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The echoing sound, like a door hinge, lingered in the darkness, as if someone had opened a crack in the air "inside" and slowly released it.

The flickering lamplight trembled, its pale blue glow being gnawed open by the black mist. The group instinctively tightened their formation, raising their guns and talismans simultaneously, but no one dared to speak first—in the imperial tomb, the one who spoke first was often the first to receive a "response."

The tomb keeper held his wooden staff horizontally across his chest, the golden runes at the tip gleaming faintly, illuminating the outline of the main sealing hall ahead: a massive domed stone chamber, its walls densely covered with ancient runes, like layers of scabs; in the center was a sealing groove sunken into the ground, black mycelium spreading along the cracks in the stone, "eating" at the edges of the runes. Black mist surged from the groove's opening, gathering into gusts of tide, flowing close to the ground, like living things searching for a foothold.

"This is it." The tomb keeper's voice was low, as if afraid of disturbing something. "Traditional restoration requires retracing the talismanic path, filling in the gaps in the runes, and then using incense to draw back the power of the seal... It will take at least three days. You can't wait that long."

Li Haotian stared at the mycelium, his gaze like a ruler, comparing the distance between each black line and the rune. Three days? They might not even have three hours. The Nameless Cult, having pushed the second door this far, wouldn't give them the chance to "slowly repair" it.

Qin Yue glanced around at the shadows high in the hall, then gestured for the surrounding personnel to immediately split into two layers: the inner circle consisted of amulet masters and tomb guardians, while the outer circle was on high alert with heavy weapons aimed at the dome and the entrance to the passage, as if putting a second "shell" on the stone chamber.

Su Wan crouched down and pressed a tiny probe close to the edge of the mycelium. As soon as the probe touched the black line, a layer of frost-like gray appeared on the metal surface. Her brow furrowed: "The concentration of death energy is still rising. The mycelium isn't simply eroding—it's acting as a conduit, pouring the death energy from the outside into the seal."

The tomb keeper nodded: "That's why I said it's too late. If you forcefully add the talisman, the death energy will rush back along the 'new path' you add. Once the talisman path is open, it's like giving it a highway."

Li Haotian didn't refute. He raised his hand, signaling Liu Hu to push the isolation box closer. Inside the box, the silver-black serrated plate hung in the force field, its edges still slowly shimmering, like some kind of impatient breathing. From the direction of the isolation chamber, the heartbeat of the silver cocoon came through the thick wall—beat after beat—exceptionally clear in the echoes of this sealed hall, like a debt collector pressing for payment.

"Gravekeepers, you're repairing 'doors'," Li Haotian said, his voice as flat as reciting a list. "I don't repair doors. I clear away what's blocking them."

The tomb keeper's eyes darkened: "How do you intend to clear it? The runes cannot be touched; touching them is tantamount to altering fate. Your firepower is even more untouchable; if this stone chamber shakes, the sealing groove will collapse, and the entire imperial tomb will sink."

Li Haotian raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the churning black shadow deep within the dome: "Use evil to eliminate evil. Use evil to devour evil."

The air seemed to drop an inch after his words. Qin Yue frowned: "You're going to release Xiao Hei?"

"It's not 'playing'," Li Haotian corrected, "it's 'projecting'."

He turned and walked towards the isolation chamber, placing the token in his hand on the chamber's interface, and whispered, "Give me a layer of 'pressure shield.' You don't need to come out; just stay outside the seal, like a lid on a pot."

Inside the cabin, Silver Cocoon's heartbeat paused for a moment, then became steady again—one beat after another—as if it understood "order fulfillment".

The next second, the silver patterns on the surface of the capsule suddenly lit up, and a distorted shadow was "squeezed" out from above the silver cocoon. It wasn't the complete Alien Queen, but only a huge outline: a long tail, spinal spikes, and a crown-like head, like a shadow pressed onto a membrane. The shadow spread along the air, spreading out around the outer edge of the sealing groove, forming a semi-transparent oppressive field.

The black mist was pressed down by that pressure, and immediately a visible backflow appeared—the deathly energy that was originally crawling towards the four walls was as if someone had choked it, and it was forced to shrink back into the trough, rolling more densely, more darkly, and more rapidly, like boiling soup being forced back into a pot.

"It works." Su Wan's eyes lit up, but then turned cold again. "The backflow will cause an instantaneous pressure peak, and the death energy will rebound. We need to cut the mycelium before it rebounds, otherwise the pressure will rush along the mycelium to the edge of the rune."

Li Haotian nodded: "So the second step is to swallow it."

