Ye Huohuo's move to shift attention was well executed. As expected, Fang Fang ceased her mockery of Ye Huohuo and became serious.
"What? Do you know the key to it?"
Ye Huohuo supported herself with her body, stood up, and leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree, looking at the two ongoing battles not far away.
They were nearing their end. Ah Cheng had already subdued the five black-clothed men wielding daggers and was tying them up securely with their own belts.
The bindings were tight and firm, causing the men to grimace in pain and beg for mercy incessantly.
On the other side, although the dozen or so individuals armed with crossbows were no match for Li Mohan's five bodyguards, they had the advantage of numbers. When they couldn't win, they fled, with a large portion of them scrambling away. In the end, only five remained, each being held by a bodyguard and brought before Li Mohan.
"Mr. Li, how should we handle these people?" Ah Cheng asked Li Mohan.
"Tie them up first. Once we're done with this, hand them over to the police," Li Mohan instructed calmly.
"Don't mind them, hurry up. Do you know the secret of these seven houses?" More than the assassins, Fang Fang was concerned about where Lihua's body was. She wanted to avenge Lihua, bring the mother and son to justice, and expose their crimes to the world, letting everyone know their malevolent hearts. This would be far more satisfying than killing them secretly.
Fang Fang's question drew everyone's gaze simultaneously towards Ye Huohuo.
Ye Huohuo awkwardly supported herself with one hand on the tree and the other on her waist. She actually wanted to cover the wound on her posterior, but it was too indecent. Thus, she settled for covering the wound on her waist.
She leaned carefully against the tree, avoiding the injury on her backside, and broke off a branch. She then drew a few strokes on the ground with it.
Soon, everyone could discern what she was drawing: seven dots connected by a winding line. Only Fang Fang understood what she was depicting; everyone else, including Li Mohan, was utterly bewildered.
"Miss Ye, what does this mean?" Ah Cheng inquired.
At that moment, a myna bird, Nie Ming, circling in the sky, landed on a branch beside Ye Huohuo. It tilted its head, glanced at the drawing, and exclaimed loudly, "The Big Dipper formation!"
The forest was incredibly quiet in the dark night. The myna's shout was heard clearly by everyone.
Li Mohan's eyes flickered. He gestured to his five bodyguards to take the dozen or so assassins to a distance and keep them under guard. He didn't want them to overhear what Ye Huohuo was about to say, clearly wanting to keep Ye Huohuo's knowledge of Xuanmen arts from being widely known.
Ye Huohuo glanced at him, frowning, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately refrained. She pointed the branch at the seven houses below.
"Senior Brother is correct. The seven houses below are arranged according to the Big Dipper in the sky. From right to left, they are Tian Shu, Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Tian Heng, Kai Yang, and Yao Guang.
The Big Dipper formation is designed according to the various changes of the celestial Big Dipper. Tian Shu is the pivot of the seven stars, and Tian Ji governs change. The room where we saw the human heads was Tian Ji. If I'm not mistaken, the seven-star formation they've set up here is for refining malevolent spirits.
Ye Huohuo circled two points representing Tian Shu and Tian Ji as she spoke. "They placed over a dozen human heads in the Tian Ji room. These heads should have been filled with malevolent energy and subjected to various transformations within the room, causing this chaotic malevolent energy to eventually merge into a powerful force.
The purpose is likely to inject it into the body to be refined in the Tian Shu palace.
In the Tian Shu room, there is the corpse that needs to be refined into a malevolent spirit. Du Lihua's soul has already been refined into a malevolent spirit, so the room either contains no corpse, or if there is one, it must belong to someone else."
She glanced at Fang Fang. "I think Du Lihua's corpse has already been disposed of or buried elsewhere. Even if we break this seven-star formation, we won't find Du Lihua's body inside. What do you want to do?"
Ye Huohuo was seeking Fang Fang's opinion, as their primary objective was to find Du Lihua's body, avenge her, fulfill her last wish, and help her reincarnate sooner.
However, an unforeseen complication had arisen with the appearance of a harmful formation. They had to choose between continuing the search for the body or breaking the formation.
"What do you think I'll choose?" Fang Fang's eyes curved. Although she wasn't stunningly beautiful, her smile exuded an indescribable charm, naturally revealing a sensuousness that gave her an aura of innate allure. Most men would find their bones melting upon seeing such a beauty smile.
Even Ah Cheng, a man who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, couldn't help but be momentarily distracted by Fang Fang's smile. It took him a while to recover. He quickly averted his gaze and lowered his head, daring not to look at her again.
Even Ye Huohuo, a woman, felt her senses stir with Fang Fang's smile.
Fang Fang glanced at Li Mohan from the corner of her eye. Seeing him still wearing his poker face, standing there like a giant iceberg, completely unfazed by her, she felt a surge of indignation.
She took two steps forward, approaching Li Mohan. "Mr. Li, why aren't you looking at me? Am I that insignificant in your eyes?"
Her expression was now filled with seduction, and her voice softened like a pool of water, so gentle it could melt a person's heart.
Yet, even with this, she didn't receive even a direct glance from Li Mohan. Instead, he frowned and took a step back, his face showing impatience. "Don't come so close, we're not familiar with each other!"
Fang Fang was taken aback that even her charm techniques had met a soft nail. A sense of frustration surged within her, simultaneously igniting her competitive spirit. Just as she was about to intensify her charm, her sleeve was tugged.
"Alright, stop playing around. We have important matters to attend to. What's your decision? I followed you here, so I'll listen to you!" Ye Huohuo asked.
Fang Fang then withdrew her seductive techniques, looked at the seven houses below, and a cold smile curved her lips. "You mentioned earlier that the beast Chen Jiaming and his mother were instigated into accidentally killing Lihua. The mastermind who harmed Lihua should be the one orchestrating this seven-star formation.
I just remembered, Lihua told me her birth date. She was born in an Yin year, Yin month, and Yin hour, possessing a body of extreme Yin. I suspect her selection by those people is related to this.
Since I now have the opportunity to find the person behind her harm, I naturally won't let it go. Furthermore, by capturing these people, we can force them to reveal where they took Lihua's body. Today, we will break this seven-star formation."
Ye Huohuo nodded in agreement after hearing her. However, a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "You said Du Lihua was born in an Yin year, Yin month, and Yin hour? Could it be..."
She felt a faint, almost imperceptible thread in her mind that she was about to grasp, but as she tried to delve deeper, she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and a headache that made thinking impossible.
"Oh dear, could it be what? Quickly tell me, how can we break this seven-star formation? When we entered the spaces between those houses earlier, I felt it. Although no Yin malevolent energy was emanating from these houses, they always gave me an uncomfortable feeling.
It was as if countless traps were waiting for me, and a moment's carelessness would send me plunging into them, leading to eternal damnation." Fang Fang, a thousand-year-old spirit, managed to survive for so long due to her own effective methods.
Her greatest strength was her alertness, her innate sense of danger like a wild beast.
"That's right. We were fortunate then; the formation hadn't been activated yet. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for the two of us to escape from inside. Now that they know we've arrived, and some have fled back, they will naturally report our situation to their leader.
The formation is likely fully activated by now. We must be extremely cautious, or it will be difficult to get out if we get trapped again." Ye Huohuo's headache subsided when Fang Fang's interruption diverted her thoughts from the previous question.
"Is it that difficult? Aren't they just a few houses? I'll lead my men in and clear them out in no time," Ah Cheng, standing nearby, unhappily drew his saber, ready to charge down.
"Got it! I have an idea!" Ye Huohuo's eyes lit up with joy upon seeing Ah Cheng's saber.