After the Awkward Dance

The patrol captain's words struck Zhu Shen like an ice pick. He froze in place, still locked in the pose of the "Martial Soul Research Night Exercise," his hip joints feeling as if they had rusted over. Tang San silently turned his face toward the wall, the back of his neck turning so red it looked like it might bleed; he wished he could wrap himself into a cocoon using his Blue Silver Grass.

"Ahem!" Zhu Shen abruptly pulled back his hands and stood ramrod straight, his face instantly shifting into the solemnity of a "highly respected Grandmaster." "Special? The path of Martial Souls is profound and vast; body language is also a bridge to communicate with the soul power of heaven and earth! Here at Notting Academy, we emphasize that practice yields true knowledge!" He struggled to make his voice sound righteous, smoothing his lapels as if someone else had been the one twisting their hips just a moment ago.

[Ding! Detected host forcibly saving face during an epic awkward situation. Triggered hidden reward: Skin Thickness +5%! Current total skin thickness: 20%!] The system's notification tone carried a hint of schadenfreude.

Zhu Shen cursed internally, ...System, would it kill you to shut up? Outwardly, however, he offered the patrol team a "profound and inscrutable" smile. "You've all worked hard. Patrolling late at night—with you guarding the peace of Spirit City, it's truly reassuring."

The patrol captain's mouth twitched even more violently. His gaze darted between Zhu Shen's "sincere" face and Tang San's back, who looked like he wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground. Finally, he let out a long sigh and waved his hand. "...Dismissed! Next time... keep the noise down while researching Martial Souls!" He led his team—who were struggling to suppress their laughter and looking utterly bewildered—away, holding their soul-guiding lamps and vanishing into the alleyway as if staying a second longer would cause them to catch this "special" condition.

Only when the footsteps faded did Zhu Shen let his shoulders slump, exhaling a long, stale breath. His back was cold, drenched in a layer of sweat. "Scared the hell out of me... San, are you alright?"

Tang San turned around slowly. Though the shame-induced flush still lingered on his face, his eyes had regained their calm, tinged with lingering fear. "Teacher, that was too dangerous. That mental shock... it was very sinister. It felt a lot like the sensation in the cave at the Soul Hunting Forest, but even colder." He subconsciously touched the back of his head; the Mandala Eye external soul bone was slightly hot, its warning still active.

"No kidding, the system even sounded the alarm. Could it be anything good?" Zhu Shen rubbed his chest irritably. The love letter in his robes was no longer scalding, but it still retained an unsettling warmth, like carrying a stone that refused to be heated. He looked toward the dilapidated three-story building. The red dot on the system map remained as steady as a mountain deep underground, emitting an ominous, dark glow. "This damn place—hiding filth right under the Pope's nose. The rats of the Evil God Temple have some real guts!"

His expression grew grave, all traces of his earlier playfulness vanishing. "San, the seed you planted earlier exploded. Can you still probe it?"

Tang San shook his head, his face pale. "My mental energy was repelled; it's not possible for now. That thing... it's very sensitive to life force. My seed was locked onto and annihilated the moment it got close."

"Tsk, a tough nut to crack." Zhu Shen smacked his lips, habitually reaching up to stroke his chin to look profound, but halfway there, he remembered his "dance moves" and awkwardly lowered his hand. "System, scan this dump. Any weaknesses? Or maybe a walkthrough?"

[Scanning... Target building: Old residential block, fragile structure, weak energy shielding. High-intensity evil energy field present underground, suspected small altar or sealing node. Weakness: Energy core located at the deepest part of the third basement level, but a mysterious mental barrier exists. Warning: Evil energy concentration is rising. Suggestion: Host... er, maintain elegance?]

"Elegance my foot! We're about to lose our lives!" Zhu Shen rolled his eyes, calculating rapidly. Force our way in? The situation inside was unknown, and the evil energy concentration was high enough to trigger system alarms. He only had 32% of the Dragon God Bloodline, his new [Dragon God Body Protection] skill was barely warmed up, and Tang San was only at level thirty-something. Call for reinforcements? Appearing suspiciously near a source of evil energy in the dead of night—after just barely bluffing his way past a patrol with a dance—would be throwing himself into a trap.

"Teacher, the love letter..." Tang San suddenly whispered a reminder.

Zhu Shen froze, subconsciously clutching his chest. The love letter in his robes had started to vibrate slightly again, its temperature climbing once more, and... there seemed to be a faint, pulling force pointing toward the basement of the building!

[Ding! Warning! "Bibi Dong's Love Letter" is being stimulated by high-concentration Evil God energy, secondary activity abnormality! Detected faint spatial coordinate pull! Target: Underground! Warning: This pull may cause the item to escape the host's control!]

"Damn it! Don't you dare!" Zhu Shen's face turned green. This item was the key to farming favor with Bibi Dong; losing it in the Soul Hunting Forest had nearly cost him his life, and if he lost it again... He gripped his chest tightly, feeling the envelope thrashing like a live fish. "Big Boss Bibi Dong, keep your love letter in check! It's trying to elope again!"

However, the letter clearly had no intention of listening to him. The pulling force grew stronger, and the edges of the envelope even began to emit a faint pink glow, standing out starkly in the night. Zhu Shen felt he could barely hold it down.

"Teacher! It's going to fly away!" Tang San exclaimed.

