"Fellow Daoist Chen?" Lu Ning also recognized Joohyun at this time and was once again shocked by her powerful cultivation.
"Fellow Daoist Lu?" Joohyun was also a bit surprised when she saw Lu Ning. "Why are you here too?"
"I came out with friends to exorcise ghosts," Lu Ning explained.
"Oh." Joohyun just asked in passing. She wasn't really curious about why Lu Ning appeared here. She nodded in response and continued to look at the dazed March Floating Rain.
Liang Yu came back to his senses. As a return customer of good quality, he instantly understood what appealed to Joohyun eyes. He immediately assured her, "I'll transfer the money once we're out. The signal here isn't good."
Only then did Joohyun nod confidently.
"Transfer? Liang Yu, do you Daoist Friend Chen money?" How come Daoist Chen asked for money as soon as she saw Liang Yu? Could it be that Daoist Chen chased him to this place because of a debt?
"No..." Liang Yu shook his head and didn't know how to explain for a moment. If he said the money was spent asking the Great God to save his life, would it reduce the Great God's dignity too much?
"It's a labor fee." Joohyun failed to live up to Liang Yu's good intentions. "March Floating Rain came to me online and asked for help. I just used seven high-grade Spirit-Repelling Talismans. A million each so that's a total of seven million."
"..." Liang Yu felt that the Great God lived too honestly. What dignity? She doesn't need it at all.
"..." Without preparation, Lu Ning suddenly heard the price of his life. Lu Ning refused to accept it. In fact, his family was loaded, and he was worth far more than 1.4 million.
"Fellow Daoist, do you know how to get out of here?" Liang Guang listened quietly for a long time. Although he was also speechless about Joohyun's charging behavior, at this time, he was more concerned about how to leave the place.
"I don't know." Joohyun shook her head honestly.
"You don't know how to get out?" Lu Ning repeated in disappointment.
"I heard someone screaming as soon as I came in, and then I ran here in a hurry before I had time to find a way out," Joohyun said.
"Then let's look for it together," Shao Qi suggested. Now that there was a Celestial Master with a high level of cultivation, they didn't have to be afraid to encounter malevolent ghosts again.
Everyone had no objections, so the six of them looked for a way out in the pitch-dark valley. They went around for a long time and wandered around the valley two or three laps more, but they didn't find a way out.
"What exactly is going on here? We came in but couldn't find the way out?" Liang Guang said irritably.
"This place is odd to begin with, and the scenery in the valley is different from what we saw first," Lu Ning said.
"That's right. We didn't even feel that there was evil qi here before we entered the valley," Shao Qi seconded. If there was, there was no way they failed to sense it.
"We may not be in the valley anymore," Liang Yu suddenly inserted.
"?" The crowd looked at Liang Yu in confusion.
"When we entered earlier, the valley was clearly filled with some ordinary flowers and trees, but look at this place now. It's dark with only malevolent ghosts plus Yin Qi and evil Qi," Liang Yu justified his findings, "Moreover... didn't Road Repair Expert say that her location was only 500 meters from the valley. However, it took a full twenty minutes to come here."
"Er... that..." Joohyun interrupted with some embarrassment, "I only saw your message twenty minutes after."
"..."
A gust of wind blew by, and the atmosphere suddenly turned a little awkward.
"Ahem..." Lu Ning forcibly changed the subject, "Let's think about how to get out."
"We've been searching for a long time, but there's no road at all." Liang Guang said, "If this is still the same valley as just now, then there is only one explanation; we are inside some powerful formation."
"Formation?" Shao Qi was reminded of it. Liang Guang's conjecture was very likely. "But if it's a formation, how are we going to break it?"
The crowd looked at each other, momentarily having run out of ideas. They didn't even know what kind of formation it was, so how were they going to break it?
"I have a suggestion," Joohyun suddenly spoke out.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, have you thought of a solution?" Lu Ning asked in surprise, and the rest of the few people remembered Joohyun's formidable strength.
