by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Although they weren’t able to see the chain clearly, for it to be able to contain an Ancestral item showed how terrifying it was. Ancestral items had their own spirits. If the chain wasn’t strong enough, it would have fled on its own.
“Let’s get closer.”
The three of them came out of the rocks. Based on their previous experience, this light beam would continue for two days. Going now under the shadow of the light would be safer.
Now that they had reached this point, this region was no longer defended by hidden sentries. However, they were still careful.
When they reached the top of the mountain and saw the situation, they all sucked in a cold gasp of air.
At the top of the mountain were countless holes. Some were large and some were small. They were placed randomly. There would at least be one hole every one hundred miles.
As for the golden armor, it was floating above one of the holes, and the chain binding it was coming out of the hole.
“Long Chen, do you want to try seeing if we can sever the chain and take away the golden armor?” Bao Buping was tempted.
“No rush. There are countless treasures here. Perhaps the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet is in one of these holes. But we can’t check them all one by one. If we tried, we’d probably draw the attention of this world’s creatures. Right now, we should investigate the situation around here. But remember, we have to stay calm at all times,” warned Long Chen.
The two of them hastily nodded. As they got closer to the secrets of Devil Spirit Mountain, they were starting to lose control of their emotions.
On the other hand, Long Chen was still as calm as ever, his emotions not even rippling because of the treasures here. Just this one point made Bao Buping and Chang Hao ashamed. Compared to Long Chen, they were clearly too immature.
Long Chen looked around and said, “Let’s go look at the center.”
This mountain was too huge. Even though they had reached the top, they still weren’t able to see what was going on in the center.
The three of them carefully approached. But just a couple hundred miles in, they were struck dumb by what they saw.
None of them had imagined that at the center was actually a huge square pit. It was hundreds of miles wide, and so deep that all they saw was darkness. But they were vaguely able to see some things on the walls. They couldn’t see clearly with their eyes, but they also didn’t dare to use their divine sense.
“Let’s go down.”
Looking at the darkness below, he beckoned to the two of them. They began to climb down the wall like geckos.
“Be careful. Don’t touch these black lines. Those are formation lines,” whispered Long Chen suddenly as they climbed.
Huge black lines had started appearing on the walls. They were not all conspicuous and looked just like natural rock veins. But Long Chen’s senses warned him they were traps.
Bao Buping and Chang Hao heard his warning and became even more careful, focusing all their senses on avoiding the black lines.
The three of them descended straight down. After several miles, a notch appeared in the wall.
This notch was four feet deep and two meters tall. Seeing it, Long Chen, Bao Buping, and Chang Hao almost let out a startled cry. That was because a person was standing within the notch.
“Don’t move. He’s already dead.”
Long Chen hastily stopped Chang Hao and Bao Buping from attacking. If they did, it would cause huge fluctuations.
Bao Buping and Chang Hao stopped their hands that were already starting to attack. Only now did they realize that this person was standing still. However, he possessed a powerful aura. He was clearly a Soul Transformation expert.
Carefully examining him, they saw he was very young, looking to be in his twenties. Within his aura were the fluctuations of Heavenly Dao energy.
“He’s a rank seven Celestial,” said Bao Buping with surprise.
A rank seven Celestial who had reached the Soul Transformation realm. He was definitely a powerful existence, and such a young Soul Transformation expert was truly rare.
Furthermore, this person was exceptionally calm, looking like he was in his meditative state. He wasn’t moving at all, and his body was constantly absorbing energy from heaven and earth like he was cultivating.
If Long Chen hadn’t said that he was dead, they really would have thought that he was a living person.
“His soul has already vanished. All that’s left is a husk.” Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength was powerful, and he instantly saw through this person’s condition.
In truth, he was also very shocked. If a person’s soul had vanished, then it meant that they were dead. But his corpse was still cultivating. That went completely against the cultivation world’s laws.
He carefully pushed the corpse lightly, and it moved aside. Seeing what was behind him, the three of them were once more shocked.
Chapter 1262 A Ghastly Sight
There was a black chain stabbing the corpse through its spine. The chain was extremely strange, but the most shocking thing was that this chain seemed to be alive, as if it was pulsating flesh. It contained its own living aura.
It was like the chain was growing out of the corpse’s back. It connected to the stone wall behind him, and they could clearly sense the corpse’s energy slowly being extracted.
Long Chen, Bao Buping, and Chang Hao’s scalps turned numb. This sight was simply appalling. They continued downward and quickly saw another notch with another corpse.
This corpse was of a female, and its aura was even stronger. She had fire-red hair and was very beautiful. There was a scale growing on her forehead.
“It’s an ancient race expert,” whispered Bao Buping. She possessed the specific aura of the ancient races, and it was easy to recognize her just from her appearance.
She was also a rank seven Celestial and had reached the Soul Transformation realm. If she had been alive, her power would have been terrifying.
“Are these corpses from the dark era?” asked Chang Hao.
Long Chen shook his head. “Her robes don’t look like they come from that era. And based on the texture of her hair, this corpse’s age must be under ten thousand years.”
