Squelch—
A warm sensation traveled up Hong Xiu's fingertips; her hand, which had pierced through Lou-Metal Dog's chest, was now gripping a beating heart.
The heart throbbed powerfully in her palm, each contraction sending a wave of scalding heat through her hand.
With just a gentle squeeze, she could crush this heart into dust.
This was deep within the formation eye of the Myriad Ghost Array, where layers of nested space overlapped, and dead souls and ancient beasts gathered.
Lou-Metal Dog had manifested his true form within the array. If Hong Xiu exerted just a fraction more force, she could completely shatter his heart.
He would meet a true death.
She looked down at Lou-Metal Dog's slightly upturned face.
White fur covered most of his face, leaving only a pair of amber eyes exposed.
Those eyes reflected her image, completely clean and free of any impurity.
He looked exactly like the mute standing by the door of the woodshed all those years ago.
Lou-Metal Dog stared motionlessly at Hong Xiu's cold profile, a soft whimper escaping his throat.
“You... alive?”
“Kill me... kill me...”
“I beg of you.”
“Awoo...”
Hong Xiu's fingers paused for a fraction of a second, then tightened slightly.
“Young Palace Master.”
Her voice was dead calm.
“Should I kill him?”
Chen Zhou stood a few paces away, his brow furrowed.
The auspicious cloud above his head was spinning frantically, casting an unprecedentedly bright light directly onto Lou-Metal Dog, illuminating him brilliantly.
Chen Zhou's eyelid twitched.
“Wait.”
The Young Palace Master spoke, and Hong Xiu's hand instantly froze.
Her killing intent vanished completely.
However, she did not retract her nails. She still held Lou-Metal Dog's heart in a death grip, her fingers slightly curled, maintaining a delicate balance where she could crush it or let it go at any second.
This was to prevent him from suddenly rioting.
Even if he was an old acquaintance from a hundred thousand years ago, after so much time, anyone would change, whether they were human or ghost.
Chen Zhou was also deeply puzzled. His future employee was actually the true form of a Mansion?
Did this dog-man possess some special destiny?
Yet Chen Zhou could not sense anything special about Lou-Metal Dog at all.
Chen Zhou stepped forward and stopped in front of Lou-Metal Dog. He extended his fingertip and gently touched the space between the dog's brows.
His perception instantly extended outward.
The other party was highly guarded, but perhaps due to Hong Xiu's presence, Lou-Metal Dog did not resist Chen Zhou's intrusion too much.
Chen Zhou took a turn around Lou-Metal Dog's sea of consciousness. It was completely empty, with nothing inside.
It was exceptionally clean, showing none of the providential blessings typically associated with special abilities or unique destinies.
Chen Zhou's brow furrowed even deeper.
His perception delved deeper, tracing along the surface of Lou-Metal Dog's soul and probing inward, passing through layer after layer of chaotic memory fragments and disorganized instinctual impulses.
To his surprise, Chen Zhou discovered that there were seven nails driven into Lou-Metal Dog's divine soul.
They were white, about the thickness of a pinky finger, wedged deep into his soul like stakes.
The first nail was driven into his memory zone, pinning down vast sections of memory fragments so they could not be retrieved.
The second nail was driven into his emotional zone, sealing off all outlets for emotion and leaving only the most primitive instinctual reactions.
The third nail was driven into his instinctual zone, completely locking away his judgment, capacity for thought, and even his self-awareness.
The seven nails ran straight through his soul, pinning his personality from the inside out into a cage. Only a thin shell remained, beneath which a living soul was locked away.
On the side of each nail, a line of minuscule text was engraved. It was so tiny as to be almost invisible, but Chen Zhou managed to catch it.
“Fate Officer's Blessing: Eight Sufferings Heart-Lock.”
Chen Zhou withdrew his hand, his expression turning slightly grim.
What on earth was this?
He knew of the Eight Sufferings.
