Night Exploration of the Secret Chamber, Wuchen Exchanges Pills to Disrupt Enemy Plans

A breeze swept past the eaves of the medicine hut, stirring a loose thread on my sleeve. The pale gold crystal was no longer on the table; she had taken it after all. Three days later, at midnight, the broken cliff behind the mountain. There was no turning back.

But before that, some matters had to be settled.

I turned away from the shadow of the phoenix tree, my steps as light as a fallen leaf gliding over bluestone. The side hall of the ancestral shrine was in the north of the estate. More guards than usual were on duty, but the shift change was still at the beginning of the Chou hour—a habit of my father's from three years ago that they still maintained.

The jade box at my ribs felt cool. When I took out the fragment of the Pseudo-Primordial Body and placed it against my chest, my skin throbbed with a dull ache. This wasn't true bloodline resonance, but a spiritual pressure fluctuation simulated by the Heaven-Slaying Origin. The restriction sensed the familiar aura, and the first light pattern quietly extinguished.

The second was a rune array seal, which required three drops of Direct Lineage essence blood to activate. I sneered, sliced my fingertip, and smeared the blood onto the array's core. The moment the blood dripped, the runes trembled slightly, yet no alarm was triggered. The blood of this Pseudo-Primordial Body contained a trace of calamity energy, originating from the same source as the elixirs used by the Ji Family elders for their cultivation, fooling the array's detection mechanism.

The third was a spirit talisman lock, embedded deep within the door. If forcibly broken, it would alert the entire estate's protective formation. I closed my eyes and focused, a strand of Heaven-Slaying Origin seeping from my brow and slowly flowing through my fingertips into the keyhole. There was no sound, no spiritual light, only an extremely faint "click," like a dry twig snapping.

The door opened.

The interior of the secret room was as before, with seven rows of neatly arranged medicine shelves. The central alchemy furnace still held residual warmth. On the top shelf, I found the jade bottle labeled "Nine Revolutions Spirit Condensing Pill." I pulled out the stopper and took a sniff; the medicinal fragrance was steady, with a slight bitterness—exactly the one the elders took before their morning cultivation.

The hidden pouch in my sleeve was already prepared. I poured all the pills from the bottle into it, then added another bottle of Rage Powder. This formula came from a dying alchemist in the black market. He claimed it could stimulate potential, but in reality, it caused Spiritual Power to go berserk and flow backward, driving a person into madness for a short period without leaving any trace. It was perfect for today.

Just as I was about to withdraw, I suddenly noticed the ground by my feet was slightly loose. I looked down; the edge of a floor tile was slightly raised, and half an inch of iron peeked through the gap. I squatted down and gently pried it open with my fingernail. Beneath it lay a folded piece of paper.

After reading just two lines, I understood.

Someone had been here before me.

And they had left a warning: "Hantian knows the secret room has been tampered with. An ambush is set in the east corridor."

The handwriting was messy, the ink still wet, clearly written in haste. I didn't know who left it, nor did I care. What mattered was that this message itself was an opportunity.

I put the note back as it was, stood up, and exited the secret room, sealing the restriction behind me. The entire process took less than half an incense stick's worth of time, without even a speck of dust on my clothes.

As I rounded the corridor of the side hall, an icy aura washed over me.

Ji Hantian stood in the moonlight, the Blood Crystal on his left arm glowing a faint red, the phantom image of the Six-Armed Demon Statue flickering behind him. He was wrapped in bandages, some of which were still bleeding, clearly showing that last night's battle had injured him severely.

"You... took the pills?" he asked, his voice hoarse, his eyes filled with killing intent.

I didn't answer, merely shifted slightly, letting the night breeze lift half my sleeve, letting it flutter in the air.

He lunged immediately.

I seized the opportunity to leap onto the roof ridge, my toes tapping the tiles, my body soaring like a swallow. As I landed, I deliberately tossed a blood-stained cloth strip into a distant flower bush. He indeed gave chase.

Just then, a deafening roar erupted from the direction of the alchemy room.

An Elder rushed out, his eyes bloodshot, his long sword swinging wildly, roaring, "Who dares stop me! I will kill them all!" Two more figures then burst through the door, both individuals usually held in high esteem, but now they were like madmen, hacking at anyone they saw.

Ji Hantian had just pushed aside the cloth strip in the flower bush, realizing it was a fake. He turned back and ran straight into these three.

He roared, swinging his arm to meet the attack, the Blood Crystal erupting in a blinding radiance. But he had not yet recovered, and his movements were a moment too slow. One Elder seized the opportunity to strike his chest with a palm, while another swept his sword, severing the tendons in his right leg. The third was more ruthless, grabbing him by the throat and pressing him to the ground.

"Traitor!" the Elder roared, plunging his fingers into Ji Hantian's shoulder socket and tearing off a chunk of flesh.

A scream tore through the night sky.

I didn't approach, nor did I intervene. I simply stood quietly on the main hall's eaves, watching this fratricidal battle.

Another Elder joined the fray, and the five of them were locked in combat. Flames began to spread; someone must have knocked over an oil lamp, and the fire climbed the beams along the paper windows. Servants scattered and fled, guards tried to intervene but were casually killed by the rampaging powerhouses.

The entire Ji Family descended into chaos.

The sound of hurried footsteps and clashing metal echoed from afar. Yan Jiuxiao had arrived with the City Guard.

They broke through the wall and were met with a scene of hell: bodies lay everywhere, blood flowed like a river, and several Elders were still killing each other, completely devoid of reason. Ji Hantian lay at the end of the corridor, his limbs twisted, his chest caved in, clinging to life by a thread, clearly not going to survive.

Yan Jiuxiao looked up towards my position.

I leaped down from the eaves, landing on the stone steps in front of the main hall, dusting the ashes from my shoulders.

"City Lord Yan, you've arrived at a good time," I said. "Collect the bodies."

He stared at me for a moment, then swept his gaze over the shattered jade bottle on the ground, the spilled medicinal powder, and the figures still twitching. Finally, his gaze settled on Ji Hantian's broken form.

"Is this the outcome you wanted?" he asked.

I didn't answer.

Within my mind, the System flowed silently: "Origin has accumulated ten strands; the Heaven-Slaying Dao Foundation can be condensed."

The fire in the distance grew larger. A guard, dragging a wounded companion, stumbled to the ground. The wounded man still clutched a broken sword tightly in his hand. The blade pointed upward, reflecting the firelight, illuminating my shadow standing on the steps.

The shadow remained still, like a monument.