Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 1016 Heart Condensation

He pulled a piece of parchment from a military manual. On it was a map of the secret passage to the Northern Di Holy Land. "I know a way in!" Ella had already summoned the giant eagle to the window. The barbarian girl's quiver was filled with arrows coated in light-eating stone powder. "The shaman said the Northern Di Holy Land is guarded by blood vines, and these plants are afraid of the juice of star grass." She handed Elena a leather bag filled with dark green liquid. "This is juice squeezed from the star grass from the Holy Mountain. It can temporarily wither the blood vines." Before leaving the castle, Elena stuffed a fragment of the Chaos Crystal into Leo's stuffed animal. "If you encounter danger, crush it, and I'll be back immediately." She touched the boy's head and noticed that his hair behind his ears had grown longer, enough to be tied into a small braid—resembling her father's in his youth. As the giant eagle passed through the mist, Elena glanced back. The castle in the Forgotten Land loomed in the clouds, and blue light shone through the windows, like a star wrapped in a cocoon. She knew Leo would take care of himself, just as her mother had believed she could carry her brother to safety. Some growth can only be achieved when facing danger alone. The scene in the Northern Di Holy Land was completely different from the Forgotten Land. The sky here was a depressing dark red, and the ground was covered with black moss that oozed a foul-smelling liquid when stepped on. The altar in the distance was built atop a massive mountain of bones. Tens of thousands of skulls formed the walls, their eye sockets burning with ghostly green will-o'-the-wisp fire, like countless eyes watching the intruder in the darkness. "Karen is there," Ella pointed to the center of the altar. Karen's paladin uniform stood out against the dark red background. He was tied to a stone pillar carved with the Northern Di totem. The chains on his wrists and ankles had dug into his flesh, but he still struggled to break free. The tip of the bone knife was inches from his heart. The bishop raised the bone knife and chanted, the silver tattoo beneath his black robe glowing eerily. Elana landed the giant eagle on the backside of the Bone Mountain. Vines quickly climbed the rock face, carving a path through the skull-stacked wall. She could smell the scent of blood in the air, along with a familiar sweet aroma—the scent of the secret Beidi medicine used by the Inquisition to control Liu Que and enable him to possess others. "Blood vine!" Ella suddenly pulled her. Sharp vines brushed Elana's cheek, wrapping around a red plant whose roots had emerged from the ground. The plant's branches were covered with barbs, and its tips dripped with sticky sap. It sizzled as it fell to the ground, corroding small holes in the black moss. Elana immediately poured out the star grass juice. The blood vines hissed shrilly upon contact, quickly withering into a black charred mess. She noticed that the crevices of the Bone Mountain were filled with this plant, their roots connected to the altar, clearly a barrier used by the bishop to protect the holy land. "I'll distract the guards." Ella drew her bow and arrow, aiming them precisely at the torches near the altar. "Take this opportunity to rescue Karen." The barbarian girl whistled a strange whistle, and the giant eagle she rode suddenly let out a sharp cry and swooped down toward the altar. The gusts of air from its wings whipped up bone fragments from the ground, like a black storm. The guards, drawn to the spot, rushed towards the eagle, spears raised. Elena seized the opportunity and led Leo into a secret passage. The passage was damp and narrow, its walls covered with Northern Di murals—depicting human sacrifices and the resurrection of ancestors through the power of Chaos. In the final painting, a bishop held a bone knife, while Karen lay in the center of the altar. "They're going to strike when the moon is full," Leo pointed to a moon pattern in the corner of the mural, where the time was marked in red. "It's only an hour until it's full!" The boy's small hands clutched the stuffed animal tightly, sweat soaking the hem of the doll's clothing, but he refused to let go. At the end of the secret passage lay a loose stone slab, which, when pushed open, revealed the side of the altar. Karen's face had turned pale, but his eyes remained steadfast. He was speaking to the bishop, his lips moving widely as if in an argument. Elena noticed the rose handkerchief at his waist, trembling slightly with his breath, like a flower struggling in the darkness. "Time to act." Elena's vines condensed into sharp bone spurs in her palms, their blue glow striking the darkness. She gestured for Leo to hide behind the stone slab, and she leaped out like a cat. Her vines wrapped around the bishop's wrist like lightning, and the bone knife dropped to the ground with a clang. "You again!" The bishop's face twisted, and the silver tattoo beneath his black robe suddenly illuminated. Countless black bats flew out of his body, swooping down towards Elena. These bats were larger than those encountered in the dungeon, their wings covered in tiny scales, clearly imbued with even greater Chaos power. Leo suddenly burst out from behind the stone slab, holding up a cross and shouting, "Purification!" Though childish, the young man's voice held an undeniable power. The cross's silver chain spun in the air, making a crisp sound. The moment the bats touched the silver light, they burst into flames, transforming into tiny sparks. Karen seized the opportunity to struggle, the chains rasping as he pulled. Elena's vines spread along the chains, rapidly corroding the black metal wherever the blue light passed. When the last link snapped, Karen stumbled towards the bishop, knocking him back and crashing into the bone vessel in the center of the altar. "No—" the bishop screamed in terror. The moment his body made contact with the bone vessel, black mist suddenly erupted from all his orifices, and he shrank at a visible speed, finally becoming a dried corpse, which was shattered into dust by the wind. Without its host, the bone vessel began to vibrate violently, and the Beidi totem on it glowed red, showing signs of exploding. Elena immediately wrapped her vines around the bone artifact. The blue light of the Chaos Crystal collided with the red glow of the bone artifact, creating a deafening sound. In the light, she saw countless souls devoured by the bone artifact being liberated, transforming into tiny stars and soaring into the sky. "Hurry!" Karen took Elena's hand, Leo following closely behind, and the three of them ran out through the secret passage. Behind them, a huge explosion sounded, and the entire Bone Mountain shook. The black moss fell away, revealing the bluish-gray rocks beneath—where, unexpectedly, sprouts of star grass were growing, glowing with vitality under the red light. The giant eagle waited for them at the exit of the secret passage. Ella was using a light-eating stone to absorb the dark energy released by the Bone Mountain explosion. Seeing them emerge, the barbarian girl smiled brightly, her brown eyes shining like two pieces of amber in the firelight: "The shaman is right. Where darkness dissipates, there will always be new life." As they flew back to the Forgotten Land, the full moon was hanging high above the castle's spire. Leo had fallen asleep on Karen's back, holding the restored doll tightly in his hand. Elena looked at the lights in the castle and suddenly understood what her mother meant by "real home" - it was not a specific place,