Tuning the Dragon Vein (Part 2)

With a pop, pop, pop!

Amidst flying pottery shards, dozens of monstrous demonic root tentacles, covered in dark gold cuticles, as thick as thighs, and with chrysanthemum-shaped mouths at their ends, burst forth from the shattered terracotta warrior bodies! The tentacles were covered in broken pottery fragments and rusted bronze debris. Their mouths opened and closed, dripping with viscous, dark gold saliva!

These demonic root tentacles thrashed wildly, imbued with a newborn ferocity and hunger. Like a school of sharks smelling blood, they lunged towards the nearest intact terracotta warriors!

"Ah—!" The Mausoleum Guards at the edge of the pit let out desperate screams!

The sturdy terracotta warriors were like clay figures under the immense force of the demonic root tentacles' embrace! They were instantly crushed into pieces! The tentacles' mouths opened, like giant pythons swallowing their prey, sucking the broken pottery, severed bronze weapons, and even the internal fillings of the warriors into their bottomless throats!

Even more terrifying was that as they devoured more terracotta warriors, the dark gold cuticles on the demonic root tentacles' surfaces thickened and hardened at a visible rate. Their edges even began to exhibit a cold, metallic sheen! Especially after they devoured the bronze weapons in the warriors' hands, a bone-chilling sound of metal being chewed and melted emanated from their mouths! The tips of the tentacles began to slowly condense into sharp barbs and spikes that gleamed with a dark, metallic cold light!

They were devouring bronze essence and evolving! Transforming from mere demonic root tentacles into instruments of slaughter!

"Run... Run!" someone shouted. The despairing Mausoleum Guards finally broke, turning and fleeing for their lives towards the tunnel's exit!

Wang Wu did not run. He stared intently at the dozens of frantically thrashing, devouring, and evolving demonic tentacles at the bottom of the pit, like a dance of demons, his eyes filled only with boundless coldness. He suddenly blew the bronze whistle arrow in his hand!

Wheeeeee—CRACK!!!

The shrill, piercing alarm tore through the dead silence of the Imperial Mausoleum's tunnels, carrying endless fear and despair as it raced towards the surface, towards Xianyang Palace!

Stone Cavern · Severed String Crisis

The Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's terrifying pressure was like a tangible shackle, rigidly confining the stone cavern. Cheng Xi was on the verge of death, dark gold blood continuously seeping from the corners of his mouth, and the Turbid Fiendish Meridians beneath his skin became scorching and dazzling once more. The gray light dormant on his brow flickered unstoppably under the Ancestor Dragon's pressure, like a dying lamp wick.

Meng Tian's arm, holding the command token, bulged with veins, blood trickling from his lips as he desperately resisted the pressure emanating from the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit, trying to maintain the infusion of Dragon Qi. But the token's light was like a firefly before the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit; the flow of Dragon Qi became extremely difficult and obscure.

"Great King... the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit has awakened... Lord Chang'an... is in danger!" Meng Tian roared in his heart, but he couldn't even speak.

At this critical moment—

Buzz!

A strange, faint fluctuation with a certain rhythm emanated once more from the dimming gray light on Cheng Xi's brow! This time, it wasn't an active deduction, but an instinctive resonance born from being on the brink of despair!

The fluctuation pierced through the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure blockade, like a stone dropped into a deep pool, instantly re-establishing a connection with the Dragon Source water in the stone pool and the unpolluted pulse deep within the entire Mount Li's earth veins!

Even more shocking to Meng Tian was that this wisp of fluctuation seemed to have captured... the energy rhythm of the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit itself, which had just awakened deep within the Imperial Mausoleum and was enraged by the chaotic energy within Cheng Xi!

The gray light flickered wildly, its glow faint but carrying the resolve to burn everything! Countless data streams were reorganized before annihilation! Repulsion models... energy attributes... frequency differences... weak points of the Ancestor Dragon's will...

Found it!

The gray light erupted with a final, faint glimmer! A compound frequency shockwave, weaker than before but more precise and profound, burst forth from Cheng Xi's dantian!

This shockwave was no longer a single frequency but composed of countless extremely fine, superimposed waves! Like the most precise key, it acted upon the three forces simultaneously!

