As Principal Hao struck the glass again and again, Bai Ru could actually feel the car’s windshield vibrating; the vehicle itself seemed to subtly sway with each impact.

She regretted not getting out sooner. Now, it was perhaps too late. If she exited the car now, Li Jin in the back seat might be in grave danger. Even with the protective charms placed around him, relying solely on them to fend off the exterior assault of the "Soul-Snatching Hundred Ghosts" technique seemed insufficiently secure.

With no other choice, Bai Ru reached for her backpack and pulled out a stack of wooden tablets. These were, of course, no ordinary tokens; they were thirty-six tablets crafted from peach wood, inscribed with talismans. Carefully, she selected eight, each etched with one of the eight trigrams, and then retrieved an old, tarnished bronze Taiji Bagua plate from her bag. Placing the bronze plate on the seat beside her, she arranged the eight wooden tablets in order around it, establishing the cardinal points.

Next, she produced two scrolls of paper talisman. Holding one in the middle and index fingers of her right hand, she hissed, "Heaven and Earth separate at the beginning, Taiji establishes Yin and Yang; the Great Thousand World, Bagua transforms into ten thousand phenomena. Taiji Bagua Formation: Activate Defense!"

Normally, the Taiji Bagua Formation possessed eight primary configurations and sixty-four variations—an exceedingly advanced spell. Centered on the Taiji symbol, the arrangement of the Bagua talismans could absorb omnipresent energy from the cosmos, condensing it to unleash attacks, establish defenses, or even aid in cultivation through various transformations. However, mastering such a formation required an absolutely colossal foundation of spiritual power.

Although Bai Ru had stumbled into the realm of exorcism in her childhood and received guidance from a master practitioner, her innate abilities paled in comparison to those born with spiritual energy. Consequently, her ghost-dispelling methods relied heavily on channeling the spiritual energy within her body to borrow power through talismans. This necessity meant she had to haul around a large assortment of charms whenever confronting supernatural threats. It was a source of considerable headache that fewer and fewer individuals could currently inscribe high-level talismans.

The Taiji Bagua Formation: Activate Defense was specifically for fortification. Given the extreme gravity of the current situation, Bai Ru had no choice but to temporarily use this formation to shield the interior of the car, hoping to hold out until Gu Yi arrived; he should be capable of managing the troublesome circumstances.

As she finished the incantation, the two talismans between her fingers instantly transformed into streaks of firelight, shooting into the center of the bronze Taiji Bagua plate. Instantly, a soft white light erupted from the center of the plate, shooting straight upward through the car roof. Outside, countless minute, visible orbs of light flooded inward toward the light beam from every direction, resembling swarms of fireflies. Moments later, the once-soft white light surged violently, then radiated outwards onto the eight Bagua peach wood tablets placed in their positions. In that instant, centered on the Taiji diagram and bordered by the eight wooden tablets, an octagonal shield of flowing golden light materialized.

Seeing the shield solidify, Bai Ru brought her hands together in a specific gesture and commanded, "Heaven and Earth without limit, Qian and Kun borrow power, Expand!"

At her word, the shield immediately ballooned outward, tightly enclosing the space within the car. Simultaneously, as if sensing that Principal Hao outside the windshield was not human but an evil entity, a concentrated golden beam suddenly materialized within the shield, shooting toward Principal Hao’s eyes pressed against the glass.

"Agh..."

Caught completely off guard, Principal Hao screamed shrilly and tumbled off the car.

Bai Ru sighed internally. If a master of profound spiritual power had cast the Taiji Bagua Formation, this single strike could have subdued Principal Hao. But constrained by her own limited abilities, she could only force back the ghost-possessed Principal Hao; subduing him was beyond her reach.

Just then, Bai Ru suddenly noticed that the small interior light on the ceiling had illuminated after the shield activated.

A flicker of joy sparked in her heart, and she immediately turned the ignition key. With a series of sputtering "Beep-beep" sounds, the car was finally operational.

The vehicle lurched forward due to the sudden, sharp acceleration, emitting a piercing screech. Bai Ru calmly shifted the transmission into reverse, and the car shot backward with alarming speed.

Fortunately, Li Jin in the rear seat was already buckled in; otherwise, the sudden movement might have sent him slamming into the back of the front seat.

The narrow lane Bai Ru was on offered no space for her to execute a proper U-turn. Her decision to reverse rather than press forward stemmed from two reasons: first, she feared the lights visible not far ahead might be illusions conjured by the ghost; second, she needed to evade Principal Hao directly in front of the car. Although the vehicle was currently caught in an illusion, the lane remained a lane—straight in when entering, and a straightforward reversal when exiting.

As long as the protective shield generated by the Taiji Bagua Formation could sustain the car’s movement, she should be able to reverse out of this section of the road controlled by the ghost—this "Yin-Yang Road."

The "Yin-Yang Road," also known as the Road to the Underworld, was an evil art capable of transforming a mortal path into a bridge to the Netherworld at specific times and locations, trapping travelers between the realms of Yin and Yang until they met their demise.

Under the control of this wicked technique, the spatial distance of a stretch of road was magnified thousands of times—it could be described as an inch away feeling like the horizon. Even if the destination appeared only a hair's breadth away, those walking toward it would feel an endless, unreachable expanse.

When this phenomenon occurred, if the traveler panicked and attempted to change direction to find an exit, they were, in fact, merely taking a shortcut to death. This was because the true path to survival remained the original direction they had been traveling; the evil technique merely magnified the distance between the person and their goal infinitely.

A normal person encountering this situation should maintain their original objective and direction without looking back, persisting until the evil spell could no longer sustain its control or until they truly exited that section of the road, at which point everything would revert to normal.

But Bai Ru was not operating under normal circumstances. She had chosen to retreat. She intended to rely on the Taiji Bagua Formation to carve out a path to survival. She planned to directly challenge the vengeful spirit wielding this dark magic, striving to shatter this Yin-Yang Road.

If she could break through the road, the vengeful spirit would inevitably suffer a backlash as its spell dissolved. The moment the car gained mobility after the shield successfully formed, she had made this decision. This was a gamble, and she had no intention of conceding.