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

Ye Chen carefully carried the Ku Zhao Sword on his back and didn't touch anything else in the jade coffin.

Ye Chen took two steps back and looked at the hall again.

The phosphorescence remained cool and clear, like a thin layer of snow covering every inch of the ground.

The patterns of the Life-Giving Array extend outwards from the jade coffin in all directions, like a giant tree flattened on the ground, densely packed and stretching as far as the eye can see.

Besides the fragments of the sword sheath left by his father, there were also several dark-colored pebbles embedded in the center of the formation. They were of different sizes and did not feel like stones. Instead, they resembled some very old medicinal blocks that had hardened like iron.

Jiang Ruoxi walked to his side and said softly, "This place doesn't look like an ancient tomb. It's more like a secluded cave for cultivation. Look at these patterns. They're very similar to that array that Master Su taught me to recognize."

Ye Chen nodded: "It's a life-giving array. Before he died, the tomb owner sealed himself here, using the array to prevent his body from decaying and to slowly disperse the medicinal power into the earth's energy. That's why this cave is still so fresh after hundreds of years. The medicinal fragrance we smelled when we came in came from here."

Ye Chen paused for a moment, then added in a low voice, "My father left the sword sheath here, probably to use the power of the Life-Giving Array to suppress the earth's energy on the third level. That's why Qin Wuyi said that he saw my father jump into the river at the dock back then. He really did come out through this cave. He came here, survived, and then left."

The ghost servant walked over and patted Ye Chen on the shoulder: "Your father was a hero. He must have been afraid that this place would be used by the Blackwater, so he abandoned the sword sheath to guard it here. Now that you've taken the sword sheath away, won't the earth's energy be affected?"

Ye Chen didn't speak, but looked down at the array's core.

Those pill-like objects were mostly cracked, like burnt-out charcoal, leaving only their shape.

Ye Chen squatted down and gently touched one with his fingertip; it shattered into dust.

"The formation is almost broken," Ye Chen said, frowning.

"Even if I don't move the sword sheath, the life-giving array here won't last more than a few years. The body in the jade coffin has already dried out. If this continues, it will turn to ashes sooner or later. What the tomb owner is waiting for is not immortality, but for someone to come in and take away what should be taken away."

Ye Chen stood up, his gaze falling on the object wrapped in gold foil next to the jade coffin.

The object was only about half a foot long, rolled up very tightly, and wrapped with fine gold thread in circles, as if afraid it would come apart.

Ye Chen glanced at Jiang Ruoxi, and Jiang Ruoxi nodded.

Ye Chen squatted down and carefully took the roll of gold foil from beside the jade pillow.

The gold leaf feels very light, like holding a roll of dried flower petals.

Ye Chen untied the gold thread little by little, revealing a white silk scroll as thin as a cicada's wing, covered with tiny characters.

The characters were neither the secret script of Medicine King Valley nor ordinary Han clerical script; the strokes were extremely strange, somewhat resembling the Hui script that occasionally appeared in the Medicine King Valley's collection of books.

Ye Chen turned to the first page, and the more he read, the more his brows furrowed.

He examined it for about half an incense stick's time, then slowly exhaled a long breath: "It's the second part of the Heavenly Physician's Creation Technique. Su Qinghan said that my father only found the sword back then, not the complete technique. It turns out the real second part was placed in the jade coffin. Someone sealed it here, waiting for someone who can enter the third level."

As Ye Chen spoke, he closed the silk scroll, wrapped it again with gold foil, and carefully put it into his inner pocket.

Whether it was a misperception or not, the moment the silk scroll was placed in his arms, Ye Chen felt a warmth in his chest, as if a hand was gently pressing on his heart through his clothes.

"Once this scroll of silk is unearthed, the people of Blackwater will no longer be able to hide," Ayiguli suddenly said.

She stood outside the formation, holding her sword, her gaze sweeping across the four walls of the hall: "What they've been chasing for twenty years is on you, Ye Chen. You're a sitting duck now."

