Zhi Xuan lowered his hand slightly, condensing a Devil Blood Sword that carried the weight of the blood from the devil seed now suppressed within his sea of consciousness. The Devil Blood Sword was nothing more than a cluster of five threads, radiating a piercing blood aura.

  SRAK!

  With a subtle movement that did not attract the attention of the guards overseeing the hammering slaves, Zhi Xuan fashioned needles from those threads—thin blades forged from blood, capable of moving silently along the path he determined. These needles were infused with a faint spark of thunder that rumbled low within the clinking of the needles.

  Zhi Xuan did not need to move. The five blood needles shot out in a silence that carried the scent of blood. They did not aim for the heart or the head; they targeted the Sea of Consciousness of the guards who were on the verge of Blood Transformation, their weakest point while focused on the slaves, aiming to paralyze their divine sense.

  WHIZZ! WHIZZ! WHIZZ!

  The five blood needles, nearly invisible amidst the flickering torchlight, pierced the cold air of the Divine Stone Mine. Their speed and precision were the fruits of Zhi Xuan's unmatched experience in killing within the wilderness. They struck the napes of the five guards situated outside the two arrogant cultivators near the gap.

  Those five guards staggered, their weary eyes suddenly radiating intense confusion. There was no sound of screaming or blood; the needles only damaged their Sea of Consciousness. In a fraction of a second, their divine sense was paralyzed, rendering them unable to feel the threat, let alone their own bodies.

  They collapsed slowly, their hammers falling to the ground with a loud metallic clang, but amidst the noise of the mining, the sound drew no attention. They were not dead, but they would not wake for at least three days.

  Zhi Xuan smiled coldly from within the shadows. This was a clean and elegant way. He did not waste their blood essence for unnecessary seals. He stepped out of the shadows, moving directly toward the two remaining Consciousness Transformation cultivators in the deepest part of the cavern.

  The two men, wearing light armor, crossed their arms over their chests, watching the slaves with cold arrogance. They were the final layer of defense in front of the thickest rock vein, where the natural gap Xiao Die mentioned was hidden. They were the true sentinels.

  "Hey! Who goes there!" shouted one of the guards, his eyes narrowing as he saw the hooded figure walking from the shadows without permission. He sensed that this newcomer was not one of the remaining slaves.

  Zhi Xuan ignored him. He moved, not toward them, but toward the rock vein behind them. That act was a deliberate insult. The two guards, accustomed to being respected and feared, immediately felt humiliated.

  "Stop right there, lowly cultivator! This area is closed! Can you not see the slaves working?!" roared the second guard, his voice echoing off the cavern walls. They did not recognize Zhi Xuan as a Wind Bandit or part of Tu Yan's caravan; he was too foreign, too clean.

  Zhi Xuan stopped directly in front of them, only one zhang away from the rock vein that radiated a dense jade essence. He turned his head slowly. His sapphire eyes glowed with a cold, lethal light.

  "Senior Brothers," Zhi Xuan hissed as he cupped his hands together, his voice hoarse and possessing a tone of cold tranquility. "I am sent by Tu Yan, the Waterless Blue Lake, to accept a reconnaissance mission within the place where the Extreme Yin-Yang collides."

  "Reconnaissance?" mocked the first guard, a cynical smirk appearing on his lips. He flicked his hand, dismissing Zhi Xuan's polite yet false posture. "Sent by Tu Yan? That is merely a cunning slave trader. This area is the Divine Stone Mine, not a playground for your desert rats. We do not take orders from a slave trader."

  "Senior Brother, you are mistaken," Zhi Xuan replied, his tone remaining cold but now containing a subtle thread of threat. "This mission originates from a higher level, concerning the newly discovered rock vein at the Yin-Yang border. Tu Yan is merely the messenger. I have been granted special permission to access this area. I must move quickly before the Great Emperor's oppression attracts mortal attention."

