Pang Zi and Shou Zi were sleeping soundly, their snores loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the teashop.

  I turned on the bedside mp, then, from my sleeve, I pulled out a tarot card—the "Tower" that I had quietly taken from Mu when I was picking up the cards earlier.

  My heart had tightened in that brief second earlier because I had heard that card calling for help.

  It was this very card—the "Tower."

  A tarot card can′t actually speak, but what I heard was unmistakably a group of voices, still youthful, crying out together in a scream.

  I brought the card closer to the light, my fingers carefully feeling every inch of it.

  As my finger moved to the center of the card, a chill shot up from my fingertip to my heart, followed immediately by an intense heat that seemed to burn my veins to ashes.

  The alternating forces of cold and fire twisted and churned within my body.

  I quickly withdrew my finger.

  Ice Fme Soul Binding Curse...

  I recognized this spell.

  It was a technique used by individuals with considerable cultivation, meant to imprison a spiritual entity in another space. However, it is typically employed against malevolent spirits that are not meant to remain in the world. Only a few individuals with ill intentions would forcefully seal innocent beings into a world with no way out, using this technique to achieve their own twisted goals.

  In fact, the Ice Fme Soul Binding Curse is a forbidden spell, rarely used by those who know it. Even among those who can use it, it's seldom employed due to its most cruel characteristic—once trapped, there's no way out.

  Now, who used this spell through the tarot card as a medium? And who is sealed within it?

  I already had an answer in my heart, but I still held onto a sliver of hope—I desperately didn′t want the four missing children to be sealed inside this card.

  Gazing at the image drawn on the card, a tower teetering on the brink of colpse under the fire and lightning from the heavens, people screaming as they fell from the tower, at the base of it, one side facing a raging ocean, the other a chaotic nd.

  I needed to have "serious talk" with this card.

  Closing my eyes, I pced the "Tower" in my palm, silently reciting a chant known only to me.

  In the darkness, I could faintly hear the sound of waves crashing against the shore, the flickering fmes dancing wildly and ferociously, and the deafening impact of giant rocks smashing into the ground as the mountains crumbled and the earth quaked. My consciousness was gathering, slowly piercing through every obstacle that stood in my way.

  Yaokais possess a spiritual eye that can pierce through different mediums, seeing things ordinary people cannot. This invisible eye is hidden within their spiritual power, and the higher their cultivation, the more they can see. Some older, more powerful yaokais can even glimpse into your past, present, and future lives. As for lower-level creatures, being able to see how many bills are in someone′s wallet is already impressive.

  However, there's always a price to pay. The more frequently the spiritual eye is used, and the deeper it peers into different mediums, the faster the spiritual energy is consumed.

  When the energy depletes too quickly, the user′s soul will be severely damaged, and the consequences are often unpredictable.

  But today, I needed this eye to help me see the hidden secrets within this card. Because it held the key to the lives of four young souls. The shadowy gaze...

  The sound of the crashing waves grew louder in my ears, and the shadowy vision gradually cleared. A towering stone tower, swaying in the mysterious space to the left and right, drew closer to me. Countless terrifying cracks spread across its gray-white exterior, with fmes and thick smoke surging from the incomplete windows. In the pitch-bck sky, lightning fshed, and occasionally, a thundercp exploded at the top of the tower. Figures in gray and white clothes, their faces indistinguishable, screamed and cried as they jumped out of the still-intact windows, trying to escape.

  It was a scene straight out of an apocalypse.

  But it looked familiar. Everything before me was unmistakably the scene depicted on the “Tower” card.

  “Help! Is anyone there? Please save us!”

  Once again, I heard the familiar cries for help in perfect Mandarin.

  I focused my "eye" without hesitation, directing it toward the room at the top of the tower.

  The moment I saw them, my heart tightened. In the dipidated room, huddled in the corner, were four children—three girls and one boy—all in identical high school uniforms.

  "Ren Xiaocheng?" I murmured, recognizing one of the girls. Pang Zi had carefully listed the names of the missing children for me.

  The short-haired girl suddenly lifted her head, her eyes searching the air with fear. She trembled, calling out, "Who... Who is that?"

