Chapter 58: Escape
"Come," Jiang Hong said after catching his breath, "let me remove these chains for everyone."
Erase, erase, erase, erase... Effortlessly, Jiang Hong unfastened the chains, prompting Chen Shun to finally exclaim, "This magical item is incredible!"
Jiang Hong remembered the warning from An Jie to never mention the origin of the Compendium of All Things unless necessary. Although their time together was short, he, Chen Shun, Huo Ran, Zhu Jinling, and Yang Feiyao were now "prison mates" who had faced life and death together. He didn’t want to reveal the Compendium’s origins, but also didn’t want to lie to Chen Shun, so he said, "Maybe it's just a case of one thing overcoming another?"
Everyone finally escaped their confinement; the chains seemed to lose all their power, hanging lifelessly along the cave walls. But even now, no one dared to recklessly use magic.
Holding the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong, as if wearing glasses that could peer into the world's underlying model, looked around. For the first time, using it to look at people, he could even see the glowing chakras of the exorcists. Chen Shun and Yang Feiyao appeared human-shaped, while Zhu Jinling's chakra was shaped like a bird.
Huo Ran's chakra was something odd, like a beast, which Jiang Hong couldn't identify.
"Thank goodness," Yang Feiyao sighed in relief, "I thought I'd never escape this place in my lifetime."
"Who would have thought," Huo Ran sighed, "that the one to break our predicament would be this young man."
Jiang Hong humbly said, "It was just luck, and everyone's joint effort. If it weren't for... everyone's help, uh, I wouldn't have been able to retrieve this... magical item kicked so far away."
"Leave the rest to us," Chen Shun said, patting Jiang Hong's shoulder, "As long as we remove the Spirit Binding Lock, there's always a way."
Huo Ran walked up to the cave wall and tried to hit it with his hands. The wall was solid and not hollow.
"Teacher Zhu," Huo Ran turned back and asked, "Can you perform divination now? Can you find a way out or guide our next steps through calculation?"
Zhu Jinling said, "I don’t have any divination tools at hand. To use Feathers of Flight, I need to wait until my spiritual power is restored, about two hours from now. Soon everyone's spiritual power will recover."
Yang Feiyao added, "It’s unrealistic to blast open this cave, but as we've previously deduced, the air here must be circulating. Since we haven't suffocated, there must be a ventilation opening."
"That's right!" Jiang Hong realized, saying, "Let me see where the ventilation is."
He wandered aimlessly around the cell again, feeling much more relaxed now. The problem had become how to get out.
Holding the Compendium of All Things, he approached the cave walls, trying to use the eraser tool on the undulating modeled lines, but this time it didn’t work. The green lines that made up the real objects couldn't be erased with an eraser.
It seemed that only the mist-like rendering effect could be erased this way, Jiang Hong thought.
"Junior, what are you doing?" Yang Feiyao asked.
To everyone else, Jiang Hong appeared like a mentally disturbed person, gesturing continuously at thin air.
"Oh, it's nothing, I was just..." Jiang Hong thought for a moment and said, "I'm practicing a spell."
"Let me try first," Huo Ran said, "I just don't know if this will alert the people from the Deceptive Spirit."
Zhu Jinling said, "If it brings the enemy here, it might also be a good opportunity for a surprise escape."
Huo Ran said, "Young man, step back a bit and take cover behind me."
Jiang Hong stepped back, and Huo Ran then conjured a spell.
A surge of heat arose, and Huo Ran's entire body emitted intense, fiery light, becoming like a smelting furnace. Jiang Hong kept dodging, finding only the area behind him cooler.
The iron chains around them, sensing the spiritual power, began to clink and clang, causing everyone to look at them apprehensively.
Next, flames whirled around Huo Ran, his eyes turning red. He stepped forward and pressed his hands against a piece of rock. The rock started to redden, soften, and then melted into magma, flowing down.
Ah, what? Through the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong saw a strange scene outside — the chains didn't advance to bind Huo Ran, but at the cave's outer perimeter, that distant "smoke tree" underwent a bizarre transformation, diverting a part of its power to form a “shell” around their enclosed space.
Just as Jiang Hong was about to ask Huo Ran to wait, the others couldn't endure any longer.
"It's too hot," Chen Shun said, "Teacher Huo, I think this method won't work. We need to find another way out."
Huo Ran opened a large hole in the mountain, but behind it was still rock. It was unknown how thick the wall was. Jiang Hong also noticed — the lines that made up the wall were hollow behind them.
It was pitch black and utterly empty.
After Huo Ran melted the wall in front of him, it seemed as if new material filled in from behind, repeating in a never-ending cycle.
"This is a magical item," Zhu Jinling said, "We are imprisoned in a magical item, or rather, a magical formation."
Huo Ran thus abandoned this approach.
"But at least we've determined this is not a natural environment," Huo Ran sighed and sat down.
Yang Feiyao said, "Teacher Huo, we need to conserve energy now that we no longer have the Spirit Binding Lock sustaining us."
Everyone realized another problem: breaking free from the chains was a double-edged sword. They had to find an exit while they still had the strength, or else there was only one outcome: starvation.
Jiang Hong began to use the Compendium of All Things, approaching the cave walls like a conductor's baton. Whenever the Compendium neared the walls, the modeled grid surface emitted a faint light, like the effect of a mouse cursor passing over.
Jiang Hong tried to poke the cave wall with the Compendium. A "ding" sound echoed in his mind, perhaps indicating it was useless, that this operation couldn't be performed.
"There's even an error sound," Jiang Hong said, exasperated.
Trying and trying, Jiang Hong suddenly found a peculiar spot.
"Huh?" Jiang Hong said, "What's this for?"
When he passed the Compendium over a section of the wall that had once trapped Yang Feiyao and Chen Shun, it automatically emitted light. Jiang Hong immediately turned back.
"What?" Chen Shun stood up, and Yang Feiyao came over to look as well.
Jiang Hong: "Here."
"Give us some light," Chen Shun said.
Yang Feiyao lifted her soft fingers, emitting a gentle light, but the rock wall showed no abnormalities, seamlessly part of the cave prison.
Chen Shun tapped the stone wall and tried to inject spiritual power into it, to no avail.
"How did you find this place?" Chen Shun asked.
Jiang Hong signaled for them to wait, asking for a moment to investigate further. He moved the Compendium over it, scanning the nearby area slowly, and this time the light was even more pronounced!
It was a very small area, glowing blue, with three strange characters on it.
Jiang Hong: "???"
Jiang Hong shared what he had seen. Zhu Jinling said, "You can see things we can't."
"Do you have the ability to see ghosts?" Chen Shun asked.
Unsure how to respond, Jiang Hong was silent, but Yang Feiyao said, "So, this place must be key."
Zhu Jinling and Huo Ran took turns feeling around but found nothing unusual. Huo Ran suggested, "Shall I melt this area into magma to see if there's a mechanism inside?"
Jiang Hong said, "It feels like we're playing an escape room game. Maybe we shouldn't resort to brute force just yet?"
Zhu Jinling asked, "How are these three characters written?"
Jiang Hong drew on Zhu Jinling’s hand, saying, “The first one looks like the character ‘heart,’ the second like a swastika-shaped flower, and I don't recognize the third.”
Zhu Jinling pondered for a moment, then said, “Fangzhuang script. One, seven, two.”
