Chapter 1 When Soup Arrived

When Su Zhou brought the centipede egg soup to the Shao family, both Wen Yuefeng and Aunt He were happy, but not particularly expectant.

"Oh, A-Zhou actually thought of bringing me something!"

Aunt Wen carefully held the thermos in her arms, sitting in her wheelchair, smiling happily—of course, she didn't intend to open it and taste it, but rather wanted to keep it as a treasure.

This wasn't strange, after all, Su Zhou had learned a large part of his cooking skills from Aunt He. His level wasn't bad, at least above average for his peers, but if compared to professionals like Aunt He, it was far behind. In addition, Wen Yuefeng's appetite hadn't been very good due to her health, so after eating, she naturally didn't feel like drinking soup.

"Aunt Wen, don't hold it, remember to take a sip—I'll take Qiming with me."

Su Zhou didn't explain much, anyway, they would understand after taking a sip: "We're going for a walk around Hongcheng County, just to wander around."

"Then be careful. If you get into a conflict with someone on the road, be careful not to hit them too hard and injure them."

He received such a worried piece of advice.

"Tch, what 'walk'? That's such a lame excuse!"

Hearing the sound, Shao Shuangyue, who was about to go downstairs to see what was happening, puffed up her cheeks at the stairs, sending out a contemptuous look in her heart: "Probably going to see some 'legendary well that can travel through time' or 'ancient dense forest where man-eating demons once appeared' again, right?"

"Those two old men don't even play games, they just go out and play every day, it's so strange."

Thinking this, she was about to go back to continue playing that difficult action game when Shao Shuangyue heard her mother's voice calling her.

"Shuangyue, come and try it, the soup your Zhou-gege made!"

"Huh? He made the soup?"

Like Wen Yuefeng, the black-haired, long-haired beauty also didn't really trust Su Zhou's cooking skills—although the Coca-Cola chicken wings he made last time tasted great, everyone can make Coca-Cola chicken wings!

"Oh well, it probably won't taste too bad... I'll just give him some face."

Although that's what she thought, when Shao Shuangyue actually poured a bowl of emerald green soup from the thermos, she was completely stunned: "Hey, this color is not right! This is basically chopped up greens boiled with evil energy! Is this my destiny... wait, there's even goji berries?!"

"I, Shao Shuangyue, would rather starve to death, die outside, jump from here, than drink this bowl of soup!"

"..."

"So fragrant!"

Su Zhou, who had successfully made one person achieve the "fragrant" principle, had already traveled to Hongzhou County by private car with Shao Qiming.

This time their destination was an old house in Hongzhou County that belonged to Shao Qiming's family.

This old house was built when Hongcheng County wasn't fully modernized. It was a typical high-walled small building, originally used by Shao Qiming's grandfather's generation to escape the summer heat in a quiet place, but because of the appearance of air conditioning, no one would bother to run outside the city to escape the heat anymore.

Usually, no one lived in that place, and there were even rumors of it being haunted in the local area. After Su Zhou took Shao Qiming to explore this place once a few years ago, this old house became their secret base for placing all kinds of strange things related to folklore and anecdotes.

Shao Qiming opened the courtyard door and walked through the weed-filled courtyard. The two entered the old house, and Su Zhou saw several large boxes placed in the living room with notes on them.

"I had them send the materials directly here, so we don't have to do it ourselves."

While explaining, Shao Qiming turned on the lights. He told Su Zhou to pick up the boxes while he opened the door to the basement.

Shao Qiming's expression was even more eager than Su Zhou's: "What do you think? A-Zhou, do you want to start now, or wait for the right time?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Opening the boxes, Su Zhou saw the silver blocks and gold flakes placed inside, revealing an excited smile: "Of course, I'm going to start now!"

Walking down the stairs, one could see that the walls of the old house's basement were covered with various anecdotes and news clippings. These were newspaper and magazine clippings that Su Zhou and Shao Qiming had been collecting and cutting out for nearly ten years.

In the corner of the wall, by the boxes, were many collected oddities, such as 'a doll rumored to move on its own in the middle of the night', 'an oil painting rumored to open and close its eyes on its own', 'a music box rumored to emit wails in the middle of the night' or even 'an ancient sword rumored to be stained with demon blood'...

Anyway, Su Zhou had played with them for at least half a summer vacation and didn't feel that there was anything wonderful about these things, which made him so angry that he almost set them all on fire, scattering their ashes.

But if it was now... Su Zhou thought, and then activated his spiritual vision.

Then he saw at least seven or eight spirits hurriedly running away.

"...So, it's real?!" He couldn't help but be speechless: "Then why wasn't there any paranormal activity when I was around?!"

"Because they wouldn't dare," Yala said speechlessly: "You had the blood of Yinglong back then. Ordinary spirits would avoid you, especially these parasitic spirits that like to play pranks. Being collected by you was like being cursed for eight lifetimes. They probably wouldn't dare to move and could only shiver."

Hearing Su Zhou and Yala's conversation, Shao Qiming was also shocked: "So, we actually collected real things? Then this 'pencil rumored to automatically do homework'..."