"Just a suggestion. It's not necessarily successful..." said Joohyun, "I was thinking that since we can't find a way out and don't know how to break the formation, why not start with what we can do right now?"
"What else can we do?" Lu Ning said curiously.
"Exorcise." Joohyun analyzed, "We can get rid of the malevolent ghosts here, exorcise the Yin and Evil Qi, and then see what changes the formation will have."
"That's not a bad idea." Liang Guang nodded and agreed.
"But..." Just as the crowd nodded and decided to proceed with this first, Joohyun suddenly uttered another but.
"But what?" Lu Ning asked.
"But this will increase the cost of my rescue." Joohyun said, business-like, "You see, an advanced exorcism talisman costs one million. When you exorcise ghosts in a while, you will definitely need to use some again, then my fee marking will need to be adjusted."
"..."
"..."
"How about I give you a discount?" Considering that she couldn't get out of the place either, Joohyun decided to charge a little less.
"No need!" The wealthy Liang Guang rolled his eyes and said, "As long as we can get out, we can still afford this price."
Joohyun's eyes lit up when she looked at Liang Guang. It turned out that local tyrants grew like this!
With a plan ahead, the group no longer dallied. Shao Qi protected Qin Guanhai and Liang Yu. Joohyun took Lu Ning and Liang Guang to annihilate the remaining malevolent ghosts with high-grade Spirit-Repelling Talismans.
After collecting the malevolent ghosts, the Yin and Evil Qi dissipated in the valley, but no change still occurred in the valley. They also remained unable to find their way out.
Things were back to square one again. The group sat down on the ground to rest with their heads hanging.
Joohyun looked at the time and found that it was about to hit 3:00 a.m. If she wasn't back at dawn, her parents would be worried. Once they were worried, they would certainly let the old man come to find her. Once her grandpa comes, she would certainly be mocked. The mere thought of it didn't sit well with her.
"Why did you guys get in here?" Joohyun couldn't help but ask.
The friends froze, and their eyes turned in unison to Qin Guanhai, who hadn't spoken much since entering the valley.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Qin Guanhai apologized guiltily, "I'm sorry!"
"Was it you who wanted to come?" Joohyun asked.
"I'm sorry!" Qin Guanhai had been blaming himself since they entered the valley, and he didn't say much along the way. He was just afraid of dragging everyone down again.
"Don't blame yourself. You have warned us that this place is dangerous. Coming here was also everyone's unanimous decision," Lu Ning comforted him.
Liang Yu was tempted to say that he opposed it, but they all didn't listen. In the end, he had to spend money to save his life. He was the most innocent person.
"Wait... You guys knew it was dangerous here before you came in?" Joohyun grabbed the point.
"Yes, Guanhai's six senses are very strong. When we were on the outskirts of the valley, Guanhai sensed something here, and we wanted to come over to check it out. But he also warned us before we came, saying that there would be danger here." Lu Ning said objectively, "We thought too highly of ourselves."
"Something? What kind of stuff?" Joohyun knew that what Qin Guanhai perceived certainly would not be these malevolent ghosts. The valley outside had mountains full of malevolent ghosts. He mustn't have come this far specially to look at malevolent ghosts.
Lu Ning also had no idea what that something was. Qin Guanhai hesitated and said, "I don't know. I just perceived something here. That thing is very powerful. I guess it should be some kind of powerful magic weapon."
Magic weapon!
Joohyun straightened up at once, and her voice rose an octave higher: "Something... No... Is that something you felt still here?"
"Yeah!" Qin Guanhai nodded.
"Where?" Joohyun asked.
"Over there!" Qin Guanhai pointed to a boulder not far from them. In fact, since entering the valley, Qin Guanhai clearly detected the location of that thing. It was just that as soon as they entered the valley, they were besieged and chased by malevolent ghosts. At present, they were still trapped in the valley with no idea how to escape. Twinges of guilt stabbed him. He never should have mentioned that thing.
