Mount Li Demonic Lair

The writing on the silk manuscript was like red-hot iron, scorching Cheng Xi's fingertips.

Yongcheng! Lao Ai's Rebellion!

Historical records stated that after King Zhuangxiang of Qin died, Zhao Ji had an illicit affair with the fake eunuch Lao Ai. She even bore him two sons in Yongcheng—the former capital of Qin and the location of the Empress Dowager's palace—ultimately leading to Lao Ai forging an edict and launching a rebellion, only to be defeated and executed in a tragedy!

The timing... was next year! The fourth year of King Zhuangxiang of Qin!

But the information revealed by the silk manuscript was a hundred times bloodier and more sinister than the historical records!

Lu Buwei had used Demonic People! In the Shady Ravine of Mount Li, he had used the Imperial Tomb Earth Qi to nurture demonic evils! The Mohist Grand Master had investigated, only to meet an end of "certain death" and leave behind "final words"!

How was this merely a palace scandal and rebellion? It was clearly Lu Buwei Colludes with Demonic Evils, using the Imperial Tomb Earth Qi as a furnace and living people as fodder to concoct a monstrous demonic calamity! Its target was Ying Zheng, who was about to take power himself, and the fate of all Great Qin!

A chill crawled up Cheng Xi's spine to the top of his head! At last, he understood why Lao Ai, a common street thug in history, had been able to gather several thousand retainers and deathsworn men in Yongcheng to launch a rebellion! Those "retainers and deathsworn men" were likely not human at all! They were monsters created by Lu Buwei and Demonic People through wicked arts!

The Mohist Grand Master had sent this message at the cost of his life... the weight of this intelligence was as heavy as Mount Tai! The mute servant A Mao had delivered it at the risk of his life... who had directed him Behind the scenes? The remaining forces of the Mohists? Or perhaps... someone within Xianyang Palace who had also seen through the crisis but could not speak of it openly?

Cheng Xi's gaze instinctively turned toward Zhangtai Palace. Ying Zheng... how much did he know?

"Haa..." He forced himself to calm down. The urgent matter was verifying whether the intelligence was true! The Shady Ravine of Mount Li, where the imperial tomb stood! If it had truly become a nest of demonic evils... the Unimaginable consequences would be unbearable!

He immediately focused his mind and connected with the system in his sea of consciousness, whose energy had recovered to 18%.

[Mission established: scanning the Mount Li region... Target: Anomalous energy concentration/Earth Vein disturbance... Related keywords: Imperial Tomb Earth Qi/demonic evils... Simulation commencing...]

A pale-blue light screen frantically refreshed with data stream in his mind. Combining Cheng Xi's vague memories from his previous life of Mount Li's geography and the First Emperor's Mausoleum—the burial mound, underground palace structure, mercury rivers, and so on—it constructed a complex energy model.

A moment later, the result appeared:

[Abnormal flow of Earth Vein Energy in Mount Li's main range! A high-intensity Earth Vein Energy extraction node exists in the Shady Ravine region—the valley northeast of the imperial tomb! Extraction pattern: predatory/contaminating... High concentrations of yin baleful resentment and unnatural life fluctuations detected around the node—Demonic Transformation traits... Correlation assessment: silk manuscript intelligence credibility: 92.7%!]

92.7%!

Cheng Xi's heart sank to the bottom. Lu Buwei and those Demonic People really were using the Dragon Vein Earth Energy of the imperial tomb to perform this heaven-defying wicked art!

He had to stop them! Otherwise, once those demonic evils were successfully "nurtured" on a large scale and released during Lao Ai's Rebellion... Xianyang would become a living hell! Ying Zheng would be in danger! Qin would be in danger! And Cheng Xi himself could forget about staying out of it!

But how could he stop them? By entering a dragon's den and tiger's lair alone? That would be no different from courting death!

He abruptly looked at the side hall—Yan Lingji! And that Qingping Sword Sheath containing the Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent!

A bold plan swiftly took shape in his mind!

That night, in the dead of night.

Avoiding the palace's eyes and ears, Cheng Xi silently arrived at the side hall where Yan Lingji was recovering. Yan Lingji had not yet gone to sleep. She sat cross-legged on the couch, hands cradling that section of Green Jade Sword Sheath, eyes closed in concentration. The sword sheath was emitting a cool, gentle glow that reflected against the faint blazing-white witchfire within her, seemingly slowly restoring her injuries and depleted strength.

