The same scene unfolded deep within the Sima Clan's ancestral grounds in Wen County, Henei Commandery.
There was no radiance soaring into the heavens here, nor any thunder-only a silence of the utmost depth.
At the heart of the Lineage's most secret underground palace.
A dark, sunken-black military tally shaped like a crouching tiger was silently "awakening."
As Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Qi seeped into it day by day, a dark golden sheen began flowing slowly through its mottled markings, as though a savage beast that had lain dormant for a century had opened its eyes in the darkness!
This was the divine artifact secretly passed down through the Sima Clan to safeguard its Lineage-the [Tomb Tiger Tally].
Legend had it that before the Gaopingling Incident, Sima Yi, Emperor Xuan of Great Jin, received fragments of an ancient military tally from an extraordinary stranger. Combining them with his profound studies of military formations and geomancy, he tempered them with his heart's blood and ultimately forged a divine artifact for the ages, imbuing it with the martial essence of "endure and await your moment; once you move, kill without fail," as well as the power to command the earth's veins.
At that moment, a pale-faced young man in a black, long-sleeved robe stood before the tiger tally.
His name was Sima Cheng, courtesy name Wenyuan. Of all the heirs in the Sima Clan's hidden branch, he most embodied the qualities of the "Tomb Tiger." He was only twenty-seven, yet the depths of his cunning were already unfathomable.
As the tally's dark golden radiance reached its peak, Sima Cheng slowly extended his right hand and grasped it.
"Rise."
In an instant, a deep, powerful pulse reverberated through the entire underground palace-and even the mountains and rivers of the ancestral grounds above! Centered on Sima