Xuan Ji went downstairs to pick up the guests.

The buildings in the old residential area were a mystery, with many building signs missing, making it easy for outsiders to get lost.

Meanwhile, Sheng Lingyuan sat alone by the fireplace in the living room, which was decorated in a European castle style.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands as if meditating.

Yesterday, Xuan Ji must have eaten something wrong because he woke up causing trouble.

He tested boundaries with small actions, changing his address without permission. When he received no reaction, he held his hand and then took it a step further by hugging his waist and speaking in his ear twice.

As for what he said, Sheng Lingyuan had already forgotten.

However, his ear was still buzzing from the heat of the Vermilion Bird Clan's higher body temperature.

What could he do? He had no way to stop it.

Because Sheng Lingyuan's "normal" state was already insensitive. His body had been burned by the Chiyuan, and he had survived eighty-one great heavenly tribulations.

The Yin Sacrifice ritual had cut him to pieces, but ordinary pain and itching were of no importance to him.

Most of the time, he was like an arrogant lion king, lazy and indifferent as long as he wasn't hungry. Even if a few ants crossed his path, he couldn't be bothered to open his eyes.

Out of the entire world, he was only sensitive to Xuan Ji.

Xuan Ji was not "normal," but rather a nightmare for him.

This hidden sensitivity and fear could never be revealed.

If he didn't know Xuan Ji's thoughts, Sheng Lingyuan could still pretend that the other party was doing so unintentionally and calmly deal with it.

But now, he had to be as clear as a mirror and be careful not to show any abnormalities, not giving Xuan Ji any room for "misunderstanding," even though that bird-man was bouncing around on his nerves.

Sheng Lingyuan was a bit confused.

How could things change so much in just a few days?

At first, Little Ji was as reserved and respectful as one of the Bifang clan, and he even complained that Little Ji wasn't reserved enough.

He also secretly poured a bucket of cold water on him...

Who knew that things would turn out the opposite of what he wanted?

The cold water had the opposite effect, and Little Ji not only didn't give up, but also regained his fighting spirit.

A coffee table transformed into a wooden table was filled with a dozen old magazines.

Sheng Lingyuan's gaze fell on one of them, and he happened to see a quote on the cover: "There are three things that people cannot hide: coughing, poverty, and love. The more you try to hide them, the more obvious they become." - Nabokov.

Neatly arranged Simplified Chinese characters that he wasn't quite familiar with filled his vision, almost overwhelming him.

Sheng Lingyuan absentmindedly picked up the magazine full of advertisements and ran his fingers over the cold copperplate paper, staring blankly at the words.

He thought to himself: I need to end this quickly.

Sheng Lingyuan lifted his head and his gaze fell upon the mermaid scales suspended in mid-air by black mist. The Heavenly White Jade Palace was the homeland of the mermaids and the Mountain people, and perhaps held the secret of the weapon spirits.

Even if it was just a glimmer of hope at the end of time, he had to go, just in case.

Once he had resolved Xuan Ji's matter, he could finally fulfill his wish and peacefully turn into ash at the bottom of the Chiyuan. He could live quietly without being caught up in these ridiculous love affairs at his age...

What a mess!

When Dan Lin, Yan Qiushan, Zhi Chun, and Wang Ze followed Xuan Ji into the room, the first thing they saw was not the living room that had been expanded into a castle by the spatial array, but rather Sheng Lingyuan sitting in front of them, flipping through an outdated magazine with a solemn expression.

It was unclear what he had seen that was so scandalous, but his eyes were filled with a murderous aura, and his freshly washed hair was loose and flowing, like black mist condensed into a solid form.

Dan Lin was a spiritual-type ability user, specializing in mental abilities, and as soon as she entered the room, her hair stood on end.

The Gothic space was filled with an indescribable sense of gloom, reminding her of the time when she was young and encountered a snowman riot on a snowy mountain. Thousands of white monsters trampled over everything, followed by a snow avalanche that buried everything.

That experience was truly a brush with death, and the traumatic fear and suffocation she felt would never be forgotten.

Unexpectedly, she was reminded of it in an old residential area in the heart of the capital city.

Dan Lin instinctively grabbed Wang Ze and pulled the young man behind her, her palms sweating profusely and staining Wang Ze's clothes. The sound of their voices startled Sheng Lingyuan, who lifted his head and the gloom that had been hanging over him dissipated in an instant.

The warm air that had been suppressed was suddenly released, causing the large shadows in the room to evaporate into thin air. The highly realistic antique decorations were now coated with a layer of morning light, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion.

"You're here?" Sheng Lingyuan didn't stand up, but instead gestured towards the surrounding sofas.

