Chen Xiao and the other two were led to the second floor by Steward Li. Unlike the first-floor hall, the second floor was divided into many rooms, but Chen Xiao had no idea what each room was used for.
The trio was first taken into an elegant room. On the solid wood table in the room, fruits and snacks were placed, and two beautiful maids with curvaceous figures stood on either side.
"I will take young friend Chen Xiao to the assessment. You two young friends can rest here for now. If you need anything, feel free to ask the maids. After the assessment, we shall all have a good drink together." Steward Li's smile remained, and he spoke to Xiao Liuzi and Wang Ke with extreme politeness, as if that smile had been on his face since birth.
"Alright, you guys go ahead and do your thing. We'll wait here," Xiao Liuzi readily agreed, feeling incredibly pleased. Following Brother Xiao, his status had instantly soared. Even a high-ranking steward of the Formation Talisman Master Guild had to be polite to him.
Chen Xiao looked at Xiao Liuzi's carefree demeanor and frowned slightly. However, he noticed that Wang Ke also had a solemn expression, as if she had also sensed something amiss, which somewhat reassured him.
"Then let's go, Chen Xiao," Steward Li said. Chen Xiao knew that worrying now was useless. He would take things one step at a time. He followed Steward Li out of the room.
After Chen Xiao and Steward Li left, Wang Ke immediately asked the two maids to leave. Although the maids were puzzled, they obediently went out.
Originally, seeing that Wang Ke and the other were at an age of vigorous youth and appeared to be inexperienced, they had expected them to make some inappropriate requests. They never imagined that the two would be so unromantic.
Wang Ke looked around outside the door for a moment, then carefully closed the door. Turning back, she saw Xiao Liuzi had already eaten more than half of a watermelon. Wang Ke quickly called out, "Don't!"
Xiao Liuzi looked up at Wang Ke, not understanding, and then felt his vision begin to blur. His body swayed, and he fell to the ground.
At the same time, the door suddenly opened, and Wang Ke heard someone say from behind, "Heh heh, I didn't expect you to be so vigilant, but it's no use."
Wang Ke subconsciously turned her head, and a cloud of yellow smoke blew directly into her face. In an instant, she lost consciousness.
All of this happened silently. Chen Xiao, who had already been taken to the assessment room, had no idea that his two brothers had been captured.
The assessment room was much larger than the previous one, covering several hundred square meters. Inside, dozens of Han white stone tables of the same size were arranged. Each table was equipped with talisman paper and talisman brushes. The talisman paper was smooth and lustrous, and the talisman brushes had exaggerated golden penholders.
"Showy and impractical," Chen Xiao muttered to himself inwardly. Good talisman paper and brushes possess spiritual energy. To merely highlight the preciousness of the drawing tools through expensive materials is undoubtedly a sign of inferiority, making one feel like a nouveau riche.
However, besides being showy and impractical, the assessment room also gave Chen Xiao a sense of danger, a faint unease. But Chen Xiao could not pinpoint the problem for the moment.
"Just find a spot and draw one casually. I've heard about your skills. Honestly, what right do I have to assess you? This is just a formality," Steward Li said with a smile, appearing harmless.
As he spoke, Steward Li found a table himself, picked up a talisman brush, and began to draw. He added, "There's a difficult problem that has been troubling me recently. I hope young friend Chen Xiao can offer some guidance after the assessment!"
Chen Xiao did not know what Steward Li was up to, but he humbly replied, "Steward Li, you flatter me. It's not guidance, just mutual discussion."
"Yes, mutual discussion, mutual discussion," Steward Li's tone gradually softened. He lowered his head deeply, a smile lingering on his lips.
However, what Chen Xiao could not see was that Steward Li's expression had become extremely grim, and that smile was growing colder and colder.
Chen Xiao chose a table and picked up a talisman brush, contemplating what formation talisman to draw. At this moment, an unexpected change occurred.
The white Han white stone table began to melt at a visible speed, eventually turning into a pool of stone slurry.
"Hiss!"
At the same time, the talisman brush in Chen Xiao's hand transformed into a small golden snake. The snake coiled around Chen Xiao's wrist with extreme speed, flicking its tongue and biting towards Chen Xiao's wrist like lightning.
Chen Xiao's expression changed drastically. The snake was fast, but his speed was even faster. He extended his other hand to grab the snake at its vulnerable spot.
Just as Chen Xiao's fingers were about to touch the snake's body, and he could even feel the chill emanating from it, the snake suddenly disappeared.
Chen Xiao looked around and found himself no longer in the assessment room but in a primeval forest. The air was filled with a decaying odor and suffocating humidity.
"It's a formation!"
Chen Xiao suddenly understood. He finally knew why he had felt something was wrong. This assessment room was clearly a formation. The moment he entered it, he had fallen into the formation, and everything he saw now was merely an illusion conjured within the formation.
Once one entered the opponent's formation, unless the formation's eye was destroyed or the formation master was prevented from continuing to cast spells to maintain it, there was no way out, only a dead end.
And there was no need to ask who the formation master was; it was undoubtedly that always smiling Steward Li.
Formations and formation talismans were related. A formation was a large-scale formation talisman. Those who could draw formation talismans would naturally know a little about formations. However, unlike formation talismans, formations were generally fixed in a certain location and not drawn on talisman paper. Furthermore, each activation of a formation required a large amount of consumables. The Han white stone tables Chen Xiao had seen earlier were consumables for this formation.
At this point, Chen Xiao finally understood why the talisman paper and brushes on the tables were all showy and impractical. They were merely meant to attract Chen Xiao's attention, mislead him, and prevent him from discovering the existence of the formation.
And Steward Li's earlier actions of drawing and writing on the tables were merely to secretly activate the formation.
There was no one in front of Chen Xiao, yet he stared straight ahead and said with a bitter smile, "You've gone to great lengths for me. I am impressed, truly impressed."
Talking to the empty air, the scene was as bizarre as it could get.
Even more bizarrely, there was a response from the empty air, "Heh heh, aren't you a genius? But what good is a genius? Can a dead genius still be called a genius? Heh heh heh..."
A sinister laugh, it was Steward Li's voice, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
"I never dared to call myself a genius, but every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its owner. You must at least let me die knowing who wants me dead," Chen Xiao's voice held a trace of despair.