Cursed Artifact: Yin Yang Divination Bone

Each person could only carry a limited number of items with them.

Having learned from their previous round, the group understood the importance of light and immediately grabbed a Spirit Lantern as their first tool.

Under the faint glow of the lantern, their sanity points still decreased, but the rate was much slower.

Carefully, they pushed open the long-abandoned wooden door and stepped into the haunted house.

"Damn, the layout changed!"

As soon as the lantern in the main hall was lit, Zhou Yue frowned.

This haunted house was different from the one in their last round.

In the original game from their past life, each map was fixed.

To enhance the cultivators' immersion and make them truly feel the horror, Lu Ze had thoughtfully modified the maps to be randomly generated from multiple templates.

Otherwise, after a few rounds of familiarizing themselves with the layout, they'd become too efficient at escaping—how could they be properly scared then?

"That Lu Ze... he’s definitely up to no good..."

Zhou Qiaoling felt goosebumps rise on her skin and took a few steps back.

"Did everyone bring their Cold-Seeking Needles?"

Zhong Yi asked.

The group answered in unison, "Yes."

"Then let’s find the ghost room first... We don’t have much time, so hurry!"

At Zhong Yi’s signal, the four of them quickly began using their Cold-Seeking Needles to search for areas with an unnaturally chilling aura.

The core gameplay of Ghostville was deducing the type of supernatural entity.

The first step was locating where the entity resided.

According to the system’s hint, the ghost room, due to its overwhelming yin energy, was significantly colder than the surrounding areas.

Thus, the Cold-Seeking Needle was the second most crucial tool after the Spirit Lantern.

The four split up, each taking a direction—east, south, west, and north—and began their search.

"Wow, the bed facing directly at a mirror... No wonder something happened here!"

Zhou Qiaoling had just entered the master bedroom when she was startled by the dim, yellowish bronze mirror.

"A mirror... a mirror! Damn, this thing’s gotta be haunted!"

Her exclamation happened to reach Zhong Yi, who was checking the temperature in the main hall.

"Not necessarily... Earlier, when I was trapped in a ghostly illusion, it was a bronze mirror that saved me!"

Zhong Yi shook his head, dismissing Zhou Qiaoling’s suspicion.

"Oh? It has that kind of effect?"

Zhou Qiaoling grew intrigued.

With her sanity still relatively high, she hadn’t yet fallen into a state of paranoia, so she boldly approached the mirror, curiosity piqued.

The bronze mirror had sat silently in this haunted house for who knew how long, its surface slightly warped.

Zhou Qiaoling’s reflection appeared distorted, looking both comical and eerie.

"Could there be a ghost inside...?"

She swallowed hard, mustered her courage, and waved at the mirror.

Despite the distortion and blurriness, the reflection matched her movements perfectly.

She tilted her head, shifted her posture, even stood still for a moment before suddenly changing her pose.

The reflection mimicked her flawlessly, without the slightest deviation.

"Phew, seems like there’s no ghost inside..."

Zhou Qiaoling sighed in relief.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly realized...

Her body had frozen in place, completely immobile!

A damp, icy sensation crawled up her spine, creeping toward her skull.

Crack, crack...

Her neck moved against her will, slowly and stiffly turning back.

Her gaze landed on the reflection in the mirror—her own face, now deathly pale with sickly green undertones, lips stained blood-red!

Zhou Qiaoling held her breath, eyes widening as a sharp tingling sensation spread across her scalp.

The reflection of "Zhou Qiaoling" slowly raised its hands, reaching for its own neck.

Against her will, Zhou Qiaoling’s hands began mimicking the motion...

The reflection twisted its neck further and further, its smile growing increasingly grotesque.

Tears of despair welled in Zhou Qiaoling’s eyes as the pain in her neck intensified...

Then, cracks spread across the mirror’s surface.

"Ah—!!!"

A piercing scream tore from her throat.

Zhou Qiaoling stared, drenched in cold sweat, at the shattered bronze mirror before her.

Everything had just been an illusion.

The supernatural interaction hadn’t caused any real harm.

The only cost—

Her sanity dropped by 20 points.

Now, Zhou Qiaoling felt uneasy, that creeping sense of paranoia returning.

"That damned Lu Ze!! I’m gonna challenge him to a duel when we get out!!!"

The mere thought of Lu Ze filled her with rage.

She silently vowed to act quickly.

Right now, she was at the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, a full major realm above Lu Ze.

Given Lu Ze’s monstrously fast cultivation progress, she might not get another chance later...

...

Zhou Qiaoling lit the lantern in the master bedroom and meticulously checked every corner with her Cold-Seeking Needle.

The temperature was completely normal.

Meaning this wasn’t the ghost room.

"Seriously, not the ghost room but still this creepy..."

Muttering to herself, she was about to leave when her eyes caught an exquisitely crafted divination tube on the bedside table.

"What’s this?"

Her eyes lit up. Her legs no longer felt weak, her hands stopped trembling, and she eagerly rushed over to pick it up.

The moment she grabbed it, a system prompt appeared beside the tube:

[Cursed Item: Yin-Yang Bone Sticks]

[Each set of Yin-Yang Bone Sticks contains 10 sticks. Different draws may yield unexpected effects...]

"Divination?"

Unable to resist her curiosity, Zhou Qiaoling’s fingers itched to try.

Unlike her unlucky older brother, she had full confidence in her luck.

"Good fortune, come to me!"

She shouted, closed her eyes, and randomly pulled a bone stick from the tube.

When she opened them, she saw an intricate engraving on the stick—a scene of the morning sun rising in the east.

Beneath it read:

[Auspicious: Violet Mist from the East]

Instantly, the unease she’d felt earlier vanished, replaced by a lightness throughout her body.

"Whoa! My sanity’s fully restored!!!"

Zhou Qiaoling’s eyes sparkled.

This was an amazing find!

"Again, again!"

Emboldened by her success, she drew another stick.

This time, her luck wasn’t as good.

The morning sun was replaced by dark clouds obscuring the moon.

[Ominous: Moon’s Soul Snare]

Her heart lurched. Before she could react, the engraving on the stick shifted again.

The dark clouds dissipated, revealing a tranquil water surface.

[Neutral: Illusory Moon on Water]

Nothing happened after a long wait.

Zhou Qiaoling exhaled in relief. "Hah, seems like this thing’s a real treasure~~"

Now, she couldn’t stop herself. Excitedly, she drew another stick.

This one depicted a ferocious ghost imprisoned behind bars.

Beneath it read:

[Neutral: Heaven’s Net and Earth’s Trap]

"Heaven’s Net and Earth’s Trap?"

Zhou Qiaoling’s eyebrows rose, immediately recalling the immortal technique [Heavenly Prison] that Zhou Yue had recently comprehended in Immortal-Demon War.

Giggling to herself, she mused,

"Fits my unlucky brother pretty well..."

She curiously scanned her surroundings but found nothing unusual.

"Strange..."

“This stick… why hasn’t anything happened?”

……

……

Meanwhile.

Elsewhere.

Zhou Yue, who had inexplicably found himself in a basement after heading north, was holding a Frost-Pointer Needle, measuring the temperature around him.

“Hiss… hiss…”

As Zhou Yue ventured deeper, the needle on the Frost-Pointer violently swung toward the marking labeled [Cold].

“Found it! I’ve found the Ghost Chamber!”

Overjoyed, Zhou Yue couldn’t help but exclaim aloud.

Just then—

Bang!

The iron door of the basement above him suddenly slammed shut.