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

Xi Yu nodded, took a deep breath, slowly stretched out his hand, and pressed on the key groove...

The next moment, everything in the underground palace seemed to be controlled by a mysterious force. The ancient stone walls began to tremble, the bronze chains made sharp sounds, and an indescribable tension filled the air.

"Click——"

It was like the sigh of an ancient giant beast, or like a mechanism that had been sealed for thousands of years being triggered.

The twin pendants in Cai Wen's hands fit perfectly into the grooves on the bronze door.

At that moment, the earth shook!
Cai Wenshuang felt her feet go empty and she nearly fell down. Fortunately, Xi Yu was quick to act and pulled her into his arms.

The two looked down and saw that the solid ground of the underground palace was cracking like a spider web, revealing a bottomless black hole.

"This is..." Cai Wenshuang exclaimed, his voice trembling.

In the black hole, crystal clear coffins slowly rose up.

In each coffin, lies a lifelike ancient person quietly. They are dressed in costumes from different dynasties, with peaceful faces, as if they have just fallen into a deep sleep.

"These... are all the masters of Tianji Pavilion from past generations?!" Xi Yu's voice also carried a hint of shock.

He was well-read and naturally knew the legends of Tianji Pavilion, but he had never thought that he would see these legendary figures in person in this way.

Su Heng stood aside, watching all this with a complicated expression.

Her eyes swept across the crystal coffins one by one, and finally fell on Father Cai.

"You...already knew it, right?" Su Heng's voice was very soft, but with a barely perceptible tremor.

Father Cai did not answer. He just stared at Su Heng with a crazy light in his eyes.

At this moment, Xi Yu suddenly took action!
He grabbed Su Heng's wrist with lightning speed, with such force that it seemed as if he could crush her bones.

"Is the blood letter in your sleeve the farewell letter that Father Cai wrote to me twenty years ago?!" Xi Yu asked harshly, with rage burning in his eyes.

Su Heng's face changed. She tried to break free, but found that her wrist was like being clamped tightly by an iron clamp and she couldn't move at all.

"You...how do you know?" Su Heng's voice finally showed a hint of panic.

Xi Yu sneered and did not answer.

He had long suspected Su Heng's identity, but had no solid evidence.

It was not until just now, when he saw Su Heng subconsciously touching his cuffs, that he finally confirmed his guess.

"Tell me! Who are you?!" Xi Yu asked again, his voice as cold as a knife.

"I..." Su Heng opened her mouth but said nothing.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Father Cai suddenly let out a wild roar, picked up the huge bronze tripod beside him, and smashed it hard at Su Heng!

"Old Cai, you're crazy!" Cai Wenshuang exclaimed and wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

"boom--"

The huge bronze tripod fell heavily on Su Heng...

However, the expected scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere did not occur.

The huge bronze tripod actually penetrated Su Heng's body directly, as if she was just a phantom.

"This..." Cai Wenshuang and Xi Yu were both stunned.

What's even more bizarre is that the "royal key" that was originally embedded in the groove of the bronze door actually flew out automatically and shot straight into Su Heng's back!
"Ah——" Su Heng let out a shrill scream and his body began to tremble violently.

"You are the real core of the Heavenly Secret Lock!" Father Cai roared, his eyes red, looking like a madman.

Xi Yu's gaze fell on the leader of the secret guards.

He was shocked to discover that on the neck of the leader of the secret guards, there appeared bronze patterns identical to those on Su Heng's neck!

Those lines seemed to be alive, slowly wriggling and emitting a strange light.

"Could this be..." A thought flashed through Xi Yu's mind.

Su Heng raised his head slowly, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth: "Do you think... you are the only one... who can scheme?"

The bronze cauldron, as heavy as a falling moon, rushed towards Su Heng.

Cai Wenshuang's cry of "Father, don't!" was drowned out by the whistling sound of the air flow.

The sound of bones breaking and blood splattering that should have been heard did not occur.

