Eyes, I See You

The casino door that He Zhuoming could never seem to reach—amid all the chaos, it still hadn't opened, but it was broken.

It looked as though a human-shaped hole had been melted through the middle of the door, but in reality, it had been cut out by red threads. There were so many thin red threads that they had sliced both the door and the invisible barrier into powder, creating the visual effect of the door having been melted away.

A vague humanoid shape wrapped in red threads, turning it a deep crimson, slowly walked in. Trailing behind it were long red threads that stretched and thinned as it advanced. Occasionally the outer threads would snap, but they quickly wriggled and re-adhered to one another.

The young man took two steps back, the smile vanishing from his face, his expression gradually turning solemn.

He Zhuoming stopped clawing at the young man's arm, staring blankly at the crimson monster that had broken through the door. Since transmigrating into this world, she had seen plenty of corpses, but all of them combined couldn't frighten her as much as this monster before her.

There was a monster beside her and a monster across from her, but at least the one beside her had Lin Qingyun's face and had just been stabbed twice by her. All things considered, He Zhuoming shrank back and hid behind the young man.

Standing no more than ten meters apart, the young man and the crimson monster faced off. The monster stood in the doorway, blocking the only exit completely. If He Zhuoming and the young man wanted to leave, they would have to move the monster out of the way first.

Even if they didn't try to leave, the monster seemed intent on coming in.

He Zhuoming whispered, "What is that thing? A Corrupted Deity? But this is an Earth Immortal's Divine Palace... doesn't he manage it at all?"

The young man instructed her without turning around. "Go hide somewhere far away."

In truth, since the young man had spoken his first words to He Zhuoming, not a single exchange between them had actually connected.

He Zhuoming could hear him, but she only said what she wanted to say; the young man couldn't hear her, and he also only said what he wanted to say. Yet when their words were strung together, they somehow fit harmoniously.

For instance, right now, He Zhuoming didn't even realize the young man hadn't answered any of her questions.

She responded with a string of "okay, okay," and swiftly turned to run deeper into the casino.

As she neared the flower bed, He Zhuoming accidentally stepped on a few dice that had been shaken to the floor by the earthquake. She staggered, nearly falling, scrambling almost more on all fours than running, and ultimately failed to keep her balance, crashing headfirst into a hanging curtain of dark red fabric.

Cushioned by the thick curtain, He Zhuoming wasn't hurt, but her head was wrapped up in the fabric. As she struggled free, her palm brushed against something.

She finally wrestled her head out of the curtain and looked down at her palm to find she was clutching a safety charm.

On one side of the charm was written "In change, there is the Supreme Ultimate," and on the other, "Thus are born the Two Principles." The edges were embroidered with an exquisite white lotus pattern.

This was one of the safety charms that the Dao Lord of the Two Principles had stored in the temporary shrine, which the young man had used to prop up the corner of a gambling table. Later, when the Blind Puppet triggered the hidden formation and caused the earthquake, the tables and dice went tumbling everywhere, and the charm used to level the table had rolled all the way to the edge of the curtain, where He Zhuoming found it.

But He Zhuoming only recognized the shape as a safety charm; she had no idea where it was from.

She didn't have the energy to study it now anyway. She gave it a cursory glance, stuffed it into her coat pocket, and then pressed her hands to the ground, leaning close to the curtain and perking up her ears to listen for what was happening beyond.

It was eerily quiet outside—apart from the faint rustle of air currents, there wasn't even a single word of conversation.

What were they doing out there? Hadn't they fought? Or were those two monsters, despite looking quite different, actually kindred spirits who wouldn't harm one another?

Were they demons? Or Corrupted Deities?

Was the Earth Immortal's Divine Palace a grocery market? How could it have every kind of produce, and why wasn't he doing anything about it? He might as well be dead...

As her thoughts spiraled, He Zhuoming's heart pounded with anxiety—so fast it ached.

After a while, unable to bear the silence, she lifted the edge of the curtain and carefully peeked out from the ground, just like she had once observed the world through the crack of her coffin.

Except back then, she hadn't managed to see the Corrupted Deity's true form.

The gap was too narrow. From He Zhuoming's angle, she could only see the lower half of their calves. The young man still stood in place, and the crimson monster still blocked the door. The two of them stood as motionless as if they'd been frozen by a spell.

He Zhuoming couldn't tell what they were facing off about, so she quietly lifted the curtain higher to see more clearly and completely.

But as her line of sight rose, she caught only a single glance—and froze. Her hand holding the curtain loosened, and the dark red fabric slid back down, blocking her view of the scene in midair just as it had before.

