a big problem.
But if Lu Xiu got dragged down with him, being together, joking and laughing, would be better than being trapped alone... This cell can hold six people, and there's an empty spot opposite... Jiang Hong thought.
No, no, that's really bad.
"How do you summon with psychic power?" Jiang Hong asked in the darkness.
"Don't summon with psychic power," Huo Ran responded.
Jiang Hong said, "I'm not going to summon, I'm just curious."
Zhu Jinling explained, "Summoning with psychic power requires the use of magical power, and as soon as it emerges, the chains will detect it."
Jiang Hong: "I'm really not going to summon, I just want to try it out. Life is limited, but knowledge is limitless. It's purely out of curiosity."
Jiang Hong suddenly thought, if he was locked up here for ten or twenty years, maybe he could learn some unusual skills from Zhu Jinling and Huo Ran.
Chen Shun said, "Jiang Hong, seriously, don't use magic."
"But he will have to use magic eventually," Yang Feiyao reminded everyone, "otherwise, without the chains providing energy, he will soon die of hunger and thirst."
Jiang Hong said, "I'll sleep a bit more."
He was getting hungrier and found it hard to sleep. Would being connected to the chains alleviate the hunger? Jiang Hong decided to lie on the ground to conserve energy until he came up with a plan.
"There's a way to channel spiritual energy," Zhu Jinling said, "I don’t know if you've learned it. It's like the '来' character in oracle bone script, imagine it as a swallow viewed from above, with its tail feathers connected."
Huo Ran said, "Teacher Zhu, I suggest not teaching him that."
Jiang Hong said, "Oh, then what? It’s fine, I really won’t use it unless it's the last resort. When I'm about to starve, I’ll try. If the chains wrap around me, I'll have to accept it."
Zhu Jinling then said, "To activate spiritual energy, let it flow from outside to inside along the runes, contract it, and at the moment when the energy converges at the center of the rune, silently think 'Summon'."
"Oh, okay." Jiang Hong understood basic magic and found this spell simple and easy, "But how do I make sure that what I summon is the magical item I want?"
"A magical item that recognizes its master can only be one," Huo Ran said, "No need to specifically identify it."
Jiang Hong thought that perhaps in this cell, there might be some extremely narrow cracks invisible to the naked eye, and the dragon scale could just fly in through one of those cracks.
Lying on the ground for another half hour, he wondered wildly if Dark Chen Zhen had created a copy of himself and if Lu Xiu had discovered the impostor’s existence. If Dark Chen Zhen was to replicate him, Jiang Hong, he would surely give the impostor the dragon scale. But even if he got out, how could he distinguish which one was the real him?
"Summon!" Jiang Hong suddenly shouted, startling everyone at once.
"Wait!" Huo Ran’s words were not yet finished when Jiang Hong’s hand already held the leaping Samadhi True Fire!
Almost simultaneously, the chains in the cell, like serpents in the dark, suddenly raised their heads and shot towards Jiang Hong. He rolled and dodged as Chen Shun yelled, "What are you doing?! Didn’t we say not to... come here to me!"
Jiang Hong rushed behind Chen Shun, hiding behind him as everyone immediately got up to help him. Jiang Hong never expected the chains to react so swiftly. He flipped over, Chen Shun tried to block, and Jiang Hong scrambled towards Huo Ran. Huo Ran immediately embraced Jiang Hong tightly, shielding him with his back facing out, and they hid in the corner.
Jiang Hong had just caught his breath when he suddenly felt a chill around his neck.
It's over — the chain had wound around Jiang Hong's neck at an impossibly tricky angle, making a "clang" sound and locking in place.
I can't breathe... Jiang Hong felt the chain tightening relentlessly, constricting his throat.
"Let him go!" Zhu Jinling immediately said, "Teacher Huo! Let him go!"
Seeing the chain strangling Jiang Hong's neck, Huo Ran had to let go. Jiang Hong was dragged out by the chain, one hand still flashing with true fire, pressing against the chain. Instantly, the runes on the chain flickered and absorbed all the power of the true fire.
"Don't use magic anymore!" Chen Shun warned, "It will only tighten more!"
Jiang Hong: "......"
