The Stove Fire had actually gone out!
The instant the flames touched the edge of the well, they seemed to be sucked into an invisible black hole, vanishing silently before his eyes.
Jiang Qiao frowned.
He knew the properties of "Stove Fire" very well. It used supernatural power as fuel; the stronger that power, the fiercer it burned.
In theory.
There seemed to be nothing it could not burn.
But in practice.
That was not necessarily true.
Just as a tiny spark could not set a thick log alight, a little flame could not ignite heavy fuel oil.
If...
The supernatural horror was on too high a level.
Beyond what "Stove Fire" could currently consume.
Then it would fail to ignite.
Fail to burn.
"Second Tier Stove Fire still falls a little short, it seems." Jiang Qiao understood, but not a trace of fear showed on his face.
Just then.
Inside the well.
That mass of hair surged out again.
At exactly the same speed as before, it blotted out everything, even thicker and denser than the last time.
The strands slowly spilled down over the rim.
Like a living black waterfall, they silently crawled across the snow, twisting through the air and climbing upward like ivy to surround them once more.
And the woman whose upper body protruded from the well still had her head tilted.
On her indistinct face.
She seemed to be smiling.
Her smile carried a malice that seeped from deep within her bones. Like a child who had caught a pile of ants, dropped them into water, and happily watched them struggle.
"What the fuck are you smiling at?!"
Jiang Qiao raised his hand, and flames fiercer and more violent than before abruptly appeared in his palm!
"I burned you once."
**"I can burn you