Mars Guarding the Heart

The sound of the underground river was exceptionally clear in the vast cave, echoing with a unique ethereal quality found only beneath the earth.

Ying Zheng's words were like ice picks, chipping away at Cheng Xi's taut nerves. The bronze shard burning with the Sun Totem, and the dark gold scales stuck to his Jianmu Fragment, both exuded an ominous feeling.

"Royal Brother..." Cheng Xi swallowed with difficulty, his dry throat producing a hoarse sound, "This shard...?"

Ying Zheng didn't answer, merely raising the bronze shard to his eyes and examining it closely by the faint bioluminescence of the cave moss. The arcane patterns seemed to come alive under the dim light. At the center of the incomplete Sun Totem, a faint crimson glow seemed to circulate, emitting a heart-stopping heat.

"Before you dragged this lonely man underground," Ying Zheng's voice was devoid of emotion, but his gaze was sharp as a knife, "it was there in the dust from the collapse of the stone platform."

The stone platform collapsed... dust... Cheng Xi's heart trembled violently! Was it left by the remains that had turned into stone and earth? Or... the remnants after that sword guarding the stone pedestal shattered?

[Target Scan: Unknown Bronze Shard... Material Analysis: Shouyang Mountain Red Copper/Star Gold... Pattern Attributes: Fire Element Law Imprint (Extremely Pure/Incomplete)... Totem Association: Ancient Golden Crow Totem (Severely Damaged)... Energy Reaction: Weak/Dormant Activity...]

The System's prompt flashed through his mind. Golden Crow Totem? Ancient Demon Race?

Before Cheng Xi could ponder further, Ying Zheng had put away the shard and his gaze returned to Cheng Xi's face, or rather, to the Jianmu Fragment stuck with dark gold scales in his hand.

"This item, how do you explain it?" Ying Zheng's voice carried the oppressive weight of an impending storm. The residual aura of chaotic destruction on the scales made him instinctively feel extreme danger.

Cheng Xi gave a wry smile and handed over the Jianmu Fragment. "When I was escaping underground... it got scraped by that thing." He briefly described the terrifying giant claw that had emerged from the fissure in the stone cave.

Ying Zheng took the fragment, his fingertips brushing over the tiny dark gold scale. Beneath the cold touch was the aftermath of violent power. He was silent for a moment, the muscles beneath his Black Robes seeming to tense, before finally giving Cheng Xi a deep look and tossing the fragment back.

"Keep it. Whatever that thing is, since it couldn't catch us, it's not a concern for now." His gaze shifted towards the depths of the dark cave. "The priority now is to find a way out."

A delicate, unspoken truce was temporarily reached. Both knew that the secrets each held were far more astonishing than what was revealed. But for now, surviving this underground labyrinth was paramount.

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

[Environment Scan... Cave Structure Deduction... Earth Vein Spiritual Energy Flow Analysis... Optimal Path Generation...]

Faint blue data streams outlined a complex three-dimensional map in his mind. This cave was not a dead end. Downstream of the underground river, the Earth Vein Spiritual Energy flow was active, and there were several natural fissures or waterways connecting to the outside.

"Let's go this way," Cheng Xi pointed towards the downstream of the underground river, his tone carrying an undeniable certainty. At this moment, he had to demonstrate his value.

Ying Zheng didn't ask further, merely nodding slightly. The two followed the faint light source and the gurgling water, walking along the slippery riverbank towards the depths of the cave. The cave was terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of footsteps and flowing water echoing in the vast space.

After about half an hour of walking, the path ahead opened up. The underground river flowed into a much larger subterranean lake. The lake's surface was as calm as ink, reflecting the giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling, emitting a faint azure glow, like a forest of inverted stars, beautiful, eerie, and tranquil.

In the center of the lake, there was a small natural island formed by black reefs. On the island, a single, peculiar plant grew in isolation.

The plant was only about three feet tall, with a translucent jade-like luster all over, as if carved from the finest dark jade. Its branches were gnarled, without leaves, and only bore a fist-sized fruit at the top, shaped like a heart! The fruit's skin was a deep dark red, covered with raised golden veins like blood vessels, and at this moment, with a slow and heavy rhythm, it was... pulsing!

With each pulse, a wave of pure, gentle, yet mysteriously rhythmic energy silently spread out, brushing across the calm lake surface, creating subtle ripples.

[High-Dimensional Energy Source Locked! Target: Mars Guarding Heart Fruit (Immature)... Attributes: Power of Stars/Life Essence/Weak Fate Perturbation... Energy Level: Extremely High!... Warning! Powerful Protective Force Field Detected!...]

Mars Guarding Heart Fruit?! Power of Stars? Fate Perturbation? Cheng Xi's heart trembled violently! In the depths of this earth, such a rare treasure of heaven and earth was gestating!

The moment his mind was captivated by the pulsing fruit!

