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

The leader of the secret guards suddenly raised his hand, and the broken sword in his hand, with a resolute force, stabbed into his own throat!

Blood gushed out like an enchanting red flower blooming on the gray altar.

The warm blood splashed all over Xiyu's face. The fishy and salty taste stimulated his taste buds and made his stomach churn.

"Sir..." The leader of the secret guards used up his last bit of strength and stuffed the half jade bead in his hand into Xi Yu's hand.

He uttered an unclear word: "Hurry..." Then, his head tilted and he was completely dead.

At this moment, a low humming sound came from under the altar, as if a sleeping beast was waking up.

The buzzing sound became louder and louder, gradually evolving into waves of melodious bell sounds.

Xi Yu was not unfamiliar with this bell sound, it was the long-lost "Requiem"!
The crack in the center of the altar began to tremble violently, and a cold breath gushed out from it, bringing with it a chilling chill.

The crack grew bigger and bigger, and finally, a figure slowly emerged from it.

She was a woman in a purple robe. She had a beautiful face but a sinister aura.

Her eyes were like those of a poisonous snake, cold and sharp, as if they could see through people's hearts.

Xi Yu's heart trembled

Suddenly, a sharp voice sounded in Xi Yu's ears: "What mother wants is not bloodline, but the position of prime minister! She has already implanted the core of the Tianji Lock..." This voice was hoarse and crazy, and it was the residual soul of Xi Wujiang!

He seemed to want to reveal some shocking secret, however, before he could finish his words, the woman in purple suddenly waved her sleeves, and a powerful force instantly shattered Xi Wujiang's remaining soul!
At the same time, Cai Wenshuang placed another twin jade bead on the altar.

A huge star map suddenly appeared on the ground of the altar, shining with stars and mysterious.

Cai Wenshuang's eyes were as cold as ice as he stared at Xi Yu: "Back then, you held your father hostage in exchange for the Cai family's bloodline as a sealing medium?"

Xiyu opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but didn't know where to start...

This sudden change was like a blow to Xiyu's head, making him dizzy.

He could never have imagined that Cai Wenshuang would ask such a question!

Hostage?

seal?

Where is this going?

He was about to open his mouth to explain, but the woman in purple spoke first.

“Hahaha…” The purple-clothed woman laughed loudly, her laughter was so sharp and piercing that it seemed to break people’s eardrums. “What an infatuated prime minister! You think everything you do is for her? Little did you know that you are just a chess piece in my hand!”

She waved her hand violently, and the bronze arm that was originally quietly floating in the air seemed to suddenly come alive, transforming into thousands of poisonous snakes, pouncing towards Xi Yu with bared fangs and claws!
Each of these arms gleams with a cold metallic luster and is covered with strange runes, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

"How dare you use your brother's soul as bait!" The voice of the purple-clothed woman sounded like it came from the depths of hell, cold and full of resentment.

Every word was like a sharp knife, piercing Xi Yu's heart.

Xi Yu only felt a chill running from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and the blood in his body seemed to solidify.

He wanted to dodge, but found that his body seemed to be restrained by an invisible force and he could not move.

Seeing those bronze arms about to devour him, Xi Yu felt despair.

He could never have imagined that everything he had carefully planned would fall into such a trap!
Am I really going to die here?

At this critical moment, something strange happened!

"Boom!"

There was a loud bang, like thunder hitting the ground, shaking the entire altar violently.

Immediately afterwards, a golden light shot up from the ground into the sky, shaking away all the bronze arms that pounced towards Xi Yu!

The golden light dissipated, and a set of golden armor appeared before everyone's eyes.

This armor is golden all over, carved with intricate patterns, and exudes a sacred and majestic aura.

This is exactly the one that Xi Wujiang wore when he was alive!

The armor seemed to have life. It automatically flew in front of the woman in purple and shook violently!
A powerful force suddenly erupted, pinning the woman in purple to the center of the star map!

The woman in purple let out a shrill scream. Her body, enveloped by golden light, kept twisting and deforming, as if it was about to be torn into pieces by this force!
"No... Impossible!" The purple-clothed woman's eyes were filled with fear and disbelief, "This... This is..."

Before she could finish, Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang had already jumped onto the bronze tripod at the same time.

The twin jade beads on their wrists simultaneously emitted dazzling light at this moment.

The two rays of light met in the air and turned into a huge pillar of light, shooting straight into the sky!
"Rumble..."

The color of the sky and the earth changes, and the wind and clouds surge.

The star map above the altar seemed to be activated and began to rotate slowly.

The stars are shining brightly, as if they are about to fall from the sky.

The wind howled and lightning flashed.