"An ancient artifact," Huo Ran realized, "from the pre-Qin era, probably the code for our cell."
"Oh! Is that so?" Jiang Hong observed the three characters and nodded, "Let me see if I can do something with it..."
He had a feeling that these square characters could be manipulated somehow.
"Manipulate what?" Zhu Jinling asked.
Jiang Hong first tried to erase them with an eraser, but the characters couldn’t be removed. Whenever he activated the All-Encompassing Book, the world seemed to become a giant software, a mix of 3DMAX and Photoshop, feeling as if he had entered a cyber world. The key was this interface had no user manual or sidebar tools!
Toolbar... Just as Jiang Hong thought of this, a toolbar suddenly appeared above his head!
Jiang Hong: "………………"
Jiang Hong lifted his finger to virtually press it, and everyone, not understanding, looked up with him.
Everyone: "???"
Chen Shun: "What’s up there now?"
So far, apart from Jiang Hong, no one could see anything unusual. If it wasn’t for Jiang Hong unlocking the chains earlier, he’d surely be considered insane right now.
Jiang Hong: "Lasso? Can I bring down the characters with it?"
Zhu Jinling: "?"
"No," Jiang Hong muttered to himself, "Let’s try 3D manipulation? Use the mouse, maybe. Huh? The mouse works? Is it that simple?"
Jiang Hong pulled down a mouse the size of a small palm from the toolbar floating above his head, placed it on the glowing area, and pushed forward.
"Ding!" A error sound echoed in his mind, indicating that this operation was not allowed.
Jiang Hong: "That startled me... What about pulling?"
Pulling outwards worked! Jiang Hong managed to pull out a doorknob from the glowing area!
Everyone gasped in astonishment as the rock wall bulged outward with Jiang Hong's action, revealing a door ring!
In Jiang Hong's eyes, the "door ring" was a rotary handle. He then clicked on it with the mouse and turned it counterclockwise.
"Ding." The error sound came again, repeatedly, "Ding ding ding ding."
"Got it!" Jiang Hong, exasperated, switched to clockwise.
The door opened, and the cave wall burst into white light, enveloping the five of them.
"The door's open!" Jiang Hong shouted, "Let's go!"
White light flooded towards them, and Jiang Hong was the first to dash through the door, followed swiftly by the other four.
"Yes!" Yang Feiyao cheered first.
They found themselves in a corridor with a carpeted floor, with a door at the end of the hallway.
"Ah, I... I've been here before!" Jiang Hong said.
He had walked this corridor when he was captured, escorted by Dark Lu Xiu to an elevator hall. Jiang Hong quickly ran towards it, knowing finding the elevator would be crucial.
This door was different from the cave's entrance, having a noticeable doorknob.
Jiang Hong pulled the doorknob, but behind it was a staircase of an emergency exit.
Jiang Hong: "?"
"What's wrong?" Huo Ran asked.
Everyone squeezed at the doorway and Jiang Hong said, "It seems different from what I remember."
Huo Ran looked at Zhu Jinling, who thought for a moment and said, "It's okay, let's go. This is the only door."
Jiang Hong nodded, and Huo Ran added, "We should hurry. Although we're not sure about their alarm system, an escape will surely be detected quickly."
Jiang Hong felt the urgency too, knowing they needed to find the exit fast.
"Chen Shun," Zhu Jinling said.
Chen Shun understood and said, "I'll take the lead. Jiang Hong, you’ve done so much for us already. We can’t always rely on you alone..."
"It's okay, it's okay!" Jiang Hong reassured, realizing they felt guilty as well, since their escape relied entirely on his artifact, and the four exorcists couldn't offer much help.
"Come on," Jiang Hong said with a smile. "Ms. Zhu, after we get back, how about an A for me next semester?"
"I'd give you an A every year," Zhu Jinling replied, "you're already an A in my eyes."
Jiang Hong was thrilled, thinking: Great! I don’t have to worry about failing in my otherworldly explorations! No matter what, I must ensure Zhu Jinling safely returns to school...
...It doesn’t seem like a Penrose staircase. Jiang Hong went down a floor, saw no floor markings in the emergency stairwell, and then opened the next door.
Inside was a dark corridor.
Standing at the entrance of the corridor, Jiang Hong gathered his courage and said, "Shall we go? It looks like we can go down another level."
"Since there's no alarm, let’s open every door to check," Huo Ran suggested.
So Jiang Hong returned to the emergency staircase, descended further, and pushed open another door, revealing a spacious area like a gymnasium, but with the lights off.
Jiang Hong: "???"
"What about downstairs?" Yang Feiyao asked.
"This is the bottom," Jiang Hong looked up at the top of the emergency stairwell and said, "Is this some kind of strange spatial magic?"
Jiang Hong tried to activate the All-Encompassing Book towards the gymnasium’s door, and three characters similar to the font used for the prison exit appeared.
After hearing this, Zhu Jinling said, "293, it’s another code."
"This place feels safer than the previous one," Jiang Hong said, "Shall we go in and check?"
Everyone entered the gymnasium in turn. Inside, there were sixteen doors. They split up to inspect them, finding all to be standard security doors—Chen Shun tried to pull one open by the handle, and it opened.
"What is this place?" Chen Shun was astonished.
The gymnasium doors led to a rooftop! Instead of the blue sky on the outside of the rooftop, there was a mist, obscuring the view.
"I know what this is," Zhu Jinling stood in front of the door, examining it closely, and said, "It’s called the Inclined Cosmic Goblet, a magical artifact."
Huo Ran: "……"
Yang Feiyao curiously asked, "What’s that?"
Zhu Jinling replied, "The artifact, Inclined Cosmic Goblet, can infinitely extend and create new spaces, provided the holder has sufficient magical power."
Huo Ran: "I've heard of the Through-Cosmos Vase, a top-tier magical artifact of the Exorcists' Council, but not this one."
Zhu Jinling explained, "The Inclined Cosmic Goblet has been lost to the world for nearly two thousand years. It was originally studied by exorcists in the Qin and Han dynasties, who derived the 'Fissure' spell from it. I remember it well as I’ve written a research paper on it. Jiang Hong, can you see the internal workings of this artifact? Jiang Hong!"
"Yeah!" Jiang Hong, on the other side of the gymnasium with the All-Encompassing Book, was studying the numbers on each door, each bearing a corresponding number.
He opened one door to find a hotel-like standard room, peeked in, then moved on to push another door.
Behind the neighboring door was an empty concrete corridor.
Jiang Hong: "???"
Opening another door revealed an empty cell, identical to the one he had been imprisoned in.
Jiang Hong: "Is anyone there?"
"Apart from the chains hanging on the wall, there was no one inside. Jiang Hong felt a chill run down his spine, hesitant to enter. He turned to rejoin his companions, hearing Huo Ran's sudden voice."
"If it's the Qinyu Golden Cup," Huo Ran asked, "does Teacher Zhu have a way to escape?"
Zhu Jingling said, "There's only one exit to the outside world. It's the sole connection with the outside. To return to reality, we must find this room."
Chen Shun, standing in front of the railing, said, "What happens if we jump down?"
"You'd better not try anything rash," Yang Feiyao cautioned.
"Come back, Chen Shun," Huo Ran said. "Now that we have a clear goal, let's find the only exit."
"What conditions must this exit meet?" Yang Feiyao asked again.