Hearing movement, she suddenly opened her eyes. Her flame-like pupils lit up in the darkness as she warily looked at the doorway.

"It's me." Cheng Xi slipped inside and quickly shut the hall doors.

"Is something wrong?" Yan Lingji set down the sword sheath. Her voice was still somewhat hoarse, but her breathing was much steadier.

Cheng Xi did not waste words. He directly handed her the Mohist Token and the silk manuscript containing the Grand Master's final words.

Yan Lingji accepted them in confusion and swiftly read through them using the faint moonlight filtering through the window. When she saw words such as "nurturing demonic evils" and "Mohist Followers certain to die," her expression changed drastically! Especially when she saw the descriptions of the demonic evils—"scales," "the smell of sulfur," "bloodthirsty frenzy"—she abruptly raised her head, flames blazing wildly in her eyes!

"It's them! Those 'Mountain Specters'! The monsters concocted by the Yin Yang School and Demonic People!" Her voice trembled with fury. The unhealed wound on her shoulder seemed to ache faintly again. "They raised even more of them... at Mount Li?!"

"That's right." Cheng Xi's voice was icy. "And they're using the Dragon Vein Earth Energy of the imperial tomb to raise them! Once these things grow strong enough and are released... you know the consequences."

Yan Lingji clenched the silk manuscript so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The blood vengeance of her clan members and her own experiences had filled her with bone-deep hatred and fear toward these demonic evils.

"What do you intend to do?" She looked at Cheng Xi, resolve burning in her flame-like eyes.

"Destroy their nest and cut off their roots!" Cheng Xi said decisively. "But the two of us aren't enough. I need your fire, and this—" He pointed at the Qingping Sword Sheath in Yan Lingji's hands. "And the sword intent of that sword immortal within the sheath!"

He quickly laid out his plan: use the Qingping Sword Sheath's sensitivity to Spatial Fluctuation, combined with Yan Lingji's witchfire and his own recovered Earth Element Spiritual Energy, to create an "accidental," small-scale Earth Vein disruption and spatial disturbance outside the Shady Ravine of Mount Li! They would not seek to destroy the nest, only to stir the grass and startle the snake—to alert those inside, perhaps even... the potentially existing Demonic People behind the scenes! As long as they created chaos and exposed a flaw, they would have a chance to determine the truth and perhaps even find the key nodes needed to destroy the nest!

"It's dangerous." After hearing him out, Yan Lingji fell silent for a moment, then met Cheng Xi's eyes in a direct gaze. "We might die."

"If we stay here and wait for them to finish raising those things and unleash them, we'll die anyway." Cheng Xi's voice was terrifyingly calm. "And far more people will die."

Yan Lingji looked into Cheng Xi's astonishingly bright eyes in the darkness, then lowered her gaze to the warm Green Jade Sword Sheath in hand, which nonetheless contained supreme sharpness. She recalled the desperate tide of corpses in the secluded valley and the instant Cheng Xi had activated the sword sheath to lead her out alive.

"Fine." She uttered only one word. There was no hesitation left in her flame-like eyes, only the resolve to burn away everything.

Three days later, night. The northern foothills of Mount Li, the Shady Ravine.

The mountains here were steep, the forests deep and shadowy, and mist lingered year-round. Few people ever came here. The area near the King of Qin's tomb, still under construction, was especially heavily guarded and regarded as forbidden ground.

At this moment, beneath a wind-sheltered cliff deep within the Shady Ravine, Cheng Xi and Yan Lingji clung to the cold rock face like geckos. Below them lay a bottomless, dark gorge, where dense mist carrying the smell of earth and sulfur churned like viscous liquid.

Through gaps in the thick fog, a massive man-made platform was vaguely visible across the gorge. The platform extended deep into the mountain belly, its entrance sealed by heavy bronze doors engraved with bizarre runes. On either side of the doors stood several bronze statues with savage faces, neither human nor beast. Ghostly green phosphorescent flames flickered in their eyes as they surveyed the gorge like living creatures. At the platform's edge, patrolling figures were vaguely visible. Their movements were stiff and their footsteps heavy—they were definitely not living people!

