"You're so surprised that you didn't realize it was just a trick?" Mingzhuo was speechless.

I thought this person could conceal their birth chart, but it turns out they couldn't.

"I made a substitute doll and had someone take it to the north of the city. You actually fell for it?" Ming Zhuo was genuinely surprised and shook his head. "Not only are you useless, but your people are useless too."

In broad daylight, anyone with a little attention could tell that the stand-in doll was fake.

——

On the other side.

Xianze drove towards the north of the city.

Three substitute dolls were placed on the seats in the car.

This is his handmade work. Mingzhuo said that he just carved it casually, since it's just an illusion.

But Xianze was different; he took everything very seriously and always strived for perfection.

So every night he would take the wood carving to the swimming pool, and after swimming, he would sit on a wall and carve while looking in the direction of Ruan Mingxuan's dormitory.

Before they knew it, several of the stand-in dolls were sculpted based on Ruan Mingxuan's appearance, and they were very lifelike.

Mingzhuo put his birth date and time, along with his hair and nails, into the car, and then used a trick to make it appear to outsiders that the person sitting in the car was Mingzhuo.

However, this thing can't stand up to close scrutiny. After all, a doll isn't a living thing; it can only move but can't speak. If you look at it too closely, the trick will be exposed.

Xianze had noticed a car following him long ago. That idiot had been circling around him, and he didn't know when he finally realized something was wrong.

But Mingzhuo must have already clashed with the other party, so it seems like he doesn't need to go through all that trouble anymore?

Xianze stopped the car.

The man who was following them was puzzled. Why was the car parked here?

In the blink of an eye, he realized that the person in the driver's seat had disappeared!

The man was startled. He didn't care about revealing his identity. After all, he was just an ordinary person. What could those people do to him?

He jogged forward, peered through the car window, and could vaguely make out a figure inside.

The man knocked on the car window, and the person inside rolled the window down halfway.

"Excuse me, could I borrow a light?" The man looked at the other person's profile; those eyebrows and eyes were unmistakably Ruan Mingzhuo.

He spoke with a grin.

The other person didn't speak, and the man was a little puzzled. This person seemed to have a very calm temper, and didn't even get angry.

He took another closer look, and just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that the person inside had turned around.

It was a stiff, expressionless face, with wooden eyes staring blankly at him.

"A ghost! A ghost!!"

——

Meanwhile, in the basement, Lily of the Valley's face was ashen.

She never expected that she would be tricked by Ming Zhuo.

This person is so bold as to trespass on her territory!

"You've chosen the path to hell instead of the path to heaven! Since you've come looking for trouble, today is your death day!"

Mingzhuo: "Let's forget about it. I'm still young and I don't like this day. But you're old enough to have lived long enough. Since you like it, I'll grant your wish."

Linglan hadn't expected her to be so quick-witted. She snorted coldly, picked up a small cauldron next to the shrine, bit her fingertip, and dripped blood into it.

In the room filled with candles, a sudden gust of wind blew, causing the candlelight to flicker.

The room temperature plummeted, and the yin energy became so thick it was almost condensing into water. A dark shadow floated out of the cauldron, emanating a fierce resentment.

The ghosts inside the wall involuntarily came down from the wall, waving their ghostly claws and approaching the group of people.

Linglan held a long whip and had already lashed it several times, intending to launch a sneak attack when no one was paying attention.

Xie Xiao felt a little nervous; she sensed that this would be much more troublesome than dealing with the fake ghost king in the river last time.

This strange formation greatly enhanced the strength of those ghosts; and almost instantly, Linglan and Wen Shaoan disappeared from their sight.

Within the formation, eerie howls echoed, and the whips that occasionally lashed out from the void made it impossible to defend against.

Mingzhuo raised his sword to block the whip, but then a cold wind swept in from behind him—it was the evil spirit inside the cauldron.

She grabbed Xie Xiao and swung her sword at him.

Outside the formation, Linglan, who was observing the entire situation, couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a smug smile.

This formation is ever-changing, its illusions being reality and reality being illusions; Ruan Mingzhuo's sword strike simply couldn't hit it.

However, she looked at the person who had already reached the edge of the formation with some surprise, and was astonished to see him step out of the formation unharmed without encountering any resistance.

“You…” Linglan was startled at first, but then she realized from the other person’s breath that he was just an ordinary person who did not know any magic.

Looking at Gu Xu's stunningly beautiful face, she gave up on attacking him. "Who are you? You'd be better off coming with me than losing your life today."

Gu Xu wandered out casually, only to find himself already at the edge of the shrine.

He politely replied, "I'm sorry, no."

Lily of the Valley: "Do you really want to be buried with Ruan Mingzhuo?"

Her laughter was like the tinkling of silver bells. She tossed her hair, her every move vibrant and alluring. "Look at me, don't you think I'm beautiful?"

Gu Xu closed his eyes in patience, and was about to say something when an invisible sword light slashed over.

Lily of the Valley reacted quickly, but she was still scratched on the arm, and a bloodstain immediately appeared on her snow-white skin.

Wen Shaoan was heartbroken at the sight. Any man would feel pity for a beautiful woman who was injured.

Mingzhuo: "What's so good about you? You old hag, how dare you flirt with my people? Are you tired of living?"

She was truly enraged. She had originally wanted to investigate the reason why this formation was so ever-changing and endless, since it seemed to hold some secrets. However, she no longer had the mind to do so.

Ah Xu is such a pure and innocent person, how dare this old hag be so presumptuous!

When Mingzhuo got angry, he cleaved the magic array in half with a single sword strike.

Linglan was somewhat surprised, but she still urged the ghosts to deal with Mingzhuo.

However, it's a bit strange that the foreign players seem to have arrived too late today.

Mingzhuo waited a while, and seeing that the other party seemed to have no other tricks up his sleeve, he said, "Were you summoning those evil spirits from the soul bottle? Sorry, I've already dealt with them by accident."

Lily of the Valley exclaimed in disbelief, "You're talking nonsense!"

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and he urged the ghosts on even more urgently.

With a soft click, the puppet landed lightly on Mingzhuo's shoulder, sat down with her support, turned its head, and gave Linglan a deep look with its dark pupils.

Having practiced evil magic for many years, Lily of the Valley instantly felt a chill and fear from the depths of her soul; she had been marked by an evil spirit.

But how could that be? She commands countless ghost servants, and even powerful ghosts dare not easily mark her.

Unless... it's a demon king-level evil spirit.

"Who are you?" Lily of the Valley asked in shock.

Mingzhuo was somewhat surprised by such a strong reaction. "Didn't you deal with it before? You sent the Incense Ash Gu to assassinate my sister, and didn't it give you a return gift that night?"

Linglan's face darkened slightly. She finally understood why she had been having frequent nightmares that night and was suffering a severe backlash.

If she hadn't been injured, she wouldn't have been so exhausted when she tried to ambush Ruan Mulan at Dead Man's Bay, allowing Ming Zhuo to break the formation.