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

Nangong Yue's voice was sharp and shrill, filled with endless resentment and madness:
"Twenty years ago, what you stole was not the container, but the inheritance of the royal bloodline!"

Her voice was like a sharp knife, piercing into the hearts of everyone present.

Before he finished speaking, Cai Wenshuang's golden blood spurted out as if it had life, turning into a golden chain that instantly nailed Nangong Yue to the wall!

"Pfft-"

Nangong Yue's body was tightly bound by golden chains and she could not move.

She screamed in pain, but was unable to break free from the golden bonds.

However, something even more shocking happened.

When Nangong Yue was nailed to the wall with her back exposed, people were shocked to find that on her back, there was the same Tianji pattern engraved as Xi Mu's!
The pattern was complex and strange, exuding an ominous aura, as if it was a bottomless whirlpool that was about to suck people's souls in.

"Cough cough..."

At this moment, Xi Yu suddenly coughed violently and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

This blood is no longer ordinary red, but has a hint of golden light.

That golden light is the symbol of royal bloodline!

He raised his head and looked at the Imperial City Priest with a complicated look in his eyes and a weak voice:
"Back then, you deliberately let Father Cai carve it into the Heavenly Secret Wheel in order to..."

Before he could finish his words, the robe of the Imperial City Priest suddenly rustled without wind.

A powerful aura burst out from his body and swept across the entire underground palace.

"Ximu has already transferred the core of the imperial bloodline to the depths of the underground palace!" The voice of the imperial city priest was like a muffled thunder, making people's eardrums buzz.

His eyes were fixed on the depths of the underground palace, as if he wanted to penetrate the endless darkness and see the secrets hidden therein.

At this critical moment, a deep voice rang in everyone's ears: "My good daughter..." The air crackled, filled with ozone and some ancient, wrong stench.

Old Cai's face was twisted in agony, and with an expression that was almost...ecstasy, it suddenly began to glow.

Note that this was not a soft, gentle light, but a dazzling, intense golden light that radiated outwards and pushed everyone back a step.

Even the stones on the ground seemed to vibrate, humming with the sudden burst of power.

A ghostly figure began to coalesce around him, twisting, insubstantial, and unmistakably... "her."

Xi Mu's ghost, her cruel and beautiful face twisted into a smug sneer.

This is more than just light, it is a "roar" of power and a declaration of war against fate itself.

The golden light grew stronger and stronger, swirling around Lao Cai, merging with him and changing him.

He had grown taller, his features sharper, his eyes burning with a cold, unfamiliar fire.

The Imperial Master's face was as firm as granite, and he was equally unyielding. He reacted immediately.

His rough and powerful hand suddenly stretched out, moving as fast as lightning.

A flash of bronze cut through the swirling golden light, a fierce and precise attack.

The ancient ceremonial sword, which contained the power of the royal bloodline of generations, pierced Lao Cai's heart, and the scream of metal rubbing against bone echoed in the room.

"The two bloodlines cannot coexist!" The national teacher's voice was as loud as thunder and decisive.

Old Cai staggered, the golden light flickered and gradually dimmed, and his deformed facial features returned to their original appearance.

He gasped for air, a choking, gurgling sound that eventually got stuck in his throat.

Ximu's ghostly image screamed, a high-pitched, piercing wail of anger and frustration, and then disappeared without a trace.

But before anyone could register what they had just witnessed, another person moved.

Xi Yu's face was pale, with a desperate and reckless light flashing in his eyes. He pulled the jade pendant off his neck.

He let out a primal cry and slammed the jade pendant into the wound on Lao Cai's chest.

"Use mine!" he roared, his voice hoarse with emotion.

The jade pendant glowed, and the flickering light echoed with the rapidly dimming golden light on Lao Cai's body.

The air crackled again, this time with a different energy, chaotic and unpredictable.

The Imperial Master widened his eyes, a trace of...fear flashed across his face?
He raised his hands, and the bronze sword disappeared in a shadow.