"Sit." Dan Lin's calf suddenly cramped, realizing that she had been too tense and her muscles had spasmed.

She had heard from Chief Huang and Dr. Wang that a mysterious figure had emerged in the Jiangzhou incident, but she was half-believing and half-doubting. She half-believed because Dr. Wang's judgment had never been wrong, but half-doubted because the whole thing sounded too far-fetched.

Even though she had been in the special ability world for half her life, she still thought it was too unbelievable.

So she put aside the survey of the northwest's geology and rushed back to see for herself.

By now, she was already 80-90% convinced.

As a spiritualist, she personally sank her consciousness and connected to the earth's veins. When she was young, she didn't know the severity of things and accidentally touched the rules once or twice, but she had measured the height and depth of the sky and earth.

"Captain Yan, you're a spiritual ability user? Sorry, I didn't know before. My house is small and I use a lot of spatial magic and illusions, so it might not be comfortable for those who use spiritual abilities to come in... Oh, you don't have to take off your shoes." Xuan Ji broke the tense atmosphere and led a few people inside while casually saying, "What do you want to drink? I just bought some Gui Xia, want to try it?"

Wang Ze knew he came here to socialise and mediate, so he quickly played along, "Don't give us the best, we want the most expensive! Director Xuan, you're living too extravagantly! Why not spread this technology that can benefit thousands of households in the bureau? It's not fair! Nowadays, who isn't a house slave? I'm so angry I could bite the moon!"

"Don't daydream," Dan Lin caught her breath and subtly moved her stiff legs while walking.

She pointed at Wang Ze and said, "Every spatial array in the bureau is maintained by a team. There are at least six or seven arrays in this room alone. Any one of them could turn you into a dried corpse. I suggest you find a side job to earn more money and pay off your debts."

She glanced at the floating scales, composed herself, and walked up to Sheng Lingyuan. "Senior, I am..."

"You monitor the Earth Veins," Sheng Lingyuan looked at her and said, "What, after monitoring the skies, now the bureau is planning to detain the Earth Veins?"

Dan Lin was taken aback by his directness, but then she laughed and sat down confidently.

"Yes, I'm Dan Lin, in charge of the Storm Team. How did you know?"

"You have the 'earthly aura' on you," Sheng Lingyuan said. "The year after the big battle, Imperial Teacher Dan Li proposed to repair the earth veins. The idea was to set up checkpoints at the joints of the earth veins, manned by specialists, called 'earth vein guards.' Once there was any abnormal activity in the earth veins, it meant that there were big demons nearby, and it could serve as an early warning for people to surround and attack them. At that time, the people who were called 'earth physicians' were in resonance with the earth veins in their sea of consciousness. Their sea of consciousness was tempered a thousand times, but their physical bodies were often tortured and they could not last more than a few years."

Dan Lin sat up straight. "What happened later? Was the repair of the earth veins not completed?"

"It was abandoned. Being an 'earth physician' was a pit that required human lives to fill, and it had to be the lives of cultivators. Who among the cultivators didn't have a high opinion of themselves? They all cherished their lives, so who would be willing to go? Imperial Teacher, for the sake of his own reputation, dared not mention this matter again."

Upon hearing this, Zhi Chun became anxious: "But Dan Lin has been doing this work for decades, what about her...?"

Sheng Lingyuan lowered his gaze and glanced at Zhi Chun.

He found this sword spirit quite interesting, as he had narrowly escaped death at his hands twice, yet remained unafraid of him in both public and private settings.

Sheng Lingyuan thought to himself that he was already in a similar situation, and didn't have the time or energy to worry about others.

The sword spirit's personality was somewhat similar to Wei Yun's, but he wasn't as foolish as the fake prince, and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.

"It's not a big deal. Those are all old stories. Now that Chiyuan is sealed, the damage from the earth veins is not as severe. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, you should all be using machines now. Just be careful and don't always go up there to experience it personally."

Sheng Lingyuan took the coffee cup handed to him by Xuan Ji, sniffed it and found it quite fragrant. Without looking at what it was, he took a sip and was caught off guard by the sour and bitter taste of the "medicinal soup".

He was so overwhelmed by the bitterness that he almost couldn't maintain his dignified and aloof demeanor.

Sheng Lingyuan didn't like anything with a strong taste. He disliked sweetness, spiciness, and especially bitterness. He didn't want to show it, but only Xuan Ji knew that when he was a child, he would curl his tongue when he tasted something bitter and swallow it silently.

He brought coffee over, intending to add some sugar for His Majesty.

