130: Chapter 130 The Gravedigger's Door

Shen Xiao did not answer; he merely wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, his movements as casual as if he were wiping away a grain of rice.

Then, he turned and stepped toward the northwest.

The wind and snow continued.

But as the two stepped beyond the edge of the Bone-Burial Forest, the world suddenly opened up before them.

The Kunlun Ruins stood right before their eyes.

The mountain was even more towering than in Shen Xiao's memories, and even more... eerie.

The gray-black rock mass looked as if it had been torn apart from the inside countless times by some force and then stitched back together; dark red light flowed through the fissures, as if the mountain itself were slowly "breathing."

The summit was swallowed by thick clouds, and only the occasional flash of purple lightning allowed one to glimpse how terrifying its outline, piercing straight into the clouds, truly was.

"It's... a size larger than when I came last time?"

Shen Xiao narrowed his eyes, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible gravity.

Xia Lengbai did not reply.

Her gaze was fixed intently on the direction of the ruins' entrance, her pupils contracted, and even her breathing became cautious.

At the entrance, a faint yet resilient halo shrouded everything.

The halo looked soft, like morning mist or moonlight, but upon closer inspection, one could see countless fine runes slowly flowing within it. Every rune exuded a cold, orderly aura; it was not spiritual power, but something more fundamental.

Within Shen Xiao's field of view, the System interface refreshed silently:

[High-intensity directional defensive barrier detected]

[Barrier strength: Soul Transformation Stage Peak]

[Energy source and heavenly dao chessboard fluctuation homology rate: 78%]

[Warning: Forced Breakthrough will trigger a Heavenly Dao alarm; estimated to attract at least three Soul Transformation Stage Puppets within three breaths]

Soul Transformation Stage Peak.

The corner of Shen Xiao's mouth twitched slightly.

He could barely maintain his Nascent Soul right now; was this thing expecting him to ram his head into it?

"Wait a moment."

Beside him, Xia Lengbai suddenly spoke, her voice sounding somewhat off.

Shen Xiao turned his head to look, his pupils slightly constricted.

Xia Lengbai was clutching her forehead with both hands, her body trembling slightly.

Her complexion was already pale, and now it was white to the point of transparency, like ice that could shatter at any moment.

But most eerily, the center of her brow, the location of her Tomb Guardian Seal, was faintly burning; one could see a glimmer of eerie blue light flickering through her skin.

"What is it?"

Shen Xiao asked in a low voice, his right hand already resting on the broken sword at his waist.

"It... is rejecting me."

Xia Lengbai gritted her teeth, her voice squeezed out from between them, carrying suppressed pain,

"But it is also... calling out."

This contradictory description made Shen Xiao instantly understand something.

The barrier was set by the Heavenly Dao and naturally rejected any existence that was not a "Child of Destiny."

But the Tomb Guardian Seal was part of the Kunlun Ruins' Legacy and had a natural connection to this land; it was like putting a lock on a door but handing the key to a thief.

The Heavenly Dao's power was attempting to "remold" this key, turning it into scrap metal that couldn't open the door.

"Can you feel... anything?"

Shen Xiao asked, his tone urgent but not flustered.

Xia Lengbai took a deep breath and closed her eyes, seemingly using the Tomb Guardian Seal's perception to "touch" the barrier.

A few breaths later, she opened her eyes, a hint of complexity in her icy blue pupils.

"Deep inside... something is waiting."

She said in a low voice, "It is a power of the same origin, the root of the Tomb Guardian Seal. But it is being suppressed by another force, as if... it has been shackled."

Shen Xiao nodded.

In the original story, the Kunlun Ruins was the place of the Heavenly Dao's Legacy and also the place where "supporting characters" were sacrificed.

The root of the Tomb Guardian Seal was here, and the will of the Heavenly Dao was also here; the two forces intertwined, clashed, and suppressed each other, forming an eerie balance.

"Is there a weak point?"

He asked straightforwardly.

Xia Lengbai did not answer immediately; instead, she raised her hand, her pale fingertips pointing into the void, seemingly sensing the flow trajectory of the barrier's energy.

A moment later, her finger stopped in a certain direction.

"There."

She pointed to an inconspicuous black rock on the left side of the ruins' entrance,

"Every breath, the runes around there will have a very brief... dimming. It's like the interval of a breath."

Shen Xiao looked in the direction she pointed.

That black rock was about half the height of a person, its surface rough and covered in cracks, looking no different from the surrounding rubble.

But when he focused his gaze, he indeed discovered that every breath, the runes flowing around the black rock would appear extremely briefly dimmed, lasting less than half a breath before lighting up again.

It was like the interval of a heartbeat. Like the breath of a defensive line.

"One breath... a window of half a breath."

Shen Xiao muttered, his brain working at high speed.

A Soul Transformation Stage barrier—trying to break through it by force was suicide.

But what if, within that half-breath window, he could use a special power to "deceive" the barrier, making it briefly mistake the intruders for "one of its own"?

The power of the Tomb Guardian Seal was of the same origin as the Kunlun Ruins.

Then, if he used the power of the Tomb Guardian Seal to strike that "breathing interval," would the barrier produce Chaos in that instant?

Shen Xiao turned his head to look at Xia Lengbai, his gaze burning.

"Can you control it?"

He asked, his voice kept extremely low,

"Use only the purest wisp, like a needle, to pierce it precisely."

Xia Lengbai frowned slightly, seemingly assessing the risk.

A moment later, she nodded, but her tone carried a warning: "I can, but my condition is unstable; at most one strike. And... if it fails, the power of the Tomb Guardian Seal will be backlashed by the barrier, and I might be directly 'swallowed'."

"It won't fail."

