The frail counselor you said, you fight against three heroes alone?

"Xi Yu! You're back!" There was a hint of trembling, a hint of joy, and a hint of disbelief in Cai Wenshuang's voice.

How she wanted to throw herself into his arms, feel his real body temperature, and confirm that this was not a dream.

However, before they could hug each other, something strange happened.

The ground of the altar shook violently, making a teeth-grinding friction sound, as if a giant beast was rolling over in the ground, or like thousands of troops were galloping towards them.

Dust fell, and the air was filled with an ancient and mysterious atmosphere, with a hint of blood, a hint of decay, and a hint of... despair.

The ground in the center of the altar slowly sank, revealing a huge bronze tripod.

The body of the tripod is mottled and dotted with green rust, but it cannot conceal the intricate and exquisite patterns on it.

Looking closely, the pattern turned out to be two children holding hands and smiling innocently.

One of the eyebrows and eyes vaguely shows the outline of Xi Yu today, while the other one is exactly what Cai Wenshuang looked like when he was a child!

Cai Wenshuang was shocked, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

This bronze tripod, this pattern, this sudden change... everything exudes a strange atmosphere.

At the same time, Xi Wujiang's armor suddenly came to life, as if it had life, turning into countless chains flashing with cold light, trapping the woman in purple tightly.

The chains were icy cold, emitting an eerie chill, like claws from hell, dragging her into an abyss of no return.

Xi Wujiang looked at Xi Yu deeply, his eyes were complicated and hard to read, with guilt, reluctance, and a hint of... relief.

"Yuer... take care..." His voice was low and hoarse, with a hint of helplessness and reluctance, like his final farewell.

Before he finished speaking, his figure sank into the ground along with the bronze tripod and disappeared.

All that was left was the empty altar and the creepy echo.

"Father!" Xi Yu shouted in grief and wanted to reach out to grab him, but he only grabbed a handful of air.

His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and the suffocating pain made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

The altar was shaking more and more violently, and the cracks were getting bigger and bigger, as if it would collapse at any time.

The rubble kept rolling down, the dust was flying, and the whole world seemed to be overturning.

"Xi Yu..." Cai Wenshuang held Xi Yu's hand tightly. Her hand was cold and trembling, but it gave Xi Yu a little strength.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Xi Yu held Cai Wenshuang's hand with his backhand and gave her a comforting look.

His eyes were firm and gentle, as if they could dispel all fear and anxiety.

At this moment, a voice sounded from deep underground, with endless majesty and vicissitudes, as if it came from ancient gods, or like a demon from hell: "Blood is connected... fate and reincarnation..."

Xi Yu and Cai Wen stood on the bronze tripod back to back. The cold metal irritated their skin through their thin clothes.

An inexplicable force surged out from the cauldron and flowed through their bodies, making them feel numb and dizzy.

Xi Wujiang's remaining soul emerged from the ground; his figure was illusory and vague, as if it would disappear at any time.

He looked at Xi Yu, with a hint of madness and determination in his eyes.

"Brother, use my brother's blood to activate the formation!"

Su Heng suddenly summoned the Tianji Pavilion Master's natal Gu from twenty years ago. It was a golden insect that emitted a dazzling light.

It circled in the air, making sharp cries, as if it was cheering or wailing.

Su Heng dripped Xi Wujiang's blood into the mouth of the insect, and the insect's body quickly swelled up and eventually turned into a golden pill.

"The real Heaven's Secret Lock is a symbiosis of the blood of the Xi family and the blood of the mountain people!" Su Heng's voice was cold and firm, with a hint of unquestionable majesty.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang looked at each other and swallowed the pills at the same time without any hesitation.

The pill melted in their mouths, turning into a warm current that flowed through their bodies.

Their blood began to boil, their bodies began to glow, and their blood began to merge.

The sky and the earth changed color and the wind and clouds changed suddenly.

The purple-clothed woman rushed out from the ground, black mist wrapped around her body, her eyes filled with resentment and anger.

"Xi Wujiang! How dare you betray me!"

However, Xi Wujiang's residual soul entangled her, and his eyes were full of madness and persistence.

"Mother, I am your true vessel!"

