Lordi Payne weighed his odds with grim clarity. Even Garrick Blackthorn, a peak Ninth Layer Qi Refinement cultivator, had been ensnared by the Hanz Clan Ancestral Shrine’s pearl curtain, swallowed in a fleeting moment without resistance. His fate—dead or alive—remained a chilling mystery. The horrors of the Mountain Estate were far beyond Lordi’s Seventh Layer Qi Refinement strength, and the weight of that truth pressed heavily on his chest.
"Yunny, we’re still in danger," Lordi said urgently, turning to the small girl in the tattered red dress. "The Hanz Clan estate is gripped by terror. I need to take you to the Abyss Pit Sect. The Outer Sect can send stronger Enforcers to investigate."
Yunny tilted her head, her pale face scrunching in confusion, her voice a soft, childish chirp. "What’s an Enforcer? Are you an immortal master from the super mighty Abyss Pit Sect?"
Lordi managed a faint smile. "Well, sorta. Listen, we gotta hurry. Can you turn into your wraith form again?" Though Yunny had rediscovered her humanity, her Ninth Layer Qi Refinement ghost aura was fading rapidly, her translucent form shimmering unsteadily.
"Wraith?" Yunny’s delicate brow furrowed, trying to look fierce but only managing to look adorably pouty. "I ’member bein’ chopped up... it hurt a lot. Then I don’t ’member much. Shifu kept me with him, that’s all."
"Wraith’s what you were before, all shadowy and scary," Lordi explained gently.
"Oh! I can try!" Yunny scrunched her face, attempting a fierce expression that was more cute than menacing.
"Huh? Why’s it not workin’?" she whined, her voice thin and puzzled.
Lordi frowned. "You don’t remember being in the Ancestral Shrine? I saw you there."
"That’s impossible!" Yunny’s eyes widened, her tone insistent. "The shrine’s for fancy Hanz family only. My daddy was just a guard soldier. He only went there on Masturi holidays every six months to protect the masters. Us servants can’t go there!"
Lordi’s mind churned, unable to unravel the mystery. "Okay, if you can’t leave, can you hide here safely?"
"I guess..." Yunny’s voice trailed off, her expression sleepy. "Dunno why, but I’m so tired today."
The house’s oppressive gloom lifted slightly, as if it had risen from some subterranean abyss, the light growing brighter. But Yunny’s aura continued to weaken, her form growing more translucent, her limbs curling into a cute, balled-up shape like a dozing kitten. Her ghostly presence flickered, barely holding together.
"Hey, kid, you okay?" Lordi’s voice trembled with worry, sensing the instability in her soul. Was this the cruel price of a ghost regaining its humanity—dissolution into nothingness?
Yunny’s form grew fainter, her voice a soft whisper. "So sleepy..." In the next moment, she dissolved into a shimmering mist, vanishing before Lordi’s eyes.
Sorrow weighed heavily on Lordi’s heart as he exhaled shakily.
His decision was swift: "I have to get back to the sect."
If his "kind senior brother" Kinson Wexford, a Bloodline Lord, had returned, Lordi would enlist his aid to secure the estate’s treasury and uncover its secrets. If Kinson hadn’t returned, retreat was still the safest play—his low-key survival instincts demanded it.
Surviving the First Dominator’s poison fist had been a fluke; the estate’s lethal dangers were too great for a lone Seventh Layer cultivator. Even Garrick Blackthorn, at the peak of Ninth Layer, had been doomed.
With no time to waste, Lordi bolted from the house, racing downhill toward the Mountain Estate’s main gatehouse. The path was eerily clear, as if all defensive traps and Dao puppets had been silenced. It didn’t take long for the weathered gatehouse to loom into view, its faded ribbons fluttering in a ghostly breeze, the dim plaque hanging overhead like a silent judge.
Lordi’s footsteps echoed on the green brick mountain path, each step reverberating with an oppressive quiet, as if the estate itself held its breath, watching him flee.