The chain around his neck kept tightening, his already limited magical power being continuously drained. In that moment, a flicker of power emerged from the flame in his heart, only to be rapidly absorbed and dissipated.
Thousands of miles away, late at night, in the Qinling Mountains, at Cangqiong University staff dormitory.
Xiang Sihui was sitting on a sofa, slightly leaning forward, playing a PS5 game with a controller, headphones on, sweeping through the battlefield amid flying bullets.
Suddenly, a bullet struck, depleting the health bar of his game character, and "GAME OVER" appeared on the screen.
Xiang Sihui sat motionless, like a frozen statue, his brows furrowed, gazing out the window as if discerning the origin of a signal.
Then, he took off his headphones and rushed out of the dormitory like a gust of wind.
Back in the underground cell, Jiang Hong, tightly gripping his collar, was dragged towards the cage and "clanged" back against the iron bars.
Yang Feiyao said, "Quick, get in! Can you get in?"
Everyone, dragging their chains, moved forward. Chen Shun yelled, "His head is stuck outside the bars!"
Zhu Jinling said, "Teacher Huo! Help quickly!"
Huo Ran came from the neighboring cell, joining Zhu Jinling. Together, they tried to push Jiang Hong back into the cell. The chain kept retracting, but Jiang Hong's body was stuck outside the bars, creating a terrifying scene. He couldn't breathe and struggled incessantly.
"Push hard!" Huo Ran said, "You need to leave some space to get his head through the bars!"
Suddenly, Jiang Hong stopped moving, his eyes wide open.
With a "hum" sound, a black iron ruler appeared out of thin air, flying into the cell. It first reached Jiang Hong's hands, but in the chaos, he failed to grasp it, and it clattered to the ground beside his feet.
The Compendium of All Things.
Jiang Hong: "!!!"
"Grab the chain behind him!" Zhu Jinling urgently instructed.
Huo Ran said, "I'm using all my strength! Xiao Chen! Hurry and help! The two of us aren’t strong enough!"
In his mind, Jiang Hong silently screamed: Quickly, give me the Compendium... there might still be hope...
He kept pointing at the ground, hoping Huo Ran and Zhu Jinling would understand his intention.
Chen Shun rushed forward to help Jiang Hong catch his breath, but in the darkness, he didn’t notice what was underfoot and with a "clang," kicked the Compendium into a corner, even further away.
Jiang Hong: "......"
I'm going to die here — Jiang Hong thought.
"Look at what he's pointing at!" Yang Feiyao said anxiously, "Quick, look at the junior! What does he want to do?"
So the four of them surrounded Jiang Hong, some pulling the chain, some loosening the collar around his neck. Jiang Hong, with the collar tight around his throat, stuck in the bars of the cell, pushed Chen Shun's head away with one hand, desperately pointing in the air, signaling him to look at the Compendium in the corner.
Chen Shun: "Is he having a choking reflex?"
In his mind, Jiang Hong shouted: No! Quickly help me pick up the Compendium of All Things!
"What was that sound just now?" Zhu Jinling asked, "Did something come in from outside?"
"A magical item?" Huo Ran realized, "His magical item!"
So, everyone started searching separately, while Jiang Hong watched helplessly as the Compendium of All Things lay right behind Huo Ran.
"Found it!" Yang Feiyao exclaimed, "Is this it? What does it do? How do you use it?"
Jiang Hong: "……………………"
Zhu Jinling: "Let him try it!"
Jiang Hong reached out continuously, and Yang Feiyao put the Compendium into his hand. The moment Jiang Hong got the Compendium, he activated the weak magical power in his heart and channeled it into it.
The Compendium flashed with light, revealing a row of runes in the darkness, but only for half a second.
But in that moment, that strange sensation returned — time seemed to slow down incredibly, and the cell, cave, ground, everything turned into 3DMAX grid-like green lines, as if the world had become a template in a photo editing software, glowing everywhere, while the people around him turned into light and shadows.
The chain around his neck and the ground's texture were completely different, appearing like faint smoke, as if rendered with a mist effect, hazy and glowing like a stream of light connecting to the walls. In the corner of his eye, Jiang Hong saw the smoky chain passing through the wall, extending to a distant place, where a giant tree seemed to connect to the blue earth's veins, and these smoky chains were all the tree's branches and twigs.