Zhu Jingling pondered for a moment, finding it hard to decide. Jiang Hong, who had roughly heard their conversation, suddenly had a brainwave and said, "Could it be the room where the duplicate Chen Zhen first stayed?"
"Very likely," said Yang Feiyao.
"Do we have a signal here?" Jiang Hong suddenly remembered. Of course, they didn't have mobile phones, but! But! When captured, he had seen the dark Lu Xiu sending messages on his phone!
That means the initial room had a signal. It must be connected to the outside world and is the only exit!
Jiang Hong shared his deduction, and Huo Ran said, "That's right."
"Let's try them one by one," Zhu Jingling said, "and quickly."
So they opened every door; most led to corridors, and in the first round of attempts, they didn’t find the room Jiang Hong described.
"We can only choose one corridor to enter," Huo Ran said. "Jiang Hong, you pick one. Trust your instincts."
"Uh," said Jiang Hong, "shouldn't Teacher Zhu choose? Okay... this one?"
Jiang Hong entered one of the corridors, which had two doors. Chen Shun opened one, revealing an office. Chen Shun asked, "Is this the place?"
"It looks somewhat similar," Jiang Hong said as he entered, noticing the same windows, yet something seemed amiss. He lay on the floor, trying to get a different perspective of the surroundings.
"No," Jiang Hong said, "it's missing a dressing mirror."
Chen Shun then went to open the next door. As he let go, the door slammed shut automatically.
So, Jiang Hong got up and pulled open the door.
The next moment, his only thought was: This is bad.
Behind the door was no longer the corridor, but a dormitory with bunk beds...
Jiang Hong: "..................."
Jiang Hong: "Where is everyone? Don't play tricks on me! Hey!"
Jiang Hong quickly shut the door, then reopened it.
Outside was a garden, and beyond it, a blanket of fog.
"Aaaaah!" Jiang Hong was utterly dumbfounded.
"Chen Shun! Teacher Zhu!" Jiang Hong stepped out into the garden, looking around bewilderedly and screamed, "This door changes both ways! Why didn't we notice this at the beginning?!"
"Chen Shun!" Jiang Hong cried frantically, "You've doomed me!"
The garden was small. Turning back, Jiang Hong saw a two-story villa behind him with a pond in the garden, home to several fish. He immediately turned back and pushed the door open again.
Inside was a dark dungeon-like cave. Jiang Hong had begun to understand the principle. Each door here followed a pattern, constantly changing; each time it was closed and reopened, it led to a different place.
In other words, there might be countless "bubbles" inside, interconnected by some dynamic, password-like changes. Now, he had to find a way to locate Zhu Jingling - I still need to get an A this semester! Oh my God! What kind of hellish task is this!
Jiang Hong closed and opened the door repeatedly, like grinding in a game, until he found a room that looked right and entered. It was a clean kitchen, like one in a cafeteria.
Jiang Hong opened the refrigerator and found milk! Both thirsty and hungry, he drank most of the bottle, feeling his strength return. Holding onto the milk bottle, he thought he might find his companions later and share it with them.
"Does it look like?" Jiang Hong wondered aloud, using the Book of Everything to discern the characters on the doorknob. He opened the door, revealing another corridor. Unsure if it was where he had separated from Chen Shun, he entered, calling out, "Teacher Zhu! Are you still there?"
Would they have waited for him?
Jiang Hong began "door-grinding" again, opening and closing doors, yet never finding the dark Chen Zhen's office. Maybe there was a specific entry and exit? It felt like playing a complex RPG, and he knew he needed to find the pattern.
But with all this opening and closing of doors, he hadn't encountered Zhu Jingling and the others again. Were the doors infinite? The number of spaces at each door, infinite too? He hoped not... Jiang Hong checked the number on the door again, perhaps it was sixty-eight?
"Bang!" He shut the door and opened it again.
Suddenly, Jiang Hong froze, instinctively bracing the door. The room was familiar—it was Lu Xiu's bedroom!
How did the bedroom end up here? Jiang Hong stepped inside. Yes, this was Lu Xiu's graduate dormitory! He tried opening the window; outside, and beyond the balcony, was a layer of misty fog. Reaching out, he felt a strange repulsion within the fog, like a dense, soft liquid wall, preventing further reach.
Desk, bed, motorcycle helmet—all the furnishings matched Lu Xiu's room exactly. Wait... was something missing here too?
Jiang Hong remembered and turned towards the bookshelf. Yes, something was missing—the headphones he had given to Lu Xiu. Lu Xiu loved those black and red headphones, using them not only for music but as a fashion accessory, hanging around his neck to match his trendy clothes.
This wasn't Lu Xiu's bedroom; it must be a replica, Jiang Hong thought. He needed to find the exit...
Just as he was about to turn and leave, a thought flashed through his mind.
Could this be where the dark Lu Xiu lived?
Jiang Hong almost closed the door but then spun around, dived back into the bedroom, and began frantically searching the room. He flipped the pillow, opened the wardrobe, pulled out the drawers of the bedside table—
—There!
He had found the scale! The scale taken by the dark Lu Xiu!
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong immediately gripped it tightly, shouting out.
No response, Jiang Hong looked around; there wasn't even a hint of spiritual energy.
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong yelled, "Help me! Come save me!"
At this moment, he had completely forgotten his concern that Lu Xiu might also be trapped here. He just wanted to see him at the first opportunity, to tell him about the impostor's existence. Jiang Hong's trust in Lu Xiu was almost blind. As long as he was here, he could surely lead them out of this predicament.
"Lu Xiu," Jiang Hong sighed with a self-deprecating smile.
He realized Lu Xiu couldn't come to this place; he had to rely on himself.
Jiang Hong still wore the scale, turned around to open the door, and pondered for a moment. Merely opening and closing doors was futile. The only way out was to find the pattern in this strange space's shifting passages...
He activated the Book of Everything again, pointing it at the doorknob, scrutinizing the numbers on it.
What was this number, over a hundred? Without Zhu Jingling's translation skills, Jiang Hong could only try to remember it.
As Jiang Hong surveyed the surroundings again, he suddenly saw a bizarre sight. Outside this graduate dormitory, through the green lines resembling a 3D model, in the boundless dark space, a blue streak of light, like a meteor with a tail, twisted and turned towards him.
Jiang Hong: "?"
The streak of light zigzagged unpredictably through the void, like a particle undergoing Brownian motion, drawing ever closer. Then, silently, it burst into the dormitory, causing ripples before Jiang Hong, and with a "whoosh," it made a sound.
Lu Xiu's tall figure emerged from a splash of water, colliding with Jiang Hong.
Jiang Hong let out an excited shout, but the next moment, he sensed something was wrong. Lu Xiu was bare-chested, covered in wounds. As he collided, blood splattered, drenching Jiang Hong's head and body. Lu Xiu's usually iron-like body was extraordinarily weak at this moment, heavily pressing down on him.
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong shouted in shock, "Senior!"
The moment they touched, Jiang Hong tightly embraced Lu Xiu, both falling backward. Lu Xiu's body was extremely heavy, pinning down Jiang Hong with a loud thud.
"I'm here." Lu Xiu's eyes were tightly shut, his body and head drenched in cold water mixed with blood, soaking Jiang Hong entirely.
Jiang Hong was stunned.
Eight hours earlier.
