The SUV jolted along the winding mountain roads of western Sichuan. Chen Jiuzhang stared at the leafless trees flashing by outside the window, unease gnawing at him.Beside him, Shen Qingluan leaned quietly against his shoulder, still unconscious, her fingers tightly clutching the Imperial Seal fragment, her knuckles pale.
Su Nian focused on the road ahead. The bronze bell dangling from the rearview mirror chimed faintly from time to time—each sound like an omen.
"Twenty kilometers to the Blade Credit Clan's contact point,"Su Nian finally broke the silence, but her voice was tense.Chen Jiuzhang noticed her hand gripping the steering wheel—veins bulging.
Following her gaze, he spotted a few vague figures slowly moving along the distant mountain path.
Suddenly—a glint of cold light sliced through the air!
Chen Jiuzhang instinctively leaned sideways.A poisoned crossbow bolt whizzed past his neck, embedding itself in the car window. The feathers still trembled.
"Watch out!"Zhang Chengying shouted. His peachwood sword slid from its scabbard as he stuffed half a bag of spicy snacks into his mouth.
"You gotta fight with fire and flavor! Spicy snacks boost morale!"
The SUV screeched to a stop, tires leaving long skid marks.From the surrounding woods, more than twenty Blade Credit warriors emerged, faces masked in black scarves.
They wielded cleavers inscribed with strange runes. The blades shimmered with a ghostly blue light, as if cursed souls were trapped within.
Their leader, a burly figure, carried a massive cleaver.The character "Credit" on its blade gleamed blood-red, radiating a nauseating stench.
"Zhang clan scum,"he rasped, voice like sandpaper scraping metal."Hand over the Heavenly Master Talisman, and we'll leave you a whole corpse."
Chen Jiuzhang gently laid Shen Qingluan on the seat and reached for his Serpent-Slaying Blade—But something in his pocket stopped him.
He looked down:a note in Su Nian's handwriting—
"They're under the Soul-Eater Curse. Don't kill them!"
Old Wu slowly stepped out of the car, smoking from his pipe, embers flickering in the bowl.
"You little bastards dare touch my people?"He flicked his pipe. The Prophecy Scroll transformed into a golden chain, wrapping around the leader's wrist.
"Open your damned eyes—look what this is!"
But the Blade Credit warrior suddenly lunged forward!His cleaver whooshed toward Old Wu with deadly force.
Chen Jiuzhang's eyes caught it:a cherry blossom-shaped curse mark deep in the attacker's pupils—identical to those in Sanxingdui!
"Watanabe Miyuki's handiwork!"he shouted, drawing the Serpent-Slaying Blade, now glowing gold.
Their weapons clashed, sparks flying.
Su Nian's bronze bell rang violently, its nine chains snapping out to restrain several attackers.But her face turned ghost-white, and she collapsed against the SUV, gasping.
"No good… The bell's power hasn't recovered yet… I can't hold them much longer…"
At that critical moment, Shen Qingluan's fingers twitched.Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused but determined.She grabbed Chen Jiuzhang's hand and pressed the Imperial Seal fragment into his palm.
"Jiuzhang… Try resonating with the dragon vein again… like we did at Sanxingdui…"
Before finishing, she passed out again.
Chen Jiuzhang clenched the seal fragment, shut his eyes, and focused inward.He recalled the incantation his father once taught him—that overwhelming force when his spirit aligned with the dragon vein.
When he opened his eyes again, a brilliant light surged forth.
The twenty-eight celestial constellations rose like phantoms beneath his feet, merging with the Seal's radiance.
The cherry blossom curses on the Blade Credit warriors began to spark, then crumble away.
The leader clutched his head and screamed:
"My head—it hurts! What's happening?!"
As the curse marks vanished, the others also regained clarity, the madness in their eyes replaced by confusion and fear.
"Someone's manipulating you—trying to seize the Heavenly Master Talisman,"Old Wu said, retrieving the Prophecy Scroll. He shook it, and a half-burned map fluttered out.
Marked in cinnabar was a mysterious location.
"The entrance to the Guixu Ruins might lie in that mist-shrouded forest along the Yunnan-Myanmar border."
Just as he finished speaking—the sky turned a twisted shade of dark violet, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
A greater crisis loomed on the horizon…