As if sensing the threat of the magical item's power, the chain tightened again, and Jiang Hong immediately snapped back to reality, needing to think fast, or he would really die.
Erase... where's the eraser? Jiang Hong knew photoshop, but only the lasso, copy-paste, paint bucket, and eraser functions. Yet, the moment he thought of it, an eraser tool appeared in front of him.
Then he controlled the eraser with one hand, rubbing it back and forth over the chain.
The chain broke.
"Huff—ha." Jiang Hong gasped for air, as the moment the chain snapped in the middle, the other part seemed to lose its source and dissipated into the wind.
The four of them were shocked, staring at Jiang Hong.
Jiang Hong knelt on the ground, gasping for a while, grateful for his lung capacity, or else it wouldn't have been enough for such an ordeal.
"Let me... wish everyone an early Happy New Year," Jiang Hong said.
Yang Feiyao was the first to laugh, the rest, exhausted, retreated and sat down.
"You succeeded?" Huo Ran asked in shock, "How did you break free from it?!"
Zhu Jinling was also surprised, seemingly wanting to inquire about Jiang Hong's magical item, but since the owner hadn't introduced it voluntarily, it seemed presumptuous to ask directly. So, the four exorcists refrained from probing further.
"Ah," Jiang Hong said, "That was close, I almost died. Recognizing a master... so that's what it's like."
Remembering the blood he had once spilled on the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong gently patted it and whispered, "Thank you, thank you so much."
The Compendium returned to its quiet state, without any movement.
Chapter 57: Summoning
Jiang Hong had hoped to find some broken stones to use as tools, but after searching, he found none, only rock walls everywhere.
"Maybe there's something," Jiang Hong said, "that could be inserted into a crevice to pry it open?"
"It might be..." Zhu Jinling perhaps wanted to say "of little use, but you can try."
Jiang Hong asked, "Before I came, you all must have discussed many times how to escape, right?"
"Yes," Huo Ran said.
The result was obvious. Countless days and nights locked in this darkness, they must have initially tried to find a way out, but as time passed, everyone eventually stopped speaking.
Perhaps Jiang Hong's arrival was just repeating the same process.
A single chain was all it took to imprison these skilled exorcists with their unique powers, reducing them to ordinary people locked in the dark underground, unable to do anything.
"Uh," Jiang Hong scratched his head and suddenly felt a bit amused, saying, "Am I clueless about everything?"
The exorcists quieted down again, and Jiang Hong realized that indeed, he was just a freshman, and it was natural to have unrealistic fantasies when faced with these magical devices.
"Thank you," Yang Feiyao said softly in the darkness.
A moment later, Chen Shun sighed again.
"Jiang Hong, have you found anything that looks like an exit?" Chen Shun asked.
"Not yet," Jiang Hong, walking around the cell again and again, said, "Did you see how I got in here? No, wait, I was already in this cell when I arrived, so could the door be behind this iron cage?"
Jiang Hong thought about trying to crawl back.
"Don't go back in," Chen Shun said, "be careful, or you'll get stuck again."
Huo Ran reminded, "He can only return to the cage to be connected to the chains of the earth's veins."
Yang Feiyao said, "Don't go back, Jiang Hong!"
Huo Ran said, "Without the chain's connection, he'll eventually die of hunger or thirst."
Jiang Hong sat cross-legged in front of the iron bars. He was already feeling hungry, but not so thirsty, thanks to the slightly damp environment of the cave.
"I won't go back," Jiang Hong said, "even if I have to lie here and starve, I won't let myself be chained."
Jiang Hong yawned again, guessing it might already be midnight.
Leaning against the bars, extremely tired, he said, "I think I need to sleep for a bit. If only I had a cup of coffee..."
Everyone left him undisturbed, and the cell once again fell into silence.
Suddenly, Yang Feiyao softly called out, "Junior?"
"Don't disturb him," Chen Shun whispered, "let him sleep for a while."
Jiang Hong suddenly jolted awake and said, "Senior sister, did you think of any plan? It's okay, I'm awake now."
Yang Feiyao asked, "Do you have any magical item that recognizes you as its master? Like a dagger, or something that can enlarge itself... or do you and Senior Lu Xiu have any way to send messages to each other?"
