When Yan Qing woke up again, she found herself back in her own courtyard. Not only that, but Lingxi, who had been missing, was also sitting safely by her bedside, watching over her.
"Hmm—" Yan Qing sat up. "Lingxi, when did you get back?"
Lingxi immediately turned around, her face beaming with undisguised joy, "Master, you're finally awake!"
"When did I get back? I should have been in the underground stone chamber!"
Lingxi frowned. "When I came back, Master was already sleeping here—you've been sleeping all day. Look, it's already dark outside."
Yan Qing glanced at the sky outside, then looked down at her watch. It was already 11 p.m.? She had slept quite a long time.
"By the way, Lingxi, how did you get back? What happened to you last night?"
"Sigh—it's a long story." Lingxi began to tell her about her experiences.
It turned out that after she went in that day, she discovered that there seemed to be a restraining array in Zhang Xinxin's courtyard. As soon as she entered, she felt that most of her strength had disappeared.
Not only that, she could sense that the ground in that courtyard was full of the skeletons of newly dead girls, at least dozens of them.
"You mean, many young girls died in Zhang Xinxin's courtyard?"
“Yes!” Lingxi couldn’t understand this either. “But I can clearly see that although Zhang Xinxin has many strange characteristics, she is definitely a living person and definitely not strange.”
Yan Qing pondered. She had initially been prejudiced and indeed thought that Zhang Xinxin was strange. It seemed that there must be other issues involved.
"Then how come you were stuck there all night and didn't come back?" Yan Qing was curious about this.
Lingxi's next answer caused her expression to change drastically.
"Master, I see Chu Jiang."
"What?!" Yan Qing was genuinely shocked. "Chu Jiang... wasn't he already reduced to ashes? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
Lingxi was also confused. To be honest, she didn't know Chu Jiang at all. "I saw that his clothes, appearance, and even his looks were exactly the same as Chu Jiang's. Except—" She looked a little confused.
"Besides what?" Yan Qing unconsciously became nervous. "Tell me more clearly."
"Yes, the only difference I noticed was that his hair was purple."
According to Lingxi, in the center of Zhang Xinxin's room hangs a portrait of Chu Jiang. Moreover, Zhang Xinxin seems to take great care of the portrait, wiping it meticulously every day.
"A portrait? So you didn't see him in person?" Yan Qing relaxed. Although she guessed that Chu Jiang should have some connection with this place, she really didn't know the specifics.
As for why Lingxi was trapped, according to her own account, the array in that courtyard seemed to become incredibly powerful instantly at midnight. At that time, she was severely suppressed and could only barely protect herself with her magic weapon, having no extra strength to leave.
"Thanks to the protective shield that Master bought for me at great expense, I managed to hold on until dawn—around four or five o'clock, the rooster crowed, and the formation weakened instantly. I was able to move around with difficulty, but because the suppression was so strong, I had to rest on the spot for a while. When I came back, Master, you had already left."
Yan Qing nodded. It seemed she had to make a trip to Zhang Xinxin's little courtyard.
Unlike Lingxi, she possesses a natural ability to become invisible. However, upon closer reflection, given the powerful suppression of the supernatural at night, and Zhang Xinxin's many eerie characteristics, she should also be subject to suppression. Therefore, this is currently the safest time to investigate.
Without hesitation, Yan Qing immediately got out of bed, ate her fill, and then packed her gear to head out. As for Lingxi, she left her behind to guard the door.
Tonight is a bit strange; Yan Qing didn't see a single person in her own yard.
Out of caution, she went around to the back room to take a look and found that everyone was lying neatly asleep on the bed, even in the same position.
— Lifting his head back, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and smiling.
If one or two people are like this, it can be considered normal, but if everyone is the same, then it is definitely not normal.
Quietly leaving the courtyard, she subconsciously looked up at the sky. The moon was high in the sky, without a single cloud, and it looked like a beautiful day.
Climbing over the wall was something she was already very familiar with. After entering Zhang Xinxin's courtyard, she found that it was much quieter than her own courtyard.
The courtyard was spotless, with no visible formation. However, since Lingxi had said that the formation was only for the supernatural, she was naturally unaffected.
I went to the back room first, and all the maids there were sleeping in the same position, not even taking off their clothes.
Moving to Zhang Xinxin's room at the front, this time it was finally a little different.
Zhang Xinxin was asleep—she was certain of that. But when she got to the bedside, she was shocked to find that the person was not breathing.
Yan Qing tried several times and was absolutely certain that what she saw before her was a corpse. But strangely, her body was still warm.
Zhang Xinxin's posture was largely the same as the others, except for one thing—she was holding a photo frame in her palm. The person in the photo frame looked very familiar to him; it was Chu Jiang, who had disappeared during the Azure Dragon Coffin Dance.
Upon closer inspection, the Chu Jiang in the painting seemed slightly older and even more devastatingly handsome than the one she had met. Apart from his purple hair, he looked exactly like the person she knew.
Yan Qing tried to take the photo frame from Zhang Xinxin's hand, but although Zhang Xinxin didn't know whether she was alive or dead, she held on tightly. Yan Qing tried several times but couldn't get it out, so she had to give up.
When her hand accidentally touched Zhang Xinxin's bed, she sensed something was wrong.
This bed, so cold, is clearly the same ice bed she lay on when she was taken away! Could there be some special meaning behind this bed?
To test it, she tried lying down next to her. The next moment, a jolt of electricity struck her whole body, and Yan Qing felt as if her consciousness was about to leave her body.
No, it's dangerous!
She immediately sprang out of bed and used all her strength to get away from the ice bed.
Yan Qing wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, subconsciously looked up at the window, and then froze there.
—At some point, the bright moon in the sky completely disappeared, and the sky seemed to be covered with a black cloth, with no light visible at all.
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