At ten o'clock at night, Lu Xiu got out of the car by the roadside.
On both sides of the alley, only dim streetlights were on. This was a small municipal park with several public fitness equipments. Across the road was a three-meter-high concrete wall topped with a wire fence.
Lu Xiu looked around and saw Jiang Hong sitting on a horizontal bar, playing with his phone, and walked over.
"Jiang Hong" flipped down from the bar. Lu Xiu didn't approach but asked, "Where's your roommate?"
"Jiang Hong" replied, "He's already gone in to scout. Come on."
"Jiang Hong" stepped forward to grab Lu Xiu's hand. As Lu Xiu raised his hand and they were about to touch, he swiftly pressed down in the air.
"He's noticed," a voice sounded.
Almost simultaneously.
"Thule Su," Lu Xiu murmured under his breath.
With a thunderous explosion, the might of the dragon unleashed. "Jiang Hong" faced Lu Xiu's full-powered strike. Instead of shattering Jiang Hong, the blast of Dragon Language tore apart his upper clothing, hurling him back violently against the psychiatric hospital's wall!
With the dark Lu Xiu's disguise shed, Lu Xiu leaped forward, raising a spell in his right hand, his left hand forming a dragon claw, his eyes blazing with fury!
"What are you afraid of?" Chen Zhen's voice echoed. "That is you—your anger, your fear, your desire..."
Dark Chen Zhen emerged from the shadows, a wisp of black mist materializing in his right hand, swirling in the air.
Lu Xiu, undistracted by Dark Chen Zhen, relentlessly pursued Dark Lu Xiu. Their figures clashed fiercely in the night sky, and with another loud bang, Dark Lu Xiu slammed hard against the psychiatric hospital's outer wall. Shouts erupted from within, only to be pierced by Lu Xiu's sky-shattering strike.
"About the prophecy of the end and the destruction of the world..." Dark Chen Zhen's voice followed Lu Xiu like a shadow, constantly echoing in his ears. Lu Xiu couldn't spare a hand to deal with this "Chen Zhen," even guessing the progression of events. His priority was to deal with his doppelganger, especially in the brief moment before the opponent could react.
Now, Dark Lu Xiu had lost the initiative, almost powerless to retaliate. In the midst of ruins, he was relentlessly beaten by Lu Xiu, bloodied and battered. Dark Chen Zhen's assistance appeared—the swirling black mist, like a living thing, surged towards the real Lu Xiu!
"Can even the Connected Heart Lamp be replicated?" Lu Xiu coldly remarked.
"This is no longer the Heart Lamp," Dark Chen Zhen appeared behind Lu Xiu, a smirk on his lips. "It's the Heart Lamp of Oblivion, possessing the power to unleash darkness..."
With a roar, Lu Xiu burst into dragon flames, dispelling the black fire entwining him.
"Who created you?!" Lu Xiu suddenly accelerated, pinning down his duplicate, crashing through another wall of the psychiatric hospital, and barreling onto the main road. Traffic halted abruptly as their figures overturned a passing car, filling the air with honking and screeching brakes.
Drivers got out of their cars, staring in shock at the scene, some pulling out their phones to take photos and record videos!
Lu Xiu gripped his doppelganger's throat, lifting him up, just as Dark Lu Xiu had held Jiang Hong. His left hand gathered a bright light, poised to deliver a devastating blow—
"You fear your own death," the Oblivion Heart Lamp swept towards Lu Xiu like a tidal wave. "Fear of that inevitable destiny... fear of losing everything after becoming human... But now, you still have a choice, Lu Xiu."
The world plunged into darkness, leaving only Lu Xiu and his duplicate.
Chen Zhen's voice echoed in Lu Xiu's mind: "You don't have to carry the responsibilities forced upon you. Think about Jiang Hong? That mortal with a special bond with you..."
It was this sentence that caused Lu Xiu's movements to momentarily falter.
Following that, Dark Lu Xiu finally seized the moment to counterattack amidst the stormy onslaught!
With a dragon's roar, Dark Lu Xiu transformed into a dragon!
The mighty dragon soared into the sky, dragging Lu Xiu up with it. The situation reversed instantly as the dragon's horn pressed against Lu Xiu's abdomen, flipping mid-air dozens of meters high and slamming him towards the ground with force.
Lu Xiu's blood splattered, staining the road red, and in the next moment, he too transformed into a dragon!
The two identical black dragons suddenly split apart, one soaring high while the other gave chase. The leading black dragon turned and spewed blue-white flames, while the other narrowly dodged, rolling in the air and firmly grasping the first dragon's body with its sharp claws.
"The opportunity has come, there's no protection on his reverse scale," Dark Chen Zhen advised, "Subdue him for three minutes, and try to end this quickly. The exorcists are coming soon."
This was Lu Xiu's first encounter with such a formidable enemy. Under the condition of his own seal, he had to defeat a fully-powered version of himself, in addition to the more powerful ally on the ground: Dark Chen Zhen.
He had exhausted all his strength, yet the scales on his body kept falling off, turning into light and fire in the air.
Dark Chen Zhen stood aloft, the Oblivion Heart Lamp in his hand condensed into a black orb of light. From the orb, countless meteors with black fire shot in all directions, tracking one of the black dragons in the sky like guided missiles.
As time neared its end, Lu Xiu unleashed all his power in the final moment, gripping his duplicate tightly with his dragon claws and spewing dragon flames towards its left eye.
The two dragons separated instantly, but the duplicate clung onto the original again, its claws piercing through the skin beneath the original's reverse scale, thrusting into its heart.
Lu Xiu's body glowed with light runes, compressing and sealing his dragon power. Powerless to resist any longer, he transformed back into human form with a thunderous crash, plummeting towards the ground.
Dark Lu Xiu also reverted to human form, fingers formed like a sword, shooting through the air, aiming to pierce Lu Xiu's heart in mid-air!
"Ange is coming," Dark Chen Zhen said, "Don't linger in battle, leave this place."
Dark Lu Xiu, still not giving up, believed one more strike would obliterate the original, and he would become the true Lu Xiu.
"He has already lost," Dark Chen Zhen's voice grew stern, "but his will remains. You can't absorb him now; wait for the opportunity. Don't linger in battle! Go!"
Dark Lu Xiu flew towards Dark Chen Zhen, and with a swirl of black fire, the two disappeared together.
Lu Xiu's body traced a parabola in the air before plunging into the Pearl River. His blood was carried away by the river, disappearing without a trace in the dark night.
What remained were the sounds of ambulances and police sirens, and a scene of chaos on the ground.
With a swirl of black fire, Dark Chen Zhen and Dark Lu Xiu appeared at the top of the Canton Tower, facing the brightly lit Liede and Zhujiang New Town.
Dark Lu Xiu said, "Once he escapes, it won't be so easy to capture him again."
Dark Chen Zhen replied, "We have Jiang Hong in our hands. What's there to fear? Find an opportunity to make Jiang Hong think he has a chance to escape. Then, using Lu Xiu's reverse scale, lure him into our trap."
Dark Lu Xiu pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Dark Chen Zhen instructed, "Follow the plan. Take down the Guangzhou Exorcism Committee. Go."
Dark Lu Xiu wiped the blood from his face, revealing a sinister smile, transformed into a black dragon, and plunged into the river.
