Morning light from beyond the fissure rolled into the cave, wrapped in mountain mist. Ye Fan raised a hand to block his eyes, and spots of light leaking through his fingers fell upon his palm—where the pale red mark from the array diagram's burning still lingered.
He turned his head to look at the four women beside him: Lin Zhaoyue's broken sword hung at her side, its tassel shredded to pieces by the black mist; Su Qingxue's newly fashioned short flute was made of bamboo, and dew still clung to its body, clearly snapped off at hand as she came out of the cave; Chǔ Hóngzhuāng's Golden Silkworm Gu was crawling up her wrist, spitting out a pale green Gu pill near her neck, which she casually stuffed into her mouth and chewed; Qín Wǎnshuāng's Stellar Seal revolved in her palm, its golden-red radiance flushing the tips of her ears.
"That thing isn't completely dead." When Ye Fan spoke, his throat was still somewhat tight. He touched the Smiling Flower in his Inner World; its five little stars were growing faintly warm with his heartbeat. "The ancient characters on the stone tablet mean 'lure'." He pulled Qinghuan's Notes from his bosom; in the illustration on the final page, the outline of the purple mist was somewhat clearer than before. "It's luring us inside."
Chapter 302