Yan Qing was startled and subconsciously looked at her watch, only to find that it was already 12:15 a.m.
It turned out that it was already past midnight. According to Lingxi, the formation in this courtyard should have been fully activated.
She glanced back at Zhang Xinxin, who was still lifeless, took out a flashlight from her pocket, and walked back into the yard.
The moment she stepped out of the room, she sensed something was wrong.
Wait, why has the ground softened?
The ground beneath her feet seemed to ripple.
At the same time, she heard countless cries of women.
"Help me—help me!"
"Help--"
"Help me!"
The sound was coming from beneath her feet. The ground was now like a piece of dough being torn apart, almost stretched to the point of being transparent, but miraculously it did not crack.
She could see that what was making the ground throb was actually countless pairs of women's hands. They were struggling desperately, tearing the ground apart, but they were still firmly bound in place and could not break through even an inch.
This scene truly shocked her. Yan Qing couldn't imagine how many pitiful women were buried in this small courtyard.
From the hands that were desperately struggling and pleading for help, she could see how pitiful these women had died. And the cries for help and sobs that were driving her to the brink of madness—all of this sent chills down her spine.
Despite her physical discomfort, Yan Qing endured the bumpy ride and drove around the entire courtyard. She had a feeling that there might be some clues here.
The array in the courtyard was incredibly powerful; despite the significant fluctuations beneath her feet, it didn't break through at all. The courtyard remained perfectly clean, preventing her from finding an opportunity to approach the pitiful women beneath her feet.
However, she was not giving up. Since it was a formation, it had to have a core point.
Currently, apart from a bare old locust tree in the southeast corner, there is nothing else in this small courtyard.
Yan Qing naturally turned her gaze to the old locust tree.
It's the height of July, and the weather is already hot, which should be the peak growing season for trees. But this old locust tree has lost all its leaves and looks half-dead.
She placed her hand on the old locust tree, and to her surprise, she heard a human heartbeat beneath her hand.
"Knock knock—knock knock—"
The beating sound was exceptionally regular, just like the frequency of a human heartbeat.
Yan Qing took out a small knife and cut a little bit of the tree bark.
As expected, when the bark was cut open, what remained was bright red blood.
Now that things had come to this, even if she still didn't believe it, she had to admit it. The tree before her was clearly a living, breathing person!
A bold idea involuntarily popped into Yan Qing's mind.
Apart from their courtyard, how many normal places are there in the entire Zhang family mansion? Is it all such a living hell?
With this guess in mind, she went to the courtyards of the other three women in red, and found that their courtyards were exactly the same as hers, and nothing strange happened.
Leaving these small courtyards, the entire Zhang family's old residence was filled with the wailing of ghosts, and the ground had become an undulating hell on earth.
It wasn't just the woman's cries; along the way, there were men, women, and children buried underground, their arms swarming everywhere, trying to tear the ground apart, but they were tightly bound by the formation and couldn't break through at all.
Throughout the night, Yan Qing boldly ventured to countless places. The scenes she encountered were all identical—sleeping people, without a breath, countless hands struggling to break free on the ground, and endless cries and pleas for help. Everything made her feel as if she were in the deepest hell.
Therefore, the formation was definitely too powerful for her to break. However, Yan Qing's efforts were not in vain; she did make a significant discovery along the way.
—Almost all those people who appeared to be asleep were lying on a specially made ice bed. It seemed that the ice bed was what made them look like they were dead.
Coincidentally, Zhang Nana had an identical ice bed hidden under her bed in her room. However, there was no magic array in her courtyard, so when Yan Qing went back to test it, it was indeed just an ordinary ice bed.
To verify this, she deliberately chose an abandoned courtyard. The small building there had been sealed off, and it was unknown who had lived there before. However, the array within the courtyard was an unexpected surprise.
Yan Qing decided to try it out herself; she felt that this ice bed, combined with the formation, must have some special function.
So, she used this carefully chosen courtyard as her base. She released the Netherworld Brocade Fox to guard her, while she herself mustered her courage and lay down on the ice bed.
—The familiar electric current returned, and after a moment of disorientation, she found herself in an extremely bright place.
This was actually the abandoned courtyard where she lived!
However, suddenly it turned from night to day. Apart from that, there wasn't a single other sound.
A series of noises came from afar. Yan Qing was a little dazed. How long had it been since she had seen such a lively scene?
With a hint of curiosity, she quietly stepped out of the courtyard. She discovered that there were indeed quite a few more people in the village.
Not only were there white-clad maids coming and going, but also many young men and women dressed in ethnic minority costumes. They gathered in twos and threes, seemingly discussing something.
Yan Qing glanced at her white clothes, which served as her camouflage. She then casually pulled out a vase, picked it up, and headed towards a crowded area.
She had just turned the corner of the corridor and taken only a few steps when she was spotted by the girls.
"Look, another white-clad lady has been chosen! Wow, she's so pretty!" The girls started whispering their opinions about her. Yan Qing turned around and gave them a smile, which made the girls even more excited.
"Sister, sister, can you come over here for a moment?" A bold girl, seeing that she had a good temper, took the initiative to greet her.
Yan Qing was just looking forward to it, so she slowly walked over.
The girls surrounded her, bombarding her with questions. Yan Qing was both amused and exasperated, but she understood that these girls were there to participate in a selection process. The old house was going to host distinguished guests in a few days and needed to temporarily select young girls from various villages to train.
"In that case, could you tell us how you got released?" A bright and lively-looking girl spoke up.
"Sister, my name is Ami. I've tried to enter the competition several times, but I've been eliminated every time. I wonder if you could teach me—"
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