"No wonder Master Xi always turns bad luck into good fortune..." Cai Wenshuang murmured to herself, a complex light flashed in her eyes, shock, doubt, and... a hint of indescribable sadness.

Xi Yu's eyes also fell on the jade pendants.

He suddenly remembered that he had seen similar jade pendants in his family's secret treasure.

At that time, he was still young and only felt that the jade pendants were extremely exquisite, but he did not understand their meaning.

Now, he understood.

Those jade pendants represent the heads of opera families of all generations and also represent... their destiny as "containers".

Cai’s father’s madness, Su Heng’s indifference, Cai Wenshuang’s sadness, and the jade pendants engraved with the same runes... all of this was like a huge net, surrounding him tightly, making him unable to breathe or escape.

"No..." Xi Yu spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse and powerless, "This is impossible..."

Cai’s father’s smile was even more ferocious.

"Impossible? Xi Yu, do you think you are really a member of the Xi family? You are just a container, a container used to carry a thousand-year contract!"

Su Heng slowly opened the bronze medicine box, and a strange fragrance drifted out of the box and spread throughout the altar.

"Xi Yu, it's time to fulfill your destiny..."

"Stop!" Cai Wenshuang suddenly shouted, and she rushed forward to stop Su Heng.

However, it's too late...

The medicine box in Su Heng's hand emitted a dazzling light, covering Xi Yu...

"ah--"

Xi Yu let out a heart-wrenching scream...

The shining light from Su Heng's medicine box surged towards Xi Yu like a wave.

The severe pain instantly penetrated his body, and he let out a rough and miserable scream.

He felt as if his existence was being torn apart, reshaped, and turned into something... something else.

Then, a cold laugh echoed in the cave, as if it had crawled out of the deepest part of Xi Yu's soul.

"Do you think you won?" The voice was empty and sharp, and it was a wisp of soul left in his body by the woman in purple robe.

"The real core of Tianji Lock is..."

Her words came to an abrupt end.

Cai Fu roared angrily, his eyes burning with a hot light, and he carried a heavy bronze tripod from the altar.

The blue veins on his arms swelled up like ropes, and then he threw the tripod towards the imperial city in the distance with amazing power.

The bronze tripod cut through the sky, like a black shell under the blood-red sky, dragging a trace of wind and the stench of ancient magic behind it.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang, who were temporarily forgotten in the chaos, both took a breath.

When the bronze tripod streaked across the sky, a ghostly image flashed above the distant capital.

A star map that is exactly the same as that carved on the ground of the altar, flashing strange light in the dim sky.

It enveloped the city like a huge net, with disturbing energy surging in the lines.

Cai Fu was panting and coughed violently.

A blood-stained goat pendant carefully carved from bones fell on the cracked land.

His voice was hoarse and struggling, and he gasped in the nervous silence, "Check the list of imperial physicians who served him on the night the late emperor passed away..."

Before he could explain further, a depressed and dull collective moan came from a distance.

It was the sound of hundreds of people suffering, a creepy symphony of pain.

The sound seemed to tremble in the land beneath their feet, and a clear wave of pain came to them.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang looked at each other in horror.

Something scary happened.

This is related to Cai Fu's ignorant words and that creepy familiar voice.

The wind direction has changed, and there is a smell of metal in the air, which is...the smell of blood, no doubt.

Cai Fu covered his chest and staggered back, his eyes widening with fear and victory.

He pointed his fingers at the capital, his lips squirmed silently.

Then a drop of blood-red liquid splattered on the dusty ground beneath his feet.

It beating, dark and ominous, like an evil heart.

"That...that seal..." He choked, his voice almost inaudible.

Cai Wenshuang raised her hand to cover her mouth, and understanding and fear gradually emerged in her eyes. "Father..."

He turned to her, his eyes burning with a terrible heat, and madness and awakeness were strangely intertwined.

"This game..." He gasped, blood foaming on the corner of his mouth, "Just just started..."

He fell down, holding the little goat pendant tightly in his hand.

The silence followed was heavy and depressing, full of unspeakable fear, only the sound of the wind and the creepy echo of pain from afar broke the silence.

The moonlight is hazy, and the night wind blows across the ancient palace walls, causing a rustling sound.

Cai Wenshuang held Xi Yu tightly, her face pale as paper, and the fine beads of sweat on her forehead shone in the moonlight.

Blood spilled out of the corners of Xi Yu's mouth from time to time. He endured his internal injuries and his eyes were firm.

"Prime Minister Xi, we are almost here." Cai Wenshuang whispered, her mood was extremely nervous, and the pendant in her hand seemed to be beating, as if it resonated with Xi Yu's heartbeat.

However, at this moment, hundreds of people in the secret guard camp coughed painfully at the same time, and the air was filled with blood-stained tattoos of a woman in purple.

Xi Yu frowned, quickly flirted with the list of the imperial doctors in his arms, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

The first person on the list clearly stated the word "Su Heng". The name was like a bolt of lightning, hitting Xi Yu's heart.

"Su Heng..." Xi Yu whispered in a low voice, with a hint of undetectable shock in his voice.

Cai's father suddenly grabbed Xi Yu's sleeve, and a flash of madness and determination in his eyes.

"Come with me, there's not much time!" he hissed, with an unquestionable sense of urgency in his tone.

Xi Yu nodded, endured the pain in his body, and followed Cai Wenshuang to the underground palace of the imperial city with Cai Wenshuang.

Along the way, murals of prime ministers of all dynasties were seen on the stone walls, with hideous and gloomy patterns.

"Every dynasty changes kings, but the blood vessels of Tianji Pavilion are always the prime minister of the dynasty!" Cai's father's voice echoed in the empty underground palace, with a creepy chill.

Xi Yu's eyes slowly swept across the mural, and an indescribable complex emotion surged in his heart.

His steps suddenly stopped, and his eyes were frozen on a mural, in which a prime minister was penetrated by bronze chains, with a hint of relief on his face.

"This is..." Xi Yu whispered to himself, touching him faintly.

Cai's father did not stop and continued to run forward.

Finally, they arrived at the deepest part of the underground palace, and a closed bronze door blocked the way.

The door is engraved with complex patterns and a groove in the center, which is very similar to Xi Yu's jade pendant.

"Su Heng!" Xi Yu said sternly, his voice echoing in the empty underground palace.

A moment later, a slight sound of footsteps came from behind the door. Su Heng slowly walked out of the shadow, holding a bronze medicine box in his hand, which automatically unfolded, revealing the "royal key" in it, and the shape was exactly the same as Xi Yu's jade pendant.

"Twenty years ago, you saved Old Man Cai in exchange for me to give up the control of the Tianji Lock of the Last Emperor." Su Heng's voice was low and calm, with a hint of complex emotions in his eyes.

Xi Yu's heart suddenly became clear, and he stared at Su Heng coldly.

"So that's it, you've been manipulating it all behind the scenes."

Su Heng smiled slightly, with a hint of mockery in her smile.

"You are very smart, Xi Yu. But now, it's all over."

Cai Wenshuang tightly held the pendant in his hand, and a sense of decisive courage surged in his heart.

A firm light flashed in her eyes, her hands trembled, and the moment she pressed the twin pendant on the key groove...

"Librarian of Heaven, unravel the secrets of the past!" Cai's father's voice echoed in the underground palace, with an unparalleled majesty in his voice.

At that moment, everything in the underground palace seemed to be still, only Su Heng and Xi Yu's eyes met, and a tense and depressing aura filled the air.

Xi Yu's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something incredible.
Chapter completed!