The turbulent river of the dark underground stream swept away shards of crystal as Xingye stumbled, bracing himself against the rock wall. Shen Qing tore a strip from her garment to bandage the wound on his arm.
Lu Yao held a torch close to the cave wall and suddenly gasped. "Look at these murals!"
In the mottled, faded paintings, a young man wearing a silver neck ring presided over a ritual. As he raised a bronze bell-dagger, the mural shifted into a scene of carnage—the same youth was chained to an altar, the bell-dagger plunged into his heart.
Chapter 93