Lilianna chanted a series of complex syllables, a shroud of blood mist enveloping the wounds on her bat wings. The spreading curse characters were suppressed by the blood mist, gradually fading until they vanished, and the wounds on her wings healed.
"Why do I get the feeling you can't beat this ghost lady? How about we both take her on?" Lumiya suggested.
Lilianna was about to respond when the red-clothed ghost made her move. Her lips parted slightly, beginning a song of mournful melancholy. At first, it was gentle, then it crescendoed to a powerful pitch.
As the song escalated, the ghost's long hair began to dance in the air without any wind, like dark waves rippling and undulating.
With her hair swirling around, the ghost revealed the face that had been hidden before. It was a young woman's face, exquisitely detailed like a fine brush painting. Her beauty wasn't just a fleeting glance; it was like a fine wine that improves with age, complex and intriguing. Her cheeks were soft and smooth, her skin pale and glowing with a healthy rosiness, giving off a gentle and approachable aura.
Her slender, slightly furrowed eyebrows were like distant mountains, harboring a faint sorrow and melancholy that evoked empathy and tenderness. Below her delicate nose were plump, moist lips, red with specks of blood, adding a touch of sensuality and mystery to her beauty, making her lips bewitchingly attractive, like a beautifully blooming blood-red rose.
Yet, what truly captured attention were her eyes, deep pools of nearly transparent gray-white, like a lake covered with early winter snow, clear yet profound. These large, bright eyes were beautifully shaped, as if crafted by divine artistry. However, they focused on nothing, resembling an endless abyss, seemingly capable of swallowing one's gaze and soul.
In the depths of that abyss, despite the encompassing darkness, a faint but unextinguishable light flickered.
Lumiya and Lilianna were momentarily taken aback upon seeing this face. They had imagined all sorts of horrifying or hideous visages behind the black hair, but they never expected the ghost to be such a pitiable young woman.
However, they had little time to be stunned, as the song reached its climax, and the space was filled with the frenzied dance of the black cursed hair, which surged towards them like a tide from all directions.
Lilianna raised her arms, spreading her fingers wide, and pushed outward forcefully. The moonlight behind her brightened, forming an invisible barrier against the incoming cursed black hair.
After a momentary standstill, the black hair gained the upper hand, piercing through several breaches in the moonlight barrier, pouring in through the gaps.
Lilianna continued chanting the blood magic incantation, summoning swarms of bats out of thin air, which then collided with the invading black hair. Upon impact, the bats detonated in a self-destruct attack, turning into blood mist, but also shredding the black hair into scattered flakes, flying everywhere.
Lumiya set Sky down and joined the fight. She formed seals with her hands, condensing shards of ice around her body, then waved her palms, sending out sheets of ice crystals to attack the black hair that had breached the moonlight defense barrier.
"Lilianna, think of something, we can't hold out much longer," Lumiya called out.
Lilianna's calm voice came through, "I know. Listen up, I'm going to double the power of my Moonlight Strength. This should block most of the dark hair assaults. However, this level of Moonlight Strength can only be maintained for 3 minutes. In these 3 minutes, you need to fend off all the dark hair attacks that get through. Don't let them disturb me."
Lumiya nodded, "Understood, you're going for a big move, right? Okay, I'll definitely hold on for these 3 minutes. Leave it to me."
Lilianna took a deep breath and then let out a shriek as high-pitched as a banshee's wail. The crescent moon behind her suddenly burst into radiance, expanding in size by twofold.
For a moment, the defense barrier of moonlight pushed back the tide of dark hair several meters, then stalemated. Only a tiny fraction of the dark hair could penetrate the moonlight barrier this time. Lumiya, fearless, met them head-on, annihilating these penetrating dark hairs one by one.
Meanwhile, Lilianna sat down cross-legged on the ground, her aura completely subdued, becoming as serene as still water, seemingly unaffected by whatever happened around her.
In her outstretched right hand, a glow flickered, revealing three ancient copper coins. These coins were round with a square hole in the center. On one side, each of the four sides of the square was engraved with an ancient Chinese character, while the other side featured intricate patterns.
Lilianna covered her right palm with her left hand, clutching the three coins tightly, then placed her clenched hands against her forehead, eyes closed, lips moving silently as if chanting.
A minute later, she moved her clasped hands down in front of her, close to the ground, bending slightly at the position where the palms met, creating a small gap, then began to shake them slightly. The copper coins clinked against each other in the space within her palm with a clear metallic sound.
During these metallic collisions, a small area in front of Lilianna in the air dimmed down. This dimmed area was a vertical rectangle, as if a piece of A4 paper-sized space had been removed. Upon closer inspection, one could see that this rectangle was divided into six parts, actually six horizontal strips, closely stacked from top to bottom.
After a moment, Lilianna stopped shaking, releasing her hands. The three coins fell to the ground, two showing the patterned side up, one showing the character side up. The moment they hit the ground, they emitted a bronze glow. The glow slowly rose, entering the lowest position in the dimmed area in the air, forming two short horizontal lines that glowed with fluorescence.
Lilianna whispered, "First shake, the first line, Yin." Then, she picked up the coins and shook them again, then separated her hands. The coins fell again, two showing the patterned side, one showing the character side. Another cluster of bronze light rose, forming a long horizontal line in the second position from the bottom, glowing as well.