  The two guards looked at each other. They observed an unusual calmness in the hooded figure before them. A small part of them suspected the lie, but the mention of a higher level and the Great Emperor's oppression managed to suppress their suspicion. They were lowly cultivators guarding a mine; they feared invisible powers.

  "I have already surrendered my life and death," Zhi Xuan continued calmly, with a slight nod and a smile that did not reach his eyes. "If I die in there, then let the Great Emperor's Law decide it."

  The first guard, who was larger in build, laughed cynically. "Life and death? In this place, we decide your life and death, Ghost. Stop obstructing us. There is no special permit from this Mine, and we will not risk our foundation for nonsense about a high-level mission. Get out now, or we will drag you out and bind you with those slaves!"

  As the guard growled, his hand began to radiate corrupt spiritual essence—a signal that he was ready to act. The second guard, who was thinner, began to move to close the gap behind Zhi Xuan. They had made their decision; this stranger was too suspicious and had to be neutralized.

  "I ask both Seniors to remain calm," Zhi Xuan said, cupping his hands again coldly. "We certainly do not wish to be further oppressed under the Great Emperor's Law. We are all suppressed to the Transformation realm, so if you force me to fight like this, the slaves will see it as an opportunity to cause chaos."

  The faces of the two guards immediately turned pale. The threat felt real. The spiritual iron chains were not particularly strong, and they knew that under the oppression of the Great Emperor's Tomb, their spiritual essence was only enough to withstand external dangers, not an internal uprising that would throw the entire mine into turmoil. They were trapped.

  Zhi Xuan took a step forward, closing the distance between them. He gave them no room to breathe or think. "Or, the Seniors can allow me to enter, letting me die within that Natural Gap. If I return, it means the mission was a success, and the opening of another Mine area as a reward may not be an issue for you. If I die, the problem is solved, and the slaves remain safe in their place."

  The larger guard, with cold sweat creeping under his armor, whetted his teeth. He knew the risk of disrupting the mine was a punishment far more cruel than letting this possibly mad stranger enter. He made a bitter and cowardly decision.

  "Enter, Ghost," the guard hissed, his voice filled with suppressed rage. "If you do not return within an hour, we will consider you consumed by the aura in there."

  The second guard, the thinner one, nodded reluctantly. They stepped back, opening a small gap for Zhi Xuan to reach the rock vein. Zhi Xuan smiled coldly beneath his Tattered Hood, a victory smile that did not reach his eyes. Cowardice and the fear of higher authority were sharp blades far more effective than the Thunder Sword. He nodded once, a cold gesture returning their reluctant permission.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Thank you for the Senior Brothers' generosity," Zhi Xuan replied, his tone flat and piercing. He wasted no time. He turned, showing his back without hesitation, and stepped toward the rock vein radiating the densest jade essence. On his wrist, the Thousand Feather Silk Bracelet pulsed, strengthening his spiritual senses toward the warmth that contrasted against the cold stone wall.

  The two guards could only watch his hooded back, holding back their anger and fear. They felt played, but the real danger of a slave riot and the threat of punishment from the Great Emperor's Tomb authority forced them to choose the cowardly path.

  Zhi Xuan raised his hand. He did not use a dirty mining hammer. He channeled his physical essence, which had been forged by Thirty Slaughter Seals. It was a power that could now shatter spiritual steel without effort. He punched the thick rock vein before him, not with a hard blow, but with a focused and cruel pressure.

  BUG! CRACK! CRACK!

  The sound of shattering rock was almost drowned out by the clinking of the slaves' hammers, but to Zhi Xuan, that sound was a melody of victory. The thick jade vein, which usually required trained miners hours to break, now cracked and shattered under the pressure of his cold fist. Dense black and white jade essence radiated from the cracked vein, but Zhi Xuan ignored it. He focused only on the point where Xiao Die sensed the contrasting warmth.

  SRAK!