Joohyun immediately jumped up from the ground. Before the friends could react, she almost flew towards the boulder as she ran.
The remaining five people froze, but they also scrambled up and chased after her.
The boulder looked entirely ordinary. At closer look, they found a vine coiled on it, which was different from the withered and black vines around it. The vine was lush and was growing robustly.
Joohyun examined it closer and faintly felt a powerful aura from the inside of the boulder.
There is really something inside!
Just as Joohyun stretched her hand to touch it, a bright seven-colored spiritual light shot out from inside the boulder without warning.
"It's this light!" Liang Yu said excitedly, "Phone signal."
Liang Yu lowered his head and took out his phone, but unfortunately, when he raised his phone up, the signal was once again blocked, and the message he edited in advance was not sent out.
"We seem to have seen this light a while ago," Shao Qi recalled.
"Yes, I saw it not long ago." Lu Ning stood next to Joohyun and observed the boulder for a while, and also sensed something inside. "It seems there's really something here."
"What could it be?" Everyone wondered.
Joohyun stood in front of the boulder, a bit stunned. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but the moment the seven-colored spiritual light appeared just now, she felt that the evil qi on her body seemed to have decreased a little. However, the time when the colorful spiritual light appeared was too short, making her a little uncertain. Was her evil qi naturally evaporated from her body or absorbed by the colorful spiritual light?
With such a doubt, Joohyun decided to reach out and try it out.
"Don't move!" Qin Guanhai, who had been standing on the periphery, saw Joohyun reaching out to touch the boulder and suddenly perceived a strong danger. He quickly called her to a stop, but unfortunately, he was a step too late.
The moment Joohyun's palm touched the boulder, a towering evil spirit suddenly rushed out from within the boulder. A dark and heavy mass blasted in the air, but something seemingly blocked it. Finally, it scattered in all directions. Immediately afterwards, a dull hissing emanated within the boulder, and the huge boulder began to tremble violently. It was as if something was pinned down by the boulder, and it was trying to push it away and jump out from inside.
"What is this?" The group stared in horror at the huge boulder that kept shaking.
"Roar... Roar..."
"Inside... it seems... there's..."
"Zombie!" Joohyun asserted, "From the concentration of evil qi just now, I'm afraid this is a millennium-old zombie!"
When the five people heard that it was a millennium-old, their faces instantly turned white as sheets. A zombie and a malevolent ghost weren't at all on the same level, okay? With their strength today, how could they beat a millennium-old zombie?!
"Great... Great God, can you beat this millennium-old zombie?" Liang Yu tremblingly asked Joohyun, the only calm one.
"I can't!" Joohyun shook her head bluntly. Although she bluffed Lisa the first time they met that she could catch a millennium-old zombie easily,... that was because the old man was around ah!!!
"Th-Then what are we going to do?"
"We'd better brainstorm on how to get out," said Joohyun. As long as they could get out, she could fetch the old man and everything would be fine, so she turned around and moved to continue searching for the exit.
"I'm afraid it's useless." Liang Guang said sullenly, "I have been curious about who would set up such a large formation here. Now, nine out of ten, it is probably to trap this zombie. If this is the case, I'm afraid we can't get out without getting rid of the zombie."
Thinking about the possibility of this speculation, the faces of the friends turned a few shades whiter.
"Graaa... Graaa..." The boulder trembled more and more violently, and the zombie's roar sounded even more shrill.
"Ka-chow!" A faint cracking sounded. Amidst the zombie's roar and the boulder's shaking, that crack was akin to a thunderbolt that fell on everyone's ears.
A crack in the boulder?
"It's coming out." Everyone retreated three meters away in fright.
"I told you not to touch it," Qin Guanhai said weakly.
"Uh..." the culprit, Joohyun, laughed dryly, "This zombie's senses are too keen. A mere touch actually woke it up, hehehe..."
When Lisa and Elder Wu arrived at the valley, Cheng Peng and Tian Fei were waiting there anxiously.
