Chapter 619: You've Been Exposed!

The moon hung at the zenith, its pale radiance settling like a transparent veil upon a platform carved with intricate incantations.

The enormous platform was black as ink. Thirty-six stone pillars, each broad enough to hold several people, stood in orderly formation around the ritual altar at its center like stars surrounding the moon.

This was Zi Xiao Terrace of the Great Pure Palace.

Zhang Huainan made his way from the back mountain to the front in a dark Daoist robe, strolling with a slight stoop and his hands clasped behind him. At the foot of Zi Xiao Terrace, he stopped before exactly one hundred and eight stone steps.

After a brief pause, he began climbing. His narrowed eyes opened fully, and his entire bearing transformed.

Deep, vast, and terrifying.

It was like a trickling stream abruptly becoming a roaring ocean.

“…From the divine stems Ren and Gui, guiding the flowing qi of the Five Emperors above…”

As Zhang Huainan climbed, he murmured the description of his Spirit Pattern’s power. Before he finished the first passage, a fierce wind rose around him and sent his dark robe snapping.

“Below, preserve the harmony of all living beings; uphold the twin principles so they do not fall, and safeguard every life in eternal peace…”

When he completed the second passage, storm clouds rapidly gathered over the previously clear sky above Zi Xiao Terrace.

Rumble—!

Lightning flashed between the clouds, followed by deafening thunder.

Faint whispers echoed within it, repeating the description of power Zhang Huainan had recited as though answering him.

“…He is the Northern Dark Emperor, the Five-Qi Heavenly Sovereign!”

As Zhang Huainan stepped onto the ritual altar at the center of Zi Xiao Terrace, he murmured the final passage. Blue-green flames, almost solid, erupted from his eyes. His loose white hair and beard floated in the wind.

Phantoms appeared around him in an instant: a dark-jade crown, robes of black feathers, a great sable banner, and a churning black dragon.

Figures clad in black iron armor and bearing faces almost identical to Zhang Huainan’s emerged behind him. They marched in different directions and took their places in orderly fashion atop the thirty-six stone pillars surrounding the altar.

Ordinarily, activating Zi Xiao Terrace required at least one presiding caster and thirty-six assistants to pour psychic energy into it simultaneously and activate the solidified spell formations carved into the platform.

Even a single person with an extremely powerful psychic energy fluctuation could unleash only part of its might.

Zhang Huainan was the exception. Alone, he could bring out eighty to ninety percent of Zi Xiao Terrace’s power.

He accomplished this through Body Beyond the Body, a technique for controlling psychic energy that Qing Ji had developed himself.

Like Lu Yibei, Zhang Huainan had combined the Body Beyond the Body technique Qing Ji taught him with the special properties of his own Spirit Pattern’s power, then optimized and refined it.

Unlike Qing Ji, who controlled psychic energy after it left his body when using Body Beyond the Body, Zhang Huainan relied on his vast reserves to maintain his connection to the psychic energy even as he spread it outward.

This method made Body Beyond the Body more flexible and capable of handling more complicated tasks, but its psychic energy consumption was horrifying.

Anyone else maintaining such a state would drain a Class B Psychic dry in less than three seconds.

…

Once the thirty-six phantoms were in place, Zhang Huainan’s gaze sharpened. He slowly sat cross-legged and began chanting. Almost simultaneously, the thirty-six phantoms spoke with him, thirty-seven voices merging into one.

“The mystic pearl sounds the Dharma thunder; from here its brilliance pierces Heaven. Sweep clean the dust of mortal toil, divide sun from moon, and open one gate where the mystic pearl resides…”

As the incantation continued, the clouds churned like a raging tsunami. Turbid waves towered and collided with thunderous crashes.

“…Where all phenomena converge, Heaven’s mandate is inscribed; divine talismans and true seals are bestowed upon Zi Xiao!”

When Zhang Huainan finished the final passage, a colossal peal of thunder erupted across the sky.

Lightning flooded the heavens. Accompanied by torrential rain, a torrent of brilliant blue light poured from the horizon like floodwaters bursting through a dam and enveloped all of Zi Xiao Terrace.

Earlier, Zhang Huainan had obtained from Qingxiazi the weapon confiscated from an Esoteric Society member and corroded by the Codename F haunting. He cast a divination, combined the result with the information Lu Yibei provided, and soon fully understood Codename F’s form of existence.

His previous divinations had failed because the haunting was everywhere—or rather, it existed within every object it had corroded.

In a sense, it even existed within the thoughts and words of those who gave objects malicious intent and thereby brought it into being.

To suppress or kill it, the first step was entering a similar state.

As a catastrophe-class psychic, Zhang Huainan could barely accomplish that with Zi Xiao Terrace’s aid.

