The heat from the burning warehouse above was a distant, muffled roar as Lin Xiyao led the group into the suffocating humidity of the secret conduit. The air here was heavy with the scent of centuries-old dampness and the sharp, medicinal tang of dried Aconite and Cinnabar. In the architecture of a 130,000-word epic, this transition into the "Imperial Physician's Underworld" served as a shift in map design, moving from the chaotic "small places" of the slums into a larger, lore-heavy environment that would deepen the world-building.
Lu Yan walked directly behind her, his breath a low, rhythmic rasp in the dark. The "Stability Pill" was holding his mind together, but the violet alchemical fire still flickered beneath his skin, radiating a heat that was almost unbearable in the enclosed space. Behind them, the three "Feral" survivors moved with a predatory silence, their amber eyes cutting through the gloom like lanterns.
"My father spoke of this place in riddles," Xiyao whispered, her fingers trailing along the damp stone walls. "He called it the 'Second Pulse of the Empire.' It was where the forbidden herbs were stored when the palace purges began." Her "character design" was evolving; she was no longer just a forensic physician but the keeper of a familial legacy that could topple the Ming Dynasty.
[Heavenly Forensic System: Ancient Archive Mapping]
Location: Imperial Physician's Underworld (Eastern Branch).
Analysis: Traces of refined TCM catalysts detected.
Golden Finger Insight: A secret cache is located behind the third stone pillar.
Xiyao stopped at a stone pillar carved with the image of a dragon entwined with a willow branch. She pressed a hidden trigger—a sequence her father had taught her through TCM pulse patterns—and a section of the wall slid back with a grinding groan of stone on stone.
Inside lay a treasure trove that would serve as the first major "supply hoarding" moment of their survival journey. Rows of sealed porcelain jars were labeled in her father's elegant calligraphy: Dragon-Blood Salve, Cold-Moon Essence, and Purified Silver Arsenic. But it was the iron-bound chest in the center that made Xiyao's heart skip.
"It's his research," she breathed, opening the lid. Inside were scrolls detailing the early stages of the "Wolf-Spirit" experiments.
Lu Yan leaned over her, his hand—still tipped with obsidian claws—resting on the edge of the chest. "The Eunuchs didn't invent the curse, did they?" his voice was a low, vibrating chord of suspicion.
Xiyao scanned the first scroll, her system disassembling the information frame by frame to extract the core truth. Her eyes widened as she read the dates. "No. The alchemical catalyst was found in the northern frontiers decades ago. My father was ordered to stabilize it for the previous Emperor... but he realized it was a 'Living Poison' that would eventually consume the world".
This revelation added a layer of complex personality and standpoint to Xiyao's father, transforming him from a background character into a tragic figure whose past actions now dictated the "Main Storyline". It created a sense of crisis and moral dilemma for Xiyao: she was cleaning up the mess her own bloodline had helped create.
Suddenly, a wet, heavy thud echoed from the corridor they had just left. The "Feral" survivors bristled, their growls low and visceral.
[System Alert: High-Proximity Hazard] Detection: Feral Mutation, Stage 5. Note: This target is significantly larger and more coordinated than the warehouse horde. Warning: The 'Stability Pill' duration is 68% depleted.
"We have what we need," Lu Yan said, his gaze fixed on the darkness. He reached into the chest and pulled out a heavy, black-lacquered spring saber—an heirloom of the Jinyiwei left behind by Xiyao's father. "The path forward is blocked. We don't run this time, Xiyao."
Xiyao gripped her medical chest, her "sub-personality of responsibility" flaring. She wouldn't just be the "Interest Insurance" of the story; she would be the strategist who ensured their survival.
"The 'Dragon-Blood Salve' in the blue jar," she said, her voice a thread of cold steel. "Apply it to your blade. It reacts with Stage 5 mutations like a cauterizing fire. Let's show this monster that the physicians of the Ming still have teeth."