Chapter 145: The Secret Chamber Medicine Cabinet Holds Mystic Gate Secrets

Shen Yan’s phone screen was still lit, the green Terminal Interface floating with a line of text: “Target coordinates locked—third basement level of the Imperial Hospital.” He swiped his finger, switching the tracking program to silent operation in the Background, and casually tucked the phone into the pocket of his checkered shirt.

“Let’s go,” he said. “Any later, and they’ll have packed up the evidence and shipped it out.”

Pei Yue walked at the front, her fingertip lightly pressing against the jade talisman before the Forbidden Land’s stone door. With a flick of her wrist, a blood trace appeared across her palm, and crimson droplets seeped into the grooves along the talisman. The door seam cracked open with a click, releasing a black mist-like poisonous gas that crawled along the ground.

“Something’s off,” she whispered. “This poison carries the base scent of Heart-Corrupting Fragrance, but it’s mixed with the erosion curse of the Shadow Erosion Organization… Someone’s been here ahead of us.”

Luo Li’s ears twitched slightly, her tail gently brushing against a crack in the corner. “Not just been here—they’ve altered the Formation Eye,” she narrowed her eyes. “The original Demon Power perception formation has been reverse-channeled. Anyone who enters will have their Spiritual Power converted into a Signal and transmitted outward.”

“Got it,” Shen Yan pulled out his phone, his fingers tapping rapidly on the Screen. “I’ll write a ‘feigned death bypass Script’ to simulate our Spiritual Energy Fluctuation as a discarded Data Packet. The System will treat us as junk information and automatically ignore us.”

Ye Zhao frowned. “Using yourself as a beta tester again?”

“It’s fine,” he grinned. “I’ve got plenty of bugs, but I’m durable.”

The four of them moved slowly along the wall, their footsteps as light as a lagging page load. At the end of the corridor stood a row of medicine cabinets, made of bronze and engraved with twisted Runes. The cabinet in the center stood out—embedded with a dark red emblem resembling broken chains entwined around gears.

“The Mystic Gate emblem,” Yu Xiaotang’s voice suddenly burst from the communication talisman, tinged with urgency. “I’ve found an abandoned flower bed in the Imperial Garden, and there’s Demon Power rising from beneath it, like a sealed Altar! Be careful, don’t touch those cabinets!”

Before her words faded, the cabinet door creaked open on its own.

Pei Yue reacted the fastest, stepping forward to block it. As her fingertip just touched the lid, the entire Secret Chamber shook violently. A silver-white Sword Shadow shot into the air, coalescing into the form of a young girl leaping and slashing with a sword—the sword stance was fierce, its cold light sharp and clear. It was precisely the opening move of “Frost Severing the Nine Heavens,” a technique Ye Zhao had lost in a Secret Realm when she was seventeen!

“This is… my sword technique?” Ye Zhao’s pupils contracted sharply. The Frost Soul Sword trembled uncontrollably in her hand, its blade shimmering with an eerie red light.

Shen Yan immediately pulled up the Memory database for comparison. His phone beeped: “Match successful. This technique exists only within the sealed scrolls of the Sword Sect archives, with no unauthorized leakage records.”

He then initiated a spectrum scan, and a Warning line popped up: “Detected traces of toxin Refactoring. This Sword Qi has been Programmatically contaminated, capable of implanting into Meridians and gradually corroding Spiritual Consciousness, with an incubation period of up to thirty-six days.”

“So… they’re not stealing Cultivation Techniques,” he stared at the lingering shadow. “They’re using her Sword Intent as a Virus host, mass-producing and deploying it?”

Ye Zhao’s face paled, her hand gripping the sword trembling slightly.

Just then, the Terminal suddenly chimed, popping up a voice file titled with three words: Do Not Provoke the Dragon’s Reverse Scale.

Shen Yan’s heart skipped a beat—it was his father’s voice.

He hadn’t even managed to open it when a line of blood-red words slowly surfaced from the bottom of the box, as if carved stroke by stroke with a fingertip:

“Feed the poison with the sword, refine the toxin with emotion. When the Nine Tails returns to heart, eternal tribulation awaits.”

The air instantly froze.

Luo Li’s breath caught, her cat ears pressed tightly against her scalp: “They’re waiting for me… using me as a sacrifice?”