Birth, old age, sickness, death, parting from loved ones, meeting with hated ones, unfulfilled desires, and the raging of the five skandhas.
But if it was the Eight Sufferings, why were there only seven nails?
Chen Zhou searched the area but could not find an eighth nail.
It seemed that precisely because one nail was missing, Lou-Metal Dog had retained a final shred of his residual obsession—that sliver of absolute trust and loyalty toward Hong Xiu.
It was a forced seal, yet it left a sliver of hope.
Seeing Chen Zhou's grim expression, Hong Xiu asked in a low voice, “Young Palace Master, is there something wrong with him?”
“If he's trouble, just kill him.”
Just as she finished speaking, a sharp whistling sound suddenly pierced the air from the distant gray mist.
A white arrow shot out from the mist, flying straight toward the space between Lou-Metal Dog's brows.
At that exact moment, Lou-Metal Dog suddenly reacted.
His limbs violently kicked off the ground, throwing his body to the side. Hong Xiu's nails slipped out of his chest cavity, bringing with them a spray of scalding white blood.
He rolled clumsily across the ground as the arrow grazed the tip of his ear, thudding into the ruined earth behind him.
Hong Xiu's brow knit together as she looked in the direction the arrow had come from.
Amidst the churning gray mist, three white figures slowly emerged from the distance.
They were the same three Mansion Spirits who had fled earlier: Wei Tu Zhi, Kui Mu Lang, and Bi Yue Wu.
Their state of albinism had deepened, and their entire bodies exuded an intense aura of grief. Even from afar, one could feel the overwhelming torrent of emotion that practically overflowed from them.
Wei Tu Zhi slowly raised the longbow in her hand, nocking another white arrow onto the string and aiming it at Lou-Metal Dog, who was splayed on the ground.
Lou-Metal Dog scrambled up from the ground, his limbs trembling slightly.
He stumbled two steps toward Hong Xiu and squatted by her feet. Looking up at her, he let out a muffled whimper from his throat.
He tilted his head, completely exposing his neck and offering it to Hong Xiu's hand.
“Hunted... I don't want to.”
“If I must die, I want to die by your hand.”
Hong Xiu looked down at his face, which was mostly obscured by white fur.
She stared down at him. Her round fan spun once around her fingertips. Though she was usually ruthless and cold-hearted, for once, she found herself unable to make a decision.
Hong Xiu raised her eyes to look at Chen Zhou.
“Young Palace Master?”
Chen Zhou's gaze swept over Wei Tu Zhi, then fell upon the trembling dog at his feet. His mind raced.
Shen Shui Yuan had died at the hands of Wei Tu Zhi. At the time, he had been somewhat surprised—the formation eye had only just collapsed, so why was Wei Tu Zhi in such a hurry to kill one of her own?
But now, they were here to kill Lou-Metal Dog as well.
With Shen Shui Yuan's true form dead, the formation eye destroyed, and the dead souls rioting, the entire Myriad Ghost Array was experiencing an irreversible chain reaction.
What if Lou-Metal Dog died too?
Chen Zhou could not yet figure out why they were doing this, but he was certain of one thing.
He could not let them have their way.
Moreover, the auspicious cloud above his head was pointing directly at Lou-Metal Dog. Even if the dog currently had seven heart-locking nails driven into him and his personality was nearly shattered to pieces, he was still Chen Zhou's designated future employee.
Chen Zhou raised his hand.
“Save him.”
A single word.
Without another word, Hong Xiu's bright red skirt billowed. She stepped forward, shielding Lou-Metal Dog, who was crouching at her feet, behind her.
She tossed her round fan into the air. The fan face unfurled in mid-air, growing larger and larger.
One by one, the gold-threaded peonies peeled off the fan, transforming into wisps of crimson, fragrant threads in the air that swept toward Wei Tu Zhi, Kui Mu Lang, and Bi Yue Wu.
A fragrant wind instantly filled the air.
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