Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

After crossing the iron chain bridge, the four of them felt as if they had just escaped death.

Jiang Ruoxi's legs were still trembling, so Ye Chen let her lean on him to catch her breath and then fed her a calming pill that Su Qinghan had prepared.

The pill was extremely cold when it entered the mouth, like holding a small piece of ice under the tongue, which actually made one more awake.

Aygul and the ghost servant each took a moment to meditate.

The wind in the cave was noticeably weaker here, but the fishy, ​​sweet smell in the air was stronger, as if something extremely ancient was breathing.

"The Gate of Life and Death is just ahead." Ye Chen put Jiang Yuanshan's notebook back into his inner pocket and looked up ahead.

There was a huge black stone gate, about 30 feet high and 5 feet wide, like a wall of heaven sealed at the bottom of the cave.

The storefront was smooth and reflected a dim, gloomy light; it was neither stone nor iron nor jade.

The strangest thing is that there is no door knocker or keyhole on the door, but only a groove about two feet long carved in the center. The depth and width of the groove are exactly the same as the blade of the Kuzhao Sword.

The ghost servant stepped forward and raised his flashlight to shine it on both sides of the door crack.

The door was covered with ancient characters the size of a palm, most of which were so blurred that they were illegible. Only a few words that resembled "Medicine King" and "Do Not Enter Lightly" could be vaguely made out.

The ghost servant turned to look at Ye Chen: "This is the door. Your father left the sword behind back then for this day. But no one has ever truly gone inside to see what's behind it."

Ye Chen stepped forward, took the Kuzhao Sword off his back, and held it in his hand.

The sword trembled slightly in his palm, as if responding to some extremely faint and distant aura behind the door.

He drew his sword from its sheath, pressed the blade against the groove on the door, and then pushed the hilt in as well.

With a loud bang, a very deep sound came from inside the door, like countless gears grinding underground.

The voice was extremely deep, sending chills down one's spine.

The door didn't open; instead, a sliver of dark red light shone through the groove, slowly creeping up the sword and illuminating the entire door in a crimson glow.

Ye Chen felt an extremely powerful force flowing from the sword hilt to his palm, as if it were trying to pull him into the doorway.

Ye Chen held on tightly, pushing off the ground with both feet and using all his strength to push back.

But the force was so great that Ye Chen felt like he was glued to the door, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged out.

Jiang Ruoxi panicked and tried to pull him away, but the ghost servant held her down: "Don't touch him! The sword recognizes its master, and the gate recognizes the sword. You stay here to protect him, don't get close."

Jiang Ruoxi had no choice but to take a step back, clutching the jade pendant on her chest tightly with both hands.

Aygul moved to the other side, held the knife horizontally in front of her, and became fully alert.

Just when Ye Chen was about to give up, the jade pendant on Jiang Ruoxi's chest suddenly lit up, emitting a soft green light.

The light condensed into a single line, shooting straight into the sword groove above the door. The green and red lights intertwined, and the door suddenly stopped sucking.

Ye Chen felt a lightness in his palm, and then a clear and melodious sound came from inside the door, like the sound of a sword or a bell. A crack more than three feet wide slowly opened in the center of the door.

Ye Chen drew his sword. The sword was still dull, but it felt hot to the touch.

Ye Chen turned around and nodded to Jiang Ruoxi, then stepped into the doorway first.

It wasn't dark behind the door.

To be precise, the light behind the door was extremely unreal.

A thin layer of phosphorescence floated on the cave walls and the ground, like moonlight ground into powder and scattered throughout the entire space.

This place no longer resembles a natural cave; it looks more like a grand hall that has been carved out of the mountain.

The dome is extremely high and is inlaid with thousands of white stone beads, from which the phosphorescence emanates.

The hall was spacious, with no burial objects, calligraphy, or stone tablets.

In the very center, there was a stone platform. On the platform was a translucent jade coffin, several sizes larger than the one on the second level. It was completely free of any other color, as if a single block of ice had been carved into a coffin.

Ye Chen's heart suddenly started beating so fast that he felt he could hardly control it.

He slowly walked towards the jade coffin, as if being drawn by something.

Jiang Ruoxi followed behind him, with Ayiguli and the ghost servant standing on either side.

The four of them walked very lightly, as if afraid of disturbing a dream that had been sleeping for hundreds of years.

The ground around the stone platform was painted with an extremely intricate pattern.

Ye Chen recognized it as the unique Life-Giving Array of Medicine King Valley, an ancient array used to nourish the heart meridians of severely injured people.

He was greatly shocked and squatted down to take a closer look. He found a dark iron plate embedded in the center of the array, with a character engraved on it. The character was already blurred, but Ye Chen could still recognize it as the character "wind".

"These are fragments that broke off from my father's sword sheath..." Ye Chen's voice suddenly went hoarse.

He reached out to touch the piece of iron, and the moment his fingertips touched it, the entire hall suddenly trembled slightly.

The lid of the jade coffin slid open a foot to the side without any wind.

All four people took a step back at the same time.

Aygul's knife was already drawn.

The ghost servant's aura surged, like an old wolf whose tail had been stepped on.

Jiang Ruoxi gripped Ye Chen's arm tightly.

Ye Chen stared intently at the jade coffin, his heart pounding like a drum.

He wanted to go in and take a look, but he was also afraid of seeing something he couldn't bear.

After waiting for a while, there was no unusual movement inside the coffin.

Ye Chen released Jiang Ruoxi's hand and slowly approached the stone platform.

Ye Chen saw that a very thin human figure was lying in the coffin.

The man was wearing the old-fashioned robes of Medicine King Valley. His face was withered, but his flesh was not rotten, like a ginseng that had been dried for hundreds of years.

Under the jade pillow, there was a roll wrapped in gold foil.

The humanoid figure was holding a sword sheath in its arms.

The scabbard was entirely black, with a few very faint gold patterns interspersed on it.

Ye Chen's gaze fell on the sword sheath and he couldn't look away.

The withered sword in his hand suddenly trembled again.

There was an attraction between the sword blade and the scabbard that almost pulled him up from the ground.

"The scabbard of the Kuzhao Sword." Ye Chen knelt down.

There were no nails at the four corners of the jade coffin. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out with both hands and very gently took the sword sheath from the dried corpse's bosom.

The scabbard felt cool to the touch, yet it possessed a reassuring weight.

Ye Chen returned the Ku Zhao Sword to its sheath, sealing it perfectly.

In that instant, he heard the sword seem to sigh, a soft, distant sigh.

"This is the third level," the ghost servant whispered.

"It's not an ominous place. It's a blessing left by the tomb owner for the descendants of Medicine King Valley. The sword is here, and so is the person. Your father didn't come to steal the treasure. He came to deliver the sword. He left the scabbard here and used his life to stabilize the earth's energy on the third level, preventing the Blackwater people from entering."

Ye Chen knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily to the jade coffin.

Once, twice, three times.

He bumped his forehead until it bled.

Jiang Ruoxi knelt down beside him and respectfully bowed three times.

Although Aygul and Guipu were not of the same surname, they both knelt on one knee and bowed their heads in respect.

Then Ye Chen stood up, slung his sword over his shoulder, and took one last look at the jade coffin.

He thought that some people are heavier in death than in life.

Every stone in this tomb recognizes his father.

Ye Chen came here not for adventure, but to pay off a debt.

And he finally paid off the debt.