Outside the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.
Jiang Fan ran into the anxious Liu Qingxian and the others head-on.
“Fan! Are you alright?”
Liu Qingxian hurried over, her face dripping with sweat from worry.
Upon hearing that Jiang Fan had been captured by someone impersonating her, she was utterly terrified.
Jiang Fan smiled and said, “I’m fine. Someone was pretending to be you and wanted to trick me into giving up my cultivation technique.”
“But I saw through them and scared them off.”
The crowd collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Qingxian threw herself into his arms, saying, “You scared me to death, Fan.”
Feeling the warmth pressed against his chest, Jiang Fan nodded slightly.
This was the real Liu Qingxian.
Shang Shiqiu also exhaled deeply. “If we hadn’t found you, I was about to notify the Pavilion Master.”
Jiang Fan was speechless.
By the time you notified the Pavilion Master, my body would’ve already gone cold.
Luckily, the Vice Master of Jiangshan First-class Building, before killing him, had wanted to deceive him into handing over the “Sword Heart Engraving.”
This gave Jiang Fan the chance to trick her into wearing the Dragon Binding Chain instead.
He glanced behind him and still felt a lingering fear. “Let’s go, let’s go—hurry into the underground world.”
That relentless Vice Master, after killing her merchandise last time, was so furious that she dried up the large river next to Boundary Mountain.
If she was this set on harassing him again, wouldn’t she grind his bones to dust?
Better to hide quickly while he still could.
Led by Shang Shiqiu,
the group arrived at the northern corner annex of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.
Inside the hall, there was no visible entryway leading underground, as one might imagine.
Only a massive circular array occupied the entirety of the great hall’s floor.
It was inscribed with countless intricate patterns.
As Jiang Fan stared at it, he began to feel dizzy and nauseous.
“Don’t look at the ground.”
“This is a spatial array, and the patterns on it contain profound mysteries.”
“Anyone not skilled in array studies will feel discomfort if they look at it for too long.”
You Yunzi’s voice drifted over.
Jiang Fan looked in the direction of the voice.
He saw You Yunzi seated in the depths of the hall.
He quickly bowed. “Vice Pavilion Master You.”
“In such a hurry to delve into the underground world, are you?”
You Yunzi smiled, appreciating Jiang Fan’s eagerness. “Still, the underground world is extremely dangerous.”
“Especially with an abundance of sinister forces.”
“The first seven layers are relatively safe.”
“Starting from the eighth layer, you’ll encounter unimaginable foul entities.”
“Be careful not to let them latch onto you.”
Jiang Fan had heard comments about the sinister forces in the underground world before.
Such descriptions, though, were rather ambiguous.
The remnant souls of the Six-Path Masters, in a way, also counted as evil spirits—one kind of sinister entity.
The Yin corpses of the Great Yin Sect similarly fell into that category.
In short, anything that deviated from ordinary living beings seemed to be lumped under the term “sinister forces.”
These could take countless forms, defying any singular definition.
Thus, Jiang Fan couldn’t resist asking, “Vice Pavilion Master You, what traits do these sinister forces in the underground world typically have?”
You Yunzi glanced intently at Jiang Fan and Liang Feiyan.
He gave them two cryptic words:
“Guard against lust.”
Then, turning to Shang Shiqiu, Liu Qingxian, and Xia Chaoge,