He even picked up the sugar tongs, but when he looked up, he saw Sheng Lingyuan staring at another sword spirit like a big-tailed wolf... So he served it plain.

Sheng Lingyuan's expression didn't change, but when he tasted the coffee, his eyelashes flickered noticeably. He didn't paid attention to the other sword spirit anymore.

Xuan Ji lowered his head, covering up a smile that he couldn't hold back, and took Sheng Lingyuan's coffee cup, saying softly, "I forgot to add sugar."

He added a sugar cube and a large spoonful of condensed milk to Sheng Lingyuan's cup, stirring the dark 'medicine' into a rich coffee color.

Then, taking matters into his own hands, he took a sip to taste it. 'Accidentally,' he happened to drink from the exact spot where Sheng Lingyuan had touched the cup, innocently pushing it back towards him.

"It's not bitter anymore," he said.

Sheng Lingyuan: "..."

This reckless and unpredictable person, was he trying to court death?

As soon as Wang Ze entered the room, he was already slaughtered by the couple's lovey-dovey act. And now, he was 'double killed' at close range.

He wanted to scream in agony - he claimed he wanted to bite the moon, but it was just empty talk. He never actually did it, so why was he being punished so severely?

In front of "Sheng Xiao," the mysterious big shot who seemed to have resurrected as the Martial Wmperor, he didn't dare to act recklessly.

So he sat with a drooping face and crossed legs, emitting a strong sense of resentment, like a single, neutered old dog.

However, Dan Lin didn't pay attention to these emotional disputes and quickly seized the key point: "Excuse me, senior, how were the levels of the 'earth physicians' designed in the past?"

Sheng Lingyuan resisted the sourness in his mouth and didn't touch the cup of coffee again.

He reached out and wiped the wooden table, and a thin black mist spread out, quickly outlining an ancient map with thirty-six small whirlpools representing thirty-six levels. Dan Lin's eyes lit up and she quickly took out his phone to take a picture.

"At that time, the map surveying wasn't as accurate as it is now, and with changes in terrain, the locations may differ. It can only serve as a reference and needs to be revised," Sheng Lingyuan said, feeling a bit emotional.

Who would have thought that what Dan Li couldn't accomplish back then would be figured out by a group of mortals three thousand years later?

Truly...the ebb and flow of life, where are the sages, gods, and ghosts of the past now?

Without further ado, Sheng Lingyuan opened his hand and the mermaid scales that had been suspended in mid-air fell into his palm.

"Xuan Ji should have told you that this batch of mermaid scales is probably the 'key' to the White Jade Palace in the heavens," he said.

Yan Qiushan, who had been silent all this while, finally looked up.

"The merfolk are a rare tribe who have experienced the ancient times of chaos and witnessed the mending of the sky and the filling of the sea, along with the disappeared primordial spirits."

The scales, wrapped in black mist, were shimmering with a faint blue glow that made one dizzy if stared at for too long.

Sheng Lingyuan continued, "I have sorted out the sacrificial texts made by He Cuiyu. Although the texts are not standardized, they have a structure that can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part is before the sacrifice, where the text is generated and the conditions for the sacrificial offerings are listed. The second part is the inspection of the offerings, which is like checking the goods. If it fails, there will be no third part.

"A successful sacrifice will have an ending, stating that after the sacrifice, if the conditions are met, the sacrificial person will be granted something. I thought all of her texts were failures, but surprisingly, there are three texts that have all three parts."

In a deep voice, Yan Qiushan asked, "So you're saying that He Cuiyu succeeded in writing three sacrificial texts?"

Sheng Lingyuan pulled out three photocopies filled with notes and annotations and said, "The first successful sacrificial text may have used the poison of jealousy. When it was created, thirty 18-year-old beauties' hearts were sacrificed. Perhaps He Cuiyu was afraid that the standard for 'beauty' was different, so she prepared 156 hearts and the sacrificial text claimed 37 of them, resulting in a successful sacrifice and giving her ten 'white steeds.'"

Yan Qiushan asked, "Ten white steeds?"

"'White Steed across Rifts' is an ancient forbidden technique. 'Ten white steeds' means that within a certain range, you can slow down your time by ten times. While others pass one minute, you pass ten minutes," explained Xuan Ji obediently, like a submissive assistant...one who couldn't even get a good expression on his face.

"It's a killer move in a critical moment, but the price is heavy. Generally, no one uses it until it's a matter of life and death."

Sheng Lingyuan didn't look at him and continued, "The second successful ritual allowed her to stop time for three 'finger snaps' by exchanging nine pieces of infant skin that were not yet a month old for time..."

Xuan Ji translated faithfully, "It means time stops...for about twenty to thirty seconds."