Just beyond the gatehouse, a few dozen feet away, a small pool shimmered at the entrance of the Hanz Clan Mountain Estate—a rippling portal that promised escape.
Without hesitation, Lordi Payne dashed forward and leapt into its glowing surface, the world around him warping like water disturbed by a stone.
But moments later, his heart sank as he found himself standing beneath the weathered gatehouse once more, unmoved. The faded ribbons fluttered mockingly in the ghostly breeze, the dim plaque glaring down like a silent sentinel.
Frowning, Lordi tried again, plunging into the portal repeatedly, each attempt spitting him back to the same spot. No matter how many times he dove in, the estate refused to release him. He was trapped.
"The Gloomwater Phantom Water Lily Array..." he muttered, a chill creeping up his spine. His ignorance of Dao formations had ensnared him within the estate’s cursed walls.
Lordi’s knowledge of arrays was rudimentary at best, his Seventh Layer Qi Refinement cultivation insufficient to unravel the ancient, malevolent defensive trap set by a formidable cultivator master who’s half step to Core Formation Stage.
Yet panic didn’t grip him. He’d faced similar barriers before, and he had a trump card: the AllFullOS system. It had once breached the layered ward formations of the Abyss Pit Sect’s top Outer Sect disciple’s grotto courtyard to get a cursed Jade Tempering Pill—a feat should be far beyond the crumbling, decrepit Gloomwater Phantom Water Lily Array.
Neglected for years, this Mountain Estate’s defensive array’s once-potent energies were now in tatters, its spectral lilies faded and weak. Breaking through should be within the system’s power.
Summoning the AllFullOS interface, Lordi’s eyes flickered over the glowing display of his mastered skills and techniques:
> [Bone Tempering Art]
> [Blood Fiend Blade Art]
> [Blood Spectre Footwork Art]
> [Withered Heart Technique]
> [Nameless Technique]
> [Alchemy Skill: Bone Tempering Pill]
> [Fulu Crafting Skill: Skin Peel]
> [Artifact Forging Skill: Soul Torture]
Lordi Payne’s mind raced as he assessed his options.
Well, the Bone Tempering Art was useless. Lordi’s storage pouch brimmed with Supreme Bone Tempering Pills, their potent energies enough to fortify his body without sourcing more supplement pills. But the AllFullOS system was notorious for its twisted logic, if he poised to dump or destroy his own pill, it would likely target at the storage pouches of sect comrades within the Hanz estate as "free" gift sources. Choosing this martial art wouldn’t just keep him trapped—it could provoke the hidden array’s defenses or draw the attention of vengeful wraiths, dragging him deeper into danger.
The Blood Fiend Blade Art was even riskier. The cultivation session required consuming a few cultivator’s essence blood, and the AwfulOS System’s one-click cultivation would randomly select a "lucky" sect comrade from the Mountain Estate. If it chose someone like Donovan Valdez, a peak Ninth Layer Qi Refinement Stageg cultivator whose venom fist art had nearly killed Lordi before, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The system’s "FREE gift" could force a confrontation with a foe far beyond his strength, turning a desperate escape into a lethal trap. "Hell no," Lordi muttered, his heart pounding. "Too dangerous."
The Blood Spectre Footwork Art was no better. Its cultivation demanded essence flesh, and past experience taught Lordi the system’s reckless choices. He still remember the horror that AwfulOS had driven him into the Man-Face Spider’s lair to harvest flesh, nearly costing his life.
In the Hanz estate, the system might select Ruru Rosa’s Crimson Thread Goldwing Centipede, a manageable risk that would only cost him a fine in spirit $tones back at the Abyss Pit Sect. But what if it targeted Shirley Quinn’s insect armor—or worse, her Ninth Layer Enlightenment Stage battle demon fox monster? Lordi shuddered at the thought of becoming "FREE" prey for a ravenous demon beast. "Not a chance," he whispered, dismissing the martial art.