Eye of Imprint

"Looks like the Blood Moon's Eye of Imprint."

As Zhou Qingchen watched the blood-red pupil slowly turning on the pitch-black brocade banner, something suddenly came to mind.

"The Blood Wheel Technique!"

Shangguan Qin, visibly excited, gave a soft cry. A dark-red halo abruptly appeared behind her neck.

The Shangguan Family of the Fourth Realm had deep ties to the Blood Moon of the Upper Realm, just as the Zhou Family did to Red Mountain. Everyone knew this.

Within the Shangguan Family, those with the greatest cultivation talent were often accepted by the Blood Moon.

Although Shangguan Qin wasn't qualified to cultivate at the Blood Moon in the Upper Realm, her introductory cultivation technique had come from the Blood Moon.

Once she confirmed that the Eye of Imprint had appeared on the banner, she immediately activated the Blood Wheel Technique she had painstakingly cultivated, hoping that a technique of the same lineage would win the blood-red eye's favor.

When the Blood Wheel Technique took effect, a blood-red halo slowly emerged, faintly resembling the radiance surrounding the Eye of Imprint.

As a core member of the Shangguan Family, Shangguan Qin knew that the Blood Moon's wondrous Eye of Imprint could scan its surroundings and imprint scenes of past events.

Great cultivators from the Blood Moon could often obtain crucial information through the Eye of Imprint and make the right decisions as a result.

When the Eye of Imprint showed such an unusual reaction, it meant it was searching for someone connected to the Blood Moon, so it could convey an extremely important message.

With all the Blood Moon cultivators before her dead, and Shangguan Qin the only one who had cultivated the Blood Wheel Technique, she naturally assumed the Eye of Imprint would choose her and pour the important information hidden within it into her mind.

That way, she would learn exactly how those Blood Moon cultivators had died.

She would also find out whether the beasts in the nearby mountains had devoured their flesh and bones, and see whether the Zhou and Ning families, who had arrived later, had found any opportunities here.

Sacrificing a few family servants and using their blood to activate the Eye of Imprint seemed well worth it.

Thinking this, Shangguan Qin frantically urged the Blood Wheel Technique onward, waiting for the Eye of Imprint's message to pour into her.

However...

Shangguan Qin waited and waited, certain the Eye of Imprint would regard her as its first and only choice. But even as the blood-red pupil swelled and burst, she received none of the information she wanted.

After the blood-red eye exploded, sprays of blood splattered everywhere, raining down over the Indeterminate Ferry.

Shangguan Qin had waited so long for the message, yet bewilderment covered her charming face. She clearly couldn't accept the outcome.

The tower-like Luo Meng had followed Shangguan Qin for many years and knew the wonders of the Eye of Imprint, too.

Seeing the blood-red pupil burst, he assumed Shangguan Qin had received the information she wanted and stepped forward to ask, "Well?"

Ning Yao, Ning Yuanshan, and even Han Duping all turned to look at Shangguan Qin.

They all assumed that Shangguan Qin, having used the Blood Wheel Technique, must have obtained the crucial information in the Eye of Imprint and learned what had happened.

"It wasn't me!"

Shangguan Qin suddenly shrieked, anxiously searching the crowd with her eyes as she shouted in fury, "Who was it? Who got the crucial information from the Eye of Imprint? Who was it?!"

She cried out like a madwoman, unable to understand why the Eye of Imprint hadn't chosen her.

Of everyone present, she was the only one who had cultivated the Blood Moon Technique and voluntarily activated the Blood Wheel Technique.

"Pang Jian, what did you see?"

Zhou Qingchen, who was closest to Pang Jian, noticed the strange look in his eyes and couldn't help asking.

"Pang Jian?"

"Pang Jian!"

One astonished, baffled gaze after another landed on Pang Jian, as if everyone wanted to see right through him.

No one had expected that this young hunter from the Cenji Mountains would win the Eye of Imprint's favor and receive its most crucial information.