Acting upon the Dragon Source: guiding its life force to form a gentle buffer membrane.

Acting upon the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit: in an extremely subtle manner, simulating a trace of "fatigue" and "hesitation" within its majestic rhythm, to induce reverse pacification and guidance!

Acting upon the Chaos Origin Point itself: forcibly adjusting the residual chaotic energy, making its fluctuations infinitely close to... the frequency of the Earth Vein Dragon Source!

Buzz—!

A strange resonance occurred again!

The enraged Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure abruptly halted! The power that pressed down on the gray light like a mountain seemed to be interfered with by this sudden fluctuation, which carried a trace of familiar earth vein energy and subtle pacification, causing a brief, almost imperceptible... confusion and hesitation!

It was this momentary delay!

The gentle power of the Dragon Source, guided by the shockwave, acted like a lubricant, instantly surging into the gaps of the pressure! The residual chaotic energy of the Chaos Origin Point also took the opportunity to adjust its frequency, becoming infinitely close to the Dragon Source, disguised as part of the earth vein!

The Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure did not completely dissipate, but its relentless "lock-on" and "kill" will towards the Chaos Origin Point was forcibly interfered with and blurred by this exquisite "frequency modulation disguise"! Although the sealing power remained, it was like losing its clear target, becoming dispersed and sluggish!

Cheng Xi spat out another mouthful of blood, but the throbbing dark gold Turbid Fiendish Meridians beneath his skin stopped worsening! Although the gray light on his brow was dim and about to extinguish, it stubbornly maintained its last glimmer, like a straw clutched in a storm!

Meng Tian felt the pressure on the token in his hand suddenly lighten! The infusion of Dragon Qi became smooth again! He looked at this sliver of hope in despair, his heart filled with immense shock! Lord Chang'an... could actually steal a sliver of life from the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit in this manner?!

However, this fragile balance was like walking a tightrope over a bottomless cliff!

Heavy footsteps broke the dead silence of the stone cavern.

Ying Zheng's figure appeared at the entrance of the stone cavern. He wore a dark dragon robe and a twelve-beaded crown, his face as calm as still water. Only his deep Dragon Eyes reflected the milky white glow of the stone pool, the dying Cheng Xi on the Ink Jade Platform, and Meng Tian, who was struggling to hold on. An invisible, heavy imperial pressure permeated the air, faintly rivaling the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure from the depths of the stone cavern!

"Great King!" Meng Tian wanted to bow, but Ying Zheng raised his hand to stop him.

Ying Zheng's gaze, like tangible probes, instantly locked onto the faint gray light on Cheng Xi's brow. He clearly perceived the incredible "frequency modulation" that the wisp of gray light was performing, the interference it caused to the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure, and even more so... he sensed within that gray light a trace of the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's indignant fury from the depths of the Imperial Mausoleum, as if it had been tricked!

"Using yourself as a string, plucking the earth veins, confusing the Ancestor Spirit..." Ying Zheng's voice was calm but carried a chilling clarity of insight, "Cheng Xi, your methods are truly... unfathomable."

He strode forward, each step as if stepping on the nodes of space, the heavy pressure almost suffocating Meng Tian. Ying Zheng did not use the Ancestor Dragon True Power; he merely extended a finger, its tip entwined with the pure will of human imperial authority, and slowly pointed towards Cheng Xi's brow—towards that point of chaotic gray light that maintained the fragile balance!

"I am very curious..." Deep within Ying Zheng's Dragon Eyes, dark gold flowed like a swirling abyss, "whether this wisp of 'chaos' within you is... a blade to break the deadlock, or... a disaster that will bring about ruin?"

Before his fingertip even reached, the pure will of human imperial authority had already become like an invisible shackle, instantly immobilizing the space around Cheng Xi! The fluctuation of the chaotic gray light abruptly halted! The delicate balance that had just been established, before this absolute will of human imperial authority, was like fragile glass, instantly covered in cracks!

The Dragon Source water in the stone pool churned violently! Deep within the stone cavern, the Ancestor Dragon True Spirit's pressure became even more restless and chaotic due to the intervention of this external imperial authority!

The string is about to break!