Deep within the sacrificial burial tunnels, mercury vapor flowed silently between jagged rocks and decaying bronze remnants.
Zhuang Han's massive bestial form fled frantically through the narrow, winding tunnels, his heavy footsteps like muffled thunder, shaking loose debris from the ceiling.
Each step was accompanied by the dull thud of bones shattering and rocks collapsing.
A massive wound on his left shoulder, caused by the masked man's lightning arrow, gushed black blood that flowed down his spine-covered shoulder blade, leaving a viscous trail of blood behind him.
Even more fatal was… the reverse scale pendant he clutched tightly in his massive hooked claw!
Icy! Bone-chillingly cold! That terrifying ancient will, as if capable of freezing the soul, madly eroded his flesh, bone marrow, and even his soul through the crevices of his hooked claw!
The Soul Jade Physique's icy will desperately resisted the impact of this torrent of will, letting out a groan of unbearable strain!
The dark black blood Texture on his left face flickered wildly, attempting to mobilize the Bone Eater Realm's power to suppress the backlash.
The scarlet blood lines on his right face, however, was like a wildfire ignited, and under the stimulation of intense pain and the ancient will, his savage beastiality, like a breached dam, madly assaulted his reason!
The two forces fiercely clashed and tore at each other within his body! Making every step he took feel like treading on knife-edges, so painful he was nearly driven mad!
"Roar—!!!" He let out an uncontrollable roar, filled with pain and savagery!
In his scarlet beast eyes, under the erosion of the icy will and the impact of the rampant beastiality, he wavered precariously!
"Over there! Quick! It's injured! It can't run far!" From around the corner of the tunnel behind him came the excited and greedy shouts of the military's exploration team soldiers!
Dense footsteps and the "click-clack" of weapons being cocked sounded like a death knell, drawing closer and closer!
"Energy tracker locked onto target! The energy source is fifty meters ahead! It's a jade pendant! It's carrying the jade pendant!" The technician's voice was filled with ecstasy!
"Get it alive! Commander Qin wants it alive! And the jade pendant! We must get our hands on it!" The captain ordered sharply!
Zhuang Han suddenly turned his head! The flickering light of tactical flashlights from around the corner reflected in his scarlet beast eyes! Pursuers! They were almost upon him!
A flicker of extremely intense struggle passed through his eyes! His master's command! At all costs! Obtain the reverse scale pendant! Bring it back!
But… the backlash from the jade pendant… was too terrifying! He felt like he was about to freeze solid! His soul felt like it was being torn apart by that icy will!
Moreover… his beastiality… was almost uncontrollable! Once he completely lost control… not only would the mission fail… he might… turn into a monster that only knew slaughter! He might even… attack his master!
No! Absolutely not!
The bloodline slave mark was like the final shackle, tightly binding his soul which was on the verge of berserk! His master's command… was above all else!
He suddenly accelerated! His massive body crashed through the rubble blocking his way! Rushing towards an even narrower fork in the tunnel deeper inside, attempting to use the terrain to shake off his pursuers!
However!
Just as he was about to rush into the fork!
"In the name of my Lord! Purify!" A hoarse, fanatical roar, as if from hell, suddenly exploded from the shadows deep within the fork!
Immediately following!
Three figures, covered in blood, with torn black robes, and the final madness of martyrs burning in their eyes, lunged out like specters!
These madmen actually had a hidden trick!
"Heretic who blasphemes the sacred artifact! Die!" They no longer chanted!
The dark red light on their bodies instantly burned to its extreme!
Like three human bombs! With a desperate resolve to perish together, they fiercely lunged at Zhuang Han from three different angles! Their speed was incredible! Their angles were cunning! Blocking all his escape routes!
"Roar—!!!" Zhuang Han's eyes were splitting with rage! His bone tail and massive claws swung wildly! Attempting to block!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three dark red immolation fireballs exploded almost simultaneously! The terrifying energy shockwave, mixed with flesh, shattered bone, and violent spiritual pollution, like a storm of destruction, instantly engulfed Zhuang Han completely!
This time! The distance was too close! The power was too concentrated!
Pfft—!!!
Zhuang Han's bone-armored body was like being struck by a heavy hammer! The bone armor instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks! The wound on his left shoulder was torn even wider! Black blood gushed out like a fountain! Most fatally!
The huge impact force slammed heavily into his right claw, which was tightly gripping the reverse scale pendant!
Buzz—!!!