Su Heng looked at this scene, her eyes deep and complicated... She slowly raised her hand and pointed to the sky.

"here we go……"

The earth groaned in pain, as if it could not withstand such powerful force.

In the center of the altar, Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang stood side by side, their palms facing each other. A visible flow of energy surged between them, flashing dazzling light.

The light became brighter and brighter, gradually enveloping the two of them and forming a huge ball of light.

Inside the light ball, two blood vessels intertwined and entangled, like two dragons playing with a pearl, emitting bursts of dragon roars.

Suddenly, a sudden change occurred!
The originally empty ground suddenly cracked into a huge crack, and a figure jumped out from it!

Amid the flying dust, Cai's father's weather-beaten face appeared in front of everyone. His eyes were as sharp as torches, staring at the purple-clothed woman who was entangled by Xi Wujiang's residual soul.

The tattoo on his neck seemed to come alive, transforming into black chains that swept towards the woman in purple with a sharp sound of breaking through the air!

"boom!"

The chains wrapped around the woman in purple like a poisonous snake, nailing her firmly to the altar, making her unable to move.

The woman in purple let out a shrill scream, her voice filled with anger and unwillingness.

"You...you actually..."

Father Cai's eyes flashed with a cold light, and his voice was as cold as ice: "The engagement you stole back then was a substitute set up by Xi Yu to save my daughter!"

This sudden change stunned everyone present.

Su Heng's Xi Wujiang's remaining soul was also stunned. He looked at Father Cai,

The palms of Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang finally came into complete contact, and a powerful energy wave spread out in all directions with the two of them as the center.

The sky and the earth changed color, the sun and the moon lost their light, as if the end of the world was about to come.

The stone pillars around the altar began to collapse, and the ground shook violently, making a heart-pounding roar.

At this moment, an even more terrifying figure slowly emerged from the crack between heaven and earth.

The figure was a fusion of the souls of the purple-clothed woman, Xi Wujiang, and Cai's father, and exuded a suffocating pressure.

Its eyes were like burning flames, staring at Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang, and it let out a deafening roar.

"You...all must die!"

At this critical moment, the leader of the secret guards, who had remained silent, suddenly moved.

The broken sword in his hand stabbed out like lightning, pointing directly at Xi Yu's back!
"Sir, be careful!" a secret guard exclaimed.

However, it was too late...

"Xi Yu..." Cai Wenshuang's voice trembled.

Xi Yu seemed to sense the murderous intent behind him, but he did not look back. He just held Cai Wenshuang's hand tightly with a bitter smile on his face.

"It seems... we can't escape the arrangement of fate after all..."

The broken sword tore through the air, making a sharp whistling sound, and headed straight for Xi Yu's back!
At that moment, time seemed to freeze, and even the wind held its breath.

Xi Yu had a bitter smile on his face, as if he had accepted the arrangement of fate.

He didn't even look back, but just held Cai Wenshuang's hand tighter, palms touching, conveying a silent farewell.

At the critical moment, Cai Wenshuang suddenly threw the inconspicuous goat pendant in his hand!

The pendant drew an arc in the air, accurately blocking the tip of the sword and Xi Yu's back.

With a crisp "ding" sound, sparks flew everywhere!

The hard broken sword was unable to pierce the seemingly ordinary pendant, but instead left a deep scratch on it.

The pendant was split open by the sword, revealing the blood-red patterns engraved on the inside - "Xi Cai Yongqi".

These four words were like a thunder, exploding in everyone's ears.

Even the leader of the secret guards who thrust the sword was stunned.

The broken sword in his hand trembled slightly.

Xi Yu grabbed the sword blade fiercely, blood dripping through his fingers, but it did not affect his calmness at all.

He looked at the leader of the secret guards in front of him, with a cold arc on his lips: "The Heavenly Secret Gu in your body, do you still remember what I said when I taught you the first lesson?" The leader of the secret guards was shocked and his face turned pale in an instant.

He wanted to draw back the broken sword, but found that his body seemed to be imprisoned and he could not move.

On his neck, golden chain-like lines emerged, like poisonous snakes, tightly wrapped around his throat, making it difficult for him to breathe.

