Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

In the dead of night, the wind and snow intensified. The wind howled like a banshee.

The campsite by the river was bathed in a warm yellow light, and the wood-burning stove was burning brightly under the sheltered sky. Occasionally, the soft crackling of the wood could be heard, which, together with the faint golden light of the magic circle in the distance, created a small patch of warmth in the boundless cold night.

Shen Xun leaned back in the back seat of 2045, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing. A warm breeze blew out, but it couldn't dispel the lingering stagnation in his meridians.

The exhaustion from the depletion of his golden blood weighed heavily on his soul, and the golden hourglass on his chest was dimming and about to go out. Each time he circulated the power of reincarnation, he endured unbearable pain. Bai Wuchang obediently curled up on his lap, holding his wrist, and quietly watched him.

Outside the car window, Ye Zhuo's figure walked through the wind and snow, conducting a routine patrol along the cordon. The faint light of his night vision goggles flashed by in the snow.

Inside the dome, Lu Ye was facing a tablet, checking the monitoring data with his team members.

The team member in charge of the scene reported in a low voice, "We have conducted a grid search of the surrounding 500-meter area three times, but we did not find any listening devices, locators, or any other signs of ambush." ​​Lu Ye nodded.

"Also," Lu Ye looked up at the direction of the magic array by the river, "expand the perimeter of the magic array by another fifty meters, add a few more sets of vibration warning devices, and make sure the camouflage is in place so that the wind and snow don't obscure the signal. Re-arrange the shift schedule, two people per shift, one monitoring the real-time data from the radar and RTK, and the other monitoring the changes in the golden light of the magic array, reporting that everything is safe every hour, without the slightest carelessness."

The instructions were given out one by one, and the team members immediately split up to take action. Lu Ye then relaxed his tense shoulders, poured himself a glass of brown sugar water, grabbed two bags of chocolate, and got up to walk towards the car.

He knocked on the car window, and Shen Xun slowly opened his eyes and pressed the window switch. "Brother Shen, the brown sugar water is still hot, drink some to warm yourself up." Lu Ye handed him a thermos and some chocolate, his tone still filled with worry, "Everything at the scene has been taken care of, the security has been upgraded, the shift schedule is set up, and data will be reported every hour. You can rest assured and recover. We'll call you immediately if there are any unusual developments."

Shen Xun took the thermos, and his fingertips touched the warm cup wall, and the numbness subsided slightly.

He thanked him, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip. The warm brown sugar water slid down his throat, slightly suppressing the lingering metallic taste. "How's the magic circle doing?"

"It's very stable. Ao Luya just led the white deer around the magic circle and replenished the Ganga grass. She said the runes and the earth veins are very firmly connected, and the scattered evil energy can't escape at all," Lu Ye replied. "The radar data is also stable. The rift has stopped expanding, the subsidence has stopped, and the primordial spirits should have recovered by now."

Shen Xun nodded slightly, his gaze falling through the car window onto the pale golden magic array on the river surface.

In the wind and snow, the golden light of the Locking Array steadily spread across the snow, casting soft golden shadows.

After Lu Ye left, the camp gradually quieted down.

In the sky above, Old Gu sat by the wood-fired stove, preparing mutton soup. On the other side, Lin Jian huddled in a folding chair, clutching a Polaroid photograph. She looked at it over and over, like a bizarre, fantastical dream. She took out her phone and sent a few messages to Demon King Dong, letting him know she was safe. She didn't dare reveal too many details of the perilous situation, only saying that everything was going smoothly here and she would tell him more once she found clues.

After sending the message, she looked up in Shen Xun's direction, her eyes filled with worry.

The river wind grew stronger and stronger. Suddenly, the white deer stopped pacing, its ears perked up, and its dark eyes stared intently at the frozen river surface.

Ao Luya immediately stopped what she was doing. She could clearly sense that the evil energy that had been firmly locked by the magic array beneath the ice layer suddenly began to surge wildly, like stagnant water with stones thrown in.

