Start with acting, and you'll achieve immortality!

Below the copper ring, several gasps of breath came together, some long, some short; each inhale was accompanied by a hissing sound as if the throat was being constricted.

Li Ping didn't look at the stone platform, but instead focused his gaze on the armor in his hand.

"In the first round of the Jia Lu battle, who should be the first to fill the gap in the Jing Zhen formation?"

Fang Cheng tightened his wrist, and the thin, bone-penetrating flesh pressed against the copper ring chain, being pulled up half an inch before crashing back onto the stone platform with a loud thud.

"The gate will close, and the well formation will reclaim its master from the one who is closest to the stone platform and has not yet returned; it will fill the gap for me."

The red thread on Ren Jun's arm continued to tighten into his flesh, the blood first soaking through his sleeve, then pooling at his elbow, dripping onto the stone surface one drop after another.

"Will the person who is replaced die, or will their fate be worse than death?"

"First, their soul power is drained, then they lose their consciousness. The longer their physical body endures, the more of a living dead they become in the formation."

Ren Jun looked down at the stone platform

The breathing coming from there was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, interspersed with the sound of teeth chattering.

Li Ping pressed his thumb against the center of the page, his index finger reached under the corner of the paper, and lifted only a small section of that corner, while his other hand remained firmly gripping the spine.

One by one, the red threads in the cracks of the rocks gleamed, their dark red sheen licking upwards from the soles of everyone's shoes.

Ren Jun's foot slipped abruptly, his shoe scraping the stone surface, and he was dragged half a step towards the stone platform by the red thread. He managed to steady himself by bracing himself with his hand on the ground, and the wound on his arm burst open.

Blood seeped from Su Wan's right shoulder at the same time, the dark red lines pushing open her collar and creeping up her neck a few inches further.

Li Ping flattened the pages of the book.

The dark red glow retreated along its original path back into the crevice, lingering for a moment near Ren Jun's shoes before reluctantly fading away.

"Ren Jun was dragged along, and Su Wan's wounds spread out—he wasn't lying about this."

Qin Bo fixed his gaze on the armor.

"Try again, and Ren Jun might not be able to pull you back."

"You knew that closing the book would result in a change of ownership, but you waited until I took action before telling me?"

Qin Bo pressed his thumb against the chipped corner of the wooden plaque, slowly turned it halfway around, and stopped just as the plaque was about to face Jia Lu.

"Just because I recognize Jia Lu when he opens the stone gate doesn't mean I know who Jing Zhen will replace."

Fang Cheng chuckled twice, the sound scraping against the stone wall like two pieces of rusty iron slowly rubbing together.

"Qin Shoushan, you're still so good at washing your hands of things."

Su Wan raised her sword with her left hand, the blade turning towards Qin Bo.

"Fang Cheng, you call him Qin Shoushan. Where did you get that name from?"

"he"

Fang Cheng looked at Qin Bo

"Qin Bo in the Chen Mansion, the furnace keeper in the old house, Qin Shoushan on the register of the Life Extension Department."

Qin Bo tensed his jaw, pressed his thumb heavily on the notched corner of the wooden plaque, then flipped his wrist over and tucked the plaque back into his sleeve.

Ren Jun pulled open his sleeve, revealing red threads wrapped around his forearm.

"Let's put aside the old scores for now and first distinguish who in the formation has a physical body and who only has a soul imprint left."

"The list recorded deaths, not corpses; some people on the list are still breathing."

Fang Cheng's breathing trembled, and with every few words he spoke, the red light on his chest dimmed.

"Some people still have physical bodies, but they are nailed to various key points in Jiangning. There are a few even further away right under my feet, hidden in the Beicang, the medicine shop, and the old mine outside the city."

"Others have destroyed their physical bodies, but their soul imprints remain. The formation will use the marks they left behind to open doors, and it will also use their names to draw upon those who come after them."

Li Ping gripped the spine of the book with his thumb, pressing his fingertip along the lines of the current page, finally stopping next to Fang Cheng's name.

Next to Fang Cheng's name, the line "Met with the Bei River" was gradually fading, revealing two small, dark red characters beneath the ink.

"Jing San"

Ren Jun also saw it.

"Is 'Jing San' the array's key number, or the third living person?"

"This is the number of the key point in the formation."

Fang Cheng looked at the well wall

"The deaths you report are just for outsiders. If a body can be found, we'll stuff it in; if not, we'll write it as drowning, animal attack, or accidental fall."

"Which category does Du Heng fall into—still physically present, or just a soul imprint?" Su Wan asked.

"At least, his soul imprint has not yet flowed back to the mother array."

"And what about Shen Zhu? Which category does he fall into?"

Fang Cheng closed his eyes.

"He wasn't nailed into the center of the formation."

"Where is he now, and why is he avoiding you?"

"Go out from here first, and you will see him there."

Li Ping suppressed his further questioning.

Fang Cheng answered the question about the cost of the formation in great detail, without avoiding any questions; but when it came to Shen Zhu, he only offered excuses to avoid the issue later—these were the real unresolved accounts between the two.

His gaze shifted from Fang Cheng's face, past the four chains, and then along the gleaming cracks in the stone to the well wall.

The seventeen names still gleamed with a dark red sheen, among which the name "Qin Ye" was closest to Fang Cheng's.