On the contrary, the big tripod "passed through" Su Heng directly, as if she was a phantom or a wisp of smoke.

Cai Wenshuang and Xiyu stared in amazement.

Silence fell, and the air was thick with the stench of ozone.

Then, the "Imperial Key" embedded in the complex carvings of the bronze door flashed an eerie blue light.

It broke free, cut through the air with a sharp metallic whistling sound, and then pierced into Su Heng's back.

Su Heng screamed, and the sound seemed to tear apart people's sanity.

Her body twitched like a puppet with tangled strings.

"You...you are the real core of the Heavenly Secret Lock!" Father Cai roared, his eyes bloodshot and his face distorted with anger.

But Xiyu's eyes fell on the captain of the guards.

Bronze lines that were exactly the same as those now spreading to Su Heng's body were climbing up the captain's neck, flashing a sickly light.

A terrible thought flashed through Xiyu's mind.

*Could it be… ?
*
Su Heng slowly raised her head, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

"Do you really think... you're the only one... calculating?"

Xiyu staggered back, feeling a sharp pain in his right arm as if it were being cut by a knife.

Cold, hard emerald scales emerged from beneath his skin, spreading like a malignant tumor.

He gasped, his mouth full of the taste of copper.

"The forbidden technique of the Xi family that you stole many years ago..." a hoarse voice said, making him shudder.

Xi Wujiang's ghostly form emerged from the ground, fragments of his shattered armor swirling around him, reassembling themselves piece by piece.

He was a horrific puzzle of bone and steel, his eyes burning with a cold, otherworldly fire.

Then, a figure rushed out from Xi Wujiang's chest, breaking through the ghost armor like a newborn baby breaking out of its mother's womb.

It was the woman in purple. She revealed her true form, emitting an ancient and evil power.

Xiyu's breath hitched in her throat.

Only then did he see that there was a mark on his brother's neck that was exactly the same as the twinkling stars on his own forehead.

"You've always been *bait*!" Xi Wujiang's voice was filled with venom, and a thousand years of resentment were condensed into one sentence.

"I am the vessel chosen by the Tianji Sect! I am the legal heir!"

Cai Wenshuang raised his hand to cover his mouth, trying hard to hold back a scream.

She watched in horror as the simple little ornament from her childhood—a goat pendant—trembled violently around her neck, then broke free from the leather rope and flew towards Xi Wujiang.

The double stars on Xiyu's forehead flickered with the irregular flight of the pendant.

A sharp and painful memory flashed through Cai Wenshuang's mind - the fire that engulfed the Xijia army camp, and the screams that echoed in the night.

"Did you set fire to the Xi family army... to cover up the fact that *you*...are the true heir?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the pounding of her heart.

Xiyu's dark eyes, filled with pain and confusion, met Cai Wenshuang's gaze.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

He staggered, his body suddenly heavy, the weight of the betrayal suffocating him.

The bronze scales on his arms pulsed, emitting a sickly heat... [Event]
Xi Yu suddenly laughed out loud, his laughter full of sarcasm and determination.

That laughter, like a demon crawling out of the Netherworld, tore the strange silence apart. He was shocked, and the bronze scales that had spread to his chest were forced back to his right arm!
“Hahahaha…Xi Wujiang, do you really think that I, Xi Yu, am a puppet at the mercy of others? Do you think that this so-called forbidden blood contract technique can really control me?”

He swung his right arm violently, and the bronze light that was originally wrapped around it, like a tamed beast, rushed towards Xi Wujiang madly!

That light carried an aura of destruction, as if it would devour all living things in the world.

Xi Wujiang's expression finally changed.

His face, which was pieced together from broken armor, was distorted like charred charcoal burned by fire.

He roared and struggled, trying to stop the erosion of that power, but it was all in vain.

"No... Impossible! This forbidden technique... This forbidden technique clearly..."

