Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

Old Ge stared intently at the figure rapidly crawling on the roof, his Adam's apple bobbing.

His complexion was no better than Liu Dayong's, and his legs were trembling slightly.

"Ruoyun." He turned slightly and gave her a look, his voice very low, "Go out and set up the Four Symbols Formation immediately, without making a sound."

Lin Ruoyun stood at the door, and upon hearing this, she did not say anything, but simply nodded slightly.

She slowly took a step back, stepped off the threshold of the main room, and tiptoed towards the courtyard.

"You go with her."

Old Ge grabbed Chen Mo's arm, "Ruoyun can't be interrupted when she's setting up the formation, you stay by her side and protect her."

On the rooftop, the woman was still climbing around, moving so fast that she was already leaving afterimages...

When Chen Mo crept into the courtyard, Lin Ruoyun was already standing in the center.

She didn't turn around, but simply raised her right hand, spread her fingers, and pressed down.

Chen Mo stopped walking, and a white line suddenly lit up from the crack in the blue brick where his foot landed, circling around him.

"Don't move." Lin Ruoyun turned her head and glanced at him, her eyes flashing in the dim light. "You're standing in the perfect spot."

Chen Mo was slightly taken aback: "What's just right?"

Lin Ruoyun did not answer. She made a hand seal with her left hand, her lips moved, and she chanted the incantation very quickly.

"Lin Ruoyun, what do you mean?"

Chen Mo tried to lift his foot, but his foot remained firmly attached to the blue brick.

Lin Ruoyun took out four copper coins from her waist with her right hand and flicked her wrist four times.

East, South, West, North.

The four copper coins were released from my hand almost simultaneously, landing silently and embedding themselves in the four corners of the ground.

"The four directions are now under control, and the key to the formation has been established."

The Azure Dragon of the East, carrying jade in its beak, suppresses the wood;

The Vermilion Bird of the South, carrying jade in its beak, suppresses fire;

The White Tiger of the West, carrying jade and suppressing gold;

The Black Tortoise of the North, holding jade in its mouth to suppress water.

The four symbols return to their proper places, and the eight trigrams generate each other.

"Borrowing the power of heaven and earth, the formation begins—"

The moment the last word landed, the light in the courtyard changed.

Chen Mo felt his legs go weak, and he lost all feeling below his knees.

He looked down and saw four colors flowing in from the four corners: green, red, white, and black.

Like four snakes, they slithered along the ground to his feet, climbed up his calves, reached his chest, twisted into a rope, and slowly disappeared into his flesh.

He was completely rooted to the spot.

Lin Ruoyun looked up at Chen Mo, smiled faintly, her eyes devoid of warmth.

"The Four Symbols Formation needs a 'living eye'," she said softly. "You are that 'eye'."

Why?

Chen Mo's face was terribly gloomy, and his ominous premonition grew stronger. They were planning to use him as a scapegoat.

"Nothing's wrong, you're just unlucky."

As Lin Ruoyun spoke, she took out the inspection bureau token from her pocket, bit her finger, and dripped a drop of blood onto it to activate the warning function.

Chen Mo felt the token in his arms suddenly become hot, and a red light flashed from the token.

--------

Inside the main room, Lao Ge and Liu Dayong both lowered their heads.

Their tokens were also getting hot.

Old Ge's Adam's apple bobbed again, and he looked up at the roof.

The woman had stopped climbing; her limbs were braced against the spiderweb, her head facing forward, and she was peering down through the gaps, searching for something.

"Retreat. The formation should have weakened its perception now." Old Ge's voice was extremely low. "Retreat slowly, and don't provoke it, or we'll all die here."

Liu Dayong nodded, and the two of them moved backward inch by inch, close to the wall.

The soles of my feet brushed against the blue bricks without making a sound.

In the courtyard, Chen Mo saw Lao Ge and Liu Dayong retreat from the main room, their backs to the courtyard, moving backward step by step.

He wanted to shout, but his throat felt blocked by something. The four colors were still wrapped around him, tightening from his chest to his neck.