  His fist pierced the final layer of the rock vein, and the cold air of the Divine Stone Mine was immediately replaced by an alien, damp warmth. It was a living warmth, a Natural Law that should not exist beneath the dead Great Emperor's Tomb. Zhi Xuan withdrew his hand, and the collapsing stone wall revealed a small hole enveloped in thin black and white mist. The hole was not carved but formed naturally, winding with the energy of the Extreme Yin and Yang as they collided. This was the Natural Gap.

  "A Natural Gap," Zhi Xuan murmured. He looked back briefly. The two guards stood tense, watching him with eyes full of vigilance. They would not enter; the Tomb's oppressive Law was their limit.

  Zhi Xuan smiled coldly, a smile that was not seen but felt in the air. He stepped forward, letting his body slide into the narrow hole. The cold Yin-Yang mist immediately enveloped his body, feeling like blades of ice and fire piercing his skin, but the weak Four-Directional Blood Shield managed to protect him. He slid down into the damp darkness.

  As his body vanished completely, the two guards immediately approached the gap. They saw a black hole sucking in the air, filled with the lethal Extreme Yin-Yang mist. The larger guard, with cold sweat flowing down his temples, felt an extraordinary danger from that mist.

  "Curse you, that Ghost is truly insane!" hissed the thin guard. "No one can survive in there! We will report that he died consumed by the Tomb's aura."

  They turned away, feeling relieved. The problem was solved. They did not have to face punishment. They did not know that the entity they had just released would become a catastrophe for the ancient heritage behind them. Meanwhile, Zhi Xuan slid downward. The passage was narrow and dark, the Extreme Yin-Yang mist feeling increasingly dense, and the Four-Directional Blood Shield felt pressurized.

  "This colliding energy is very strong," Zhi Xuan murmured, waving his hand as the Divine Cauldron immediately appeared and spun around him, radiating the Four Seasons Law that temporarily held back the Yin-Yang mist. "I wonder why even Great Emperor Zhu prohibited their own descendants from entering his tomb."

  Zhi Xuan channeled his Consciousness Transformation essence into the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron. The ancient artifact spun rapidly around him, its calm Four Seasons resonance acting as a buffer shield, creating a zone of tranquility in the midst of the colliding Extreme Yin-Yang energy vortex. The thick black and white mist felt like thousands of needles of ice and fire, piercing and trying to tear the Four-Directional Blood Shield he maintained.

  "I suspect it is not merely a prohibition as Zhu Qinglan revealed," Zhi Xuan hissed, darting forward carefully. "There is something else... perhaps a truth about the era in which those Great Emperors fell."

  Xiao Die's subtle yet clear hum filled Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness. "Master, do not think too much of that decayed will. This Extreme Yin-Yang Law is a pure Heavenly Law. The will of the Ancient Zhu Clan's Great Emperor may have been altered by the oppression here. The spiritual map did not lie. The Seven Lotus Yin Fruit is ahead, in the center of this collision."

  Zhi Xuan nodded inwardly. His Little Moth was right. He must not be dragged into the intrigues of a dead will. His goals were survival, the Seven Lotus Yin Fruit, and the heritage. The narrow passage sloped steeply downward for dozens of zhang; the deeper he slid, the denser the Extreme Yin-Yang mist became.

  The Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron vibrated, and Zhi Xuan had to constantly pump spiritual essence to keep the Four Seasons shield intact. He felt the pressure in his meridians, but his physical foundation reinforced by thirty Slaughter Seals withstood the pain, allowing him to maintain concentration.

  Finally, the passage ended. Zhi Xuan slid out of the narrow gap, landing softly on the damp, cold ground. He withdrew the Divine Cauldron, letting it return to its normal size in his palm. The Four-Directional Blood Shield immediately vanished, and he allowed the Extreme Yin-Yang Law to envelop him.

  The sight before him was a perfect contrast to the death plain outside. It was a giant underground cavern that looked like a separate miniature world. The cavern was lit by a dim light originating from two sources—one side radiated a cold ice-white light, and the other side radiated a dense black light that gave off a damp warmth. This was the Extreme Yin-Yang Land.

