Just before his palm touched Lu Ban, Byron suddenly stopped.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

Byron still maintained his indifferent smile and asked.

"Maybe. Maybe it was a dream."

Lu Ban answered easily.

"Ah, I saw you in my dream, your smile was so sweet..."

And sang a little bit.

Hearing Lu Ban's singing, Byron twitched his lips.

He leaned close to Lu Ban's ear and whispered softly.

“I’ve heard the melody of this song before.”

Hearing this, Lu Ban also whispered to Byron.

"So, we are from the same hometown."

The next moment, Lu Ban's hand reached out to grab Byron's hand.

But even faster than that, Lu Ban's hand swelled up.

Like an over-inflated balloon, starting with his arms, Lu Ban's entire body began to wriggle and twist, as if it was being inflated by something.

In an instant, Lu Ban's stomach swelled, burst, and his internal organs poured out, exploding like a blooming flower.

The first thing Byron wanted to do was to step back and stay away from Lu Ban, but that hand reached out to Byron like a ghost and grabbed his arm.

"I got you."

Lu Ban's swollen face revealed a strange smile, which even Byron found creepy.

A stream of light bloomed on the hand, and as the light spread, the room next to Byron became immobile and faded into gray.

Petrochemical.

One look was enough to see that Byron, who had become a mud monster, was now turning into real stone.

Byron tried to struggle, but the petrification spread faster than he could have imagined, and within a moment, he had completely turned into a piece of stone, a lifelike sculpture.

Lu Ban looked at Byron who had turned into a stone statue and felt that he looked familiar.

After thinking about it briefly, he found that this was very similar to the situation in Jiang Chengshan.

Fang Geng's followers turned into lifelike stone statues, and when Fang Geng was about to revive, they changed back to their original appearance and slaughtered humans.

Byron might just be petrified normally now. If he could remove the influence of the spell by some means, he could return to his original appearance.

"At least he can't move now."

Lu Ban said this, and then his whole body melted.

In the past, if Lu Ban encountered such a situation, he would probably be in danger of death, and there would be no way to prevent the growth of grass.

But now, Lu Ban can deal with such situations quickly.

It's just a fatal injury, all I have to do is melt the body and then recast it.

After just a few minutes, Lu Ban condensed into a human form again.

He tapped Byron on the head, the sound dull.

"Solid."

He concluded.

"What should we do now?"

Lu Ban turned around and looked at Xia.

Xia's expression was a little complicated.

She couldn't have imagined that after not seeing him for a few days, Lu Ban had undergone a slight qualitative change.

Even when Xia saw Lu Ban melting and reorganizing just now, she felt that her sanity level was almost reduced.

"Move over to Stone's place?"

Xia thought about it, raised her hand, and lifted up the heavy stone statue of Byron.

The two came to the mourning hall and saw the empty coffin and Stone holding an irregularly shaped stone in his hand.

Stone stared at the stone, somewhat dazed.

"Solved?"

Lu Ban asked.

"Right here."

Stone handed the stone to Lu Ban. His eyes were still reluctant to move away from the stone until he saw the stone statue of Byron carried by Xia. Only then did Stone come to his senses a little.

Lu Ban looked at the stone carefully.

This stone has eight sides, each of which is a quadrilateral, with two long and two short sides. The stone has a diamond-like glow and exudes an enchanting color that will grab people's attention just by looking at it.

Lu Ban saw different scenes presented here, some happy things and some regrettable things. Just looking at the things in here would make people immersed in them and reminisce the past.

It seems that Taoist Heming is an extraordinary person who specializes in this area.

Pulling off a piece of cloth, Lu Ban wrapped the thing up and placed it on the table.

"Now should we just wait until the ninth day arrives?"

Lu Ban asked again.

Stone was checking the condition of the Byron statue. When he heard Lu Ban's words, he turned around.

“But I always feel that this matter is still a little short of perfection.”

"Indeed, both this stone and this statue only temporarily sealed them, but did not resolve the underlying problem."

Shia murmured, still seemingly pondering how that spell was constructed.

"These two spells have the same purpose, one for the soul and the other for the body. They seem to be very effective in restraining Heming Taoist, who is about to become an Old One. Sure enough, only the Old One can fight against the Old One."

"How about we just smash the statue?"

Lu Ban suggested.

"What if it's released directly after it's smashed?"

Stone immediately stopped Lu Ban from swinging the hammer.

The three of them stared at Byron's statue for a while, but didn't find any clues.

It was late at night, and the quiet night was like a veil covering everyone's heart, just like the inky emotions spreading in the mourning hall, difficult to dispel.

"If this Soul Summoning Night was caused by the dispute with Heming Taoist, then we have already dealt with these two guys, and logically we should have completed the mission."

Xia thought.

"unless……"

Just as she whispered, Lu Ban suddenly raised his hand.

"etc."

He said.

Stone and Xia immediately looked at him, then quickly turned to look at the statue of Byron and the stone wrapped in cloth, but did not find anything unusual.

"What's wrong?"

Stone asked in confusion.

"Do you feel like something is missing?"

Lu Ban said.

"What's missing?"

Xia looked around, then suddenly realized.

“…I didn’t have dinner.”

"Indeed, missing dinner is a big deal."

Lu Ban also agreed, but still shook his head.

"But that's not the point, listen."

Lu Ban signaled for everyone to be quiet.

Stone and Xia immediately listened carefully, but they did not hear any strange sounds or whispers lingering in their ears. There was only silence echoing in the mourning hall.

Looking at the two people's puzzled expressions, Lu Ban said.

"Don't you think it's a bit too quiet?"

He stood up and slowly walked to the window covered by curtains.

"Before this, it had been raining heavily all the time. Although it wasn't completely silent outside, it should have been bustling at least. But now..."

This silence is the biggest anomaly.

Lu Ban opened the curtains and saw a dim light.

It should have been late at night, but outside the window was the orange-yellow color of the sunset.

He looked outside and saw only gray clouds, destroyed roads, and crooked trees.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard in the corridor.

It was a crisp, intermittent sound, like the stepping of high heels.

The three looked towards the door.