Instead, a terrible energy gathered, pulling and sucking the air.

Before anyone could react, he suddenly stretched out his hands, and the force hit Xi Yu and Cai Wenshuang hard.

They were lifted high and thrown like rag dolls toward a huge bronze tripod in the center of the room.

“Tianlun desires true royal blood—” The Imperial Master’s words were interrupted by a crazy laugh that echoed in the room.

A ghostly face emerged from the shadows, grinning and triumphant.

Xi has no boundaries.

"My dear grandson," the ghostly figure chuckled, his voice thick with malice, "the game is decided."

The lid of the bronze tripod slammed shut.

The room fell into silence.

Then there was a dull thumping sound.

The sound of metal colliding with metal.

There was silence again.

And from inside the cauldron... came a whisper.

"Cai Wenshuang..."

Inside the bronze tripod, it feels claustrophobic and suffocating.

The air was as heavy as if filled with lead, making it hard for Xi Yu to breathe.

The walls of the tripod were icy cold, exuding a heart-pounding chill that seemed to suck away all his body heat.

A sweet and fishy smell of copper rust filled his nostrils, making him almost nauseous.

Outside the tripod, Xi Wujiang's sinister laughter was still echoing, like a sharp thorn, piercing his eardrums again and again.

Cai Wenshuang fell beside him, his face as pale as paper and his breathing weak.

The pendant on her chest emitted a faint green light, like a strange eye, flickering in the darkness.

Xi Yu grabbed the pendant suddenly. It felt cold to his hand and a strange energy surged into his body.

He felt his blood boiling and burning, and a powerful force was rushing through his body, almost tearing him apart.

The pendant melted in his hand and turned into a chain that glowed green, like a poisonous snake, tightly wrapped around his body.

He felt a sharp pain, as if countless needles were piercing his bone marrow.

"Twenty years ago, it wasn't me your father saved, it was..." Xi Yu's voice was hoarse, like a whisper coming from the depths of hell.

Before he could finish his words, there was a deafening bang and the lid of the bronze tripod was blown away by a powerful force.

The dazzling light suddenly poured in, and Xi Yu subconsciously squinted his eyes.

A familiar figure appeared in front of him, standing against the light. His face couldn't be seen clearly, but he would never mistake his tall posture and calm aura.

"Li Zhao!" Xi Yu's heart was shocked, and a complex emotion surged in his heart.

Surprise, confusion, and a hint of... fear?
Li Zhao held a yellowed scroll in his hand, with a look of determination and heroism on his face.

"Prime Minister, this is the secret decree hidden in the Imperial Ancestral Temple when you were seven years old!" Li Zhao's voice trembled with a hint of uncontrollable excitement.

At this moment, the ground began to shake and a creepy sound came from underground, like countless insects crawling and gnawing.

The ground cracked open, and countless bronze puppets emerged from the ground, densely packed and rushing towards them like a tide.

In the eye sockets of each puppet, there is an identical face - the face of Xi Yu's mother when she was young.

Beautiful, gentle, yet with a chilling coldness.

"The twin bloodlines must be purified with the dragon blood of the previous dynasty!" A sharp voice sounded in the air, with a hint of madness and a hint of pride.

It’s Bai Li!
She hid in the group of puppets, controlling these cold killing machines. Cai Wenshuang suddenly let out a low roar, bit her finger, and threw a drop of golden blood at the group of puppets.

The golden blood drew a graceful arc in the air and fell on the puppet, making a "sizzling" sound, like fire meeting ice and snow.

However, a shocking scene happened.

The golden blood did not melt the puppet, but was absorbed by it instead. The bronze rust on the puppet's body faded away, revealing the white bones underneath.

Cai Wenshuang widened his eyes and looked at the scene in disbelief.

Only then did she discover that the bodies of these puppets actually contained the skeletons of the royal family of the previous dynasty!
Li Zhao trembled as he unfolded the secret decree, his voice so hoarse that it was almost inaudible, "What Ximu exchanged for your father was the last emperor of the previous dynasty..."

