The lingering aftershock of the Xuanming Passage still echoed through the Nine Nether Tombs. The instant that suffocating heavenly pressure dissipated, Yun Che snapped his eyes open.

  Hanyuanzi’s hurried transmission — “Seal the grand formation” — still reverberated between the ice walls. For a Nascent Soul guardian to leave in such haste, and to order a complete lockdown of the sect… something earth-shattering must have occurred outside.

  This was not the time to flee.

  Suppressing the unease in his heart, Yun Che extended his divine sense like fine threads. Yet the four walls of the Profound Ice Meditation Chamber were layered with ancient restrictions; the moment his sense touched them, it was repelled. Only the small apertures that spewed seven-colored radiance allowed his perception to seep through.

  The apertures were bottomless, dark, and chilling. Yun Che gathered all his divine sense into a single line and pierced into one of them. The passage twisted like a labyrinth, its inner walls smooth as mirrors. The deeper he went, the more violent the surging Nether Source Qi became.

  One hundred zhang.

  Two hundred zhang.

  Three hundred zhang…

  When his divine sense reached three hundred zhang deep, the source qi ahead had grown so dense it was almost tangible, forming a barrier of flowing seven-colored light. With a decisive thought, Yun Che slashed forward, smashing through it—

  Boom!

  An invisible roar echoed within his sea of consciousness. Beyond the barrier lay a vast, boundless seven-colored space. Countless rivers of Nether Source Qi surged like torrents, converging toward some unfathomable depth.

  At that very moment, Yun Che felt a sudden chill against his chest.

  He lowered his gaze — and his pupils shrank violently.

  The gray-white stone bead he wore close to his body was seeping countless droplets of deep azure liquid! Each droplet radiated Nether energy of incredible purity — far surpassing even the source qi flooding the chamber!

  This was the Heavenly Nether Bead.

  Since the day Yun Che stepped onto the cultivation path, this bead had never left him. Though its internal space contained no spiritual qi, it allowed him to cultivate and comprehend techniques at ten times the normal rate. Its only flaw was the need for “spirit dew” to sustain cultivation inside the bead — dew that formed painfully slowly, forcing Yun Che to abandon its use in recent years.

  Yet now, the Heavenly Nether Bead was actively absorbing Nether Source Qi… and refining it into something new.

  Nether Source Dew.

  Without hesitation, Yun Che took out a Cold Jade Gourd and carefully collected every droplet from the bead’s surface. The instant the dew entered the gourd, its exterior was rapidly coated in a layer of Azure ice crystal, radiating bone-chilling cold. A normal Foundation cultivator would likely have their meridians frozen solid upon contact.

  Once the gourd was filled, Yun Che’s eyes burned with intensity. He circulated the Nine Nether Cold Prison Art and resumed breathing in the source qi — this time, his divine sense was locked firmly onto the bead.

  As seven-colored source qi surged in from all directions, nearly thirty percent of it silently diverted into the stone bead. Almost immediately, deep-blue dew began condensing again, far faster than before.

  “This bead can refine the essence of source qi…” Yun Che suppressed his elation and continued cultivating for several hours, stopping only after filling two more gourds with Nether Source Dew.

  As he prepared to put the bead away, something caught his peripheral vision.

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  The bead’s surface had changed.

  Where there had once been only a single faint cloud-pattern, a second had appeared. The two cloud-marks intertwined, faintly forming the outline of an ancient sigil.

  Yun Che’s heart shook.

  Based on Li Han’s old deductions, the Heavenly Nether Bead required the complete absorption of the Five Elemental Origins to fully recognize its master. The first cloud-mark — corresponding to the Water Origin — had long since been completed. After that, the bead had remained unchanged no matter what he tried.

  He had once suspected the second mark would require the Wood Origin… but never found a trace.

  And yet now, nourished by Nether Source Qi, the second cloud-mark had emerged on its own.

  “Could it be…” Yun Che clenched the bead tightly, eyes flashing.

  “…that Nether Source Qi contains a form of Origin power?”

  The thought of escaping at the first opportunity was forcibly suppressed. The secrets of the Heavenly Nether Bead were clearly far greater than he had imagined. Until he understood its workings, leaving recklessly would be foolish.

