The ground beneath my feet suddenly collapsed, and I immediately stepped back. A crack split open in the earth as several silver threads pulled taut with a faint hum.
Hongxiu cried out and nearly fell, but Ye Qingwan reached out and caught her.
"Don't move," I said.
The scenery around us changed. The narrow mountain path vanished, replaced by stone corridors stretching out in all four directions, every one identical. The runes on the walls glimmered faintly. There was no sky above us, only dim rock pressing down overhead.
The Fragmented Jade burned hot against my chest, its heat more pronounced than before.
"This is a formation," Ye Qingwan said softly, gripping her medicine pestle as her gaze swept the surroundings. "We've entered it."
I crouched and pressed my palm against a slab of bluestone on the ground. The stone was icy cold, yet I could sense an exceedingly faint vibration, like a pulse beating in steady rhythm.
In my Sea of Consciousness, the Heaven-Slaying Origin began to circulate. The system operated soundlessly, dismantling and reassembling the chaotic fragments of Spiritual Energy bit by bit. The Spirit Flow cycled once every three breaths. The seventh brick, at the northwest corner, was the dead point.
"Listen to me." I rose to my feet, lowering my voice. "The White Tiger position takes half a step back. The Vermilion Bird position moves one foot forward. The center stays put."
Hongxiu froze. "What?"
"Do as I say." I stared at her. "Where you're standing is a connection point for the Formation Eye. If you keep moving around, you'll trigger even more traps."
She bit her lip and slowly stepped back half a pace.
The ground trembled faintly. A stone wall slowly shifted aside, revealing a passage beyond.
"It worked!" she cried softly.
"Don't make