"You obviously learned it from me, right?" Xi Yu interrupted him coldly, "You only know one side of the story. This forbidden technique is a double-edged sword! It can control others, but it can also backfire on you!"

"Crack...knock..."

The bronze armor on Xi Wujiang's body shattered into pieces, like glass crushed by a huge force, making a teeth-grinding sound.

Fragments flew everywhere, drawing cold streaks of light in the air.

Each piece of debris was like a sharp blade, cutting the surrounding air.

As the armor peeled off, Xi Wujiang's face hidden under the armor was finally revealed.

It was a... very ordinary face.

Not hideous, not twisted, even a bit... elegant?
That face was 70% similar to Xiyu, but lacked the sharpness and domineering look between Xiyu's eyebrows, and was a little more feminine and... calculating.

"You...you..." Xi Wujiang's voice became weak and trembling, like a beast with its throat strangled.

"Do you think that my secret patrols over the years were really to hunt down traitors? Was it really to consolidate the imperial power?" Xi Yu approached step by step, and every step seemed to step on Xi Wujiang's heart. "I'm just looking for a suitable opportunity, an opportunity... to completely eliminate you!"

He paused, his eyes as sharp as knives, staring at the faintly visible tattoo on Xi Wujiang's neck.

"And you, my dear brother, the tattoo on your neck...it should also be returned to its original owner."

As Xi Yu finished speaking, the tattoo on Xi Wujiang's neck seemed to come alive and began to twist and wriggle.

Then, in front of everyone's horrified gaze, the tattoo actually began to... peel off!
Like a torn painted skin or shed snake skin, the tattoo gradually peeled off Xi Wujiang's skin, revealing the skin underneath... as smooth as jade.

At the same time, the real body of the woman in purple suddenly let out a shrill scream.

The scream, as if coming from the Netherworld of Hell, pierced everyone's eardrums.

Her originally solid body instantly turned into thousands of blood threads!
Each strand of blood looked like a tiny poisonous snake, twisting and struggling, emitting a disgusting bloody smell.

These blood threads, as if they had life, rushed madly towards... Old Cai!

"Dad!" Cai Wenshuang exclaimed and wanted to stop it, but it was too late.

Those blood threads penetrated into Lao Cai's body at lightning speed.

Lao Cai's body swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a blown-up balloon.

"Ah..." Old Cai roared in pain, and his eyes turned blood red in an instant.

At this moment, Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang noticed at the same time that a photo was reflected in Old Cai's blood-red pupils!
That was a...group photo.

In the photo, the woman in purple is smiling sweetly and snuggling up to a man.

Although the man’s face was blurry, one could vaguely tell that he was… the late emperor!
And the background of this photo is... the Xi family's ancestral home!
The familiar blue bricks and black tiles, the familiar carved beams and painted buildings, all tell a shocking secret.

"This... this is impossible..." Cai Wenshuang muttered to himself.

Xi Yu's expression also became extremely solemn.

He stared at Lao Cai and asked word by word, "Who... are you?"

Old Cai did not answer, but slowly raised his hand and pointed at... the ever-expanding crack deep in the underground palace.

His originally kind face was now full of weirdness and... madness. He looked at Xi Yu with a creepy smile on his face.

The blood threads were like maggots in the tarsal bones, madly drilling into Lao Cai's body. Each one was like a red-hot iron wire, running rampant in his blood vessels.

Lao Cai's body swelled up like a deformed monster, his skin was stretched so tight that it seemed about to burst, and his veins bulged out like twisted earthworms.

A beast-like roar came from his throat, full of pain and despair, but also mixed with a strange excitement.

In the blood-red pupils, the photo became clearer and clearer. The woman in purple was smiling sweetly, leaning against the blurry body of the late emperor. The background was the ancestral home of the Xi family.

The blue bricks and black tiles, the carved beams and painted buildings, now looked eerie and terrifying, like a dormant beast about to bare its fangs.

"Who... are you?" Xi Yu's voice was low and hoarse, as if it had been polished by sandpaper, and trembled with a hint of disbelief.

