Chapter 98 Heart of the Netherworld
"Brother Xiongxiong..." Jiu grabbed his clothes tightly and cried breathlessly.
"Underground... that huge monster underground... its heart is beating! It's about to wake up! That... that bad guy hiding in the black fog... is going to feed it... eat everyone in the capital!"
"Woo... Xiong Xiong brother..."
"Its heartbeat...boom...boom...boom...so loud, so scary...Jiu's head is about to explode..."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu held her arms tighter.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here, it can't eat anyone."
He lowered his head, gently resting his forehead against Jiu's, and asked softly in an almost coaxing tone, "Jiu, be good and don't cry. Tell me again, what does that 'big monster' look like? And who is the 'bad guy in the black fog'?"
He needed more clues.
Ah Jiu was enveloped by his refreshing and pleasant scent, and her fear seemed to be dispelled a little. She tried hard to recall, and her crying gradually subsided, turning into intermittent sobs.
"Monster... Ah Jiu can't see its appearance... It's deep, deep underground... I can only... I can only feel that it is huge, bigger than the palace... Its heart is black, and when it beats, the whole body trembles..."
"The villain in the black fog... I couldn't see his face clearly... He was wearing a black robe with... red, bone-like patterns on it... He said... He said, 'The netherworld is immortal, and the black bones will prosper forever'... He also said... 'The millions of souls in the capital are the best sacrifices to our gods'..."
"The Netherworld is immortal, and the Black Bones will prosper forever?"
Xiao Yu keenly grasped these eight words, and his expression suddenly changed!
The Black Bone Tribe!
It’s the mysterious and strange Wugut tribe in southern Xinjiang who are good at using witchcraft!
"Someone come."
"My subordinates are here"
"Use the Xuanzi Guards to dig out all the books in the palace concerning Southern Xinjiang witchcraft and ancient beasts. Especially those related to 'heart,' 'underground,' 'black fog,' and 'sacrifice.'"
"Yes!" An Yi accepted the order.
He glanced at Ajiu, who was still trembling in Xiao Yu's arms, and lowered his voice: "Your Highness, Miss Ajiu..."
"I will take care of it myself." Xiao Yu picked up Ajiu horizontally and walked straight towards his bedroom.
"Seal off the palace. If even a word of what happened tonight leaks out, the entire family will be executed."
"Yes, sir!"
All the guards knelt down in unison, their backs instantly soaked with cold sweat.
The library of the Prince Regent's Palace is also the place with the richest collection of books in the Great Zhou Dynasty, except for the imperial palace.
At this moment, the lights here are bright, but it is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.
Xiao Yu stood in the center of the attic. In front of and around him were piles of books and volumes.
Dozens of Xuanweis dressed in black and wearing "Xuan" tokens on their waists were shuttling between the bookshelves. They moved very quickly, taking heavy books from the shelves and flipping through them quickly, looking for clues.
The air was filled with the musty and dusty smell of old books.
"Your Highness!" A Xuanwei, holding an ancient book covered in animal skin, walked quickly up to him, his expression excited yet tinged with fear. "Look at this!"
The cover of the book was badly damaged, with a few large characters written on it in an ancient southern Xinjiang language - "Records of Strange Stories from Southern Xinjiang".
Xiao Yu's breathing stagnated and he opened it immediately.
The pages were yellowed and fragile, and the writing was a little blurry. He read through the pages quickly, and soon his eyes were fixed on one page.
There wasn't much text on that page, just a strange picture.
At the center of the painting was an enormous black heart, covered in strange magical patterns. Countless black air currents emanated from the heart, forming a thick black mist. Surrounding the heart were countless tiny figures, kneeling on the ground, as if performing some kind of worship ritual.
Xiao Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at the small annotation next to the picture with trembling hands.
The words were written in Chinese characters, but the handwriting was sloppy, as if the recorder was in extreme fear when writing these things.
"...The Wugu tribe worships the god of the underworld. Though his god has long since fallen, his heart remains immortal, sealed deep within the earth's veins by generations of powerful beings. This heart is known as the 'Heart of the Underworld.' This heart is the source of the underworld's energy and the core of the Wugu tribe's power. Its heart is immortal, still beating in its slumber, and every beat causes the earth's veins to tremble..."
"...The Wugu tribe has passed down from generation to generation that awakening this heart requires a vast sacrifice of living souls. Ancient methods state that the blood of millions of living souls should be poured into the sealed land, and endless resentment should be used as a guide. Only then can the ancient seal be broken and the divine heart be revived. At that time, the aura of the underworld will envelop the earth. Where the divine heart resides, all things will become its sustenance, and the Wugu people will gain eternal life and supreme divine power..."
"The first sign of the divine heart's revival is that the seal loosens, and the heartbeat can be heard by psychics. The second is that the aura of the underworld leaks out, transforming into black mist, invisible to ordinary people. The third is..."
The writing on the back is so blurred that it is unrecognizable.
But this is enough.
"Bang—"
The ancient book in Xiao Yu's hand accidentally fell to the ground.
His face was as pale as paper, and beads of cold sweat oozed from his forehead.
Psychic...Ajiu!
The earth's veins are shaking...that strange "earthquake" just now!
Black Mist... Heart... Sacrifice...
What Ajiu saw and heard actually all corresponded to the records in this ancient book!
Those crazy people from the Wugut tribe actually found the sealed "Heart of the Underworld" under the ground of the capital, and are trying to awaken it!
And the sacrifice... is the people of the entire capital city!
A bone-chilling chill rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and Xiao Yu felt cold all over.
The night was as dark as ink, and candlelight flickered in the Regent's bedroom.
Ajiu has fallen asleep.
Perhaps she was too tired from crying, or perhaps it was the reassuring aura from Xiao Yu that took effect, her small body curled up in the soft quilt, her sleeping face peaceful, but with tears still hanging on her long eyelashes, and she occasionally sobbed in her dreams.
Xiao Yu stood up, walked to the window and pushed it open.
It was a silent night outside. The outline of the imperial city in the distance was faintly visible in the moonlight. Further out, there were lights from thousands of homes, representing the people of the capital who were still immersed in peaceful sleep.
“Woo…”
Ah Jiu on the bed suddenly uttered an uneasy moan. Her little hands frantically scratched at the quilt, and she muttered incoherently:
"Brother Xiongxiong...don't go...it's so dark...there's water..."
Xiao Yu immediately walked back to the bed, sat down again, held her little hand outside the quilt, and warmed her with his body temperature.
"I'm not gone, I'm here." He soothed softly.
Jiu seemed to sense a familiar breath and gradually calmed down, but he was still mumbling intermittently in his sleep.
"That bad guy... he was standing... standing in a place with a lot of water... the water was black... next to... next to it was a very tall tower... the top of the tower... was almost poking the moon..."
After saying this, she smacked her lips and fell into a deep sleep.
Inside the bedroom, it seemed as if a thunder exploded!
Xiao Yu's eyes suddenly lit up!
"So much water... Such a tall tower..." He looked at Ajiu excitedly, "There's only one place in the capital with a vast expanse of water and a tall tower!"
"West of the city, Jinshui River, Dragon Suppression Tower."
The Jinshui River, a branch of the moat that runs through the capital, sits on its banks, a nine-story tower from a previous dynasty known as the "Dragon-Suppressing Tower." Legend has it that the tower, one of the tallest structures in the capital, was built to suppress demonic dragons in the water.
It is a place rarely visited by people on weekdays, and it is indeed a perfect place for secret rituals!
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