When Lao Ge and Liu Dayong left the main room, four streaks of color had already climbed up to Chen Mo's chin in the courtyard.

They didn't stop, and they didn't even glance in his direction.

The soles of my feet scraped against the blue bricks, and my speed increased, from shuffling to walking, and finally from walking to running.

At the doorway, the bound old woman was still curled up on the ground. Zhou Yuan looked at them strangely, "What happened? Where's Chen Mo?"

Old Ge ignored him, bent down, grabbed the old woman's rope knot, and threw it into the yard.

The old woman rolled twice and stopped at Chen Mo's feet, sobbing and her eyes rolling back.

"Lin Ruoyun!" Old Ge waved his hand anxiously without turning his head. "Close the formation! Quickly!"

Lin Ruoyun stood a meter away from the courtyard gate, her hands forming a hand seal, "Four Symbols Formation, close!"

The formation activated, turning the entire courtyard, including the inner rooms, into a closed space.

"Run! Get to headquarters for reinforcements immediately! I'm afraid the formation won't hold us there for long!"

Old Ge wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and was the first to dart out of the alley, his body emanating a faint red mist, a sign that his blood and qi were being fully activated.

Liu Dayong and Lin Ruoyun followed closely behind, neither of them paying any attention to Zhou Yuan.

"What exactly happened? Why hasn't Chen Mo come out?"

Completely bewildered, Zhou Yuan quickly chased after them, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

Chen Mo has probably been abandoned by them.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After running through several streets, the three of them began to slow down, and Zhou Yuan finally caught up with them.

"Captain Ge, what happened?!" Zhou Yuan grabbed his arm. "Where's Chen Mo?!"

Old Ge stopped, his Adam's apple bobbing several times before he finally looked up at Zhou Yuan.

Old Ge stopped, his Adam's apple bobbing several times before he finally looked up at Zhou Yuan.

"In the ranks."

"What?"

"Inside the Four Symbols Formation." Old Ge's voice was hoarse with the pain of surviving a disaster. "That thing is watching him now, it won't chase us anymore."

Zhou Yuan paused for a second, "You're using him as bait?"

No one said a word.

Liu Dayong kept his head down, Lin Ruoyun was panting with a pale face, and only Lao Ge stared at Zhou Yuan with eyes as hard as nails.

"Do you know what kind of monster that is inside?"

Before he could answer, Lao Ge said, "It's some kind of contaminant from the West called Atlak."

"And what's inside its belly must be even more sinister."

Zhou Yuan's expression changed.

"That thing isn't a ghost, it's not a demon, it's a pollutant." Old Ge stared into his eyes. "You should know how terrifying it is. If we don't use the Four Symbols Formation to trap it, the four of us combined wouldn't be able to run fifty meters."

"That's still not allowed..."

"Yes," Old Ge interrupted him, "It absolutely can."

"The four of us went into that room," Lao Ge said. "Me, Liu Dayong, Lin Ruoyun, and Chen Mo—it remembered all our scents. If we don't activate the formation and find some bait to lure it, it can catch up with the four of us within ten minutes and tear us to pieces one by one."

Zhou Yuan opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"So I threw that old woman in too," Old Ge said coldly. "Her aura is stronger than ours. Chen Mo and that old woman, two live baits, should be enough to quell its anger."

Lin Ruoyun raised her head expressionlessly, her voice as flat as if she were reading a report, "The Four Symbols Formation requires a vital eye with strong vitality. That old woman's vitality is too weak to be used as the formation's core."

"So Chen Mo is the only one who meets the criteria."

Old Ge took a step forward and stood in front of Zhou Yuan.

"Or would you like to stay?"

Zhou Yuan was stunned.

Old Ge stared at him, his eyes unblinking. "Or would you be willing to go back and be that spy for Chen Mo?"

Zhou Yuan's lips moved, but no sound came out. He was feeling complicated, with a sense of shared sorrow.

"Then don't say anything."

Old Ge waited three seconds before turning around and continuing to walk forward.

"Let's go." He turned his back to Zhou Yuan. "We must get to headquarters before the formation is forced to move."