Only Ocular Power May Respond

"This is the Uchiha's oldest sacred site."

Fugaku kept his voice low.

"Only the clan head and a few elders are qualified to enter. Aside from observing the Uchiha Stone Tablet, no one may touch any seals."

Lie Yang's Shadow Clone did not respond.

His gaze had already passed Fugaku and settled on the scene ahead.

The dark chamber was not spacious, but it had been built with exceptional precision.

A bluestone path ran straight toward its end.

Black stone pillars stood on both sides of the path, their surfaces carved with flames and fan crests. There were no lamps atop the pillars, yet crimson chakra burned there slowly like flickering flames.

Stone gates resembling torii were arranged throughout the chamber in different tiers.

The outermost gates were short.

The farther inward one went, the taller the gates became.

The innermost stone gate stood several zhang high, ancient vine patterns curling around its pillars like two enormous black serpents coiled there.

Beyond that gate lay the Uchiha Stone Tablet.

Lie Yang's gaze swept over the gates, and his judgment gradually became clear.

This was not merely a place of worship.

These orderly stone gates were using the power of the earth veins to form a natural formation.

The underground Dragon Vein passed beneath the dark chamber, its immense fortune circulating through the stone gates, pillars, and tablet.

The Uchiha Clan had occupied this place for generations, using the Uchiha Stone Tablet to receive the Dragon Vein's fortune before drawing it into the clan through their bloodline and ocular power.

Ordinary clan members could not perceive it.

Even Fugaku, who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, could only sense that the chakra here was unusually dense.

But in Lie Yang's eyes, the entire structure of the chamber had been laid bare.

The earth