As an alchemist, he had to be knowledgeable about the corrosion of time. It was a fundamental skill for alchemists when distinguishing the ages of medicinal ingredients.
“How is that possible? If she only entered once the Sovereign seal weakened, how could her cultivation base be above the Jade Core realm?” said Bao Buping.
It was only after Devil Spirit Mountain’s Sovereign Blood Seal had weakened that the Martial Heaven Continent’s experts had been able to probe Devil Spirit Mountain. Basically everyone who went in never came out. It was unknown how many heavenly geniuses had been devoured.
Long Chen looked at the two of them. “The only possibility is that she broke through to the Soul Transformation realm after becoming a corpse.”
Their expressions changed. Such a thing was too bizarre. Sensing the woman’s aura, it was like she was meditating. Then looking at the chain behind her, they were unable to refute this theory.
Long Chen’s expression was also grave. Devil Spirit Mountain was even stranger and more dangerous than he had expected. Once more warning the two of them to absolutely not touch the black marks, they continued downward.
As they continued descending, they saw more and more notches in the walls with corpses. The atmosphere was so tense that it was hard for them to breathe.
These corpses were all young and powerful Celestials. Seeing them stabbed through the back by chains in the wall was a ghastly sight.
The notches were lined up in even rows. There would be one every three hundred meters.
The majority of the notches had corpses in them, but some were empty with only a chain inside.
Seeing this, Long Chen’s heart sank. This square-shaped giant pit was like a deep well. If these notches continued in this pattern, then just
how many notches did there have to be within this pit? Just how many corpses?
As they went deeper, they noticed that the corpses actually grew stronger. There were rank eight Celestials amongst them.
Seeing rank eight Celestials had been turned into corpses, Bao Buping and Chang Hao’s hearts pounded. These were existences on the same level as them.
“Bastards, this is a senior of our Heaven Splitting Battle Sect!” As they continued downward, Bao Buping and Chang Hao suddenly saw the robes of the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. Their killing intent immediately soared.
But before they could reach out to sever the chain, Long Chen held them back. “Now isn’t the time to save them.”
“Unacceptable! I won’t allow these bastards to blaspheme the corpse of my Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s senior!” raged Bao Buping.
Long Chen furiously replied, “Do you still remember why we came here?! If you sacrificed all our lives to save a corpse, just how stupid would you be? Since they’ve come to Devil Spirit Mountain, all of these people knew what they were getting themselves into. Our goal is the Heaven Splitting Divine Tablet and Devil Spirit Mountain’s secrets. If you cause our deaths here, will you be able to face the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s ancestors in death?”
“Buping, the old man already told us to listen to Long Chen. And he’s right.” Chang Hao was equally infuriated, but he still retained some of his rationality.
Bao Buping gradually calmed down as he stared at Long Chen’s iron-stiff expression. Looking at the corpse, killing intent raged in his eyes, but he didn’t say any more.
Just at this moment, the sound of the wind changed. They immediately recognized it to be something flying through the air.
“What now?!” Bao Buping and Chang Hao were both caught off-guard. This sound was clearly not just one person. There had to be several of this world’s creatures flying over.
In this kind of place, let alone fighting, just the slightest carelessness could end up causing them to touch the forbidden restrictions here, while these creatures could probably come and go as they please.
Long Chen couldn’t care that much any longer, and he spread his divine sense to find the empty spots. “Get over here. There are three empty spots. We’ll disguise ourselves as corpses.”
They stood in the notches, taking the same posture as the other corpses. They even made the fluctuations of their aura as steady as them.
They had only just set themselves up when over ten of those winged creatures flew over. They held a person in their hands. He was a cultivator. Long Chen stealthily used his divine sense to see that it was a rank eight Celestial who was also at the Foundation Forging realm.
He clearly had to be a disciple from a powerful sect. However, his robes were foreign to him so he wasn’t able to tell what sect he came from. But such a powerful genius couldn’t possibly be a wild cultivator.
Long Chen closed his eyes and didn’t move. Bao Buping and Chang Hao did the same. They solemnly acted dead.
Long Chen suddenly realized that they were coming for him. That was because there was an empty spot beside him for the cultivator.
As soon as this thought formed in his head, those creatures arrived beside him. He could smell the scent of blood coming from them. It was like they were the offspring of evil and violence born in blood.
One of them tossed the cultivator into the notch beside Long Chen. The cultivator let out a pained grunt. He was actually not yet dead.
These creatures icily stared at him like he was a pig for the slaughter.
One of them grabbed the chain coming out of the wall. Its tip flickered with a cold, sharp light.
The chain stabbed through the cultivator’s back, causing him to let out a miserable scream that resounded throughout the pit.
“Jiejie…”
The creatures laughed bizarrely. That laughter was as painful to listen to as scraping iron. But from that laugh, it was possible to tell that they delighted in his suffering.
Long Chen involuntarily clenched his fists. Although he wasn’t a friend of this cultivator, seeing these creatures torment a fellow human like this still infuriated him.
