Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

This time, the King of the East Sea did not stand idly by.

He personally shattered four silver terracotta figures, his attacks precise and ruthless, each strike hitting the terracotta figure's crystal core, clearly demonstrating his profound knowledge of the tomb-guarding puppets' structure. The remaining figures crumbled one by one under the combined efforts of Song Que and Tie Zhongtang.

When the last silver terracotta warrior turned to dust, Song Que's sword intent was reduced to only forty percent. Tie Zhongtang's right arm had its old wound reopened during the battle, and blood dripped from his wrist. Jue Wushen leaned against the rock wall, panting, his left fist trembling slightly.

Of the hundred armored soldiers who accompanied the underworld, only sixty-three remained.

The King of the East Sea showed no outward expression, but a hint of gentle smile appeared in his eyes.

"This is the last one," he said.

The seventh layer of restrictions is located at the highest point of the island.

It was a stone gate.

The gate was three zhang high and two zhang wide, constructed entirely of a jet-black stone. It had no seams, no handles, only a large circular groove carved into its surface. The inner wall of the groove was smooth as a mirror, but the bottom was covered with a layer of dark brown grime, like blood dried over thousands of years.

There was no one in front of the stone gate.

There were no guards, no puppets, and no obstacles. The King of the East Sea stood calmly at the gate, watching Song Que, Tie Zhongtang, and Jue Wushen stagger in. He had waited for this moment for far too long, so long that he wasn't even in a hurry to speak.

He turned around.

"Do the three of you know who is buried on Penglai Island?"

Song Que pressed his hand to his waist: "Please enlighten me, King of the East Sea."

"It's not a person being buried," the King of the East Sea lowered his voice a few decibels, "it's a door."

He reached out and stroked the circular groove on the surface of the stone door, his fingertips caressing the brown grime on the inner wall, as if he were touching a very beloved object.

"During the ancient war between celestial beings and humans, a being of extraordinary talent was suppressed here by a coalition of forces. Before his death, that celestial being laid down two seals—the first being Penglai Island itself, which was transformed into a cage under the guise of the Celestial Being's Tomb; the second being the key to this stone gate, which was broken into three parts and hidden on your persons."

Tie Zhongtang suddenly raised the flagpole: "What did you say?"

"The blood of the Three Kings." The King of the East Sea turned around, his gaze falling on Song Que, Tie Zhongtang, and Jue Wushen. He spoke slowly and deliberately, "In the battle against the old dragon, all three of you were injured, and the spiritual energy in your bloodlines was stimulated to its extreme. Injuries that normally take half a year to heal have put your bloodlines in a 'boiling' state. Only boiling blood can dissolve the thousand-year-old blood grime at the bottom of this groove, allowing the key to reveal its complete form."

He paused, a pitying smile appearing on his lips.

"You think I invited you to the island out of a sense of serendipity? No. What I've wanted from the beginning has been the blood of the three of you. The blood of a peak Grandmaster isn't enough; it must be the blood of a peak Grandmaster at the Ninth Heaven, still recovering from serious injuries, with their blood boiling—in the entire East Sea, only the three of you meet the requirements."

He glanced again at the rubble and silver dust scattered on the ground, as well as the three kings' dripping wounds.

"More importantly, the six layers of restrictions, seventy-eight tomb-guarding puppets, and a ninth-level demonic beast along the way have already pushed your blood and qi to their most active state. If you had arrived at this gate unscathed, your boiling blood would still be three points short. But now—"

He pointed to the blood on Song Que's tiger's mouth, the blood on Tie Zhongtang's wrist, and the blood seeping from Jue Wushen's fist.

"Just right."

Jue Wushen clenched his left fist tightly and took a step forward without a word. Although his right arm was crippled, the power of his left arm exploded to its limit in that instant, and his killing intent became as solid as a tangible substance.

But Song Que stopped him.

Song Que's face was pale, and his sword intent had dwindled to less than 40%, but his hand holding the sword remained steady.

He looked at the King of the East Sea and suddenly spoke:

"You just said the key was broken into three parts and hidden on us. But you also know we don't have it on us, otherwise you would have done it already. So the 'Three Kings' Blood' is just the fuel for unlocking—the key itself isn't here, is it?"

