In the evening of Dagan, the capital, the streets were quiet save for the occasional sound of the watchmen's bell. After the bustling celebration of its grand birthday celebration a few days prior, Yu Family Manor had also settled into a peaceful stillness, with only the household servants patrolling the entrance and the surrounding grounds at night. A slender figure glided past the branches of a tree, stirring a gentle breeze. "Who's there?" asked the watchman, alert and scanning the surroundings, but seeing nothing, he shook his head and continued his patrol. Yun Rao, hidden behind the eaves, exhaled a quiet breath, raised her hand to draw the veil over her face, and turned to gaze at the grand manor, its intricate mechanisms. As the watchman moved away, she carefully recalled her previous night's explorations and the two nights before, and cautiously navigated past the numerous obstacles, making her way toward Master Yu's hermit's studio for alchemy. Since that day she left the An household in Weizhou, she departed overnight, making her way back to the capital by night, fortunate enough not to encounter Xiao Run or Xiao Man along the way. After ten years of acquaintance, she had come to understand Xiao Run’s nature well—her failure to meet him simply stemmed from his belief that once she found a place of refuge, she would not easily leave, so perhaps he was still lingering in Weizhou. Moreover, An Ziyuan had clearly told her that she owed him things, making it impossible for her to depart. The very next day, she arrived in the capital and spent two nights, each one by night, visiting the Yu family manor. Thanks to her opportunity to attend the Yu elder’s birthday banquet the previous time, and having spent time exploring the grounds during the night stay in the West Courtyard, she now had a solid understanding of the mechanisms there. With this initial breakthrough, gaining knowledge of the other areas became much more manageable. Light and agile, she moved gracefully over the eaves, carefully avoiding the various mechanisms, and smoothly reached the Yu family’s secluded sanctuary in the northern courtyard—the Hermetic Studio. Master Yu usually spends his days refining medicines within this inner chamber. Aside from his most trusted attendants, few others have the opportunity to enter. The medicines he prepares are also carefully preserved here. As it is an inner chamber, the hidden mechanisms and traps are far more numerous than in other areas. Yun Rao couldn't afford to be careless, carefully making her way through, yet surprisingly encountered no obstacles at all. Though she remained puzzled, her strong desire for the Purple Cloud Pill enabled her to suppress her doubts and swiftly unlatch the door of the pharmacy, entering inside. Inside, apart from the large refining furnace placed at the entrance, there were various herbs and medicinal materials; the finished pills were stored in a small pavilion located in the northwest corner upon entering. As soon as she stepped in, Yun Rao gently closed the door slightly, using the light from the furnace to survey the room and pinpoint the location of the pills. She then moved swiftly toward that spot, her hands smoothly gliding over the displayed pills on the shelves, occasionally picking up a bottle to examine it closely or carefully opening the stopper to inhale its aroma. After roughly half a cup of incense, she finally located the Purple Cloud Pill among a heap of unremarkable jars and bottles. The small purple bottle held only a moderate amount, yet it was more than sufficient for her. With a smooth motion, she tucked the vial into her sleeve, closed her breath, and moved toward the door, carefully relocking it before stepping out along the path she had taken earlier. After another half cup of incense, she found herself returning to the alchemy room, where the cold wind swept in阵阵. Cloud Rao was taken aback—there was clearly an array in place. When An Ziyuan had first struck her from the roof, he had mentioned that the Yu family manor was full of intricate mechanisms and unusual array techniques. At the time, the arrays encountered were still elementary, and she, with her modest understanding of the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams, had been able to navigate them. Now, however, this array proved beyond her grasp. After circling it once, the wind grew stronger, cutting through with a chill, and intermittently accompanied by sharp, ghostly laughter, as though spirits were drifting past. The intermittent whispers of laughter disturbed Yun Rao's composure, making her thoughts feel scattered. She raised her hand to rub her brow, gently shaking her head, striving to calm herself, yet remained bewildered. The laughter grew louder and louder, and faintly, as if drifting by on a breeze, someone passed by—like a thin veil—yet with an eerie presence that sent shivers down her spine. "Who are you?" With her short sword instinctively sweeping toward her right ear, Yun Rao barely managed to turn around, shouting sharply, though her voice sounded weak and frail. As she lifted her head, she was startled into a cold sweat. A middle-aged woman in the attire of Yunze Palace approached her slowly, her hair neatly coiled high on her head. Yet at the crown of her head, a sword wound had split across the Baihui point, blood seeping steadily from the spot, tracing two strange streaks across her pale face. Yun Rao's grip on her sword tightened automatically, her eyes alert, watching the woman whose face seemed both beautiful and terrifying approach. Her spine grew cold, and though she wanted to step back, she found her light footwork seemingly drained, as though her agility had been completely nullified "Who are you?" she stammered. She had heard before of a kind of array that could disorient the mind, inducing illusions. Now this beautiful woman... Her efforts to convince herself that what she was seeing was all false faltered. The soft, cold voice of the woman pierced through her ears, flooding her senses and shattering the mental strength she had been striving to maintain. "Wanwan, your parents died most unjustly. You must live well, and fight for their justice. Do you understand?" "No...," Yun Rao lost control, clutching her ears with both hands, her head pounding, her mind growing increasingly confused. "Who are you? Who is Wanwan?" Holding her head and turning away to avoid the scene, she saw another man of similar age and stature, his body pierced by swords, smiling at her with a solemn, eerie grace. "Wanwan, your father is here. Come. Come to father." A blood-streaked hand reached out toward her, and she stepped back in alarm, yet as if she had collided with someone, her shoulders were caught and held. She instinctively turned her head, only to be startled back several steps by the woman now covered in blood. "Miss, you've finally survived." Raising her head again, she saw people all around stained with blood—some smiling with a haunting calm, others weeping, their blood streaming slowly from eyes like hollowed-out wells. Some guards in the elegant uniforms of Yunze Palace's Imperial Guard were merely swinging their swords haphazardly. The visions before her had nearly taken away all her senses, and instinctively, the short sword she held in her hands spun wildly as she shouted without meaning, "Get out! I don't know you! Get out!" The sword whirled and slashed in frantic, uncoordinated motions, keeping the figures at bay, while she remained utterly bewildered, no longer aware of the mechanisms beneath her feet. As she spun, she didn't realize she had triggered a hidden mechanism—suddenly, a cold arrow shot out from the shadows, piercing her chest with fierce force before she could react. When the sharp pain struck, her consciousness began to return, slowly. As she opened her eyes again, the entire vision had vanished, just as it had when she first arrived. Yun Rao's forehead was already slick with cold sweat, her chest wracked with pain, tightening her brows as she forced herself to look around. There was still the same alchemy pavilion, yet the bloodshed she had seen earlier had vanished, replaced now by a line of archers encircling her. Gazing at the scene before her, Yun Rao managed a faint smile, letting her short sword drop to the ground—better to yield than to fight.