Three days passed slowly in oppressive silence and race-against-time healing.
Inside the underground limestone cavern, the swirling spiritual energy of the hot spring nourished injured bodies. Iron Wall and Falcon, relying on resilient will and pill assistance, had stabilized their injuries and recovered about forty to fifty percent of their combat capability. Shadow Shuttle and another severely injured companion had also successively awakened. Though still weak, they could circulate energy on their own.
Everyone's gaze frequently fell on that still-unconscious figure on the stone platform beside the hot spring—Tang Xiaoqi.
He lay there quietly, his face no longer terrifyingly pale but still wan, breathing weak but steady. The medicinal effect of the "Life Creation Pill" Aunt Su had left was extraordinary, protecting his nearly collapsed heart vessels and dantian. However, the damage to his soul and meridians from extreme overdraft, along with the slumber of that mysterious jade pendant, made his recovery far slower than the others.
It wasn't until evening of the third day, when the fluorite light on the cavern ceiling became soft, that Xiaoqi's eyelashes finally trembled slightly, a barely audible groan emerging from his throat.
Falcon, who had been keeping watch nearby, immediately noticed, saying softly: "He's awake!"
Everyone's spirits lifted as they gathered around, even Iron Wall, who had been meditating in a corner, opening his eyes.
Xiaoqi slowly opened his eyes, his vision initially somewhat blurred and scattered, taking a while to focus. What entered his view was Falcon's concerned and weary face, and the surrounding figures of Iron Wall, Shadow Shuttle, and others. He moved his dry, cracked lips, wanting to speak, but his throat felt like it had been ground by sandpaper, unable to produce clear sounds. His entire body ached and felt powerless as if falling apart.
"Don't move yet, drink some water." Falcon quickly brought a water skin, carefully feeding him several sips of spiritual spring water infused with spiritual energy.
The cool liquid slid down his throat, bringing a touch of relief. Xiaoqi took a while before asking in a hoarse voice with difficulty: "Where... are we? The poison flood dragon... what happened?"
"We're safe, thanks to Senior Su." Falcon succinctly recounted how Aunt Su had suddenly appeared that day and led them into this hidden limestone cavern.
"Aunt Su..." Xiaoqi's eyes showed a trace of complexity, his heart welling with warmth and guilt. He knew that every time Aunt Su appeared, she risked tremendous danger.
He tried to examine his internal condition, his heart immediately sinking. His dantian held sparse spiritual power, multiple damaged meridians like dried, cracked riverbeds. Slightly channeling spiritual power brought needle-like stinging pain. Even more alarming, the Four Symbols Jade Pendant at his chest had become abnormally dim, its originally lustrous glow nearly gone. That fine crack on its surface, though barely visible to the naked eye, he could clearly feel the silence and damage to its spiritual nature. The cost of forcefully invoking the Four Symbols power far exceeded his imagination.
"You've been unconscious for three days," Iron Wall said heavily, looking at Xiaoqi's pale face. "Senior Su said we could rest and recover here for three days, and she would leave today."
As if to confirm his words, from one side of the cavern's branch tunnel entrance, that familiar silver figure quietly appeared.
Aunt Su still had that cold appearance, the silver mask concealing her expression, but her gaze clearly softened for a moment when it fell on the awakened Xiaoqi. She quickly walked to the stone platform's edge, reaching out to feel Xiaoqi's wrist pulse, carefully probing for a moment.
"Your life isn't in danger, but your foundation is damaged, and your meridians need time to be nourished. Especially..." her gaze fell on Xiaoqi's chest, "that item has suffered greatly in spiritual nature. In the short term, you absolutely cannot forcefully activate it again, or it will certainly shatter, possibly even backlashing against you." Her tone was more serious than ever before.
Xiaoqi's heart tightened as he nodded solemnly: "I understand, Auntie."
Seeing that he had taken it to heart, Aunt Su relaxed slightly. She stood up, her gaze sweeping across the gathered people, her voice lowered and carrying an undeniable gravity: "Time is short, I'll be brief. Since you've made it here, there's some information I must convey to you."
She turned her wrist, producing a thin, faint spatial fluctuation-emitting jade piece, not a traditional jade slip. "This is a 'Shadow-Trace Jade' refined using special materials from within the Shadow Snake Pavilion. The information recorded cannot be copied by ordinary means or transmitted long-distance; it can only be read directly with spiritual sense, and will self-destruct after one use."
She handed the jade piece to Xiaoqi: "Inside is the latest defensive layout and patrol patterns for the Ten Thousand Poisons Swamp's core region, especially around Burying Gods Depression and the outer perimeter of Ten Thousand Souls Hall. Because of your infiltration and the previous secret realm incident, the Shadow Snake Pavilion has raised alert levels to maximum. Outer perimeter patrol teams have doubled, changed from three rotating teams to five intersecting patrols, each led by at least a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator, and equipped with stronger detection artifacts and communication methods."
