My brother is Shi Hao

"Drain the essence and blood?" Shi Yi's brows frowned, and a layer of gloom shrouded his heart.

"Let's go and take a look!" Shi Hao's face was solemn and he took the lead and ran towards the military camp.

A deathly silence fell in the barracks. The air was filled with a sickening smell of blood. Dozens of soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, each one etched with terror, as if they had witnessed something utterly horrific before dying. Their bodies were shrunken and bloodless, as if their very essence had been sucked out of them.

"This..." General Feiyu looked at the tragic scene in front of him, his face pale and speechless.

Shi Yi squatted down and carefully examined the bodies on the ground, his brows furrowed. The deaths of these soldiers were too strange, not like they were caused by weapons, but more like some kind of evil magic.

"Brother, look!" Shi Hao pointed to the chest of one of the corpses, where there was a strange black mark, like some kind of rune.

Shi Yi carefully identified it and his expression changed slightly, "This is... a shadow rune!"

"Shadow Rune?" General Feiyu was horrified when he heard this. "Could it be the work of the Shadow Imperial Master?"

Shi Yi didn't say anything, but stood up and looked into the distance with deep eyes. In his heart, a terrible guess had already formed.

"Has anyone else gone missing in the city these days?" Shi Hao turned and asked the soldier beside him.

"Sir Hao, ever since the foreign army's night raid, the people in the city have been in a panic, and people have been missing one after another, but..." The soldier said this with some hesitation in his tone.

"Just what? But you can say it!"

"It's just that the missing people are mostly the elderly, the weak, and the disabled, so no one cares too much..."

Shi Hao's heart trembled, a chill running from his feet to his forehead. He closed his eyes, mobilizing the power of the Supreme Bone, and carefully felt every breath around him.

After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on the north of the city, "There!"

"go!"

Shi Yi and Shi Hao exchanged a glance, then they both flashed and sped off towards the north of the city. Seeing this, General Feiyu quickly followed with his soldiers.

In the north of the city, in an abandoned ancestral hall, there were gusts of cold wind and a spooky aura.

"Hehehe..., what an unexpected gain..." A cold voice echoed in the ancestral hall, with a hint of greed and excitement in the tone.

"Only the last step left..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a blood-red light suddenly lit up from the depths of the ancestral hall and shot up into the sky...

"Not good!" Shi Yi and Shi Hao looked at each other, their faces changed drastically, and they sped up at the same time.

Blood shot up into the sky, illuminating half the sky red. An evil aura permeated the air, making people's hearts flutter. Shi Yi and Shi Hao's faces were solemn. They both knew that they were still a step too late.

"Brother, these evil auras are exactly the same as those soldiers. It seems your guess is correct." Shi Hao's face turned ashen, and his supreme bone felt slightly hot, as if he felt some kind of provocation.

Shi Yi didn't say anything, but the golden light in his eyes became even more dazzling, and the power of his double pupils was pushed to the extreme. Through the layers of walls and magic circles, he "saw" the scene deep inside the ancestral hall -

In the center of the gloomy ancestral hall, a figure clad in a black robe stood with his back to them, holding a bloody heart high in his hand and muttering something. At his feet lay a massive formation, emitting an eerie, bloody light. In the center of the formation lay several dying individuals—the elderly, the weak, and the disabled who had disappeared from the city.

"He is using human sacrifices to increase his own strength!" Shi Yi said in a deep voice, with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Damn it!" Shi Hao clenched his fists and was about to rush in.

"Wait!" Shi Yi grabbed him and said, "Since he dares to act so brazenly, he must have something to rely on. We must not act rashly."

Shi Yi looked around, his eyes finally landing on a stone door deep inside the ancestral hall. The stone door was simple and heavy, with some strange runes carved on it, exuding an ancient atmosphere.

"If I'm not mistaken, behind that stone door is the forbidden area of the border town!" Shi Yi said in a deep voice, "The Shadow State Master is probably hiding there!"

The forbidden area of the border town is a place used by city lords of all generations to suppress evil spirits. It is extremely dangerous inside, and even the city lord of the border town dare not set foot there easily.

"Forbidden area?" Shi Hao frowned slightly. "But, we know nothing about that place. Wouldn't it be too dangerous to rush in?"

"I can't care about that now," Shi Yi said with a firm look, "If we can't stop the Shadow State Master, the entire border town will be doomed!"

After that, Shi Yi no longer hesitated and walked straight towards the stone door. He stretched out his hand and gently stroked the runes on the stone door. An ancient and powerful power came from his fingertips, which made him feel a chill in his heart.

"open!"

Shi Yi shouted softly, mobilized all his strength, and suddenly pushed open the stone door...

Behind the stone gate was a deep, dark passage, leading nowhere. Shi Yi and Shi Hao looked at each other, each seeing the solemnity in the other's eyes.

"Let's go." Shi Yi took a deep breath and stepped into the passage first.

In the darkness, an unknown danger loomed, yet they pressed on without hesitation. Behind the stone gate lay a long passage paved with bluestone slabs. Every few steps on either side of the wall, a long-burning lamp lit atop the wall. The dim glow of the flames could hardly dispel the chill and oppression that permeated the air.

Shi Yi and Shi Hao advanced cautiously. The power of their double pupils and supreme bones illuminated the area within several feet around them, and any slight movement could not escape their perception.

"Be careful!" Shi Hao whispered a warning, while pulling Shi Yi back quickly.

Suddenly, a row of sharp spikes emerged from the previously empty passage, flashing with cold light. If Shi Hao hadn't reacted in time, they would have been seriously injured.

"It seems that we guessed right. This is indeed the forbidden area of the border town." Shi Yi's face was solemn, and golden light flowed in his pupils, trying to see through the mechanism hidden in the dark.

The journey ahead was filled with danger, with deadly traps and traps appearing one after another. However, Shi Yi and Shi Hao, with their extraordinary strength and tacit cooperation, managed to overcome them one by one. Sometimes they joined forces to break through the formations, sometimes they protected each other, and step by step, they gradually approached the depths of the forbidden area.

At this moment, a roar that shook the earth came from afar, accompanied by earth-shaking shouts and cries, breaking the original silence in the forbidden area.

"It's a foreign army! They have started the attack!" Shi Hao's face changed, and a bad premonition arose in his heart.

Shi Yi's brows knitted together, his pupils reflecting the flames and thick smoke rising from the direction of the border town. He thought to himself, "Oh no! We've been tricked! The Shadow Imperial Master's goal isn't to sacrifice, but to buy time so the foreign army can take advantage and invade!"

"Brother, what should we do now?" Shi Hao asked anxiously.

"We can't delay any longer. We must find the Shadow Imperial Master as soon as possible!" Shi Yi made a quick decision. "If he succeeds, Border Town will be finished!"

They quickened their pace and finally arrived in front of an ancient stone temple. The door to the stone temple was tightly closed, and a gloomy and evil aura seeped out from the crack of the door, making people shudder.

"It's inside!" Shi Yi and Shi Hao looked at each other and could see the determination in each other's eyes.

Just as they were about to force their way in, a creepy sound of chanting suddenly emanated from the stone hall, accompanied by strange fluctuations, as if something terrible was about to awaken.

Shi Yi's face changed drastically, and he growled, "No, it's too late!" He pushed open the heavy stone door, and the scene before him made him and Shi Hao's eyes bloodshot...

In the center of the hall, a huge blood-red magic circle emanated an eerie light. In the center, Shadow Imperial Master, clad in a black robe and holding a blood-red dagger, faced a figure bound in mid-air...

"stop!"