Chapter 1 Chen Xiao Enters the Trap

Chen Xiao and the other two were led to the second floor by Steward Li. Unlike the hall on the first floor, the second floor's space was divided into many rooms. Chen Xiao had no idea what each room was for.

The three of them were first brought into an elegant room. On the solid wood table in the room were placed melons, fruits, and snacks, with two shapely, beautiful maids standing on either side.

"I will now take my little friend Chen Xiao to participate in the assessment. The two of you can rest here for now. If you need anything, just ask the maids. After the assessment is over, we will all have a good drink together." Steward Li still wore a smile on his face, and he was extremely polite when speaking to Xiao Liuzi and Wang Ke, as if that smile was born on his face.

"Alright, you guys go ahead. We'll wait here." Xiao Liuzi readily agreed, feeling extremely pleased. Following Brother Xiao had instantly elevated his status. Even the aloof steward of the Inscriptionist Guild had to treat him with courtesy.

Chen Xiao frowned slightly at Xiao Liuzi's carefree appearance, but then noticed Wang Ke also had a solemn expression, as if he had also noticed something was wrong. Chen Xiao felt slightly more at ease.

"Then let's go, Chen Xiao," Steward Li said. Chen Xiao knew that worrying now was useless, so he decided to take it one step at a time and followed Steward Li out of the room.

After Chen Xiao and Steward Li left, Wang Ke immediately told the two maids to leave. Although the two maids didn't understand why, they obediently left.

Originally, they thought that Wang Ke and the other were at the age of youthful exuberance and looked like inexperienced young men, and they thought that they would make some excessive demands, but they did not expect the other party to be so insensible.

Wang Ke looked around outside the door for a while, then carefully closed the door. He turned around and saw Xiao Liuzi already holding a piece of watermelon and eating most of it. Wang Ke quickly shouted, "Don't!"

Xiao Liuzi looked up at Wang Ke, puzzled. Then, he felt his vision begin to blur, his body swayed, and he fell to the ground.

At the same time, the door was suddenly opened, and Wang Ke heard someone say from behind, "Hehe, I didn't expect you to be so alert, but it's useless."

Wang Ke subconsciously turned his head, and a cloud of yellow smoke blew directly onto his face. In just an instant, he lost consciousness.

All of this happened silently, and Chen Xiao, who had already been taken to the examination room, had no idea that his two brothers had been captured.

The examination room was much larger than the previous one, with several hundred square meters. Inside were dozens of identical white marble tables, each equipped with talisman paper and talisman pens. The talisman paper was smooth and clean, and the talisman pens were even more extravagant, with gold pen shafts.

"Ostentatious and impractical." Chen Xiao thought to himself. Good talisman paper and talisman pens possess spiritual energy. If one only wants to highlight the value of the talisman-making tools through expensive materials, they undoubtedly fall into the lower class, which would only make people feel like a nouveau riche.

However, in addition to being ostentatious, the examination room also made Chen Xiao sense a dangerous aura, a faint sense of unease. But in a short period of time, Chen Xiao couldn't figure out where the problem was.

"Just find a place and draw a talisman, it's fine. I've heard all about your abilities. Speaking of which, what qualifications do I have to assess you? We're just going through the motions." Steward Li said with a smile, his face full of harmlessness.

As he spoke, Steward Li found a table himself, picked up a talisman pen, and began to draw. He also said, "Recently, I've been troubled by a difficult problem. I hope that my little friend Chen Xiao can give me some guidance after the assessment is over!"

Chen Xiao didn't know what Steward Li was up to, but he still modestly replied, "Steward Li is too kind. Guidance is out of the question, it's just mutual discussion."

"Yes, mutual discussion, mutual discussion." Steward Li's tone gradually slowed, and he deeply lowered his head, with a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth.

However, what Chen Xiao couldn't see was that Steward Li's face had become extremely gloomy, and that smile was becoming increasingly cold.

Chen Xiao selected a table and was thinking about what kind of talisman to draw when suddenly, an unexpected event occurred.

The white marble table actually began to slowly dissolve at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into a pool of stone slurry.

"Hiss!"

At the same time, the talisman pen in Chen Xiao's hand turned into a golden snake. The snake wrapped around Chen Xiao's wrist at an extremely fast speed, flicking its tongue and biting towards Chen Xiao's wrist like lightning.

Chen Xiao's expression suddenly changed. The snake was very fast, but he was even faster. He reached out with his other hand to grab the snake's seven inches (vital point).

Just as Chen Xiao's fingers were about to touch the snake's body, and Chen Xiao could even feel the coldness emanating from the snake, the snake suddenly disappeared.

Chen Xiao looked around and realized that he was no longer in the examination room. Instead, he was in the middle of a primeval forest, the air filled with a decaying odor and suffocating humidity.

"It's a formation!"

Chen Xiao suddenly understood. He finally knew why he felt something was wrong. This examination room was clearly a formation. From the moment he stepped into it, he had entered the formation, and everything he was seeing now was just an illusion conjured up within the formation.

Once you enter the other party's formation, unless you destroy the formation eye or find the formation arranger and prevent him from continuing to cast spells to maintain the formation, you can forget about getting out. The only thing left is a dead end.

And there was no need to ask who had set up the formation. It was definitely that Steward Li who was always smiling.

Formations and inscription talismans are inherently linked. Formations are large inscription talismans. People who can draw inscription talismans must also know a thing or two about formations. But unlike inscription talismans, formations are generally fixed in a certain location, rather than drawn on talisman paper. Moreover, each activation of a formation requires a large amount of consumables. The white marble table Chen Xiao had just seen was a consumable for this formation.

At this point, Chen Xiao finally understood why the talisman paper and talisman pens placed on the table were all flashy and impractical goods. Those were just used to attract Chen Xiao's attention, mislead Chen Xiao, and prevent him from discovering the existence of the formation.

And when Steward Li was scribbling on the table earlier, he was secretly activating the formation.

There was no one in front of Chen Xiao, but he stared straight ahead and said with a wry smile, "You've really gone to a lot of trouble for me. I admire you, I admire you."

Talking to himself in the air, this scene was as strange as it could be.

What was even stranger was that there was actually a response in the empty air. "Hehe, aren't you a genius? But so what if you're a genius? Can a dead genius still be called a genius? Heh heh..."

A series of gloomy laughter, it was Steward Li's voice, but his figure could not be seen.

"I never dared to say that I am a genius, but grievances have their owners, debts have their debtors. You have to let me die knowing why. Who exactly wants to kill me?" There was a hint of despair in Chen Xiao's voice.