Ye Xiu let out a sharp breath, completely baffled. What could this situation imply? Someone from the modern era had entered this Everlasting Lotus Dream Palace. Did another group, possessing various skills, manage to breach the Nine Poisons Fierce Formation? Or perhaps there was some secret within the Nine Poisons Fierce Formation that connected to the real world? Could it be that Mèishū and Xià Jié had already attained eternal longevity, allowing them to travel freely between the fierce formation and the mortal realm?

“Squeak… creak…” As he pondered deeply, Ye Xiu suddenly felt a chill wind rise behind him. When he turned, he saw that the two grotesque dog sculptures, which had been standing steadily inside the room moments before, had shifted slightly. Though their eyes were empty sockets, they radiated a feeling of hostility towards him.

“This thing can move?” Everyone’s attention shifted from the mural to the twin dog sculptures. Old Liu drew his Thin Blade and jabbed at the foot of one of the three-headed dogs, but it was solid, pure metal. The Thin Blade lacked the necessary hardness to contend with such a tangible object and only bounced back with a dull thud.

“No, I remember their heads were tilted up when we first came in.” Birdman, whose observation skills were keen, immediately stiffened his feathers in alarm. “You few, quickly move to the inner room; I’ll watch them.”

Ye Xiu nodded decisively, ushering Old Liu and Hong Ling swiftly past the two three-headed dogs. But what he never anticipated was that as Hong Ling walked between the two figures, a sudden crimson light flashed in their eyes. Immediately afterward, they bowed their heads deeply, as if greeting their master. This bowing was accompanied by the sound of two heavy chains; it turned out these monstrous dogs were securely tethered to pillars on either side.

Hong Ling was startled by the scene. She curiously reached out to touch one of them, but before her hand made contact, another flash of red light ignited in the dog’s eye, and the three heads sank even lower.

“It’s because Hong Ling currently possesses Mèishū’s appearance!” Ye Xiu was certain of his assertion. “If the Everlasting Lotus Dream Palace is Mèishū’s masterpiece, then the contents inside this palace should recognize her.”

Hearing this, Hong Ling was reminded of the fact that she now looked like Mèishū. She turned, somewhat displeased, and walked towards the second room. At this point, the two three-headed dogs began emitting sounds of plaintive begging, as if abandoned by their owner.

“Hey, Hong Ling, hurry up and come back!” Old Liu felt a jolt of anxiety hearing the whining from the sculptures. He called out to Hong Ling, but received no response.

“Watch out!” At that moment, Birdman spread his wings and swept past Old Liu with incredible speed, because one of the three-headed dogs had instantly snapped its chains and lunged directly at Old Liu beneath it.

In his panic, Old Liu grabbed one of Birdman’s wings, his whole body springing upward just enough to evade the dog’s attack. In that same instant, he attempted to strike the monster with his Thin Blade, but discovered that even materialized, the dog’s body remained metallic, and the blade could not cut through it at all!

Seeing one three-headed beast fully active, the other also shook its head, breaking free of its chains. It opened its mouth wide and shot a blast of cold air toward Old Liu and Birdman. Birdman reacted instantly, retracting his wings and landing swiftly to avoid the strike. As he touched down, his entire plumage erupted into sharp blades, striking the three-headed dog, but the sound was only a clatter of metal weapons falling uselessly—the thing was completely impervious.

“Death God, your fire…” Old Liu stumbled over to Ye Xiu, shoving him forward to stand directly in front of the two three-headed dogs.

“Awooo!” The three-headed dogs went completely berserk. Seeing Ye Xiu approach, they immediately opened their massive jaws and lunged. In that desperate moment, Ye Xiu blocked reflexively with his arm, raising the Death Scythe to wedge against the creature’s steel fangs. During this tense standoff, he swung his other hand, unleashing Purple Flame, which struck the dog’s skull heavily. The collision of sparks against metal actually threw Ye Xiu backward onto the ground.

“Damn it!” Birdman was helpless against these mindless monsters, landing beside Ye Xiu. “This thing is essentially an inanimate object; looks like we’ll need a different method to put it down.”

“Down!” At this moment, Hong Ling extended her slender hands horizontally in front of the two three-headed dogs. Her voice suddenly became very soft, her speech slightly slowed, entirely devoid of her earlier affectation. “Down…”

The two three-headed dogs, which moments before had been glaring furiously, stopped dead when they saw Hong Ling—or rather, the gesture that resembled Mèishū’s—and obediently flattened themselves against the ground, motionless.

“What… what is going on here?” Old Liu stared at Hong Ling, utterly perplexed. “Hong Ling, you can actually control them?”

Ye Xiu stood beside Hong Ling, who appeared regal yet seductive at that moment. “Hong Ling, what happened to your voice?”

“Oh, nothing much!” Hong Ling seemed to snap out of a trance, shaking her body slightly. She stuck out her tongue at Ye Xiu. “Who cares! I just suddenly felt like I could control them, so I did it.”

Birdman’s eyes were filled with suspicion as he watched Hong Ling. Ye Xiu watched her too, knowing what Birdman was thinking: Did Hong Ling becoming Mèishū’s likeness mean much more than just a change of face?

“There are murals here too!” Hong Ling, ignoring everyone’s speculation, had already walked into the second room. She pointed to the paintings on the ceiling. “Look, you guys, this looks like a river! But why is the water red?”

“Red!” Ye Xiu had no desire to probe further, but upon hearing of a red river, his first thought was the River of Oblivion, the Sea of Blood. He rushed to tilt his head back to look at the ceiling panel. Indeed, in the dazzling, colorful painting, there was a river of red. It had no discernible source, and its end faded into a small patch of light.

Old Liu’s experience mirrored Ye Xiu’s. Upon seeing the red color, he murmured softly, “Is this recording a scene from the River of Oblivion? Doesn’t that small boat look like the one we rode in?”

“Yes!” Ye Xiu gritted his teeth, utterly certain. Apart from the ferryman and the Six-Winged Mosquito Daoist, the painting depicted exactly the dark river he and Old Liu had navigated. What was the deal with this palace? Was it demanding they re-experience every realm of the Nine Poisons Fierce Formation?

“That Death God Scythe looks quite similar to the one in your hand,” Birdman said coldly, walking up beside Ye Xiu. He stared intently at the final corner of the mural. “Are the figures in this painting you two?”

Ye Xiu was stunned by Birdman’s words. What joke was this? How could he and Old Liu be in this painting? Slowly, Ye Xiu shifted his gaze. At the river’s terminus, three shadowy figures materialized. One had half his body submerged in the water, and in his hand, held horizontally, was a pure black Death Scythe. On the bank, a figure dressed in plain clothes was watching. The third person was receiving the Death Scythe with one hand; his expression was cold, his entire being exuding a chilling aura—that person was Ye Xiu himself.