Immortality Cultivation: I can use my clansmen’s energy and blood to add points.

Could it be that... the key is not used to "open" the altar, but to "close" or "control" it?
Luo Qingchen's mind raced as he tried to use his own power of chaos to simulate the special fluctuations that resonated with the Nine Netherworld Scripture when he had previously interpreted the fragments of the jade slips, and he cautiously reached out to the runes on the altar.

This time, he no longer injected the "Return to Origin" concept of the cycle of life and death as he did before when activating the entrance to the channel. Instead, he focused on the "inclusiveness" and "analysis" characteristics of the power of chaos itself, trying to understand the true meaning of these runes.

hum-

When his chaotic power touched the most core and complex Hades on the surface of the altar, countless information seemed to flow into his mind! This information was not words or language, but a more ancient and more fundamental imprint of laws!

Destruction, annihilation, devouring, transformation... and... control!
These runes are not just decorations or records, they themselves are the basis of the altar and even the entire underground palace's forbidden system! And the evil eye is more like a powerful will that is forcibly bound or "fed" here by these runes, a "device spirit" or "jailer" responsible for executing the altar's "life-claiming" procedure!
It desires the power of the sacrifice to restore itself, but is also restricted by the rules of the altar!

Among the countless complex rune combinations, Luo Qingchen captured a group of special runes that were relatively independent but closely connected to other runes. The fluctuations of this group of runes were strangely synchronized with the fluctuations of the evil eye's spiritual core!

This... could it be the key to controlling the evil eye? !
"Found it!" Luo Qingchen's heart moved, but his face remained expressionless.

Just when he was about to try to control that set of special runes, something strange happened again!
Bai Ling'er, who had always been protected by Luo Qingchen, was physically weak, but her perception, especially her perception of the soul and energy levels, became extremely sharp because of her dragon blood and the leaves of the Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass.

She kept staring at the evil eye, trying to find a flaw in it. Suddenly, she noticed that although the evil eye looked crazy and violent, in the depths of its eyes, in addition to greed and resentment, there seemed to be a hint of... fear?
What is it afraid of?
Bailing'er looked in the direction that the evil eye would occasionally subconsciously avoid, and her gaze fell on... Lin Wan'er!

To be more precise, it was the blue Linglong grass mark on Lin Wan'er's wrist that was becoming brighter and brighter!
The pure vitality emanating from that mark seemed to be exactly what the Evil Eye hated and feared the most!
“Mr. Luo!” Bai Ling’er immediately used a secret method to transmit her discovery to Luo Qingchen, “That eyeball…it seems to be very afraid of the mark on Sister Lin’s hand!”

Almost at the same time as he received Bailing'er's message, Luo Qingchen also roughly understood some of the operating principles of the altar and the evil eye by analyzing the runes.

Vitality! The pure power of vitality is a natural opposition to the power of annihilation and death represented by the altar and the evil eye!

Lin Wan'er's Linglong Grass Mark absorbed the essence of the Nine-Aperture Linglong Grass and contained extremely pure and huge plant vitality, which was one of the keys to restraining the evil eye!

And the special set of runes he found is likely the "keyhole" used to guide or amplify this restraining effect!
"Wan'er! Use all your strength to activate your Linglong Grass Mark and direct the power towards the eyeball in the center of the altar!" Luo Qingchen acted decisively and immediately gave orders to Lin Wan'er.

At the same time, he shouted to Su Xiaowan: "Xiaowan! Use your strongest defense to protect Wan'er! No matter the cost!"

"Ah? Oh! Okay!" Although Lin Wan'er didn't understand Luo Qingchen's intention, she did it without hesitation out of trust. She took a deep breath, no longer suppressed the mark on her wrist, and let the majestic vitality surge out!

hum!
The blue light suddenly surged, like a blazing sun rising in the hall! The pure and powerful vitality was no longer a gentle sword energy, but turned into a materialized blue light column, like a flood bursting through a dam, carrying a vigorous breath of life, rushing towards the black vortex in the center of the altar and the huge evil eye!
"Five Elements Vajra Shield! Open!" Su Xiaowan was also unequivocal. She shouted delicately, and quickly made hand gestures with both hands, draining all the remaining spiritual power in her body, and activated a high-level defensive talisman that she had kept in her box. A five-color light shield instantly unfolded outside her and Lin Wan'er, the light flowed, and the faint sound of Vajra Sanskrit echoed, with amazing defensive power.

