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Everything seemed to have returned to square one!

Zhang Yiyi observed her surroundings with an impassive expression, carefully recalling every detail in her mind. She felt as though she was getting closer to the truth, but she needed further confirmation.

"Sister, let's get out of this cursed place. Stop following that little brat already."

Lu Qiao once again saw the child gazing at Zhang Yiyi with wide, expectant eyes. The child cautiously reached out and beckoned them to follow.

A deep chill ran down her spine—an overwhelming sense of dread creeping over her.

"Do you think we can just leave?"

Zhang Yiyi didn't even glance at Lu Qiao, her eyes fixed intently on the child leading the way, not missing a single movement.

At a glance, nothing seemed different from before. But in truth?

Zhang Yiyi increasingly felt that the child was trying to tell her something. However, no words could leave the child's lips. The unease and urgency in his gaze were far more pronounced than the first time they had encountered him.

Lu Qiao suddenly realized something—while she could still speak freely with Zhang Yiyi and her body wasn't entirely under someone else's control, the moment she entertained the idea of turning away and leaving the village, a powerful force prevented her from doing so. That oppressive energy surged forward, leaving her no choice but to follow the child, just as they had the first time, toward the desolate village center.

"What... what is happening?"

Just as before, the two of them arrived at the empty clearing. The silent child reappeared and, as mysteriously as before, vanished into thin air.

Lu Qiao's heart sank. "Are we really going to repeat the entire sequence again? Are we going to be killed by that monster one more time?"

Please, no. Anything but that. She was still alive, but the pain of being swallowed whole by that creature was all too real. Even now, she could feel the phantom agony in her very bones and flesh.

"This feels like a death loop. If we can't break free, we'll truly die here after a few cycles."

From Zhang Yiyi's words, she could tell that Lu Qiao had experienced something similar after they were separated. She warned her, "Don't just panic—check your body carefully. Haven't you noticed that your spirit has been damaged after dying once?"

Lu Qiao immediately halted her panic, conducting an internal examination. Just as Zhang Yiyi had said, her spirit had indeed suffered noticeable damage. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with fear, she might have noticed it sooner.

"Then what should we—"

Before she could finish speaking, the child reappeared, this time dragging a hoe with great effort. Reaching the center of the clearing, he began digging in a mechanical, relentless motion.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes.

As soon as the third strike landed, the scene before them transformed once again, shifting back to the lively, bustling village. One by one, men, women, young, and old emerged from all directions, heading toward the clearing, all loudly speculating about why the clan had suddenly summoned everyone.

Lu Qiao, who had been frozen in shock, now had no time to be afraid. She glared hatefully at the approaching villagers, looking as if she was ready to charge at them and tear them apart with her bare hands.

"Calm down," Zhang Yiyi warned sharply. "Focus on finding the flaws in this illusion. We need to break the cycle before we end up dying another meaningless death."

Zhang Yiyi's voice was firm and commanding. "If you want to survive, use your brain for once. Stop forgetting that you're a cultivator."

Zhang Yiyi was disappointed by Lu Qiao's behavior. A cultivator, terrified of so-called 'ghosts and spirits'? Losing composure over minor abnormalities? She truly wondered how Lu Qiao's grandfather had calculated that she was destined to ascend—was this really the talent of someone fated to reach immortality?

Lu Qiao felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head, finally jolting her to her senses.

Ashamed and embarrassed, she forced herself to steady her mind.

She wanted to ask Zhang Yiyi if she had noticed anything else, but before she could speak, she realized she had already been surrounded by the villagers—Aunt Wu and the others—and, once again, she was separated from Zhang Yiyi.

Lu Qiao knew she couldn't keep relying on Zhang Yiyi anymore. No matter how much ghosts and spirits had terrified her since childhood, no matter how deeply ingrained her fear was, she had no choice but to face it.

Her companion was right. She was a cultivator—she should fear nothing!

An hour later, Zhang Yiyi and Lu Qiao found themselves once more standing before the great pagoda tree.

The small child still stood beneath the tree, sneaking glances at Zhang Yiyi.

"I died again, and my spirit suffered even more damage. At this rate, if we go through this six or seven more times, we'll truly die in here. No coming back."

Lu Qiao panted, trying to regulate her breathing. Despite the frustration, she seemed to have a much better mindset than before.

She no longer wished to be a burden, nor did she want to waste any more time. Quickly, she relayed her experiences and discoveries to Zhang Yiyi in a concise and efficient manner, hoping they could exchange information before they were separated again.

"They call that Eight Trigrams Mirror the 'Guardian Spirit Mirror.' It's apparently a relic passed down from their ancestors."

Zhang Yiyi walked calmly behind the child, her voice steady. "The Chen family was a vassal family to the Wang clan. They were weak, but they had a considerable number of cultivators. Yet, the people forcing us up the mountain right now—they're all just ordinary mortals."

She continued, her voice unwavering, "The reason they trick and lure outsiders into their village is that all of their own cultivators perished in the back mountains. They need external cultivators to either fight the monster or—more likely—feed the monster, to keep the village safe for a while longer."

Pausing, Zhang Yiyi then concluded with certainty, "So, the people we're seeing—the men, women, and children of the Chen family—aren't the current residents of this village."

"They aren't?" Lu Qiao caught on immediately. "You mean these people actually lived in the past? And the events we've been experiencing... they really happened before?"

Lu Qiao was quick to grasp the implication. She was momentarily stunned but soon realized that this was the most logical conclusion.

"After dying twice, haven't you noticed that the resentment and killing intent here are only growing stronger?" Zhang Yiyi asked, her gaze locked onto the child as he trudged toward the clearing, dragging his oversized hoe. "If everything here is the product of lingering obsessions, then whose obsession is it?"

