Gu Shengyin slowly scanned the entire second floor with her eyes.

Their current position was at the staircase leading up from the first floor.

The stairs stopped here.

Their location had only a few mottled walls, and then a corridor extended infinitely in that direction.

Gu Shengyin imagined for a moment, if the original plot’s Qin Chingching had run up the very stairs they had just climbed.

Then, as a madman with mental issues, the most likely thing she would do is run forward as soon as she sees a path.

There was no path here, only the corridor remained.

Could it be that there was a secret hidden at the end of the corridor?

Gu Shengyin glanced at it briefly; the corridor seemed like a dim passageway, and the place where the old woman initially appeared was precisely at the end of it.

Gu Shengyin whispered, "Are you willing to follow me to the end? Since this isn’t our final destination, let’s keep moving forward." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Everyone expressed no objections.

The old woman seemed to hear their words.

She shrieked, "You mustn’t go! Get out, get out!"

However, she could only shout.

She tried to attack Gu Shengyin and the others, but every time she approached them, an eruption of black smoke accompanied by a scorching pain would appear on her hands.

The feeling of pain hadn’t been felt by her for over a thousand years.

Seeing the old woman’s state, a steady calm settled in Gu Shengyin’s heart, "She can’t harm us; we still have plenty of time. Slowly, we’ll find a way!"

She slowly advanced toward the corridor.

The old woman repeatedly tried to block their way, even at the cost of injuring herself again and again.

Moreover, as they moved forward, the doors to the rooms along the corridor began to open one by one, and stiffly moving "people" emerged, expressionless, blocking their path.

Qin Chingching almost screamed; could it be that the second floor wasn’t just haunted by the old woman?

Gu Shengyin, using her Spiritual Eye, discovered the corridor was actually empty.

All these things were merely hallucinations created by the old woman to impede them.

"Everyone close your eyes; it’s all an illusion. Hold onto me, just follow me!" She shouted loudly.

The illusions were too lifelike; she feared they might believe them.

At her words, everyone followed suit.

Though they didn’t know how Gu Shengyin knew these were all illusions, they had grown accustomed to listening to her.

Everyone slowly moved forward. Gu Shengyin observed that this pitch-black, tranquil corridor kept manifesting various illusions.

For example, while walking, a chandelier would suddenly fall from above, threatening to crush them and cause severe bleeding;

Or the floor would suddenly collapse, revealing cold, sharp blades below, ready to impale them;

...

If not for the Spiritual Eye, Gu Shengyin felt she wouldn’t be able to escape the illusions.

She understood illusions well and knew that even a tiny hint of doubt could allow the surroundings to exploit the vulnerability.

In such an environment, once trapped in illusions, this old woman probably had over a hundred ways to kill them without ever touching them.

Ignoring the old woman’s incredulous, spiteful curses, Gu Shengyin finally reached the end of the corridor without batting an eye.

At the moment of stepping into this end, she felt as if she had entered Heaven.