No! Just as she was about to warn them, something unexpected happened!

"Buzz..."

A very deep tremor came from the depths of the frozen earth beneath our feet.

The peachwood staff standing at the core of the formation suddenly emitted a rapid buzzing sound. The originally flowing pale golden runes instantly lit up with a blinding light, as if they had been hit hard by something. The golden light of the entire Linjiang Locking Array began to flicker wildly, issuing the highest level of warning!

"Something's wrong! Something's not right at the bottom of the river!" The team member monitoring the radar instantly paled, his roar shattering the stillness of the night: "Team Leader Lu! The radar signal is completely malfunctioning! The fissures at the bottom of the river are widening again! The concentration of malevolent energy is skyrocketing! It's even more ferocious than the last wave!"

Almost simultaneously, Ye Zhuo rushed to the edge of the sky to shield the crowd; Lu Ye grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted for all the guards to be in position, then rushed quickly toward the riverbank; Ao Luya's copper bell had already rung, the rapid ringing accompanied by incantations, and the shamanic aura spread out again, the white deer blocking the magic circle, its fur standing on end.

The door of car 2045 was flung open, and Shen Xun, ignoring his exhaustion, rushed out, his peach wood staff already gripped in his pale hand. He sensed the sinister aura before anyone else, and was even more obsessive and frantic than before.

The moment everyone rushed to the riverbank, the sight before them stunned them all.

On the frozen river surface, the once smooth ice layer was now shattered as if it had been thrown into an ice crusher. Thick black evil energy, like boiling ink, bubbled and surged wildly upwards, crashing violently against the golden barrier of the evil-locking array.

With each impact, the golden light dimmed a little, the runes on the snow trembled, and the frozen ground beneath their feet shook incessantly, as if the entire riverbank was about to collapse.

"Shen Xun! Don't come any closer!" Bai Wuchang floated beside him, his voice trembling with anxiety. "Your original essence hasn't recovered yet, you can't touch the Golden Blood again!" Shen Xun didn't speak, his fingertips already gripping the peach wood staff, and the power of reincarnation within his body began to circulate.

Even if it meant his own soul was destroyed, he couldn't allow the magic array to be broken.

Once the formation is broken, the malevolent energy will have no further obstacles.

The barrier at the bottom of the river will shatter instantly, and the whole world will collapse.

Shen Xun could no longer hold on.

The wind and snow poured into his collar, but he didn't notice at all, because his blood had long since frozen into ice, with only the hourglass in his chest holding the last trace of warm blood.

He had never imagined he would fail one day. Was this the end of reincarnation? Was this the end of humanity? He dared not think about it anymore. He himself was alright; he had lived enough for several hundred years anyway. But he hadn't found Xinghuo yet, what about his companions, what about humanity as a whole?

He channeled the golden blood from his fingertips, preparing for the final assault.

Just as that malevolent energy was about to break through the weakest point of the golden light, and just a second before Shen Xun's golden blood was about to gush out, that surging, earth-shattering black malevolent energy was suddenly gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

The frenzied crashing stopped abruptly.

The bone-chilling cold froze instantly.

Everyone froze in place; the hands gripping weapons, the ringing bells, and the warning signs indicating the impending exit all stopped halfway.

Above the ice, the thick, black, malevolent energy that was bubbling seemed to have encountered something extremely terrifying, emitting a piercing shriek and abruptly withdrawing its momentum.

Immediately afterwards, under everyone's watchful eyes, the overwhelming malevolent aura retreated rapidly towards the bottom of the river at a speed visible to the naked eye.

They weren't forced back by the golden light; they retreated frantically on their own, even sweeping away the scattered malevolent energy that was originally hidden in the cracks.

In just three seconds, the once turbulent and boiling riverbed instantly returned to deathly silence.

The tremors of the ice stopped, the cracks ceased to expand, the golden light of the magic array stopped flashing, and the flow returned to its steady course. Even the chill in the wind dissipated completely.