“Not just you.” Shen Yan gritted his teeth. “This phrase ‘Nine Tails returns to heart’ clearly refers to Bloodline Resonance. They don’t want to kill you; they want to use your emotional fluctuations to activate some kind of Formation.”

He quickly collected the residual Data inside the box, packaged it into an encrypted crystal, and stuffed it into his pocket. Just as he was preparing to retreat, his phone vibrated again—the location had updated.

“The endpoint of the Signal source has changed.” He looked up. “It’s not here; it’s in the west side of the imperial garden, that place you said had an Altar.”

“Right now!” Yu Xiaotang’s voice was almost cracking. “Luo Li sister just ran over to check, but she was struck by a black line on her arm! That thing carries a curse aura, and she can’t move now!”

Luo Li abruptly raised her head: “Did my blood trigger the Formation?”

“No time for details.” Shen Yan grabbed Pei Yue’s hand. “We have to Cut Connection before the ritual is completed.”

The four of them turned and rushed toward the exit. After just two steps, Ye Zhao suddenly stumbled, her Frost Soul Sword clattering against the wall. The red glow on the blade grew increasingly intense, as if forcibly awakened by some remote Program.

“Bad!” Shen Yan glanced back and immediately realized the problem. “Her sword has been contaminated; it’s automatically synchronizing with that Virus template!”

“I can still hold on.” Ye Zhao gritted her teeth, leaning against the wall, sweat beads forming on her forehead. “You go save Luo Li first. I… I’ll cover the rear.”

“Cover what rear!” Shen Yan rushed back, tore off his shirt sleeve, exposing the “Never Uninstall” Comment imprint on the inside of his wrist, and slapped it directly onto the sword hilt.

The Terminal Interface instantly popped up a Warning: “High-risk synchronization Request Detected. Force takeover?”

“Take it!” He roared like a mad maintenance engineer. “I’m the highest Permission administrator!”

Code Flow erupted from the Tip of his Finger, surging upward along the sword body, forcefully suppressing that red glow. The Frost Soul Sword hummed once, returning to clarity.

“Done.” He gasped. “Now you’re my external Device. Run according to my Command.”

Ye Zhao froze for a moment, then suddenly curled her lips: “You, really… are stubborn and hard.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” He waved his hand. “Next time, praise me more handsome.”

The group rushed out of the Secret Chamber, heading straight for the imperial garden. Night wind swept medicinal fragrance past the palace walls; from the direction of the distant pavilion came a muffled sound, like Talisman Paper exploding.

“Yu Xiaotang is still over there!” Pei Yue urgently said.

“I know.” Shen Yan gripped his phone, pulling up the map while running. “She placed the last defensive talisman on the edge of the flower bed, perfectly blocking the Formation Eye’s blind spot.”

Luo Li suddenly whispered: “That Altar… is where my mother sealed the demon seed years ago. If they use my blood to Restart it, the entire palace will become a living sacrificial ground.”

“Then don’t let them succeed.” Ye Zhao accelerated, rushing ahead. “This time, it’s my turn to protect you.”

Shen Yan remained silent, quietly opening a hidden program—the “Emergency Emotional Anchoring Protocol” he had secretly written last night. As long as any of the four women showed abnormal vital signs, the system would automatically release bond energy to intervene.

He didn’t want them to know.

Because he feared that once they found out, they would turn around and take the blow for him instead.

Turning the corner, the western side of the Imperial Garden was already in sight. The abandoned flower beds were overgrown with weeds, and in the middle, a bluestone slab lay askew, with dark purple liquid seeping from its edges, slowly gathering into the trajectory of a rune.

Yu Xiaotang crouched nearby, clutching a half-burned piece of talisman paper, her voice trembling: “If you don’t come soon… I’ll have to use candied hawthorn dipped in ink to draw the runes…”

Shen Yan rushed forward and pulled her away, his foot slipping as he nearly stepped into the pool of purple liquid. He looked down and saw a blurred face reflected on the surface of the liquid—exactly like his own, except with a cold smirk at the corner of its mouth.

“This isn’t an ordinary formation,” he murmured. “It’s targeting me.”

Ye Zhao supported Pei Yue and asked in a low voice, “What do we do?”

“Take it apart.” He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen hard with the tip of his finger. “This time, I’m not compiling—I’m formatting it directly.”

(End of Chapter)