It took several seconds for He Zhuoming's mind to come back to her. In those blank seconds, she even suspected her heartbeat and breathing had stopped entirely.

Then she gagged. Cold sweat rolled from her forehead to the tip of her nose, then dripped onto the back of her hand.

Her arms, supporting her on the ground, trembled violently. Between heaves, she staggered to her feet, thinking she had to run, fast, while they were still fighting and had no time for her.

Thinking back to how she'd hidden behind the young man and even felt a slight, complicated warmth when he told her to find a safe place, He Zhuoming was convinced she must have been insane.

There was no difference between them at all. Both were monsters!

Using the curtain for cover, He Zhuoming forced herself to search for an exit far from the battle. Along the way, she found her school bag, wooden sword, and phone, which had fallen by the flower bed.

The phone screen was cracked from the fall, and she had no idea if it still worked.

There was no time to check it now. She stuffed it into her coat pocket and continued deeper into the flower bed.

Behind the flower bed, layer after layer of dark red curtains hung down. He Zhuoming used her wooden sword to push them aside, cold sweat soaking into the sword's grip as her fingers grew nearly numb with cold.

The further she went, the darker it became, until it was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing. She had to use the wooden sword as a walking stick, tapping the ground ahead of her, and she noticed the floor's incline changing—from flat to a gradually rising slope.

As she walked, a circular patch of white light suddenly appeared ahead, seemingly an exit.

He Zhuoming wiped the sweat from her forehead and hurried toward it. When she passed through the white light and suddenly entered a world flooded with sunlight, she couldn't help but close her eyes, her vision blurred by the glare.

After rubbing her eyes and tearing up for a good while, she finally managed to make out her surroundings—and froze. She had crawled out of a dry well!

A crabapple tree with sparse leaves but strikingly sturdy branches stood in the middle of the dry well, and the very ground beneath He Zhuoming's feet was part of the tree's trunk.

Outside was a fairly spacious courtyard. Along the walls were piled offerings like incense, candles, gold paper, and fruit... Why did this place look so familiar?

He Zhuoming climbed out of the well with some confusion. As she drew closer, she saw that all the offerings had rotted: the fruits and pastries were moldy and discolored, and the incense, candles, and gold paper were riddled with insect holes.

The courtyard had only one narrow door leading outside. He Zhuoming poked it open with her wooden sword and peered out—and froze again. This was the Dao Lord of the Two Principles' temporary shrine!

Although the roof now had several large holes punched through by the tree trunks growing up through it, and the central statue was covered in dust and broken tiles, He Zhuoming had copied scriptures here for several days and recognized it at a glance.

If even the temporary shrine had ended up like this, then trouble wasn't limited to one place—something major had happened to the entire Divine Palace!

Immediately after, He Zhuoming began to worry about Lin Qingyun. As capable and hard to kill as he was, surviving even a sword through the heart, he was blind now!

She tried to head outside the shrine, but she'd only taken a single step when her ankle was snagged and she tumbled to the ground. Terrified, she looked back to find a section of tree trunk wrapped around her ankle.

That trunk had stretched over from the crabapple tree in the center of the dry well. The whole tree was leaning toward her, its sparse branches reaching out like so many hands.

Even the trunk snaking around her ankle was still creeping upward, climbing along her leg. He Zhuoming let out a scream, grabbed her wooden sword, and tried to hack it off. The sword cut a gash in the trunk, and its advance halted.

Seeing that the wooden sword worked, He Zhuoming breathed a slight sigh of relief. She was about to strike again when, just as she raised her arm, a branch dangling from the roof suddenly bulged outward, snaking over to coil around her wrist. That branch was covered in crabapple blossoms, and as it tightened, the dense flowers were crushed between her skin and the bark. Pale red juice, like diluted blood, soaked through He Zhuoming's sleeve.

The wooden sword fell from her hand. He Zhuoming twisted to grab it, but before her free hand could touch the hilt, more branches grew out of nowhere to bind it.

More and more branches wrapped around her. The harder she struggled, the tighter they squeezed. The heavy fragrance of crushed crabapple blossoms swirled in her rapid breaths, seeping deep into her lungs.

The scent made her dizzy, and her struggles slowed.

The tangled trunks writhed together like a river made of crabapple trees, flowing gently to push He Zhuoming near the dry well.

A mass of crimson was crawling out of the well.

He Zhuoming saw it, and her terror nearly choked off her breath. She struggled desperately, but couldn't pry the ever-tightening branches off herself, while her arms and ankles were chafed raw by the bark.

The crimson mass gradually, completely emerged from the well—visible as a vague humanoid shape.

