Sludge suction system

In the secluded chamber of the Sang family mansion, candlelight flickered. Tan Ge knelt on one knee, his dark, muscular attire stained with the smoke of the mountain stronghold battle. He removed his blood-stained wrist guard, deliberately avoiding his adoptive father's probing gaze: "The auction was disrupted by Qian Wanguan, and the fake blood jade has fallen into his hands."

Sang Xuan stroked the genuine blood jade on the table, its color flowing like congealed blood in the light and shadow: "As expected. That old scoundrel Qian Wanguan, once he's tasted the sweetness, how could he let it go?" Before he finished speaking, Tan Ge presented the broken half of a green jade hairpin—the very one that belonged to Qian Wanguan's beloved concubine, Tian Xue'er.

“This was found on Qian Wanguan’s body.” Tan Ge lowered his eyes and pushed the hairpin to the table. “Their next step will probably be to rush straight to the Sang residence and seize the True Blood Jade.” The secret room fell into a deathly silence, with only the soft sound of a candle wick popping. Tan Ge caught a glimpse of his adoptive father’s increasingly forceful caress of the jade pendant, and his heart tightened inwardly.

Three days ago, during the chaotic battle, he led the Sang family's elite guards in a surprise attack on the mountain stronghold. When Cheng Yun knelt and begged for mercy under the sword's edge, Tan Ge suddenly changed his mind—rather than wiping out this rabble, he would recruit them as his undercover agents. By now, the stronghold had quietly changed hands, and he chose to keep all of this to himself.

"Pass down the order to strengthen security in the manor." Sang Xuan crushed the jade hairpin into powder, the fragments falling softly onto the true blood jade. "If Qian Wanguan dares to come, he will not return alive." Tan Ge obeyed the order and stood up. As he turned around, the mountain stronghold token hidden in his sleeve hurt his palm. He looked at the blood jade deep in the secret chamber and suddenly realized that this jade contest was no longer a simple game of truth versus falsehood.

Inside the west wing of the Sang residence, a bronze mirror reflected the pale face of a young girl. Sang Yu (Ruan Quan) held a bloodstained shard of porcelain, her fingertips trembling slightly. Xiao Zha suddenly appeared, his translucent silver hair swaying, the totem fragment floating on his chest glowing with a strange light: "Host, the fake blood jade farce in the mountain village has spiraled out of control. Qian Wanguan and Sang Xuan are both secretly plotting."

Ruan Quan clutched the broken porcelain, and the original owner Sang Yu's memories flooded back like a tide—her gentle and refined father, the mysterious legend of the Blood Jade, and her mother's untimely death. Xiao Zha streaked through the air with a blue light, revealing a holographic image of the chaotic battle in the mountain stronghold: "Not only that, but the Blood Jade may contain a sixth totem fragment."

The hooting of owls came from outside the window. Ruan Quan suddenly grabbed Xiao Zha's wrist: "Tange has concealed the fact that he subdued the mountain stronghold. What exactly is he planning?" Xiao Zha's silver hair moved without wind, and data streams flashed in his eyes behind his glasses: "Abnormal energy fluctuations have been detected on Tange. It is very likely related to the Blood Jade. Host, you must find the truth before all the forces can reach you."

Moonlight streamed through the window lattice onto Ruan Quan's palm, where patterns resembling the totem fragments suddenly appeared. Xiao Zha's pupils constricted: "Not good! Sang Xuan's restriction is loosening; he seems to have sensed something!" Before he finished speaking, hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Ruan Quan quickly hid the broken porcelain, her heartbeat exceptionally clear in the silent room.

The carved wooden door creaked open, and Sang Xuan, his dark brocade robe carrying a cool fragrance, entered the room. Ruan Quan suppressed his inner turmoil, hiding the burning heat of the totem patterns on his palms within his wide sleeves, and forced a smile: "Father, what brings you here?"

In the flickering candlelight, Sang Xuan's gaze swept over the unfinished poem on the table, the still-wet ink of the character "blood" particularly glaring. He sat down beside the couch, his jade thumb ring lightly tapping the armrest: "I heard you've been asking the servants about the mountain stronghold lately?" Before he finished speaking, the hairs on the back of Ruan Quan's neck stood on end, and Xiao Zha's mechanical voice exploded in his mind: "Hate level detected as soaring!"

"It was just some gossip." Ruan Quan clutched the blankets tightly, the gentle face of her father in the original owner's memory overlapping with the imposing man before her. "Your daughter was just worried about your safety." Sang Xuan suddenly raised his hand, his fingertips almost touching her temple. Ruan Quan subconsciously turned her head, only to see her father's hand pause in mid-air, then instead caress the silver bracelet on her wrist: "This was left by your mother, don't drop it."

Outside the window, the night wind swirled withered leaves, and Ruan Quan caught a glimpse of Xiao Zha drawing a data stream in the air. The test report, in large, blood-red characters, stung his eyes: Sang Xuan's cuffs still bore traces of the unique energy fluctuations of the Blood Jade. "Has Father been to the secret chamber recently?" The words left his mouth as he realized his slip of the tongue, Sang Xuan's pupils suddenly contracting, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.