Ye Chen smiled and said, "I've been a sitting duck for a long time. From the day Wei Qing died, Blackwater never intended for me to live."

Ye Chen looked up at the glowing stone beads on the ceiling and said in a calm voice, "But I have to get out of here alive. Ruoxi has to go back to a meeting, Uncle Gui still owes me a few drinks, and Guli, you haven't competed with me in lightness skills yet. We can't die here."

He said it lightly, but everyone could hear the weight in his words.

Jiang Ruoxi quietly tightened her grip on Ye Chen's hand.

Just as the four were about to return the way they came, a soft "click" sound suddenly came from the shadows at the end of the hall, like a small pebble rolling onto the stone bricks.

The ghost servant's ears perked up first, and he stood in front of everyone as if facing a formidable enemy.

Aygul's knife tip was already pointing towards the source of the sound.

Ye Chen pulled Jiang Ruoxi behind him, his other hand already resting on the Kuzhao Sword.

The sound rang out once, then fell silent.

After a long while, Ye Chen signaled for everyone to slowly retreat.

Ye Chen did not rush over to check.

The third level is a place that no one has ever been to before. If there is anything living here, it certainly cannot be a benevolent being.

As they retreated back to the Gate of Life and Death along the same path they had come from, the black stone gate still had that three-foot-wide crack open, like a half-closed eye.

Once outside, Ye Chen turned back and pressed the Ku Zhao Sword into its groove, and the door slammed shut again.

The scabbard had been taken away, but the door seemed unconcerned. It wasn't guarding the scabbard, but rather the person inside the jade coffin.

The return journey was faster than the way there. By the time they crossed the suspension bridge, everyone was more familiar with it. Although the wind was still chilly, Jiang Ruoxi gritted her teeth and followed behind Ye Chen, managing not to slip down again.

When crossing the underground river, Ye Chen deliberately avoided the moving stone slab and quickly leaped to the other side, wading through the water vapor.

When the four of them emerged from the Dragon Heart Gate, it was just before dawn. Fog rose on the mountaintop, and Song Tiezhu was leading a group of men to keep watch outside.

Hearing the stone gate creak, he rushed over in three steps. When he saw that Ye Chen and the others had come out unharmed, he grinned and punched Ye Chen on the shoulder.

"I told you you wouldn't die," Song Tiezhu said, his eyes a little red.

The ghost servant turned his face away.

Ye Chen coughed twice after being punched, and said with a smile, "I'll treat you to drinks when we get back, but tonight, I need to get a full night's sleep first."

Jiang Ruoxi stood in the mountain breeze, her hair damp with mist, her expression much more relaxed than before she went in.

She looked up towards the main peak of Dragon Hidden Mountain and said softly, "I have a feeling that something followed us out."

Ye Chen followed her gaze.

The mountain was shrouded in swirling clouds and mist, obscuring everything.

Ye Chen put his arm around her shoulder: "You're too tired. Let's go home."

Jiang Ruoxi nodded, then looked back at the Dragon Heart Gate, which had now closed again.

Jiang Ruoxi didn't say anything more, but simply gripped the intact jade pendant on her chest.

As the sunlight rose from the east, it bathed the entire Longyin Mountain in a tapestry of verdant green.

The car drove down the winding mountain road. Ye Chen leaned back in the back seat with his eyes closed, still carrying the scroll and the withered sword in his arms.

Ye Chen knew that leaving Dragon Hidden Mountain would only bring him more trouble.

Blackwater lost Wei Qing and Qin Wuyi, but now that they have what they wanted, they will only become more insane.

But Ye Chen wasn't afraid at all.

Ye Chen was even somewhat looking forward to it.

Holding the sword sheath in his hand and feeling the lingering warmth left by his father, he felt at peace.

Ye Chen closed his eyes and thought to himself, "Come on, I'm right here. If you've got the guts, come and take it."