  The other three children, hearing my voice, began to shout frantically, “Save us! Who are you? We’re going to die! Please, save us!”

  The desperation in their cries and the undeniable, vibrant energy of human life confirmed that I had found the right pce and the right target. These missing children had indeed been trapped in another realm—an eerie space conjured by the Tarot cards.

  The scene in front of me was overwhelming, like a god in disguise, trying to soothe a group of lost souls awaiting salvation. I consciously made my words sound sacred and powerful, knowing that only by speaking with that weight could I calm these frantic, confused children. I needed them to hold onto every word I said, to tch onto the hope I was offering without any doubt.

  I told them that I was here to take them out of this cursed pce, but they would need to wait just a little longer.

  "Don't... don't leave us!" The chubby boy, who was around fifteen or sixteen, wailed like a frightened child, tears streaming down his face. "I don't want to be an honor student anymore... I don't want to be part of this fortune-telling thing... I just want to go home... Waaaah..."

  His sobs were contagious, and soon the other three children were crying out in agony as well.

  "We don't want cotton candy anymore!" They cried in unison, their voices full of desperation.

  "I am too! I′m never going to that cursed pce again!"

  "Mom, I won't argue with you anymore! I will study hard!"

  These little brats... I didn't know whether to ugh or cry. But, from their chaotic shouting, I could hear some useful things.

  "All of you, stop being such cowards! What′s with all the crying? What′s with this talk of death? Things aren′t that serious!" I scolded them sternly, "With me here, what are you afraid of?"

  The four of them, after hearing this, sniffled and shut their mouths. The timid Ren Xiaocheng asked quietly, "Then... when can we leave?"

  Actually, I didn′t know either.

  The fmes had already begun to spread towards this side, and the entire tower started to sway, on the verge of colpse. I still wasn't sure if the medium of this space would cause any real harm to the others. After a moment of thought, I used my psychic power to force my way into the room and drew a triangur light ring in its center.

  "Stand inside the light ring, all of you. No matter what happens before I return, you must not step out of the circle!"

  This was the only thing I could do for them at the moment. Using the st of my spiritual energy, I formed a "Three Kings Protective Seal" to temporarily ensure their safety. As long as they stayed within the seal’s range, the intense fire wouldn’t burn them, falling stones wouldn′t crush them, and even if the tower colpsed and they fell, they wouldn′t die or be hurt.

  I was very relieved that I hadn′t forgotten the incantation for this seal. I remembered this technique was taught to me by a monkey yaokai. It ter became a monk and went to India with a Buddhist monk. We never saw each other again after that. Regardless, I′m grateful for it!

  But the effect of the Three Kings Protective Seal only sts for twelve hours.

  If, within those twelve hours, I can't bring them back... I didn′t want to think about the consequences. There was no point.

  The children scrambled to jump into the colorful triangur seal, huddling together inside, sitting there pitifully.

  "Remember, I′ll be back soon. What you need to do is try to push away your fear! Do you understand?" I had to leave. My spiritual energy was depleting too quickly.

  The kids hesitated and nodded, wiping away their tears as they said, "You... you have to come back quickly!"

  "Definitely."

  The tower, the firelight, and the waves all became farther and farther away, eventually shrinking into a small bck dot.

  I suddenly opened my eyes. The quiet moonlight outside the window gently spilled over the dressing table.

  This world was as peaceful as ever. Fine, cold sweat oozed from my forehead and temples. My face at this moment must have been as pale as a zombie crawling out of a coffin.

  I was extremely exhausted, a sense of powerlessness spreading from my heart to my body, as if I were about to fall apart.

  To be honest, it had been many years since I st used my spiritual energy on such a rge scale. I had long since become accustomed to living like an ordinary human.

  But a certain premonition in my heart grew stronger and stronger—my peaceful life would be completely disrupted by a Tarot card! However, I wanted to know what was behind it, inexplicably. The evening, her evening call, the Tarot card hidden with an evil spell, the trapped children—every element was strongly pulling me in a deeper direction.

  Perhaps this was the source of my unease.

  The "Tower" card y silently in my hand, looking like a lifeless piece of cardboard. Who could have known that beneath its surface, there was a storm of turmoil, a life-and-death struggle?

  Only 12 hours left.