At this moment, he was both the thunder that overawed the mortal world and the water that nourished all creation.

Within the lightning, Zhang Huainan initially saw the same dizzying array of objects as always. Soon they dissolved, and for the first time, in a chaotic and indistinct void, he saw the haunting hidden behind the Esoteric Society—a chaotic mass of colors too dazzling to describe.

The colors writhed like living gel, continuously outlining different objects as countless seductive whispers echoed around him.

“Honestly, it isn’t that I don’t want to lose weight. You may not believe me, but all that delicious food tempted me first!”

“Just this once. I’ll quit smoking after this cigarette!”

“What is this garbage of yours? It’s so bloody and violent! You’ve corrupted my child!”

“…”

Zhang Huainan collected himself. Ignoring the whispers, he advanced toward the mass of chaotic color.

At that moment, the chaotic space violently shook.

With an illusory shattering sound, the mist in the distance tore apart. Countless thick tentacles wrapped in black fog and covered with purple patterns reached from the void. Before Zhang Huainan could reach his target, they slammed heavily into the chaotic colors.

In an instant, countless infuriating thoughts surged into Zhang Huainan’s mind.

“…”

Is this the haunting behind the Tulip Club?

This is the first time I’ve seen its true form!

Even if it is only the tip of the iceberg… Zhang Huainan thought.

————

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

On the far outskirts of Amsterdam, a vast lake lay beneath the afternoon sun. Its surface seemed to swallow the light, remaining dark and fathomless. Seen from above, it resembled an enormous malevolent eye.

More than a dozen old-fashioned black ships floated at the center of this seldom-visited lake. A huge golden tulip was carved into each vessel.

The ships formed an enormous ring like a strangely shaped altar. Several bound people hung by ropes from each bow.

Beneath them, the lake boiled. Indescribable shadows occasionally flashed beneath the deep water.

“Everyone, standing here today puts me in a terrible mood…” Brusma, dressed in an exquisite medieval captain’s uniform, stood aboard the foremost ship and looked down at the suspended prisoners. “You were once people I trusted. You were my family.”

“But now you have betrayed me and our shared belief. If our friends from the Midnight Watchers Society had not warned me, I would still be deceived…”

Before he could finish, the cabin door behind him burst open. An elderly white-haired man stumbled out, threw himself at Brusma’s side, embraced his leg, and wailed.

“Lord Brusma, for the sake of all the years I risked my life in your service, please spare my son! He only lost his judgment for a moment. In the future—”

“Silence!” Brusma kicked the old man away, bent down, and glared darkly at him. “Old Patrick, your son angered our god. He must die!”

“You should know that only one god is permitted in this land…”

Ignoring the ashen-faced old man, Brusma straightened, drew an old pistol engraved with a tulip, and fired into the sky.

Bang!

Fire flashed, and the gunshot echoed across the lake.

The ropes binding every “sinner” were cut simultaneously. One figure after another fell into the dark lake and vanished as though swallowed by something, without raising a single splash.

————

Elsewhere, on the top floor of a landmark building in a financial district.

The spacious office was enclosed on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. Beyond them, the sunset painted the concrete jungle rose-red.

In the reception area, a middle-aged Jewish man sat nervously on a stylish sofa, staring at the man opposite him.

His phone suddenly rang. After only two chimes, he answered at once.

As he listened, his tightly knotted brow gradually relaxed, and he breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

Golden Toad smiled. “Mr. Giles, I take it the result was favorable?”

“Y-yes,” the middle-aged man replied at once. “Those damned people have all been uncovered. Rest assured, they’ll disappear in a way that looks entirely reasonable.”

“Excellent!” Golden Toad nodded, stood, picked up the thick stack of contracts on the coffee table, and tore them to pieces. “Mr. Giles, congratulations. Through your own efforts, you’ve spared all of us the tragic fate of going bankrupt and jumping from the rooftop.”

“I’ll take my leave. The God of Wealth is still waiting for me…”

Golden Toad adjusted his tailored suit and headed for the office door.

“Damn it, so much for a custom suit… It’s itching my crotch raw. Finally, I can take the blasted thing off,” his grumbling voice drifted back from the distance.

————

10:20 p.m.

Inside a taxi in Shizhou City.

Elder Wang sat in the back seat with his eyes closed, resting as he traveled to meet Yang Yichen at the gas station.

Then a familiar voice came over the car radio.

“You’ve been exposed. Do you understand? Exposed!”

“Leave immediately!”

“…”

The warning was repeated three times in similar words. The taxi driver’s face darkened. “Radio dramas these days are awful. What kind of nonsense is this?”

As the driver complained, Elder Wang opened his eyes and stared at the radio in alarm and uncertainty, his brow furrowing.

He recognized that voice. It belonged to Hu Chuan…