The entire altar seemed to have turned into a huge whirlpool, madly swallowing up everything around it.

The screams of the woman in purple were drowned out by the thunder and wind.

Under the shining golden light, her body began to gradually dissipate, turning into starlight and merging into the star map.

However, just as this strange phenomenon reached its peak, the scream of the purple-clothed woman suddenly distorted and transformed into the familiar and anxious voice of Cai's father: "Stop! This is the final test of the Cai family bloodline!"

This voice, like a wake-up call, startled Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang, who were originally immersed in the ceremony. They looked at each other and saw the same shock and confusion in each other's eyes, as well as the confusion that should not belong to the moment.

Deep underground, there seemed to be some hard object knocking on the ground of the altar again and again. The sound was dull, slow, yet firm.

The ground was shaking more and more violently. The ground in the center of the altar was cracking and gravel was flying everywhere.

Blood-red lines spread out like a spider web, looking particularly hideous in the golden light.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang subconsciously took a step back, holding each other's hands tightly, staring intently at the depths of the crack. An inexplicable sense of fear rushed from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads.

"Boom——"

With a loud bang, the ground exploded, dust flew, and gravel scattered everywhere.

A figure slowly rose from the crack in the ground.

That was Father Cai. His eyes were bloodshot, his face was covered in blood, and his hair was disheveled. He looked like a demon crawling out of hell.

What was even more bizarre was that the tattoo on his neck was emitting an eerie red light at this moment, and it was wriggling like a living thing, extending and deforming, and finally turning into two blood-red chains, which were respectively wrapped around Xi Yu and the woman in purple.

"You stole the engagement back then in order to stop me from signing the thousand-year contract with the royal family!" Father Cai's voice was hoarse and low, with a chilling chill.

He stared at the purple-dressed woman intently.
The body of the woman in purple trembled even more violently under the double restraints of the golden light and the blood-red chains.

She wanted to struggle, but found that she couldn't move at all.

Her face was filled with pain, despair, and deep...fear?
Xi Yu only felt a huge force binding him tightly and making him unable to move.

He looked down at the blood-red chains wrapped around his body. They were cold to the touch, yet carried a burning pain.

This feeling is so familiar, yet so strange.

It was like some forgotten memory was being forcibly awakened.

"Thousand-year contract? What contract?" Xi Yu asked sternly, enduring the severe pain in his body.

Father Cai laughed loudly towards the sky; his laughter was shrill and crazy, like the cry of a trapped beast.

"Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Cai family made a contract with the royal family, using the twin bloodlines as a guide to protect the fortune of the dynasty! And you," he turned his head suddenly and stared at Xi Yu, "you, the Xi family bloodline, are the container of this contract!"

At this time, a figure slowly walked out from the shadow of the altar.

It was Su Heng. In her hand, she was holding an antique bronze medicine box. The bottom of the box was engraved with the same pattern as Xi Yu's jade pendant.

"The Xi family bloodline is the symbiotic container of the Tianji Pavilion and the royal family!" Su Heng's voice was calm and indifferent, but it exploded in Xi Yu's mind like thunder.

Symbiotic container?

What do you mean?
Xi Yu's mind was in a mess. He felt like he was involved in a huge conspiracy, but he knew nothing about it.

Cai Wenshuang's gaze fell on the depths of the altar.

There, there is a secret compartment hidden, with dozens of jade pendants placed inside, each of which is engraved with the same runes as the Tianji Lock.

"No wonder Master Xi can always turn danger into safety..." Cai Wenshuang murmured to herself. A complex light flashed in her eyes, with shock, confusion, and... a trace of unspeakable sadness.

Xi Yu's gaze also fell on those jade pendants.

He suddenly remembered that he had seen a similar jade pendant in his family's secret collection.

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

Those jade pendants represent the masters of the opera houses throughout the generations, and also represent... their fate as "containers".

Cai's father's madness, Su Heng's indifference, Cai Wenshuang's sadness, and those jade pendants engraved with the same runes...all of these were like a huge net that surrounded him tightly, making it impossible for him to breathe and escape.

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

Mr. Cai's smile became even more ferocious.

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

Su Heng slowly opened the bronze medicine box, and a strange fragrance wafted out of the box and filled the entire 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 was too late...

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

"what--"

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, into something...something else.

Then, a cold laugh echoed in the cave, and the sound seemed to crawl out from the deepest part of Xi Yu's soul.

"Do you think you won?" The voice was ethereal and sharp, it was the remnant of the purple-robed woman's soul that remained in his body.

"The true core of the Heavenly Secret Lock lies in..."

Her words stopped abruptly.

Cai Fu roared angrily, his eyes burning with a fiery light, and lifted the heavy bronze tripod from the altar.

