Startling Remnant Array

That peach blossom petal was an unearthly red, lodged stubbornly in the shadowed crevice of the window frame, like a solidified bloodstain.

Cheng Xi's every hair stood on end! The imperial gardens of Xianyang Palace were still chilled by early spring; where could such a vibrant peach blossom have come from? He lunged towards the window, his fingertips brushing the petal—ice-cold, slick, possessing a disturbing, unnatural resilience.

[High Energy Warning! Detected residual spatial distortion... Buzz... Analyzing... Attributes: Wood-elemental demonic power/disguise... Target has escaped...]

The System's alarm was sharp and brief. Demonic power? Disguise? Someone, or rather, something, had just been outside the window! It left this petal – was it a warning? A marker? Or... some ritual he couldn't comprehend?

"Lord Chang'an?" Zhao Gao's cautious voice inquired from outside the hall, clearly alerted by the commotion of Cheng Xi lunging at the window.

Cheng Xi quickly wrapped the petal in his sleeve, took a deep breath, and suppressed his racing heart. "It's nothing! Just the wind was strong, I was closing the window." He forced his voice to remain steady, though his back was already drenched in cold sweat. Lu Buwei? Ying Xi? Or... a more terrifying existence lurking behind that ethereal "gaze"? The darkness of this deep palace was far more viscous and deadly than he had imagined.

He hid the strange petal in a secret compartment beneath his pillow, the lingering cold, slick sensation on his fingertips refusing to fade. Ying Xi's harassment was temporarily resolved, but a greater shadow had already descended. He needed power, he needed to escape this passive cage as soon as possible!

His gaze returned to the black wooden shard and the twisted silver Witch Script etched upon it. Spatial anchor... east of Mount Xiao...

"Director of the Central Chariot Bureau," Cheng Xi complained the next day, rubbing his sleepy eyes as if casually speaking to Zhao Gao, who was serving him during his morning ablutions, "My Royal Uncle's wooden blocks and iron pieces are so dull, just cluttering the corner of the hall. I heard the palace storerooms have some old books and scrolls left by alchemists from previous dynasties? Full of nonsensical Gibberish Symbols, could you bring them to me to pass the time?"

Zhao Gao's movements paused almost imperceptibly. His long, thin eyes swept over the opened wooden chests in the corner of the hall, then landed on Cheng Xi's still-youthful face. A familiar, obsequious smile immediately bloomed. "Lord Chang'an has refined tastes. Those external curiosities have been gathering dust for a long time. If you don't disdain them, this servant will go fetch them at once."

The efficiency was astonishing. By afternoon, several dusty bamboo slips, a few pieces of tortoise shell and animal bone, and a damaged silk scroll with a charred, curled edge, as if rescued from a fire, were piled on Cheng Xi's desk. The bamboo slips mostly contained absurd legends of overseas immortal mountains; the tortoise shells and animal bones were inscribed with faint oracle bone script for sacrifices; only the tattered silk scroll captured Cheng Xi's full attention.

The scroll was charred, its texture neither silk nor hemp, feeling cold and tough to the touch. The remaining portions were outlined in a dark red pigment, likely cinnabar mixed with some mineral powder, depicting countless twisted, intersecting lines and indecipherable symbols. The lines followed bizarre paths, the symbols were complex, appearing chaotic at first glance, yet subtly exuding a chilling rhythm.

[Discovered High-Dimensional Energy Diagram (Damaged)... Structure analysis initiated... Energy consumption escalating...]

The System's light screen in his mind was instantly filled by the incomplete diagram! Pale blue light flowed madly, attempting to deconstruct and complete the broken lines and blurred symbols. The intense consumption caused Cheng Xi's temples to throb like needles, and his vision swam.

[Warning! Energy nearing depletion! Forced termination of analysis!... Diagram type determined: Ancient Spirit Gathering/Defense Composite Array Diagram (Core area missing 71%)... Key Runes: Three... Associated Law: Earth Vein Activation... Buzz...]

A partial array! Over seventy percent of the core was missing! But the System had still managed to extract three relatively complete core runes from the scant clues and deduce their basic function—to activate faint Earth Vein energy, gather it, convert it, and form a weak energy barrier!

Cheng Xi's heart pounded, his mouth dry. Spirit gathering! Defense! This was exactly what he needed most right now! Even a fragmented, weak foundation meant he had truly touched the threshold of this world's extraordinary power!