"Third Young Master!"
"Third Young Master!"
The two hurriedly greeted the approaching Lisa and his company.
"Where did Irin go missing?" Lisa asked anxiously.
"Here." Cheng Peng did not dare to delay and pointed to the location where Joohyun was standing before her disappearance. He added, "At that time, Tian Fei and I were behind a pine tree ten meters away, and Miss Joohyun was standing here. She seemed to want to enter the valley, so she took a step forward. After just one step, she disappeared entirely into thin air."
"Disappeared into thin air?" Lisa repeated incredulously.
"I was staring at Miss Joohyun, and I didn't even blink. Just one step, about two seconds before and after, Miss Joohyun disappeared in a puff right under my eyes," Cheng Peng stressed again and again.
Lisa frowned, looking at the valley in full view and asked, "Where have you all searched?"
"We searched the surrounding woods, but we still couldn't find her." Tian Fei not only didn't find Joohyun, but also drove away three malevolent ghosts along the way.
"Elder Wu..." Lisa was about to turn his head to ask Elder Wu for help, but he was taken aback when he saw him standing on the hill and looking ahead: "Elder Wu, is there anything wrong?"
"Awesome..." Elder Wu clicked his tongue in astonishment. "I didn't expect a magical barrier to be here."
"A magical barrier?" Lisa had read about magical barriers from books and knew what it was, "Could it be that Irin is inside? Elder Wu, do you have a way to unseal the barrier?"
"A magical barrier is a very advanced formation. Nowadays..." Elder Wu said, "I don't know if others know how. Anyway, I can't do it."
Even Elder Wu couldn't unseal it? Lisa's face turned white, and his heartbeat seemed to have stopped.
"I'll call and ask Master Mao," Lisa said and was about to call.
"If he's capable of it, he would have been able to separate the evil qi from your body," Elder Wu spat.
"Then what should we do?" Among the masters Lisa knew, Master Mao was considered the one with the highest cultivation level.
"I'll go in first and take a look!" Elder Wu pondered for a moment and said, "I hope that girl is okay."
"I'll go with you," Lisa said immediately.
"Do as you please!" Elder Wu raised his eyebrows indifferently. He turned around and stepped into the barrier, then he, too, disappeared in front of the crowd's eyes.
Seeing such a miraculous spectacle, the crowd was startled again.
Lisa followed closely. He was about to step in, but He Qi stopped him: "Young Master, you can't go in."
"He Qi."
"Young Master, as Mr. Wu said just now, he can't unseal the barrier. If he goes in, he may not come out. You can't go in." After He Qi finished speaking, the rest of the assistants quickly followed suit and blocked his way.
Lisa stopped in his tracks and didn't order He Qi to get out of the way. After a moment of meditation, he suddenly said, "You should know that I like Irin."
The assistants were stunned. They couldn't understand why their Young Master suddenly confessed his love.
"Your responsibility is to keep me safe, and I know what I'm doing now is very irresponsible for you guys, but... Irin is in there," Lisa said, "I want to go in."
He Qi opened his mouth, but those countless words to stop him that piled up to his throat suddenly couldn't get out.
"Elder Wu has already gone in. He must have a way to save Miss Joohyun," Cheng Peng said on He Qi's behalf.
"But I'm standing right here." Lisa asked, "If the person you like is in danger inside, can you stand here and wait for others to save her?"
No!
This answer crossed everyone's mind.
Elder Wu waited inside the barrier until Lisa came in, then he asked as if he had forgotten what he said, "I told you, right? You might not get out once you're in."
"You did." Lisa smiled gently.
The author has something to say:
After Lisa entered the magical barrier, the assistants also wanted to follow, but could not enter the boundary.
He Qi wondered: Why can they enter, but we can't?
Cheng Peng: Elder Wu is a Celestial Master.
He Qi: What about Young Master?
Tian Fei: Young Master is the son-in-law of a Celestial Master's family.