The four watched the tiny Spirit-Taming Talisman sink into the courtyard wall. After a long while, Bian Chunchou detected nothing unusual, and the talisman drifted back down onto his fingertip.
"Not here?"
Bian Chunchou's expression was exceedingly grim. "Mm. I've disappointed you, Fellow Daoist."
Since they had failed to uncover any useful clues, the cultivator holding the jade talisman hurried to the next possible location. Once the man had left, Bian Chunchou immediately sent Wen Xu a voice transmission. "Wen Xu-Xu, it's empty inside!"
"What do you mean?"
"It means there's nothing at all—four bare walls."
Bian Chunchou suspected the seafood shop was not an isolated case, so he repeated the process at several nearby stores. Just as expected, they all had the same four-bare-walls decorating style, like miniature model properties displayed at a sales office.
He could not help raising his head toward the gloomy sky overhead. Even the sea breeze blowing in from the ocean now seemed to carry a dry, oppressive air. "We're not going to be trapped here forever, are we?"
Such an enormous city, yet everyone had suddenly vanished without a trace. Most importantly, they had spent the entire previous night by the shore and had not noticed a thing. It was far too terrifying.
"Don't panic yet." If they truly reached the end of the road, he still had the protective jade slip his master had given him.
Wen Xu's steady voice soothed Bian Chunchou. Yet Bian Chunchou's attention was swiftly drawn elsewhere. Ever since they had descended Yonglu Mountain, Second Dad within the family heirloom spirit sword had made no sound. Now that they were trapped in Pill Fragrance City, Second Dad had actually appeared.
"You seem to have run into quite a bit of trouble."
Heading Out to Sea
"Second Dad! You've