"Zizzi-"

The blue beam of light collided head-on with the black vortex! Like water and fire, the two opposite forces clashed violently, and a harsh sound of energy friction broke out! The black vortex was forcibly torn and purified by the power of vitality, and the rotation speed suddenly slowed down, and the volume began to shrink! The huge evil eye, as if illuminated by the scorching light, let out a painful roar. The originally scarlet eyeball began to emit wisps of black smoke, and the surface also showed signs of melting!
"Ah! Damn it! Damn human! How dare you!" The evil eye's roar became sharp and twisted, full of pain and anger. It frantically mobilized the power of the altar, trying to resist the erosion of the vitality, but the power of the exquisite grass mark seemed to be its natural nemesis. No matter how it struggled, it could not stop itself from being purified!

"Now!" Luo Qingchen's eyes flashed, and he seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He rushed to the altar like an arrow from a bow! The bone puppets that tried to intercept him were affected by the vitality of Lin Wan'er, and their movements became slow, and they were unable to stop him at all.

He took a deep breath and gathered all the remaining chaotic power in his body, including the part of the sword intent that was forcibly separated out before, into his fingertips! His fingers did not point to the evil eye, but to the surface of the altar, the set of special runes that he had just analyzed and synchronized with the evil eye's fluctuations!
"Chaos...Seal!"

Luo Qingchen let out a low shout, and a ball of gray chaotic light appeared at his fingertips, like ink dropping into water, silently merging into the group of runes.

hum-

On the surface of the altar, the group of runes touched by the power of chaos suddenly became dim, as if some force had forcibly cut off the connection with the surrounding runes! At the same time, the black vortex that was fighting against the blue light column suddenly stopped, as if it was strangled by the neck, and completely solidified in mid-air! The huge evil eye seemed to have lost its energy source. The red light in its eyes quickly faded, and the amplitude of its struggle became smaller and smaller. Finally, it let out a desperate and unwilling wail, completely annihilated, and turned into dots of black light, dissipating in the air!
The terrifying pressure that enveloped the entire underground palace quickly receded like a tide! The red light in the eyes of those originally extremely violent bone puppets also went out, as if they had lost their controllers, and they stood stiffly in place. After a moment, they were like weathered sand sculptures, scattering into piles of gray-black bone powder.

Silence returned to the hall. Only the blue light column continued to release vitality, purifying the remaining evil spirit, and the five-color light shield held up by Su Xiaowan was still silently protecting the two.

Lin Wan'er slowly withdrew her hand, and the light of the exquisite grass mark gradually faded, returning to her previous gentle and restrained state. Her face was as pale as paper, and her body was trembling slightly. It was obvious that she had consumed a lot of energy to activate such a powerful vitality.

Su Xiaowan also removed the Five Elements Vajra Shield, and the talisman turned into ashes and drifted in the air. She sat on the ground, breathing heavily, her chest heaving violently, and her forehead covered with sweat. It was obvious that she was also very tired.

"Huh... Huh... It's finally... over..." Su Xiaowan said weakly, her voice carrying a hint of relief at having survived the ordeal.

Lin Wan'er also nodded gently, and turned her gaze to Luo Qingchen, her eyes full of worry: "Brother Luo, are you okay?"

Luo Qingchen turned around slowly. Although his face was still a little pale, his breath was much more stable. He smiled at the two of them, indicating that he was fine. "Thanks to you, we were able to escape danger." Luo Qingchen said sincerely, with a hint of appreciation and gratitude in his eyes. This time, if it weren't for the proper coordination of Lin Wan'er's Linglong Grass Seal and Su Xiaowan's Talisman, it would not be so easy for him to seal the evil eye so smoothly.

Lin Wan'er looked at him with a hint of concern in her eyes: "Senior Brother Luo, you just... seemed very risky." She could feel that Luo Qingchen had almost used all his strength in that last attack. If he was not careful, he would probably be attacked back by the evil eye.