"Similar to your colleague's stopwatch, it stops the time for even longer. But three 'finger snaps' may not be enough, so she quickly wrote a third ritual. I don't know what she used for the third offering, but I guess it has something to do with that Shadow person. She must have thought she found a way to improve the quality of the offering, so she decided to extract it from a heavenly demon hybrid. This offering is quite interesting, and she was promised the freedom to pause for as long as she wants, without an offering needed."

Xuan Ji couldn't explain any further.

He had been wandering in the mortal world for three thousand years, always following the rules and knowing very little about various evil practices. It seems that he is not as knowledgeable as a snake demon who is not even 800 years old.

He turned and asked, "Can there be no offering? What is this, an empty promise?"

"I've heard of this type of ritual, but this is the first time I've seen it in its complete form," said Sheng Lingyuan, shaking his head. "Actually, anyone with a bit of common sense would stop here."

"Why?" asked Zhi Chun.

"Dark magic is not something to be trifled with. You don't know what it wants, and once the sacrificial text is complete, you have to give it whatever it wants, or else you'll suffer a thousand cuts and slashes."

Zhi Chun suddenly remembered the torture he had experienced at sea and shrank back.

Yan Qiushan clearly didn't look at him, but he supported the small back of the Heart-Piercing Grass puppet in a timely matter.

Upon hearing this, Dan Lin had a guess: "So what the sacrificial text ultimately wants is..."

"The remaining lifespan of He Cuiyu. Her time will be frozen in eternity, and her life will be sacrificed for the ritual. If I'm not mistaken, her body will remain fresh for billions of years, as if it were just yesterday. You can even put her in a transparent jar and display her for everyone to admire." With a sudden laugh, Sheng Lingyuan continued, "That's why I suspect that she got the ritual text from the Shadow person. Who else would want her old life that is about to end? What's the point of a one-sided relationship?"

Xuan Ji remained silent, but he was certain that this scoundrel was as clear as a mirror in his heart.

Not only did he pretend not to understand the language of the demon clan, but he also wanted to stab him at every opportunity!

Dan Lin thought for a moment, "So what you're saying is that the method to activate this scale is likely to pause time for a period far exceeding thirty seconds. But even if we have Zhang Zhao, we can only pause time for a maximum of one second... We can't go around killing people like those lunatics. Is this thing impossible to open?"

"We don't need to," Xuan Ji's temper was ignited by Sheng Lingyuan, his nerves abnormally excited and his reactions unusually quick, "We can pick up something that's already there - isn't He Cuiyu's body still uncremated?"

Zhang Zhao's stopwatch was like drawing a circle, cutting off the time between his side and the opponent, creating a small time barrier, and then gently wedging a nail into the timeline.

However, the power was limited and could only pause time for one second.

The time afterwards would snap back like a stretched rubber band, quickly rebounding and counterattacking.

So... what if they were to nail this 'nail' onto the body of He Cuiyu?

Special agent Zhang Zhao, who was a jack-of-all-trades, seemed to have also practiced with the "Nirvana Stone".

Director Xuan vividly and interestingly explained it three times, but Zhang Zhao still didn't understand what the "sea of consciousness" was. He even searched online for a brain anatomy diagram, trying to locate the longitude and latitude of the sea of consciousness.

In the end, he was impatiently hit by a black mist from Sheng Lingyuan and became a conscious puppet.

Zhang Zhao felt like his whole body was sealed inside, but his vision suddenly opened up.

The details that he usually didn't pay attention to were now magnified countless times.

His scale-like "stopwatch" elongated and transformed into a miniature dagger, flying straight out of Zhang Zhao's hand and nailing onto the forehead of He Cuiyu's corpse.

Sheng Lingyuan shouted, "Get out of the way, all of you!"

But before he finished speaking, Yan Qiushan took the first step and charged in.

Zhi Chun grabbed the hem of his coat and flew in after him, followed by Dan Lin, Xiao Zheng, and Wang Ze...

Sheng Lingyuan was always decisive and strict, and never encountered a situation where his words had the opposite effect.

However, even if he wanted to attack, it was too late.

At the moment the dagger touched the skin of the corpse, it suddenly melted and seeped into He Cuiyu's body.

A shallow blue light appeared on the surface of the half-human, half-snake corpse, enveloping everyone around it.

Everything turned white before their eyes - time had stopped.

Everyone was trapped in the gap of time, and the key to the mysterious "Heavenly White Jade Palace" hung high above He Cuiyu's head.

It spun for an unknown amount of time, and suddenly the halo slowly stretched and expanded...

A passage appeared out of nowhere, extending as far as the eye could see.