Chapter Nineteen: You're So Bold

  Suddenly, a crisp finger snap sounded beside her ear, and her head shook slightly, the pain seeming to ease a bit. She opened her eyes abruptly, turned around, and saw Blue standing behind her with his hands clasped together, his clear gaze driving away some of the confusion in her eyes.

  "You're quite bold." Lance looked at Yun Hai Fan's hesitant expression and took the initiative, "It's so late, yet you're still lingering around school."

  Yun Hai Fan was caught off guard by his sudden appearance and was too stunned to turn around, but as soon as he regained his composure, he retorted: "I'm staying here for a good reason, are you here to arrest me?"

  "Shh." Lance's index finger was pressed against his lips, signaling her to be quiet. He then pulled her close to the wall beside him, and it wasn't until then that Yun Haiyan saw a shadow cast through the window onto the ground in front of her, seemingly from someone facing them directly. She didn't dare speak, hiding behind Lance's back, her intuition telling her that she could trust him.

  The ceremony hadn't lasted long in front of the window, and half of the rituals in the office needed him to continue. It was just a brief delay, Yun Hai Fan took a slight breath, his head didn't hurt as much as before, but his mind was still a jumbled mess of threads, even when he tried to focus, his eyes spun around in circles, dizzy and seeing stars. In the chaos, she only felt Lan Si Cheng pull her over, dragging her through the low shrubs in the night. The fabric rubbed against the thin branches, making a pleasant sound, the intertwined shrubs parted in front of Lan Si Cheng, leaving behind a fragrant scent of roses that had been planted with thorns. Yun Hai Fan lightly sniffed the fragrance of the rose, and even the fierce curse in his heart calmed down to savor the fragrance of the rose.

  A bright moon rose quietly at some unknown time, illuminating a dark and gloomy world.

  Lan Se Qing stood still beside the glass door of the office building, Yun Hai Fan swayed again, feeling dizzy. Lan Se Qing found that Yun Hai Fan's pupils had become somewhat scattered, her gaze gradually unable to focus on one place, knowing that Wen Zhan's curse was already halfway through. This was when Wen Zhan's power was at its weakest and they were easiest to break through. He stretched out two fingers, close to Yun Hai Fan's eyes, then slowly pulled them towards himself. When his fingertips were almost touching the tip of his own nose, he suddenly snapped his two fingers together, and Yun Hai Fan sprang up like she had been electrocuted, her head heavily hitting the back, the pain making her inhale sharply.

  "Ow!" She rubbed the back of her head, which didn't feel light after being knocked by Lance. She found that he had forcefully suppressed the curse and quickly asked him, "What do we do next?"

  "Stop him."

  "It's just asking how to stop him." Yun Hai Fan was one of the few who were anxious, and this excitement brought another headache.

  "You can't rush it." Lance said calmly, "Wen Zhan is now at the most critical moment of the ceremony. If we stop him now, our chances of winning are the greatest."

  "Alright, alright." Yun Haiyan took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "But you still haven't told me how to stop it."

  "Use ventriloquism." Lance pointed at the package behind her, "How's your paper-cutting skill?"

  "It's okay." Yun Hai Fan cooperated and took out paper and scissors, "What pattern do you want? Mountains, rivers, grass, trees or flowers, birds, insects, fish? For embroidery or insoles?"

  Hearing her joking words, Lance couldn't help but smile slightly. Even in the most difficult times, the girl in front of him could still maintain her optimism, and since he already knew that being impatient was harmful and useless, he naturally needed to relax his mind.

  "I said," Lances cleared his throat a few times to cover up his momentary distraction, "you should know the legend of the Seven-Pronged Star Magic Formation, right?"

  It is said to be a legend because there are very few records of the Seven-Pronged Star Magic Array and the controversy is too great, so no one can confirm that their own statement is completely correct.

  "I see." Yun Hai Fan seemed to have understood Lan Se's meaning, "You're not doubting whether Wen Xuan can see the so-called shadow image after the ritual is activated, or I'll just cut off the demon, anyway, I think he wouldn't be happy to see the representative of justice, Xi Shuang Queen, at the evil ritual."

  Lance nodded silently, watching as the silver sail danced and paper scraps fluttered about. Before long, a paper figure resembling an evil spirit was born in her hands. Lance pinched one corner of the paper figure and lifted it gently, examining it closely: "How did you know that's what demons look like?"

  "I guess so." Yun Haiyan tidied up the battlefield, "Not bad?"

  "Almost." Lance gently placed the paper man in Yun Haiyan's palm, "What's with these two teeth?"

  "Vampire." Yun Hai Fan pointed to the two cute little fangs in response, "I was afraid that my work would be too abstract and not understood by Wen Zhan, so I cut off two fangs to show his evil identity. Look, his robe is also designed according to the standard image of a blood clan duke."

  Lan's hand patted Yunhai Fan's head: "You'd better read less of these messy literary works."

  "Cut." Yun Hai Fan stroked the flat paper man, "Look at literary works that have creativity, otherwise you come."

  Lance raised an eyebrow, looking at her with a disgruntled expression. He thought to himself that if he were to do it, it wouldn't be so troublesome, but... His eyebrows twitched slightly before returning to normal, and he calmly changed the subject: "Now, take it to the office."

  "Very well, Your Highness." She made a gesture of courtesy with her hands on her shoulders, and then one hand opened and the other pointed at the paper man. The paper man floated in mid-air, allowing Yunhai Fan to infuse it with spiritual energy. Pure spiritual energy floated around the paper man, reflecting a flowing silver light under the moonlight, making the paper man seem both real and illusory, as if it were a mystical image conjured up by the ritual.

  She smiled calmly, her fingers lightly snapping, and the paper man quickly flew around the layers of flower pillars surrounding the door, flying straight to the target location. After a series of actions were completed, Yun Hai Fan turned his head to ask Lan Si Cheng: "Do you know teleportation?"

  "What are you asking this for?" Lance couldn't understand where Yun Hai Fan's "Your Highness" came from, and instinctively asked her all the questions she might ask that shouldn't be asked.

  "I was thinking of going to the windowsill earlier and controlling the paper man, it would be more convenient if I could see him." Yun Hai Fan's eyes were shining with "Take me there, take me there, anyway you're bored alone and I'm tired from walking over."

  Lance looked at her expectant expression and bluntly struck: "My instant movement technique is integrated with natural magic, and here, even a slight activation of natural magic will react with Wenchang's spell pure spiritual power and be detected."

  "So..."

  "So," Lance said with a serious tone and expression, "if you want to go to the windowsill, walk there yourself."