He paused, unable to come up with an appropriate form of address, and simply said, "You give it a try."

Evan Carter replied honestly, "I have no spiritual power."

"You!" Brian Cooper exploded again, "Are you messing with us?"

If it were anyone else, they would have started arguing with her, but when Evan Carter doesn't want to talk, he's like a gourd with its mouth sawn off, or a cricket with its wings plucked—he simply ignored her and said to Kevin Cooper, "Pass it to me."

Kevin Cooper did as told, placing her hand on his right shoulder and began channeling spiritual power into his body.

Evan Carter's meridians, which were already extremely unsuited for cultivation, were forcibly filled with spiritual power, as if a surging river was flooding into a dried-up stream. His entire arm ached as if it would split open, and he nearly coughed up blood. Kevin Cooper's hand pressing on his shoulder made him feel even more nauseous.

But if he wanted to get out, he had to draw the talisman, so he gritted his teeth and endured it, dipped the brush in talisman sand, and began to draw.

Kevin Cooper let out a soft "huh": "It does seem to be working."

Unexpectedly, this little beggar really had some skill. Brian Cooper blushed, hesitated to speak, and turned her eyes away from him.

The Little Star Array could be used for stargazing and was not a difficult formation. Halfway through drawing, Evan Carter suddenly thought, the spiritual power used by the people here was connected to the one he once had, and he had also learned the Little Star Array—perhaps it was the same world, just at a different point in time.

His own sect's lineage was said to be ancient and far-reaching; he wondered if he could find it here as well.

When the talisman was finished, Kevin Cooper finally let go, and Evan Carter felt half his life was gone.

Kevin Cooper took the talisman paper and activated it with spiritual power. The talisman sand on it shone brightly. She dripped blood onto it, closed her eyes to sense it, and after a moment said, "It's done!"

The girls were overjoyed, gathered around, and prepared to set off immediately.

"It's just that my spiritual power ultimately doesn't match his, so I can't use it smoothly. This formation is unstable and can only last for half an hour," Kevin Cooper said with a troubled expression.

The girls all looked at Evan Carter again, their intentions clear—they wanted Evan Carter to go with them, so if the talisman broke, he could draw another.

Brian Cooper called out, "Hey," looking awkward, as if she wanted to say something, maybe to apologize.

Evan Carter didn't know how to respond, so he simply ignored her and silently followed along.

At this point, if he wanted to get out, there was no other choice but to go with them.

Henry Thompson and Samuel Thompson, the brothers, volunteered to join. With the two of them holding torches for light, two of the girls' hands were freed up. When encountering evil creatures, having one more fighter increased their chances of survival.

So, the girls formed the outer defense, while Evan Carter, Henry Thompson, and Samuel Thompson were clustered in the center, and the group headed toward Minzhou City. Along the way, they encountered countless living corpses and evil spirits. Though the girls' cultivation wasn't very high, their swordsmanship was excellent, and with their seamless cooperation, they managed to get through without any real danger.

When it was safe, Samuel Thompson, unable to stand the silence, would always strike up a conversation with them. Among the girls, Jason Cooper was the youngest and had the best temper, so she wasn't fierce with Samuel Thompson. As they chatted, Evan Carter gradually learned the story of "Phoenix Manor."

It was a sect that only accepted women, taking in orphaned girls with nowhere else to go. If they had talent for martial arts or cultivation, they could join the manor and learn the "Phoenix Blade Technique." If not, they would be sent to the manor's many businesses—silk shops, banks, and so on. The Phoenix Manor's blade technique was fierce and domineering, famous throughout the martial world. Their businesses spanned the four seas, and they had deep ties with other sects, holding a very high status—no one dared to bully them.

When Jason Cooper got to this point, she smiled but said no more.

"Baojing is shy," Kevin Cooper laughed, then continued, her voice crisp and quick, extremely sweet: "Everyone in Phoenix Manor is as close as family, united as one. The reason we're so respected in the martial world... there's another reason: many of the manor's elder sisters have married into the major sects. Those stinky men always say Phoenix Manor is the mother-in-law of the whole martial world. If you offend Phoenix Manor, even if you haven't offended your own wife, you'll have offended your senior brother's wife, or even your master's wife, your disciple's wife, your sister-in-law, your junior's wife, and so on. That's why, in the whole martial world, Phoenix Manor is the one place you can't afford to cross."

At this, the girls burst into laughter. They were all about fourteen or fifteen, and though their tempers weren't the best, they were still innocent and lively overall. Now that they had a clear direction, they were much more relaxed, naturally showing their cheerful and adorable sides. Samuel Thompson was so captivated he couldn't take his eyes off them, and he joined in the laughter.

As they walked and laughed, Samuel Thompson suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"This..." He jumped aside, his voice trembling, one hand reaching for his head. In the torchlight, a patch of black, filthy blood was revealed.

The girls cried out in alarm, drew their swords, and the group quickly spread out, leaving an open space in the middle.

Plop.

Black blood kept dripping down from above, landing right in front of them.

Henry Thompson raised his torch high, and Evan Carter looked up.

Before he could see what was in the tree, he first heard a very soft laugh, followed by a voice.

"You all are quite capable."

The voice was beautiful, carrying a distant, cool indifference, like the wind through pines atop a mountain. For a moment, it made people feel dazed, unable to tell if it was male or female.

But the girls cheered, calling out, "Miss!"

At that moment, Evan Carter finally saw that atop the withered branches above their heads, there stood a person.