  Still, some probing was necessary.

  Yun Che stowed the bead away and formed a seal with his right hand, sending out a deep-blue imprint. When it touched the ice wall, ripples spread and a narrow fissure silently opened — a Temporary Passage Seal recorded in the jade slip Hanyuanzi had given him.

  He slipped out and sprinted along the icy corridor he remembered.

  The passage was short, leading to a smaller side hall. But the moment Yun Che stepped inside, a cold voice echoed from within.

  “Martial Uncle Yun, please return. By order of Ancestor Hanyuanzi, during the opening of the Xuanming Passage, all disciples are forbidden from leaving their cultivation chambers.”

  The speaker sat cross-legged atop an ice platform at the hall’s center — Elder Han Jue, who had previously guided him. Behind Han Jue floated an ice coffin. The Profound Ice Corpse General within had already awakened and was staring at Yun Che through the coffin wall with chilling intent.

  Yun Che’s expression did not change. He inclined his head slightly.

  “In that case, Yun will not disturb Elder Han Jue’s cultivation.”

  He turned and withdrew — but his heart sank.

  The side hall’s guard had been replaced. Where there had once been a mere Golden Core attendant, there now stood a mid–Golden Core elder. This was no routine rotation.

  Remaining calm, Yun Che tested another corridor.

  At the end of the second passage stood a withered old man shrouded in black robes. There was no ice coffin behind him, yet the aura of death radiating from his body made Yun Che’s divine sense sting painfully.

  A late–Golden Core corpse cultivator.

  The third. The fourth.

  Yun Che probed seven corridors in total. Three were completely sealed by restrictions. The remaining four were all guarded by Golden Core cultivators — none below mid-stage, and one who had even reached Golden Core perfection.

  When Yun Che finally returned to the Profound Ice Meditation Chamber, his face was dark as still water.

  “They intend to imprison me here…”

  Seven corridors. Seven Golden Core sentries.

  And this was merely the first accessible layer of the underground city. The Nine Nether Tombs were tiered like a buried labyrinth; the farther out one went, the tighter the defenses became. With only Foundation cultivation, forcing a breakout would be pure delusion.

  He exhaled slowly, suppressing his agitation.

  If escape was impossible for now, then endurance was the only option — and he would seize every opportunity here to strengthen himself. The changes in the Heavenly Nether Bead might be the key to breaking this deadlock.

  Yun Che closed his eyes once more, dividing his focus into three streams.

  One guided Nether Source Qi to strike the Nether Mansion Aperture, solidifying the foundation of the Nine Nether Body.

  One locked onto the Heavenly Nether Bead, observing how it absorbed source qi and condensed dew.

  The third — the most dangerous — gathered all remaining divine sense and plunged once more into the depths of the aperture.

  His perception pierced through the three-hundred-zhang barrier and reentered the seven-colored space.

  This time, Yun Che did not linger.

  He followed the flow of the surging source qi — upstream.

  Five hundred zhang.

  Eight hundred zhang.

  One thousand zhang…

  The pressure mounted. The scouring force of the source qi stabbed into his consciousness like needles. Yet Yun Che endured, driven by an unshakable intuition:

  At the end of this torrent lay the true core of the Nine Nether Tombs.

  At roughly fifteen hundred zhang deep, the space suddenly opened up.

  What appeared before him defied description.

  Seven-colored source qi converged from all directions, forming a colossal vortex over a thousand zhang wide. At its center floated a ruined ancient altar composed entirely of Nether crystal.

  Seven shattered greatswords were embedded upon it, their blades carved with dim, fading Nether inscriptions.

  And at the very center of the altar…

  Rested an ice coffin.

  A deep-blue ice coffin, its surface plastered with nine scorched-yellow talismans.

  The coffin lid was slightly ajar, and thin streams of seven-colored source qi seeped from the gap, feeding the surrounding vortex.

  What truly shook Yun Che to his core was this—

  The coffin’s design, material, and even the nine talismans affixed to it…

  Were identical to those on Ami.

  The Heavenly Nether Bead suddenly reveals its ability to refine Nether Source Qi — what do you think its true origin is?

  A fragment of an ancient artifact, or a vessel of Nether Domain Origin?