Mars Guarding the Heart

The sound of the underground river was exceptionally clear within the vast cavern, carrying the ethereal echoes unique to the depths below.

Ying Zheng's words were like ice picks, chipping at Cheng Xi's taut nerves. The bronze fragment burning with a Sun Totem, along with the dark gold scale stuck to his Jianmu Fragment, both radiated ill omen.

"Royal Brother..." Cheng Xi swallowed with difficulty, his parched throat producing a hoarse voice. "This fragment...?"

Ying Zheng did not answer. He merely raised the bronze fragment before his eyes and examined it carefully using the faint fluorescence of the moss on the cave walls. The mysterious patterns seemed to come alive beneath the dim glow. At the center of the incomplete Sun Totem, an extremely faint golden-red light appeared to flow, emitting heart-palpitating heat.

"Before you dragged me underground," Ying Zheng said, his voice devoid of emotion though his gaze was sharp as a blade, "it was among the dust from that stone platform's collapse."

The stone platform's collapse... the dust... Cheng Xi's heart shook violently! Had it been left behind by that corpse that had turned into stone? Or... the remains of the guardian Stone Sword after it had shattered?

[Target scan: Unknown bronze fragment... Material analysis: Shouyang Mountain Red Copper/Star Gold... Pattern attribute: Fire Element Law imprint (extremely pure/incomplete)... Totem connection: Ancient Golden Crow Totem (severely damaged)... Energy reaction: Weak/dormant activity...]

The system prompt flashed through his mind. Golden Crow Totem? Ancient Demon Race?

Before Cheng Xi could think further, Ying Zheng had already put away the fragment. His gaze returned to Cheng Xi's face—or rather, to the Jianmu Fragment in his hand with the dark gold scale stuck to it.

"How do you explain this?" Ying Zheng's voice carried the oppressive weight of an approaching storm. The chaotic, destructive aura lingering on the scale made him instinctively sense extreme danger.

Cheng Xi gave a bitter smile and handed over the Jianmu Fragment. "When I used Earth Escape... that thing scraped against it." He briefly described the terrifying giant claw that had reached out from behind the crack in the stone cavern.

Ying Zheng took the fragment. His fingertips brushed over the tiny dark gold scale; beneath its icy touch lingered the aftertaste of violent power. He was silent for a moment. The muscles beneath his black robes seemed to tense for an instant. In the end, he merely gave Cheng Xi a deep look before tossing the fragment back.

"Keep it. Whatever it is, since it failed to catch up with us, it is not a concern for now." His gaze shifted toward the depths of the dark cavern. "Our urgent task is to find a way out."

A subtle, unspoken truce had temporarily been reached. Both knew that the secrets each carried were far more astonishing than they had shown. But for now, leaving this underground labyrinth alive was the priority.

Cheng Xi forced himself to stand. The 15% system energy in his sea of consciousness slowly circulated, repairing his body's fatigue. He focused and communicated with the system:

[Environmental scan... Cavern structure deduction... Earth Vein Spiritual Qi flow analysis... Optimal route generated...]

Pale blue data stream outlined a complex three-dimensional map in his mind. This cavern was not a dead end. Downstream along the underground river, the Earth Vein Spiritual Qi flowed actively, and several natural cracks or waterway exits connected to the outside.

"This way." Cheng Xi pointed downstream, his tone carrying an unquestionable certainty. At this moment, he had to demonstrate enough value.

Ying Zheng did not ask further questions and simply nodded slightly. Following the faint light and the murmur of flowing water, the two walked along the slippery riverbank toward the depths of the cavern. The cave was terrifyingly silent; only their footsteps and the sound of water echoed through the enormous space.

After walking for about half an hour, the view ahead suddenly opened up. The underground river flowed into an even broader subterranean lake. Its surface was calm as ink, reflecting the enormous stalactites hanging from the dome above and emitting a ghostly blue glow. They resembled an upside-down forest of stars, beautiful yet eerie and silent.

At the center of the lake stood a small natural island formed from black reefs. On the island grew a solitary, strange plant.

The plant was only three feet tall, its entire body possessing a translucent jade-like sheen, as though carved from the finest black jade. Its branches twisted together, leafless, and at its tip grew a fist-sized fruit shaped like a heart! The fruit's skin was a deep dark red, covered in raised golden veins like Blood Vessels. At that moment, it was pulsating slowly and heavily, once... then again...

With every pulse, a ripple of pure, gentle energy carrying some kind of mysterious rhythm spread out soundlessly, brushing across the tranquil lake and raising faint ripples.

[High-dimensional energy source locked! Target: Mars Guarding Heart Fruit (unripe)... Attributes: Power of Stars/Life Essence/weak Fate Perturbation... Energy level: Extremely high!... Warning! A powerful protective force field exists!...]

Mars Guarding Heart Fruit?! Power of Stars? Fate Perturbation? Cheng Xi's heart shook violently! Such a heavenly treasure had actually formed deep underground!