He Zhuoming looked at it, and immediately remembered what she had seen through the gap in the curtain. Unspeakable nausea rolled in her stomach. Her face paled with the effort of holding back vomit, and cold sweat soaked her eyelashes.

The crimson figure slowly drew closer, and the branches holding He Zhuoming eased slightly.

Without the support of the branches, she slid weakly to the ground, her sweat-damp hair sticking to her cheeks and neck. Her legs were far too weak. She desperately wanted to run, but in action—she gave two valiant efforts and couldn't even manage to crawl. All she could do was tremble and watch the crimson figure approach.

At closer distance, she could see the figure was wrapped in red threads that writhed and exuded the stench of blood.

It stopped a step away from He Zhuoming, crouched down, and extended a hand toward her.

Its arm and hand were also completely wrapped in red threads. He Zhuoming stared at those threads, not knowing what they were, but a sudden realization surfaced in her heart: they were sharp.

Sharper than her wooden sword.

It's over, it's over. This monster would slice her into strips, just like it had cut through the casino door!

He Zhuoming screwed her eyes shut and started crying, utterly pathetic. Amid her tears, she confessed in her heart: I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, I'm going to die young. I can't be your daughter anymore. Don't wait for me. You two are still young—hurry up and have a little sister for me...

The red threads stopped very close to the tip of her nose. Then they receded, revealing the hand inside—a hand covered in cracks. There were so many cracks that, without looking closely, one might mistake the hand for being carved out of wood.

And in that hand rested a wilted crabapple blossom.

He gently tucked the blossom into He Zhuoming's disheveled hair. His fingers, rough with cracks, brushed against her cheek.

He Zhuoming kept her eyes shut and waited for a long time, but felt no pain.

She gathered her courage, hesitated, and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry with tears, but she still noticed the striking crimson first—and the head emerging from the crimson figure.

It was a young, harmless-looking boy's face, with soft black hair falling to his neck, a long bead chain hanging from his left earlobe, curved, smiling lips, and two symmetrical dimples on his cheeks.

Anyone who saw the boy's smile would think he was a sincere, kind person—if his eye sockets weren't bleeding.

His eye sockets were smooth, empty places, with two pitch-black eyeballs roughly pressed in, lacking even eyelids or lashes.

Those eyeballs kept seeping blood, but he didn't seem to notice at all. In a gentle, cheerful tone, he said, "Xiao He, I see you..."

He Zhuoming screamed and finally fainted from fright—her last thought before passing out: this ghost can stand in sunlight!

*

Now it was the Dao Lord of the Two Principles' turn to speak.

Tang Shuyu, being the youngest, sat at the end of the banquet table, idly stacking cups into a little tower. Lady Linji, who had just finished her speech, walked over gracefully and sat down beside him.

Lady Linji's crown was quite distinctive—a scale, with a sun hanging on one side and a moon on the other. A wisp of smoky purple ribbon wound around the beam, and the middle portion hung down just enough to cover her eyes.

Though her eyes were hidden, when Tang Shuyu turned to glance at her, she noticed his gaze immediately. She smiled. "This scale isn't for play. I can't give it to you."

Tang Shuyu said, "Rejected so fast. I'm so sad~ Please compensate me."

At the boy's unreasonable words, Lady Linji maintained her smile. "Lord Earth Immortal's Xia Kingdom is already the most powerful nation, and your predecessor, the Guye Immortal, was also renowned for wealth. I don't think I have anything that could catch your eye."

"If you wish to have a divination from me, you could have simply said so."

Tang Shuyu smiled brightly. "You guessed it. You're so considerate, Sister Linji—"

He covered the table with his hand, and when he lifted it, a strand of hair tied with red string appeared.

Tang Shuyu said, "This is my friend's hair. She got lost and came here from somewhere far away, and she can't find a way home. I want to know how I can help her return to her homeland."

Lady Linji was somewhat taken aback, turning her face toward Tang Shuyu. The amount of information in his words was immense, and in that brief instant, a flood of questions arose in her mind—so many she didn't know which to ask first.

"Since she's your friend... have you tried letting her make a wish to you directly? Divination can only find the greatest possibility; it's far less accurate than a wish."

Tang Shuyu tapped the table with his finger, still wearing his brilliant smile, but repeated his request. "Just divine the question I asked."

The implication was clear: mind your own business.

Lady Linji reached out to pick up the strand of hair, and at the same time lifted the veil covering her eyes. Beneath it, her eyes—from lashes to pupils—were as white as snow. She calmly gazed at the strand of hair tied with red string.