Before the words left his mouth, with a soft pop, a streak of pink light shot out from between Zhu Shen's fingers like lightning. Its target was an inconspicuous, broken cellar entrance at the base of the building, half-hidden by wooden planks! The speed was identical to what had happened in the Soul Hunting Forest!

"My love letter!!" Zhu Shen was heartbroken, beating his chest and stamping his feet (this time for real). He couldn't care about hiding anymore. "Chase!" He grabbed Tang San, instantly activating his Dragon God Martial Soul. Two purple and two black soul rings flared, and [Dragon God Body Protection] triggered passively, a faint golden shimmer flowing beneath his skin. Like a cannonball fired from a chamber, he chased the pink light toward the cellar entrance.

Tang San stumbled as he was dragged, sighing for the 102nd time: Why does Teacher's key item always drop the ball and elope at the most critical moment? He activated his Purple Demon Eye to its limit, locking onto the pink light while vigilantly sensing the increasingly thick and cold evil energy around them.

The two rushed into the cellar one after the other. The entrance was narrow, covered in dust and cobwebs, and a heavy, musty stench mixed with an indescribable, fishy odor hit them, making them feel nauseous. The pink light of the letter acted like a guide, darting rapidly through the pitch-black, winding, downward-sloping passage.

"This damn place..." Zhu Shen cursed, his dragon claws tearing through the rotting wood and cobwebs blocking their path. "San, watch your step, stay close!"

The deeper they went, the heavier the evil energy became. The air felt like solidified glue, making it difficult to breathe. The Mandala Eye at the back of Tang San's head burned; his mental energy was heavily suppressed, and he could only barely sense the position of the letter ahead. On the walls of the passage, distorted symbols painted in dark red pigment began to appear—identical to the runes on the altar in the Soul Hunting Forest cave, radiating a heart-stopping ominousness.

After descending an unknown distance, the space ahead suddenly opened up. The pink light stopped abruptly, hovering in the center of a small underground chamber.

It looked like a forgotten underground storage room, but in the center of the floor, a complex and eerie array, three meters in diameter, was drawn with an unknown dark red material. The lines of the array were twisted, forming a giant, bleeding eye pattern—the exact same emblem they had seen on Su Nuo's cuffs and in the Nuoding City warehouse! At this moment, the array was emitting a faint dark red glow, and wisps of black evil energy flowed through the patterns like living things, emitting a faint hissing sound, as if countless people were whispering.

And Zhu Shen's life-saving "Bibi Dong's Love Letter" was hovering quietly above the center of the array. The pink halo and the surging dark red evil energy below intertwined and eroded each other, emitting soft sizzling sounds. On the surface of the envelope, the few purple veins that had appeared after the Soul Hunting Forest incident were flickering, seemingly resisting, or perhaps... resonating?

"An altar... this damn thing again!" Zhu Shen gritted his teeth, his dragon eyes locked onto the array. This one was much smaller than the one in the cave, but the aura it radiated was just as evil, and even more... hidden. No wonder it could stay hidden in Spirit City for so long! The golden light of [Dragon God Body Protection] flickered slightly under the erosion of the evil energy, emitting faint crackling sounds.

Tang San's expression was grave. "Teacher, the love letter seems to be... absorbing the evil energy? Or is the evil energy eroding it?"

"Who cares! Let's get it back first!" Zhu Shen was anxious; that was his key item for farming favor! He prepared to rush forward.

Just then!

Hum--

In the center of the array, at the pupil of the bleeding eye pattern, the dark red light suddenly surged! An evil intent, a hundred times colder and thicker than before, erupted like a tangible wave, instantly sweeping through the entire underground space!

"Ugh!" Tang San took the brunt of it, groaning as he clutched his head and stumbled back. His Purple Demon Eye dimmed instantly, and the Mandala Eye sent a needle-like pain through his mind; his mental energy felt frozen. Zhu Shen's body also sank as if he had fallen into a quagmire; the golden light of [Dragon God Body Protection] flickered violently, and his Dragon Might was forcibly suppressed by this intent!

[Warning! Encountered high-intensity Evil God will impact! Dragon God Body Protection defense reduced by 30%! Mental resistance check in progress... Check failed! Host suffered mental shock (minor)! Tang San suffered mental shock (moderate)!]

"Damn it!" Zhu Shen's head buzzed, his vision darkening, but he forced himself not to collapse. He stared fixedly at the center of the array.

Within the surging dark red light, a blurry, pale phantom the size of a three-year-old child slowly took shape! It kept its eyes closed, its skin a bloodless, ghastly white, and it wore tattered dark red rags. Its form was exactly the same as the "Holy Child" infant that had been burned by Dragon Breath in the Soul Hunting Forest cave!

The phantom hovered beneath the love letter, and the evil energy of the array poured frantically into its body. It seemed to sense the aura of the letter; its closed eyes twitched slightly, and slowly... it opened them!

They were a pair of pure black eyes, devoid of whites, so hollow they seemed to swallow all light. It "looked" at the hovering letter, then slowly turned its pure black pupils to lock onto the two master and disciple standing at the entrance, who were braced for battle.

A cold malice, originating from the depths of the soul, washed over Zhu Shen and Tang San like freezing water.

"Mo... mmy..." A distorted, overlapping child's voice, as if countless people were crying out at once, emanated from the phantom, echoing in the deathly silent underground space, making one's skin crawl. Its gaze finally settled on Zhu Shen, and in the depths of its pure black pupils, it reflected Zhu Shen's stunned face.

Under the phantom's gaze, the love letter, shrouded in pink light, shuddered violently!