In the stone cavern of the Imperial Mausoleum of Mount Li, the humming gradually subsided.
Cheng Xi lay on the Ink Jade Platform, the strange vibrations lingering all over him slowly calming. The gray glimmer of the Chaos Origin Point deep within his brow had exhausted all its power and sunk into profound silence. Yet a miracle had occurred—the dark red Turbid Fiendish Meridians spreading beneath his skin like a spider web had visibly faded. Their savage pulsations had been forcibly suppressed, like venomous snakes sealed in ice. A faint yet genuine warm current flowed with difficulty through his scorched meridians, nourished by dragon qi fused with the earth vein's origin.
Meng Tian's hand holding the token trembled slightly. His tiger eyes widened as he stared at the sight before him in disbelief. The dragon-source water in the stone pool no longer needed to be forcibly drawn out by the token. Instead, as if alive, it voluntarily separated into streams of warm, milky-white airflow and merged into the pale golden dragon qi being poured into Cheng Xi's body. This newly formed airflow was purer and gentler, carrying the pulse and vitality of the earth.
"Using his body as a conduit... resonating with the earth veins..." Meng Tian muttered, utterly shaken. Lord Chang'an could actually draw upon the dragon source and make it aid him of its own accord? Such methods could no longer be judged by martial arts or immortal arts! He did not dare be careless. Steadying his mind, he carefully maintained the token and guided this hard-won balance.
Yet this balance was as fragile as glass.
Just as the dragon qi and the earth vein's origin gently nourished Cheng Xi's foundation—
A sudden change occurred!
A terrifying aura, heavy and majestic, bearing an ancient will akin to that of creation, erupted without warning from the deepest reaches of the Imperial Mausoleum of Mount Li! This aura was grand and righteous, yet filled with an unquestionable intent to rule and suppress! Disregarding the barriers of space, it instantly pierced through layers of rock and descended upon the stone cavern!
It was the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit sleeping at the heart of the mausoleum! It had been disturbed by the Chaos Origin Point fluctuations within Cheng Xi that resonated with the earth veins, as well as that pure dragon qi! Like a sleeping emperor whose bedchamber had been invaded by an unfamiliar force!
Boom!
An invisible pressure descended upon Cheng Xi like mountains weighing billions of tons! More precisely, it pressed down upon the gray glimmer of the silent Chaos Origin Point within his dantian! The Ancestor Dragon True Spirit regarded this "Anomalous Being," containing a Chaos Variable, as a challenge to its authority! It intended to completely suppress and erase this unstable variable!
"Puh—!" Cheng Xi, unconscious, was struck as though by a heavy hammer and abruptly spat out a mouthful of Dark Gold blood! Fine Light Spots were mixed within the blood! The Turbid Fiendish Meridians beneath his skin, which had just faded, instantly turned a glaring Dark Gold and began pulsing madly! That newly born current of vital warmth was severed at once! His entire body was once again swallowed by a dead, sinking sensation! The gray glimmer dormant between his brows flickered wildly, letting out a soundless wail. Under the terrifying pressure of the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit, it was like a candle in the wind, liable to be extinguished completely at any moment!
"Not good!" Meng Tian's expression changed drastically! The Ancestor Dragon Token in his hand underwent a violent tremor and nearly flew from his grasp! The dragon-source water in the stone pool was likewise affected by the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure, its surging flow instantly coming to a halt!
The balance had been broken! The backlash became even fiercer! Cheng Xi's life hung by a thread!
At the northern foot of Mount Li, beneath a withered locust tree.
Flames rose within Yan Lingji's orange-gold eyes. Her hands pressed against the ground as her mind remained tightly linked to the silent battle of purification beneath the earth. The orange-red power of kindling transformed into countless fire needles of intent, precisely scorching the Energy Nodes within the keratinous layer of the Dark Gold Demonic Root. The demonic root writhed and burrowed wildly through the soil, its Dark Gold core pulsating like a drum as it released violent, chaotic demonic intent, resisting stubbornly like a wounded beast.
"Still refusing to repent!" Yan Lingji gritted her teeth, and the orange-red radiance of her heart lamp surged once more! Behind her, the snake tail of the blurry phantom of Zhurong swayed, drawing her into an even closer connection with the earth. When she sensed the rice-grain-sized Dark Gold speck of light at the core of the demonic root, like the core of a malignant tumor, she realized it was madly absorbing scattered polluted energy from the soil, attempting to repair its damage and even preparing a more vicious counterattack.
She had to destroy that core!