"What does this child want from us? Why is he tirelessly digging the earth?"

Lu Qiao's eyes widened. "What if he's trying to show us something? What if what we need to know is hidden beneath the ground where he's digging?"

"Let's test that theory." Zhang Yiyi finally saw Lu Qiao keeping pace with her train of thought and immediately ordered, "Before he disappears after three strikes, we need to dig up that spot first. Let's see if our answer lies there."

"I'll do it!" Lu Qiao, more resolute than before, acted without hesitation.

With a flick of her wrist, she pulled a massive iron hammer from her storage bag and swung it down with full force.

The impact created a sizable pit in the ground—but nothing else happened.

More strangely, the child didn't even seem to notice her actions. He kept trudging forward, dragging his hoe as if nothing had changed.

Lu Qiao's expression darkened in frustration. Just as she prepared for a second strike, Zhang Yiyi acted first.

"Step back."

With a single punch, Zhang Yiyi struck the pit.

A deafening explosion followed.

The force was so great that Lu Qiao nearly lost her footing as she staggered backward, stunned by the sheer power.

But before she could even process what had happened, the scene around them shifted once more.

The pit vanished.

The clearing was gone.

What lay before them was a grotesque landscape—a mass grave littered with corpses in every direction.

Severed limbs, rivers of blood, the stench of decay choking the air.

A scene straight out of hell.

"Ugh—!"

Lu Qiao gagged uncontrollably at the sight before her, never expecting that digging up the spot the child had been desperately trying to unearth would reveal such a gruesome scene.

A single glance was enough to make her blood run cold—she recognized several familiar faces among the corpses. Aunt Wu, the one who had once eagerly suggested matchmaking her, now lay sprawled at her feet, her eyes wide open in horror, her arms severed, and her expression frozen in eternal anguish.

The Chen clan patriarch fared no better—his head had been completely detached from his body, stuffed into his mouth was a still-bleeding human heart. His body, twisted like a grotesque pretzel, lay not far from his head, a testament to his unspeakably violent death.

Zhang Yiyi, however, remained far more composed. For one, she had already witnessed far worse in the Bai family's underground cavern outside Jiagu Pass—scenes far more brutal and gory than this. And secondly, this outcome had already been within her expectations.

It was now certain that the men, women, and children who had forced them into the back mountains were long dead. And not just dead, but killed in the most excruciating, horrific ways imaginable. After luring one cultivator after another into the mountains to either fight or be devoured by the monster, they had finally met the fate they deserved.

So then, who was responsible for the slaughter of the entire village?

And whose obsession had created this endless death loop?

Just as she was pondering these questions, the scene before her shifted once again. The child, still struggling under the weight of the hoe, stood in the middle of the clearing, frantically digging at the earth.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

In an instant, the lively chatter resumed, and the men, women, and children once again emerged from all directions, making their way toward them.

"Not again!" Lu Qiao nearly collapsed in despair, watching as Aunt Wu approached with the same familiar smile. The entire world suddenly felt suffocatingly dark.

They had discovered the truth about the child's digging. They had confirmed that the villagers were already long dead. They had even pieced together most of the story.

And yet, they were still trapped.

Dear heavens, just tell her already—how were they supposed to break this cycle? How could they escape this death trap and make it out alive?

"Sister, could it be that we need to destroy that Eight Trigrams Mirror?" Lu Qiao asked, a fierce resolve rising in her voice—so much so that she hadn't even noticed how much her tone had changed.

"I don't know."

Zhang Yiyi didn't have time for long explanations. At the rate things were going, they would soon be separated again, forced into another deadly loop, heading toward the back mountains only to die once more.

That Eight Trigrams Mirror certainly seemed to be the key. After all, it was likely the reason they were subjected to so many constraints, forced to replay this cycle over and over without any control. That so-called Guardian Spirit Mirror must have been the primary cause of their entrapment.

"But we can try again this time."

She had considered before whether destroying the mirror would break the cycle, but last time, before she could make a move, the wily patriarch had sensed her intentions and tossed the wretched mirror into the back mountains to feed the monster instead.

This time, she needed to be better prepared—to ensure that the mirror was destroyed.

"Alright!" Lu Qiao gritted her teeth. Just as she uttered that one word, she found herself forcibly separated from Zhang Yiyi once again.

Damn it! Just you wait!

Lu Qiao cursed viciously in her heart, hurling every insult she could think of at the surrounding villagers.

Of course, she would have loved to spit those words at them directly, but alas, the moment she opened her mouth, the words that emerged were no longer under her control.

Another hour passed, and once again, Zhang Yiyi and Lu Qiao found themselves standing near the great pagoda tree.

"Did you succeed?" Lu Qiao asked, wondering if it required both of them to destroy the mirror simultaneously in order for it to work. After all, she had failed—outwitted by the cunning patriarch once more, dying yet another meaningless death.

"I destroyed it," Zhang Yiyi replied immediately, "but clearly, you didn't."

The implication was clear. Perhaps both of them needed to succeed at the same time in order to escape.

Lu Qiao clenched her fists, ashamed of having dragged things out yet again. "Next time, I'll be even more careful—I'll give it everything I've got!"

"Being careful and giving it your all might not be enough," Zhang Yiyi said seriously. "Listen carefully and do exactly as I say."

She had no time for blame—what mattered now was getting out. She quickly explained her method for destroying the mirror and detailed the critical points Lu Qiao needed to keep in mind.

If they died a few more times, there might not be a "next time" at all.

Another hour later, Zhang Yiyi and Lu Qiao once again found themselves back at the pagoda tree.

And the most disappointing part?

This time, they had both successfully destroyed the mirror.

And yet, they were still trapped within the cycle.