The bloodstained "Lü" token was like a red-hot iron, searing Ying Zheng's palm and scorching Cheng Xi's nerves inside the carriage.
Lu Buwei! That old dog! The Human Sect's eradication had barely passed, and his mortal butcher's blade was already being thrust forward! A two-pronged attack, stopping at nothing short of death!
Ying Zheng said nothing more. He casually tossed the token to the elite guard commander beside him as though discarding filth. Then he mounted his horse, his black robes like a solidified shadow in the morning light. "Clean it up. Increase our speed."
The convoy set out again, but the atmosphere was even graver and more murderous than before. The elite guards silently protected the carriage, their vigilant gazes sweeping every inch of land along both sides of the road. The air was thick with lingering bloodshed and icy killing intent.
Cheng Xi leaned against the jolting carriage wall. The burning pain of the backlash from the talisman pattern on his chest intertwined with the tremors in his soul caused by the Human Sect's eradication, leaving his pale complexion as white as paper. The Spirit Gathering Talisman hidden close to his body gave off a faint coolness, while the Witch Script Wood Fragment in his palm continuously emitting a soothing aura, but it was far from enough.
He had to recover as quickly as possible! Otherwise, before they even reached Zhongnan Mountain, the Human Sect's next "purification" or Lu Buwei's new assassins could easily take his life!
His consciousness sank into his mind as he forcibly connected with the system, which had fallen silent from energy depletion.
[Energy Status: 0.15% (slowly recovering)... Passive Scan Range: ten zhang... Available Operations: basic analysis/micro-deduction...]
Basic analysis... micro-deduction... Cheng Xi's gaze fell on the warm black wooden fragment in his palm. This piece of wood had saved him from danger twice already. Just what was its origin?
[Analysis Target: unknown wooden vessel (containing Spatial Anchoring witch script)... Structural scan... Material identification: Jianmu Fragment (weak activity)... Witch script property: Spatial Coordinates (target: Xiaohan Ancient Road · Hidden Valley)... Energy response: weak Spatial Fluctuation/life aura (nourishment from the same source)...]
Jianmu Fragment! The legendary tree that reached Tongtian! No wonder it could soothe his injuries! Those Spatial Coordinates pointed deep into the Xiaohan Ancient Road? A hidden valley? Could it be an ancient ruin?
A spark of hope ignited in his heart. But he immediately suppressed the thought. The Xiaohan Ancient Road was exceptionally dangerous. Right now, he could barely protect himself; exploring ruins would be no different from courting death.
Energy... he needed a more direct source of energy! His gaze unconsciously swept across the corner of the carriage—where Zhao Gao had thoughtfully prepared several "things to pass the time": a few bamboo scrolls, several strangely shaped ores, and... a packet of dark red cinnabar wrapped in oiled paper!
Cinnabar! Material for drawing talismans!
A nearly insane thought exploded in Cheng Xi's mind! Since the incomplete Spirit Gathering Array diagram's backlash had nearly killed him, then what if... he drew only the tiniest, most basic Spirit-Attracting Talisman?
Killing intent! The battlefield had only just passed; blood energy soared through the forest, and resentful thoughts had yet to disperse! Wasn't that the most abundant "source of energy"? Though killing intent was wild and vicious, capable of easily eroding the mind, he had the Jianmu Fragment protecting his spiritual platform! The system could also provide the most precise guidance!
The risk was enormous, but the reward... might be a chance to survive!
A trace of resolve flashed in Cheng Xi's eyes. He struggled upright, grabbed the packet of cinnabar, and tore off a piece of plain white lining from his clothes. His fingertips dipped into the thick dark red cinnabar as he cast aside every distracting thought and poured his entire mind into the simplest, crudest talismanic structure calculated by the system—one most likely to draw in vicious killing intent!
His finger touched the white silk!
He no longer pursued smoothness or stability. Instead, he deliberately guided the strokes into sharp, tearing trajectories, like blood-dripping fangs! Every stroke drew upon the cool aura from the Jianmu Fragment to protect his Heart Meridian and consciousness, while madly driving the system's pitiful 0.15% energy to make the finest adjustments to the trajectory!