He raised his hand, signaling Liu Hu to open the secondary lock of the isolation box. As the force field loosened, the toothed blade trembled violently, like a knife that had smelled blood, its silver and black patterns flashing wildly, almost leaping out on its own.

Li Haotian pressed the token down with his palm, forcing the "boundary" onto the toothed plate, his voice as cold as iron: "You only eat the black lines. You are not allowed to touch a single rune. If you don't understand, go back to being a tooth."

The toothed blade paused for a moment, as if weighing its options, then slowly rotated, its tip pointing towards the thickest part of the hyphae.

Su Wan stood up, took out her portable calculation board, and quickly marked the safety boundary around the sealing groove. Her fingers flew across the screen: "The shortest distance between the hyphae and the runes is 3.7 yards. I calculated the radius of the toothed blade's devouring diffusion as 1 centimeter—no, the death energy density is high, its 'bite' will be more powerful, so the radius needs to be reserved at 1.5 centimeters."

She looked up at Li Haotian: "I'll draw the boundaries for you, and you follow the lines, like a surgeon. Even a millimeter off, and you might scratch the runes."

Qin Yue continued, lowering her voice even further: "I'll be in charge of maintaining stability. Keep the outer perimeter firepower still. Everyone keep an eye on the shadows above and the entrance to the passage. If there's a real counterattack, I'll hold them off and buy you some time."

The tomb keeper stared at the projection of the alien queen, his expression complex, as if he were looking at a murder weapon that shouldn't be in the imperial tomb. He gritted his teeth: "You're using an evil object to mend the heavens. If you succeed, it will seal and prolong life; if you fail... the imperial tomb will become a nest."

Li Haotian didn't argue with him about morality, but simply asked, "Do you want the result or the ceremony?"

The tomb keeper remained silent for two breaths, then slammed his wooden staff into the ground. Runic light spread across the floor, barely reinforcing the four corners of the sealed hall: "I will protect the rune path. You proceed."

Su Wan projected the boundary onto the ground-based light screen, where concentric circles of fine lines resembled surgical marks. Li Haotian raised his hand, tapped the token, and the toothed blade gently fell, its tip touching the first mycelium.

"Point," he uttered a single word.

The toothed blade pierced the rotting flesh like a needle, instantly "biting" off a section of the black line. There was no fire, no explosion, only a tooth-grinding sucking sound—shh—the black line was swallowed into the silver-black patterns on the edge of the toothed blade, and the patterns immediately brightened, as if it had taken a big bite.

The black mist at the broken end of the mycelium suddenly lurched, the speed of the death energy recirculation increased sharply, and even higher waves rose in the sealing groove, like something desperately pounding underwater.

Su Wan immediately reported the points: "Three points to the left, four and a half points from the rune. One more point, stop, switch to two points to the right."

Li Haotian did as instructed, his movements almost mechanically steady. He wasn't staring at the shape of the black mist, but rather at the boundary line, the angle and landing point of the toothed blades, as if operating a precision machine on an assembly line—loading, positioning, cutting, and retrieving.

One mouthful.

Two mouthfuls.

Three people.

The mycelium was being "swallowed" piece by piece, and the black lines were receding at a visible speed. But the deathly aura did not decrease; instead, it was forced back into the sealing tank by the pressure shield and began to accumulate at the opening of the tank, its color changing from black to blue, like putrid water compressed to its limit.

The tomb keeper's expression changed drastically: "It's coming—the tide of resentment!"

Before the words were even finished, a reverse wave suddenly surged from the sealing groove. That wave wasn't water; it was countless overlapping weeping faces and distorted figures, erupting from the groove with piercing wails, like the deathly energy that had been suppressed suddenly turning on its own. The flame of the ghostly lamp was almost instantly extinguished, and the talismanic light was also shaken and threatened to dissipate.

The alien queen's projection sank, its oppressive aura pressing down. The black mist and the tide of resentment collided, creating a low-frequency vibration that exploded in the air. The runes on the stone wall lit up and then dimmed, as if they had been scraped by a fingernail.

Worse still—outside the projection, the aliens that Li Haotian had arranged beforehand at the entrance of the sealing hall were swept away like paper by the tide of resentment. Their shells rapidly turned gray and peeled off in the deathly aura, their hissing was drowned out by their wails, leaving only the outlines of fallen bodies.

Qin Yue gritted her teeth: "Don't move the outer circle! Don't use fire! Use cold light to suppress the shadows and maintain visibility!"

