In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

The procession continued forward.

After walking for about half an hour, the width of the valley suddenly narrowed, and a narrow pass appeared ahead. The cliffs on both sides of the pass were covered with dense caves, arranged like a honeycomb, which looked particularly eerie against the gray and white rock walls.

Lin Qiye stopped in front of the pass, his gaze falling on the caves, his pupils slightly contracting.

There is something in those caves.

It wasn't a wild beast, nor a strange creature, but something much older and more eerie—he could sense that deep within every cave, a pair of eyes were watching him from the darkness.

The line behind him also stopped.

Luo Sheng, holding Lin Xi, was slightly pale. Shuang'er gripped her dagger tightly, her gaze warily scanning the caves. The Barbarian Princess, carrying her battle axe, stood in front of the group, muttering under her breath, "What the hell is this place...?"

Qingyin held Lin Yao in her arms, her voice trembling slightly: "Are there...things in those caves?"

Lin Qiye did not answer, but simply raised his right hand, and the dark gold emblem in his palm slowly lit up.

A dark golden light spread from his palm, like a miniature sun, illuminating the entire pass as if it were daytime. The darkness deep within the caves quickly receded under the light, revealing what had been hidden there.

They were dried, weathered corpses, embedded in the cave walls, as if they had been there for countless years. Their bodies were shriveled, their skin a waxy yellow, clinging tightly to their bones, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles, as if they had been forcibly stuffed into the cave by something.

On the chest of each corpse, a rune was drawn with some kind of dark red dye—the same rune as the one on the chest of the corpse in Rosson's laboratory, the open eye, and the vertical crack in the pupil.

Everyone's expression changed.

The barbarian princess's fingers gripped the battle axe so tightly they turned white, her voice trembling with disbelief: "These...are all people?"

Lin Qiye did not answer, but his gaze swept quickly over the corpses, and an extremely ominous guess surfaced in his mind.

These bodies were not placed in the cave after they died of natural causes.

They were embedded alive into the cave—those twisted limbs, those forcibly broken bones, those bodies stuffed into the rock walls, all telling the story of an extremely cruel ritual.

That rune was the core of the ritual.

"Go." Lin Qiye withdrew his hand, the dark golden light slowly receding. His voice carried an undeniable decisiveness. "Leave here immediately."

Without hesitation, the group swiftly passed through the narrow pass and continued their rapid march forward along the valley. No one spoke, no one looked back; only the hurried footsteps and the soft cries of a baby awakened echoed through the empty valley.

After they passed through the pass, the valley suddenly opened up.

Their view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast basin in front of them. In the center of the basin stood a huge, circular building made of black boulders, which gleamed with a cold luster in the afternoon sun.

那是一座祭坛。

An altar that is almost identical to the bone tower altar deep in the Canggu Mountains.

Lin Qiye stood at the edge of the basin, looking at the altar, his pupils slightly contracting.

He sensed that something deep within the altar was slowly awakening.

The aura of that thing resonated with the ancient will sealed within the fragment in his body in an extremely faint way.

The resonance, like a subtle ripple, spread from the depths of the altar, passing through the air, through the rocks, through the soil, and landing precisely on the emblem in his palm, causing the dark golden light on the emblem's surface to flicker slightly.

Lin Qiye stood at the edge of the basin, his gaze fixed on the altar made of black boulders in the distance.

A subtle burning sensation emanated from the dark gold emblem in his palm, echoing the ancient will slowly awakening deep within the altar. The women behind him also saw the altar, their expressions turning extremely solemn.

The horrific experience at the Canggu Mountains is still fresh in everyone's mind, and no one wants to go through it again.

"How could this place... have this?" The Barbarian Princess tightened her grip on the battle axe, her voice low.

Lin Qiye did not answer immediately.

He closed his eyes, and his senses surged toward the altar like a tidal wave.

The structure of the altar, the energy fluctuations, and the intensity of the awakening will gradually became clear in his perception.

The altar is intact and even older than the one in the Blue Bone Mountains.

The good news is that the awakening of that will is extremely slow, as if it is being suppressed by something, and it is unlikely to fully awaken in a short period of time.

More importantly, there was no trace of any polluted beasts or living people around the altar, except for the dried corpses embedded in the caves in the pass.

This indicates that the basin where the altar is located is safe for the time being. It's at least safer than continuing to trek through the unknown wilderness, where there's always the possibility of being attacked by contaminated beasts.

But he cannot stay here with his family.

The altar is the greatest source of danger. Once that dormant will is fully awakened, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the basin. The basin's edge was lined with sheer cliffs, enclosing the area into a relatively enclosed space. Some naturally formed caves and fissures were faintly visible on the cliffs, some appearing spacious enough to serve as temporary shelter.

"We'll spend the night in a cave on the cliff," Lin Qiye decided, his voice calm yet unwavering. "Tomorrow morning, we'll continue our journey and leave this area."

No one objected. Having been terrified by the mummified corpses at the pass, everyone wanted to leave this eerie place as soon as possible.

The team climbed up the gentle slope along the edge of the basin and found a naturally formed cave in the middle of the cliff. The cave entrance was about two zhang wide, and the interior was deep, dry, and well-ventilated, with a relatively flat floor, large enough to accommodate all of them. More importantly, the cave entrance offered a panoramic view of the entire basin, making it easy to keep watch.

Lin Qiye let the women take the children into the cave to settle in first, while he stood at the entrance of the cave, his gaze once again fixed on the black altar in the center of the basin.

As dusk deepened, the altar cast a long shadow in the afterglow of the setting sun, like a colossal beast crouching on the earth. That faint sense of resonance still lingered, like an invisible thread in the darkness, connecting the emblem on his palm to the slumbering presence deep within the altar.

He knew that this altar, the Candle Bloodline within him, and the coordinates sealed within the fragment must be connected in some profound way. Yin He's fragmented memories had mentioned "Gate of Realms" and "Ancient Realms," but the information was incomplete and could not be pieced together to reveal the complete truth.