He took the lead and walked towards the door, and Li Huai immediately followed.
I walked at the back, watching the two of them one in front of the other. Just as Luo Tianhe's hand was about to touch the doorknob, I quickly took out a prepared yellow talisman folded into a triangle from my pocket.
At the same time, I pinched my fingertip with my nail, smeared a drop of bright red blood on it, and silently recited the incantation to activate the formation.
The moment the blood seeped into the talisman, I flicked my wrist and sent the talisman flying towards the top of the lintel.
Instantly, Luo Tianhe and Li Huai, who were walking in front, were both shaken to their core!
Luo Tianhe turned his head sharply, his movements as fast as lightning, but a look of shock and anger appeared on his face.
Li Huai was even worse off; he let out a muffled groan, then clutched his head and stumbled toward the door.
Right now.
I took a sudden step forward and slammed my shoulder into Luo Tianhe, who had just reacted. At the same time, I grabbed Li Huai's arm with my other hand and used all my strength to push them both into the doorway.
"Bang!"
I followed closely behind and closed the door behind me.
The ancient jade at the four corners of the formation no longer emitted a faint, warm glow, but instead shot out four solid beams of light—blue, white, red, and black—directly towards the roof.
The eight array patterns on the ground, like red-hot branding irons, are connected to the central command for righteous thoughts.
"Ugh..."
Li Huai still clutched his head tightly, rolled on the ground, and began to writhe like a child.
At the same time, he kept letting out shrill screams.
Upon closer inspection, I saw wisps of black energy slowly seeping from his seven orifices, which quickly transformed into green smoke within the formation.
In contrast to him, Luo Tianhe appeared much quieter.
He stood in the center of the formation, his body stiff, head down, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the force.
The black aura emanating from him was much darker than the color emanating from Li Huai.
I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine.
If Li Huai was just being controlled by that thing, Luo Tianhe had been targeted for a long time!
After all, Luo Tianhe spent a whole day investigating the case with me.
We found Li Huai at night, and that's when he started to come into contact with that thing, or rather, was brought into contact with it.
Therefore, Li Huai was under much less control than Luo Tianhe.
“Chen…yan…”
He spat out my name through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse and venomous:
"You're asking for it!"
I snorted coldly, meeting his gaze without flinching:
"You only resort to such despicable and underhanded tricks. Don't let me find your hideout, or you'll suffer a terrible death."
Soon, Luo Tianhe's eyes began to roll back, his body trembled continuously, and the black energy on his body was being purified.
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Li Huai, who was lying on the ground, opened his eyes.
"Holy crap, my head hurts so much."
Li Huai staggered to his feet, repeatedly tapping his head with his hand.
"Brother Yan, what's wrong? I feel like my head got caught in a door?"
Upon seeing me, Li Huai asked instinctively.
"This means you should drink Six Walnuts to boost your brainpower."
I casually replied that it was normal to have a headache, after all, he had been banging his head on the ground so many times that he almost broke the floor.
Now my attention is entirely focused on Luo Tianhe; he has been severely corrupted.
Fortunately, the Mind-Clearing and Illusion-Breaking Array I set up was not to be underestimated. After about half an incense stick's time, Luo Tianhe also opened his eyes.
He seemed to still have some memories of being controlled. When he saw me, he first grinned and gave me an apologetic smile.
"Brother Yan, Brother Luo, what exactly happened?"
Li Huai, standing to the side, kept asking persistently, completely baffled as to what had happened.
"Don't speak yet, calm down."
I interrupted Li Huai's questioning and fixed my gaze on Luo Tianhe. The cold resentment in his eyes had faded, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of cold sweat.
Seeing my somewhat wary gaze, Luo Tianhe took a few deep breaths, first looking down at his hands, which were still trembling slightly and out of control.
Then he looked up, glanced around, examined the slowly rotating formation, and finally turned his complicated gaze to me.
“I,” he began slowly, his voice hoarse and visibly weary, “was affected, but I had no idea when it started.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard him say that.
This at least proves that Luo Tianhe has now completely broken free from control.
"It must have been my oversight when we were handling paper cutters and paperweights that I didn't pay attention to their impact on you."
I readily admit my mistake, mainly because after going through so much with Luo Tianhe, I had forgotten that he was just an ordinary person.
Luo Tianhe nodded, and I continued:
"This thing influences you in a very subtle way. It's not a direct and rigid control, but more like a cognitive suggestion that makes you do things that are in its interest while you seem to be completely autonomous."
This is my guess, but it should be pretty close to the truth.
Luo Binghe nodded silently, then tried hard to recall and said:
"Looking back now, some details really didn't seem right. For example, last night you said Zhang Wei came to see you, and my first reaction wasn't that you were alright, but rather that I told you not to overthink it, and I even took out that copper coin..."
Speaking of that copper coin, Luo Tianhe suddenly smacked his head.
He always had a good memory, but at this moment, he couldn't recall how he got that copper coin at all!
After pondering for a moment, he turned his gaze to me, a mixture of apology and disbelief in his eyes:
"I don't remember how I got that copper coin. It was a crucial clue, but I just can't recall it. It's like, it's like it's always been in my pocket!"
“That thing is an old artifact engraved with Yin talisman. No wonder Zhang Wei said I was being targeted. She must have sensed the aura of that copper coin.”
At this point, I saw Li Huai still rubbing his head, looking completely bewildered:
“The strange things we told you about at Buwentang, like the paperweight and the paper cutter, were kept in the trunk of the van. You were with Dr. Sun during the day and only came into contact with them at night, so you were less affected.”
Li Huai wasn't stupid; upon hearing this, he finally understood somewhat, and his face immediately turned pale.
"Damn it, I was affected by that thing?! No wonder I kept feeling that the broken mirror in the room was particularly bright last night, and I kept wanting to look at it. I even drifted off to sleep while looking at it. And this is what I woke up to, with a terrible headache."
"Mirror...."
Hearing those two words from Li Huai's mouth, I couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
According to Zhang Wei, there seemed to be many fragments of mirrors inside the lair of that ghostly thing.
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