Chapter 54: Heaven Is Round, Earth Is Square; The Nine Chapters of Law

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Ji Yun did not think Zhao Kai was joking. The fat man’s obsession with becoming a transcendent was as fervent as the sun.

But there was no point in saying too much now. They could talk about it after they actually made it out alive.

As they chatted, Zhao Kai grew bolder. Remembering what had happened earlier, he asked, “Hey, Brother Yun, what do you think was going on with Liao Feifei? How did she suddenly become the Woman with the Slit Mouth?”

Ji Yun had been pondering that question for some time.

“If I’m not mistaken,” he said, “the ‘mysterious fan’ who gave Liao Feifei advice is the one who has been spreading those terrifying ghost stories throughout Jianghua recently. Liao Feifei was merely being used.”

From beginning to end, Liao Feifei had only been a pawn.

The Woman with the Slit Mouth had most likely been brought in by her.

But that was the only part Ji Yun had figured out.

Several threads of causality still connected to Liao Feifei remained unclear.

For instance, Lin Kexin’s death involved more than a simple rape case. There was also the supernatural element of a yin birth chart. Then there was the way Liao Feifei had later lured Xia Li into livestreaming, and her purpose in bringing the lucky cat into the Ruin Realm. All of it was shrouded in mystery.

Judging by the way the Woman with the Slit Mouth had severed the Masked Evil Spirit’s hand, the person behind everything was probably here to sabotage this Ruin Realm.

That person seemed to know that a Ruin Realm existed in the T4 dormitory building—and even knew how to trigger it.

That was why they had deliberately gotten Liao Feifei to deceive Xia Li into coming here as well.

As it happened, another “mysterious fan” was also connected to Xia Li.

Could this be a secret confrontation between two “fans” operating behind the scenes?

There were too few clues. Ji Yun could not work it out.

At that thought, he remembered another central figure in this livestream.

He turned his head and looked at Xia Li in the distance.

According to the information they had gathered, Xia Li’s persona as a spirit medium was entirely fabricated. Even her yin birth chart was fake.

That was Ji Yun’s greatest doubt.

He knew what significance a yin birth chart held in this haunted building.

The “mysterious fan” who had created Xia Li’s persona also knew that this ghost building required someone with a yin birth chart.

Had that person deliberately built up her image in order to use her as bait?

What was the purpose? To lure the person behind the scheme into revealing themselves? Or something else?

Ji Yun could not figure it out.

He had the constant feeling that several different forces were engaged in a game of strategy within this Ruin Realm.

So what secret was this Ruin Realm hiding?

It was already unreasonable for such a high-level Ruin Realm to exist within a university campus brimming with vital yang energy.

And when he considered that even the investigators who had come to look into the matter had been silenced...

The forces involved behind the scenes were becoming more and more complicated.

...

Ji Yun’s thoughts spread outward like countless threads, following one deduction after another.

Before long, however, they had twisted into a tangled mess.

He could no longer make sense of them.

For a long while, no one spoke in the room.

Zhao Kai suddenly asked, “Brother Yun, what do we do now?”

Only then did Ji Yun return to himself.

If they simply waited here, there was a high chance they would be waiting for death.

If the Ruin Realm was truly rated B-class or higher, then Wu Feng and Zhang Xiaonan, both new investigators, absolutely could not handle it.

Ji Yun did not want to let such despair affect the others. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I think... we may still have to rely on ourselves.”

Then he added, “But there’s no need to rush.”

Zhao Kai looked puzzled. “No need to rush?”

“Right. Let’s wait another half hour first.”

By saying there was no need to rush, Ji Yun meant that they should wait and see what happened.

If Wu Feng and Zhang Xiaonan were still alive, they should come down eventually.

In any case, those two were the main force.

If half an hour passed without them appearing, they would have to find a way to save themselves.

They had brought neither food nor water and could not afford to wait for long.

Besides, there was no guarantee that the ghosts within this Ruin Realm would allow them to remain at ease for that long.

The moment Zhao Kai heard this, he understood Ji Yun’s meaning without needing anything more explained.

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The two men said no more and simply continued waiting.

