Chapter 553: Congratulations, you’ve won the lucky grand prize……

In the early hours.

Huá Sāng had a dream, dreaming that she was being chased by a beam of golden light in a vast, glowing white mist.

Wrapped in that golden light was something that seemed to be a finger of some being, exuding an intensely alluring aura.

Temptation often means danger.

She ran, glancing back from time to time, and through the mist, she could vaguely see a figure.

That figure was blurry, its pale golden outline almost blending into the mist, flickering in and out like a hallucination.

The figure resembled a human, but was much taller and more robust, nearly five meters tall, with an almost perfect golden ratio, radiating a unique beauty.

However, when Huá Sāng focused her mind, trying to see the figure clearly, a dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth, stinging her eyes.

With the pain in her eyes, Huá Sāng woke up in shock, opening her eyes to see the dimly lit room.

……

Sitting up, she rubbed her dry eyes, surprised to find that the lingering sting from the dream still felt so vivid after waking.

What did that dream… mean? Huá Sāng wondered in confusion.

Just then, a sudden knocking sounded at the door.

“Bang bang bang—-!”

Immediately after, she heard her senior brother’s voice from outside.

“Junior sister, are you alright?”

To prevent Huá Sāng’s Spirit Pattern from losing control again, Li Xuan had brought her to his home, letting her sleep in the bedroom while he took the sofa.

It was only for a day or two anyway, he thought he could make do… But as soon as he heard the slightest noise, he woke up from his light sleep.

He’d already been traumatized by the encroaching darkness; if it happened again, Shifu might not help him recover.

That’s right, after being baptized by thunder and lightning, he had already confirmed with his Shifu. He asked, “Shifu, you must have gathered the senior brothers and summoned thunder on Zi Xiao Terrace to heal me, right? I knew it, you still care about your disciple.”

Bi Xuzi was silent for a few seconds, then replied to Li Xuan, “This will not happen again.”

If it happened again, even Bi Xuzi, far away at the Great Pure Palace, really wouldn’t be able to help.

……

After roughly checking her own Spirit Pattern and Ling Seal, Huá Sāng looked at the tightly closed door and said calmly, “I’m fine, senior brother, no need to worry.”

Her Spirit Pattern was still relatively stable for now, showing no signs of losing control.

“I see!” Li Xuan’s voice came from outside the door. “Then get some rest, I won’t bother you.”

“Mm, good night, senior brother.”

Huá Sāng replied, lay back down on the bed, and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling until dawn.

She missed the Great Pure Palace a little.

Other than that small mountain village she could never return to, only at the Great Pure Palace could she shed her heavy “turtle shell”…

“Click!”

From the living room came the sound of Li Xuan leaving early.

She looked out the window, and through the curtains, a bright and beautiful morning light fell beside her pillow, less than a finger’s width from the delicate tip of her nose peeking out from her messy long hair.

But…

She couldn’t be bothered to reach out or move to touch that light.

——–

At dawn, after the rain-washed sky cast its first rays of sunlight,

inside the unfinished building at the edge of University Town, a tempting moan sounded.

“Mmm… ying…”

Soon, as the sunlight dispelled the lingering darkness on the unfinished building’s terrace in just a dozen seconds, a cold-faced, delicate-featured young man turned over and entered the building, heading toward the underground parking lot.

Using a directional summoning spell formation to call his old man was something Lu Yibei had initially refused to do, since he knew the essence of such a spell formation was to have the summoned appear as a Non-graded haunting, and the process of sending off the spirit was, in a gentler way, to “kill” the summoned Non-graded haunting.

Letting a long-dead loved one be reborn on impure land as a haunting, and then personally “killing” them…

Was it that sending them off just once wasn’t enough to show sincerity?

Wasn’t this a bit too filial?

If it had been Lu Yibei a year ago, even with his current abilities and the strength to face his father’s spirit, he absolutely wouldn’t have tried to use a directional summoning spell formation to call his father.

But now things were a bit different. The more he learned about his father’s hidden side, the more he felt something was off.

All signs indicated that his father was at least a Class A Psychic. Even when facing a catastrophe-class enemy, escaping shouldn’t have been too difficult.

Of course, Lu Yibei based this judgment on the pesky little sister, Big Boss, and Wang Yingying, but all of them had their own issues to some extent, so he wasn’t sure if this inference was reliable.