It was as if the devastating impact of the evil energy just now was merely a collective illusion.

"Wha...what happened?" The team member guarding the radar was dumbfounded, staring at the data on the screen that had instantly returned to normal. He could barely speak, "The data...the data is stable again! The fissure has stopped expanding, and the abnormal signal has disappeared!"

Old Gu looked at the river with a look of surprise and suspicion: "Why did she suddenly retreat? What is Su Jin up to?" Ao Luya frowned, her fingertips stroking the deer bone puppet around her neck, intently sensing the aura at the bottom of the river, her expression growing increasingly grim: "No... Su Jin didn't stop on her own. Just now, for a moment, another force suppressed the evil energy."

Ye Zhuo's brows furrowed tightly as he immediately addressed everyone, "We need to expand the perimeter and investigate all activity within a one-kilometer radius. Be careful to remain concealed!" Lu Ye also reacted instantly, dividing the team into two groups: one to continue monitoring the equipment data, and the other to follow Ye Zhuo in expanding the investigation area, their nerves still on edge.

No one knows whether this strange sudden stop is a trap or some other unexpected event.

Only Shen Xun stood by the magic circle, lost in thought.

With his eyes closed, his soul followed the spiritual energy of the magic array, probing beneath the frozen river surface.

In that instant, he clearly sensed the force that forcibly pulled away the evil energy. It was extremely subtle, yet exceptionally powerful, carrying an aura that belonged neither to Su Jin nor to the original spirit.

That force did not show itself, nor did it attack anyone. It simply forced all the evil energy back into the deepest part of the riverbed at the very moment the evil energy was about to break through the formation.

Shen Xun's fingertips suddenly trembled. Not from the cold, but from the gaze hidden behind him in the void.

His blood, frozen for thousands of years, scalded at this moment.

For the first time, that gaze that had been watching him for thousands of years met his gaze head-on.

He didn't know the price of that gaze, or whether he could bear it. But he knew he had finally waited for it.

He withdrew his gaze, pressing the burning sensation back into the hourglass. Friend or foe? Unknown. Origin? Unknown.

Su Jin's scheme was already dangerous enough, but now, there's another mysterious force lurking in the shadows. This boundary gate at the bottom of the river, this situation spanning hundreds of years, is far more complex than he had anticipated.

The wind and snow continued to blow, and the golden light of the magic array remained steady, but the atmosphere in the camp was even more somber than when the evil energy had surged into the array earlier.

Shen Xun opened his eyes, withdrew his divine soul, and said in a deep voice to the people who had rushed back: "From now on, the alert level will be raised by one level, and the shifts will be changed to one shift per hour, with three people per shift. Each person will be responsible for one point: the magic array, the radar, and the surrounding area. We cannot relax for even a moment."

"Don't worry, Brother Shen, we understand." Lu Ye immediately agreed and turned to readjust the deployment.

Ye Zhuo nodded and readjusted the guard posts to ensure that the entire camp and riverbank were within the surveillance range without any blind spots. Shen Xun then instructed Ao Luya to pay close attention to any unusual spiritual activity in the surrounding area and to call him immediately if anything seemed amiss.

After explaining everything, he walked back to the car. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally, but his vigilance remained undiminished.

He sat back in the car, the heater was still on, but he could no longer calm down and regulate his breathing.

He leaned back in his seat, his gaze fixed on the dark depths of the river.

Su Jin's goal is to break through the boundaries, and she will never stop without a reason.

What exactly is the origin of that mysterious force? Why did it intervene to suppress the malevolent energy? What is its connection to the secrets of the boundary gate and the events of thirty years ago?

Countless questions swirled in my mind.

The wind and snow outside the car window grew stronger and stronger, sweeping over the frozen river and reaching the endless forest in the distance.

He had a vague premonition that this sudden, mysterious power was inextricably linked to the secrets hidden in Xishan'ao.

This battle, spanning hundreds of years, has never been just between him and Su Jin.

Eyes lurking in the shadows have long been watching everyone involved in this game.