The other two girls, Lu Jiu and Liao Feifei, were strangers to one another.

Neither of them spoke.

Silence once again descended upon the room.

...

Though Ji Yun said nothing, he continued replaying every cause and consequence of the night in his mind.

His extraordinary memory allowed him to sort through everything that had happened since the livestream began.

His thoughts grew increasingly clear.

But the more he thought, the more wrong everything seemed.

“What exactly is the story with that Masked Evil Spirit? Why did it clash with Lin Kexin? Could the ghosts in this Ruin Realm also be divided into two hostile factions?”

“And that mask resembles a nuo mask from traditional folklore, usually used to drive away ghosts and ward off evil. I couldn’t understand the tadpole-like script on the spirit’s body, but I think I’ve seen something similar on talismans used to suppress demons and seal away baleful forces...”

“Wait... speaking of which, the Masked Evil Spirit at this point in time was killed by Wu Feng. Then... what about the senior student who jumped from this floor?”

“...”

As he continued thinking, Ji Yun suddenly shuddered. A thought that chilled his back surfaced in his mind.

That was right!

He had been so preoccupied with the Woman with the Slit Mouth and the Masked Monster that he had completely overlooked the student who had jumped.

If Lin Kexin could become a vengeful ghost, then could the other people who had jumped also become one?

The answer was obvious.

Beside him, Zhao Kai noticed Ji Yun’s body tremble and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“We may be in trouble.”

Ji Yun hoped desperately that he had simply been overthinking things.

But he had already prepared for the worst.

He rose and walked to the window, then looked down toward the ground.

The instant he did, his expression froze.

Just as he had feared—the corpse was gone!

Zhao Kai did not know what Ji Yun had realized. He leaned out to look as well.

When he saw that the corpse had vanished from the ground, he still failed to understand the seriousness of the situation. Instead, he muttered to himself, “Huh? How did the body disappear?”

No one knew what went on in that fat head of his. Seeing no corpse below, he tilted his head and searched around.

He could not see it on any of the lower floors.

Then he craned his neck and looked upward, toward the floors above the fourth-floor window.

But the moment he lifted his head, Zhao Kai’s expression stiffened.

Within his field of vision was something shaped like a human spider.

Taking a closer look, he realized it was the senior student in white, clinging to the outer wall with all four limbs.

Her skin was deathly pale. Her long hair hung downward, and her sharp black fingernails were embedded in the wall. Black blood streamed from all seven openings of her face.

For an instant, the fat man and the senior student stared into each other’s eyes.

A stampede of a thousand foul-mouthed beasts seemed to thunder through Zhao Kai’s mind.

He was terrified.

Yet his neck had gone rigid and refused to obey him.

Relying on his instinct for survival, he cautiously shifted one step at a time, inching his body back into the room.

The moment his gaze broke away from the “senior student,” Zhao Kai let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig.

“Damn it!”

Hearing the profanity, Ji Yun, who had been wondering where the body had gone, immediately realized what Zhao Kai’s strange behavior meant.

The worst possible sight had appeared: the vanished senior student’s corpse was now clinging to the wall outside, directly above their heads.

That cry seemed to awaken the senior student in white. Like a spider, she scuttled rapidly down the outer wall.

The fat man had to be given credit for his courage.

The moment he pulled his head back inside, he snatched up a wooden stool beside him and hurled it violently through the window.

Crack!

The stool struck the white-clad corpse directly in the face.

The already-rotten furniture shattered into splinters.

The senior student was knocked away and fell from the building.

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But instead of hearing the dull thud of a body hitting the ground, they heard scurrying footsteps coming from the outer wall.

Incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, she was back at the fourth-floor window.

“She’s here!”

Ji Yun’s pupils dilated sharply.

With no time to think, he and the fat man each seized a chair and brought them crashing down upon the white-clad corpse as her head appeared at the window.

Crash!

The two chairs were smashed to pieces.

But this time, the white-clad corpse seemed prepared. She was not knocked away. With one hand, she seized the crumbling wall and steadied herself.

The next instant, she arched her back and shot forward like a venomous snake.