Chapter 58: Escape
"Come," Jiang Hong said after catching his breath, "let me remove these chains for everyone."
Erase, erase, erase, erase... Effortlessly, Jiang Hong unfastened the chains, prompting Chen Shun to finally exclaim, "This magical item is incredible!"
Jiang Hong remembered the warning from An Jie to never mention the origin of the Compendium of All Things unless necessary. Although their time together was short, he, Chen Shun, Huo Ran, Zhu Jinling, and Yang Feiyao were now "prison mates" who had faced life and death together. He didn’t want to reveal the Compendium’s origins, but also didn’t want to lie to Chen Shun, so he said, "Maybe it's just a case of one thing overcoming another?"
Everyone finally escaped their confinement; the chains seemed to lose all their power, hanging lifelessly along the cave walls. But even now, no one dared to recklessly use magic.
Holding the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong, as if wearing glasses that could peer into the world's underlying model, looked around. For the first time, using it to look at people, he could even see the glowing chakras of the exorcists. Chen Shun and Yang Feiyao appeared human-shaped, while Zhu Jinling's chakra was shaped like a bird.
Huo Ran's chakra was something odd, like a beast, which Jiang Hong couldn't identify.
"Thank goodness," Yang Feiyao sighed in relief, "I thought I'd never escape this place in my lifetime."
"Who would have thought," Huo Ran sighed, "that the one to break our predicament would be this young man."
Jiang Hong humbly said, "It was just luck, and everyone's joint effort. If it weren't for... everyone's help, uh, I wouldn't have been able to retrieve this... magical item kicked so far away."
"Leave the rest to us," Chen Shun said, patting Jiang Hong's shoulder, "As long as we remove the Spirit Binding Lock, there's always a way."
Huo Ran walked up to the cave wall and tried to hit it with his hands. The wall was solid and not hollow.
"Teacher Zhu," Huo Ran turned back and asked, "Can you perform divination now? Can you find a way out or guide our next steps through calculation?"
Zhu Jinling said, "I don’t have any divination tools at hand. To use Feathers of Flight, I need to wait until my spiritual power is restored, about two hours from now. Soon everyone's spiritual power will recover."
Yang Feiyao added, "It’s unrealistic to blast open this cave, but as we've previously deduced, the air here must be circulating. Since we haven't suffocated, there must be a ventilation opening."
"That's right!" Jiang Hong realized, saying, "Let me see where the ventilation is."
He wandered aimlessly around the cell again, feeling much more relaxed now. The problem had become how to get out.
Holding the Compendium of All Things, he approached the cave walls, trying to use the eraser tool on the undulating modeled lines, but this time it didn’t work. The green lines that made up the real objects couldn't be erased with an eraser.
It seemed that only the mist-like rendering effect could be erased this way, Jiang Hong thought.
"Junior, what are you doing?" Yang Feiyao asked.
To everyone else, Jiang Hong appeared like a mentally disturbed person, gesturing continuously at thin air.
"Oh, it's nothing, I was just..." Jiang Hong thought for a moment and said, "I'm practicing a spell."
"Let me try first," Huo Ran said, "I just don't know if this will alert the people from the Deceptive Spirit."
Zhu Jinling said, "If it brings the enemy here, it might also be a good opportunity for a surprise escape."
Huo Ran said, "Young man, step back a bit and take cover behind me."
Jiang Hong stepped back, and Huo Ran then conjured a spell.
A surge of heat arose, and Huo Ran's entire body emitted intense, fiery light, becoming like a smelting furnace. Jiang Hong kept dodging, finding only the area behind him cooler.
The iron chains around them, sensing the spiritual power, began to clink and clang, causing everyone to look at them apprehensively.
Next, flames whirled around Huo Ran, his eyes turning red. He stepped forward and pressed his hands against a piece of rock. The rock started to redden, soften, and then melted into magma, flowing down.
Ah, what? Through the Compendium of All Things, Jiang Hong saw a strange scene outside — the chains didn't advance to bind Huo Ran, but at the cave's outer perimeter, that distant "smoke tree" underwent a bizarre transformation, diverting a part of its power to form a “shell” around their enclosed space.
Just as Jiang Hong was about to ask Huo Ran to wait, the others couldn't endure any longer.
"It's too hot," Chen Shun said, "Teacher Huo, I think this method won't work. We need to find another way out."
Huo Ran opened a large hole in the mountain, but behind it was still rock. It was unknown how thick the wall was. Jiang Hong also noticed — the lines that made up the wall were hollow behind them.
It was pitch black and utterly empty.
After Huo Ran melted the wall in front of him, it seemed as if new material filled in from behind, repeating in a never-ending cycle.
"This is a magical item," Zhu Jinling said, "We are imprisoned in a magical item, or rather, a magical formation."
Huo Ran thus abandoned this approach.
"But at least we've determined this is not a natural environment," Huo Ran sighed and sat down.
Yang Feiyao said, "Teacher Huo, we need to conserve energy now that we no longer have the Spirit Binding Lock sustaining us."
Everyone realized another problem: breaking free from the chains was a double-edged sword. They had to find an exit while they still had the strength, or else there was only one outcome: starvation.
Jiang Hong began to use the Compendium of All Things, approaching the cave walls like a conductor's baton. Whenever the Compendium neared the walls, the modeled grid surface emitted a faint light, like the effect of a mouse cursor passing over.
Jiang Hong tried to poke the cave wall with the Compendium. A "ding" sound echoed in his mind, perhaps indicating it was useless, that this operation couldn't be performed.
"There's even an error sound," Jiang Hong said, exasperated.
Trying and trying, Jiang Hong suddenly found a peculiar spot.
"Huh?" Jiang Hong said, "What's this for?"
When he passed the Compendium over a section of the wall that had once trapped Yang Feiyao and Chen Shun, it automatically emitted light. Jiang Hong immediately turned back.
"What?" Chen Shun stood up, and Yang Feiyao came over to look as well.
Jiang Hong: "Here."
"Give us some light," Chen Shun said.
Yang Feiyao lifted her soft fingers, emitting a gentle light, but the rock wall showed no abnormalities, seamlessly part of the cave prison.
Chen Shun tapped the stone wall and tried to inject spiritual power into it, to no avail.
"How did you find this place?" Chen Shun asked.
Jiang Hong signaled for them to wait, asking for a moment to investigate further. He moved the Compendium over it, scanning the nearby area slowly, and this time the light was even more pronounced!
It was a very small area, glowing blue, with three strange characters on it.
Jiang Hong: "???"
Jiang Hong shared what he had seen. Zhu Jinling said, "You can see things we can't."
"Do you have the ability to see ghosts?" Chen Shun asked.
Unsure how to respond, Jiang Hong was silent, but Yang Feiyao said, "So, this place must be key."
Zhu Jinling and Huo Ran took turns feeling around but found nothing unusual. Huo Ran suggested, "Shall I melt this area into magma to see if there's a mechanism inside?"
Jiang Hong said, "It feels like we're playing an escape room game. Maybe we shouldn't resort to brute force just yet?"
Zhu Jinling asked, "How are these three characters written?"
Jiang Hong drew on Zhu Jinling’s hand, saying, “The first one looks like the character ‘heart,’ the second like a swastika-shaped flower, and I don't recognize the third.”
Zhu Jinling pondered for a moment, then said, “Fangzhuang script. One, seven, two.”
