Chapter 325
Chapter 325
“What do we do next?” Qin Nan asked.
Jian Fan gazed at the distant blaze, its flames reflected in his eyes and setting them alight.
“Break the deadlock,” Jian Fan said.
Everyone froze at his words. They were pleasantly surprised, but even more puzzled.
“How?” Qin Nan, Yellow Hair, Mu Xin, and several others asked in unison.
Still watching the sea of flames, Jian Fan continued, “This town has broken away from the real world. It exists either to save someone or to make a ghost stronger. But someone discovered this and placed restraints on the town to obstruct that plan.”
“The stone statues restrain the ghosts’ power?” Qin Nan thought he understood what Jian Fan meant.
Jian Fan gave a hum of agreement and continued, “What we need to do is weaken the ghosts while strengthening the power that restrains them.”
“Use one force against the other,” Qin Weiyi said in understanding.
“But how do we do that?” Lin Junruo understood Jian Fan’s idea, yet still did not know how they could carry it out.
All they could do was avoid the ghosts. How were they supposed to weaken the ghosts’ power and strengthen the force opposing them?
“Aren’t we already doing something to weaken them?” Yellow Hair said with a smile.
Hmm?
Looking at the burning scholar tree grove before her, Lin Junruo finally understood.
They had previously speculated that the ghosts hid in the scholar tree grove during the day. That meant if they burned the grove, they could burn those ghosts to death as well.
Did that not count as weakening them?
Although it was only a theory and they could not confirm it yet, they had to try as long as there was a chance.
“What comes next?” Lin Junruo asked.
“We’ll decide after it finishes burning,” Qin Weiyi replied.
The group stood at the entrance to town, watching the scholar tree grove gradually turn to ash amid the flames.
Daytime was of little use to them, so they had plenty of time. They stood at the entrance for several hours. Only after seeing the scholar tree grove burn away completely without the slightest trace remaining did they turn and enter Leqing Town.
Once inside, Jian Fan led them straight to the Xie Residence.
Although they could not find many clues during the day, there were still two things they could investigate.
The incomplete Sibuxiang stone statue, and the peculiar area of tables and chairs in the courtyard.
The group returned to the Sibuxiang once more.
“What do we do?” Yellow Hair looked at the Sibuxiang, feeling a headache coming on.
The Sibuxiang had likely become incomplete while suppressing these evil forces. To strengthen it, surely they would not have to make it into a complete stone statue again?
It could not be that absurd, could it?
Naturally, that was not what Jian Fan had in mind.
He turned to Qin Nan. “What things can usually counter ghosts and other evil forces?”
“Dog’s blood?” Qin Nan immediately suggested.
Jian Fan shook his head. “Name something we actually have.”
Now that was a difficult question.
There were certainly things that could counter ghosts, such as dog’s blood or yellow talismans. But as for something they had right now… Qin Nan’s eyes darted around before finally settling on Qin Weiyi.
When Qin Nan suddenly looked at him, an ominous feeling rose in Qin Weiyi’s heart. “Why are you looking at me?”
Qin Nan laughed. “Something that repels evil and that we have on hand… I can think of one: a virgin boy’s urine.”
Qin Weiyi was baffled.
At those words, everyone gave him a faint smile.
Jian Fan actually considered it seriously before replying, “We can try it.”
Qin Weiyi fell silent.
“If nothing suitable is available, does that mean anyone who enters this world is simply doomed?” Qin Weiyi made one last attempt to resist.
Jian Fan agreed with Qin Weiyi’s point. He looked at Qin Nan again and said, “Keep thinking. We can try several things.”
Qin Nan thought for a while longer. “Peach wood? But there isn’t any here.”
“The stone statues that suppress evil,” Yellow Hair said, pointing at the statue.
“But the statue is incomplete right now,” Qin Nan said.
Hearing this, Yellow Hair looked toward the statue on the other side and suddenly said, “We said before that the town uses the Xie Residence as its center, with the two roads repeating. So could we… make a copy?”
At Yellow Hair’s words, Jian Fan abruptly turned to look at him.
When Yellow Hair saw Jian Fan looking over, his confidence faltered. “Would that not work? I suppose even if we copied it, there would only be two. What good could that do?”
“No. I think that makes a lot of sense,” Jian Fan said, agreeing with Yellow Hair.
Yellow Hair’s idea was far more reliable than relying on Qin Weiyi to supply a virgin boy’s urine.
Now that he had considered the possibility, Jian Fan immediately called Lu Jing over to get to work.
“Move the stone statue out of the Xie Residence’s grounds,” Jian Fan said.
The Xie Residence was the only place that did not repeat. The stone lion stood before its gates and therefore belonged to an area that could not be copied. Jian Fan was eager to see what would happen once it left that area.
The stone statue was extremely heavy, and Lu Jing could not manage it alone. Yang Zhen joined in, while Qin Nan and Yellow Hair also stepped forward to help. Though it was difficult, they eventually got the statue moving.
Slowly, they shifted the stone statue to the side.
The moment the statue left the Xie Residence’s grounds, a miraculous scene unfolded.
On the other side of the street, another stone statue suddenly appeared out of thin air.
Just as they had guessed.
The Xie Residence served as the center, and the streets were duplicated around it, while the residence itself remained unique. Once the stone statue left the Xie Residence’s grounds, it gained the ability to be duplicated as well and became two statues at once.
The result filled everyone with confidence. They kept working and moved the other stone statue to the side as well. With that, the number of stone statues in Leqing Town rose to four.
When the fourth statue appeared, nothing before their eyes seemed to change, yet everyone clearly felt the eerie pressure weighing on their hearts recede considerably in an instant.
“So it really works!” Lin Junruo exclaimed in delight, her eyes shining when she looked at Yellow Hair.
Throughout these past few worlds, Jian Fan had always been the one to shine, making people like Yellow Hair seem insignificant. In truth, however, they had all relied on their own abilities to make it this far before meeting Jian Fan. They were not completely useless burdens.
“What else can we do?” Mu Xin’s mood had improved as well.
Their theory about the stone statues was correct; the change in that oppressive feeling had given them their answer. If their theory about the scholar tree grove was also right, then they had weakened the ghosts’ power too. Yet Mu Xin felt it was not enough. They still needed to do more. Unfortunately, she had no good ideas at present, so she placed her hopes on her teammates.
“Items,” Jian Fan said again.
“Hmm?” Qin Nan did not understand.
Jian Fan looked at Yellow Hair. “You exchanged Points for a whip.”
Yellow Hair nodded and quickly took it out. “I did. Are we going to use the whips?”
Jian Fan nodded.
He looked around at everyone. “If you still have unused Points, now is the time to spend them.”
Mu Xin still had quite a few Points and immediately spent some on a whip. Qin Weiyi did the same. Lin Junruo had exchanged Points for a Security Lock the previous day and did not have many Points left, so she did not spend them on anything else.
Even so, they now had five whips, though Lu Jing’s original one and Yang Zhen’s were already somewhat damaged.
Jian Fan considered this for a moment, then nodded. “That should be enough.”
“What are we doing next?” Lu Jing asked, gripping his whip as anticipation began to rise within him.
After enduring frustration for so long, he felt they might finally be about to turn the tables.
Sure enough, the corner of Jian Fan’s lips lifted. “Exterminate the ghosts.”