Ji Yun and Zhao Kai were too close to the window to dodge.

Just as the monster was about to burst into the room, a delicate voice suddenly cried out behind them, “Look out!”

The two men caught sight of something from the corners of their eyes and instinctively turned their heads.

Before they could think, a foreign object came flying toward them with a sharp whoosh.

It shot between their heads, barely grazing them, and struck the white-clad corpse squarely in the head.

Thud!

The force was not great, but it interrupted the ghost’s ferocious lunge and made its body pause for an instant.

Ji Yun glanced back and finally saw that the girl named Lu Jiu was standing in a throwing stance.

The object she had thrown seemed to be a bagua mirror.

“What courage,” Ji Yun thought admiringly.

Compared with Xia Li, the senior student who had been standing nearby in terror, Lu Jiu was truly brave.

Thinking back, Ji Yun realized that apart from being somewhat shy and lacking in confidence, she had not once let out the shrill cries typical of a frightened young girl throughout the entire night.

There was no time to think further. The white-clad corpse once again scurried rapidly up the wall and into the room.

Having gained a moment’s respite, Zhao Kai swept his eyes across the wooden table beside him. He clamped both hands around its edge, gave a muffled roar, and threw his entire weight against it, pinning the corpse against the wall as it lunged inside.

Seeing this, Ji Yun immediately rushed forward to help.

He locked his arms straight and braced them firmly against the corner of the table.

Pinned beneath it, the white-clad senior student continued struggling and counterattacking wildly.

A vicious light gleamed in her eyes. A horrifying hiss rumbled from her throat. Her hands, tipped with black claw-like nails, raked frantically across the tabletop, sending splinters flying and carving deep furrows into the wood.

Her hatred and killing intent seemed almost tangible, as though the moment she broke free, she would tear the two men limb from limb.

The several stools and chairs they had smashed against her moments earlier had not injured the ghost in the slightest. Ji Yun and Zhao Kai both understood that ordinary attacks were completely useless against it.

Under the ghost’s brute strength, the table began to tremble.

Sooner or later, it would break apart.

Despair flooded over them like a rising tide, suffocating them.

At this critical moment, Zhao Kai shouted anxiously, “Brother Yun, run!”

Seeing this, Ji Yun suddenly understood what he had to do, and his gaze sharpened.

If physical means were useless, then they could only rely on magic.

He retreated one step, freeing both hands, but he had no intention of escaping.

Instead, he abruptly bit open the index finger of his right hand and rapidly drew a talisman across his left palm while chanting, “Heaven is round, earth is square. By the Nine Edicts of the Law, I now set down this stroke; may all ghosts lie hidden...”

His voice was not loud, but as he recited the incantation, an aura of righteousness rose within him.

His third uncle’s profession combined various Buddhist, Taoist, and folk ritual arts. When teaching him, his uncle had explained that the incantation itself was not a spell. However, chanting it could cleanse turbid energy, steady the mind and spirit, and, in moments of crisis, dramatically increase the chance of successfully drawing a talisman.

At that moment, Ji Yun could indeed feel a mysterious force supporting him. His hand moved as though guided by divine assistance.

Zhao Kai, braced at the front with sweat pouring down his face, had no idea what was happening. He glanced back and saw that Ji Yun had not run. His anxious eyes seemed to shout, I’m about to lose control here! Why are you still standing around instead of getting out?

Before the fat man could voice his panic, he saw his best friend’s expression grow increasingly solemn.

As the incantation continued, waves of righteous energy seemed to pour from Ji Yun’s brow. The sight was so unfamiliar that Zhao Kai felt as if he were meeting him for the first time.

Ji Yun had drawn the Thunderfire Talisman countless times and knew the process by heart.

Almost the instant his bitten finger slid across his palm, a blood talisman was complete.

While Zhao Kai stared in astonishment, Ji Yun thrust his hand forward with a grave expression and slapped the blood talisman directly onto the white-clad corpse.

Then he shouted, “Thunderfire!”

For an instant, it seemed as though the entire world had fallen silent.

But in the next moment, everything erupted in a violent explosion.

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