The crowd hadn't quite believed it at first, but after examining him closely, they saw a trace of blood-red light quietly fade from Pang Jian's pupils.

Within that light, it seemed, were scene after blurry scene.

It really was him!

No one questioned it anymore. They didn't understand how it had happened, but they all knew that the young hunter before them had taken Shangguan Qin's place and received the Eye of Imprint's gift.

"First, I saw the earth tremble."

Pang Jian spoke softly.

As soon as he said those words, the earth beneath their feet—already riddled with countless cracks from the Heavenly Phoenix Remains crashing down—suddenly rumbled and shook!

Everyone stared at Pang Jian in disbelief.

Pang Jian was clearly taken aback, too. He hadn't expected the ground to suddenly tremble as soon as he spoke, as though it were responding to his words.

"What happened next?" Zhou Qingchen asked, his eyes full of astonishment.

He suddenly felt fortunate that he had seen through things so clearly and shown Pang Jian goodwill—and that he had given him his full support earlier.

"After that..."

Pang Jian didn't answer directly. Instead, he muttered to himself as he sorted through the chaotic images in his mind, piecing together the memories he had just received.

The earth kept shaking, and the rumbling beneath them continued. Something unknown and terrifying seemed to lurk within the deep fissures that had split open.

"Go! Get out of here!"

Pang Jian finally saw the next scene, and his expression changed drastically. He stared at the cracks in the ground as if he could see something terrifying about to burst out of them.

"Master Zhou, trust me! Hurry!"

Pang Jian swung himself onto his horse, snapped the reins, and galloped toward the mountain forest where the Gray Ape had disappeared.

The horse leaped high as it reached a fissure, clearing a chasm that was widening with every tremor from below.

Zhou Qingchen's expression shifted back and forth as he struggled with himself. Before long, he chose to trust Pang Jian and shouted, "Everyone, follow Pang Jian! Move!"

As soon as he set off, the Zhou Family's servants no longer dared hesitate. They all urged their horses after him.

"Xiao Yao, what about us?"

Ning Yuanshan, a step behind, hurriedly turned to Ning Yao in this moment of unknown danger.

"We're leaving, too!"

With Ning Yao's decision made, the two Ning Family members and the surviving Zhang Heng quickly rode away as well.

After the Zhou and Ning families left, Shangguan Qin looked at the Indeterminate Ferry as the dreadful "hissing" sounds rose from underground. She suddenly seemed at a loss.

"Miss?" Luo Meng asked anxiously.

"We're leaving, too!"

The Shangguan Family members had no mounts, but like the Zhou and Ning families, they chose to flee in the same direction.

"Hiss! Hiss!"

Piercing, ghostly shrieks kept rising from the shaking fissures behind them. It was as though demons were crawling out from underground during the earthquake, intent on slaughtering every living thing on the surface.

Pang Jian rode at the front, urging his horse to go faster and faster.

Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping followed close behind him, with the other members of the Zhou Family after them, then Ning Yao, Ning Yuanshan, and the rest.

It didn't last long. The earthquake and ghostly cries behind them gradually subsided.

At last, Pang Jian stopped and immediately turned his horse around.

The others stopped one after another, still shaken and full of questions as they looked back.

They didn't know what had happened after they left, but instinctively sensed something was wrong.

"What exactly did you see through the Eye of Imprint?" Ning Yao demanded first.

Her bright eyes brimmed with killing intent. Her attitude toward Pang Jian had suddenly turned much less courteous, and her tone was ice-cold.

"I'll tell you in a moment. First, let's see whether anyone from the Shangguan Family makes it here alive," Pang Jian said calmly.

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts, realizing that something truly horrifying must have happened on that fissure-covered ground.

Zhou Qingchen raised his hand, signaling for everyone to stay calm and wait a little longer.

"Wooo! Awooo!"

From the area they had fled, a bone-chilling shriek gradually rang out. It sounded as though the Shangguan Family's cultivators were being hunted by some kind of evil creature.

Zhou Qingchen's expression changed slightly. He gave Pang Jian a long look but said nothing.