"An ancient artifact," Huo Ran realized, "from the pre-Qin era, probably the code for our cell."
"Oh! Is that so?" Jiang Hong observed the three characters and nodded, "Let me see if I can do something with it..."
He had a feeling that these square characters could be manipulated somehow.
"Manipulate what?" Zhu Jinling asked.
Jiang Hong first tried to erase them with an eraser, but the characters couldn’t be removed. Whenever he activated the All-Encompassing Book, the world seemed to become a giant software, a mix of 3DMAX and Photoshop, feeling as if he had entered a cyber world. The key was this interface had no user manual or sidebar tools!
Toolbar... Just as Jiang Hong thought of this, a toolbar suddenly appeared above his head!
Jiang Hong: "………………"
Jiang Hong lifted his finger to virtually press it, and everyone, not understanding, looked up with him.
Everyone: "???"
Chen Shun: "What’s up there now?"
So far, apart from Jiang Hong, no one could see anything unusual. If it wasn’t for Jiang Hong unlocking the chains earlier, he’d surely be considered insane right now.
Jiang Hong: "Lasso? Can I bring down the characters with it?"
Zhu Jinling: "?"
"No," Jiang Hong muttered to himself, "Let’s try 3D manipulation? Use the mouse, maybe. Huh? The mouse works? Is it that simple?"
Jiang Hong pulled down a mouse the size of a small palm from the toolbar floating above his head, placed it on the glowing area, and pushed forward.
"Ding!" A error sound echoed in his mind, indicating that this operation was not allowed.
Jiang Hong: "That startled me... What about pulling?"
Pulling outwards worked! Jiang Hong managed to pull out a doorknob from the glowing area!
Everyone gasped in astonishment as the rock wall bulged outward with Jiang Hong's action, revealing a door ring!
In Jiang Hong's eyes, the "door ring" was a rotary handle. He then clicked on it with the mouse and turned it counterclockwise.
"Ding." The error sound came again, repeatedly, "Ding ding ding ding."
"Got it!" Jiang Hong, exasperated, switched to clockwise.
The door opened, and the cave wall burst into white light, enveloping the five of them.
"The door's open!" Jiang Hong shouted, "Let's go!"
White light flooded towards them, and Jiang Hong was the first to dash through the door, followed swiftly by the other four.
"Yes!" Yang Feiyao cheered first.
They found themselves in a corridor with a carpeted floor, with a door at the end of the hallway.
"Ah, I... I've been here before!" Jiang Hong said.
He had walked this corridor when he was captured, escorted by Dark Lu Xiu to an elevator hall. Jiang Hong quickly ran towards it, knowing finding the elevator would be crucial.
This door was different from the cave's entrance, having a noticeable doorknob.
Jiang Hong pulled the doorknob, but behind it was a staircase of an emergency exit.
Jiang Hong: "?"
"What's wrong?" Huo Ran asked.
Everyone squeezed at the doorway and Jiang Hong said, "It seems different from what I remember."
Huo Ran looked at Zhu Jinling, who thought for a moment and said, "It's okay, let's go. This is the only door."
Jiang Hong nodded, and Huo Ran added, "We should hurry. Although we're not sure about their alarm system, an escape will surely be detected quickly."
Jiang Hong felt the urgency too, knowing they needed to find the exit fast.
"Chen Shun," Zhu Jinling said.
Chen Shun understood and said, "I'll take the lead. Jiang Hong, you’ve done so much for us already. We can’t always rely on you alone..."
"It's okay, it's okay!" Jiang Hong reassured, realizing they felt guilty as well, since their escape relied entirely on his artifact, and the four exorcists couldn't offer much help.
"Come on," Jiang Hong said with a smile. "Ms. Zhu, after we get back, how about an A for me next semester?"
"I'd give you an A every year," Zhu Jinling replied, "you're already an A in my eyes."
Jiang Hong was thrilled, thinking: Great! I don’t have to worry about failing in my otherworldly explorations! No matter what, I must ensure Zhu Jinling safely returns to school...
...It doesn’t seem like a Penrose staircase. Jiang Hong went down a floor, saw no floor markings in the emergency stairwell, and then opened the next door.
Inside was a dark corridor.
Standing at the entrance of the corridor, Jiang Hong gathered his courage and said, "Shall we go? It looks like we can go down another level."
"Since there's no alarm, let’s open every door to check," Huo Ran suggested.
So Jiang Hong returned to the emergency staircase, descended further, and pushed open another door, revealing a spacious area like a gymnasium, but with the lights off.
Jiang Hong: "???"
"What about downstairs?" Yang Feiyao asked.
"This is the bottom," Jiang Hong looked up at the top of the emergency stairwell and said, "Is this some kind of strange spatial magic?"
Jiang Hong tried to activate the All-Encompassing Book towards the gymnasium’s door, and three characters similar to the font used for the prison exit appeared.
After hearing this, Zhu Jinling said, "293, it’s another code."
"This place feels safer than the previous one," Jiang Hong said, "Shall we go in and check?"
Everyone entered the gymnasium in turn. Inside, there were sixteen doors. They split up to inspect them, finding all to be standard security doors—Chen Shun tried to pull one open by the handle, and it opened.
"What is this place?" Chen Shun was astonished.
The gymnasium doors led to a rooftop! Instead of the blue sky on the outside of the rooftop, there was a mist, obscuring the view.
"I know what this is," Zhu Jinling stood in front of the door, examining it closely, and said, "It’s called the Inclined Cosmic Goblet, a magical artifact."
Huo Ran: "……"
Yang Feiyao curiously asked, "What’s that?"
Zhu Jinling replied, "The artifact, Inclined Cosmic Goblet, can infinitely extend and create new spaces, provided the holder has sufficient magical power."
Huo Ran: "I've heard of the Through-Cosmos Vase, a top-tier magical artifact of the Exorcists' Council, but not this one."
Zhu Jinling explained, "The Inclined Cosmic Goblet has been lost to the world for nearly two thousand years. It was originally studied by exorcists in the Qin and Han dynasties, who derived the 'Fissure' spell from it. I remember it well as I’ve written a research paper on it. Jiang Hong, can you see the internal workings of this artifact? Jiang Hong!"
"Yeah!" Jiang Hong, on the other side of the gymnasium with the All-Encompassing Book, was studying the numbers on each door, each bearing a corresponding number.
He opened one door to find a hotel-like standard room, peeked in, then moved on to push another door.
Behind the neighboring door was an empty concrete corridor.
Jiang Hong: "???"
Opening another door revealed an empty cell, identical to the one he had been imprisoned in.
Jiang Hong: "Is anyone there?"
"Apart from the chains hanging on the wall, there was no one inside. Jiang Hong felt a chill run down his spine, hesitant to enter. He turned to rejoin his companions, hearing Huo Ran's sudden voice."
"If it's the Qinyu Golden Cup," Huo Ran asked, "does Teacher Zhu have a way to escape?"
Zhu Jingling said, "There's only one exit to the outside world. It's the sole connection with the outside. To return to reality, we must find this room."
Chen Shun, standing in front of the railing, said, "What happens if we jump down?"
"You'd better not try anything rash," Yang Feiyao cautioned.
"Come back, Chen Shun," Huo Ran said. "Now that we have a clear goal, let's find the only exit."
"What conditions must this exit meet?" Yang Feiyao asked again.
