Thunder and fire roared all around, but the Dragon Chant Sword stood firm, shielding them. Princess Xie You held Miss Qiu in her arms and sang softly under the sword, her voice clear and sweet, without a trace of panic:

  "Jingle bell, jingle bell, I’m a cute little traveler. From east to west, everyone praises me when they see me~"

  Miss Qiu in her arms wore the monocle, nodding her little head rhythmically, pointing her in the direction of the formation’s eye—like a tiny, precise radar, never making a single mistake.

  The power of the thunderfire explosions was overwhelming, enough to split mountains and rocks, yet it couldn’t shake Xiao Bai’s sword light at all. It hovered steadily in the air, its sword aura mighty, shielding the person and the bird below without leaving a single gap.

  "If only you were a little bigger," Xie You muttered softly, as if complaining that the barrier wasn’t wide enough.

  Xiao Bai heard every word clearly. Its blade trembled slightly, grumbling silently in its mind: When we fight, you hold me and complain I’m too big and heavy; now hiding from thunder, you complain I’m too small and narrow... Why are you so hard to please?

  Seeing that Xiao Bai was still in a bad mood, Xie You quickly changed the subject. She gently brushed her fingertips over the shallow scratches on the blade, her tone softening: "Xiao Bai, will they hurt you like this? If you get pitted and scarred, you won’t look good anymore."

  Finally, a word of care! Xiao Bai instantly perked up, trembling more cheerfully, and proudly boasted about its origin: "This is just a drizzle—how could it hurt me? Don’t you know my inheritance..."

  But its words trailed off suddenly.

  Inheritance.

  It had been deeply troubled by not knowing who it was or where it came from. Now that its sore spot was touched, it fell silent instantly, and its sword light dimmed a little.

  "It’s okay," Xie You sensed its low spirits and patted the blade gently, comforting it softly. "After we take back that gold mine, we’ll ask Jiu Ge—yes, Jiu Ge! He must know. Don’t worry, just hold on a few more days, good boy."

  As she finished speaking, she quickened her pace, walking steadily through the thunderfire.

  Even with Xiao Bai’s full protection, a few tiny sparks still splashed onto her newly changed dress, burning small holes in it.

  Xie You frowned, a little angry, and gritted her teeth: "Once I find the formation’s eye, I’ll kill all you troublemakers!"

  The formation’s eye was hidden deep in an abandoned cemetery.

  Miss Qiu took off the monocle and handed it to Xie You. In an instant, the scene in front of her changed drastically—instead of desolate graves, there was a bustling geisha house, with red and green lanterns dazzling the eyes, and the faint sound of music drifting over, a scene of luxury and indulgence.

  "Truly indistinguishable from real to fake," Xie You murmured in amazement, her eyes turning colder. "Such a place of pleasure, filled with beauties, is actually made of rotting bones?"

  Looking at the formation’s style, it was elaborate and imposing, but lacked precision. That was the key reason Xie You could reach the formation’s eye unharmed.

  She let out a sharp shout, gripped the Dragon Chant Sword tightly, tiptoed, and leaped into the air. She swung the sword fiercely at the hill in the cemetery!

  One slash horizontally, one vertically—a cross-shaped crack instantly spread across the hill.

  Beneath the crack, the hill was filled with translucent turbid liquid, and dense yellowish-green bugs squirmed in it. A stench hit her nose, pungent and nauseating.

  Xie You quickly switched to holding the sword with one hand, covering her nose tightly with the other, frowning in disgust, her face clearly showing resistance.

  On a withered tree branch not far away, the white-feathered female demon with glasses was quietly lying, secretly controlling the entire formation with the secret arts of the Ming Cult.

  Through Xie You’s monocle, the illusion of the geisha house was completely exposed, but the weird mixture of powder and blood couldn’t be dispelled no matter what.

  "I really don’t understand how anyone could like this smell, let alone enjoy it," Xie You whispered coldly.

  This geisha house was actually a trap—guests who didn’t meet the requirements would be let go to act as propagandists and promoters; those who did meet the standards would eventually turn into these piles of white bones, becoming nourishment for the formation, adding fuel to this man-eating trap.

  Xie You swung her sword to split the layers of illusions around the geisha house, and mist like rolling red dust surged out. Who would have thought that dense, obscure agricultural talismans were hidden inside?

  Following Miss Qiu’s precise instructions, she quickly chopped off the big flag in the formation’s eye, then slashed fiercely at the mad dragon pillar—the power of the formation instantly dropped sharply.

  At that moment, deep in the basement of the geisha house, two coffins suddenly made a loud "crack" sound, and the lids popped open by themselves!

  Xie You’s eyes sharpened. She swung her sword to block in front of her, and a rapid clanging sound echoed—all the coffin nails turned into deadly hidden weapons, shooting at her like a rainstorm!

  Taking advantage of this gap, two girls’ corpses slowly sat up from the coffins.

  The corpses hadn’t rotted. They were naked, wearing only a red bellyband, and looked exactly the same—like a pair of twin babies, extremely weird.

  "Where do you think you’re going!"

  Xie You saw through their trick at a glance—these two female corpses were trying to escape towards the setting sun.

  "You made me ruin a nice dress, and you still want to run? Stop, and I’ll spare your lives!"

  The cross gears were still spinning rapidly, and the power of the formation was still erupting.

  Through Xie You’s monocle, the two female corpses instantly turned into a pair of beautiful butterflies, fluttering towards the setting sun, eerily beautiful.

  Fortunately, Miss Qiu stood guard, staring closely at the butterflies’ tracks, never relaxing for a moment.

  If you cut the grass but don’t pull out the roots, it will grow again when the spring breeze blows!

  Xie You tiptoed on the void, stepped on golden light, held the sword upright, and leaped forward, catching up with the pair of butterflies in an instant.

  Her eyes turned cold. Without hesitation, she swung her sword fiercely!

  Just as the sword edge was about to touch the butterflies, the pair suddenly turned around and gave her a weird yet sweet smile.