"Trespassers in a forbidden land shall die!"

The voice was like a death knell, like a sharp sword piercing the minds of Su Xuan and Qi Li, buzzing and echoing in the space. Fortunately, Su Xuan had already realized the other party was bluffing, so neither he nor Qi Li was too frightened.

"Su Xuan, is our method for opening the door wrong?" Qi Li asked in a low voice, pressing close to his shoulder.

Staring at the stone door, Su Xuan said, "The method should be correct. Otherwise, it wouldn't have caused such a commotion."

"Mm." Qi Li nodded, naturally agreeing with him. If their method were ineffective, there wouldn't have been such a reaction from behind the door.

"What should we do next?" Qi Li asked again. For some reason, despite usually being quite decisive, she found herself without ideas when she was with Su Xuan.

"Next, we just wait and see," Su Xuan replied simply.

In the next second, a plume of Dark Smoke suddenly seeped from the cracks in the stone door, spreading around Su Xuan and Qi Li. Within the smoke, faint ghostly silhouettes swirled, looking sinister and terrifying.

"Heaven has a path, yet you refuse to take it!"

"Hell has no gate, yet you insist on breaking in!"

"Die! Die! Die!"

The ghostly figures shrieked in unison, then abruptly began to move, running in a circle around Su Xuan and Qi Li.

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

Su Xuan and Qi Li suddenly felt the world spin. Their bodies seemed to stop obeying their commands, and they began to stagger. The sensation was like being heavily drunk; their minds knew what to do, but their bodies simply wouldn't listen.

"It's a soul attack!" Qi Li suddenly cried out a warning.

In the Mountain World, enemy attacks were divided into several types: physical attacks from those practicing Body Cultivation, magical arts from Daoist cultivators, and an extremely terrifying third type—soul attacks. Soul attacks could bypass physical defenses and strike a person's soul directly.

"You deserve to die!"

"You have disturbed the tranquility of this place!"

"You shall be damned to this place for eternity!"

The ghostly figures continued to howl, as if issuing one command after another.

Qi Li's gaze quickly grew vacant. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "We shouldn't have come. We were wrong. We will… atone for our sin."

As she spoke, she began to walk toward the stone door, completely ignoring Su Xuan beside her.

Su Xuan frowned as a realization dawned on him.

Qi Qingshan and the others must have fallen for the same trick! That's why they walked through the stone door in such an orderly fashion! In that case…

A spark of insight flashed in his mind, and Su Xuan began to follow Qi Li toward the stone door. To make his act look convincing, he also started muttering, "We were truly wrong… I thought this place could make us rich, but it turned out to be a forbidden land. If I had known, I never would have come. Honestly, I'm such a fool. As if an opportunity to get rich quick would just fall into my lap…"

Matching their pace step for step, Su Xuan and Qi Li approached the stone door.

The ghostly figures seemed pleased with their performance. They stopped their circling run, halted their steps, and slowly began to converge. Shockingly, they merged into the strange shadow that Su Xuan had previously split in half.

"You, stop!" the strange shadow commanded, seeming to hold a grudge as it pointed a hand at Su Xuan.

Su Xuan obediently stopped in his tracks.

Qi Li, however, continued walking. When she reached the stone door, it creaked open on its own, allowing her to step inside.

Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, Su Xuan suddenly shot forward, dashing through the stone door as well.

"Eh?"

Seeing Su Xuan defy its command and dart through the stone door, the strange shadow let out a sound of surprise. It hastily floated through the entrance, only to see Su Xuan and Qi Li standing side by side, perfectly behaved.

"Why did you disobey me just now?" the strange shadow asked coldly, hovering in front of Su Xuan.

Su Xuan just stared blankly, saying nothing.

The shadow's eyes glowed crimson, as if they could see right through him. It abruptly commanded, "Hand over the jade bracelet you're wearing!"

Su Xuan raised his hand and took out the jade bracelet Qi Li had given him.

The strange shadow didn't reach for it, instead questioning him, "Was it this object that made you defy my orders?"

Su Xuan remained silent. He had no idea what to say. It was all an act; his mental willpower had long been fortified by the system, leaving him unaffected by the shadow's bewitchment. Qi Li, on the other hand, had fallen deep under its spell, her beautiful eyes still clouded and confused.

The strange shadow turned to Qi Li. "You, tell me what happened."

"I don't know what happened either," Qi Li answered woodenly.

The strange shadow asked, "Where did he get this jade bracelet?"

Qi Li said, "My mother left it to me. She told me to give it to my beloved one day, as a token of our betrothal."

"Oh." The shadow seemed to understand. It nodded and recited inexplicably, "Oh, Heavens above! I long to be with you…"

A flicker of curiosity sparked in Su Xuan's mind. This strange shadow is quite the sentimentalist! Does it think Qi Li and I are lovers and that I defied it because I wanted to stay with her through life and death?

Meanwhile, having finally made it inside, Su Xuan began to secretly observe his surroundings. He and Qi Li were standing in a long corridor. Ahead, the light of Moon Profound Stones diffused into a haze, obscuring their vision. The floor beneath their feet was paved with the same Moon Profound Stones—an incredible luxury.

Even the ever-composed Su Xuan couldn't help but gasp.

This entire tomb is built from Moon Profound Stones! It's not a vein… it's better than a vein! I'm rich! But where are Qi Qingshan and the others? Why can't I see them anywhere? And how am I supposed to deal with this strange shadow? The thing seems unkillable!

"You!" The strange shadow, still fixated on the sword wound Su Xuan had given it, pointed at him hatefully. "You truly deserve to die! To think you cut me in half! If I weren't a spiritual body, I would have died! The one who should be atoning is you!"

Su Xuan maintained his wooden expression, standing perfectly still.

The strange shadow glared at him. "Atone now!"

Su Xuan didn't move.

The strange shadow's tone grew harsher. "Atone!"

Su Xuan remained motionless.

The strange shadow flew into a rage. Its hair suddenly shot out like horrifying tentacles. Pointing at Su Xuan, it began to curse, "How did someone as rude as you manage to grow up? Did your parents not teach you any manners? Are you completely useless? When you walk down the street, aren't you afraid of getting beaten up?"

A continuous stream of insults spewed from the strange shadow's mouth.

Su Xuan was utterly astonished. What is this thing's deal? Why is it so vile? If you keep talking like that, I'm going to drop the act and we can have a real fight! The only reason he held back was the fear that the shadow might have an ace up its sleeve. This was its territory, after all.

"Eh?" The strange shadow let out another sound of surprise when it saw Su Xuan was still motionless, his face a complete blank.

It suddenly reached out, its hand stretching toward Su Xuan's head as it said sternly, "My point is that you should bash your own head against the wall and die! How can you not understand that?"

Just as its hand was about to touch Su Xuan, something strange happened…

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