The real woman had long been transferred away by someone, and the illusion at this moment was just left for her to see. It was of no reference value at all.
Ning Yitao pursed her lips. This time, it was another fruitless attempt.
In several encounters, the man in black had always been in a dodging state, and only this left - behind illusion seemed extremely strange.
Ning Yitao walked around the room, observing it.
This place was an exact replica of Duan Qinghuai's home. There was no change from what Ning Yitao had seen the last time she went there.
It seemed that the man in black had used this back - room to target Duan Qinghuai.
The two identical houses were like two opposing sides. One was in the shadows, the other in the light, relying on each other.
The structure of this house was designed with extreme yin and extreme yang in opposition.
In this case, the so - called master that Duan Qinghuai's father had found on the mountain was the man in black.
The house was built according to the man in black's wishes, so he could do whatever he wanted to Duan Qinghuai. Even without contacting Duan Qinghuai directly, he could still take action against him.
The man in black always stayed in the shadows, keeping the whole situation under his control.
In his eyes, everyone was just a chess piece, to be discarded when useless.
This was a huge game of chess.
In this illusion, Duan Qinghuai's room was filled with an extremely strong yin energy. The yin energy in this area was so uncomfortable that it made one shiver with cold.
Zhaocai didn't even want to eat. This was the first time Zhaocai understood why Ning Yitao said the yin energy was filthy.
Just as Ning Yitao and the others had just left the illusion.
The entrance to the illusion behind them had just closed when Liu Qiaozhi suddenly slumped to the ground. She gasped for breath, clutching at her collar as if trying to tear it open wider.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her face was contorted in pain.
Seeing this, Ning Yitao quickly stepped forward to undo the buttons on her collar and patted her back to help her breathe.
Liu Qiaozhi gasped for fresh air like a drowning fish.
She stammered, "The illusion... the illusion has been destroyed."
Only then did Ning Yitao understand why Liu Qiaozhi was in such pain.
Ning Yitao whispered in a deep voice beside Liu Qiaozhi's ear, "Calm down. Take a deep breath. Retrieve your power."
Liu Qiaozhi was like a drowning person grabbing at a life - saving straw. She couldn't hear anything else, only Ning Yitao's voice ringing in her ear.
"Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Retrieve."
Liu Qiaozhi repeated these words in her heart and did as Ning Yitao said.
After a few breaths, she didn't feel as uncomfortable. She managed to gather her energy to retrieve the power from the illusion.
It worked.
After Liu Qiaozhi tried to retrieve her energy, the feeling of suffocation gradually disappeared.
Liu Qiaozhi's breathing slowly returned to normal.
All this happened in an instant.
Ning Yitao and Zhaocai heaved a sigh of relief.
The illusion was destroyed the moment they left.
As Liu Qiaozhi was partly connected to the illusion, she was naturally hurt.
After they left the illusion, they didn't notice when two figures had quietly appeared behind them, standing still.
Ji Wangqiu and Ji Yeran, an old man and a young man, stood there, silently watching them from behind.
When Ji Wangqiu saw Liu Qiaozhi struggling to breathe, his eyes turned cold.
Even if Liu Qiaozhi were to die in his house right now, he wouldn't show any emotional fluctuations.
The smile that always hung on Ji Wangqiu's face disappeared completely at this moment.
It wasn't until Liu Qiaozhi had recovered that Ji Wangqiu put on his fake smile again. He walked up to them, feigning shock as he looked at Liu Qiaozhi and asked, "What happened to you? Why did you suddenly disappear and get injured?"
Although his acting was quite good, Ning Yitao knew him well and could see through his lie at a glance.
Looking at his worried expression, Ning Yitao wondered how he could have appeared so coincidentally.
Suddenly, Ning Yitao seemed to figure something out. She said coldly to Ji Wangqiu, "Stop acting. It was you who tipped them off, wasn't it? You went ahead of us and found the wild earth spirit to transfer that girl away."
Ning Yitao paused for a moment and then continued, "Even the time when the man in black suddenly went to kill Yin Huan at school wasn't an accident, right? If I'm not wrong, it was also you who tipped him off then."
Ning Yitao was very certain with every word.
This wasn't a baseless inference. When confronting the man in black last time, Ning Yitao had clearly felt another energy approaching the scene.
But that energy disappeared so quickly that Ning Yitao thought it was just her imagination.
However, in the girl's room today, Ning Yitao had smelled that familiar energy again.
Combined with what the wild earth spirit had said, there were two people.
Apart from herself, the only one who could enter this illusion was Ji Wangqiu.
There was no one else.
Facing Ning Yitao's series of questions, Ji Wangqiu wanted to defend himself at first. But as soon as he looked into Ning Yitao's eyes, he couldn't say a word.
He couldn't lie in front of Ning Yitao.
He could only lower his head, speechless.
The two stood in silence, the atmosphere tense. They were at a stalemate.
Ning Yitao threw out her last words, "Either you explain to me clearly what's going on. If not, sorry, I don't want a friend who stabs me in the back."
But Ji Wangqiu still remained silent.
Ning Yitao stared intently at Ji Wangqiu, hoping he would say something, but all she got was silence.
This made Ning Yitao angry.
Zhaocai stood in the middle, shivering. He swore this was the scariest atmosphere he had ever experienced.
Both Zhaocai and Liu Qiaozhi held their breaths silently.
In the end, their communication was fruitless.
This time, Ning Yitao left with Zhaocai and the others without any hesitation.
Ji Wangqiu stood there, watching Ning Yitao's back. There seemed to be a different kind of emotion in his eyes.
Ji Yeran sighed softly, patted Ji Wangqiu on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Do you really have to do this? You finally have a chance to change. Can't you have both?"
"If you hadn't tricked that person into killing Yin Huan last time, that girl Ning Yitao would have died. Alas, you still can't say it out."
Then Ji Yeran said seriously, "Son, why don't you be selfish this time? I'll bear all the consequences for you."
Hearing this, Ji Wangqiu just smiled and shook his head. Not wanting Ji Yeran to worry, he joked in a relaxed tone, "It's okay. I know what I'm doing."
But the sadness in Ji Wangqiu's eyes was so real.
********************
As soon as Ning Yitao left Ji Wangqiu's house, there were already people waiting at the gate.
They were the people Ji Wangqiu had prepared in advance to take Ning Yitao to the airport.
Ji Wangqiu had chartered a private jet. Ning Yitao could stay and play here for a few days if she wanted. The plane could take off at any time, just for her convenience.
Zhaocai had never seen such a scene before. He immediately forgot about the previous tension and jumped into the car arranged by Ji Wangqiu.
Lying in the limousine, Zhaocai sighed, "It's so great to be rich."
Ning Yitao, who had originally wanted to decline, was surprised by Zhaocai's quick action.
Ning Yitao felt so embarrassed about Zhaocai's disgraceful behavior.
Helplessly, she had to get into the car from Ji Wangqiu's house and return to her own Taoist temple.
Back at the Taoist temple, Ning Yitao finally felt like she was home. She felt at ease.
But Ning Yitao searched the entire Taoist temple but couldn't find Chu Zhiyuan.