Yan Qing's limbs slowly began to regain sensation, but at this moment, she dared not make any rash moves. So she remained stiff and motionless, keeping her whole body tense.

The elder comforted her for a while longer before she calmed down.

Then, Yan Qing heard a slight metallic clanging sound. It sounded as if someone was carrying many bottles and jars and walking towards her.

One of her arms was pulled out from under the white sheet. Then a cold metal needle was plunged into her arm.

—This is a blood draw!

Yan Qing tried her best to make her arm move naturally, afraid of using even the slightest bit of force.

However, this time things didn't seem to go so smoothly. The needle seemed to be stuck in something.

"Huh, what's going on?" Zhang Xinxin's voice rang out again. "How many times has this happened? Why are these people getting more and more useless lately?"

"Sigh—" The First Elder also sighed, "Since that's the case, there's no other way for now. After all, only those few are the true descendants of that lineage. If you want to deceive it, you can only rely on these girls. There's no rush. Let's leave it at that for today and try someone else tomorrow."

The elder left with the things, and before leaving, he specifically instructed Zhang Xinxin.

"I've prepared your medicine, please remember to take it!"

Zhang Xinxin reluctantly agreed.

The door was closed again, and this time Zhang Xinxin was left alone in the room.

Taking advantage of the moment when Zhang Xinxin turned to walk back, Yan Qing jumped up from the bed and used the magic weapon, the Heaven and Earth Dice, as a brick, slamming it straight onto the back of Zhang Xinxin's head.

"uh-huh--"

Zhang Xinxin groaned and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Without a word, Yan Qing first took out the sleeping potion she had bought at great expense and poured it into her mouth. Let her sleep a little longer, so she won't have any trouble later.

Then I started looking around the room.

This place is still underground, but noticeably closer to the lake. The air is thick with moisture, the ceiling is uneven with rough stones, and water droplets are still dripping from the corners.

The spot where she had been lying seemed to be a piece of white, icy ice, emanating a chilling aura; no wonder it was so cold.

The room was simply furnished. On the wall where Zhang Xinxin had collapsed, there was an open hidden compartment that contained an ancient-style safe.

Inside the safe was a metal tray with a bunch of metal tools she couldn't understand, which looked like a complete set. There were long needles, a small compass, a metal bottle, and some other things whose purpose she didn't know either.

Although she didn't know their purpose, there was one thing she was very certain of: these things must have been in contact with blood for many years, as they were covered in dark red bloodstains, clearly indicating that they had been used for a long time.

In addition, there was a soft leather map in the safe. She opened it and saw that it was a geomantic map, which detailed all the secret passages and house layouts in the entire Cangyun Mountain.

However, she found the geomantic map somewhat strange. But time was of the essence, so she quickly used the copy function of the Heaven and Earth Dice to make an exact copy and put it back, while she kept the original.

Finally, she turned her attention to Zhang Xinxin.

Not far from where she collapsed, there was a stone table with a bowl of medicine on it. Even from several meters away, she could feel the strong smell of blood emanating from the medicine.

—This medicine was actually made from fresh blood.

Without saying a word, Yan Qing took out a water glass and poured the medicine in.

Then she thought for a moment and began to call out to the Netherworld Brocade Fox, "Little Fox, give me some of your blood food—fresh blood, please."

The next moment, Yan Qing packed the medicine bowl back into place and put it back.

When she turned back, Zhang Xinxin looked almost unrecognizable. In a short while, her face had turned pale and bluish, and purplish-blue lividity had gradually appeared.

Not only that, her hair also began to fall out in large swaths. Yan Qing, with her sharp eyes, immediately noticed a faint silver tinge peeking out from the Baihui acupoint on the top of her head.

She was just about to take a closer look when she heard the anxious reminder from the Netherworld Brocade Fox.

"Master, someone is here."

Yan Qing took out the Heaven and Earth Dice and smashed it against the stone wall above her head. Several scattered pebbles fell onto Zhang Xinxin. She then quickly lay down on the ice bed, poured the sleeping potion into her mouth, and forced herself to endure until the Netherworld Brocade Fox gave Zhang Xinxin the antidote before finally passing out.

This was the scene that the Grand Elder saw when he entered.

"Xin Xin—" He quickly ran over to check on her and found that she was just asleep, which relieved him.

Looking at Yan Qing on the ice bed, she was still unconscious, and everything was exactly the same as when she left.

The elder first walked to the ice bed, touched Yan Qing's arm and quietly took her pulse for a while before his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.

"It seems it was just an accident—alas, poor Xin Xin."

Zhang Xinxin opened her eyes, somewhat bewildered. "What... what happened to me?"

Upon seeing the Grand Elder before her, she finally remembered, "Ancestor, someone hit my head!"

"Is this what you mean?" The elder looked up and pointed to the broken stones above. "Water seeps in here all year round, so the stones are bound to be unstable, and it's common for them to fall down occasionally. You just happened to be a little unlucky."

The elder handed her the medicine bowl, saying, "Drink it quickly, look at the state you've become."

Zhang Xinxin looked down and saw her withered fingers. Her expression changed drastically, and she immediately took the medicine bowl and poured it into her mouth.

The elder looked at her with a kind expression, but after ten minutes, he finally couldn't keep his composure.

"What's going on?" I clearly took the medicine, so why is it having no effect at all?

"Could it be that it has failed again?" The elder couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. More than a hundred years had passed, and even the medicine had become less and less effective for Xin Xin.

He wondered if choosing Xin Xin was the right decision. The Grand Elder was troubled, but his hands didn't stop. He took out a metal box from his pocket, inside which were three blood-drawing needles neatly arranged—the very three that Yan Qing had used before.

Seeing the Elder's actions, Zhang Xinxin seemed to finally realize what was happening. She began to vehemently refuse.

"No, I'd rather die than be hit again! -- Ancestor, please, it hurts so much!"

The thought of that excruciating pain made Zhang Xinxin tremble all over. But none of this stopped the Grand Elder from his actions; he resolutely injected the blood from the lancet into Zhang Xinxin's body.

"ah----!!"

As blood was injected, Zhang Xinxin finally couldn't bear it any longer, screamed in pain, and fainted.