Night Exploration of the Secret Chamber, Wuchen Swapped Prescriptions to Throw the Enemy into Chaos

The night wind swept past the eaves of the Medicine Hut, stirring a strip of cloth at my cuff. That pale golden crystal was no longer on the table. In the end, she had accepted it. Three days later, at midnight, on the broken cliff behind the mountain—there would be no turning back.

But before that, some matters had to be settled.

I turned and left the shadows of the Wutong Tree, my steps as light as a fallen leaf gliding over blue bricks. The side hall of the ancestral shrine lay north of the estate. There were two additional shifts of guards compared to usual, yet their changing time remained the beginning of the Hour of the Ox—Father's habit from his inspection three years ago, one they had never changed.

The jade box beneath my ribs was faintly cool. When I took out the fragment of the Pseudo-Primordial Body and pressed it to my chest, a dull ache spread across my skin. This was not true bloodline resonance, but a Spiritual Power fluctuation simulated using the Heaven-Slaying Origin. Sensing a familiar aura, the first streak of light in the restriction quietly went out.

The second was a rune formation seal, requiring three drops of Direct Lineage blood to open. I sneered, sliced open my palm with a fingertip, and smeared the blood over the Formation Eye. The instant the drops rolled down, the Runes trembled faintly, yet no alarm was triggered. A trace of Calamity Qi was hidden within the blood of this Pseudo-Primordial Body, sharing the same origin as the pills cultivated by the Ji Clan elders. It had deceived the formation's recognition mechanism.

The third was a spirit talisman lock core embedded deep within the door. Forcing it open would alert the estate-wide protective formation. I closed my eyes and focused. A thread of Heaven-Slaying Origin seeped from between my brows, slowly flowing along my fingertips and into the keyhole. There was no sound, no spiritual glow—only an exceedingly faint click, like a dead branch snapping.

The door opened.

The secret chamber was unchanged. Seven rows of medicine racks stood in neat order, and the pill furnace in the center still retained some 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, carrying a faint bitterness—it was precisely the pill the elders took each day before their morning cultivation.

The hidden pouch in my sleeve had long been prepared. I poured every pill from the bottle into it, then filled the bottle with Rage Powder from another vial. The prescription came from a dying apothecary in the Black Market. He claimed it could unleash one's potential, but in truth, it caused Spiritual Power to lose control and flow in reverse, driving a person into madness for a short time without leaving a trace. It was perfect for today.

Just as I was about to withdraw my hand, I suddenly noticed that the ground by my feet was slightly loose. Looking down, I saw that the edge of a floor tile had lifted slightly, exposing half an inch of iron sheet through the gap. I crouched down and gently pried it open with my nail. Beneath it lay a folded note.

After reading only two lines, I understood.

Someone had come before me.

And they had left behind a warning: "Hantian already knows the secret chamber has changed. An ambush has been set in the eastern corridor."

The handwriting was hurried and the ink had not yet dried. It was clearly written in haste. I did not know who had placed it there, nor did I care. What mattered was that this message itself was an opportunity.

I tucked the note back exactly as it had been, rose to my feet, and withdrew from the secret chamber, sealing the restrictions behind me. The entire process took less than half an incense stick's time, and not even the hem of my clothes had gathered dust.

The moment I rounded the corridor outside the side hall, an icy, sinister aura rushed toward me.

Ji Hantian stood beneath the moonlight. The Blood Crystal on his left arm glowed a dim crimson, while the phantom of the Six-Armed Demon Statue flickered in and out behind him. Bandages wrapped his body, and blood still seeped through some places. Clearly, last night's battle had injured him badly.

"You... tampered with the pills?" His voice was hoarse, his eyes overflowing with murderous intent.

I did not answer. I merely shifted slightly, allowing the night wind to lift half my robe's hem and send it fluttering through the air.

He lunged at once.

I leapt onto the rooftop with the momentum, tapping lightly against a roof tile. My figure skimmed through the air like a swallow. Upon landing, I deliberately flung out a bloodstained strip of cloth and tossed it into the distant flower bushes. As expected, he chased after it.

At that moment, a deafening crash erupted from the pill room.

An elder rushed out, his eyes blood-red, his longsword swinging wildly as he roared, "Who dares stop me?! I'll kill every last one of you!" Immediately afterward, two more figures burst through the doors. Both were normally highly respected men, but now they looked like mad demons, hacking at anyone they saw.

Ji Hantian had just pushed aside the strip of cloth in the bushes and realized it was fake when he turned around and ran straight into the three men.

He let out an enraged roar and swung his arm to meet them. The Blood Crystal erupted with a blinding light. But his injuries had not healed, and his movements slowed for an instant. One elder seized the chance to slam a palm into his chest. Another swept his sword horizontally, severing the tendons in his right leg. The third was even more ruthless, directly seizing his throat and pinning him to the ground.

"Traitor to the clan!" the elder roared, plunging his fingers into Ji Hantian's shoulder socket and forcibly tearing away a chunk of flesh.

His scream tore through the night sky.

I did not approach, nor did I make a move. I merely stood quietly atop the flying eaves of the main hall, watching this slaughter among themselves.

Another elder joined the fray, and the five of them descended into a chaotic melee. Firelight began to spread. Someone had overturned an oil lamp, and the flames climbed from the window paper to the beams and pillars. Servants fled in all directions. The guards tried to intervene, only to be casually struck dead by the rampaging powerhouses.

The entire Ji Clan fell into chaos.

Urgent footsteps and the clang of metal came from the distance. Yan Jiuxiao had arrived with the City Guard.

They smashed through the walls and entered, only to behold a scene from hell: corpses lay everywhere, blood flowed like canals, and several elders were still slaughtering one another, having completely lost their reason. Ji Hantian lay at the end of the long corridor, his limbs twisted and his chest caved in. Only a single breath kept him alive, and it was clear he would not survive.

Yan Jiuxiao raised his head and looked toward where I stood.

I jumped down from the eaves and landed on the stone steps before the main hall. I dusted the ashes from my shoulder.

"City Lord Yan arrived at just the right time," I said. "Collect the bodies."

He stared at me for a while, then swept his gaze across the shattered jade bottles on the ground, the scattered medicinal powder, and the figures still twitching. At last, his eyes settled on Ji Hantian's broken body.

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

I did not answer.

Within my mind, the system silently cycled: "The Origin has accumulated ten strands. The Heaven-Slaying Dao Foundation can be condensed."

The fire in the distance grew fiercer. A guard dragged his injured companion before stumbling to the ground. That man still clutched a broken blade tightly in his hand. Its edge pointed upward, reflecting the firelight and illuminating my shadow on the steps.

The shadow did not move, like a monument.