Chapter 178: Qin Family

"I'm going to the Medicine Cauldron's core!" Lin Xue shouted suddenly, her voice carrying a strange calm amidst the deafening chaos, each word crystal clear: "Saving Senior Qin Bolin is vital—he knows crucial info! Also, find a way to block those outside!"

The Medicine Cauldron losing control is the biggest threat right now; if that violent energy fully erupts, not just the Qin Family, even half of the capital could suffer.

"Good! You must be careful!" Zhang Jun had no hesitation, jaws clenched; at this moment, any hesitation is courting death.

He turned sharply, a crimson light flashing in his palm, the mighty pure yang energy instantly condensed, about to recklessly blast toward the two black chains flickering with eerie dark-red runes.

"Don't… don't force it!" Qin Bolin, seeing this, seemed to have a final burst of strength, coughing blood as he urged urgently: "That chain… cough cough… has a strange seal, it will backfire! Nearby… nearby stone wall… the third brick from the top… press it… that's another secret passage to the Medicine Cauldron forbidden zone… Yueyao… she… she doesn't know!"

Lin Xue's eyes flashed with light, no hesitation, her form flickering like a ghost to the stone wall Qin Bolin pointed at.

She extended her slender, pale finger and, without hesitation, pressed hard on the ordinary-looking blue brick among the surrounding stones.

"Crack… boom…"

After a grating, teeth‑aching mechanical screech and the dull sound of stone shifting, the seemingly ordinary stone wall slowly recessed inward, then slid aside, revealing a passage even deeper and narrower, permeated with a thick medicinal scent and unknown terrifying energy vibrations.

This passage was older and more mysterious than the one they had come through.

Outside the Qin Family manor, cries of slaughter already shook the heavens and earth.

The Black Judge's Shadow Organization elites, plus the various ruffians he had incited with profit, surged like sharks smelling blood, breaking through the Qin Family's outer defenses, already shaky from the Medicine Cauldron anomaly.

Qin Family guards suffered heavy casualties, blood staining nearly every bluestone path. Several white‑haired Qin Family elders fought to the death, their bodies covered in wounds, their mana drained enormously, yet they still struggled to hold the inward‑contracting line, roars and wails intertwining into a mournful dirge.

Inside the stone chamber, Zhang Jun was about to ask Qin Bolin for the solution to that damned chain when his expression suddenly shifted.

He keenly sensed at least five or six cold, overbearing auras approaching along the secret passage they had entered, at astonishing speed—members of the Shadow Organization, and not weak ones.

"Damn, these bastards have a nose for trouble!" Zhang Jun cursed low, no time to think, he twisted his waist and struck backward with a palm, slamming hard at the stone chamber's sole entrance.

"Bang!"

Pure yang energy exploded unreservedly, the stone wall at the chamber entrance shattered by his fierce palm, sending fragments flying, smoke filling the air, temporarily blocking about half the passage! Though crude, it's all we can do now.

"I'm going!" Lin Xue didn't linger, not even glancing back; the half‑piece of Yin Yang Jade Pendant in her hand glowed with a faint icy blue light, its radiance flowing, as she resolutely stepped into the newly revealed passage leading to the unknown forbidden zone.

The yin fish pattern on the pendant brightened markedly the moment she entered the passage, as if resonating more strongly and urgently with the Medicine Cauldron's direction.

Qin Bolin's trembling indication of the passage exhausted all his inner strength and vitality; his already withered frame waned further, his breath feeble like a candle in the wind, ready to gutter out at any moment.

The two black chains piercing his shoulder blades, their dark‑red runes flashing more eerily, seemed to be frenziedly draining the last vestiges of his life force and soul.

Seeing this, Zhang Jun burned with anxiety, his teeth grinding, about to recklessly try to save Qin Bolin first.

Boom—!

A roar far more violent and deafening than any previous sound exploded suddenly!

The stone chamber entrance they had just used to block pursuers, the wall Zhang Jun had barely sealed, was blown open from outside by a force far surpassing those Shadow guards!

Shards raged like the fiercest hail into the chamber, smoke billowing, stinging eyes so hard they could barely open.

Amid the drifting smoke, a tall, cold silhouette emerged, like a demon god stepping out of the netherworld.

The Black Judge's hoarse, grating voice—like two rusted metal plates scraping—carried thick mockery and undisguised killing intent, echoing grimly in the tottering stone chamber:

"You little brat of the Medicine Sect and old dog of the Qin Family—heaven has a road you didn't take, hell has no door yet you barged in! Keh keh keh… really makes it easy for me to find you!"

"Old dog, you came just in time!"

Zhang Jun's fury surged to his head as he shoved Qin Bolin behind him.

Palm up, the warm Yang Jade flared blazing, its golden gleam lighting the narrow stone chamber and dispelling some of the chill.

He took his stance, inner pure yang energy surging like a raging tide, already resolved to fight to the death.

Elsewhere, Lin Xue darted swiftly through the deep secret passage.

The further she went, the thicker the medicinal scent grew, also becoming more chaotic and violent.

The aftershocks of the Shennong Cauldron's tremor swept along the passage, shaking her footing, nearly making her fall.

The Yin Jade in her hand emitted waves of cold, forming a faint icy‑blue shield around her to resist the invisible impact.

Finally, at the passage's end, the view opened up.

She saw it!

It was a vast underground space.

In the center stood an ancient, weathered bronze cauldron trembling violently, its inscriptions dancing wildly, light flaring fierce as the sun then dimming like an abyss, a savage force nearly tearing the space apart.

Shennong Cauldron!

And before the runaway Medicine Cauldron stood a graceful figure, strikingly conspicuous.

Qin Yueyao!

Her dust‑stained long skirt was somewhat disheveled, dark‑red blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her face pallidly frightening.

Yet her hands flew through seals of astonishing complexity, teeth clenched, as she tried to channel the monstrous surge erupting from the cauldron!

That energy was not mere true qi, but more like an ancient primordial power, continuously pouring into her and into the arcane sigils etched on the surrounding floor.

She wasn't losing control; she was forcing it!

In the stone chamber, Zhang Jun was already entangled with two black‑clad Dharma guardians.