A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the King of the East Sea, which quickly turned into appreciation:

"King Taishan has a keen eye. The key was long ago broken. But the designer of that door made a backup plan: if the key were lost, a living 'key' would be used instead—the boiling blood of three Grandmasters at the peak of the Ninth Heaven would be simultaneously injected into the groove, revealing a partial remnant of the key. Once the remnant is imprinted into the door, the door will automatically open within seven days."

"You only need our blood and energy, not our lives," Tie Zhongtang said through gritted teeth.

"That's right. Three drops of my heart's blood will suffice; it won't harm your very foundation."

The King of the East Sea opened his palm, and a blood-red bead floated above it. "This blood bead can absorb your life essence without taking your lives. If the three of you cooperate, I will let you leave safely, and the relationship between the Underworld and the King of the East Sea's Palace will continue as before."

Song Que stopped speaking.

He drew his sword.

The moment the blade flashed, Tie Zhongtang's banner was unfurled. Jue Wushen's left fist was poised, a layer of dark golden energy condensing on its surface—although only half of his body could use the Indestructible Golden Body, he refused to retreat.

The three attacked simultaneously.

Song Que's sword intent created a bluish-white arc of light in front of the stone gate, and the air was slicing through a layer of frost wherever the blade passed.

The King of the East Sea did not take the blow head-on. Instead, he slid past the edge of the blade and pointed a finger at the weakest point of Song Que's sword strike. At this moment, Song Que's sword intent was only 40% intact, and there were more than three more flaws in his sword strike than when he was at his peak.

With the power of a half-step Celestial Peak cultivator flowing into his fingertips, Song Que's entire right arm suddenly went numb, and his sword intent dissipated by 30%.

Tie Zhongtang's banner swept across, its surface swirling with a blood-red light like a raging storm. The King of the East Sea sidestepped the banner's tip, his left hand reaching into the blood-red light to precisely grasp the middle of the flagpole—the very spot where Tie Zhongtang had just suffered a ruptured internal wound in the previous battle. With a gentle twist, Tie Zhongtang's hand split open, and the banner slipped from his grasp.

Jue Wushen approached from the side, his left fist, imbued with the power of his indestructible golden body, slamming towards the East Sea King's ribs. The East Sea King ultimately failed to dodge completely, the force of the punch striking his ribs, causing him to groan and stagger back two steps. But his eyes lit up: "A good punch! Too bad you only have one hand."

Before he finished speaking, the King of the East Sea extended both hands simultaneously, ten silver-white threads condensing between his fingers, instantly wrapping around Jue Wushen's left fist. These silver threads were as thin as spider silk yet unbreakable, and as they wrapped around Jue Wushen, they dissipated seventy percent of the force of Jue Wushen's fist.

The three kings joined forces but could only hold out for twenty breaths.

Song Que was forced back seven steps, his sword intent collapsing by more than half. Tie Zhongtang's blood flag flew from his hand, blood gushing from his tiger's mouth, his recently healed wound reopening. Jue Wushen's left fist was bound by silver threads; when he forcibly broke free, the skin and flesh on the back of his hand tore open, blood gushing out.

The King of the East Sea was still dressed neatly, except for a tear in the side of his robe.

"The three of you," he said calmly, "if you were at your peak, I might have had to put in some effort. But today, you've overcome six layers of restrictions, fought dozens of tomb-guarding puppets, and killed a ninth-level demonic beast. Your energy and vitality have long been depleted. These twenty breaths have already been longer than I anticipated."

He raised his right hand, and the blood-red bead floated above his palm, slowly rotating. The surface of the bead reflected the blood dripping from the three kings and began to emit a dark red light. The bead flew towards the stone door on its own and embedded itself into the circular groove—a perfect fit.

"The blood of the three kings has been left on the battlefield; that's enough," the King of the East Sea said in a low voice. "A century-long plan has come to fruition today."

The blood droplets in the grooves began to absorb the pervasive blood energy in the air. The blood from Song Que's tiger's mouth, the blood from Tie Zhongtang's palm, the blood from Jue Wushen's hand, and every drop of blood that the three of them had spilled in the previous six layers of restrictions—the bloodstains scattered on the stone steps, in front of the crystal wall, among the fragments of the silver figurines beside the earth fire, and beside the corpse of the red-scaled giant python—now rose on their own, turning into dozens of blood lines that flowed into the blood droplets.

The blood beads grew brighter, and the black paint on the stone door began to peel away, revealing dense ancient runes underneath.

The runes spread outwards from the center, like some kind of lock being unlocked layer by layer.