The veins on his arms bulged out like ropes, and then he threw the tripod towards the distant imperial city with amazing strength.

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

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang, who were temporarily forgotten in the chaos, both gasped.

As the bronze tripod streaked across the sky, a ghostly image flickered and emerged above the distant capital.

A star map exactly the same as the one engraved on the floor of the altar flickered eerily in the darkening sky.

It envelopes the city like a giant net, with disturbing energy surging in its lines.

Cai Fu was panting and coughing violently.

A bloody little goat pendant, meticulously carved from bone, fell to the cracked earth.

His voice was hoarse and labored, and he panted in the tense silence: "Check the list of doctors who served the late emperor on the night he passed away..."

Before he could explain further, a suppressed and dull collective groan was heard in the distance.

It was the sound of hundreds of suffering people, a horrifying symphony of agony.

The sound seemed to vibrate through the ground beneath their feet, and a palpable wave of pain washed over them.

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

Something terrible happened.

This has to do with Cai Fu’s cryptic words and that eerily familiar voice.

The wind direction changed, and there was a metallic smell in the air. It was... the smell of blood, without a doubt.

Cai Fu clutched his chest and stumbled back, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and triumph.

He pointed his trembling finger towards the capital, his lips moving silently.

Then, a drop of blood-red liquid splashed onto the dusty ground beneath his feet.

It beats, 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, a strange mixture of madness and clarity.

"This game..." He panted, blood foaming at the corners of his mouth, "It has just...begun..."

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

The silence that followed was heavy and oppressive, filled with unspoken fear, broken only by the sound of the wind and the eerie echoes of distant agony.

The moonlight was hazy, and the night wind blew across the ancient palace walls, making a rustling sound.

Cai Wenshuang held Xi Yu tightly. The latter's face was as pale as paper, and fine beads of sweat on his forehead sparkled in the moonlight.

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

"Prime Minister Xi, we're almost there." Cai Wenshuang whispered. She was also extremely nervous. The pendant in her hand seemed to be beating, as if resonating with Xi Yu's heartbeat.

However, at this moment, hundreds of people in the Dark Guard Camp coughed in pain at the same time, and the air was filled with the blood-stained tattoo of the woman in purple.

Xi Yu frowned and quickly flipped through the list of the late emperor's imperial physicians in his arms. His pupils suddenly contracted.

At the top of the list was the word "Su Heng". That name was like a bolt of lightning, striking Xi Yu's heart.

"Su Heng..." Xi Yu murmured in a low voice, with a barely perceptible hint of shock in his voice.

Father Cai suddenly grabbed Xi Yu's sleeve, his eyes flashing with madness and determination.

"Follow me, time is running out!" he hissed, with an unmistakable sense of urgency in his tone.

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

Along the way, murals of prime ministers from past dynasties pierced by bronze chains appeared on the stone walls. The patterns were hideous and eerie.

"Every dynasty has a new king, but the blood vessel of Tianji Pavilion will always be the prime minister!" Father Cai's voice echoed in the empty underground palace, bringing with it a creepy chill.

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

His steps suddenly stopped and his eyes were fixed on a mural. In the mural, a prime minister was pierced by bronze chains with a smile of relief on his face.

"This is..." Xi Yu whispered to himself, feeling slightly touched in his heart.

Father Cai did not stop and continued to run forward.

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

The door was engraved with intricate patterns and had a groove in the center, a shape very similar to Xi Yu's jade pendant.

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

After a moment, there was a slight sound of footsteps behind the door. Su Heng slowly walked out from the shadows, holding a bronze medicine box in his hand. The medicine box automatically unfolded, revealing the "Royal Key" inside, the shape of which was exactly the same as Xi Yu's jade pendant.

"Twenty years ago, you saved old man Cai in exchange for me giving up control of the late emperor's Heavenly Secret Lock." Su Heng's voice was low and calm, with a hint of complex emotions in his eyes.

Xi Yu understood immediately and he stared at Su Heng coldly.

"So that's how it is. You have been manipulating all this behind the scenes."

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

"You are very smart, Xiyu. But now, everything is coming to an end."

Cai Wenshuang tightly grasped the pendant in his hand, and a surge of resolute courage surged in his heart.

There was a determined light in her eyes, and her hands were shaking as she pressed the twin pendants into the key groove...

"Librarian of Heaven, unlock the secrets of the past!" Father Cai's voice echoed in the underground palace, with 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. The air was filled with a tense and oppressive atmosphere.

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

"Prime Minister Xi, the rest is up to you." Cai Wenshuang said in a low voice, with a hint of firm belief in his voice. (End of this chapter)