Xi Yu suddenly covered his chest and started coughing violently. A mouthful of blood spurted out, staining his clothes red.

"So you deliberately made me awaken my bloodline?" Xi Yu's voice was hoarse, with a hint of despair and a hint of anger.

He looked up at Li Zhao.
Li Zhao did not answer, but silently handed the secret decree to Xi Yu.

Xi Yu took the secret decree with trembling hands, unfolded it and his face turned pale instantly.

"No..." he muttered, his voice so low that it was almost inaudible.

Bai Li let out a sharp laugh and controlled the puppet to move closer step by step.

"Now, it's time to move on to the next step..."

The lid of the bronze tripod was blown off, and dazzling light instantly poured in. Xi Yu subconsciously squinted his eyes.

Li Zhao's appearance startled him, with surprise, confusion, and fear intertwined.

Li Zhao's hand tightly grasped a yellowed scroll, with a look of determination and tragedy on his face.

"Prime Minister, this is the secret decree hidden in the Imperial Ancestral Temple when you were seven years old!" Li Zhao's voice trembled with uncontrollable excitement.

Just as Xi Yu took the secret decree, the ground began to shake and a creepy sound came from underground, like countless insects crawling and gnawing.

Cai Wenshuang suddenly let out a low growl, she bit her finger and threw a drop of golden blood towards the group of puppets.

The golden blood drew a graceful arc in the air and fell on the puppet, making a "sizzling" sound, like fire meeting ice and snow.

However, a shocking scene happened.

The golden blood did not melt the puppet, but was absorbed by it instead. The bronze rust on the puppet's body faded away, revealing the white bones underneath.

Li Zhao did not answer, but silently handed the secret decree to Xiyu. Xiyu took the secret decree with trembling hands, unfolded it and took a look, his face turned pale in an instant.

Suddenly, under Bai Li's command, countless puppets quickly reorganized to form a huge humanoid statue, standing in front of them.

Every piece of the colossus's bronze skin glowed with a strange light, as if it contained endless power.

In the eyes of the colossus, a pair of deep pupils suddenly lit up, emitting a cold light.

"What the Wheel of Heaven is going to devour is not the imperial vein, but..." Bai Li's voice echoed in the air with a hint of complacent sneer.

At this moment, a blue light shot out from the eyes of the colossus, and Xi Wujiang's remaining soul suddenly emerged from the colossus with anger and unwillingness on his face.

"You idiot! If it weren't for you back then..." Xi Wujiang's remaining soul roared, his voice full of resentment and anger, as if he wanted to tear Bai Li into pieces.

Cai Wenshuang suddenly felt a powerful force surging from her eyebrows, and a golden light flashed in her eyes.

The residual soul of Cai's father emerged from between her eyebrows, with determination and resoluteness on her face.

"Hurry up and go to the Taimiao to get the Dragon Vein Soul-Calming Stone!" The remaining soul of Cai's father shouted anxiously, his voice full of urgency and worry.

Xi Yu's gaze flickered back and forth between Cai Wenshuang and the colossus, his heart filled with complicated emotions.

He suddenly took out a jade pendant from his arms. It was a jade pendant that was emerald green and emitted a faint light.

He took a deep breath and inserted the jade pendant into his heart.

"If you want to kill, kill me, don't touch Wen Shuang's blood--" Xi Yu's voice was firm and powerful, but there was a barely perceptible tremor in it.

The giant's eyes became more ferocious, and Bai Li's laughter became sharper, as if mocking Xi Yu's helplessness and despair.

At this critical moment, the situation was in suspense and the fate of the characters was at stake.

"Boom——"

There was a loud bang, and it seemed as if the entire imperial city trembled.

Xi Yu only felt a sharp pain in his heart. The jade pendant inserted into his heart was emitting a dazzling light at this moment, resonating with some mysterious power.

He felt his blood boiling, and a stream of strange memory fragments flooded into his mind, giving him a splitting headache.