The icy ancient will on the reverse scale pendant, at the moment it was subjected to a violent external impact, seemed to be enraged, suddenly erupting with an even more terrifying backlash force!
Crack!
An extremely faint crisp sound! One of Zhuang Han's bone-armored hooked fingers on his right claw, under the dual effect of the jade pendant's backlash and the explosion's impact, was snapped off forcefully! His hooked claw loosened!
That dark black dragon scale jade pendant, flowing with a dark golden halo, flew out of his grasp! Drawing an icy arc in the air!
"No—!!!" Zhuang Han let out a roar of despair and extreme rage! His massive body lunged forward desperately! Attempting to catch the flying jade pendant!
But… it was too late!
A nimble figure lunged out from the side like a leopard!
It was the military exploration team's most agile scout!
His eyes gleamed with ecstasy and greed! A precise diving save!
Thwack!
His hands steadily caught the falling reverse scale pendant!
It was icy to the touch! Heavy! An indescribable majesty, as if from ancient times, and an icy will instantly surged into his body through his arms!
"Ugh ah—!!!"
The scout's ecstasy instantly froze! Replaced by pain and distortion! He felt as if his soul was instantly frozen! His blood solidified in his veins! His heart felt as if it was being tightly squeezed by an invisible icy hand! He let out a shrill scream! His body went limp as if his bones had been removed!
But his hands were as if welded, gripping the jade pendant tightly and refusing to let go!
"The jade pendant! He got it!" The soldiers behind him roared excitedly!
"Be careful! The jade pendant is strange!" The experienced captain immediately sensed something was wrong! He warned sharply!
But it was already too late!
Zhuang Han watched as the jade pendant fell into enemy hands, and his scarlet beast eyes were instantly completely submerged by rampant killing intent!
His beastiality completely overwhelmed the Soul Jade Physique's restraint!
"Roar—!!!" He let out a terrifying roar that was not human, filled with a desire for destruction! His massive body, with an aura of crushing everything, like an out-of-control locomotive, slammed heavily into the scout who had collapsed on the ground, gripping the jade pendant! He wanted to get it back! Tear him to shreds!
"Fire! Stop it!" The captain's eyes were splitting with rage! His assault rifle spat out deadly tongues of flame! The other soldiers also fired madly!
Da da da da—!!!
Bullets poured onto Zhuang Han like a Metal Storm! Bone armor fragments flew! Black blood gushed! But he was fearless of death! His speed did not decrease in the slightest!
Seeing that Zhuang Han's massive claw was about to tear the scout and the jade pendant into pieces!
Just then!
"Get out of the way!" A furious roar! A burly figure, like an iron tower, blocked in front of the scout! It was the exploration team's vice-captain, a special strengthen-type ability user!
His muscles bulged, and his skin had a grayish-white, rock-like color! His fists were clenched, and with an aura of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, he slammed them heavily into Zhuang Han's lunging massive claw!
Bang—!!!
Like two high-speed trucks colliding head-on! An extremely muffled roar exploded within the tunnel! Air waves surged! Broken rocks flew!
The vice-captain grunted! A bone-chilling cracking sound came from his arms! His rock-hard skin cracked inch by inch! Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth! His body flew backward like a broken kite! Slamming heavily into the tunnel wall!
But Zhuang Han's lunge was also forcefully blocked by this desperate blow! His massive body paused slightly!
It was in this instant of pause!
"Catch!" A hint of ruthlessness flashed in the captain's eyes! He suddenly kicked the wrist of the scout who had collapsed on the ground!
The scout's wrist felt intense pain! He subconsciously let go!
The reverse scale pendant flew out of his hand!
The captain took a quick step forward! But he didn't use his hand to catch it! Instead, he lightning-fast pulled out a special, lead-gray metallic isolation box from his waist! The box instantly opened!
Click!
The reverse scale pendant accurately dropped into the box!
The captain slammed the lid shut! Click! The magnetic lock instantly locked!
Buzz—!!!
A faint energy barrier lit up on the surface of the isolation box! The terrifying icy will fluctuation inside the box… was instantly isolated by more than half! Only an extremely faint chill faintly emanated through the lead-gray metallic box wall!
"Got it!" Ecstasy erupted in the captain's eyes! He hugged the isolation box tightly!
"Roar—!!!" Zhuang Han watched as the jade pendant was placed into the isolation box, and even more rampant fury erupted in his scarlet beast eyes, along with… a trace of absolute command, forcefully awakened from the Soul Jade Physique's icy will!
