Jiang Ai’s eyes widened: “What?”

At a time like this, what nonsense was he talking about? How could one possibly break free from the illusions of the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison with an extinguished heart candle?

The heart candle flickered once in midair, its light completely devoured by darkness.

In an instant, darkness surged like a flood, engulfing the young man and making him vanish before Jiang Ai’s eyes, along with those bright eyes that disappeared without a trace. Jiang Ai held up her heart candle and shouted: “Little friend, little friend!”

There was no response, no human shadow could be seen, only endless darkness, like the belly of a ferocious beast that devoured all sounds. Even Bai San Xing from earlier had disappeared. The palace positions had shifted, and Duan Xu’s illusion had taken him away too.

Jiang Ai gritted her teeth and shouted: “I agree! Find a way to get out alive!”

Otherwise, the one confined in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison would probably be her instead.

Jiang Ai rushed out through the exit door of the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison and instantly appeared before the great hall of the palace. Disregarding her usual emphasis on etiquette, she called out while climbing the steps: “Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Simu!”

Just as the word “Simu” fell from her lips, He Simu’s red figure instantly appeared before Jiang Ai, who nearly crashed into her.

He Simu was still holding documents in her hand, apparently having just been handling affairs. She snapped her fingers, turning the documents into blue smoke, and frowned, asking: “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ai grabbed He Simu’s wrist and said: “Bai San Xing hasn’t vanished completely. He’s still in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison!”

He Simu was taken aback and asked in surprise: “You went to the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison? You encountered him?”

Bai San Xing was Yan Ke’s predecessor as the Fei Ghost Hall Master. After the former Ghost King’s death, he rebelled, becoming the most powerful faction among the rebellious ghosts. At his peak, five Ghost Halls were affiliated with him, and he was the only evil ghost who could fight He Simu to a draw. Later, He Simu, Jiang Ai, and Yan Ke, who was then the Deputy Hall Master of the Fei Ghost Hall, joined forces to trap Bai San Xing in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, extinguishing his heart candle and making him lose his way with no escape.

If Bai San Xing hadn’t been confined to the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, He Simu wouldn’t have been able to quell the rebellion so quickly.

“Hmm… and then…” Jiang Ai sighed and said: “Your little friend’s heart candle was cut in half by Bai San Xing. He’s lost in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison.”

“This little friend probably won’t be coming back.”

He Simu’s gaze intensified, and she suddenly gripped Jiang Ai’s arm tightly.

Seeing He Simu, Jiang Ai, and Yan Ke all gathered before him, Xusheng felt just like his name suggested—insecure at heart.

He rolled his pure white, pupilless eyes from side to side, thinking that being a gatekeeper was becoming increasingly difficult. When the former Ghost King’s wife came here, he didn’t let her in and was reprimanded. This time, when the current Ghost King’s fiancé came, he learned from his mistake and let him in, yet somehow the fiancé was still lost inside.

“It was that boy who wanted to go in himself, Jiang Ai can testify for me! I gave him the heart candle properly. Who knew he would…” Xusheng loudly defended himself, his two eyes spinning rapidly on the locust wood gate.

He Simu raised her hand to stop his words. She wore a deep red robe with golden begonia patterns, her gaze as cold as the silver tassels hanging from her forehead.

She said: “Give me a heart candle. I’m going in to find him.”

Yan Ke stepped forward to block her, frowning deeply: “Simu, he has lost his heart candle. Not only would you be unable to find him once you go in, but even if you did find him, you couldn’t bring him out. Moreover, Bai San Xing is still inside. If he does something to you, you’ll be in danger.”

He Simu said: “I’ve entered the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison dozens of times before and have never encountered Bai San Xing. Besides, he’s been confined for hundreds of years, his powers have been severely eroded, and he’s no longer a match for me.”

“But that child is already lost in the illusion. Without a heart candle, he can’t leave the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison,” Jiang Ai also persuaded. Indeed, she had no good solution. Even Bai San Xing, with his powerful magic, would be forever trapped in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison after losing his heart candle. What method could a mortal child possibly have?

Moreover, the labyrinth prison was full of evil ghosts who had been hungry for decades or even centuries. Once the child was lost, it would be strange if he wasn’t pounced upon by hungry tigers. She could only announce his obituary here.

But He Simu shook her head and said: “Our fates are connected. If I find him and guide his heart candle to rekindle on mine, he might wake up.”

Upon hearing He Simu’s words, both Jiang Ai and Yan Ke were greatly astonished. Yan Ke even excitedly pressed on He Simu’s shoulders and shouted: “What are you saying? Let him use your heart candle? What if he doesn’t regain clarity and extinguishes your heart candle? Then you’ll both be lost in the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison with no hope of return! Do you want to become the next Bai San Xing? You can’t go!”

He Simu looked at Yan Ke calmly and said: “Let go, Yan Ke. He’s a living person; he will die. Each moment in the labyrinth prison increases his danger.”

“I won’t let go. How… how can you go to such lengths for a mere mortal?” Yan Ke was furious and incredulous.

He Simu’s gaze flickered, and the wind around her suddenly rose. Fine wind threads curled up to lift Yan Ke’s hand and push him away.

She said word by word: “He is not a mere mortal. Little Fox Duan is my charm caster. He is my possession. If I want him to live in this world, he cannot die.”

He Simu walked straight to the gate, took her heart candle from Xusheng’s eye, and as the candlelight flared, the gate opened, and she disappeared into a chaotic darkness.

The moment she disappeared, the strong wind restraining Yan Ke also vanished. Jiang Ai hadn’t even tried to stop He Simu. She said helplessly to Yan Ke: “Don’t you know her by now? You can’t stop her.”

Yan Ke’s gaze darkened.

