Closing his eyes and sensing, Qin Chu confirmed that the call and pull truly existed.
Following the sensation, Qin Chu began to move forward.
As he advanced, Qin Chu arrived at an ancient complex of buildings, severely damaged and reduced to rubble.
What caught Qin Chu's attention was a tall tower in the center of the complex.
Moving lightly, Qin Chu approached the front of this tall tower.
The tower's main gate was already destroyed, and Qin Chu entered directly. He felt that the calling sensation seemed to come from here. Inside the tower, there was only a large bird sculpture and nothing else.
After a quick search, Qin Chu ascended the only staircase inside the tall tower. Entering the second floor of the tower, Qin Chu saw several sculptures, but nothing else.
Finding nothing, Qin Chu returned to the first floor of the tall tower and continued to search there.
After walking a circle, Qin Chu noticed that when he walked to the left of the sculpture, the sound of his footsteps was a bit off, somewhat hollow.
To confirm his judgment, Qin Chu walked another circle, which made him realize his feeling was not wrong; the ground to the left of the sculpture was hollow, there was a secret underground, but how to open it?
Inside the tower, apart from a giant bird sculpture and a bronze candelabrum in front of it, there was nothing else. The secret was clearly in the candelabrum and the sculpture.
Unable to desecrate the sculpture casually, Qin Chu first touched the candelabrum, shaking it left and right.
As he shook it, Qin Chu found that the candelabrum did indeed shake, but it couldn't be removed; it was integrated with the sculpture.
It could shake but not be removed, so Qin Chu rotated it. As Qin Chu's right hand turned it, a clicking sound appeared, and the bluestone floor to the left of the sculpture shifted, revealing an opening. A red light emanated from within the opening. Qin Chu went to the opening, looked inside, and then followed the steps down.
When Qin Chu reached the sixth step, and his body was deep underground, the clicking sound appeared again, and the entrance to the passage sealed itself.
After looking up, Qin Chu continued to descend. He wasn't worried about the passage closing; he knew the sixth step was the mechanism, stepping on it both opened and closed it.
Firelight. The passage was filled with firelight. Qin Chu followed the firelight through the passage. At this time, two black-clad figures arrived at the ancient tower, walked around, and then left.
"The sound came from this direction, but there's no one here?" one black-clad figure said. The opening and closing of the passage had startled them.
"Forget it! Maybe it's just a rat or something. No matter how diligently we search, it's useless. All that awaits us is death," the other black-clad man said.
"Let's leave it to fate! If the Vermilion Bird Clan returns, we die. If we can hold out until the shift change, we might live!" the first black-clad figure said.
These people were arranged by the White Tiger Holy Clan, spies monitoring the Vermilion Bird Holy Clan.
In the past years, people from the Vermilion Bird Holy Clan had appeared many times. Each time they appeared, they would kill all those monitoring the Vermilion Bird Holy Land, and by the time the high-ranking members of the White Tiger Holy Clan and Blazing Thunder Holy Clan came to besiege them, they would have already left. In other words, monitoring the Vermilion Bird Holy Land was a death mission, but with their families being monitored within the White Tiger Holy Clan, they had no choice but to accept the mission and dared not run. If they ran, their families would die, so they had to grit their teeth and carry out the mission, living day by day.
While the men were investigating, Yi Feng also entered the Vermilion Bird Holy Land's range. He saw Qin Chu enter but couldn't stop him in time. Without an opportunity, he didn't dare to enter easily; his cultivation was high, and his aura was strong, making him easily discoverable by the enemy. Unless he killed all of them, it would be trouble. He wasn't worried about trouble for himself, but he didn't want Mount Qingcang to be targeted by the White Tiger Holy Clan and Blazing Thunder Holy Clan.
Qin Chu followed the passage, and after a while, he reached a large space. In the very center was a lava lake, covered in flames.
Amidst the flames, Qin Chu saw a giant skeleton, with flames constantly rising and burning around it.
Intensely hot, Qin Chu didn't know where this place was, nor did he understand what was calling him. Just as Qin Chu was pondering, a bird's cry, echoing to the heavens, rang out, followed by a purplish-red flame that appeared directly in front of Qin Chu. Qin Chu wanted to dodge, but it was completely too late, and he was instantly enveloped by this purplish-red flame.
What calmed Qin Chu was that the flame only enveloped him and did not burn him.
After surrounding Qin Chu for a moment, the purplish-red flame leaped, then entered Qin Chu's body, reaching his chest where the sword bone was located, and rushed into his sword bone.
Ah! Qin Chu roared. It was too painful, a heart-wrenching, bone-deep pain. The pain came from his chest, and unable to bear it, Qin Chu fainted directly.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Chu slowly woke up.
Checking himself, Qin Chu found a wisp of flame in his Dantian. Additionally, his sword bone had changed; the area around the sword bone was burning with flames, but the flames did not harm him, seemingly becoming a part of his body.
Qin Chu tried to mobilize the Origin Qi in his Dantian. The Origin Qi circulated without any issues. He tried to mobilize the flame in his Dantian, and the flame began to circulate through his body, running along with the Origin Qi, also without harming his meridians. Qin Chu extended his right hand, and the flame appeared from his palm, floating on his hand, leaping on it.
"Could it be this flame that summoned me? What kind of flame is this?" Qin Chu muttered to himself. He couldn't understand, but he knew this cave and this flame must be very important to the Vermilion Bird Holy Clan. It was just that when the Vermilion Bird Holy Clan retreated, they couldn't take it with them!
After pondering for a while, Qin Chu retrieved the flame into his Dantian, then looked around the cave. Apart from the lava pool, he found nothing else, and then he walked from the passage to the entrance.
Lightly stepping on the sixth step, Qin Chu slowly opened the floor.
When a sliver of light shot in through the crack, Qin Chu closed the passage. He dared not go out in broad daylight; going out would be seeking death!
Taking out a jar of wine, Qin Chu drank a couple of sips and then rested. He wanted to wait until dark to go out, then wander around the Vermilion Bird Holy Land and leave. This was indeed where his parents lived, but since they weren't here now, there was no point in being sad here. It was better to go and improve his strength.
This time, Qin Chu's purpose in coming out was to find clues about his origins, not to seek revenge. His current strength, if thrown into the Central State, was just trash; people could crush him at will.
Yi Feng, who was hidden within the Vermilion Bird Holy Land, was puzzled. He saw Qin Chu enter, but no battle occurred within the Vermilion Bird Holy Land, so where was he? Where did he go?
When night fell, Qin Chu emerged. He walked around the Vermilion Bird Holy Land. The Vermilion Bird Holy Land was too vast; although it was already dilapidated, it still carried a sense of awe everywhere.
After walking a circle, an accident occurred just as Qin Chu was about to leave. A night owl appeared, letting out a cry. A guard turned his head by chance, saw Qin Chu, and immediately charged at him.
At this moment, Yi Feng appeared, wearing a face mask, and blocked the black-clad guard who was chasing Qin Chu.
Who cares who it is, run! Qin Chu didn't care about anything, he just sprinted away!
This left Yi Feng speechless. He was helping, wasn't he? But the main target didn't care about anything and just ran away?