An anomaly occurred!

The calm, mirror-like black lake surface began to boil without warning! Countless huge bubbles gurgled and burst! Immediately after, seven or eight tentacles, as thick as buckets and covered in dark green mucus and suction cups, like demonic shadows from the abyss, suddenly burst out of the water! Carrying a foul stench, they moved with lightning speed, fiercely coiling towards Cheng Xi and Ying Zheng, who had lost their footing!

Before the tentacles even arrived, the foul wind carried a dizzying mental shock, sweeping towards them!

"Hmph!" Ying Zheng snorted coldly, a flash of purple-gold light in his eyes! The invisible mental shock hit him like a stone sinking into the sea! The long sword at his waist was instantly unsheathed, a sharp, chilling glint tearing through the dimness, precisely slicing towards the two tentacles that were coiling towards him!

Screech!

The tough tentacles were severed! Dark green, foul-smelling blood spurted like a fountain!

However, there were more tentacles attacking Cheng Xi! And they were faster! He had just recovered from the exertion of Earth Escape, and although the energy in his sea of consciousness was there, he hadn't had time to mobilize it. He was about to be entangled by those slippery tentacles covered in suction cups!

At the critical moment!

A fierce glint flashed in Cheng Xi's eyes! He stopped trying to mobilize complex spells, instead channeling the recently recovered Earth Element Spiritual Energy, combined with the most concise path instantly deduced by the System, all into his legs. He stomped heavily on the ground!

"Earth Tremor!"

Boom!

Centered on his landing point, the hard ground violently undulated and vibrated like the surface of water! A visible ring of earth-yellow ripples instantly spread out!

Those giant tentacles coiling towards him, under the impact of this sudden, fierce seismic wave, their movements instantly distorted and slowed! The suction cups slapped against the violently shaking rocks, making a teeth-grinding splat sound!

Seizing this interval! Cheng Xi retreated rapidly! Narrowly avoiding the entanglement of the tentacles!

"Roar--!" A muffled roar of pain came from the center of the lake! Clearly, the impact of the Earth Tremor spell had also injured the creature's main body underwater!

"Go!" Ying Zheng forced back the attacking tentacles with his sword, grabbed Cheng Xi's arm, and unhesitatingly rushed towards a narrow fissure on the other side of the cave! That was the true exit deduced by the System!

The figures of the two disappeared into the shadows of the fissure. Behind them, the lake surface churned wildly, and the giant tentacles thrashed against the lake shore's reefs with thunderous roars, but they could not squeeze into the narrow gap.

When the two finally emerged from a hidden crevice in a mountain stream, breathing in the crisp air of Zhongnan Mountain once more, the sky was already full of stars.

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

And beside that blood-red moon, in the eastern sky, a giant, blood-red, eerily glowing star was emitting an ominous radiance, dimming all the surrounding stars!

Mars!

Even more heart-stopping was that the crimson star, Mars, its eerie light, was forming a straight line, filled with a murderous aura, with the noble Ziwei star representing the Emperor Star in the center of the sky!

Mars Guarding the Heart!

Ying Zheng abruptly stopped, tilting his head to gaze at the strange, alien sky. His black robes rustled in the night wind. His face, under the blood-red starlight, appeared unusually stern, his thin lips pressed together. In his eyes, deep as still pools, surged a fury far more profound and icy than the bloody constellations, along with... an indescribable gravity.

Cheng Xi also stopped, his heart heavy as he looked at the celestial phenomenon that symbolized a dire omen. The purging of the Human Cultivation, Lu Buwei's assassination attempt, the demonic claws from underground, Mars Guarding the Heart... were all these mere coincidences?

"Royal Brother..." he began, intending to speak.

Ying Zheng slowly lowered his head, no longer looking at the strange sky. His gaze fell upon Cheng Xi's face, then swept over the hand still tightly gripping the Jianmu Fragment. His voice was low, yet carried a decisiveness that severed all doubt:

"Portents in the stars are nothing but illusions." He paused, each word like cold iron quenched in fire. "We return to Xianyang. Some accounts need settling."

He turned, his figure cloaked in black robes melting into the night forest. His steps were steady and firm, as if the blood-red, ominous star hanging beside the Emperor Star was merely an insignificant speck of dust.

Cheng Xi watched his retreating back, then lowered his head to look at the warm fragment in his palm, and the dark golden scale stuck to it, emanating a chaotic afterglow.

The mountain wind whimpered, swirling fallen leaves.

Not far behind him, within the gnarled shadow of an old tree, a palm-sized ancient bronze mirror, its edges inlaid with seven dim stars, rippled gently like water. It reflected Cheng Xi's profile, holding the fragment and gazing up at the sky, before quickly falling silent again, as if it had never appeared.

Deep within the mirror's surface, a sliver of silver moonlight flashed and vanished.