Chapter 165: Continue Your Words
Emma Dawson, alone after leaving the waterfront of lake, felt the weight of her mission like a stone in her chest. The Hanz Estate sprawled before her in the night, a monstrous silhouette carved into the mountainside, the shadowed Hanz Stronghold and twisting mountain paths a labyrinth of death. The blood moon’s glow slithered over the peaked roofs on the Twin Peak Hill and crumbling turrets, painting the stone the color of old wounds. Once grand, now it hunched like a ghost beast poised to strike, its windows empty and dark—eyes that had long since forgotten how to see.
A wrought-iron gate separated the rear mountain and the water lily lake, twisted into the likeness of thorns and serpents, stood ajar, its hinges groaning in the wind as if whispering a warning. Beyond it, the cliff courtyard gardens had surrendered to the wild, their once-manicured hedges now snarled into skeletal fingers, clutching at the hem of the night. The scent of decay lingered beneath the crisp mountain air—rotted leaves, damp earth, and something else, something metallic that clung to the back of the throat.
"There’re six formation cores in this Gloomwater Phantom Lily Array," The beauty murmured, her delicate rosy lips tight with resolve. "That devil sword is guarding the Water Lily Lake. We Thirst Bull Squad had checked the Hanz Stronghold and the Martial Arts Arena. The Clan Chief Royal Study Library was empty either. That leaves the Hanz Clan Ancestral Shrine on the top of Twin Peak Hill and the Ancient Stone Well in the rear mountain." Her mind raced, piecing together the fragments of their journey. If the legendary Krogh Hanz was not in those places, she faced the daunting task of scouring the entire mountain estate, as if plucking a single silver needle in a roiling abyss of horrors.
Her thoughts turned grim. According to Jorge Blue and Rodney Luther’s infer, even Garrick a ninth-stage Qi Refining cultivator, had perished in that cursed Ancestral Shrine, and Shirley Quinn’s Suicide Squad had met their end at the Ancient Stone Well. Both potential formation core locations were death traps, their dangers capable of overwhelming even the strongest sect comrades among them. At only the Eighth Layer of Qi Refinement Stage, Emma knew she was ill-equipped to face such perils. Yet the image of her beloved Rodney Luther and the squad captain Jorge Blue, trapped within the devil sword’s bound formation, spurred her forward. Their lives depended on her success. Gritting her teeth, the beautiful female cultivator steeled herself and headed toward the Twin Peak Hill for the Ancestral Shrine, her heart pounding with a mix of fear and determination.
As Emma reached the front mountain’s base, she nearly collided with Donovan Valdez, his figure dashing out of the shadows rapidly like a specter.
"Mister First Dominator?! Senior Brother?" she gasped, her eyes widening. Jorge’s earlier warning words echoed in her mind, and she instinctively glanced behind him, noting the absence of his Dominator Squad companions. "Did you just come from the Ancestral Shrine?" Her voice trembled, dread creeping in. Had Dominator Squad been wiped out, as so many other sect comrades had? If so, entering the shrine would be suicide, even for someone like her unafraid of death.
Emma hesitated, then rallied her thoughts. She needed only to find Krogh Hanz, not conquer the unknown dangers in that Ancestral Shrine.
Before she could utter a word, Donovan’s brow dipped into a scowl, his piercing stare cutting through her like a blade. The captain of Dominator Squad didn’t ask—he demanded. "Where the hell are Jorge Blue and the others?" His voice was ice, edged with disdain. "Why are you the only one here?" The question wasn’t curiosity—it was an accusation. To him, her solitude reeked of deception, as if she were complicit in the estate’s lurking betrayal.
Seized the chance to explain, Emma took a steadying breath and clasped her hands before her, her voice calm but earnest. "Mister First Dominator, if I may—Jorge Blue and Rodney Luther met with unforeseen difficulties. They entrusted me to inquire about the condition in Ancestral Shrine. Might you have seen Senior Brother Krogh Hanz there?" Her gaze remained respectfully lowered, though her pulse quickened with hope that Donovan could provide the guidance she needed.
"Hah?" Donovan scoffed, his lip parted as he looked down at her. "Don’t tell me you actually ran into the Ju-On." His voice was a blade, cold and deliberate, slicing through her hesitation. It wasn’t concern in his tone—it was derision, the impatience of a superior forced to deal with a fool who’d stumbled into danger. "Speak up. Or did it already get to you?"