“Ahem…” The leader of the secret guards coughed painfully. He raised his head with difficulty, looked at Xi Yu, and said in a hoarse voice: “Sir… I… can’t help myself…”

Upon seeing this, Cai Wenshuang immediately stepped forward and tore open the collar of the secret guard leader.

On his chest, there was a bronze pattern imprinted, exactly the same as the pattern on Xi Wujiang's body!
Cai Wenshuang's pupils suddenly shrank, and he took a breath of cold air: "No wonder you are still alive today! Twenty years ago, the three hundred people in the Dark Guard Battalion died in the line of duty to suppress bandits..."

She didn't finish her words, but the meaning was self-evident.

Twenty years ago, three hundred elite members of the Xi family's secret guard battalion "died in the line of duty to suppress bandits", and now, the leader of the secret guards is standing here alive, with the same patterns on his body as Xi Wujiang.

What kind of secret is hidden in this?
Xi Yu looked at the leader of the secret guards and said slowly, "You were an orphan. I raised you, taught you martial arts, and treated you like a brother. But you betrayed me and joined that woman!"

"Sir, I..." The leader of the secret guards wanted to explain, but found that he could not say anything.

He could only close his eyes in pain and let the golden chains tighten.

"Who is it?" Cai Wenshuang asked sternly, his tone full of murderous intent.

Xi Yu took a deep breath and slowly uttered two words: "Purple clothes."

Cai Wenshuang clenched his fists, his nails dug deeply into the flesh, and blood flowed through the gaps between his fingers.

She stared at the leader of the secret guards and said word by word: "Twenty years ago, the three hundred secret guards were all her..."

The leader of the secret guards nodded painfully, with two lines of blood and tears flowing from the corners of his eyes.

"I'm going to kill her!" Cai Wenshuang said gritting his teeth, with rage burning in his eyes.

Xi Yu grabbed Cai Wenshuang's hand, shook his head, and said, "It's not the right time yet. We have to leave here first."

"But..." Cai Wenshuang wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Xi Yu.

"Believe me." Xi Yu looked at Cai Wenshuang, his eyes full of determination and trust, "I will avenge you and those brothers who died!"

He held Cai Wenshuang's hand tightly, turned his gaze to the terrifying figure slowly emerging from the crack of the altar, and said word by word: "Here it comes..."

"Roar--!"

A roar that did not sound like a human voice shook the entire altar to the point of collapse.

A monster slowly crawled out of the crack.

It is called a monster because it is really hard to describe - three heads, showing the forms of old, middle-aged and young respectively, and six eyes flashing scarlet light, like an evil ghost from the abyss of hell.

Its body was bloated and twisted, covered in a sticky black fluid and emitting a sickening stench.

It has six arms, some with sharp bone spurs, and some covered with suction cups like an octopus. They waved around wildly, bringing up gusts of fishy wind.

This... this is a monster with three souls combined into one? !
Cai Wenshuang felt his stomach churning and he almost vomited.

She had never seen such a horrific scene. Her heart was beating like a drum and her hands and feet were cold.

“Wenshuang!”

Xi Yu shouted loudly, bringing Cai Wenshuang back to reality from his panic.

He pushed her to the edge of the altar with such force that Cai Wenshuang staggered a few steps and almost fell.

"Use the pendant! Activate the 'Eternal Night Formation' of the Dark Guard Camp!" Xi Yu's voice was hoarse and rapid, and every word seemed to be squeezed out of his throat.

Cai Wenshuang then remembered that she was still holding the split pendant in her hand. She looked down and saw the four bloody words "Xi Cai Yongqi" on the inside of the pendant. At this moment, it was emitting a faint red light, as if it was beating with life.

Without time to think, Cai Wenshuang tightly grasped the pendant, and the formula her father had taught her emerged in her mind. She closed her eyes, concentrated all her strength on the pendant, and recited it aloud.

At the same time, Xiyu fell into an unprecedented crisis.

The monster seemed to be particularly sensitive to Xi Yu's aura. As soon as it appeared, it concentrated all its attacks on him.

Six arms attacked like a violent storm, blocking all of Xiyu's escape routes.

"Sir! Be careful!" The leader of the dark guards roared and wanted to go forward to help, but was blown away by the black air emanating from the monster. He hit the stone wall heavily and spurted out a mouthful of blood.

