Chapter 142: The Law of Punishment

As they spoke, the sky gradually brightened; Lu Fang heard the frustrated roars of the Horned Red-Eyed Demon outside the castle, followed by the sharp screech of dragging chains.

Zhao Qingzhu opened the door and stepped out, saying, "It's dawn."

Lu Fang followed her outside and found the Horned Red-Eyed Demon gone, yet the sound of dragging chains still echoed in his ears.

It gets dragged away at dawn—meaning the chains are what bind it.

In fact, if you think about it, this place isn't that dangerous; otherwise, Zhao Qingzhu wouldn't have survived here unharmed for over a decade.

Zhao Qingzhu looked up at the sky and said, "There's no sun here, as if time doesn't pass. If not for the fact that we can't leave, this peculiar place would be quite suitable for cultivation."

Lu Fang nodded; before he entered, he had learned that Zhao Qingzhu had been only a sixth-rank Confucian scholar when she vanished, and now, over a decade later, she had reached the fourth rank.

This rate of advancement was quite fast for an ordinary person.

"Shall we go together to the edge of the thick fog?"

Lu Fang asked for her opinion.

He had entered this trial ground solely to find Zhao Qingzhu; now that he had found her, he only wanted to leave this peculiar place as soon as possible.

After all, if he got trapped here and didn't exit in time, even if he eventually escaped, he might have to wait years before he could leave.

Zhao Qingzhu had no objection; she had long grown tired of this place, and now that she knew her daughter had come to the Western Regions searching for her, she wished to leave immediately.

This peculiar place was mostly vast grassland, with only one ancient castle and the thick fog at its edge.

The fog was as solid as physical matter; when Lu Fang reached the edge and swept his sleeve to summon a gale, the fog scattered—but in the blink of an eye, it reformed.

Zhao Qingzhu warned him, "Useless. The fog here cannot be dispersed by wind. And if you enter it carelessly, you'll just circle endlessly; getting deep into the fog is extremely difficult, but exiting is easy."

She paused, then added, "It's as if this fog array exists only to prevent people from leaving—yet it has no offensive power."

After observing from outside for a while, Lu Fang followed Zhao Qingzhu into the fog. Though they walked straight ahead, they always ended up back at the marked spot.

Zhao Qingzhu's array skills were formidable; after altering their path several times, they no longer returned to the mark.

Lu Fang hesitated and asked, "Does this mean we're no longer circling in place?"

Zhao Qingzhu smiled bitterly and shook her head. "At first, I thought we weren't circling either—but later I realized we were just tracing larger loops."

Sure enough, shortly after she spoke, they returned once more to the marked spot.

Lu Fang frowned at the mark and said:

"This array feels like nothing but a confinement trap—it seems simple. Can it really not be broken? Before I entered, there was fog there too; perhaps crossing the fog's edge would let us escape."

Zhao Qingzhu stated firmly, "You think that way because you don't understand array techniques. You see only a confinement trap here, but I can tell you—there are tens of thousands of them, interwoven and overlapping."

"And as you go deeper, the traps multiply and change."

"Even a Dao Lord above the third rank, with some knowledge of arrays, would likely get trapped here."

Lu Fang sighed helplessly; if that were true, this was bad.

Array techniques were inherently mysterious and demanded extreme talent; ordinary people without innate aptitude found cultivation nearly impossible.

Though he was confident in other areas, he had to admit he had zero talent for arrays. If Zhao Qingzhu couldn't break this one, learning now would be useless.

So was he truly doomed to be trapped here?

After several attempts, Lu Fang and Zhao Qingzhu finally stepped out of the fog. They hadn't gone far when the Spirit emerged from the mist, its expression showing clear unease.

The two stared at each other, both momentarily stunned.

The Spirit glanced at Lu Fang, then fixed his gaze on Zhao Qingzhu, probing cautiously, "Is she the one trapped here?"

Lu Fang sneered, "No. She came in with me."

The Spirit shook his head. "Wrong. She's the one trapped here. Before you entered, I memorized every person's face—she wasn't among them. Doesn't she resemble someone? Oh yes—she looks exactly like your sister, Lu Ling."

Zhao Qingzhu looked at Lu Fang and asked, "Is this the one you mentioned—the one who was possessed?"

Lu Fang nodded. He turned to the Spirit and asked, "You just came out of the fog—what did you encounter? Is it dangerous inside?"

The Spirit's expression darkened. He was a spirit born from the Divine People's bloodline and had inherited many memories from that blood.

Array techniques were one of those inherited memories—but they were extremely vague, far from mastery.

Yet precisely because of this, he had been able to enter the fog array and break through individual confinement traps. But as he went deeper, he grew increasingly overwhelmed.

The arrays here were too complex—each nested within another. In the end, several arrays were interlocked. Not even breaking them was possible; had the arrays possessed any offensive power, he would have died there.

The Spirit didn't answer Lu Fang's question. Instead, he stared thoughtfully at Zhao Qingzhu and said, "Lord Wen Guan, didn't I tell you before that to escape this hellish place, you must find its underlying law?"

"Perhaps this woman is one part of that law."

"Some presence here, though not as powerful as the one in my memories, is still extremely difficult for us to handle at our current realms."

"Why not join forces and break this law together?"

Lu Fang nodded slightly. "What's your idea? Speak."

The Spirit smiled. "I do have one. I believe the law here differs from the one in my memories, but fundamentally, it must have existed before we arrived."

"You've seen it too—this place is nothing but grassland, with only the fog. I'm certain the arrays within the fog are not part of the law."

Lu Fang frowned. "Why exclude the arrays?"

The Spirit sighed. "Isn't it obvious? The fog's arrays have no offensive power—they only serve to trap people here. They shouldn't be linked to the law."

"That makes things interesting."

"The only things we've seen are the Horned Red-Eyed Demon and this woman—so the law must reside in one of them."