Mu Qinxue didn't answer right away. Instead, she glanced over her shoulder, another flash of surprise in her eyes.
"You sensed that?" she asked.
When he nodded, she raised a brow.
"Then you're more perceptive than I expected."
Before he could ask more, she raised her hand and gestured toward the path they'd just walked through. Her fingers traced through the air, briefly illuminating the space with soft glimmers of light—marking the contours of something unseen.
"That path is covered by a formation," she explained. "A very old one. It's designed to disorient and mislead any who pass through without the correct resonance."
Tian Lei narrowed his eyes slightly. "So… it hides the house?"
"It doesn't just hide," she corrected. "It bends. Distance, memory, perception—it twists them all. You could walk in a straight line and feel like you've circled back. Or think something is right in front of you when it's ten steps to your left."
