Chapter 158: Anomaly in the Qin Family's Secret Chamber

His face now was ashen, like that of a corpse just crawled out of a grave, and the charred hole in his chest blasted by Zhang Jun's Pure Yang Fist still hissed with nauseating black smoke.

But his aura strangely did not drop but rose, exuding a strange, mad force that forcibly burned his life potential, heedless of consequence.

Obviously, after fleeing, this old thing employed some extremely vicious, costly heretical secret art, forcibly squeezing out what little life essence he had left to gain this brief but violent power!

His eyes, bloodshot and unusually scarlet, stared fixedly and greedily at the fragments on the stone dais that were in the midst of final fusion, as well as at Zhang Jun and Lin Xue, who were trapped by the energy pillar and temporarily unable to move.

His face was contorted with extreme greed, jealousy, and a desire to destroy everything!

"All of you…shatter for this old man!"

Zhou Qian let out a wail like a vengeful ghost, completely disregarding his body's collapse, and recklessly gathered all the forcibly stimulated witch power within him!

The soul-devouring banner in his hand, already tattered, now surged with black light to the limit; the countless ghostly faces on it seemed to come alive, emitting a silent, piercing wail.

All the black qi coalesced into a huge, ferocious ghost claw, reeking of filth, malice, soul‑corroding, and destructive aura, and it slammed toward the two fragments on the stone dais that were about to fully merge.

He actually intended, at the critical moment, to stop the fragments from merging, even if it meant destroying these two supreme treasures of the Medicine Sect!

Zhang Jun and Lin Xue were at the most crucial instant of energy infusion and fusion breakthrough, their bodies as if frozen, barely able to move an inch!

They could only watch helplessly as the dreadful ghost claw, exuding an aura of death and carrying the momentum to annihilate everything, lunged at them at breakneck speed.

That distance, that speed—there was no time to mount any effective defense!

At the critical juncture!

It seemed to sense the blatant lethal threat from Zhou Qian and the corrosion of his foul, evil aura.

The two fragments on the stone dais, in the final stage of fusion, suddenly burst forth with a brilliance surpassing any previous moment, even somewhat blinding.

The speed of fusion suddenly increased tenfold or more at this instant!

Just as Zhou Qian's ferocious ghost claw was about to touch the energy pillar—

"Hum——"

A sound like none of this world, a distant hum from the primordial wilderness that echoed straight into the depths of the soul, suddenly resonated throughout the underground medicinal garden!

The bronze shard and the azure crystal instantly fused completely in that split‑second!

All the light suddenly converged inward and contracted!

Finally, hovering above the stone dais was a jade pendant about the size of half a palm, its shape ancient and elegant!

One half of the pendant gleamed with the warm luster of bronze, the other half was as clear and flawless as ten‑thousand‑year‑old dark ice.

On the pendant, a naturally formed yin‑yang double‑fish pattern slowly turned, as if containing the supreme truth of heaven and earth, exuding an ineffable aura of ancient, weathered yet harmonious profundity!

Yin Yang Jade Pendant!

This token, symbolizing one of the core inheritances of the Medicine Sect, has at last reappeared in the world after countless ages!

At the moment the Yin Yang Jade Pendant formed, an intangible yet immeasurably vast shockwave burst outward from its center, spreading in all directions!

Zhou Qian's ghost claw, which had gathered his final frenzied power, upon striking that seemingly soft but actually heaven‑and‑earth‑rule‑laden shockwave, melted away like ice under the blazing sun, instantly disintegrating!

The vast witch power he had forcibly summoned—power that was not his to begin with—also burst like a punctured balloon, uncontrolled and rushing away!

"Pfft!"

Zhou Qian was struck again as if by a mountain‑splitting hammer, his whole body flung away like a rag doll!

Mid‑air, he uncontrollably spat a large mouthful of viscous, foul‑smelling black blood, even mixed with bits of his organs!

His aura plummeted like a cliff, instantly collapsing to utter weakness, his eyes filled with boundless despair, fear, and disbelief!

He was defeated—utterly crushed; even his final frantic struggle looked ridiculous!

And at that very moment the Yin Yang Jade Pendant formed!

Far away in the capital, deep within the Qin family's ancestral residence that they have guarded for generations, lay the perpetually sealed, heavily defended secret chamber.

The enormous bronze medicinal cauldron, revered by countless generations of the Qin family as a deity yet long silent, suddenly let out a thunderous roar as if it could shatter heaven and earth!

The whole massive, heavy cauldron shuddered violently, as if a beast that had slept for ages were about to awaken!

The mysterious runes that had been dim and obscure on the cauldron's body suddenly all blazed to life, bursting forth with dazzling brilliance!

An unmatched, terrifying aura, as if seeking to break free from the bonds of heaven and earth and return to the world, erupted from within the cauldron, instantly filling the secret chamber!

The few Qin family experts guarding the door were caught off guard and instantly slammed to the ground by this sudden, almost tangible, terrifying pressure!

Their faces turned deathly pale, their bones creaking, they all knelt down, not daring to draw a breath, let alone lift their heads to see what was happening inside the chamber!

At the same time, Qin Yueyao, who was attending to family matters, suddenly sprang to her feet!

On her usually expressionless, ice‑mountain face, for the first time appeared an unmistakable look mixed with shock, alarm, and a hint of disbelief!

The cauldron…

The cauldron that the Qin family has worshipped and guarded generation after generation, regarded as the foundation of the clan and its greatest secret…

…has…moved on its own?

Above the stone dais, the jade pendant just formed from the fusion of the bronze shard and the azure crystal hovered silently.

One half warm like ancient bronze, the other half clear as cold ice, the naturally formed yin‑yang double‑fish pattern on its surface slowly turned, as if alive, breathing in and out an ancient, vast, yet harmonious aura.

It contains immense, pure power that has not yet fully erupted, but already exudes an intangible pressure, as if the very laws of heaven and earth were manifested here.

The ferocious ghost claw that Zhou Qian had gathered from his final madness and all his witch power, upon touching the pendant's seemingly soft emanating shockwave, encountered the most fundamental nemesis of heaven and earth.

The foul black qi emitted a sharp, piercing 'hiss' and vanished at visible speed, the ghost claw itself crumbling inch by inch into wisps of black smoke that completely dissipated in the air, leaving not a trace.