"Rest well." As Sang Xuan stood up, the hem of his robe swept the poetry paper on the table, the ink-stained "blood" character facing the moonlight. "Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask." The moment the door slammed shut, Ruan Quan touched the hot broken porcelain in his arms—on which, somehow, the same totem pattern as on his palm had appeared.

"Little scum, use your X-ray vision!" Sang Yu (Ruan Quan) urged anxiously, pacing back and forth in the room.

Xiao Zha immediately activated his ability, his eyes glowing with a ghostly blue light. An invisible gaze pierced through the wall, tracking Sang Xuan's figure. Sang Xuan cautiously looked left and right along the winding corridor before pushing open the door of what appeared to be an ordinary woodshed. The hidden door opened, revealing stone steps leading downwards.

"He's entered the secret chamber!" Xiao Zha reported in real time. "The secret chamber is on the third basement level, surrounded by a barrier. My X-ray vision can only barely make out the outline... Wait! He's retrieving something... It's the Blood Jade! The real Blood Jade is there!"

Sang Yu held her breath and anxiously pressed, "Were there any other discoveries?"

"An unusual energy fluctuation has been detected in the corner of the secret room, possibly a fragment of a totem! But it's shrouded by a powerful barrier, so we can't see its exact location..." Before Xiao Zha could finish speaking, an alarm suddenly sounded, "Not good! The barrier has detected my spying and is strengthening its defenses!"

Sang Yu gritted her teeth, knowing she couldn't risk further probing. But she had already confirmed a crucial clue—the real Blood Jade, and the totem fragment she had been searching for, were located in the secret chamber of the Sang family mansion. A thrilling treasure hunt was quietly being planned in her mind.

Xiao Zha's alarm abruptly stopped, and the azure data stream stagnated in mid-air, forming a strange vortex. "Host, a living energy fluctuation has been detected inside the Blood Jade..." Its voice suddenly trembled, and in the holographic projection, the scene in Sang Xuan's secret chamber was distorted and deformed, revealing a terrifying scene deep within the layers of barriers—the warm and lustrous Blood Jade floated above the jade coffin, and the woman sleeping in the coffin bore a striking resemblance to Sang Yu.

Ruan Quan's fingernails dug deeply into her palms. The jade coffin's walls were covered in obscure incantations. On Xia Menglian's paper-white wrists, dozens of silver threads pierced her veins, blood flowing through tubes into the blood jade. The crimson veins slowly coursed through the jade, like living things. "This isn't nurturing..." Her throat tightened, the original owner's memories of her mother's "death from illness" collapsing in disbelief. "It's practically a blood sacrifice!"

Xiao Zha frantically analyzed the barrier data, his lenses gleaming with a blinding red light: "Energy frequency match! The totem fragments in the blood jade resonate with the host, and Xia Menglian's bloodline is forcibly suppressing the fragments' power. Sang Xuan, he..." Before he could finish speaking, Sang Xuan in the secret chamber suddenly looked up, his turbid gaze piercing through the layers of walls, startling Ruan Quan into staggering backward.

"Sever them quickly!" she hissed in a low voice. In the darkness, the sound of chains snapping echoed from somewhere in the Sang residence. The blood jade glowed brightly, and the silver threads on Xia Menglian's wrist exploded. The woman in the coffin trembled slightly, and a tear of blood fell into the pool of blood, spreading out strange totem patterns on the ground.

Xiao Zha reacted extremely quickly, instantly blocking the energy fluctuations from the spying. The holographic projection disappeared with a "snap," leaving only a few shimmering blue lights in the air. Ruan Quan slumped onto the edge of the bed, his heart pounding violently, as if it would burst out of his chest.

"That was close, we almost got exposed." Xiao Zha's voice was also tinged with lingering fear as he hovered in front of Ruan Quan, his body trembling slightly.

Ruan Quan stared at the empty wall, the image of Xia Menglian being pierced by silver threads replaying in her mind, tears blurring her vision. "So this is how my mother was tortured by my father. I must save her." She clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms.

Just then, footsteps approached from afar, and Ruan Quan and Xiao Zha tensed simultaneously. Xiao Zha quickly vanished, leaving only a faint blue light flickering in the air. Ruan Quan took a deep breath, forced herself to remain calm, straightened her clothes, and sat down in front of the dressing table.

The door was gently pushed open, and Bi'er, a maid from the Sang family, came in carrying a bowl of medicine. "Miss, this is a calming medicine that Master asked me to brew. Please drink it while it's hot." Bi'er placed the bowl of medicine on the table, her eyes filled with concern.

Ruan Quan forced a smile: "Thank you, Bi'er. Leave it here, I'll drink it later." After Bi'er left, Ruan Quan stared at the bowl of medicine, his heart filled with doubt, wondering if there were any other secrets in the medicine.

Xiao Zha reappeared and floated to Ruan Quan's side: "Host, what do we do now? Sang Xuan must have noticed something amiss. We need to speed things up."

Ruan Quan bit her lip, her gaze resolute: "We need to find a way to break the barrier of the secret chamber, rescue Mother, and obtain the totem fragment. But before that, we must find out Sang Xuan's next plan and avoid alerting him."

Outside the window, dark clouds obscured the moonlight, plunging the Sang residence into deeper darkness, and a greater crisis seemed to be brewing...