Directive: Abandon the jade pendant! Retreat immediately! Repeat! Abandon the jade pendant! Retreat immediately!
Bestiality and command clashed fiercely deep within his soul! Zhuang Han's massive body trembled violently! The dark black blood lines flickered wildly! Finally… the Soul Jade Physique's icy will, like an invisible shackle, forcefully suppressed his rampant beastiality!
He let out a roar filled with unwillingness and pain! His massive bone tail fiercely swept away several soldiers attempting to approach!
His massive body suddenly crashed through the side of the tunnel wall (which had been loosened even more by the previous explosion)! Forcing open an even larger hole!
With a body covered in wounds and flowing black blood, he rushed into an even deeper tunnel filled with mercury deposits! Instantly disappearing into the silver mist!
"Don't chase!" The captain tightly hugged the isolation box, sharply ordering the soldiers who wanted to pursue, "Protect the jade pendant! Retreat immediately! It's too dangerous here!"
The soldiers looked at the lead-gray metallic box in the captain's arms, which emitted a faint chill, their eyes filled with greed and awe.
They quickly regrouped, carrying the severely wounded vice-captain and the mentally traumatized scout, who was still convulsing in pain, and quickly retreated along the way they came, leaving this place of death.
Deep within the tunnel, in the thick mercury vapor.
Zhuang Han's massive body leaned against the cold rock wall, breathing heavily. The wound on his left shoulder was bone-deep, and black blood continuously gushed out.
His body was covered in bullet holes and traces of shattered bone armor. From the broken hooked finger on his right claw, came agonizing pain.
But the most painful… was the lingering icy will deep within his soul, like a maggot clinging to bone!
Although the jade pendant was taken, that brief contact still left an indelible injury deep within his soul, as if frostbitten by ice!
In his scarlet beast eyes, the rampant killing intent slowly receded, replaced by a deep-seated… pain and… humiliation.
The mission… failed.
He had failed his master's trust.
The Soul Jade Physique's icy will was like an invisible whip, lashing fiercely at his soul. But he felt no anger, only an even colder… command and… expectation?
New directive: Lie dormant, heal, and… wait!
Zhuang Han's massive body slowly slid to the ground.
He lowered his head, looking at his broken hooked claw and the flowing black blood. A low, suppressed growl came from his throat.
Then… he slowly closed his eyes. The dark black blood lines on his left face and the scarlet blood lines on his right face flickered with faint light, alternately, beginning to mobilize the remaining energy in his body to repair the terrifying injuries.
In the darkness, only the mercury vapor flowed silently, and his heavy, painful breathing.
Panshi Fortress · Underground Third Floor · Top Secret Research Institute.
The heavy alloy door slid open silently.
Blinding white light poured out from within the door, illuminating the cold metallic floor of the hallway outside. The air was filled with the strong smell of disinfectant, ozone, and an indescribable, cold scent mixed with metal and energy.
Qin Weiguo, in a crisp general's uniform, had the general's stars on his epaulets glinting with a cold, hard light under the illumination. His expression was solemn, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, as he strode into the research institute. Behind him followed Zhou Zhengyang and Elder Wu.
Inside the research institute, the space was as vast as an underground plaza.
The dome was high, covered with complex pipes and energy lines that glowed with a faint blue light. The floor was a mirror-smooth alloy, reflecting the pale light from above.
On the surrounding walls, countless huge screens displayed complex data and three-dimensional models. In the central area, there was a massive transparent isolation chamber, like a crystal coffin, enveloped by a high-intensity energy shield.
Inside the isolation chamber, at this moment, quietly floated that reverse scale pendant.
It was in the form of a dark black dragon scale, with a dark golden halo flowing around its edges. Even through the thick special glass and energy shield, one could still feel a faint, almost imperceptible, cold pressure, as if from ancient times.
On the surface of the jade pendant, those tiny, dark golden patterns, like natural Texture, slowly flowed under the special lighting in the isolation chamber, emitting a mysterious and dangerous aura.
"Is this... the reverse scale pendant?" Qin Weiguo walked to the isolation chamber, his gaze fixed on the floating jade pendant through the thick glass. His voice was deep, carrying a hint of undisguised... craving and... trepidation.
"Yes, Commander," Elder Wu pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, his eyes behind the lenses filled with fanaticism and a desire for exploration.