"No, that's fake."

"Oh."

The basement was very spacious, especially the slightly sunken area in the middle, which seemed to be the place where large objects were placed in the past. It was very convenient for drawing magic circles. Su Zhou and Shao Qiming had also done many rituals here in the past, but all of them had failed as a matter of course.

But now, it was different.

First, draw a circle with a diameter of three meters on the ground, representing the ouroboros' spiritual base, and then inscribe thirty-six runes in a clockwise direction, each representing thirty-six great arcane cycles.

Then, take the silver ingots from the box and place them in the center of the circle. Recite the name of order and moonlight in the language of the gods, infuse spiritual power, and the silver ingots will automatically melt into liquid in the formation, finally solidifying into a thin sheet of the same size as the previous circle, and the previously inscribed runes will be reflected on the silver sheet.

Purple-blue spiritual light shone in the basement. Shao Qiming sat aside, holding his breath, watching this scene that truly appeared before his eyes, representing 'spirituality and transcendence'.

He watched Su Zhou close his eyes and meditate, communicating with the spirituality of all things around him. He watched Su Zhou inscribe runes, apply spiritual power, causing the yellow blocks to automatically melt and stretch into gold threads, outlining the base and runes of the magic circle according to his will.

Although they had done similar things in the past, none of them could compare to this time. It was as if distant history had crossed a chasm and come to the reality before their eyes... 'Mystery' had never felt so 'real'!

Filled with emotion, Shao Qiming could see that in just ten minutes, a three-meter-diameter array disk made of silver and gold, filled with mysterious runes, appeared before his eyes—and his friend picked up a large jar filled with mercury. He loudly recited the sacred words, scattering man-made diamonds around, and all the diamonds spontaneously combusted before landing, turning into the purest spiritual fire, burning around the magic circle.

Finally, Su Zhou poured this jar of source metal, which had somehow become holy, into the magic circle, turning it into a shimmering mirror of the other world.

Shao Qiming could even clearly see the black shadow on his chest and the shining holy light from the reflection in the mercury mirror.

"Qiming, help me hand over the gems."

Coming back to his senses, Shao Qiming heard Su Zhou's voice. At this time, he was standing in the center of the magic circle. The mercury, which should have been like a liquid, was now steadily supporting his weight, causing concentric waves to ripple on the silver surface.

Golden and silver spiritual light mixed with purple-blue spiritual light, turning into overlapping circular ripples, reflecting on the black-haired youth, giving Su Zhou's figure a strange sense of circulation, tranquility, and holiness.

Shao Qiming was stunned for a while, and only came back to his senses after a while, throwing the gems he had been holding in his hand to the other party.

First, a star sapphire.

The power corresponding to sapphire represents firmness, love, and sincerity, and the star sapphire with a cross-shaped white pattern is also called the 'stone of destiny', possessing the power to protect the wearer's safety and bring good luck to a certain extent. Through ritual activation, the power inside the sapphire can be transformed into a strong protective force, resisting darkness, evil, and madness.

In other words, it can avoid most of the deBuffs and malicious attacks and is a must-have for increasing the success rate in various secret rituals.

"Most of these advanced materials of yours come from the corpses of your enemies. Although they contain spiritual energy and various extraordinary qualities, they also contain resentment. You need it to protect your spirituality."

Yala's faint voice sounded at this time. Then, Su Zhou picked up the second gem.

It was a near-perfect white crystal.

"White crystals correspond to a person's spirit and can be used to enhance spirituality, making people clear-headed and refreshed... And in my ritual, it represents balance and perfection, which can greatly improve the completion of the ritual, provided it is successful."

A clear and holy voice spoke, and Yala guided Su Zhou to place the gems in the relevant positions on the magic circle.

The four cyan jade beads from the leaders of the Covenant were placed on the four sides of the magic circle, representing 'complete in all directions'.

The white crystal was placed behind the side facing the human, representing 'spirituality'.

The sapphire was placed in front of the side facing the human, representing 'protection'.

The demon crystal containing the 'aura of the great' was pressed on the brow, representing 'the power of the self'.

Finally, Su Zhou raised his left thumb and bit down hard—a drop of blood as heavy as mercury, containing a cyan-purple spiritual light, dripped down, sinking into the mirror forged from mercury.

In that instant, Shao Qiming felt a static electricity sweep through his body. He seemed to see something, and couldn't help but open his eyes wide, whispering.

"Dragon..."

It was a chaotic great serpent, like all the stars condensed together into an ouroboros with its tail in its mouth. It coiled and rotated, like a snake yet not a snake, like a dragon yet not a dragon, revolving like a ring behind his best friend.

——Blood of man, blood of snake, blood of dragon, blood of mystery, blood of circulation and equilibrium——

——Everything is ready.

A gale born out of thin air howled in the basement, with faint flashes of cyan lightning and purple shadows. The song of spirituality was praising, like a distant flute and a shout.

Having completed all of this, Su Zhou closed his eyes, and he pressed the demon crystal against his forehead.

And the magic circle lit up at this point.