"Who is Qin Ye, the name you are closest to?"

Only the soft clatter of chains echoed in the stone chamber, and the breathing below the stone platform subsided, as if those who couldn't see were waiting for Uncle Qin to speak.

Qin Bo gripped the wooden plaque in his sleeve tightly, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged.

Fang Cheng stared at him

"His son was also the one he personally sent to the furnace."

Duke Qin suddenly took a step forward.

"Shut your mouth!"

The sword's edge lay between the two.

Su Wan couldn't exert force with her right shoulder, but her left hand held the sword very steadily.

"Let him finish speaking."

Fang Cheng's chest glowed red. "Qin Ye and we entered the furnace in the same year. He was of the first-class soul quality. He was not accepted as a disciple by Chen Boyong because Qin Shoushan did not allow it."

"You're talking nonsense!"

"He feared that his son would end up like us, a target in Chen Boyong's schemes, so he left Qin Ye in the old house, waiting for the Life Extension Bureau to come and take him away."

Qin Bo lunged at the stone platform, his sleeves billowing in the wind. He gripped the wooden plaque tightly, chipped at the corner, and slammed it down on Fang Cheng's chest.

Li Ping shifted half a step to the side, cutting between the two men. He supported Qin Bo's forearm with his left hand while simultaneously gripping his wrist with his right hand.

"If you kill him now, you're essentially testifying on his behalf."

Qin Bo's arm trembled, and the wooden sign was only half a foot away from Fang Cheng.

After a moment, he loosened his fingers.

The wooden sign fell to the side of the stone platform.

"Qin Ye is my son, Fang Cheng. Don't try to exonerate him, no matter who else you use."

Qin Bo looked at the name on the wall.

"The one who sent him to the furnace was Fang Cheng."

Ren Jun's face suddenly darkened.

"Stop giving conflicting accounts. Who led Qin Ye into the well? Who set up the formation?"

"Fang Cheng found this well formation three years ago and wanted to use the seventeen missing people to force open the mother formation. He tricked Qin Ye into coming in, saying that he could wash away the soul imprint."

Qin Bo pointed to the area below the stone platform.

"As soon as the array gate opened, Qin Ye was the first to be drained dry. The others were also entangled by those red threads. I was ordered by the master to seal the well opening and nail Fang Cheng to the array eye, which cut off the backflow."

"Was the suppression of Fang Cheng ordered by Chen Boyong himself, or did you use his name?" Li Ping asked.

"Yes"

"You said you were ordered to seal the well, where is the warrant?"

"It's already burned."

Fang Cheng laughed again.

"The warrant was burned, and Qin Ye is dead—Qin Shoushan, you've really picked a clean slate."

"He can't produce the warrant, and you can't produce any evidence that Qin Ye was tricked into coming here."

Li Ping first pushed Qin Bo half a step away from the stone platform, then released his grip and bent down. He used the back of his fingers to pry open the chain on Fang Cheng's wrist and slowly ran his fingers along the inner edge of the copper ring.

The inner side of the bronze ring is engraved with two layers of patterns. The outer layer is a half-cloud pattern, and the inner layer has a small knife mark that resembles a crooked "Qin" character.

He then looked at the wooden plaque that had fallen beside the stone platform.

The bottom of the wooden plaque was chipped at one corner, and the shape of the broken edge perfectly matched the groove on the copper ring.

"The notch in the wooden plaque and the groove in the copper ring fit together perfectly; this plaque once suppressed you."

Uncle Qin bent down and picked up the wooden sign

"I suppressed him; but suppressing Fang Cheng is not the same as killing Qin Ye."

"Can it also unlock brass rings?"

"This can solve one link in the chain."

"Whose authority is needed for the remaining three ring roads?"

Duke Qin looked at the armor record.

"I need the names of four people who haven't returned."

Fang Cheng took over the conversation

"Qin Shoushan only mentioned opening the rings, but not the cost: if all four rings are opened, there will have to be a living person to sit on the stone platform in my place."

The red line on Ren Jun's arm tightened again.

Li Ping pressed down on Jia Lu, his gaze falling on Fang Cheng's face.

"You're using Shen Zhu and Qin Ye to string us along. If you don't want to catch up, what exactly do you want?"

I want to go out.

"Who will replace you?"

Fang Cheng did not answer.

A speck of dust suddenly fell from above the stone chamber.

Then, a sound of stones rubbing together came from the direction of the entrance.

Qin Bo turned and rushed towards the iron gate, pressing the wooden plaque into the notch on the side of the gate. The plaque did not light up; the mechanism outside was sealing the stone steps from the opposite direction.

The escaped assassin has returned with his men.

Su Wan pressed herself against the door, her left hand gripping the sword tightly.

"Are there any other exits?"

Fang Cheng raised his chin and pointed to the area below the stone platform.

"have"

"First, pave the way."

That road only recognizes the master of the well array.

Li Ping looked at the four copper rings

Fang Cheng suddenly yanked his wrist, and the copper ring immediately bit into his flesh. The four chains taut and vibrated with a sound that hadn't even faded before the seventeen names on the well wall simultaneously emitted a dark red glow.

"If you want to get out of here alive, you have to make one decision first."

Fang Cheng's gaze swept over the crowd, finally settling on Ren Jun's bleeding arm.

"Ren Jun, are you staying, or will you let them choose one for you?"