Zhu Jinling said, "As soon as he uses his psychic powers, he will be immediately chained."
"Ah," Jiang Hong said, "I do have a scale that can summon Senior Lu Xiu anytime, anywhere."
"Lu Xiu is that dragon?" Chen Shun asked, "The one who attacked the Exorcism Committee last time?"
Jiang Hong: "Wow, he's really famous, huh? Even you guys know about him."
Yang Feiyao quickly said, "If he transforms into his original form, could he break this cell?"
Zhu Jinling said, "There's a good chance that you'll just bring another prisoner in. As he reverts to his original form, the earth's vein chains will immediately bind him, and the demon power released during transformation will be absorbed."
Huo Ran said, "We haven't really tested how much magical force these chains can withstand."
Zhu Jinling: "If directly connected to the earth's veins, theoretically, the capacity to absorb magic is limitless. Everything, including humans, is part of nature, and the earth's veins are this world."
Huo Ran: "The infinite capacity of the earth's veins doesn't mean these chains can withstand limitless force."
Jiang Hong: "What does 'recognizing a master' mean?"
Everyone: "......"
Zhu Jinling: "Recognizing a master is a resonance between the master and the magical item, usually accomplished through soul splitting or blood absorption. Soul splitting is 'spiritual', and blood absorption is 'physical', and these are the only two methods."
Yang Feiyao said, "Once a magical item recognizes its master, within a certain distance, you can summon it with your psychic thoughts, and the item will try to find you."
"Oh," Jiang Hong said, "We haven't covered magical items in class yet, but I've seen them. Can they come from any distance?"
In his exorcism practice classes, Jiang Hong had seen his classmates often reach out into the air, and their thrown magical items would fly back to them.
Yang Feiyao said, "It depends on the strength of your magical power."
Chen Shun cautioned, "Don't be reckless, he might not be able to summon his magical item."
Zhu Jinling hummed in agreement, saying, "First, we're not sure where this cell is located, and secondly, using psychic power will be restricted by anti-magic."
Jiang Hong looked at the cave walls and said, "Can it go through walls?"
Yang Feiyao: "Well... if your magical item can go through walls, then it's possible... but never mind, forget I said anything."
Chen Shun asked, "Can a dragon scale go through walls?"
Jiang Hong said, "No, and the scale Lu Xiu gave me isn't bonded to me."
Everyone fell silent again. Jiang Hong suddenly had a bit of hope — although the dragon scale hadn't been bonded with his blood, might it resonate with his soul? He wasn't sure. Should he try summoning it? But even if he did, could it fly over? Surely, the dragon scale wouldn't defy the laws of physics and just phase through the mountain, right? And even if it did come in, and I shouted "Lu Xiu," and Lu Xiu came, what if he got trapped in the cell too? Then I'd really have caused a big problem.
But if Lu Xiu got dragged down with him, being together, joking and laughing, would be better than being trapped alone... This cell can hold six people, and there's an empty spot opposite... Jiang Hong thought.
No, no, that's really bad.
"How do you summon with psychic power?" Jiang Hong asked in the darkness.
"Don't summon with psychic power," Huo Ran responded.
Jiang Hong said, "I'm not going to summon, I'm just curious."
Zhu Jinling explained, "Summoning with psychic power requires the use of magical power, and as soon as it emerges, the chains will detect it."
Jiang Hong: "I'm really not going to summon, I just want to try it out. Life is limited, but knowledge is limitless. It's purely out of curiosity."
Jiang Hong suddenly thought, if he was locked up here for ten or twenty years, maybe he could learn some unusual skills from Zhu Jinling and Huo Ran.
Chen Shun said, "Jiang Hong, seriously, don't use magic."
"But he will have to use magic eventually," Yang Feiyao reminded everyone, "otherwise, without the chains providing energy, he will soon die of hunger and thirst."
Jiang Hong said, "I'll sleep a bit more."
He was getting hungrier and found it hard to sleep. Would being connected to the chains alleviate the hunger? Jiang Hong decided to lie on the ground to conserve energy until he came up with a plan.
"There's a way to channel spiritual energy," Zhu Jinling said, "I don’t know if you've learned it. It's like the '来' character in oracle bone script, imagine it as a swallow viewed from above, with its tail feathers connected."
