Seeing Xuan Yang cover Leo Blaze's mouth, the others holding the flint box quickly rushed forward, surrounding Leo Blaze with hostile eyes.<br> "Not leaving, huh? Then you'll die here today! We absolutely can't let you report to the Bald Master!"<br> Despite his perilous situation, Leo Blaze didn't panic at all. He rolled his eyes at the absurd plot of this hallucination, closed them, and took a deep breath.<br> When he opened his eyes again, he found himself bound to the hospital bed with wide leather straps, and the fellow students who had surrounded him were gone.<br> "Aunt Wang, I'm awake, can you help untie me?" Leo Blaze called to the night-shift nurse through the bedside microphone, eager to check if the jade amulet was still in his clothes.<br> However, after calling for a while with no response, Leo Blaze realized Nurse Wang was probably sneaking off to watch her Mary Sue dramas during her night shift again. She always loved to slack off like this.<br> Leo Blaze looked down at his chest wrapped in the blue and white hospital gown, wriggling desperately to feel if the jade amulet was there. <br> But with his body so tightly bound, he couldn't tell if it was there or not. After trying a few times, he had to give up. <br> With a yawn, Leo Blaze could only lie in bed, hoping that once Nurse Wang finished her drama, she'd mercifully check the camera. <br> Even on the second floor, where critical patients were cared for, it was very quiet at night. Leo Blaze dozed off again. When he awoke, he found himself lying on the cold limestone cavern floor. <br> He was still in the same spot, but the people who had tried to escape earlier were all gone.<br> "Ha, do this bunch of NPCs think they can handle me?" Leo Blaze muttered, pulling the jade amulet from his chest, lightly tossing it in his palm before tucking it back in.<br> Half an incense stick later, he returned to his shared living space, lay on the haystack, and patiently awaited the dawn. The value of the jade amulet excited him so much he couldn't sleep.<br> Without a clock, Leo Blaze didn't know how long had passed. When he saw his fellow students beginning to wake, he also sat up.<br> "Day has broken here, so Aunt Wang should switch shifts now, right? How about I go back and check first? Nurse Ai is much more dedicated."<br> Just as Leo Blaze hesitated, a rush of footsteps came from the doorway.<br> A nervous young Taoist boy in black Taoist robes, his hair tied up, rushed in. <br> "Hurry up! The Master wants everyone at the Hui'an Hall!"<br> This sudden announcement left everyone baffled, but since the Master had summoned them, they had no reason to refuse.<br> Soon, in the largest limestone cavern of what was called Hui'an Hall, all the disciples were gathered. The torchlight illuminated the confusion on every face.<br> Leo Blaze astutely noticed the crowd was smaller, not only missing Xuan Yang but also some personal disciples of the Bald Master.<br> "Oh, did they flee together?" He watched with eager interest, feeling like he was watching a drama unfold.<br> When an ugly head emerged from the dark tunnel, everyone but Leo Blaze and the young Taoist boy instinctively bowed their heads.<br> It was their master, Master Danyang.<br> "Cough~!" A cough made everyone tense.<br> "Someone tried to escape last night during the second watch, including two of this Taoist master's personal disciples, causing me deep sorrow!!"<br> Though he spoke of sorrow, his face bore a malevolence almost tangible.<br> "They got caught already? Xuan Yang and his lot sure are pathetic," Leo Blaze muttered.<br> "There are no rules without discipline; mistakes must be punished. This is the rule of our Donghua Clan of the Western Hills! Follow me."<br> Every disciple dared not breathe loudly, silently following Master Danyang forward. <br> They passed through several limestone caverns and by a rushing underground river before arriving in a damp cavern about the size of a classroom.<br> Leo Blaze saw the would-be escapees from last night, all hogtied and piled in a corner.<br> They looked disheartened but struggled excitedly upon seeing their master, seemingly trying to speak, but the rags in their mouths muted them.<br> Master Danyang didn't seem to want to hear their excuses either. He formed a seal with one hand and pointed forward. "Open!"<br> The smooth floor of the cavern suddenly opened into a large hole, and the escapees fell into it instantly.<br> The next moment, muffled cries and screams echoed from the hole.<br> Facing this horrifying scene, many young Taoist boys' legs began trembling, their eyes nearly closing.<br> "Get closer! This is the consequence of escape!" Master Danyang's words made everyone's faces go several shades paler.<br> No one dared defy the Master's orders, so everyone was pushed to the edge of the hole.<br> The hole was dark, very dark, pitch-black.<br> The pitch-black circular hole resembled a vortex, ready to swallow everyone.<br> Leo Blaze carefully discerned the interior and saw a large ebony cauldron inside. The rim of the cauldron was pressed with some distorted talismans.<br> Something seemed to be moving inside the cauldron, but Leo Blaze couldn't make it out. The only impression his senses could gather was the nauseating stench of blood within.<br> Whatever was inside, it was undoubtedly very dangerous.<br> "Things in hallucinations shouldn't harm me, right? It's never happened before."<br> Though he spoke thusly, a sense of unease crept into his heart, making him ready to retreat to the hospital at any moment.<br> "Whoosh!" A writhing shadow shot out of the hole and swiftly retracted with a fellow disciple beside Leo Blaze.<br> Everyone panicked at the sight, retreating to the cavern's smooth walls. Had Master Danyang not been watching, they might have fled.<br> Almost every face present now appeared terrified, internally trembling as they speculated on what that thing was.<br> But Leo Blaze wasn't among those guessing because he'd been standing closest and saw it clearly.<br> It was a mass of black substance with fleshy textures, its slick and slimy skin was covered with clusters of short, quivering black tendrils!<br> From this alone, Leo Blaze was certain that what Master Danyang was raising in this cave wasn't anything normal existing in this world.<br> As for what it actually was, Leo Blaze couldn't guess and didn't want to go back to find out.<br> Though aware these things were figments from his brain, Leo Blaze couldn't fathom why he'd invent such things.<br> As he surveyed the vividly real surroundings, a terrible thought struck him. "Could this bizarre and terrifying world be real?"<br> The mere suspicion made Leo Blaze's body tremble, remembering the people who had died before. If they were real and not his hallucinations, then if he were caught by that thing, he'd die too?<br> The suffocating fear nearly crushed him. He took a few deep breaths and quickly followed Dr. Lee's teachings to self-soothe.<br> "These are all hallucinations, no matter how real they seem, they're hallucinations. Leo Blaze, you mustn't get lost in them, you created them, what are you afraid of."<br> "Anna Yang is still waiting for me, I can't let her down. I can conquer all of this! I must!"<br> Gradually calming down through self-consolation, Leo Blaze's emotions stabilized enough to face whatever lay ahead.)
