Yu Xuanji and his valets dismounted a hundred meters before the Swift Tower.

Dense clouds rolled in the sky in various forms. The tower remained, locked by circles of black fog.

Already close enough to the sorcery circle, Yu Xuanji squinted his clear eyes, scanning the tower again. He then grabbed a handful of copper coins and scattered them on the ground.

The coins dropped around, erected or flat, forming a peculiar pattern.

Immediately, the wind started blowing and clouds gathered. The piercing sound at the ears made people feel that there seemed to be two intangible forces grappling with each other. As a few bursts of lightning broke through the clouds, it went quiet again. The black fog around the tower spontaneously dispersed.

Yu Xuanji stepped into the tower, followed by the two valets. Corpses of Taoist priests were to be seen in various positions on the first floor.

On the landing of the second floor, Yu Xuanji opened his eyes wide and stared up at the wood staircase, already feeling the eeriness.

"Be careful. The center of the sorcery circle is right on top." Yu Xuanji alerted the boys.

"Yes." The two nodded, tightly gripping the bags which contained the magical artifacts.

No one was on the third floor.

Yu Xuanji walked to the incense table and studied the erected Eight Trigrams compass and the incense burner. He nodded gently and smiled, muttering to himself,

"Nothing special."

He took out three incense sticks and lit them in the copper burner.

The smoke, faintly smelling of bitter ebony, soon rose into the midair and drew three figures of strange shapes. Suddenly, the sight was caught by Yu Xuanji. And his cold eyes shone brightly.

He looked up at the Eight Trigrams compass. The cinnabar pointers on the obsidian base pointed at four characters on the inner and outer plates, namely "Wind", "Sky", "Earth", and "the First".

Yu Xuanji curled his lips, secretly mocking that Gu Yunxi had been abducted by the Black Matrix.

Turning the two plates of the compass, Yu Xuanji aligned "Thunder", "Earth", "Sky", and "the Forth" to the cinnabar pointers. Trembling slightly, the yin and yang symbols in the center of the compass rotated once and separated from each other, revealing a secret compartment inside the compass. Inside the compartment was a folded piece of old sheepskin.

Yu Xuanji took out the sheepskin and unfolded it to read. Surprised, he whispered,

"Huh, it takes no effort at all."

Yu Xuanji folded the sheepskin and tucked it into his robe. He then said to the two valets,

"Be prepared for the Black Matrix."

He rotated the inner and outer plates of the compass again and made the cinnabar pointers point at the characters as before. The sight before their eyes soon changed abruptly as the consciousness was diluted by a blinding light.

Yu Xuanji bit his tongue tightly, keeping himself awake by pain until his vision was clear again. By then he and the boys found themselves in a big yard.

A mist drifted around and buried their feet. It was difficult to figure out how the ground was like. The creaking in the ears was ceaseless. The sorrowful whimpers sounded like sobs, also like crying.

Yu Xuanji stretched out his hand, and the boy Xuyue, who quickly got the hint, took out mahogany sticks to put in his hand.

Looking forward, he chanted and threw the mahogany sticks which flew through the fog and landed on the ground upright.

Narrowing his eyes, Yu Xuanji cast his gaze far for a moment and then said,

"Step on the mahogany and follow closely. Don't fall till the end."

The boys behind him replied, "We shall obey."

Then Yu Xuanji spread his arms and jumped into the air, tailed by his valets. The three stepped on the mahogany sticks and advanced agilely, using the levitation technique.

The sticks were only of the length and thickness as chopsticks. With the spell, they could stand firm as if rooted on the ground. Even when stepped on by people, they were stable as a rock.

Not long after their journey on the sticks, Yu Xuanji was attracted by the sound of blades. The mist before them then dispersed, and he saw that several people in night suits were fighting fiercely.

A person with a sallow and painful face was squatting before some wood railings. Who else could it be but Gu Yunxi?

She had been coaxed by Priest Wu and captured by the Black Matrix. Lu Qiange and his men could not escape either.

The matrix was extremely tricky. People ignorant of the profound sorcery would immediately turn into a blood mist after a wrong step. Many of Lu Qiange's men lost their lives in this way.

A group of priests dressed in yellow were tussling with them. Their ghostly faces were dark and blurred, without any facial features. In extreme fear, Gu Yunxi blew the jade flute and killed them.

The remaining four people proceeded to this place in search of a way out. Gu Yunxi stepped on a hidden trap that discharged poisonous gas. Limp and nauseous, she could not move on.

Lu Qiange and his subordinates gradually lost their senses and started fighting with each other.

Yu Xuanji coldly gazed at the exhausted people ten meters away. Slashing his sword across the air, he shouted,

"Stop!"

The fighting men instantly stopped and collapsed after a tremor, puffing up dust on the ground.

"Go to look after them."

Hearing Yu Xuanji's instructions, the two boys walked over to check whether the men had any injuries.

Yu Xuanji crouched before Gu Yunxi, finding her staring blankly. So, he took out two pills that he had brought with him and fed them into her mouth.

After a moment, Gu Yunxi recovered and her eyes became clear after a few coughs.

Seeing the man with a golden mask before her eyes, she shuddered in terror and leaned her back against the wood railings.

"Don't be afraid. It's me."

"You are..."

Gu Yunxi recognized Yu Xuanji's voice, but he soon covered her mouth before she could tell his identity.

"Don't speak. The sorcery caster is still here."

Sorcery?

Gu Yunxi was confused, but she was scared by Yu Xuanji's cold voice and didn't dare to make a noise.

Lu Qiange also woke up. He ran to Gu Yunxi, looking worried,

"Tu Muxue, are you well? Are you injured?"

He didn't know what Priest Wu had done before. He only desperately tried to pull her out after she had been swallowed by the blinding light at the Eight Trigrams compass.

He couldn't tell how he had felt at that moment. All he knew was that he didn't want the girl who had the same voice as Yunxi in danger.

The panic and worry in Lu Qiange's clear purple eyes made Gu Yunxi uncomfortable. She scratched her head and looked away,

"I'm fine..."

Suddenly, the ground shook and groaned. The white fog turned black and smelled bloody.

A shrewd light entered Yu Xuanji's eyes as he shouted,

"The sorcery circle is changing. Be careful and don't fall on the ground..."

Before he could finish his sentence, one of Lu Qiange's men stumbled and fell. He was swallowed up by the black mist and vanished at once.

"Haoji? Haoji!"

Frowning, Lu Qiange cried his name.

There had been fifteen men in all when they came, but now only he and one subordinate were left.

What sorcery was this? It was indeed fatal.

"Quit yelling. Do you want to waste your energy in the Black Matrix?"

Yu Xuanji yelled sharply and then drew out a dagger to cut a strange symbol in his palm. He grabbed the soya beans that the valet handed over and stuffed a blood-stained bean into Lu Qiange's mouth.

The man's eyes darkened in an instant.

How could a proud man like him be willing to accept others' commands?

Before he could open his mouth, Yu Xuanji pointed his finger at him relentlessly and warned,

"You ought to listen to me if you want to keep your life. Only I can lead you out!"

Yu Xuanji's eyes changed as the strange groan got closer. He sent everyone one soya bean and then focused on the approaching black mist. Suddenly, his eyes turned hard and focused on a direction, and he shouted a spell,

"The hexagram befits the water. Life sits in the north. Go!"

He stretched his arms forward, pushing Gu Yunxi and Lu Qiange into the black mist, and then turned to the boys.

"You go first."

The two boys dared not to refute. They each held one arm of Lu Qiange's subordinate and disappeared in the mist.