Several cold, flashing projectiles were fired, their stark white light illuminating the surging tide of resentment even more clearly: it wasn't a single wave, but a swirling mass of pent-up resentment, specifically targeting the warmth and breath of the living. A suppressed groan escaped someone's throat, as if something were choking them.

The tomb keeper tapped his wooden staff repeatedly, and the talismanic light transformed into several chains, barely pinning the edge of the resentful tide to the ground: "Li Haotian! If you don't stop now, it will rush towards the talismanic runes along the remnants of the mycelium!"

Li Haotian didn't look up at the tide of resentment; he only looked at the fangs. The aliens in the front row were being consumed, so he replenished them; he replenished as much as they were consumed, treating the war like inventory management.

"Second team, reinforce the front row, maintain a three-meter distance, don't cluster together." He spoke steadily. "Stabilize the black projection, don't let the cover collapse. Su Wan, continue reporting the positions, prioritize cutting the main trunk."

Su Wan's voice was strained but still clear: "The main trunk is on the east side of the trough, 5.2 meters from the rune. You have three windows; you must stop after the third one, or the resentment tide will rise."

Li Haotian pressed down with his wrist, and the toothed blade, like a taut string, fell straight to the main trunk on the east side—the sand—swallowing it in one gulp. The black line twitched violently, and the vortex of resentment also paused.

The second blow—the black line's cross-section widened, the path of deathly energy's return was cut in half, and the howl of the resentful tide sharpened, as if its teeth had been pulled out.

The third bite—the instant the toothed blade bit down—suddenly caused the tide of resentment to rise, as if it had finally found its source, and rushed towards Li Haotian's location.

Qin Yue took a step forward, pressed the muzzle of her gun down, but didn't fire. Instead, she flung out a specially made talisman nail, which embedded itself in the ground, forming a temporary protective circle. She shouted, "Take half a step back! Don't breathe!"

Li Haotian took a half step back, flipped the token, and the shadow of the Alien Queen's projection suddenly swung, the pressure shield pressing down like a lid on a pot, forcefully pushing the tide of resentment back into its trough. In that instant, the air in the entire sealing hall seemed to be sucked out, and eardrums buzzed.

As the tide of resentment was suppressed, large patches of graying appeared at the broken ends of the mycelial trunk, like blood vessels rapidly shriveling after losing their supply. Su Wan seized the opportunity, speaking even faster: "The remaining roots on the west side, just swallow a couple of bites and it will clear them. Be careful of the cracks along the edges of the runes; you can only eat from the outside in, don't bite in the opposite direction."

Li Haotian hummed in agreement, and the toothed blade followed her boundary line, like nibbling away at the remaining roots little by little along the path cut by a scalpel. With each swallow, the patterns on the toothed blade lit up one level; with each level lit up, the pressure shield became more stable, as if the "fierce" was also using its "fierceness" to nourish itself.

When the last black line was swallowed up, the black mist in the sealing groove lost its conduit, and the return speed decreased sharply. The tide of resentment also seemed to deflate, and the wailing changed from sharp to low sobbing, and was finally swallowed up again by the depths of the sealing groove.

The gravedigger's wooden staff paused, and the talismanic light finally stopped swaying. He stared at the perfectly intact edge of the talisman, a look of near disbelief appearing in his eyes for the first time: "...You really didn't touch the talisman."

Su Wan let out a long breath, her palms sweating: "The border was held. It's like completing surgery—the lesion was removed, but the organ is still there."

Qin Yue didn't relax, still staring at the shadows of the dome: "Don't let your guard down. The tide of resentment is just returning, not disappearing. The wind at the entrance of the passage has changed; there might still be something listening."

Li Haotian raised his hand, retracted the token, and the alien queen projection slowly shrank back. However, the oppressive shield did not immediately disappear, leaving only a thin layer of pressure, like a temporary lid on the sealing groove. The toothed piece returned to the isolation box, its silver and black patterns dimming, like someone who had finally decided to play dead after having eaten their fill.

He glanced at the sealing groove and said calmly, "Finish half of the order first. The seal is temporarily stable, but someone's hand is still outside pushing the door."

The gravedigger gripped his wooden staff tightly and said in a deep voice, "How long can your method... last?"

Li Haotian twirled the token between his fingers, a chill creeping up his knuckles: "Hold on until we find their second door. Then—chop off your hand."

The flickering lamplight regained its footing, its pale blue light illuminating the runes on the stone wall, as if it had just awakened from suffocation. The sealed hall was still shrouded in black mist, but it no longer overflowed; deeper inside, the echoing sound, like a hinge, also subsided, as if it had temporarily learned to keep silent.

But everyone knows that it has simply changed its posture and continues to wait.