Chapter 159: The Jade Pendant's Divine Might

The Yin Yang Jade Pendant in their hands simultaneously glowed with a soft, clear light, trembling slightly, and pointed unmistakably like a living thing toward the deep, dark passage.

Hey, it looks like the real thing is hiding down there.

Zhang Jun looked down at the warm and cool intertwined jade pendant in his hand, then lifted his gaze to the unknown dark depths, a hint of curiosity curving his lips.

It is guiding us.

Lin Xue's voice remained calm, but her eyes flashed with an unprecedented light of inquiry and realization.

This place, perhaps, is where the true core of the Medicine Sect lies.

At the same time, a thousand li away, in the deepest part of the Qin family ancestral residence in the capital.

Inside the lightless, heavily guarded secret chamber, the enormous bronze medicinal cauldron that the Qin family has revered as a deity and worshipped for countless ages continued to shudder and roar violently.

The countless ancient runes on the cauldron's body blazed to an extreme brilliance, as if burning, illuminating the entire chamber like daylight.

An overwhelming, terrifying pressure, as if seeking to break free from the bonds of heaven and earth and return to the world, erupted explosively from inside the cauldron, instantly filling the chamber and even faintly seeping through the walls.

The few top experts of the Qin family guarding the chamber's door all turned ashen, crushed to the ground by that tangible, terrifying pressure, prostrated with limbs splayed, their bones cracking throughout their bodies, unable to move a finger, their hearts filled with unprecedented fear and a bone-deep awe.

In the Qin family's main hall, Qin Yueyao listened to her subordinate's urgent report, voice trembling uncontrollably, her face grave beyond anything she had ever shown.

She suddenly turned her head toward the direction of the ancestral residence's secret chamber; her eyes, usually as still as ten-thousand-year-old ice, filled for the first time with incredulous shock, alarm, and a hint of sudden enlightenment.

When Yin and Yang unite and the pendant returns to its place… only then will the cauldron truly revive…

She murmured to herself, her voice so low only she could hear it, yet tinged with a barely perceptible tremor.

Zhang Jun… Lin Xue… they actually… they really did it…

The secret hidden by the Medicine Sect is far deeper than anything our Qin family has ever recorded or imagined…

She clenched her fists tightly, her knuckles whitening from the strain, her heart churning like a stone dropped into a deep pool, stirring unprecedented waves.

The sky over the capital might truly be about to change completely.

Above the stone platform, the jade pendant just fused from bronze sheets and azure crystal hovered silently. One half warm and lustrous like ancient bronze, the other half clear as icy crystal, the naturally formed yin-yang fish pattern on its surface slowly turned, seeming like a living thing, breathing in and out an ancient, vast, yet harmonious aura. Immense and pure power lay latent within, not yet fully unleashed, but already forming an invisible pressure, as if the very laws of heaven and earth were manifested here.

Zhou Qian's ferocious ghost claw, condensed from his final madness and all his sorcerous power, upon touching the pendant's seemingly gentle outward shockwave, encountered the most fundamental nemesis of heaven and earth. The foul black qi emitted a sharp, piercing 'hiss' and vanished at visible speed, dissipating, and the ghost claw itself crumbled inch by inch into wisps of black smoke, completely erased from the air without a trace.

Pfft!

The recoil force struck like an invisible mountain-splitting hammer, slamming into Zhou Qian's already gravely wounded, near-death body. He again spat a large mouthful of black blood mixed with organ fragments, and the sheer, unstoppable power hurled him violently, like a wingless crow, crashing heavily to the ground over ten meters away, kicking up clouds of dust.

The Soul-Devouring Banner in his hand let out a mournful wail; its black light instantly dimmed to the extreme, the banner's surface showing fine cracks, almost on the verge of total extinction.

"Yin Yang… Jade Pendant…" Zhou Qian struggled to rise, but he could barely muster the strength to lift his head, his bones feeling as if shattered. He stared fixedly at the pendant hovering above the stone platform, exuding an ineffable solemn dignity; in his clouded old eyes appeared, for the first time, crystal-clear shock and despair.

"It… it's really real… the true core relic of the Medicine Sect…" He evidently recognized this jade pendant, or rather, from some dusty ancient records he knew what it signified. It was a far more primordial and central existence than the altar power he coveted! Today, instead of kicking an iron plate, he had slammed headfirst into an ancient, immovable divine mountain!

At the same time, Zhang Jun and Lin Xue, enveloped by the energy pillar, clearly felt the earth-shaking changes within their bodies. As the jade pendant fully formed, the energy torrent infused into them became purer and gentler, merging naturally into their meridians and dantian like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

More importantly, a wondrous, ineffable connection quietly formed between them and the Yin Yang Jade Pendant, as if their bloodlines were linked.

Zhang Jun felt his dantian's pure yang energy as if completely ignited, then bound by a deeper power, becoming unprecedentedly active, refined, and freely controllable; every movement brimmed with a vigorous, commanding force.

Lin Xue's internal profound yin energy likewise seemed to have found its ultimate destination; within the coldness flowed an endless, harmonious vitality, and her grasp and understanding of her own power instantly leapt to a brand-new level.

The two almost simultaneously opened their eyes; the energy pillar binding their bodies dissipated like morning mist.

They reached out, almost as an instinct from the depths of their souls, and simultaneously grasped the pendant as it slowly descended, emanating warmth and coolness—the Yin Yang Jade Pendant.

Upon taking the pendant in hand, one half warm like the sun, the other half cool like a spring, the two contrasting sensations perfectly blended into an indescribable sense of completeness and comfort. An endless, utterly pure power streamed up their arms into their bodies, instantly harmonizing perfectly with their own yin-yang inner strength, like a fish entering the sea—smooth, unhindered, and marvelous.

"Old dog!" Zhang Jun's eyes flashed with killing intent; gripping the pendant, he clenched his fist tight, while his other fist, already howling with a muffled, air-rending roar, surged again toward Zhou Qian, who lay limp as mud on the ground.

"Today is your day of death!"

This punch, bolstered by the pendant's power, was stronger than before by more than a notch! Even before the wind of the fist arrived, the brilliant, pure yang aura that purges all evil already scorched and blackened the ground around Zhou Qian, twisting the air.