Zhu Jingling pondered for a moment, finding it hard to decide. Jiang Hong, who had roughly heard their conversation, suddenly had a brainwave and said, "Could it be the room where the duplicate Chen Zhen first stayed?"
"Very likely," said Yang Feiyao.
"Do we have a signal here?" Jiang Hong suddenly remembered. Of course, they didn't have mobile phones, but! But! When captured, he had seen the dark Lu Xiu sending messages on his phone!
That means the initial room had a signal. It must be connected to the outside world and is the only exit!
Jiang Hong shared his deduction, and Huo Ran said, "That's right."
"Let's try them one by one," Zhu Jingling said, "and quickly."
So they opened every door; most led to corridors, and in the first round of attempts, they didn’t find the room Jiang Hong described.
"We can only choose one corridor to enter," Huo Ran said. "Jiang Hong, you pick one. Trust your instincts."
"Uh," said Jiang Hong, "shouldn't Teacher Zhu choose? Okay... this one?"
Jiang Hong entered one of the corridors, which had two doors. Chen Shun opened one, revealing an office. Chen Shun asked, "Is this the place?"
"It looks somewhat similar," Jiang Hong said as he entered, noticing the same windows, yet something seemed amiss. He lay on the floor, trying to get a different perspective of the surroundings.
"No," Jiang Hong said, "it's missing a dressing mirror."
Chen Shun then went to open the next door. As he let go, the door slammed shut automatically.
So, Jiang Hong got up and pulled open the door.
The next moment, his only thought was: This is bad.
Behind the door was no longer the corridor, but a dormitory with bunk beds...
Jiang Hong: "..................."
Jiang Hong: "Where is everyone? Don't play tricks on me! Hey!"
Jiang Hong quickly shut the door, then reopened it.
Outside was a garden, and beyond it, a blanket of fog.
"Aaaaah!" Jiang Hong was utterly dumbfounded.
"Chen Shun! Teacher Zhu!" Jiang Hong stepped out into the garden, looking around bewilderedly and screamed, "This door changes both ways! Why didn't we notice this at the beginning?!"
"Chen Shun!" Jiang Hong cried frantically, "You've doomed me!"
The garden was small. Turning back, Jiang Hong saw a two-story villa behind him with a pond in the garden, home to several fish. He immediately turned back and pushed the door open again.
Inside was a dark dungeon-like cave. Jiang Hong had begun to understand the principle. Each door here followed a pattern, constantly changing; each time it was closed and reopened, it led to a different place.
In other words, there might be countless "bubbles" inside, interconnected by some dynamic, password-like changes. Now, he had to find a way to locate Zhu Jingling - I still need to get an A this semester! Oh my God! What kind of hellish task is this!
Jiang Hong closed and opened the door repeatedly, like grinding in a game, until he found a room that looked right and entered. It was a clean kitchen, like one in a cafeteria.
Jiang Hong opened the refrigerator and found milk! Both thirsty and hungry, he drank most of the bottle, feeling his strength return. Holding onto the milk bottle, he thought he might find his companions later and share it with them.
"Does it look like?" Jiang Hong wondered aloud, using the Book of Everything to discern the characters on the doorknob. He opened the door, revealing another corridor. Unsure if it was where he had separated from Chen Shun, he entered, calling out, "Teacher Zhu! Are you still there?"
Would they have waited for him?
Jiang Hong began "door-grinding" again, opening and closing doors, yet never finding the dark Chen Zhen's office. Maybe there was a specific entry and exit? It felt like playing a complex RPG, and he knew he needed to find the pattern.
But with all this opening and closing of doors, he hadn't encountered Zhu Jingling and the others again. Were the doors infinite? The number of spaces at each door, infinite too? He hoped not... Jiang Hong checked the number on the door again, perhaps it was sixty-eight?
"Bang!" He shut the door and opened it again.
Suddenly, Jiang Hong froze, instinctively bracing the door. The room was familiar—it was Lu Xiu's bedroom!
How did the bedroom end up here? Jiang Hong stepped inside. Yes, this was Lu Xiu's graduate dormitory! He tried opening the window; outside, and beyond the balcony, was a layer of misty fog. Reaching out, he felt a strange repulsion within the fog, like a dense, soft liquid wall, preventing further reach.
Desk, bed, motorcycle helmet—all the furnishings matched Lu Xiu's room exactly. Wait... was something missing here too?
Jiang Hong remembered and turned towards the bookshelf. Yes, something was missing—the headphones he had given to Lu Xiu. Lu Xiu loved those black and red headphones, using them not only for music but as a fashion accessory, hanging around his neck to match his trendy clothes.
This wasn't Lu Xiu's bedroom; it must be a replica, Jiang Hong thought. He needed to find the exit...
Just as he was about to turn and leave, a thought flashed through his mind.
Could this be where the dark Lu Xiu lived?
Jiang Hong almost closed the door but then spun around, dived back into the bedroom, and began frantically searching the room. He flipped the pillow, opened the wardrobe, pulled out the drawers of the bedside table—
—There!
He had found the scale! The scale taken by the dark Lu Xiu!
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong immediately gripped it tightly, shouting out.
No response, Jiang Hong looked around; there wasn't even a hint of spiritual energy.
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong yelled, "Help me! Come save me!"
At this moment, he had completely forgotten his concern that Lu Xiu might also be trapped here. He just wanted to see him at the first opportunity, to tell him about the impostor's existence. Jiang Hong's trust in Lu Xiu was almost blind. As long as he was here, he could surely lead them out of this predicament.
"Lu Xiu," Jiang Hong sighed with a self-deprecating smile.
He realized Lu Xiu couldn't come to this place; he had to rely on himself.
Jiang Hong still wore the scale, turned around to open the door, and pondered for a moment. Merely opening and closing doors was futile. The only way out was to find the pattern in this strange space's shifting passages...
He activated the Book of Everything again, pointing it at the doorknob, scrutinizing the numbers on it.
What was this number, over a hundred? Without Zhu Jingling's translation skills, Jiang Hong could only try to remember it.
As Jiang Hong surveyed the surroundings again, he suddenly saw a bizarre sight. Outside this graduate dormitory, through the green lines resembling a 3D model, in the boundless dark space, a blue streak of light, like a meteor with a tail, twisted and turned towards him.
Jiang Hong: "?"
The streak of light zigzagged unpredictably through the void, like a particle undergoing Brownian motion, drawing ever closer. Then, silently, it burst into the dormitory, causing ripples before Jiang Hong, and with a "whoosh," it made a sound.
Lu Xiu's tall figure emerged from a splash of water, colliding with Jiang Hong.
Jiang Hong let out an excited shout, but the next moment, he sensed something was wrong. Lu Xiu was bare-chested, covered in wounds. As he collided, blood splattered, drenching Jiang Hong's head and body. Lu Xiu's usually iron-like body was extraordinarily weak at this moment, heavily pressing down on him.
"Lu Xiu!" Jiang Hong shouted in shock, "Senior!"
The moment they touched, Jiang Hong tightly embraced Lu Xiu, both falling backward. Lu Xiu's body was extremely heavy, pinning down Jiang Hong with a loud thud.
"I'm here." Lu Xiu's eyes were tightly shut, his body and head drenched in cold water mixed with blood, soaking Jiang Hong entirely.