He suppressed his headache and dizziness, lunging towards the desk. He grabbed a wolf-hair brush, recently improved by Meng Tian for a sharper tip, dipped it in thick ink, and, disregarding everything, began to furiously copy onto a plain silk sheet! Following the trajectory of the three complete runes imprinted in his mind by the System, his brushstrokes were like soaring dragons and dancing snakes!

As the first stroke fell, the ink on the brush tip actually seemed to dip slightly, causing a faint ripple on the silk!

The second stroke connected, and the candlelight in the hall flickered and swayed as if moved by the wind!

Just as the third stroke was about to conclude—

"BOOM!"

An invisible, immense force slammed into Cheng Xi's chest! He felt as if he had been kicked head-on by a galloping warhorse. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and blood sprayed onto the unfinished runes! His vision plunged into darkness, and all he could hear was a sharp ringing in his ears! His body, out of control, flew backward, crashing heavily against the cold hall pillar!

"Cough... cough, cough..." Cheng Xi curled up on the ground, coughing up bloody foam, his internal organs feeling as if they had shifted. The wolf-hair brush in his hand had long since snapped. The blood-stained silk sheet drifted to the floor. The three unfinished runes on it had their ink lines twisting and boiling strangely, struggling like living things, emitting an unsettling heat and a scorched smell!

Backlash! The terrifying backlash of the incomplete array! If the System hadn't terminated the analysis early, if he had only attempted to draw the superficial details of the three core runes... he would likely be a charred corpse by now!

The hall door was violently kicked open. Zhao Gao, followed by guards, rushed in. Seeing the mess in the hall and Cheng Xi curled up, coughing blood, his face changed drastically. "Lord Chang'an!"

Confused footsteps, gasps, shouts... Cheng Xi's consciousness was hazy. He felt someone lifting him. Amidst the chaos, his fingertips seemed to brush against something cold and hard—it was the black wooden shard inlaid with silver Witch Script! It had somehow slipped from his sleeve and fallen beside the blood-stained silk sheet.

The instant his fingertips touched the wooden shard—

Hum!

The twisted silver Witch Script on the shard suddenly emitted a faint, almost imperceptible silver glow! A weak but incredibly pure and cool energy flowed through his fingertips and into his nearly shattered meridians! The intense pain in his chest and the roaring in his mind were slightly soothed by this energy!

"Quick! Send for the Imperial Physician!" Zhao Gao's voice carried an unprecedented panic.

Before Cheng Xi completely lost consciousness, he used his last ounce of strength to curl his fingers, tightly gripping the life-saving wooden shard. As his consciousness sank into the darkness for the last time, he thought he saw, on the bare, withered branches of the old locust tree outside the window, a flash of dazzling red.

Midnight. Cheng Xi slowly woke amidst a thick scent of medicine. His chest still ached dully, but that cool energy had protected his heart. The Imperial Physician diagnosed it as "evil wind entering the body, anger attacking the heart," and prescribed a strong dose of calming herbal soup. Zhao Gao personally guarded his bedside, his expression grim.

The hall had been cleaned up; the blood-stained silk sheet was nowhere to be found. Only in his palm, the life-saving black wooden shard remained, still smooth and warm.

When the night deepened and all was quiet, a figure clad in black appeared before the couch like a ghost.

Ying Zheng.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his black robes almost blending into the hall's shadows. Only his eyes, in the dim candlelight, shone astonishingly, like cold flames burning in the abyss. He looked down at the pale-faced Cheng Xi on the couch, and after a long while, finally spoke, his voice suppressed to a whisper, yet each word like an ice pick piercing bone:

"The Luban Lock... you can play with. But the Gibberish Symbols of the previous dynasty... almost killed you."

He leaned slightly forward, his shadow completely enveloping Cheng Xi, carrying an invisible pressure. "Royal Brother, what exactly are you looking for?"

Before Cheng Xi could answer, his gaze, sharp as lightning, swept over Cheng Xi's tightly clenched left hand—a corner of the black wooden shard was peeking out from between his fingers. Ying Zheng's eyes suddenly narrowed, then returned to their deep, placid pool. He left only his final, cold words to echo in the deathly silence filled with the scent of medicine:

"Some 'doors,' once opened, cannot be closed."