The Blood Pool Vanished
Su Zhan silently calculated the time in his mind.
Forty breaths.
That's enough.
His palm, pressed against the empty air, began to glow faintly.
The dark red liquid churned in the groove, but its height was slowly decreasing.
Because the core energy driving the Blood Pool —the reserves in that Black Crystal —is being drained by Su Zhan at an alarming rate.
Elder Yuan Ji knelt beside him, able to clearly sense the destination of the Power of Bloodline he had channeled.
The power that should have been intercepted by the Crystal Stone and used to activate the Blood Pool now flowed smoothly through the increasingly "weak" Crystal Stone and directly into the more ancient Rune array below.
Those arrays are awakening.
It's not an array modified by the Black Demon Sect.
It was carved by the ancestors of the Yuan Household, belonging to the original owner of the Mustard Seed Grotto-Heaven.
"They are responding to me..."
Yuan Ji trembled slightly, not from fear, but from an overwhelming sense of excitement.
A warm power emanated from the Rune beneath his feet, perfectly resonating with his bloodline and giving him the illusion of being embraced by a loved one.
The things left by our ancestors are still there.
After being ravaged by the Black Demon Sect for so many years, they are still waiting for their descendants to return.
Thirty breaths.
Twenty breaths.
Ten breaths.
"Buzz--"
The Black Crystal emitted its final buzz.
Its surface luster has completely disappeared.
Su Zhan stopped.
Beneath his palm, the Myriad Demons Heart-Devouring Stone, which had once pulsated with evil Life Element, was now withered, gray, and lifeless.
Like a walnut shell that has had its kernel sucked dry.
Su Zhan stretched out two fingers and pinched it.
With a gentle twist.
"Click."
The stone shattered, turning into a handful of grayish powder that spilled through my fingers.
The dark red liquid in the groove dried up rapidly after losing its energy supply. The twisted, vengeful faces struggled a few times before vanishing into nothingness.
The Blood Pool disappeared.
·Hoo--·
The Nine Heavens Divine Lightning withdrew its lightning curtain and breathed a sigh of relief.
The stench of blood that permeated the entire platform was dissipating. In its place, a pure and ancient Spiritual Qi was slowly rising from the depths of the recesses.
After a long period of slumber, the original Rune arrays belonging to the Yuan Household family ancestors finally lit up again.
Golden light seeped from the bottom of the groove, spreading along the patterns of the Rune, like blood flowing back into dried-up veins.
"It became..."
Elder Yuan Ji knelt there, his face streaked with tears, his lips moving but trembling as he could not utter a complete sentence.
He could sense it.
The core authority of the entire Mustard Seed Grotto-Heaven is opening up to his bloodline.
That door, sealed for thousands of years, is finally about to open.
Su Zhan patted Yuan Ji on the shoulder.
"Don't cry. Get up and open the door to see what's wrong."
Yuan Ji wiped his face, took a deep breath, and pressed his hands firmly onto the Rune at the edge of the groove.
This time, he didn't type even a single line.
Instead, he poured the purest essence of his Power of Bloodline into it without reservation.
The golden light surged.
The ground in the very center of the groove began to sink.
A circular entrance, ten zhang in diameter, slowly appeared before everyone.
Below the entrance is a spiral staircase leading downwards, each step radiating a soft golden light.
At the end of the stairs, a wider space can be vaguely seen.
"That is... the core of the grotto-heaven!"
Yuan Chou roared with excitement.
But Su Zhan grabbed him by the back of his collar before he could rush out.
"Etc."
Su Zhan's attention was drawn to something else.
He looked down at the groove.
As the golden Rune lit up again, the colors of a few of Rune were off.
It wasn't gold, but a dark purple.
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Boss, those Rune aren't the originals. They were altered later. The technique was very skillful, and they blended seamlessly with the original Rune. If my silk threads hadn't scanned the internal structure, I wouldn't have been able to tell at all.
Su Zhan stopped in his tracks.
What content was altered?
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock] remained silent for three seconds.
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: A Teleportation Array.
[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Leads to the space at the very bottom of this staircase. This Teleportation Array is not for the Yuan Household; it's for outsiders.