"Alas!"
Wang Xian leaned his back against the white wall, flakes of peeling paint pattering down onto his shoulders. He lowered his gaze to the Dragon Phoenix Jade Pendant in his palm, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the raised dragon-scale patterns.
In the span of more than ten breaths, three sighs escaped his chest in succession, their fading echoes dissolving into the damp air like remnants of dreams crushed by an invisible hand.
A drop of Mysterious Blood was sealed inside this Dragon Phoenix Jade Pendant. No matter what methods he tried to peer into it, it remained like a towering mountain shrouded in dense fog, utterly beyond reach. Anxiety grew wildly in his heart like weeds, yet there was nothing he could do.
He rose and walked toward the corner, where a rust-covered iron shovel rested silently against the wall. Picking it up, he trudged toward the breeding farm. Every step felt as though lead had been poured into his legs. His shoes crushed the gravel beneath him with faint crackling sounds, carrying an indescribable weariness and unwillingness.
Rust spread across the breeding farm's iron gate as recklessly as creeping vines. When Wang Xian gripped the cold handle, its rough texture scraped against his palm.
The moment he pulled hard, a "Creak—" tore through the silence like a rusted saw cutting metal, startling several cockroaches curled up in the corner.
The dark brown creatures fled in panic, their antennae twitching frantically as they vanished into the shadows by the wall.
The instant he pushed open the door, a stench of rotting humus mixed with the fishy odor of insect slime rushed at him, so intense that it nearly made him vomit. His stomach churned.
Under the dim lights, densely packed glass boxes stood in neat rows. Earthworms writhed inside them