West of South Capital.
Deep within a winding mountain range.
There lay a lake a hundred li across.
Its waters were dark green, still and unruffled, like a flawless emerald set into the earth.
Apart from that, there was nothing remarkable about it.
No one would have imagined that the wealth Witch God Hall had amassed over tens of thousands of years lay hidden beneath this lake.
Li Yin glanced at the expressionless Li Xinge beside her.
She sighed inwardly.
Stepping forward, she looked at the lake and formed seals with both hands, ancient and obscure incantations of the witch race spilling from her red lips.
Once the incantation was finished.
Li Yin bit her finger.
She forced out a drop of blood essence.
The blood essence fell into the lake without stirring so much as a ripple.
Yet.
Three breaths later.
Rumble!
A muffled boom rose from the depths of the lake, and then the entire mountain began to shake violently.
The dark-green waters parted to either side.
They revealed a flight of bluestone steps overgrown with aquatic weeds, descending all the way into the depths of the lake.
Li Yin led the way.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Li Xinge descended the steps.
Cui Yuan and the Li Family First Elder followed close behind.
At the end of the bluestone staircase.
There stood an ancient bronze door, mottled with rust and engraved with a ferocious Witch God totem.
Li Xinge could sense it.
Around the stone door.
There were powerful fluctuations from a formation.
So formidable was this formation that even an ordinary Divine Mansion Realm cultivator who tried to force his way through would perish on the spot, steeped in regret.
Li Yin stepped forward.
She removed the Jade Pendant hanging around her neck.
She