"Energy spectrum analysis shows that the energy level contained within it... is immeasurable! Its structure... cannot be analyzed! Its material... does not belong to any known element! And... it seems to... possess some kind of... autonomous consciousness?"
"Autonomous consciousness?" Qin Weiguo frowned deeply.
"Or rather... a very powerful mental imprint," Elder Wu explained.
"The scout from the exploration team who touched the jade pendant... his mental core was completely frozen! Like a vegetable! We tried all mental repair methods, including Chen Xue's silver light... all were ineffective! His consciousness... seems to have been forever frozen at the moment he touched the jade pendant!"
A hint of solemnity flashed in Qin Weiguo's eyes. Such overbearing power... it truly was a divine object! But also... extremely dangerous!
"How is the research progressing?" he asked in a deep voice.
"Currently... we can only conduct external observations." Elder Wu's voice carried a hint of helplessness and... unwillingness.
"Any form of energy detection (including mental power scans), once it approaches within three meters of the jade pendant, will be interfered with or even annihilated by an invisible force! We tried to touch it with a robotic arm... the result..."
He pointed to the wreckage of a robotic arm on a nearby console, completely frozen, covered in thick frost, and with its internal structure completely shattered.
"Non-carbon-based life forms experience absolute zero temperature of minus 273 degrees Celsius upon contact!"
Elder Wu's voice carried a hint of lingering fear.
"If a living person were to touch it... they would suffer a mental shock... but their fate would only be worse than that scout's!"
Qin Weiguo looked at the frozen and shattered robotic arm, his expression growing even more solemn. Such a terrifying defense mechanism... it was simply like a divine prohibition!
"Why is the Oracle organization... and other forces... so obsessed with it?" Qin Weiguo asked. He recalled the Oracle believer's corpse and the mysterious masked man in the exploration team's report.
"According to the fragmented confessions of the captured low-level Oracle believers (caught on the outskirts of the burial pit)," Zhou Zhengyang stepped forward and reported.
"They call the reverse scale pendant 'the Scale of Blasphemy,' an relic of the 'Old Gods,' containing the ultimate power of 'ending and rebirth.' Whoever can control it will survive the 'Great Cleansing' and even... become the master of the 'New World.'"
"Absurd!" Qin Weiguo snorted coldly, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes. But deep down, there was an inexplicable tremor. Ending and rebirth... master... the power of this jade pendant... truly was like a miracle!
"What about that masked man? Have you found anything?" Qin Weiguo asked.
"No."
Zhou Zhengyang shook his head, his face solemn, "No organization has claimed responsibility. The energy traces left at the scene were also completely erased by the power unleashed by the jade pendant. That person... was like a ghost."
Qin Weiguo silently looked at the reverse scale pendant in the isolation chamber. The dark black scale shimmered with a dark luster under the light, like a sleeping... yet potentially awakening... dragon's eye.
Dangerous! Extremely dangerous! But also... containing unimaginable... power!
"Strengthen defenses!" Qin Weiguo ordered in a deep voice, his tone conveying unquestionable resolve.
"The research institute's security level is to be raised to SSS! The energy shield's power is to be set to maximum! No one is to approach within three meters of the isolation chamber without my direct order! Including... research personnel!"
"Yes!" Zhou Zhengyang and Elder Wu responded solemnly.
"Furthermore..." Qin Weiguo turned his gaze to Elder Wu, his eyes deep, "Accelerate the research on the jade pendant! I need to know... how to safely... use it!"
"Yes, Commander!" A glimmer of excitement flashed in Elder Wu's eyes.
Qin Weiguo took one last deep look at the reverse scale pendant floating in the isolation chamber, as if to engrave its image deep into his soul.
Then, he turned and strode out of the research institute. The heavy alloy door silently slid shut behind him, sealing off the cold white light and the mysterious jade pendant behind it.
Inside the research institute, only the low hum of the energy shield remained, and Elder Wu's eyes, filled with fanaticism and greed.
Special care ward.
Ling Chen leaned "weakly" on the hospital bed, his face still pale. His left arm was in a new bandage (the previous cast was destroyed in the "collapse"), his chest was wrapped in gauze, and his breathing was faint.
But deep within his consciousness, the Soul Jade Physique's cold will, like an invisible spider web, had long since penetrated layers of space and energy barriers, "seeing" everything that happened in the underground research institute.
The reverse scale pendant... had fallen into the military's hands.
It was heavily guarded. Elder Wu... like a hyena smelling blood, began his research.
