Chapter 500: Yinxu

Pei Mianman's expression turned cold. "If you dare to deface my face, I'll bite my tongue and kill myself. Then, let's see how you'll use me to threaten Ah Zu into giving you the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture."

She had clearly guessed the Mosquito Daoist's intention and deliberately spoke up to warn Zu An.

The Mosquito Daoist was surprised. "Oh, little girl, you look so delicate, yet your spirit is quite fierce. It seems you care a lot about this face. Then just cooperate obediently!"

"Alright, alright," Zu An quickly interjected, worried that her hand might slip and actually injure Pei Mianman. "We'll go touch it. Just release her first."

"You go try first," the Mosquito Daoist said cautiously, clearly unwilling to allow any mishap.

Zu An shrugged and didn't argue, walking directly towards the stone monument. His cooperation throughout the process surprised the Mosquito Daoist.

He approached the monument and examined it closely. The entire monument was a dark, ancient, and desolate black. Etched vertically on it were two patterns, which he couldn't tell if they were characters or designs.

He gazed at the somewhat familiar patterns, deep in thought.

"What are you dawdling for?" Seeing him stand motionless, the Mosquito Daoist said impatiently. Given the massive commotion caused by the extraterrestrial meteorite crashing down, people could arrive at any moment, so she naturally didn't dare to delay.

Zu An acknowledged her and gently reached out to touch the monument. As expected, he encountered the same problem the Mosquito Daoist had faced.

A transparent film separated him from the monument, preventing him from truly touching it.

"Use more force!" the Mosquito Daoist frowned. Could her guess be wrong? Was this not left by a powerful human expert?

Zu An had no choice but to brace himself and lunge towards the monument. However, having witnessed the Mosquito Daoist's miserable attempt earlier, he didn't use his full strength.

Indeed, the moment he collided with it, the previously elastic transparent "film" instantly became incredibly hard, making him cry out in pain.

The Mosquito Daoist, watching from nearby, thought, "This guy's rebound force is clearly less than mine was just now. It seems this thing absorbs attack power as energy for counterattacks."

"I can't open it either," Zu An said, rubbing his shoulder as he got up from the ground, feigning helplessness.

"Try sprinkling your blood on it," the Mosquito Daoist suggested. Having traveled the world for many years, she naturally knew that many seals required fresh blood as a catalyst.

She wasn't worried about any blood-recognition ritual, as the large-chested woman was her hostage. Moreover, she was confident that given the disparity in their cultivation levels, she could easily overpower him and reclaim it later.

While a treasure recognized by blood usually couldn't change its master, it would become masterless if the original master died.

In any case, she planned to kill him after extracting the Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. In an instant, she had already thought out her next steps.

Zu An didn't refuse. He had wounds all over his body, so he could easily get blood by wiping himself.

He flicked a drop of blood onto the transparent barrier, where it vanished, but unfortunately, there was still no reaction.

"Is it not enough?" the Mosquito Daoist muttered to herself. "Try with more blood!"

"You've already wounded me so badly, I don't have much blood left," Zu An grumbled. Nevertheless, he smeared some fresh blood from his body onto the film with his palm.

The transparent film seemed to have a self-cleaning function. The areas smeared with blood were initially bright red, but the color quickly vanished, and the film returned to its transparent state.

"Did it absorb it, or what?" the Mosquito Daoist wondered, pushing Pei Mianman forward. "You, go try too."

Pei Mianman was eager to get away from her. She went to Zu An's side and sent a vital energy message, "Ah Zu, what do we do now?"

Zu An's expression was a little strange. "Don't worry, there might be a turning point."

"A turning point?" Pei Mianman looked bewildered. She couldn't see any sign of a turning point. Was he truly hoping someone would arrive?

"What are you two whispering about? Hurry up and try!" the Mosquito Daoist snorted. She didn't stand too close, fearing powerful defensive mechanisms near these rare treasures, but also not too far, in case something unexpected happened and she couldn't react in time.

Helpless, Pei Mianman also tried Zu An's method. The film remained, showing no reaction. However, after she smeared blood from her own wound onto it, the monument suddenly trembled. The two patterns on it emitted a golden light, and they seemed to come alive, flashing continuously.

Seeing this, the Mosquito Daoist hurried over to inspect. Unfortunately, other than bright lines of light flowing within the two patterns, there was no other change. The film was still present, and the monument remained untouchable.

The Mosquito Daoist analyzed, "It seems the key lies in these two patterns. Does either of you recognize them?"

Zu An and Pei Mianman both shook their heads. "We haven't seen them before."

The Mosquito Daoist had only asked casually. Even she, with all her knowledge, hadn't seen them, so she didn't expect these two young people to understand.

She fell into thought. "Is this seal triggered only by a woman's blood, or does it require both a man and a woman to trigger it simultaneously...?"

As she was pondering, Zu An suddenly pulled Pei Mianman closer, then looked at the two strange patterns on the monument and read aloud, "Yin... Xu!"

These two strange patterns before him were not random scribbles but ancient Chinese characters from Earth's past—oracle bone script!

One of China's oldest dynasties, the Shang Dynasty, already had a writing system, typically carved on tortoise shells and bones for divination and sacrificial purposes, hence the name "oracle bone script."

Although scholars in China had deciphered most of the oracle bone script at the time, to ordinary people, these mysterious characters were like an undecipherable heavenly script.

Zu An recognized them because, in his previous life, he had watched a documentary about the archaeological discovery of oracle bone script, titled *Yinxu*.

The Shang Dynasty had relocated its capital many times throughout its history, with the most famous capital being Yin. Thus, the Shang Dynasty was also known as the Yin Shang. Later archaeological discoveries located the Shang capital, but after thousands of years of erosion, the once-flourishing capital had become ruins buried deep underground.

Therefore, that ruin was also called Yinxu.

Zu An didn't understand why he would see these two characters in another world, especially written in Shang Dynasty oracle bone script. Logically, Yinxu was a term used by later generations for the Shang capital's ruins; the Shang people themselves wouldn't have called it that.

However, at that moment, he had no time to ponder the reasons. Hearing the Mosquito Daoist say that the key lay in these two characters, and with the seal clearly triggered, he had no choice but to try.

As soon as he finished speaking, the monument suddenly shook. The lines of the two oracle bone characters began to move, flowing around the edges of the monument. The entire monument transformed into a human-sized circle of light, golden on the outside and black on the inside.

Zu An was no stranger to such light circles. In his previous life, he had seen similar wormhole gates in various science fiction works. The secret realm entrance behind the academy's mountain was also a similar gate, though the one before him was much smaller.

Without hesitation, he grabbed Pei Mianman's hand and jumped in.

"You brat!" The Mosquito Daoist had been lost in thought. The entire process of the monument's protective shield dissolving and transforming into a light gate happened almost instantaneously, leaving her no time to stop them.

Seeing the two jump into the light gate, she instinctively reached out, only catching half of Zu An's trouser leg. However, Zu An was prepared. He drew his long sword and swung it at the trouser leg, cutting it off directly.

The Mosquito Daoist grabbed nothing. As Zu An and Pei Mianman entered, the light gate rapidly shrank to the size of a bowl, clearly no longer large enough for a person to pass through.

She was instantly dumbfounded. She had seen secret realms before, but never one whose entrance lasted for such a short time.

After so much effort, to watch the rare treasure slip away, she was naturally unwilling. She instantly transformed into a blood-winged black mosquito and followed through just as the light gate closed.

That chapter will be a bit late.