Notes and Revealing Cards

The first page of the notes contained just one sentence:

"Die for the living, live for the dead; hold fast to your true heart, uphold your creed."

The next page introduced the statues of the gods.

There were sixteen commonly seen statues among the followers.

Three of them were statues of the Great Emperors, who rarely appeared inside the Blessed Lands. Instead, they would manifest steadily when followers entered or left the Blessed Lands. These three Great Emperor statues were:

Shangyuan First Rank, the Heavenly Official of Blessings, Emperor Ziwei

Zhongyuan Second Rank, the Earth Official of Pardons, Emperor Qingxu

Xiayuan Third Rank, the Water Official of Relief, Emperor Dongyin

The remaining thirteen statues commonly appeared in most Blessed Lands, consisting of five Heavenly Officials, four Earth Officials, three Water Officials, and one outer god—the Many Treasures Tathagata.

Besides these sixteen, there were other statues, but they either appeared too infrequently or were tied to unique mechanisms of certain Blessed Lands, so they were omitted from the notes.

The notes also contained plenty of useful information.

For instance, the role of the Many Treasures Tathagata statue was for shopping: offering ten Underworld Notes to the Tathagata would unlock the Many Treasures Pavilion, where one could use these notes to buy divine powers, talismans, and magical artifacts.

Furthermore, both the statues and the items were graded: common multi-colored, silver rare, and gold celestial.

Each Blessed Land had its own rules, but if a malevolent spirit was wrapped in chains, it meant that spirit was restricted by those rules—these restrictions were the followers' slim hope for survival.

Reading this, Wu Xian immediately thought of the Door-Breaking Great Spirit.

That creature originally had chains binding it, but some had been removed—suggesting it had broken free from some rule constraints. It might no longer appear on schedule, and it might be able to open multiple doors in a single night.

This piece of information cast a heavy shadow over Wu Xian's mood.

But this was still better than facing an enhanced Door-Breaking Spirit without any preparation.

The notes went on to include information about Qi Zhiyong's divinations and his guesses about the Blessed Lands, all still useful. Wu Xian flipped through until he reached the final page.

On the last page was Qi Zhiyong's handwriting:

"Let those more valuable live on—that is my creed."

Attached to the cover was a photograph: a family portrait of three, the man was Qi Zhiyong, the woman's head had been cut off, and the child's face blurred by a hand.

Wu Xian sighed deeply.

After reading the notes, he finally understood Qi Zhiyong's reasoning.

Qi Zhiyong had tried to use the rule that the Great Spirit could only kill one person per day to find a scapegoat, but he had been gravely injured in the process. Meanwhile, Wu Xian and the other person were in good condition, so Qi Zhiyong concluded his value was less than theirs and resigned himself to death.

Because of this, Wu Xian felt he owed Qi Zhiyong nothing.

Still, he felt a pang of regret.

If at the start Wu Xian hadn't hidden his worth and instead openly demonstrated it, perhaps the story would have gone a different way...

Finishing the notes, Wu Xian's mood lightened somewhat, and his eyelids finally grew heavy.

...

Morning.

Wu Xian rubbed his drowsy eyes and stepped out of his room.

Last night had been tough, so he hadn't gotten up early.

As soon as he walked out, he saw Wen Chao and the Su sisters standing in the corridor, their faces dark and grim.

Wu Xian glanced over and cursed under his breath.

"Damn it!"

Qi Zhiyong's corpse had vanished, clearly eaten by something hidden in the inn.

But what made Wu Xian curse wasn't the corpse disappearing.

Two rooms had been marked today—Wen Chao's 401 and Shi Ji's 403. This confirmed the Door-Breaking Great Spirit's rule had indeed changed: from tonight on, it could break open two doors each night!

Things had just gotten much worse.

Moments later, Su Huijun spoke up, "Since two rooms are marked and we don't know in what order they will be attacked, everyone should hide in our room tonight…"

She and her sister looked disheveled, bearing small palm marks on their bodies—clear signs they'd been harassed by the Little Child Spirit overnight.

Though ragged, they looked even more alluring.

The tears reddening their eyes and the torn clothes revealing their delicate skin stirred an instinct to protect them.

Suggesting everyone stay with them was, after all, their plan.

Wu Xian snorted coldly.

"At this point, everyone might as well be honest."

"In fact, the monster marking rooms doesn't follow a strict order. Except for the first day, the rooms marked in the morning are always the ones opened at night."

"That means after tonight, only one room will remain."

Su Huilan was stunned: "But before, it was clearly—"

At this moment, Wu Xian, still carrying his bronze coin spear, could no longer hold back his true strength. He decided to lay his cards on the table, openly explaining his previous preparations and his theories about the rules of the Blessed Land to everyone. In conclusion, he said:

"Simply put, we can't keep hiding like scared turtles anymore. If we do, tonight will be our last night."

Wen Chao showed little reaction—he had long suspected as much.

The Su sisters exchanged a glance, eyes wide with slight shock, and spoke in soft voices, "Then we'll leave it to you to decide. The two of us…"

The Su sisters' posture made Shi Ji's heart itch, but Wu Xian was far from pleased.

I've already revealed everything, and you two still want to keep pretending?

A smirk curled at the corner of Wu Xian's mouth.

"At this point, you two might as well be honest. None of us here believe you're fragile women. Everyone's wary of you—stop pretending."

The Su sisters were instantly hurt by his words. Their eyes reddened in an instant. They had already prepared the act of crying and threatening suicide, but when they saw Wen Chao and Shi Ji neither refuting nor siding with Wu Xian, they realized that the pretense was pointless now.

Su Huilan pulled up her clothes to cover her exposed skin. Since they couldn't fool anyone anymore, they wouldn't let these three men take any advantage either.

With a hint of sarcasm, she asked, "Then tell me—if we don't hide, what can we do? Qi Zhiyong is already dead!"

Wu Xian fell silent for a moment before replying, "We can try to find the original survivors inside the Blessed Land. They must know how to escape from the malevolent spirits."

Though he said this, he held little hope—Yue Mei, who went looking for survivors, had long since gone missing.

Wen Chao offered a suggestion.

"I could try mixing some explosives. There are only four blocks here, but maybe we can gather enough materials. As long as the blast is powerful enough…"

Wu Xian shook his head. "Qi Zhiyong said that the only things effective against these spirits are magical tools, cursed objects, and weapons. Explosives might not work."

At this point, Shi Ji suddenly grew excited.

"I've got an idea! Let's blow up a cesspool—I know where the septic tank is!"

This was the same guy who had blown up a cesspool in the first Blessed Land—now he was stuck in that pattern.

Upon hearing Shi Ji's proposal, the Su sisters couldn't hide their grim smiles, but Wu Xian and Wen Chao began seriously considering the feasibility.

Just as their plan was about to veer into dangerous territory, a voice rang out from downstairs:

"I have a way!"