The corner of his mouth, in the unperceived shadow, slowly curved into a cold arc.
Very good.
The bait... has been swallowed.
Now... just waiting for... the net to close.
...
Deep within Mount Li. The core underground palace of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum.
This was not the area later discovered, which simulated rivers and lakes with mercury.
Rather, it was deeper, more secluded, and closer to the earth's magma... the true burial chamber.
There were no mountains of gold and silver treasures. Only a... absolutely silent darkness.
The darkness was like congealed ink, thick, heavy, isolating time, devouring light.
The air seemed to have not flowed for billions of years, permeated with a mixture of ancient rock, metallic rust, and... an indescribable, cold aura, as if from the depths of stardust.
In the center of the underground palace.
Above the nine-tiered dark black jade steps, floated a massive coffin, entirely cast from a dark golden metal.
The surface of the coffin was without any ornamentation, smooth as a mirror, reflecting... endless darkness.
Below the coffin was not the ground, but a slowly rotating, massive light array composed of countless dark golden runes, so dense they were indiscernible to the naked eye!
The runes flowed and flickered like living things, emitting faint but vast energy fluctuations like a sea of stars, like... the breathing of a sleeping giant dragon.
This was the core of the "Dragon Abyss." It was the final resting place for myriad split souls. It was where the Ancestral Dragon... slumbered.
Absolute silence, absolute darkness. Absolute... coldness.
As if it had lasted for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years... or even longer.
Suddenly!
Buzz—!!!
The floating dark golden coffin, ever so slightly... trembled!
Immediately after!
Below the coffin, the slowly rotating, massive light array composed of billions of dark golden runes, like a lake into which a stone had been thrown, suddenly rippled outwards with a barely visible, extremely subtle... ripple!
Where the ripple passed!
In the light array, an extremely tiny rune located at the edge... extinguished!
It was a broken rune, shaped like a fractured dragon scale. Its extinguishing was like a tiny star... falling in the vast sea of stars.
But... it was this insignificant fall!
Buzz—!!!
The entire dark golden coffin! Trembled violently! A hundred times! A thousand times more intensely than before!
An indescribable, terrifying will, as if it had slumbered for eons, like a deep-sea beast startled awake, very slowly... a trace of it... awakened from the depths of the coffin!
Cold! Silent! Majestic! Overbearing! Carrying an absolute will that transcended all beings, viewing all things as mere pawns!
This will, like an invisible storm, instantly swept through the entire core underground palace! The darkness, congealed for billions of years, churned as if boiling! Suspended dust instantly annihilated! The jade steps groaned under the unbearable pressure!
The incredibly hard, neither-metal-nor-jade material of the ground, centered around the coffin, cracked inch by inch... like a spider web!
"Roar..."
A low, hoarse sound, as if traveling through endless time and space... a dragon's roar? Or... just some non-human, infinitely majestic and... slightly disturbed... indignant... sigh?
In the deeper layers of the mausoleum, unlike the excavated terracotta army pit, this terracotta army pit was clearly a hundred times larger than that one.
In the massive space, tens of thousands of terracotta soldiers, covered in thick dust, like clay sculptures... deep within their empty eye sockets, those two points of ghostly green phosphorescence, which had extinguished over two thousand years ago... flickered ever so faintly!
As if... a spark... awakened by that sigh from the depths of the earth's core.
Just for an instant. The faint light extinguished. The terracotta figures remained silent. As if that fleeting glimmer had been an illusion.
Core of the underground palace. The massive dark golden coffin slowly stopped trembling. The ripples in the light array below also gradually subsided. The extinguished rune, shaped like a fractured dragon horn, remained empty.
But... that terrifying will, cold and silent, which had just awakened a trace... did not completely fall back into slumber.
Like the most patient hunter, like a giant dragon lurking at the bottom of the abyss, in the absolute darkness... it slowly... opened... one eye.
That "eye" had no physical form. No light. Only an... absolute will that pierced through time and space, locking onto a distant coordinate!
That coordinate... was the direction of Panshi Fortress. It was... the reverse scale pendant, heavily sealed in a lead-gray metal box and suspended in the isolation chamber!
"Reverse... scale..."
An extremely blurry thought, as if pieced together from billions of soul fragments, carrying infinite majesty and cold rage, like the finest dust, silently drifted... in the silent underground palace.
Then... everything returned to silence.
The darkness remained thick. The coffin remained suspended. The light array continued to flow.
As if... nothing had happened.