Shen Xiao said decisively.

When he said this, his eyes were calm to the point of indifference, as if he were stating an already determined fact.

Xia Lengbai looked at him without refuting.

Time slipped away bit by bit.

The wind blew from the ruins' entrance, carrying a cold, metallic aura, causing their robes to flap loudly.

Shen Xiao stood in place, motionless, his eyes fixed on that black rock, his lips moving slightly as if counting silently.

One breath. The runes flowed, the halo brightened.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Dimming.

"Now!"

Shen Xiao let out a low shout; the sound was not loud, but it was crisp and decisive, like a blade slicing through cloth.

Xia Lengbai's reaction was faster than his words.

The moment the word "dim" left his lips, her right hand had already been raised, index and middle fingers pressed together. A wisp of extremely pure, icy blue thread shot out from her fingertips; it was thinner than a strand of hair, yet contained a heart-stopping chill, trailing a faint streak as it silently pierced toward the black rock.

Time seemed to be stretched at this moment.

Shen Xiao could clearly see the faint ripples stirred up by that icy blue thread as it sliced through the air; he could see the Seal runes on the surface of the black rock flickering violently the moment they were touched; he could see the tiny sparks bursting forth as the power of the Tomb Guardian Seal clashed with the power of the Heavenly Dao.

"Hum!"

A deep tremor sounded, like someone striking a giant bronze bell.

The runes on the surface of the black rock flashed frantically, attempting to repel this "foreign object."

But the power of the Tomb Guardian Seal was of the same origin as the Kunlun Ruins; for that instant, it created a brief confusion: was this "one of our own" or an "intruder"?

It was that momentary hesitation. One-thousandth of a breath. It was enough.

The halo shrouding the ruins' entrance developed an extremely subtle ripple around the black rock, like a small pebble tossed into a calm lake; the ripples spread outward, leaving a nearly invisible gap.

Shen Xiao moved. He grabbed Xia Lengbai's wrist, his remaining spiritual power running wildly, and dragged her body as they turned into a blur, lunging fiercely toward that gap!

The wind whistled in his ears.

The halo of the barrier brushed past his robe; that cold, orderly aura made every hair on his body stand on end. One inch closer, and he would have been torn to pieces by that force.

Then, the world went dark.

Shen Xiao felt as if he had passed through a layer of viscous water membrane; every pore on his body was squeezed, scanned, and scrutinized by that cold power.

The spiritual power within his body issued a frantic warning, yet that wisp of cold aura from the Tomb Guardian Seal trembled slightly within his Meridians, releasing a trace of homogeneous aura.

Pass.

The next second, the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet returned.

Shen Xiao stumbled a step, barely steadying himself. A muffled "hum" sounded in his ears as the barrier rapidly closed behind him, cutting off the wind, snow, and everything of the outside world.

He looked back; the halo had returned to its original state, so calm as if nothing had ever happened.

"Haa..."

Xia Lengbai's gasping breath came from his side, carrying suppressed weakness.

Her complexion was even whiter, and beads of cold sweat seeped from her forehead, but those icy blue eyes were startlingly bright.

"We made it in."

She said in a low voice.

Shen Xiao nodded and turned to survey his surroundings.

This place was completely different from the outside world.

There was no wind, no snow, and even sounds seemed to have been swallowed by something; it was heart-stoppingly dead silent.

Beneath his feet was gray rock, with no cracks and no moss, smooth as if polished by some force.

Above was a gray, hazy sky; the sun could not be seen, only a uniform, oppressive light.

The air was cold, carrying a musty scent, as if it hadn't flowed for thousands of years.

In the distance, the giant shadow of the Kunlun Ruins' main Peak cast down, shrouding this gray area in eternal twilight.

The mountain's outline appeared even more hideous in the dim light; the dark red glow in the fissures had disappeared, replaced by a deep black that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

And further away... Shen Xiao's pupils slightly constricted.

Under the shadow of the main Peak, countless blurry shadows were moving in a rhythmic pattern.

Their figures were tall, their movements stiff, like marionettes, patrolling along fixed routes.

Every time they stepped down, they left a shallow mark on the gray rock, emitting an extremely faint sound like metal rubbing against metal.

Mountain-patrolling Puppets.

Things even more troublesome than the Chaos beasts in the Bone-Burial Forest; these Puppets had no independent consciousness and only obeyed the simplest instructions, and their perception range and attack strength far exceeded what Shen Xiao's current state could handle.

"We cannot alert them."

Shen Xiao lowered his voice, his gaze sweeping over those moving shadows, attempting to find a safe route.

Just then... among the Puppets, the one closest to their position suddenly stopped its steps.

It slowly turned its head, its movements mechanical and stiff, two points of scarlet light flickering slightly in its eye sockets, as if confirming something.

Then, those two points of red light aimed straight at the direction where they had disappeared.

Shen Xiao held his breath, his right hand subconsciously gripping the broken sword at his waist, his knuckles turning white.

Xia Lengbai's fingers trembled slightly, a wisp of cold air flickering at her fingertips, ready to strike at any moment.

That Puppet quietly "looked" this way—one breath, two breaths, three breaths...

The red light flickered a few times, and finally slowly dimmed.

The Puppet turned its head back and continued its mechanical patrol.

But neither Shen Xiao nor Xia Lengbai moved.

Because they both knew clearly that that glance was no coincidence.

Something had already sensed their presence.

Shen Xiao released his grip on the sword, his knuckles making a faint "crack" sound.

He turned his head and exchanged a glance with Xia Lengbai; both of their eyes held the same coldness and determination.

He did not speak, merely nodding slightly with his chin toward the direction of the main Peak.

Then, he took the first step, his figure silently merging into the gray shadows.