"Second shake, the second line, Yang."
Repeating the process, the third shake resulted in two showing the patterned side, one showing the character side, with the bronze light entering the third position from the bottom, again forming two short horizontal lines.
"Third shake, the third line, Yin."
At this point, the lower three positions were occupied, from bottom to top: two short, one long, two short. The luminance of these horizontal lines brightened slightly, forming a hexagram. As this hexagram formed, Lilianna's consciousness became incredibly clear, instantly understanding the meaning of this hexagram.
"Lower trigram, hexagram formed, Water," Lilianna recited.
The Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams use eight symbols to represent various natural phenomena or dynamics: Heaven, Earth, Water, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Mountain, and Lake. Pairing these eight symbols in combinations creates 64 different compound hexagrams, which can be used to infer the trends of all things in the world.
Lumiya, drawn by this sight, couldn't help but exclaim, "The Eastern Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams! Lilianna, you're a practitioner of the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams! How is this possible!"
The Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams, the simplest yet most complex system within the Eastern cultivation sects. Simple, because it forms the foundation of the entire cultivation theory, like mathematics, where one plus one equals two is a universally accepted truth, easy for beginners. Complex, because, like mathematics, it underpins the most profound physical equations, its foundation starting from the basic logic of one plus one.
Lumiya's surprise was understandable, for Lilianna's proficient performance in casting the trigrams indicated she was a seasoned practitioner, a level that required not just time, effort, and insight, but also a mentor's guidance and teaching.
The art of the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams, capable of unveiling the secrets of heaven and predicting the course of all things, is understood in its true essence by only a handful of people in the Eastern cultivation world. Moreover, this profound understanding is considered a closely guarded secret, with disciples chosen through a meticulous process. Lilianna, being of the blood clan, seemed an unlikely match for this art.
Ignoring Lumiya's astonishment, Lilianna continued her process.
The fourth shake, one showing the patterned side, two showing the character side, brought another entry of bronze light into the fourth position from the bottom, forming a long horizontal line.
"Fourth shake, the fourth line, Yang," Lilianna voiced.
The fifth shake, two showing the patterned side, one showing the character side, resulted in two short horizontal lines.
"Fifth shake, the fifth line, Yin," she voiced again.
The sixth shake, all three coins showing the character side up, again produced two short horizontal lines, this time with an X-shaped mark beside them.
"Sixth shake, the sixth line, Yin, with signs of change."
Now, the upper three positions were also occupied, from bottom to top: one long, two short, two short. The luminosity of these lines brightened, forming another hexagram. As this hexagram formed, Lilianna's consciousness again became incredibly clear, instantly understanding its meaning.
"Upper trigram, hexagram formed, Thunder," Lilianna recited.
After a pause, Lilianna's voice rose as she declared, "Upper trigram as Thunder, lower trigram as Water, combining the two, the hexagram is named: Unravel."
As Lilianna's voice echoed, the upper and lower hexagrams simultaneously burst into brilliance, conjuring a breathtaking scene in the air.
The earth was parched, the soil clumped together, while the sky was covered with dense clouds that stubbornly refused to rain, depriving all living things of nourishment. The whole world was suffused with a deathly stillness, filled with a gloomy atmosphere.
Just then, a thunderclap that shook heaven and earth spread across the land, as if giving a command. The next moment, a fierce wind arose, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and a torrential rain poured down from the sky, sweeping away the oppressive gloom.
The vision in the air transformed again: after the rain, the sky cleared, the earth regained its vitality, revealing green mountains, clear waters, and vast grasslands. In the sky, an eagle spread its wings and flew towards the southwest. On the grassland, a group of people on horseback, carrying bows and arrows, chased after the direction of the eagle, galloping wildly.
A thought struck Lilianna, and she spread her left hand, her left thumb moving non-stop, touching the tips and joints of her other fingers, calculating something.
Moments later, her face lit up with joy, and she muttered to herself, "The direction out of this predicament is southwest." She looked up, fixing her gaze on a door at the far end of the corridor, the door to room number 320.
"Let's go!" Lilianna leapt to her feet, scooped up Sky, who was still in a daze on the ground, and carried him on her shoulder, rushing towards the door of room 320.
Seeing this, Lumiya also abandoned her struggle with the cursed dark hair and followed Lilianna towards room 320.
The red-dressed ghost slightly turned her head, her hollow eyes following Lilianna's rapid sprint. Then, she noticed Sky being carried on Lilianna's shoulder. The ghost's expression, which had remained unchanged, suddenly became animated, shifting from confusion to doubt, and finally to pain.
She clutched her head with both hands, her body beginning to shake violently, her red dress fluttering wildly as if blown by a fierce wind, rustling loudly.
Lilianna and Lumiya were desperately rushing forward, completely oblivious to the change in the red-dressed ghost behind them. They also failed to notice that as the ghost's lifeless eyes stared directly at them, Sky, who had been in a dazed state, suddenly focused his eyes, staring back at the ghost, uttering an uncertain call, "Arachne?"
By then, Lilianna had reached the door of room 320, opening it without hesitation and rushing in. Lumiya followed without looking back, both disappearing into the darkness beyond the door.
The door to room 320 slammed shut with a bang, as if separating two worlds.