Chapter 160: The Origin of the Medicine Heart

Lin Xue also moved; she didn't speak, but her figure drifted out like an ice-snow sprite, so fast only an afterimage remained. The jade pendant in her hand emitted a faint icy-blue glow; she flicked her fingertip, and several strands of Profound Yin Ice Blades, more condensed and bone-chillingly cold than before, like they had eyes, silently sealed off all of Zhou Qian's possible escape routes!

"No! No——!" Zhou Qian let out a despairing shriek to the extreme, his voice like a broken gong.

He could clearly feel that, under the combined strike of Zhang Jun and Lin Xue, especially under the intangible pressure of that Yin Yang Jade Pendant, all his remaining witchcraft power was rapidly disintegrating; even that natal soul-devouring banner let out a groan unable to bear the load, cracks spreading ever more.

The evil art he prided himself on and had cultivated his whole life, before the pure, vast yin-yang power of the Medicine Sect, was as fragile as ice under sunlight!

The shadow of death had never before enveloped him so clearly, so icily!

The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything! Zhou Qian's eyes flashed with a final hint of madness and resolve; he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out another large mass of black-purple essence blood, reeking with foul odor!

But this essence blood was not aimed at Zhang Jun and Lin Xue; instead, it was wholly sprayed onto the ground beneath him!

"Blood Escape Great Method!"

With his hoarse roar, almost inhuman, that pool of essence blood writhed like it had life, instantly forming on the ground a complex and eerie blood-colored rune mark!

Zhou Qian's shattered body suddenly sank downward, as if sinking into quicksand, strangely merging into that blood-colored mark; the surface didn't even ripple, and he vanished without a trace!

Only a rapidly fading blood-colored mark remained on the spot, along with a thick, nauseating stench of blood and evil, proving what had just occurred.

"Boom!"

Zhang Jun's fist slammed hard onto the spot where Zhou Qian had vanished, blasting the hard ground into a pit over half a meter deep, shards flying everywhere.

"Damn! Let this old thing get away again! Is it a loach?" Zhang Jun cursed angrily, lowered his fist, his face full of displeasure.

This time Zhou Qian's escape art was obviously more bizarre and heretical than before, and its cost was absolutely unimaginable; he probably couldn't stir up any waves in the short term, and might never be able to again.

Lin Xue also withdrew her Profound Yin Qi, walked to Zhang Jun's side, and watched the blood-colored mark on the ground completely dissipate, her brows slightly furrowed.

"He burned his natal essence blood to force his escape; even if he gets away this time, death is not far off."

The crisis was temporarily lifted; both silently exhaled, glanced at each other, and could see the gravity in each other's eyes had not fully faded.

And just as Zhou Qian completely vanished and that blood-colored mark fully dispersed,

"Crack…… rumble……"

A low, muffled sound, like an ancient giant beast turning over, of mechanisms turning and stone rubbing, suddenly came from beneath the blue-black jade stone platform before them!

Only to see the originally mirror-smooth stone slab slowly split open a seam down the middle, then slide silently to the sides, revealing a pitch-black passage that seemed to lead deep into the earth's core!

A breath even older, more mysterious, and heavier than what they had felt at the cave mouth, as if straight from the earth's origin and the end of ages, slowly seeped out from the newly opened passage.

The Yin Yang Jade Pendants in both of their hands simultaneously emitted a soft, clear glow, trembling slightly, like living things clearly pointing toward the deep, dark passage.

"Hey, looks like the main thing is hidden down there." Zhang Jun glanced at the warm-and-cool intertwined jade pendant in his hand, then lifted his gaze to the unknown dark depths, the corner of his mouth curling with a hint of inquiry.

"It's guiding us." Lin Xue's voice remained calm, but her eyes sparkled with unprecedented exploration and insight.

"Perhaps here is where the true core of the Medicine Sect lies."

Zhang Jun crouched low and was the first to slip inside.

"I'll go in first to have a look."

Lin Xue followed behind him, holding the jade pendant in her hand; the icy-blue radiance and the warm glow of Zhang Jun's pendant mixed together, barely illuminating a small area around the cave mouth.

As soon as a foot stepped inside, the feeling underfoot changed.

Not the rough stone steps outside; the floor was overly smooth, with a hint of chill, feeling hard and unyielding underfoot, unknown whether it was metal or some kind of jade stone laid down.

"This path……" Zhang Jun straightened up, stamped his foot, "It's not the same style as outside."

The passage extended straight down, the slope not too steep, but pitch-black and endless ahead; only the light from the jade pendants in their hands shone forward a few meters.

Lin Xue reached out and touched the icy-cold walls on both sides.

"Inside the walls…… there are traces of something that once flowed, very strong, and very ancient." She spoke in a low voice.

The Yin Yang Jade Pendants in their hands kept shining with a gentle light; the alternating cold and hot sensation persisted, forming an invisible shield that blocked the pressure coming from deep within the passage.

That pressure wasn't substantive; it felt more like a direct weight on one's soul, ancient and heavy.

After walking down about a hundred meters, the view suddenly opened up; the passage led to a relatively spacious platform.

Unexpectedly, before the platform lay three diverging paths, each with a different aura at its mouth.

The left path was so yin-cold it could freeze bones to shatter.

The right path blasted a hot wind in one's face, drying the throat to the point of smoking.

Only the middle path had the most tranquil aura, yet also the deepest, giving a solemn feeling that weighed on the heart.

The Yin Yang Jade Pendants in their hands showed no hesitation, their lights in unison pointing toward the central path.

"No choice then." Zhang Jun shrugged, lifted his foot, and was about to step onto the middle path.

Just as he lifted his foot, the corner of his eye caught something on the ground left of the middle path's fork that flashed under the pendant's light.

He stopped, walked over, crouched, and dug out an object from the thick ash.

"What is this thing?"

It was a half-torn talisman, made of unknown material, neither metal nor jade, cold and hard to the touch, covered in dark-red pigment drawing complex ghostly symbols.

Although ruined beyond recognition, holding it in hand still gave a faint sense of lingering, hair-raising energy.

Lin Xue also came over to look.

"A talisman paper made of black tortoise shell mixed with refined cinnabar gold. The inscriptions…… look like a highly skilled defensive or sealing sigil, but it's broken, and its energy has mostly dissipated." This information automatically surfaced in her mind.

"To guard something with a talisman of this caliber, the inside surely isn't simple."

Zhang Jun weighed the half-broken talisman in his hand, then casually slipped it into his pocket.

"A seal? Just how many unspeakable secrets does this old nest of the Medicine Sect hide?" He muttered, not giving it much thought, and led the way into the middle fork.

As soon as he stepped in, that intangible pressure suddenly grew several times stronger!

In the dark gloom ahead, it seemed as if a pair of huge eyes were slowly opening, staring at these two intruders who had barged in.

Lin Xue's brow twitched imperceptibly; she gripped the jade pendant tightly and sensed carefully.