She gathered all her will. The Emerald Core within her heart lamp—the imprint of Tongtian Sacred Blood—suddenly lit up! A thread of orange-emerald flame condensed to the extreme, fused with the purifying origin of kindling, Zhurong's true intent of incinerating demons, and the sharp edge of the Sky-Severing Sword Dao, shot along her connection to the earth like an arrow loosed from a bow. Ignoring the demonic root's frantic obstruction, it stabbed viciously toward the pulsating Dark Gold core deep underground!
This strike contained all of her newly born strength and her unyielding determination to protect the earth veins!
The Dark Gold core seemed to sense the fatal threat, and its pulsations abruptly ceased! Then it erupted with an unprecedentedly dim radiance! A thick, cold chaotic force field filled with endless devouring and distortion instantly unfolded, attempting to contaminate, twist, and swallow that thread of flame!
The orange-emerald fire thread collided head-on with the chaotic force field!
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!
Invisible annihilation clashed fiercely at the law level! The Purifying Fire interwoven with orange-red and emerald hues frantically tore at and dissolved the dark chaotic demonic light! Even space twisted under the strain! Yan Lingji's delicate body shook violently, her face turning pale as paper in an instant, blood overflowing from the corner of the mouth! Her heart lamp's radiance flickered sharply! The demonic root's counterattack far exceeded her expectations!
Just as the orange-emerald fire thread was about to be completely swallowed by the chaotic force field—
Hummm—!!!
A vast, ancient, weighty will, as though from the beginning of world creation, descended without warning from the end of the boundlessly deep earth veins! This will did not attack directly, yet it carried a mighty power that could soothe all things and suppress eternity! Like a sleeping giant turning over, unconsciously releasing its pressure!
The Will of Pangu Hall! It had been stirred by the fierce conflict of laws here and the kindling intent to protect the earth veins!
As this intent swept across the battlefield, the chaotic force field opened by the demonic root's core burst soundlessly like a soap bubble beneath sunlight! The pulsations of the Dark Gold core were forcibly frozen and suppressed! It was as though an invisible giant hand had clenched it tightly!
The pressure on the orange-emerald fire thread underwent a sudden decrease, and it took the opportunity to surge forward! It stabbed fiercely into the Dark Gold core temporarily suppressed by the Pangu Will!
Puh!
Countless fine cracks instantly appeared across the core's surface! Orange-red and emerald Purifying Fire flooded wildly through the cracks!
"Hiss—!" A soul-piercing shriek, mingling extreme agony and venomous resentment, broke through from deep underground! The demonic root spasmed and convulsed madly in the soil, like a living snake thrown into boiling oil!
Yan Lingji's pressure eased, and delighted light burst forth in her eyes! The Will of Pangu Hall! She did not dare delay, pouring all her strength into the fire thread to burn the demonic core that was on the verge of shattering!
However, the Pangu Will had come quickly and departed just as quickly. That vast pressure receded like the tide. Though the suppressed Dark Gold core was on the verge of collapse beneath the Purifying Fire, the instant the Pangu Will faded, it erupted in one final frenzy!
Boom!
The Dark Gold core abruptly exploded! It was not completely annihilated; instead, it Turned into billions of tiny Dark Gold fireflies burning with dim flames! Ignoring the incineration of the orange-emerald fire thread, these fireflies shot through the soil like shrapnel from an explosion, scattering frantically in all directions—especially toward the Imperial Mausoleum of Mount Li and the main peak!
At the edge of the burial pit, the dead silence was broken by chewing sounds.
Wang Wu and the Mausoleum Guards were deathly pale as they listened to the horrifying grinding and devouring sounds coming from deep within the cracks at the bottom of the pit. A complete terracotta warrior was dragged into that dark mouth of hell right before their eyes!
Fear gripped everyone's throats. The palms clutching their weapons were drenched in cold sweat.
"C-Chief... should we... retreat?" A young Mausoleum Guard's teeth chattered, and he could barely hold onto his Long Ge.
Wang Wu stared at the crack devouring the terracotta warrior, his eyes covered with blood threads. He knew that if they retreated now and allowed the thousands of trembling terracotta warriors at the bottom of the pit to continue being devoured... who knew what kind of monster would be born? He suddenly gritted his teeth, pulled out a bronze whistle arrow engraved with the mysterious bird pattern from his waist, and prepared to sound the highest alarm!
Just as he raised it to his lips—
Rumble—!!!
The entire burial pit suddenly shook! Ten times more violently than before! It was as though a colossal beast had turned over beneath the ground!
All the trembling terracotta warriors at the bottom of the pit abruptly stopped humming! They sank into an eerie silence!
Then!
Crack! Crackle! Crack-crack-crack—!
A dense series of scalp-numbing shattering sounds rang out like popping beans! Dozens of terracotta warriors near that crack at the bottom of the pit were instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks! They had not been struck by an outside force, but were... breaking apart from within!
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