Within the life vein, passages spread out in every direction, but ultimately they all converged upon a single point — the core of the life vein, the very place where it resided.
Here, corpses were piled high as mountains, and blood flowed in rivers. The stench of gore permeated every corner. Yet even this gruesome spectacle paled in comparison to the object at the center of the grand hall.
It was an oval-shaped stone, ten meters long, seven meters wide, and five meters tall. Its surface was blood-red, carved with intricate runes and inscriptions, and it emitted a constant thumping sound. Upon closer inspection, one could see that it was actually beating.
This was no mere stone — it was a colossal heart. A monster's heart. For how could any human being possess a heart of such monstrous size?
Standing around this heart were several dozen people arranged in a circle. The positions they occupied were no accident — it resembled a defensive formation.
Their strength was formidable as well. The weakest among them were at the peak of the Yuan Martial realm, and six had already stepped into the Xuan Martial realm. In particular, a powerfully built man boasted an cultivation of the sixth stage of the Xuan Martial realm.
However, his complexion was deathly pale at this moment. His left hand clutched his chest, where a steady trickle of blood seeped out, and his aura was wildly unstable. Although his cultivation reached the sixth stage of the Xuan Martial realm, a portion of his power had been sealed, leaving him with only the strength of the fifth stage. This man was none other than the master of the White Tiger Manor — Murong Yunluan.
Surrounding Murong Yunluan were several hundred more people, locked in a standoff against his group. While the individual strength of these people did not match Murong Yunluan's followers, their cultivation levels were far from weak. Overall, the two sides were evenly matched.
Among this crowd, the leader was a man who bore a striking resemblance to Murong Yunluan, though he appeared somewhat older. This was Murong Yanguan, Murong Yunluan's elder brother — the second most powerful fighter in the White Tiger Manor, possessing a cultivation of the fifth stage of the Xuan Martial realm.
Besides Murong Yanguan, there was another expert among the several hundred at the first stage of the Xuan Martial realm, though this person was quite short in stature and draped in a long gray robe.
The gray robe was peculiar. Not only did it conceal his entire face, but it was also covered in inscriptions — and the complexity of those runes far surpassed even those on Zhuge Qingyun's white robe. They were unfathomable, and a single glance was enough to sense that they were far from ordinary.
"Brother, listen to me. Everything I do is for the good of our White Tiger Manor," Murong Yanguan said, gripping a black sword from which blood still dripped. It was clear that the one who had wounded Murong Yunluan was none other than his own elder brother.
"You're full of it! This life vein is the foundation of our White Tiger Manor! If the vein is destroyed, the manor falls! And now you want to tear it open — you want to destroy everything we are! You dare call yourself righteous while playing the traitor?"
"Ugh, cough, cough~~~"
Murong Yunluan's voice was racked with emotion. In his agitation, he coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood and was wracked by violent fits of coughing — truly a heart-rending sight. It was obvious that his injuries were severe.
"Brother, don't be so stubborn. You know perfectly well that our White Tiger Manor is nothing but an empty shell now. We no longer enjoy the prosperity of our ancestor's era. We can't even compare to the first-rate sects of Qingzhou — we're reduced to standing alongside those second-rate trash sects. Any random faction that shows up could wipe us out."
"What good is keeping a manor like this? We'd be far better off opening this life vein and entering that forbidden land. Once we step inside, we can obtain everything our ancestor once gained."
"When that day comes, the two of us will wield martial arts capable of annihilating all things, possessing power that defies the heavens — and we'll make our White Tiger Manor the overlord of the entire Nine Provinces Continent," Murong Yanguan declared.
"You're spouting nonsense! Our ancestor left a clear warning — the secret of the forbidden land must never be revealed again! If it is, the world will be thrown into chaos! This life vein must never be disturbed! If it is breached one day, everything within ten thousand li will be destroyed in an instant. The entire Qingzhou will be bathed in blood, and the Nine Provinces Continent will be ruined!"
Murong Yunluan pointed upward, where ancient words were indeed carved into the rock face — deep and forceful, as if etched by a fingertip. Each stroke stretched several meters in length and penetrated a full meter into the stone. The power behind them was terrifying.
"Look well. This is our ancestor's decree, and it is why he guarded this place. If you dare lay a hand on it, our ancestor will surely return — and when that happens, not even I will be able to save you," Murong Yunluan warned.
"Murong Yunluan, rest easy. Your ancestor, Murong Xiaoyao, has long since passed from this world. Otherwise, he would have appeared long ago after all the commotion at the White Tiger Manor."
"Furthermore, I can open this life vein without destroying it. I can preserve your White Tiger Manor and spare the people of Qingzhou from slaughter." At that moment, a weathered and eerie voice drifted from within the gray robe.
"Who are you? Was it you who filled my brother's head with these lies and goaded him into this treasonous act?"
Murong Yunluan erupted in fury. He raised his palm and thrust it forward. The surrounding yuan force coalesced as the entire life vein shuddered violently, as though a mountain had plummeted from the sky, threatening to crush everything in its path.
The sheer force was overwhelming. Nearly every Yuan Martial realm expert was blown stumbling backward, and even the Xuan Martial realm fighters struggled to hold their ground.
Yet the gray-robed figure didn't so much as flinch, as though he possessed absolute confidence that he could withstand the blow.
BOOM — suddenly, a figure flashed past. Murong Yanguan appeared before the gray-robed person like a specter and threw a fist skyward, unleashing equally devastating power that neutralized Murong Yunluan's palm strike.
Powerful ripples surged through the air, and a thunderous boom echoed throughout the chamber. The entire life vein seemed to boil over. Had the two Xuan Martial realm experts not suppressed the shockwaves with their own pressure, every Yuan Martial realm fighter present would have been battered to death by the ripples alone.
This was precisely the terrifying nature of the Xuan Martial realm. Each breakthrough to a higher stage granted power that defied the natural order. A clash between two fifth-stage Xuan Martial realm experts was enough to shake heaven and earth.
"Brother, how can you be so rude to the gentleman? He is our White Tiger Manor's benefactor — he is helping us!" Murong Yanguan barked.
"Bullshit! How could an outsider ever care about our White Tiger Manor? He came for the secret of the forbidden land — this man is scheming against us! How can you trust a single word he says?"
Murong Yunluan was trembling with rage, for the one who had turned brother against brother and plunged the White Tiger Manor into chaos was none other than that gray-robed figure.
The reason his cultivation had been sealed from the sixth stage of the Xuan Martial realm down to the fifth was entirely because of the black sword in Murong Yanguan's hand — and that black sword had been bestowed upon him by the gray-robed man.