After all, up to now, he had never come into contact with catastrophe-class beings in their prime like the Dark Emperor or the Commander of Armaments, so he didn’t know if they had any unimaginable means.

Another thing that made him suspicious was that he had almost completely lost his memory of the period after the car accident, and he had never even seen his old man’s corpse.

If he were still just a facial paralysis chatterbox of an ordinary college student, maybe he would have believed that his old man had really passed away.

But now… he just couldn’t shake the feeling that an urn of ashes and a grave couldn’t prove that a psychic, especially a high-tier psychic with endless tricks, was truly dead.

He hadn’t had the means to confirm it before, but now he did.

I still have a grave at Lion Rock Public Cemetery! Buried there is most of my old man’s youth…

So I still have to try. I don’t need to actually summon my old man, just reach the step of condensing an unformed haunting, and confirm whether he’s alive or dead!

Thinking of this, Lu Yibei’s gaze sharpened slightly, and he began to prepare the directional soul-calling spell formation.

He set up the incense table, lit the spirit candles, placed the sacrificial wine and the Five-Offering Stone, then picked up the scarf that had been in contact with his old man the longest, raised it with both hands in front of him, closed his eyes, spread his psychic energy fluctuation outward, and softly chanted the incantation.

“Youth fades, daylight shines… Soul, return! Neither east nor west, neither south nor north…”

As the incantation was chanted, his voice and intent stretched into the void. The “onlookers'” gazes and strange whispers appeared as expected, and the process of casting the spell formation went as usual.

“Lu Ming, does the soul return!”

After reciting the last line of the incantation, Lu Yibei held his breath and began to wait.

Time trickled by, so slowly it seemed to congeal.

Suddenly!

Lu Yibei’s thread of intent trembled violently, and his heartbeat instantly skipped a beat.

“!!!”

His old man responded!

But this also meant that his old man really was…

His emotions surged and plummeted in an instant, hitting Lu Yibei with a huge impact. Excitement and grief intertwined into a fierce vortex, ravaging his nerves.

His heartbeat began to race, pounding wildly in his chest. His nostrils flared slightly, and his breathing became uncontrollably heavy.

Lu Yibei didn’t stop the spell formation, nor did he proceed to the next step of “making a promise.” He just stood there, dazed.

He looked just like a child studying or working far from home, feeling wronged, hesitating whether to call his parents to complain, and suddenly receiving a video call from them, completely at a loss.

After a long time, he called out in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s, “Dad…”

As if in response to Lu Yibei’s call, the other end of the thread of intent trembled again.

Though it was just a simple tremor, Lu Yibei seemed to hear that familiar voice.

“Hungry? I tried a new dish today… Not hungry? You have to eat even if you’re not!”

“Annoying! Why do you need a parent’s signature again? Want to learn my signature?”

“See this? This is a soccer ball signed by Cristiano Ronaldo himself. I locked him up for days to get it. Aren’t you going to thank your old man?!”

…

Memories surged in his mind, and Lu Yibei could no longer control his emotions, breaking the rule he’d set for himself before casting the directional soul-calling spell formation.

“I promise, from now on I’ll never complain about Lu Ming being naggy, and I’ll listen to him seriously.”

“I promise, from now on if Lu Ming puts food I don’t like in my bowl, I’ll eat it all.”

“I promise, from now on I won’t cancel Lu Ming’s childish pranks, unless I really can’t help it.”

“…”

Lu Yibei spoke softly, as if making promises, or perhaps sincerely apologizing.

Every time he finished a sentence, he could feel the thread of intent tremble slightly.

It was as if saying, “Alright, I know.”

When he finished three sentences and opened his mouth to say “I promise” for the fourth time, the thread of intent suddenly trembled violently.

It was a tremor more intense than any soul-calling he’d ever performed.

It was like fishing in the little canal on Mudan Street and accidentally hooking a full-grown Nile crocodile.

The moment you meet, it’s a death roll–completely overwhelming.

In that instant, Lu Yibei even felt as if his soul was about to be yanked out of his body by the thread of intent.

Is it coming?

Is his old man about to be summoned?

Lu Yibei opened his eyes, bit his lip, and looked at the empty space between himself and the incense table, nervously clenching his fists.

At that moment, the flame of the spirit candle in the censer suddenly flickered, and the incense table, wine cup, the Five-Offering Stone on the table… all the materials and items used for the spell formation began to tremble violently, producing a chaotic clatter.