  "The Extreme Yin-Yang Land," Zhi Xuan murmured, feeling stunned as he paused for a moment. "It is not just Yin rejecting the earth like in the Primordial Ancient City, but a dominating Extreme Yin-Yang."

  Zhi Xuan stood at the border of the giant cavern, his cold and sharp aura immediately adapting to the environment. The ground beneath his feet was split into two striking colors. On the left side, pale white ice crystals rose high, radiating a cold capable of freezing the spiritual soul. On the right side, pitch-black volcanic rock glowed with a damp and lethal heat.

  Zhi Xuan sharpened his divine sense to scan for passages that might appear within this vast cavern. His divine sense found that these passages were clear of new traces; instead, there were only remnants of old tracks that had once come here through other routes, not the path he had taken.

  "Withdraw your divine sense, Monkey," Ruo Xianxue hissed suddenly in his Sea of Consciousness, her voice filled with a sharp warning. "You will be blinded if you investigate the Great Emperor's Tomb in such an arrogant manner. This is the area of the Great Emperor's Tomb, not the tomb of mortal monkeys that you can easily observe."

  Zhi Xuan immediately withdrew his divine sense, feeling it nearly torn apart by the invisible yet ancient Law. This Great Emperor's Tomb was indeed not a place he could investigate with ordinary arrogance. His divine sense could only scan the immediate area, but trying to reach the distant passages felt like stabbing a needle into the shell of a heavenly turtle.

  "You are right," Zhi Xuan murmured, not rushing to take a step. He channeled his divine sense toward the spiritual map in his storage bag. "This map feels useless; it does not show the depths of the Great Emperor's Tomb, showing that even the Ancient Zhu Clan does not possess a complete scripture of their ancestors."

  Zhi Xuan let the spiritual map return to his storage bag. His hidden face displayed a cold expression. An incomplete map was only natural; any Great Emperor's heritage was always shrouded in mystery and intentional danger; danger and heritage indeed went hand in hand.

  ZSTT! SREKK!

  Zhi Xuan turned as fast as lightning; he had just heard something move from the cavern ceiling. He narrowed his eyes but found nothing except the cavern ceiling which felt incredibly ancient. Zhi Xuan leaped backward to be on guard, seeing what threat came to welcome such a cavern.

  However, nothing happened. He sharpened his divine sense to circle the cavern ceiling, yet still found nothing. Silence reigned, and only the friction of stone or the caress of essence that was too comfortable and warm could be heard. Zhi Xuan held his breath and kept his gaze sharpened on the surroundings.

  "Strange," Zhi Xuan murmured; he had clearly heard something move above him. He stood tall again and lowered his tension but did not lower his vigilance. "Great Saint, you heard it too, did you not?"

  Zhi Xuan began to step slowly to enter deeper into the cavern. Here, the buried Divine Stone felt abundant yet also felt like a danger; after all, something living under the pressure of the Extreme Yin-Yang would produce enhancements that sometimes would not be able to survive without something to restrain them.

  "The Great Emperor's Tomb is a part of the Great Emperor's body itself, Monkey," Ruo Xianxue hissed suddenly in his Sea of Consciousness, her double pupils glowing subtly. "Indirectly, this is not the Great Emperor's Tomb you seek; this is merely one of the paths to enter the Tomb."

  Zhi Xuan stopped, his sapphire gaze sweeping across the entire view of the giant cavern. The Extreme Yin-Yang light radiating from the ice crystals and volcanic rock looked like veins pumping the decayed Law. Ruo Xianxue's statement, referring to the ancient Great Emperor, sent a cold shiver down his spine. If this cavern was merely a passage, then how vast was the actual main body of the Great Emperor's Tomb.

  "You mean..." Zhi Xuan murmured, swallowing hard as he just felt the weight of what Ruo Xianxue had said. "You mean the Tomb was formed with the Great Emperor's own body?"