Xi Yu was well aware of his current condition. He was still seriously injured and had no way of confronting this monster head-on.

He could only rely on his exquisite body movements to barely dodge in between the monsters' attacks and look for opportunities to counterattack.

The long sword in his hand had long been broken, leaving only a broken blade.

Although the broken blade is short, it is still sharp.

Xi Yu poured his internal energy into the broken blade, and the sword body began to emit a faint green light.

He seized a gap, dodged the monster's sharp claws, and stabbed the monster's chest with the broken blade!

"Pfft!"

The broken blade pierced into the monster's bloated body, but it was like piercing a ball of cotton, without causing any substantial damage.

Instead, the black liquid on the monster's body spread along the broken blade, trying to corrode Xi Yu's arm.

Xi Yu frowned, made a prompt decision, threw away the broken blade, and stepped back.

"Roar!" The monster seemed to be enraged. Its three heads let out deafening roars at the same time, and its six arms waved wildly as it pounced towards Xi Yu.

Just as Xi Yu was about to be torn to pieces by the monster's claws, the leader of the secret guards suddenly got up from the ground and stood in front of Xi Yu.

"Sir! Go!" He roared, and used all his strength to hug one of the monster's arms.

The monster felt pain and swung its body violently, throwing the leader of the secret guards away.

The body of the dark guard leader drew an arc in the air and hit the stone pillar in the center of the altar heavily, making a dull sound.

Xi Yu took this opportunity, flashed and came to the side of the secret guard leader.

He stretched out his hand to help the leader of the secret guards up, but found that his chest had been pierced by the monster's claws and blood was gushing out.

"Sir..." The leader of the secret guards had a dazed look in his eyes, but a smile of relief appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Xi Yu felt a pain in his heart

At this moment, Xi Yu's gaze inadvertently swept across the chest of the dark guard leader.

Under the fragments of the heart-protecting mirror, he saw something - half a jade pendant!
This half piece of jade beads fits perfectly with the fragment that Father Cai gave him!

Xi Yu was shocked, but before he had time to think about it, the leader of the secret guards suddenly moved.

He suddenly raised his hand and stabbed the broken sword in his hand into his throat!

Blood gushed out and splashed all over Xiyu's face.

Xi Yu widened his eyes, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.

"Sir..." The leader of the secret guards used up his last bit of strength to stuff the half of the jade pendant in his hand into Xi Yu's hand, and said one word incoherently: "Quick..."

The monster let out a shrill roar, and its huge body trembled violently, as if it was hit by an invisible force.

It waved its sharp claws wildly, making the chains wrapped around its body rattle.

The leader of the secret guards was thrown away by this huge force, like a kite with a broken string, and hit hard against the stone pillar in the center of the altar.

A dull crash echoed on the altar, gravel flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

Xi Yu's heart tightened. He didn't care about the monster's counterattack and rushed to the leader of the secret guards.

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood, which made him feel suffocated.

There was a shocking bloody hole on the chest of the Dark Guard Leader, from which blood was gushing out, staining the Dark Guard Leader's clothes red, as well as the bluestone slabs on the altar.

"Sir..." The leader of the secret guards opened his mouth with difficulty, his voice as weak as a mosquito's hum.

He raised his hand hard, wanting to grab Xi Yu's sleeve, but it fell down weakly.

His eyes were dazed and his consciousness was beginning to blur, but there was a smile of relief on the corners of his mouth, as if he had accomplished a mission and unloaded a heavy burden.

Xi Yu felt a pang of pain in his heart. He reached out to help the leader of the secret guards up, but his fingertips touched his cold skin and a chill instantly spread throughout his body.

At this moment, his eyes inadvertently swept across the breastplate on the dark guard leader's chest.

The heart-protecting mirror had been shattered, and beneath the fragments, a warm luster was revealed - half a jade pendant!
This half piece of jade is crystal white all over, exuding a faint spiritual aura, and it fits perfectly with the fragment that Cai's father gave him that year!

Xi Yu's pupils suddenly shrank, and his heart was filled with turmoil.

Could it be... could it be that there is some unknown connection between the Cai family and the secret guards?

Before he could think about it, something strange happened! (End of this chapter)