Just as his mind was drawn to that pulsating fruit—

Another change occurred!

The black lake, calm as a mirror, suddenly began to boil without warning! Countless enormous bubbles rose and burst! Immediately afterward, seven or eight gigantic tentacles as thick as water barrels, covered with dark green mucus and suckers, burst violently from the water like demonic shadows from the abyss! Carrying a fetid gale, they lashed viciously toward the unsteady Cheng Xi and Ying Zheng with lightning speed!

Before the tentacles even arrived, the fetid gale already carried a dizzying mental assault that rushed straight at them!

"Hmph!" Ying Zheng snorted coldly. A flash of purple-gold light flickered and vanished in his eyes! The invisible mental assault struck him, only to vanish like a mud cow entering the sea! The sword at his waist instantly left its sheath. A shrill, cold gleam tore through the darkness and slashed toward the two tentacles winding toward him with unparalleled precision!

Screech!

The tough tentacles were severed at once! Dark green, fetid blood sprayed out like a fountain!

However, more tentacles attacked Cheng Xi! They were faster! He had just expended himself using Earth Escape, and though energy remained in his sea of consciousness, he had no time to mobilize it. He was about to be entangled by those slick tentacles covered with suckers!

At that critical moment!

A fierce light flashed in Cheng Xi's eyes! He no longer attempted to use any complex techniques. Instead, he combined the Earth Element Spiritual Energy he had just recovered with the simplest route instantly deduced by the system, poured it all into his legs, and stomped the ground fiercely!

"Earth Tremor!"

Boom!

Centered on where he stood, the hard ground suddenly surged and shook like the surface of water! A ring of earthen-yellow ripples visible to the naked eye instantly spread out!

The massive tentacles winding toward him were struck by the sudden, violent seismic wave. Their movements instantly warped and slowed! Their suckers slapped against the violently shaking rocks, producing tooth-aching squelches!

Seizing the opening, Cheng Xi swiftly retreated! He narrowly avoided the tentacles' entanglement!

"Roar—!" A deep, pained roar came from the center of the lake! Clearly, the impact of Earth Tremor had also injured the body beneath the water!

"Go!" Ying Zheng forced back the tentacles attacking again with a sword strike, grabbed Cheng Xi's arm, and charged without hesitation toward a narrow crack on the other side of the cavern! That was the true exit deduced by the system!

Their figures vanished into the shadow of the crack. Behind them, the lake churned madly as huge tentacles frantically battered the reefs along the shore with thunderous booms, yet they could not squeeze into the narrow fissure.

When the two finally crawled out through a concealed crack in a mountain ravine and breathed the cold air of Zhongnan Mountain again, the sky was already full of stars.

A blood-red crescent moon hung low in the western sky.

Beside that blood-red crescent moon, in the eastern sky, a gigantic star as red as blood shone with eerie light, emitting an ominous radiance that dimmed all the stars around it!

Mars!

Even more heart-palpitating was that the eerie glow of that crimson Mars star faintly formed a straight line brimming with murderous intent with the star at the center of the heavens representing the imperial star, the noble Purple Star...

Mars Guarding the Heart!

Ying Zheng abruptly stopped and looked up at that eerie Starry Sky. His black robes snapped in the night wind. Under the blood-red starlight, his face appeared exceptionally cold and stern, his thin lips pressed tightly together. In those deep-pool eyes, anger even deeper and colder than the blood-red Starry Sky churned at that moment, along with... a trace of indescribable gravity.

Cheng Xi also stopped. Looking at the celestial sign that symbolized great misfortune, his heart felt heavy. The Human Sect's extermination attempt, Lu Buwei's assassination, the Underground Devil Claws, Mars Guarding the Heart... Was all of this merely coincidence?

"Royal Brother..." He had just wanted to speak.

But Ying Zheng slowly lowered his head and no longer looked at that eerie Starry Sky. His gaze fell upon Cheng Xi's face, then swept across the hand still tightly gripping the Jianmu Fragment. His voice was low, yet it carried a resolve that severed all hesitation.

"Celestial omens are nothing but empty superstition." He paused, then spoke each word like cold iron tempered in flame. "Return to Xianyang. Some debts must be settled."

He turned around, his black-robed figure merging into the mountain forest's night. His steps were steady and resolute, as though the blood-red demonic star hanging beside the imperial star was no more than an insignificant speck of dust.

Cheng Xi watched his retreating figure, then lowered his head to look at the warm fragment in his palm and the dark gold scale attached to it, still emitting chaotic remnants of power.

The mountain wind wailed, sweeping up dead leaves.

Not far behind him, within the twisted shadow of an old tree, an Ancient Bronze Mirror the size of a palm, with seven dim stars set along its rim, rippled gently across its surface like water. It reflected Cheng Xi's side profile as he held the fragment and gazed up at the Starry Sky, then swiftly returned to silence, as though it had never appeared.

Deep within the mirror, a silver glimmer of moonlight flashed and vanished.