Jiang Hong was stunned.
Eight hours earlier.
At ten o'clock at night, Lu Xiu got out of the car by the roadside.
On both sides of the alley, only dim streetlights were on. This was a small municipal park with several public fitness equipments. Across the road was a three-meter-high concrete wall topped with a wire fence.
Lu Xiu looked around and saw Jiang Hong sitting on a horizontal bar, playing with his phone, and walked over.
"Jiang Hong" flipped down from the bar. Lu Xiu didn't approach but asked, "Where's your roommate?"
"Jiang Hong" replied, "He's already gone in to scout. Come on."
"Jiang Hong" stepped forward to grab Lu Xiu's hand. As Lu Xiu raised his hand and they were about to touch, he swiftly pressed down in the air.
"He's noticed," a voice sounded.
Almost simultaneously.
"Thule Su," Lu Xiu murmured under his breath.
With a thunderous explosion, the might of the dragon unleashed. "Jiang Hong" faced Lu Xiu's full-powered strike. Instead of shattering Jiang Hong, the blast of Dragon Language tore apart his upper clothing, hurling him back violently against the psychiatric hospital's wall!
With the dark Lu Xiu's disguise shed, Lu Xiu leaped forward, raising a spell in his right hand, his left hand forming a dragon claw, his eyes blazing with fury!
"What are you afraid of?" Chen Zhen's voice echoed. "That is you—your anger, your fear, your desire..."
Dark Chen Zhen emerged from the shadows, a wisp of black mist materializing in his right hand, swirling in the air.
Lu Xiu, undistracted by Dark Chen Zhen, relentlessly pursued Dark Lu Xiu. Their figures clashed fiercely in the night sky, and with another loud bang, Dark Lu Xiu slammed hard against the psychiatric hospital's outer wall. Shouts erupted from within, only to be pierced by Lu Xiu's sky-shattering strike.
"About the prophecy of the end and the destruction of the world..." Dark Chen Zhen's voice followed Lu Xiu like a shadow, constantly echoing in his ears. Lu Xiu couldn't spare a hand to deal with this "Chen Zhen," even guessing the progression of events. His priority was to deal with his doppelganger, especially in the brief moment before the opponent could react.
Now, Dark Lu Xiu had lost the initiative, almost powerless to retaliate. In the midst of ruins, he was relentlessly beaten by Lu Xiu, bloodied and battered. Dark Chen Zhen's assistance appeared—the swirling black mist, like a living thing, surged towards the real Lu Xiu!
"Can even the Connected Heart Lamp be replicated?" Lu Xiu coldly remarked.
"This is no longer the Heart Lamp," Dark Chen Zhen appeared behind Lu Xiu, a smirk on his lips. "It's the Heart Lamp of Oblivion, possessing the power to unleash darkness..."
With a roar, Lu Xiu burst into dragon flames, dispelling the black fire entwining him.
"Who created you?!" Lu Xiu suddenly accelerated, pinning down his duplicate, crashing through another wall of the psychiatric hospital, and barreling onto the main road. Traffic halted abruptly as their figures overturned a passing car, filling the air with honking and screeching brakes.
Drivers got out of their cars, staring in shock at the scene, some pulling out their phones to take photos and record videos!
Lu Xiu gripped his doppelganger's throat, lifting him up, just as Dark Lu Xiu had held Jiang Hong. His left hand gathered a bright light, poised to deliver a devastating blow—
"You fear your own death," the Oblivion Heart Lamp swept towards Lu Xiu like a tidal wave. "Fear of that inevitable destiny... fear of losing everything after becoming human... But now, you still have a choice, Lu Xiu."
The world plunged into darkness, leaving only Lu Xiu and his duplicate.
Chen Zhen's voice echoed in Lu Xiu's mind: "You don't have to carry the responsibilities forced upon you. Think about Jiang Hong? That mortal with a special bond with you..."
It was this sentence that caused Lu Xiu's movements to momentarily falter.
Following that, Dark Lu Xiu finally seized the moment to counterattack amidst the stormy onslaught!
With a dragon's roar, Dark Lu Xiu transformed into a dragon!
The mighty dragon soared into the sky, dragging Lu Xiu up with it. The situation reversed instantly as the dragon's horn pressed against Lu Xiu's abdomen, flipping mid-air dozens of meters high and slamming him towards the ground with force.
Lu Xiu's blood splattered, staining the road red, and in the next moment, he too transformed into a dragon!
The two identical black dragons suddenly split apart, one soaring high while the other gave chase. The leading black dragon turned and spewed blue-white flames, while the other narrowly dodged, rolling in the air and firmly grasping the first dragon's body with its sharp claws.
"The opportunity has come, there's no protection on his reverse scale," Dark Chen Zhen advised, "Subdue him for three minutes, and try to end this quickly. The exorcists are coming soon."
This was Lu Xiu's first encounter with such a formidable enemy. Under the condition of his own seal, he had to defeat a fully-powered version of himself, in addition to the more powerful ally on the ground: Dark Chen Zhen.
He had exhausted all his strength, yet the scales on his body kept falling off, turning into light and fire in the air.
Dark Chen Zhen stood aloft, the Oblivion Heart Lamp in his hand condensed into a black orb of light. From the orb, countless meteors with black fire shot in all directions, tracking one of the black dragons in the sky like guided missiles.
As time neared its end, Lu Xiu unleashed all his power in the final moment, gripping his duplicate tightly with his dragon claws and spewing dragon flames towards its left eye.
The two dragons separated instantly, but the duplicate clung onto the original again, its claws piercing through the skin beneath the original's reverse scale, thrusting into its heart.
Lu Xiu's body glowed with light runes, compressing and sealing his dragon power. Powerless to resist any longer, he transformed back into human form with a thunderous crash, plummeting towards the ground.
Dark Lu Xiu also reverted to human form, fingers formed like a sword, shooting through the air, aiming to pierce Lu Xiu's heart in mid-air!
"Ange is coming," Dark Chen Zhen said, "Don't linger in battle, leave this place."
Dark Lu Xiu, still not giving up, believed one more strike would obliterate the original, and he would become the true Lu Xiu.
"He has already lost," Dark Chen Zhen's voice grew stern, "but his will remains. You can't absorb him now; wait for the opportunity. Don't linger in battle! Go!"
Dark Lu Xiu flew towards Dark Chen Zhen, and with a swirl of black fire, the two disappeared together.
Lu Xiu's body traced a parabola in the air before plunging into the Pearl River. His blood was carried away by the river, disappearing without a trace in the dark night.
What remained were the sounds of ambulances and police sirens, and a scene of chaos on the ground.
With a swirl of black fire, Dark Chen Zhen and Dark Lu Xiu appeared at the top of the Canton Tower, facing the brightly lit Liede and Zhujiang New Town.
Dark Lu Xiu said, "Once he escapes, it won't be so easy to capture him again."
Dark Chen Zhen replied, "We have Jiang Hong in our hands. What's there to fear? Find an opportunity to make Jiang Hong think he has a chance to escape. Then, using Lu Xiu's reverse scale, lure him into our trap."
Dark Lu Xiu pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Dark Chen Zhen instructed, "Follow the plan. Take down the Guangzhou Exorcism Committee. Go."
Dark Lu Xiu wiped the blood from his face, revealing a sinister smile, transformed into a black dragon, and plunged into the river.