Sweat instantly soaked through his clothes! The unhealed wound on his chest sent out knife-like pain! The intense smell of blood outside the window seemed to take physical form, becoming countless shrill cries and venomous curses that violently assailed his spiritual platform! The Jianmu Fragment's light flickered urgently in his palm, like a candle in the wind!
The final stroke came down viciously like a desperate howl!
"Rip!"
The talisman pattern on the white silk suddenly lit up! It was no longer the faint clear glow of a Spirit Gathering Talisman, but an unsettling dark red, thick as blood! The light flickered unstably like the labored breathing of a dying beast! A weak suction force, icy, violent, and filled with an air of death, abruptly erupted from the center of the talisman pattern!
It became! Though extremely unstable, this Spirit-Attracting Talisman had succeeded!
Without the slightest hesitation, Cheng Xi fiercely pressed the talisman radiating an ominous aura against his agonizing chest!
"Aagh—!"
It was like pressing a red-hot iron onto a wound! Indescribable pain instantly swept through his whole body! Countless violent, chaotic streams of vicious killing intent filled with resentment, like floodwaters that had found an outlet, rushed into his nearly shattered meridians under the talisman pattern's guidance!
"Pfft!" Cheng Xi spit out a mouthful of Black Blood. His body convulsed violently, and his vision was instantly covered in scarlet! Countless wronged souls and vicious ghosts shrieked in his ears! Violent, murderous, despairing negative emotions twisted around his consciousness like poisonous vines!
"Royal Brother!" Ying Zheng's furious shout came from outside the carriage. He had clearly noticed the abnormal disturbance within!
Just as Cheng Xi's consciousness was about to be completely drowned by that Overwhelming Killing Intent!
The Jianmu Fragment clenched in his palm erupted with unprecedented emerald green light! Cool, boundless life energy crashed into his consciousness like raging waves, forcibly suppressing and binding the rampaging scarlet killing intent!
At the same time, the silent system burst forth at maximum power:
[Energy guidance! Forced conversion! Target: vicious killing intent → Chaos Foundation! Conversion rate: 0.7%... Low efficiency... Beginning injection!]
That extremely faint thread of pure energy, forcibly bound by the Jianmu Fragment and violently converted by the system, seeped with difficulty into Cheng Xi's dry, exhausted meridians and consciousness like sweet rain after a long drought! The agonizing pain in his chest rapidly faded like melting snow! The scarlet in his eyes and the shrieks in his ears also receded like a tide!
Though the conversion rate was only 0.7%, though the process had been incredibly perilous, like walking a tightrope, this energy from the battlefield's vicious killing intent, forcibly "tamed," had truly replenished his nearly exhausted vitality!
"Ha... ha..." Cheng Xi collapsed limply onto the brocade cushion, as though he had just crawled back from hell. He was soaked through and gasping violently. His face remained pale, but his eyes shone with startling brilliance, carrying the sharpness of surviving a calamity and... a trace of mad longing for power!
The carriage curtain was abruptly thrown open!
Ying Zheng's stern face appeared at the carriage entrance. His sharp gaze, like a searchlight, instantly swept across Cheng Xi's pale face, the Black Blood lingering at the corner of the mouth, and... the Jianmu Fragment in hand, still giving off a faint emerald green radiance!
Ying Zheng's gaze paused on the fragment for an instant, and a nearly imperceptible shock passed through the depths of his pupils. Then his gaze fell upon Cheng Xi's chest—the white silk pressed there had lost its light and become scorched black and brittle. The remaining dark red traces of the talisman pattern gave off an intensely unpleasant, icy aftertaste.
"What did you do?" Ying Zheng's voice was terrifyingly low, carrying the oppressive force of a coming storm. He stepped into the carriage, and his black figure instantly filled the cramped space, his icy aura nearly freezing the air.
Cheng Xi panted as he met Ying Zheng's unfathomable eyes, now churning with shock and scrutiny. He barely forced out a weak smile, his voice hoarse:
"Royal Brother... I think... I found a treasure?"
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