“Puchi… puchi…”

With two soft sounds, like water droplets falling onto a red-hot pan, the flame of the Underworld Candle instantly shifted from orange-yellow to pitch black.

That’s… the aura of the Black Sun Fire Seed?! Lu Yibei’s pupils contracted violently.

The black flame flickered, as if devouring both light and sound as fuel, shrouding a vast area around in a vague, suffocating silence.

The presence of the black flame was like a thorn stuck in the throat, bringing an intense sense of discomfort.

A terrifying force tugged at Lu Yibei’s thread of consciousness, and through it came a wild, frenzied power, driving his thoughts toward chaos.

The Spirit Pattern on his back seemed to sense something, throbbing with pain as it fiercely devoured Lu Yibei’s psychic energy.

Negative emotions intertwined, churned, and twisted within his heart, turning into the most primal agony.

“Damn it, stop!” Lu Yibei growled angrily.

It took him a second or two to recover from the shock of this sudden change. Forcing himself to endure the discomfort, he drew the Pure Lotus Sword from the Divine Land prototype, quickly assumed a sword stance, silently recited the incantation for the Four Beasts Bright Sky Cannon, moved with swift footwork, and flashed forward.

Then, a brilliant golden light flashed in his eyes.

[Royal Authority], activate!

He didn’t know if these methods could interrupt such an anomaly, but his instincts told him he had to try, or else the directional soul-calling spell formation would collapse.

Lu Yibei advanced, staring unblinkingly at the flame. The space seemed stretched by some unknown force; the mere two or three meters ahead felt impossible to cross.

The black flame seemed highly corrosive, burning up the Underworld Candle in a single breath, spreading into the censer, and then igniting the censer as well.

Just a bit closer, if only I could touch it… If I can touch it, there’s a chance! Lu Yibei thought anxiously.

Yet he could only watch helplessly as the black flame burned the censer, spread to the altar table, and then the altar erupted in flames, instantly reducing everything required for the directional soul-calling spell formation to ashes.

Like an illusion, the sound of shattering glass rang in his ears–that was Lu Yibei’s psychic energy enveloping the altar table.

“Bang–bang–!”

The dissipating psychic energy erupted with a series of blasts.

With the explosions, the thread of consciousness connecting Lu Yibei to his father snapped abruptly, like a broken string.

A terrifying gust pressed the ashes on the ground, like a pair of merciless hands, shoving Lu Yibei’s unsteady body aside.

“Boom–!”

Lu Yibei’s back slammed into a concrete pillar, then he fell to the ground, slumping in defeat.

This attempt confirmed two things for him.

His father had truly left him forever, and…

The Eclipse Society likely imprisoned his father’s soul, or interfered with the spell formation in some way.

“Eclipse Society… heh, how wonderful…”

He collapsed weakly to the ground, staring blankly at the small crater where his psychic energy had exploded not far away. His eyes were filled with exhaustion, and beneath the fatigue, a flame leapt fiercely…

——–

Early morning, Yan City Financial District, at a certain intersection.

Fang Ji sat at the edge of the intersection, on the stone steps of the greenbelt, watching the bustling street with a dazed expression.

He had set out from Qianqiu Town in the early hours, heading toward the city center. Just after leaving Qianqiu Town, he encountered a garbage picker driving a jeep, on his way to fence some stolen goods for cash.

He was lucky–the garbage picker was one of the rare kind ones among many, charging him only eighty-seven yuan and dropping him off at the toll station closest to the city.

Yes, and even gave him fifty cents in change.

If it had been another garbage picker, even if they agreed to give him a ride, they’d at least demand a fresh kidney in return.

“But… why did I come to the city?” Fang Ji muttered to himself.

He felt his mind was empty, with no memories of the past at all.

Except for basic common sense and knowledge, before seeing the ID card with his photo, he didn’t even know his own name, as if he were a letter with printed grids and patterns, but nothing written on it.

Such a gap in memory gave him a strange sense of loneliness.

He desperately wanted to find someone who knew him, and a place where he could belong.

So, he felt he should leave Qianqiu Town and go somewhere with more people, and thus, by luck, he arrived here.

Unfortunately, after coming to the busiest commercial street in the city, he wandered for a long time, asked many people, but found nothing.