What alarmed Cheng Xi even more was that the mist filling the gorge had not formed naturally! He could clearly sense the Earth Vein Spiritual Qi beneath his feet being forcibly drawn from the direction of the imperial tomb's main vein by a powerful, sinister force, pouring relentlessly behind those bronze doors like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea! Nourished by the dense earth qi, the strange runes upon the doors flickered with ghostly light as if breathing!

[Energy flow confirmed! Earth Vein plundering node! Demonic Transformation guards—Corpse Puppet x12... Bronze door structural analysis... Core defensive runes locked...]

The system's scan confirmed the sight before them. This place was the heart of the demonic nest!

"Are you ready?" Cheng Xi asked in a low voice, Looking at Yan Lingji beside him.

Yan Lingji took a deep breath and nodded. Her hands gripped the Qingping Sword Sheath tightly as blazing-white witchfire slowly rose from her fingertips.

Cheng Xi hesitated no longer! He slammed both palms against the cold rock wall!

The 18% system energy in his sea of consciousness ignited instantly! Pure, dense Earth Element Spiritual Energy mixed with a trace of the Xirang Crystal's origin power surged madly into the earth beneath his feet like a roaring river!

[Earth-element law overload application! Target: localized Earth Vein reverse flow/rock layer resonance!]

Rumble—!

Centered on the cliff where they stood, the mountain body within several dozen zhang suddenly began a violent tremor! Like a sleeping beast startled awake! The rocks groaned under unbearable strain and came raining down! The viscous mist in the gorge churned violently from the shock!

"Right now!" Cheng Xi roared!

Flames burst from Yan Lingji's eyes! She poured every last trace of blazing-white witchfire from her whole body into the Qingping Sword Sheath without reservation!

Clang—!

A clear sword cry sounded through the secluded gorge! The Qingping Sword Sheath erupted with unprecedented radiance! Cool azure light and blazing-white flames fused completely, Turning into a condensed azure-white sword qi as tangible as solid matter, possessing Unparalleled Sharpness! Within that sword qi was also a thread of Sky-Severing Sword Intent from Lord Tongtian, capable of severing all things!

The sword qi did not strike at the bronze doors. Instead, guided by Yan Lingji, it slashed fiercely at the point in the center of the gorge where Earth Vein Spiritual Qi gathered most violently!

Riiip!

Space was like fragile silk brocade, forcibly torn open by that sword qi containing the Sky-Severing Sword Intent into a pitch-black gash over a zhang long!

Terrifying Spatial Turbulence instantly gushed from the rift! Like countless invisible blades, it sliced and churned madly!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Earth Vein Spiritual Qi that had originally been forcibly guided to flow steadily through the gorge instantly went berserk under the double impact of the sudden Spatial Turbulence and the reverse Earth Vein flow! Like a rushing current struck by a boulder, it crashed, collided, and exploded wildly!

The entire Shady Ravine of Mount Li shook with an earthquake! Rocks collapsed! The viscous fog within the gorge was ripped apart by the violent energy turbulence!

"Enemy attack!!!"

Across the gorge, a shrill alarm sounded! Those stiff patrolling figures—the Corpse Puppets—let out inhuman shrieks, their movements instantly becoming frenzied! Ghostly light flared from the rune-covered bronze doors, clearly showing that the internal defensive mechanisms had been activated at full force!

Chaos! Absolute chaos!

"Go!" Cheng Xi grabbed Yan Lingji, who was on the verge of collapse from exhausting her strength. Using the cover of dust from the collapsing mountain body and the energy turbulence, he moved like a phantom, Swiftly climbing the steep rock face!

Just as they were about to reach the cliff top!

"What insignificant vermin dares disturb the Sacred Master's altar!"

A cold, hoarse roar like metal grinding suddenly came from the direction of the bronze doors! The sound was not loud, yet it pierced through the chaotic rumbling and exploded directly within their sea of consciousness!

Then!

A terrifying pressure, sinister and icy, filled with the aura of decay and death, instantly enveloped the entire Shady Ravine of Mount Li like an invisible giant hand!

A phantom ghost claw, dry and black, its nails sharp as hooks, ignored the chaotic Spatial Turbulence and falling rocks. Accompanied by a piercing ghostly howl, it tore through the dust and viciously clawed toward Cheng Xi and Yan Lingji's backs! It was so fast that there was no avoiding it!