Luo Qingchen smiled, but did not give a direct answer. He just changed the subject and said, "Let's check here first to see if there is anything we have missed, and then leave as soon as possible. Although this place is temporarily safe, there is no guarantee that there will not be other accidents."

In fact, he was not as relaxed as he appeared. Although he successfully sealed the evil eye and resolved the bone puppet crisis, the whole incident had more doubts and mysteries.

The Nine Netherworld Text, the ancient altar, the evil eyeball, the gravekeeper... What secrets are hidden behind all this? Why did the gravekeeper stop them from approaching this place? What is the connection between the Nine-turn Resurrection Grass and this altar?
In addition, the faint aura of the dragon soul on Bailing'er's body, and her special deterrent power against the evil eye...all of this made Luo Qingchen feel deeply confused and uneasy.

"Yes." Lin Wan'er nodded, and stood up with Su Xiaowan, and began to check the environment in the hall. Bai Ling'er also struggled to get up, but was stopped by Luo Qingchen.

"You should have a good rest and recover first. Leave this to us." Luo Qingchen said softly. At the same time, he took out another leaf of the Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass and handed it to Bailing'er, indicating that she should continue to absorb the energy from the leaf.

Bailing'er looked at Luo Qingchen gratefully, did not refuse, took the leaf, closed her eyes, and began to regulate her breathing silently.

Luo Qingchen walked closer to the altar and carefully observed the black stone platform. The runes on the altar surface that originally shone with a faint blue light had dimmed a lot at this moment, especially the special set of runes that he had just sealed, which had completely lost their luster, as if they were blackened by ink.

He tried to inject the power of chaos again, wanting to further analyze the structure and operating principles of the altar, but this time, he encountered obstacles.

An invisible repulsive force seemed to be generated on the surface of the altar, blocking his power.

"It seems that the secret of this altar is not so easy to solve." Luo Qingchen thought to himself. He knew that forcing it might lead to unknown dangers and might even reactivate the altar and the evil eye.

He turned his gaze to the center of the altar. The black vortex where the evil eye was originally located had now completely disappeared, leaving only a deep and bottomless circular hole, like a huge open mouth, swallowing up the surrounding light and energy.

On the black jade ground around the hole, there were some tiny black crystals scattered around, like broken gems, emitting weak energy fluctuations.

Luo Qingchen picked up a crystal and observed it carefully. The crystal was cold to the touch, hard in texture, and smooth on the surface. He could vaguely see countless tiny black threads moving inside, like a living thing.

"This is..." Luo Qingchen frowned slightly. He vaguely felt that these black crystals seemed to be related to the source of the power of the Evil Eye. Perhaps they were some kind of energy crystals left after the Evil Eye was annihilated.

"Senior Brother Luo, look! There seems to be a door here!" At this moment, Su Xiaowan suddenly shouted excitedly, and the voice came from the other side of the hall.

Luo Qingchen and Lin Wan'er walked over when they heard the sound and found Su Xiaowan standing next to a huge black stone pillar, pointing at a stone wall behind it.

The surface of the stone wall was also engraved with dense runes, but it was slightly different from the surrounding stone walls. The runes on this stone wall seemed to be denser and more... complete, vaguely forming a huge circular pattern, like a closed portal.

In the center of the circular pattern, there is a fist-sized groove with a strange shape, which seems to be used to place some kind of key.

"Door? Exit?" Su Xiaowan rubbed her hands excitedly, "Have we found a way to leave here?"

Luo Qingchen walked closer and carefully observed the stone wall and the circular pattern, with a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

The appearance of this stone wall did look like an exit, but considering the weirdness and danger of this underground palace, he did not dare to be optimistic.

"Be careful, this may not be the exit, it may also be another trap." Luo Qingchen reminded, and at the same time, the power of chaos quietly operated and began to analyze the runes on the stone wall.

He vaguely felt that the runes on the stone wall seemed to have some connection with the runes on the altar. Perhaps they were part of the altar's restriction system, or they could be the entrance to deeper secrets.

"Let's try and see if we can find a way to open this 'door'." Luo Qingchen said in a deep voice, his eyes falling on the groove in the center of the circular pattern, as if thinking about something.

The key... the altar... the door... all of these seem to point to a common answer.

The real secret of the Nine Netherworld may be hidden behind this "door". (End of this chapter)