Yan Qing stared intently at the object in his hand, unable to discern his true intentions.

She had expected the other person to take out the blood-drawing needle that the Grand Elder had once used, but to her surprise, the man pulled out a set of clothes instead.

The red mourning clothes were the same kind she wore every day.

"Is there something wrong with these clothes?" Yan Qing never expected that the problem was with the clothes.

Chu Jiang smiled mysteriously, giving her a heads-up beforehand, "What's coming next might be a little exciting, so just bear with it!"

Before Yan Qing could figure out what he meant, the red mourning clothes in Chu Jiang's hand suddenly "came to life".

Yes, she wasn't mistaken; the clothes had come to life!

The red mourning robe was tied with a dark red belt. It wouldn't have seemed unusual at first, but after Chu Jiang removed the belt, the entire robe began to move on its own.

"Here you go, see for yourself."

Chu Jiang suddenly produced a magnifying glass and shoved it into her hand. Yan Qing already had excellent eyesight, and even without the magnifying glass, she could vaguely see that the entire red dress was made up of countless tiny insects, almost invisible to the naked eye.

These tiny insects were fixed to the red fabric with a special solution, making them feel exactly like ordinary embroidery. When they remained still, they were completely indistinguishable to the naked eye.

With the help of a magnifying glass, Yan Qing was able to make out the appearance of these small insects after they were moved around. They were all almost transparent, and looked somewhat like ladybugs, except that they had a long, transparent mouthpart, which made them look rather creepy.

That's not the main point. It seems that after these insects suck blood, some of them turn very close to red, while others turn closer to gold. That's the origin of the patterns on her clothes.

Cold sweat broke out on the back of Yan Qing's head. She pointed at the hideous-looking insects, her face filled with disbelief.

"You mean, these bugs are sucking my blood all the time?" That's terrifying!

"Let me correct you—it only sucks your blood at night." Chu Jiang casually pinched a gold thread embroidery on his clothes, and the next moment, the gold thread turned into a mottled bloodstain. With that, what was there for Yan Qing not to understand?

"So that's it! No wonder I've been feeling more and more tired lately!" She had thought it was because she had been under too much mental stress, to the point that her body couldn't take it anymore, but she never expected it was because of this.

Chu Jiang reached out and wiped his clothes again. Surprisingly, the tiny insects remained frozen in place, and the clothes returned to normal.

However, his expression seemed to still harbor resentment. "I was asleep at the time and not truly awake. Although I had anticipated that they wouldn't be behaving themselves in recent years, their audacity was truly unexpected, so—"

At this point, he gestured behind him, "How about that? I've reduced them all to ashes, which is revenge for you—Qingqing, are you happy?"

What's there to be happy about! Now that all the Zhang family members are dead, what about her dungeon quest?

Yan Qing remained unmoved. "Where exactly is Wuyun Mountain?" The rules of her dungeon quest, those five ridiculous words, were still etched in her mind. There was no way she could avoid Wuyun Mountain.

"Mount Wuyun?" Chu Jiang seemed surprised by her question, paused slightly, and then chuckled as he replied.

"So you haven't realized it yet? Aren't we still in the Dark Cloud Mountain?" He pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

Yan Qing instantly understood: Wuyun Mountain was actually at the bottom of the lake!! The massive mountain she had seen in the lake earlier was actually the Wuyun Mountain she had been searching for?!

"You mean, we were originally in Wuyun Mountain all along?" Yan Qing asked incredulously. "What about Cangyun Mountain?"

Chu Jiang laughed again. He turned around and pointed to the densely packed coffins, his tone full of disdain.

"That was just the Zhang family's plan to defy fate. They had been sleeping underwater for a hundred years, in a state of neither life nor death, so naturally they would become greedy and want to be the true masters for a while."

Chu Jiang flicked his finger again, and all the coffins exploded once more, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere. Before long, the square was razed to the ground.

Yan Qing broke out in a cold sweat again at his sudden change of expression. This man was indeed so vengeful! Not only had he reduced her to ashes, but now he had even blown up her coffin lid.

Ruthless, truly ruthless!

Chu Jiang wiped his hands and continued nonchalantly, "They were already dead long ago. I gave them a chance to be reborn, which was incredibly lucky. But these people are insatiable. Not only did they secretly use the formation I gave them to do dirty tricks, but they even started targeting you. Tell me, should I punish them?"

"They deserve it! They absolutely deserve it! These people deserve to die a hundred times over!" Yan Qing wasn't exactly a saint either. They had already plotted against her from the start, so she wasn't going to be a saint and sympathize with them.

"However—" Chu Jiang changed the subject, "Aren't you curious about why you suddenly ended up here? And why Zhang Nana, why did she take on your appearance?"

Yan Qing was naturally curious; she had already speculated about this question long ago.

"I think Zhang Nana had already targeted me in the first instance of the Apocalyptic Rules and Strange Tales world. I remember after clearing the instance, I received a reward called 'Nana's Blessing.' Looking back now, that thing was ostensibly there to protect me, but it was actually the most powerful weapon lurking deep inside my heart."

She still remembered that if it weren't for her lucky dice, she would probably be a hanged ghost by now.

Mentioning this, Chu Jiang's face turned even darker than hers, the aggrieved party. Yan Qing was certain that he now felt like strangling Zhang Nana.

However, what he said was completely at odds with his expression: "This Zhang Nana, actually, is related to you by blood. She is indeed a member of the Zhang family, but her lineage, as the true descendants of the Zhang family's old residence, was utterly defeated in the family struggle and ultimately had to flee this place as a whole."

He looked at Yan Qing, a hint of guilt creeping into his voice.

"Originally, when I was in my slumber, the guardian I chose was their lineage, but something unexpected happened. All the elders of Zhang Nana's lineage were assassinated, leaving only their family. So, I had no choice but to let them go in the end, and that's why I chose the current Zhang family."