Except for a few who found him cute, with a delicate face, mistook him for a girl, came up to ask for his contact information, and were then scared off by his masculine voice and slightly neurotic questions–he hadn’t met a single person who knew even the slightest thing about him.

Looking at the bustling crowd, fang ji rubbed his face with both hands, sighed silently, and muttered to himself, “If only someone could tell me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, something suddenly struck the back of his head hard.

“Hiss—-!”

He sucked in a breath, rubbed his head, turned around, and saw a brand new Cherry 14proplus phone. The phone wasn’t locked, and the screen was displaying a private chat interface on a certain social app.

Internet Madman (haunting chat group): “Do you have any other questions?”

fang ji held the phone, stayed silent for a few seconds, then typed in: “Do you know who fang ji is?”

Internet Madman (haunting chat group): “Why are you asking this?”

A Little Hamster: “Just want to know, could you please tell me? It’s very important to me.”

After waiting a few seconds, fang ji received a reply.

Internet Madman (haunting chat group): “I checked, fang ji is an operator of the Huai City Midnight Watchers Society. Seems he made outstanding contributions in the previous work repairing the Plague Taisui seal, was commended, and now should be on his way to the Great Pure Palace for spring training!”

A Little Hamster: “Um… Great Pure Palace? How do I get there?”

Internet Madman (haunting chat group): “Can’t you just Baidu that? It’s a national Class 4A scenic spot… Tsk, stop worrying about these pointless things. That previous bounty mission, you’d better not do it. It involves the Eclipse Society–keep going and you’ll lose your life!”

A Little Hamster: “Eclipse Society? Is it very dangerous?”

Internet Madman (haunting chat group): “What do you think?”

A Little Hamster: “Got it, thanks for the warning.”

The Eclipse Society is very dangerous, don’t get involved… fang ji silently memorized this information, then exited the chat interface and searched for the address of the Great Pure Palace on Baidu.

“Uh, that’s so far! Over two thousand kilometers… I probably can’t hitchhike there, right?”

He thought for a moment, relied on the common sense in his mind, opened the ticket booking app on his phone, picked out a flight and connecting high-speed rail and bus tickets, compared them with his ID card, entered the information, and clicked confirm payment.

Immediately, a prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Insufficient balance for current payment method, please confirm the correct payment method…]

Seeing this prompt, fang ji slapped his forehead, suddenly realizing, “Oh, right, this costs money! Let me see… balance… got it!”

After a few minutes, he miraculously passed the facial recognition verification, checked all the accounts of the phone’s original owner, and frowned, “There’s only two hundred yuan available, that doesn’t seem enough?”

With a bitter face, fang ji switched the phone screen back to the ticket booking page, shook his head helplessly, and was about to cancel the order when he suddenly noticed a floating ad at the top of the screen and frowned.

[Buy a ticket for a chance to win, I’ll pay for your commute all year!]

He stared at the ad for a few seconds, figured since he had no money anyway, he might as well give it a try, clicked into the ad, bought the cheapest high-speed rail ticket, and happily used his only chance to enter the lottery.

The next moment, the phone in his hand started vibrating, fireworks exploded on the screen, and the rousing music startled him so much he threw the phone away.

[Congratulations, you’ve won the grand prize…]

Looking at the little pig on the screen with “Grand Prize” written on its back jumping around, fang ji tilted his head, “Looks like I won? Does that mean I don’t have to pay to go to the Great Pure Palace?”

“Such a good person, just pays for me like that…”

He said this with no emotional fluctuation, as if such things were perfectly normal.

——–

A moment later, Yan City Midnight Watchers Society, Office No. 1.

A young woman pushed the door open, looked at the middle-aged man with graying temples behind the desk, and handed a file to him.

“Boss, take a look at this, seems like some strange haunting incident happened…”

The middle-aged man browsed the file the woman handed over, frowned, “Six thirty, a car accident at Toll Station No. 2 on the expressway.

Detected faint psychic energy fluctuation wandering in the city, from eight thirty to nine fifty, seventy-four people were accidentally injured one after another, seventy-five people with superficial wounds, eighty-eight with soft tissue contusions, eleven with fractures…”

“How is this a haunting incident? With so much traffic during morning rush hour, it’s probably just a coincidence. Don’t be so paranoid all the time… By the way, has fang ji been found?”

Hearing this, the young woman lowered her head and shook it.

“Sigh…” The middle-aged man withdrew his gaze, looked out the window, and sighed softly.