During that half month when every gust of wind and crane's cry sparked alarm, Li Xiang and Lin Xuanshu lay low like two genuinely dead rats in that abandoned Bone House, never taking so much as a single step outside.
Li Xiang pushed [Leakless Body] and [Withered Wood Seals the Acupoints] to extremes ordinary people could scarcely imagine.
Not only did he completely seal off his and Lin Xuanshu's vital signs, but every day he also used [Embalmer] methods to scrape corpse ash from the low-rank corpse ghouls wandering outside, mixed it with bone powder, and smeared layer after layer over their bodies.
At the same time, he used the special properties of the [Paper Effigy Maker] profession to silently release several palm-sized paper rats every night, made with grave grass and soaked in yin soil.
These paper rats blended perfectly into the Netherworld's environment. Following the bases of walls, sewers, and even the feet of the lowliest ghostfolk, they quietly roamed the Wangsi City Outer City. They not only helped Li Xiang watch for any activation of the secret marks he had left, but also became his most effective eyes and ears for gathering intelligence in the Netherworld.
Then came the depths of the fifteenth night.
"Click."
A faint scraping of stone came from beyond the half-collapsed wall behind the Bone House, yet in its deathly silence, the sound rang as clearly as thunder.
Li Xiang, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, abruptly opened them. A flash of cold lightning, almost tangible, shot from their depths.
He did not rise. His right hand merely slipped like a phantom to the hilt of his [Ghost-Slaying Blade], while he flicked a finger of his left hand, sending an invisible current of feng shui energy silently spreading along the