The four people arrived at the principal's office, chatting and laughing. Long Xiao needed to discuss something with the principal. Long Yan gave Long Xiao a few instructions and then left.
Principal Yuan Beidou escorted Long Yan to the door. After watching her walk away, he closed the door and turned back, saying, "Master Long, I'll have to trouble you again."
Long Xiao smiled and said, "Principal Yuan, you don't need to be so formal. Just say what you need. You haven't been neglecting my sister either, have you?"
Sitting on the sofa, Long Xiao listened to Yuan Nandou explain the situation, his expression gradually becoming serious.
"Principal Yuan, it seems someone is targeting Jingcheng University. I wonder what the person behind this plan intends to do."
"Sigh," Yuan Nandou sighed and said, "This matter is quite complicated. Recently, I've noticed some people from the Luo family active around the school. A few days ago, people from the Tsuchimikado family from the island nation also tried to sneak into the school, but they were discovered and driven away by security."
Mentioning the Luo family, Long Xiao glanced at Luo Tianshui. Although Luo Tianshui had followed Long Xiao and hadn't mentioned anything about the Luo family since, Long Xiao could vaguely sense that his status within the Luo family was not low.
The Tsuchimikado and Abe families were both Onmyoji families from the island nation. These two families were filled with experts and held very high status in their country.
Long Xiao had encountered Onmyoji from the island nation and members of the Luo family, but he knew very little about these two forces.
After clarifying the situation, Long Xiao and Yuan Beidou discussed it and decided to act that night after Yuan Nandou and the others arrived. There were too many students on campus during the day, and any incident could endanger them.
With nothing to do in the afternoon, Long Xiao, Xiao Ming, and Luo Tianshui went shopping and bought some things.
As it started to get dark, the three returned to the school after dinner. Yuan Nandou, Hua Xianfeng, and Li Tianshu were already waiting in the principal's office.
Everyone followed Yuan Beidou to the edge of the woods. Several professors and security guards were patrolling the area to prevent students from accidentally entering.
Yuan Beidou took out his compass and took a reading. The needle spun wildly, indicating extreme magnetic field disturbance near the woods.
"Long Xiao, there seems to be something inside," Yuan Beidou said, showing Long Xiao the compass.
Long Xiao looked at the compass, then at Li Tianshu and Hua Xianfeng.
Hua Xianfeng said, "Long Xiao, our strength is no match for yours, so you don't need to ask for our opinions."
Long Xiao nodded and said, "Xiao Ming, Tianshui, you two stay outside and guard. I'll go in and take a look."
"Brother Long, I'll go with you. There should be a tomb in this forest, and someone has set up a 'Soul Sealing Array' here."
"Soul Sealing Array?" Long Xiao asked in surprise, "Is it a Luo family formation?"
Luo Tianshui nodded and said, "Yes, this formation is very ancient and is used to control souls. In the past, when the Luo family transported corpses at night, they would set up this formation around the corpses to prevent wandering souls from possessing them and escaping."
"Is this formation easy to break?" Long Xiao asked.
Luo Tianshui nodded and said, "The foundation of this formation is the Luo Shu. It's not difficult to break, but the problem is if there are malevolent souls inside, they will be difficult to deal with."
"What is a malevolent soul? Is it a type of wandering soul?" Yuan Nan asked.
Luo Tianshui nodded and said, "To explain it with modern science, a malevolent soul is a kind of negative energy, bad information that exists by leveraging the magnetic field."
The "Dragon Scripture" also has writings on souls, but its explanation of souls is much more reasonable than modern science's explanation. The 'Po' is the human body, a tangible entity formed by condensed positive qi, while the 'Hun' is information, a mass of negative qi.
When yin and yang combine, all things are born. Only when yin and yang combine and cycle according to natural laws can all things in the world be formed. Humans are one of the myriad things in the world, a part of nature.
The explanation of all things in the "Dragon Scripture" forms its own system. It only partially resembles ancient Chinese theories of yin and yang and is completely different from modern science.
"Let's go. Everyone, be careful," Long Xiao said as he stepped forward and entered the woods.
As soon as he entered the woods, the light instantly dimmed. The light from outside seemed to be blocked by a wall and could not penetrate.
After a few steps, Long Xiao noticed the 'Crimson Flame Worm' emerge from his collar and perch on his shoulder.
"Is the yin energy here quite heavy?" Long Xiao asked.
The 'Crimson Flame Worm' nodded and began to nervously observe its surroundings.
"Brother Long, the 'Crimson Flame Worm' is redder than before," said Luo Tianshui, who was walking behind him.
"This fellow has gotten rich recently, absorbing a lot of yin energy and growing quite a bit."
The woods were not large, and soon Long Xiao and Luo Tianshui found the two missing students. These two students had vacant eyes and ragged clothes, and they were constantly walking in circles around a circumference of about ten meters.
Luo Tianshui pointed to the center of the circle the two students were walking around and said, "Brother Long, there should be an ancient tomb there. These two students have wandering souls within them."
The more powerful the wandering soul, the heavier its malevolent aura. For Long Xiao, the more malevolent energy and yin energy there was, the more beneficial it was for the 'Crimson Flame Worm's' growth.
Long Xiao took out paper and a pen from his pocket, wrote two talismans, and walked towards the two students holding the talismans.
The two students seemed not to see Long Xiao, continuing to walk forward. Long Xiao felt that the closer he got to them, the heavier the yin energy around him became.
The 'Crimson Flame Worm' flew up, happily darting through the woods, absorbing the free-floating yin energy in the air.
To prevent being invaded by the yin energy, Long Xiao's internal five-element qi spread across his body's surface. While this prevented him from feeling the yin energy, it also prevented the yin energy from penetrating.
Using the 'Ghost Profound' step, Long Xiao quickly caught up to the two students and placed two talismans on their foreheads.
The 'Demon Dispelling Talisman' took effect rapidly. The yin energy around the students' heads was quickly dispersed. The two students instantly regained consciousness and their legs gave out, causing them to collapse onto the ground.
In their dazed state, they hadn't felt fear.
Now that they were suddenly clear-headed, they couldn't recall what had just happened. This was the most vulnerable moment for their spirits to be shaken.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you at the request of your principal."
Long Xiao spoke loudly, his voice intended to be a sharp reprimand.
The two students involuntarily shivered, and sweat streamed down their faces.
"Where are we? What happened?" the male student asked.
Long Xiao squatted in front of them and said, "Classmate, you're a man, be strong and protect your girlfriend."
The male student nodded. Long Xiao continued, "You shouldn't stay here for too long. If you can walk, I'll take you away first."
The two students were exhausted. They helped each other to stand up. Long Xiao stepped forward to support them and also checked their bodies.
At the location of their hearts, both students had a mass of dark qi, which was influencing their minds.
The yin energy surrounding the brain was easy to remove, but the yin energy around the heart, if not directly removed by the five-element qi, would require acupuncture, specifically the Thirteen Ghost Needles, to safely access the heart meridian.