Xiaoqi accepted the jade piece, sinking his spiritual sense into it. Suddenly, a far more detailed and precisely annotated three-dimensional image than what the Shadow-Breaking Alliance had provided appeared in his mind. Around Burying Gods Depression, densely packed markers showed sentries, hidden posts, patrol routes, formation nodes, and danger zones. Even certain patrol teams' shift times and habitual routes were noted! The level of detail was astounding.
"Additionally," Aunt Su's voice pulled Xiaoqi from his shock, "regarding your target—the Soul-Controlling Jade."
Everyone's breath caught as they listened intently.
Aunt Su's tone grew even heavier, even carrying an imperceptible pain: "The Soul-Controlling Jade is not in some side hall or secret chamber. It's placed at the very depths of Ten Thousand Souls Hall, atop that core altar used to worship the demonic entity's main body and extract the soul power of sentient beings!"
An altar! Placed in such an obvious location, and inevitably the most heavily guarded place!
"And guarding the Soul-Controlling Jade is not ordinary elders or deacons." Aunt Su's voice carried a suppressed trembling, "It's a powerful soul fragment of the demonic entity, permanently stationed on the altar, controlling the overall situation. And... Xu Zhan, whose soul is completely controlled by the Soul-Controlling Jade, having lost his self, reduced to the demonic entity's most powerful battle puppet!"
Though mentally prepared, hearing his father's name and words like "completely controlled" and "battle puppet" from Aunt Su's lips still felt like Xiaoqi's heart was being gripped by an invisible giant hand, the pain almost making him unable to breathe. He bit his lower lip hard, fingernails digging deep into his palms, barely maintaining his composure.
Falcon, Iron Wall, and the others also looked extremely grave. A demonic entity's soul fragment! A completely controlled Xu Zhan! This combination was undoubtedly their mission's greatest obstacle!
"Is there... any possibility of recovery for Senior Xu?" Falcon couldn't help asking—this was also Xiaoqi's most pressing question.
Aunt Su fell silent for a moment before slowly shaking her head, her eyes beneath the mask filled with sorrow and helplessness: "Unless the Soul-Controlling Jade is destroyed, his soul will forever be imprisoned and twisted. The demonic entity has used his body to nourish the demonic seed for many years; they are already deeply integrated. Unless... unless the Soul-Controlling Jade can be instantly destroyed, and there exists supreme power transcending the demonic entity's main body to separate, purify, and reshape his soul before it completely annihilates... But this is nearly impossible."
She looked at Xiaoqi, her eyes carrying a plea and caution: "Xiaoqi, I know you're desperate to save your father. But you must understand, once you encounter him inside Ten Thousand Souls Hall, he... is no longer your father, but the Shadow Snake Pavilion's sharpest blade, the demonic entity's most loyal puppet. Any hesitation or inability to act will doom you and your companions to eternal damnation!"
Xiaoqi closed his eyes, his chest heaving violently. After a long while, he used all his strength to squeeze out a few words from between his teeth: "I... understand."
The atmosphere in the limestone cavern became incomparably heavy due to this cruel truth.
Aunt Su looked at Xiaoqi's pained yet forcibly restrained appearance, sighing in her heart. She produced another ordinary-looking jade slip, handing it to Xiaoqi: "Inside is what I can recall about Ten Thousand Souls Hall's internal structure, especially several possible formation changes and traps when approaching the core altar. But so much time has passed, the interior has surely been modified—use it only as reference, don't rely on it completely."
After completing all this, Aunt Su seemed to have fulfilled her most important mission. She looked deeply at Xiaoqi one last time, as if etching his appearance into her heart.
"This is all I can do. The rest of the road, you must walk yourselves." Her voice carried an imperceptible choking. "Remember, staying alive is most important. If the task cannot be accomplished... preserve yourselves; there will be time yet."
Before her words faded, her figure had already drifted backward like light smoke, quickly vanishing into the branch tunnel she had come from, disappearing as if she had never been there.
In the limestone cavern, only Xiaoqi and the others remained, along with the heavy information and cruel reality Aunt Su had left behind. The path ahead was clearer than ever, yet also more difficult than ever. The Soul-Controlling Jade was on the altar, guarded by the demonic entity's soul fragment and his controlled father. They not only had to face the dragon's pool and tiger's den of the headquarters but also confront the cruelest choice between family bonds and mission.
Xiaoqi tightly gripped the "Shadow-Trace Jade" about to self-destruct and the jade slip recording the hall's information, his knuckles white from the force. He opened his eyes. Though pain still remained within, what dominated was a determination pushed to the absolute limit.
"Rest for the last few hours," his voice was still hoarse, but carried an undeniable resolve. "Before dawn, we depart for Burying Gods Depression!"