The moment she drew near, the ring of seal-script characters on the door lit up. An invisible barrier sprang from its surface and sent her flying.
"The Bagua Seal."
Yang Yong recognized it.
Something from the Daoist tradition.
This kind of barrier specifically countered sinister, malevolent Eerie. It was a restriction left behind by a Daoist predecessor.
Time to take a look.
He crouched at the mouth of the well and looked down.
The well water was dark and still, like a dirty mirror.
The red light of the Blood Moon overhead fell on the surface, only to be swallowed by the water without the slightest reflection.
A faint fishy smell rose from deep within the well, mixed with the smell of earth and something harder to place, like old incense ash.
Yang Yong reached out and tapped the well rim.
The sound was muffled. It did not sound solid.
The moss on the rim had grown another layer thicker. Scraping it with a fingernail revealed a shallow incision in the stone beneath.
A straight line.
Just like the markings on the stone slabs beneath Black Water Marsh.
He stood up.
For now, neither the Red-Clothed Female Ghost nor the White-Clothed Love Letter Ghost could get in.
He had sent Yezi to protect Long Ya.
The only one left at hand that he could use was a Little Yellow Immortal.
"Huang San."
The little creature had just shrunk back against the foot of the wall. That call made it shudder all over.
"D-Deputy City Lord Yang, what is it?"
"Do me a favor."
"N-"
Before it could finish saying "no," Yang Yong had already gripped the back of its neck.
He did not use much force, but his fingers pressed precisely against the two thin blood vessels along the sides