After entering the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison, He Simu held her heart candle in one hand and took out the charm-binding pearl with the other, calling: “Find Duan Xu!”

The pearl emitted a gentle ray of light in the boundless darkness, pointing forward. He Simu followed the direction of the light, occasionally calling out “Duan Xu,” sometimes “Duan Shunxi,” interspersed with one or two calls of “Little Fox Duan.”

From time to time, screams and cries of pain could be heard, but none were Duan Xu’s voice.

He was as quiet as a drop of water falling into the ocean, leaving no trace to be found.

He Simu kept following the pearl’s direction. The pearl showed Duan Xu’s path through the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison. He had already passed through the Shock Gate, the Blockade Gate, the Injury Gate, and even traversed the Death Gate. This route would experience countless different illusions, yet he didn’t seem to be circling in the Nine Palaces like those lost evil ghosts. His path was surprisingly clear.

When He Simu passed through the Scenery Gate, she even wondered if Duan Xu might not have fallen into the illusion at all and had walked out through the exit door by himself.

Just as she was pondering this, the pearl’s light suddenly ended. Within the range of the heart candle’s light, a sword tip pointing directly at her was illuminated, its cold light radiating in all directions.

It was the Illusion-Breaking Sword.

He Simu stopped in her tracks. The sword entered the range of light inch by inch, approaching her throat inch by inch. She saw a pair of black boots step into the light, followed by a black round-collared robe, hair tied in a high ponytail, and a youth with a black and silver headband.

His black clothes were darker in some spots and lighter in others, with mottled stains extending to his face, which must have been the fresh blood of evil ghosts he had killed along the way. The veiled hat he had been wearing was gone, revealing his handsome, sharp features and a pair of dark eyes. Those eyes, like when he was caught up in killing, had a light scattered without focus, resembling the endless ocean in frenzied turmoil.

He Simu thought she had underestimated the Nine Palaces Labyrinth Prison and overestimated Duan Xu. He had still fallen into the illusion.

But not completely—he seemed able to sense her, as he could still point his sword accurately at her.

He Simu didn’t know what he saw or heard, nor did she know what he perceived her to be at this moment. She simply placed the pearl securely in her bosom, then looked up at those unfocused eyes and called: “Duan Xu.”

As soon as the words fell, Duan Xu’s Illusion-Breaking Sword pressed against her throat.

Duan Xu was not an evil ghost; she couldn’t summon him by name, but she felt his name was like a spell for him. He had countless times reaffirmed, countless times demanded that she call him by his name.

“Duan Xu, I am He Simu.”

He Simu didn’t evade, allowing the Illusion-Breaking Sword to break open a wound on her neck, drawing fresh blood and depleting her magical power. Word by word, she said: “Little Fox Duan, wake up.”

She reached out and grasped the blade of his sword. From her pale, ashen hand flowed dark red blood, running along the blade and passing over the two characters “Breaking Illusion” inscribed on the sword, which then began to emit a faint light.

In her heart, she said: Illusion-Breaking Sword, since you have chosen him, help him cross over once more.

Duan Xu’s blood-red eyes seemed to tremble slightly. He closed his eyes as if struggling mightily to break free from something, then opened them again.

The sword pressed against He Simu’s throat gradually lowered. He still seemed to be in the illusion, confused and vulnerable, staggering as if he understood Simu’s words, yet also as if he hadn’t.

“He Simu,” he murmured.

“Yes.”

“He Simu.”

“It’s me.”

He walked step by step toward He Simu, softly calling her name, his gaze passing through her body to some place in the illusion unknown to her.

Duan Xu staggered to stand before her, paused, and then reached out like a blind person, groping and probing until he touched He Simu’s arm.

Then his hand moved downward along the smooth silk material of her sleeve, grasped her lowered wrist, then enveloped her hand, and finally, finger by finger, interlocked their ten fingers, holding her hand.

He Simu’s hand had just been cut by the Illusion-Breaking Sword, and her fingers were covered in blood, staining his hand red.

“What are you doing?” He Simu looked at their clasped hands.

She hadn’t expected Duan Xu to answer, yet heard him reply softly: “Holding… your heart.”

He raised his eyes, and in his blood-red eyes, a faint light seemed to coalesce. He smiled gently, bent down, and embraced He Simu, releasing all the strength from his body as he had done that day when ambushing the enemy camp, entrusting this heavy body to her.

“You are the real He Simu. No pulse, cold blood, and on your body, there’s my agarwood scent,” he murmured.

He Simu patted Duan Xu’s back as his forehead rested against the side of her neck. Looking at the exit door nearby, she thought that if she had come a moment later, he might have found his way to the exit door and perhaps truly rekindled his heart candle through his strength.

“Yes, I’ve come to get you,” she said softly.

“You’ve come to get me?” Duan Xu repeated, burying his head in the crook of He Simu’s neck, laughing softly.

“That’s wonderful. He Simu has come to get me. It’s the first time in this life that someone has come to get me.”

After he said these words, He Simu heard the sound of the Illusion-Breaking Sword falling to the ground, his arms dropping from around her. Following the sliding of his body, He Simu knelt halfway to the ground, supporting his shoulders. The pearl between them emitted a bright light, with the charm rapidly rotating.

The heart candle in her hand flickered, the blue flame split in two, becoming half blue and half red, burning strangely together.

Earlier, Yan Ke had said that if she shared her heart candle with Duan Xu, and if Duan Xu still couldn’t wake up, it would extinguish her heart candle as well. But she had never worried about this, as if she believed he would wake up as surely as the seasons change and dawn follows dusk.

This young general had appeared in her life for only a brief period, like a drop of water in a torrential flow compared to her long life.

But she could see his reflection in that drop of water, inscribed with the eight characters: “Heart as firm as a stone, fearless of gods and Buddhas.”