The candlelight in the secret chamber of the Ye Family in Qinglan City crackled and burst. As Ye Fan pushed the bronze door latch shut with a backhand motion, his knuckles pressed faint white marks into the door ring. Four women sat or stood nearby: Su Qingxue's silk sash trailed over the armrest of a sandalwood chair like a pool of uncoagulated ink; Lin Zhaoyue's sword case rested on the desk, the blade within still humming softly, sending ripples pulsing through the water in a teacup in concentric circles.
Chǔ Hóngzhuāng sat cross-legged on the windowsill, a string of silver bells chiming gently with the swing of her toes, almost like a muted counter-rhythm to the oppressive atmosphere. Meanwhile, Qín Wǎnshuāng stood before a map, her fingertips resting on the blank space between "Cangwu Mountain" and the "Southern Xinjiang Poison Cavern"—the most mysterious uninhabited zone in the martial arts realm, rumored to be a place even Void Breaking Realm masters dared not casually tread.
"Old Man Li said the Spokesperson of the Heavenly Dao is raising Gu Insects by using the rules themselves as a breeding ground," Ye Fan said, his throat bobbing as the scorching pain from his past-life demise surged suddenly from the depths of memory. In his previous life, it was precisely when breaking through to the Inquiry Realm that he sensed strands of black Qi hidden within the laws of the Heavenly Dao, only to have his Sea of Consciousness shredded by those very threads.
Chapter 214