Old Cai did not answer, but a creepy smile appeared on his distorted face.

That smile did not belong to a kind father, but more like a demon from hell.

He suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed Xi Yu, and pushed him hard towards the ever-widening crack deep in the underground palace!

"Hurry up and find the 'Reverse Scale Formation' under the Xi family's ancestral home!" Old Cai's voice was hoarse and sharp, like the cry of a night owl, echoing in the empty underground palace.

Xi Yu was caught off guard and stumbled into the crack.

In the cracks, there were strange lights, time and space were distorted, and pictures flashed by like a kaleidoscope.

Suddenly, a clear image froze - young Xi Yu and young father Cai standing side by side, both of them with bright smiles on their faces.

This sudden scene made Xi Yu's heart tremble, and an inexplicable chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Outside the crack, Cai Wenshuang screamed and tried to reach out to pull Xiyu, but was grabbed by Old Cai.

"Don't move!" Lao Cai's voice was full of warning, but there was a hint of imperceptible pain in his eyes.

Cai Wenshuang's heart was in a knot, she stared at the crack, as if she wanted to see through it.

Suddenly, as if she thought of something, she tore open Xiyu's clothes.

A groove suddenly appeared at the position of Xiyu's chest, which was exactly the same as the goat pendant she had been wearing!

At this moment, Xi Yu suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and in the blood, there was a purple poisonous insect!
The poisonous insect struggled and made a slight hissing sound.

"Back then, I held your father hostage to prevent him from activating this container!" Xi Yu's voice was weak and powerless, but with a hint of determination.

At the same time, on the ground of the imperial city, golden runes spread like a spider web, and the ancestral home of the Xi family slowly rose from the ground, like a sleeping giant finally waking up.

The tattoo on Old Cai's neck suddenly came to life and turned into black chains that tightly bound Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang together.

"The twin bloodlines must be injected at the same time to activate the ultimate seal!" Lao Cai's voice was no longer hoarse, but became low and majestic, as if it came from an ancient oracle.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang were tied together, their blood flowing slowly along the chains towards the Xi family's ancestral home... Old Cai watched this scene, a complex light flashed in his eyes, and he murmured to himself: "Zi Yi, you are finally... back..."

OK, here is the novel after removing the irrelevant content and translating it into English:
"Boom——"

There was a loud bang, as if thunder had exploded in the sky, and the entire imperial city trembled.

The simple bronze door of the Xi family's ancestral home slowly opened amidst the vibrations. A chilly breath blew in, bringing with it the smell of decay and death, making people shudder.

Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang were tied up with black chains, like two lambs to be slaughtered, and were dragged into the dark abyss against their will.

The blood flowed along the chain and dripped onto the bluestone slabs, making a "tapping" sound, which was particularly harsh in this silent space.

At this moment, a purple light shot out from the depths of the imperial city, like a flash of lightning, breaking through the darkness.

The light faded, and a woman in purple slowly floated out of the late emperor's crystal coffin.

She had an absolutely beautiful face, yet with a strange seductiveness to her. Her eyes and eyebrows revealed a heart-pounding chill.

She stood in the air with her skirt fluttering, like the goddess of the nine heavens descending to the mortal world.

However, what she held tightly in her hand was a blood-stained jade pendant - it was the relic of Xiyu's mother and the softest memory in his heart!
"Yu'er, do you think...the Pavilion Master of Tianji is a weak woman?" The purple-clothed woman's voice was as erratic as a ghost, but with a hint of heartbreaking tenderness, "I... am the reincarnation of your mother!"

Xi Yu's pupils suddenly contracted, he stared at the jade pendant, the shock and anger in his heart erupted like a volcano!

"No... Impossible! Who... Who are you?!"

The purple-robed woman did not answer. She just smiled gently. That smile was breathtakingly beautiful, yet also carried a hint of crazy cruelty. (End of this chapter)