At the end of the underground river stood a bloodline stone gate.
Nine python patterns covered the gate, dark golden blood energy flowing between them. At its center was an imprint of a closed snake eye.
Just as Qing Lin was about to step forward, Xiao Fan suddenly raised a hand to stop her.
"Wait."
He flicked out a wisp of Colorless Fire.
The moment the thread of flame neared the base of the gate, the closed snake-eye imprint opened by an imperceptible sliver.
Qing Lin's expression changed slightly.
"It's waiting for me to open the gate?"
"It's waiting for anyone without the main bloodline to open it."
Xiao Fan said quietly, "It can be opened, but it will remember your aura."
Medusa's violet eyes turned cold.
"Yao Xiaotian set this up?"
"Most likely."
Xiao Fan took out a piece of cold marrow jade.
It was something from Ice Venerable's Storage Ring, still carrying the pure chill of Ice River Valley.
Using Colorless Fire, he carved dense flame patterns into the jade piece and pressed it beneath the stone gate.
"We'll use Ice River Valley's aura to block it for now."
Only then did Qing Lin step forward.
Her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils emitted only a faint layer of light. Her pupil power wound around the snake-eye imprint like threads, slowly slipping in along the nine python patterns.
Drawn by the cold marrow jade, the snake-eye imprint's gaze shifted aside.
Click.
A crack opened in the stone gate.
Beyond the gate, the chill suddenly intensified.
The passage was no longer level, but sloped downward all the way.
The snake-eye stones on the rock walls had turned dark yellow, their glow like ghostly flames shining up from the bottom of Yellow Spring water. The farther down they went, the quieter