Huo Ran said, "Teacher Zhu, I suggest not teaching him that."
Jiang Hong said, "Oh, then what? It’s fine, I really won’t use it unless it's the last resort. When I'm about to starve, I’ll try. If the chains wrap around me, I'll have to accept it."
Zhu Jinling then said, "To activate spiritual energy, let it flow from outside to inside along the runes, contract it, and at the moment when the energy converges at the center of the rune, silently think 'Summon'."
"Oh, okay." Jiang Hong understood basic magic and found this spell simple and easy, "But how do I make sure that what I summon is the magical item I want?"
"A magical item that recognizes its master can only be one," Huo Ran said, "No need to specifically identify it."
Jiang Hong thought that perhaps in this cell, there might be some extremely narrow cracks invisible to the naked eye, and the dragon scale could just fly in through one of those cracks.
Lying on the ground for another half hour, he wondered wildly if Dark Chen Zhen had created a copy of himself and if Lu Xiu had discovered the impostor’s existence. If Dark Chen Zhen was to replicate him, Jiang Hong, he would surely give the impostor the dragon scale. But even if he got out, how could he distinguish which one was the real him?
"Summon!" Jiang Hong suddenly shouted, startling everyone at once.
"Wait!" Huo Ran’s words were not yet finished when Jiang Hong’s hand already held the leaping Samadhi True Fire!
Almost simultaneously, the chains in the cell, like serpents in the dark, suddenly raised their heads and shot towards Jiang Hong. He rolled and dodged as Chen Shun yelled, "What are you doing?! Didn’t we say not to... come here to me!"
Jiang Hong rushed behind Chen Shun, hiding behind him as everyone immediately got up to help him. Jiang Hong never expected the chains to react so swiftly. He flipped over, Chen Shun tried to block, and Jiang Hong scrambled towards Huo Ran. Huo Ran immediately embraced Jiang Hong tightly, shielding him with his back facing out, and they hid in the corner.
Jiang Hong had just caught his breath when he suddenly felt a chill around his neck.
It's over — the chain had wound around Jiang Hong's neck at an impossibly tricky angle, making a "clang" sound and locking in place.
I can't breathe... Jiang Hong felt the chain tightening relentlessly, constricting his throat.
"Let him go!" Zhu Jinling immediately said, "Teacher Huo! Let him go!"
Seeing the chain strangling Jiang Hong's neck, Huo Ran had to let go. Jiang Hong was dragged out by the chain, one hand still flashing with true fire, pressing against the chain. Instantly, the runes on the chain flickered and absorbed all the power of the true fire.
"Don't use magic anymore!" Chen Shun warned, "It will only tighten more!"
Jiang Hong: "......"
The chain around his neck kept tightening, his already limited magical power being continuously drained. In that moment, a flicker of power emerged from the flame in his heart, only to be rapidly absorbed and dissipated.
Thousands of miles away, late at night, in the Qinling Mountains, at Cangqiong University staff dormitory.
Xiang Sihui was sitting on a sofa, slightly leaning forward, playing a PS5 game with a controller, headphones on, sweeping through the battlefield amid flying bullets.
Suddenly, a bullet struck, depleting the health bar of his game character, and "GAME OVER" appeared on the screen.
Xiang Sihui sat motionless, like a frozen statue, his brows furrowed, gazing out the window as if discerning the origin of a signal.
Then, he took off his headphones and rushed out of the dormitory like a gust of wind.
Back in the underground cell, Jiang Hong, tightly gripping his collar, was dragged towards the cage and "clanged" back against the iron bars.
Yang Feiyao said, "Quick, get in! Can you get in?"
Everyone, dragging their chains, moved forward. Chen Shun yelled, "His head is stuck outside the bars!"
Zhu Jinling said, "Teacher Huo! Help quickly!"
Huo Ran came from the neighboring cell, joining Zhu Jinling. Together, they tried to push Jiang Hong back into the cell. The chain kept retracting, but Jiang Hong's body was stuck outside the bars, creating a terrifying scene. He couldn't breathe and struggled incessantly.
"Push hard!" Huo Ran said, "You need to leave some space to get his head through the bars!"
Suddenly, Jiang Hong stopped moving, his eyes wide open.