"That was close!"

Everyone shuddered with fear, silently thankful that Zhou Qingchen had chosen to trust Pang Jian and gotten them out of that terrifying place in time.

Because of Shangguan Qin's hesitation, the Shangguan Family had surely paid a terrible price. No one knew how many of them had died back there.

They didn't have to wait long. Before long, Shangguan Qin emerged from the forest, her bright clothes in tatters and patches of her pale skin exposed. Her face was stricken with terror.

She could no longer maintain her bewitching composure. A trickle of crimson blood seemed to run down the back of her snow-white neck.

"Luo Meng."

Shangguan Qin kept glancing behind her, calling out softly with hope in her voice.

It was as if that broad, tower-like man who had been so loyal to her would soon appear again.

She had always known that Luo Meng was devoted to her because he admired her and hoped that one day she might favor him.

She had known it all along, yet while deliberately avoiding the matter, she had used his feelings for her.

In the end, Luo Meng had risked his life, sacrificing himself to get her out of that terrifying slaughterhouse.

She had survived, but Luo Meng... seemed never to appear again.

The Shangguan Family members who had come with her to the Cenji Mountains to uncover the secret of the Remains of the Heavenly Phoenix had all died behind her.

"Why you? Why did the Eye of Imprint choose to pour its message into you instead of me?!"

Suddenly, she saw Pang Jian riding a chestnut warhorse, and cruel images of Luo Meng and the servants dying flooded her mind.

She went hysterical at once, clawing the air as she lunged at Pang Jian and shrieked, "You got Luo Meng killed! You killed the people of our Shangguan Family! You'll pay for their lives!"

She naturally assumed that if the Eye of Imprint had given its message to her, none of them would have died.

"Aunt Qin, please calm down!"

Zhou Qingchen flicked the reins, lashing a dark-red streak of lightning through the air with a crack. He blocked Shangguan Qin, who looked completely deranged.

"Please understand: it was your hesitation that got the people of the Shangguan Family killed," Ning Yao interjected coldly.

With Zhou Qingchen and Ning Yao stepping in, Shangguan Qin, still in the grip of her madness, finally realized she was the only one left. No matter how she raged, she couldn't possibly defeat the people before her.

Gradually, Shangguan Qin quieted down, though she continued glaring at Pang Jian with hatred.

"Enough. Now tell us what you saw through the Eye of Imprint."

Ning Yao, who had been full of questions from the start, waited until Shangguan Qin fell silent before turning to Pang Jian again.

"Many seemingly sentient vines flew out of the fissures in the earth amid the tremors. Like living, grotesque snakes, they struck down the Blood Moon cultivators in an instant and devoured their flesh. Most of the Blood Moon cultivators were at the Pulse-Opening Realm, just like you, but they couldn't fight back at all."

Pang Jian looked at Zhou Qingchen and the others, recalling the strange visions in his mind as he described the bloody scene.

"They weren't killed by beasts, nor were they eaten by beasts. The vines that emerged from the fissures devoured them. It seemed that every attack by those terrifying vines was accompanied by a tremor underground."

Pang Jian shared his guess after piecing the scenes together.

"Is that so?"

After hearing Pang Jian's description, Zhou Qingchen drew in a breath and immediately looked at Shangguan Qin.

He felt a chill in his heart, too.

Of their group, only he and Han Duping had reached the Pulse-Opening Realm. The rest were merely at the Qi Refining Realm.

As for the Blood Moon visitors killed by the vines, as far as he knew, every one of them had been at the Pulse-Opening Realm, and they had even been led by a leader at the Xisui Realm.

Even a Xisui Realm expert had died. If he hadn't chosen to trust Pang Jian, wouldn't he have met the same fate?

"That's what happened," Shangguan Qin confirmed. She couldn't help shivering before asking the question everyone had on their mind: "I just want to know why the Eye of Imprint chose you to receive its message instead of me, when I was the one who cultivated the Blood Moon Technique?"