At this moment, a creepy "cracking" sound came from deep in the Taimiao, as if something was struggling to crawl out from deep underground.

The ground began to crack, and deep cracks spread out like a spider web. A decayed and cold smell rushed towards us, making people shiver uncontrollably.

"Cough...cough..."

A violent cough came from the crack, and then an arm as dry as a stick and covered with corpse spots stretched out from the ground and grasped the edge of the ground tightly.

Then, a hunched figure slowly crawled out from the ground.

He was a haggard old man wearing a tattered black robe covered with dust and cobwebs, as if he had been buried underground for hundreds of years.

His cheeks were sunken, his eye sockets were dark, and his cloudy eyes flashed with a strange light.

His skin was shrunken and stuck tightly to his bones, like a dried mummy.

"You...you are not the Prime Minister..." The old man stared at Xi Yu intently, his voice hoarse and trembling, as if squeezed out from the depths of his throat, "You...you are..."

He seemed to want to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he stopped abruptly.
Before Xi Yu could react, a cold, sharp voice suddenly came from deep underground, carrying endless resentment and madness:
"Brother...you are finally here!"

The sound seemed to come from the Netherworld, filled with a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere that made people shudder.

Hearing this voice, Xi Yu felt his whole body stiffen, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, making him feel as if he was falling into an ice cellar.

"Zi Yang?!" Xi Yu exclaimed in shock.
He remembered the name!
This is the name of his twin brother whom he has never met!
His mother once told him that Ziyang died at birth...but this voice...

At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Cai Wenshuang suddenly let out a scream. Her body was entangled by golden chains. The chains appeared out of thin air, emitting dazzling light, as if they had life, and bound her tightly in mid-air.

"Ah——" Cai Wenshuang struggled in pain, but the chains became tighter and tighter, almost digging into her flesh.

She felt like her bones were about to be broken and breathing became increasingly difficult.

"Wen Shuang!" Xi Yu's eyes were bloodshot and he wanted to rush over to save her, but found that he could not move.

"Twenty years ago...your father and my father...were actually..." Zi Yang's voice sounded again, intermittently, as if telling a shocking secret.

Xi Yu's pupils suddenly contracted, he stared at the ground, and a huge wave of emotions rose in his heart.

A terrible thought emerged in his mind.

"So... you are... the true heir of the twin bloodline?!" His voice trembled, and he could hardly believe his own inference.

Zi Yang's soul had now turned into a thick blood mist, covering the entire imperial city.

The blood mist rolled and surged, emitting a disgusting smell of blood and endless resentment.

"Back then... your mother... used my life... in exchange for..." Zi Yang's voice echoed in the blood mist. Every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, filled with deep-rooted hatred.

"What did I get in return?!" Xi Yu asked anxiously. He felt as if he had touched the edge of a shocking conspiracy.

At this critical moment, the coffin keeper of the Taimiao who crawled out from the ground suddenly pounced on Xi Yu and pressed him to death on a round stone platform in the center of the Taimiao.

That stone platform is the core of the imperial city’s dragon vein!
“Quick! Use the blood contract… to restart!” The coffin keeper screamed, his voice hoarse and urgent, “Otherwise… the candle dragon will devour…”

Before he could finish his words, his eyes suddenly bulged out, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body began to twitch violently.

Xi Yu only felt a huge force pressing down on him, making him unable to move.

He looked down and found that his chest was facing a concave pattern on the core of the dragon vein.

The pattern was exactly the same as the jade pendant he had inserted into his heart!
Fresh blood flowed slowly along the edge of the jade pendant into the sunken pattern...

"It's not enough..." The hoarse voice of the coffin keeper was like a rusty saw pulling at Xi Yu's nerves, and every word was filled with suffocating despair.

He was trembling all over, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was like a wild beast forced into a desperate situation, making his last struggle.

"It's not enough! The twin blood and the royal blood must be combined at the same time..." A sharp, shrill voice, like a ghost, came out from deep underground and pierced Xi Yu's eardrums. (End of this chapter)