With a "hum" sound, a black iron ruler appeared out of thin air, flying into the cell. It first reached Jiang Hong's hands, but in the chaos, he failed to grasp it, and it clattered to the ground beside his feet.
The Compendium of All Things.
Jiang Hong: "!!!"
"Grab the chain behind him!" Zhu Jinling urgently instructed.
Huo Ran said, "I'm using all my strength! Xiao Chen! Hurry and help! The two of us aren’t strong enough!"
In his mind, Jiang Hong silently screamed: Quickly, give me the Compendium... there might still be hope...
He kept pointing at the ground, hoping Huo Ran and Zhu Jinling would understand his intention.
Chen Shun rushed forward to help Jiang Hong catch his breath, but in the darkness, he didn’t notice what was underfoot and with a "clang," kicked the Compendium into a corner, even further away.
Jiang Hong: "......"
I'm going to die here — Jiang Hong thought.
"Look at what he's pointing at!" Yang Feiyao said anxiously, "Quick, look at the junior! What does he want to do?"
So the four of them surrounded Jiang Hong, some pulling the chain, some loosening the collar around his neck. Jiang Hong, with the collar tight around his throat, stuck in the bars of the cell, pushed Chen Shun's head away with one hand, desperately pointing in the air, signaling him to look at the Compendium in the corner.
Chen Shun: "Is he having a choking reflex?"
In his mind, Jiang Hong shouted: No! Quickly help me pick up the Compendium of All Things!
"What was that sound just now?" Zhu Jinling asked, "Did something come in from outside?"
"A magical item?" Huo Ran realized, "His magical item!"
So, everyone started searching separately, while Jiang Hong watched helplessly as the Compendium of All Things lay right behind Huo Ran.
"Found it!" Yang Feiyao exclaimed, "Is this it? What does it do? How do you use it?"
Jiang Hong: "……………………"
Zhu Jinling: "Let him try it!"
Jiang Hong reached out continuously, and Yang Feiyao put the Compendium into his hand. The moment Jiang Hong got the Compendium, he activated the weak magical power in his heart and channeled it into it.
The Compendium flashed with light, revealing a row of runes in the darkness, but only for half a second.
But in that moment, that strange sensation returned — time seemed to slow down incredibly, and the cell, cave, ground, everything turned into 3DMAX grid-like green lines, as if the world had become a template in a photo editing software, glowing everywhere, while the people around him turned into light and shadows.
The chain around his neck and the ground's texture were completely different, appearing like faint smoke, as if rendered with a mist effect, hazy and glowing like a stream of light connecting to the walls. In the corner of his eye, Jiang Hong saw the smoky chain passing through the wall, extending to a distant place, where a giant tree seemed to connect to the blue earth's veins, and these smoky chains were all the tree's branches and twigs.
As if sensing the threat of the magical item's power, the chain tightened again, and Jiang Hong immediately snapped back to reality, needing to think fast, or he would really die.
Erase... where's the eraser? Jiang Hong knew photoshop, but only the lasso, copy-paste, paint bucket, and eraser functions. Yet, the moment he thought of it, an eraser tool appeared in front of him.
Then he controlled the eraser with one hand, rubbing it back and forth over the chain.
The chain broke.
"Huff—ha." Jiang Hong gasped for air, as the moment the chain snapped in the middle, the other part seemed to lose its source and dissipated into the wind.
The four of them were shocked, staring at Jiang Hong.
Jiang Hong knelt on the ground, gasping for a while, grateful for his lung capacity, or else it wouldn't have been enough for such an ordeal.
"Let me... wish everyone an early Happy New Year," Jiang Hong said.
Yang Feiyao was the first to laugh, the rest, exhausted, retreated and sat down.
"You succeeded?" Huo Ran asked in shock, "How did you break free from it?!"
Zhu Jinling was also surprised, seemingly wanting to inquire about Jiang Hong's magical item, but since the owner hadn't introduced it voluntarily, it seemed presumptuous to ask directly. So, the four exorcists refrained from probing further.
"Ah," Jiang Hong said, "That was close, I almost died. Recognizing a master... so that's what it's like."
Remembering the blood he had once spilled on the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong gently patted it and whispered, "Thank you, thank you so much."
The Compendium returned to its quiet state, without any movement.