The cultivator’s screams lasted for a few breaths before his body turned stiff. His screams came to a halt, and his twisted and pained expression became calm.
Using the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art’s senses, Long Chen sensed the chain absorbing the cultivator’s soul. Once his soul was stripped from him, he entered an extremely strange state. It was like he had become a living corpse.
A strange energy also came out of the chain, causing the cultivator to suddenly become covered in runes. Then he entered a bizarre cultivation state just like the other corpses.
After a few minutes of watching, seeing that the cultivator was completely motionless, the creatures flew away.
But although they had left, Long Chen didn’t move. He still felt a sense of danger that hadn’t passed.
Seeing Long Chen hadn’t moved, Bao Buping and Chang Hao also didn’t move. It took a full two hours before a figure appeared in the sky. It was another one of this world’s creatures.
This creature once more checked the cultivator that had just been caught before leaving.
Only once it left did the feeling of danger pass. Long Chen sighed with relief. Confirming there was no more danger, he slowly began to move.
“Fuck, what a crafty thing. We almost got duped.” Bao Buping wiped off some sweat.
Just now, he had almost spoken. Fortunately, he had been smart enough to glance at Long Chen and see him standing there motionless. Otherwise, they would have been screwed. Perhaps after being with Long Chen for so long, he had also learned to use his head a bit.
“That creature wasn’t targeting us. It was targeting this cultivator. His soul was sucked away by the chain, and the creature wanted to see if he had split his soul and created a spiritual clone,” said Long Chen.
Many cultivators made spiritual clones to protect against the worst-case scenario. At a critical time, they could sacrifice the clone to protect the main body. This creature had been lying in wait to prevent this.
Now that two hours had passed, that person’s spiritual fluctuations had completely vanished, allowing it to leave.
“Let’s go. I want to see what secrets Devil Spirit Mountain is hiding.”
Long Chen waved his hand, and the three of them once more began to carefully descend. After two hours, they finally saw the end of the pit and a huge altar. Seeing that altar, they were filled with shock.
Chapter 1263 The Mysterious Coffin
At the bottom of this huge, square pit was an altar suspended in the air by four huge chains.
These chains were all ten meters thick and flowing with energy. They were like four black dragons connected to the altar.
There was a huge amount of energy slowly flowing from the chains into the altar. Divine runes floated around the altar, and its terrifying aura made Long Chen, Bao Buping, and Chang Hao’s hair stand on end.
“What damn thing is this?!” Bao Buping and Chang Hao became covered in cold sweat.
“It’s probably connected to the corpses in the notches. Let’s go take a look,” said Long Chen.
“Don’t you think we’ll startle this world’s creatures?” asked Chang Hao gravely. They couldn’t help but feel terrified in front of this altar. That was a feeling that came from the core of their souls.
“Since we’ve come, we have to take a look.” Long Chen suppressed his aura as much as possible and carefully stepped onto one of the chains. The chain didn’t react to him at all.
Long Chen felt like he had stepped onto a powerful current. He could sense boundless energy pouring into the altar.
“This current of energy is extremely complicated. Looks like the corpses on the walls really only exist for this altar,” muttered Long Chen.
Bao Buping and Chang Hao exchanged a glance. Clenching their teeth, they also stepped onto the chain.
The chain was so huge that the three of them were like three ants crawling along it. It took them six hours to walk across.
As they got closer, the pressure grew more terrifying. When they reached the divine runes, they were blocked from getting any closer. The divine runes blocked their sight as well.
“Now what?” Bao Buping and Chang Hao were dumbfounded. It had taken so long to reach this point, but it had been for nothing?
Long Chen looked at the divine runes and sank into thought. He slowly moved the black pot closer to them.
Long Chen was also extremely nervous. These divine runes were clearly some kind of formation. If they touched them directly… probably the three of them would be instantly killed by the formation even before this world’s lifeforms sensed them.
The only thing that could possibly work was the black pot. This mysterious treasure had to have its own miraculous abilities. After all, it came from that mysterious expert from the Four Nations Ancient Remnant.
Seeing Long Chen get closer to the formation, Bao Buping and Chang Hao’s hearts rose into their throats. Even if they were unafraid of death, to say they could be fearless in front of such a formation and in such an oppressive environment would be nonsense.
Death wasn’t to be feared. But a meaningless death would be too stupid.
When the black pot got close to the formation, the formation quivered ever so slightly. Seeing this, Long Chen sighed. There was no way this would work. The formation was already starting to react even at this distance.
Although the pot was strange and didn’t unleash any aura, it was still unable to hide from the formation’s senses.
Just as Long Chen was preparing to give up, the pot shook slightly and a small burst of particles flew out of it. Those particles were like the rust that formed on the bottom of a pot.
That ‘rust’ flew out and merged into the formation’s divine runes. A small opening a few feet wide opened up, delighting Long Chen.
“The pot really is mighty.” Long Chen praised the pot inside. It was truly worthy of being a treasure left behind by a transcendent power. It had boundless, marvelous uses.
