Chapter 259: Infinite Flow: Saving the Crazy Beautiful Person 18

Could it be that the female ghost told on us?

Jin Chen brushed aside the thought, not having time to dwell on it, and he and Nanyu hurried away cautiously, occasionally having to dodge the gaze of the girl ghost.

The way out was much smoother than the incoming path blocked by various ghosts and monsters; although they had to stay alert to avoid being spotted by the girl ghost, with Jin Chen present, Nanyu felt completely at ease.

Finally, after passing through the lower layers of stone chambers, they returned to the inner courtyard rooms of the Shadow Building.

Watching the girl ghost turn into a paper figure and stand again at the doorway alongside the standing female corpses, staring outward, the old woman walked toward the door, the flesh on her body and face growing more and more, until she resumed the appearance they had first seen.

Nanyu glanced sideways and noticed that, on the inner courtyard platform, a white candle had inexplicably lit up.

He felt a bit curious, so he walked straight over and poked the candle with the wooden stick he had picked up inside earlier.

"How did it suddenly light up?"

Jin Chen also noticed it, and found the shadow cast by the flickering candlelight somewhat strange; he turned his head to examine the wall facing the white candle closely.

"Runes, overlapping with light and shadow, there's a dark glow."

He murmured softly, his mind racing back over everything that had happened these days, finally settling on the memory of before the sacrificial ascent, when the pile of A Wa Lao Si's corpses had turned to white bones and the chaotic, intertwined tree shadows.

Perhaps this is some kind of opportunity for corpses to turn to bone?

While Jin Chen was still observing the runes on the opposite wall, he heard no sound from behind him—Nanyu had not responded.

His heart jumped; turning around, he saw Nanyu, as if uncontrollable, attempting to lift the dripping, hot candle wax with both hands.

"A Nan!"

Jin Chen quickly stopped him, pressing down both his arms, and tapped his brow with Spiritual Power, whispering, "Wisdom clear and tranquil, mind and spirit at peace."

"Hiss… my hands are burning hot!"

He blinked, his first reaction a gasp as he looked down to see his palms already completely red.

"What's going on? Why do my hands suddenly hurt so much?"

"You're being controlled by the candle."

Jin Chen cupped his hand, blew on it, and gently rubbed the fingertip; fortunately he hadn't actually touched it, merely getting his skin reddened by the candle flame.

"Oh dear, I was just looking at the runes a second ago."

Nanyu pursed his lips, leaned forward to glance at the candle behind Jin Chen, and muttered, "I remember… just now I seemed to see a flash of light and shadow, and then my memory switched instantly."

"Light and shadow, again light and shadow."

Jin Chen frowned; something in his mind seemed to be linking all those memories into a thread, but it vanished instantly, and he hadn't yet grasped it.

"Why don't we just put out this candle?"

Nanyu looked around the room and finally picked an antique vase covered in dust for a long time, pinching his nose as he tipped out the dust.

He swiftly inverted the vase over the candle, but a flash of light and shadow appeared before him; the next second he had smashed the vase to the floor, one hand shielding the candle.

Nanyu: "...! Oh dear!"

He leapt into Jin Chen's arms in a couple of bounds, burying his face, "Terrifying!"

【"Terrifying!"】 0731 also chimed in.

【"Just shut up."】

Jin Chen patted Nanyu's shoulder to soothe him, 【"The effect of this system in this world can be said to be negligible."】

【"Host! I just helped you point out the direction!"】

【"From now on I'll call you the locator."】

While Jin Chen complained to 0731 in his mind, he continued observing the room, combining the wine shop auntie's words from the underground stone chamber, and a vague guess formed.

Perhaps the entire Shadow Building is a formation.

The endless-burning white candle and this room covered in runes are the formation's eye.

The flickering candlelight and the runes complement each other, using light and shadow to trigger illusions; thus ordinary people cannot extinguish it, and with living sacrifices in the outer courtyard as the formation's corners, this formation will persist forever.

Is the wine shop auntie perhaps doing this because of the formation, letting two paper figures guard this place while offering resentful skulls in the underground stone chamber, trying to break the formation?

But she is a "goddess"; if even she cannot solve this formation, then among the villagers of Qing Shan Stronghold, who is the true architect of the formation? And who first proposed offering tribute maidens as sacrifices to the "deity"?

Although many clues have been uncovered, more and more mysteries keep surfacing, bewildering and perplexing.

"Should we continue researching?" Nanyu suddenly asked him, looking up.

"Let's talk after we go down the mountain; staying here is pointless."

Jin Chen shook his head, no longer paying attention to the candle, he took Nanyu's hand and passed through the door guarded by the paper figures, alongside the female corpses always standing outside, and left the Shadow Building.

【"0731, how do we go down the mountain?"】

【"…"】 It really is just a locator!

【"Go to the Hanging Coffin Forest, walk through the woods, then take the leftmost path all the way down the mountain! Remember, the leftmost!"】

0731's two paws shrank the map, and it shivered.

【"Both roads on the right are covered in white bones, and they're all kneeling toward the Shadow Building… and there's more……… Host!!!"】

0731 burst out with its maximum volume in this little world.

Jin Chen felt a headache from its roar, almost losing his balance, and he tugged at the corner of his mouth.

【"You'd better have an emergency…"】

【"That! A Wa Lao Si's bones! They're also kneeling on the right-side path! New bones! I saw the blood imprint A Ke left on his bones! It's exactly the same as this new set of bones!"】

"A Wa Lao Si's bones?"

Jin Chen's footsteps halted; he looked up at the black‑pressured underside of the hanging coffins.

"Could it be that these coffins are all empty?"

"Have the real bones and corpses all been thrown onto that road?"

"A Nan, is the snake‑sinew whip you made that day in the Snake Cave still with you?"

"It's here, it's here."

Nanyu took it out from the player space, "What do you want to do?"

"Try the coffin."

Jin Chen took it, tested the feel, then directly pulled it up to the nearest high hanging coffin, after that stayed still for a few seconds, carefully listening to the echo.

No, there really was no corpse inside.

"Oh wow, an empty coffin?" Nanyu obviously also heard clearly, especially curious, "Quite interesting, Awa Gu places so much emphasis on hanging burial, yet the bodies are gone after burial."

His words made both of them startle.

Nanyu covered his mouth in disbelief, "Could it be that they actually knew?"

"Whether the villagers know is still uncertain, but Awa Gu probably knows."

Jin Chen whispered, tried a few more, all were empty.

"We'll talk about it after going down the mountain."

He put away the whip, took Nanyu's hand and quickened their pace.

The descent was fraught with danger; the path had been carved into the outermost layer of Shan Lin, with thorns covering the left side and a void on the right— a slight misstep would send one falling.

Jin Chen kept holding Nanyu's hand tightly, letting him walk on the left side; after going around like that for nearly half an hour, they barely managed to descend Shan Lin and return to the main road where they had entered the building.