Chapter 1243 – Entering the Depths
According to Song Xiaojun, this broken sword was found in the body of an Invader that lived deep within the Chaos District; she concluded that this Quasi-emperor Invader had once been injured by someone at the Chaos District, which resulted in this broken blade being stuck in its body. This Invader had followed the rest of its kind to attack the Great Wall some time later and had been killed while trying to attack the Great Wall. The broken sword was then found in its body after it was killed.
Ye Qingyu finally knew why Song Xiaojun wanted to explore the Chaos District.
She had probably heard about Bai Yuanxing and the others who had gone missing and recognized where the broken sword had come from, so she deduced that it was highly likely that Bai Yuanxing and the others had fallen into the enemy's hands at the Chaos District for some unknown reason, which resulted in the blade being stuck in the Invader's body.
Ye Qingyu would have made the same decision himself.
"Let's go right now," he said and couldn't wait any longer.
He had never forgotten about Bai Yuanxing and the missing bright young boys and girls who numbered over two hundred, and was constantly searching for them. He had tried on several occasions to detect their whereabouts with his Emperor Detection Technique but it had not been effective, not being able to find any clues at all. It was as if those people had completely vanished.
Now, a clue had surfaced out of the blue.
He wasn't absolutely sure whether Bai Yuanxing and the others were in the depths of the Chaos District, but he had to take a look.
He didn't want to wait a second longer.
If Bai Yuanxing and the others were truly at the Chaos District trying desperately to survive in the midst of danger, and if he were to be too late to save them, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"I'll come with you," Song Xiaojun said earnestly.
Ye Qingyu wanted her to stay to rule over the Unmoving City of Darkness, but when he saw her earnest and hopeful expression, he nodded and said, "Very well, let's try to make this quick."
…
…
At the Chaos District’s littered area.
Dust spread across the air; a cruel and violent atmosphere hung in the air all around.
Many ancient men had named this place 'the edge of the world', and they were not wrong.
Ye Qingyu recalled that most of the domains throughout the Vast Thousand Domains were naturally endowed with conditions suitable for sustaining life, while the Dark Realm was comparatively poorer and life was extremely harsh. The only places that could sustain any lifeforms were the various Central Cities of the Dark Realm. However, the advantages of the Dark Realm laid in the fact that the laws of the universe were clearly defined and spiritual qi was found in higher concentrations. This was why there were so many martial arts experts within the Dark Realm while it had been many millions of years since true martial experts had appeared within the Vast Thousand Domains.
These two large districts were the world's normal districts.
The disorderly Chaos District was an abnormal district.
The place was cruel and devoid of life while there was a strong odor of burning sulfur in the air; terrifying bursts of fire would emerge from the ground at times. Fire that was powerful enough to instantly burn Heaven Ascension realm experts alive kept spewing out from the holes in black rocks at irregular intervals. Ye Qingyu witnessed how many Invaders—that were lazily resting on the black rocks—were turned to ashes the next instant after the fire burst out, exploding from the earth.
Moreover, the moment he entered the Chaos District, he clearly sensed that the power of laws were extremely violent and chaotic. If the power of laws at the Vast Thousand Domains was like a tiny stream and the power of laws at the Dark Realm was like a calm river, the power of laws in that zone was like a raging ocean.
How violent was the power of laws there?
The layer of chaotic dust in the void was formed precisely because of the violent power of laws.
There was a layer of chaotic dust spreading across the void, approximately a thousand meters above the ground. This dust was as thick as fog, completely blanketing the sky. Neither the sun nor the blue sky could be seen; the only thing visible was the dull darkness from the endless grey dust. Despite his powerful cultivation, even he could not see more than a thousand meters past this thick chaotic powder.
The chaotic dust contained such destructive power that only Quasi-emperor realm experts would be able to survive there. Martial artists who had yet to attain Quasi-emperor cultivation would be instantly shredded into a bloody mist by the chaotic laws of wind, if they were to enter this dust fog. It was even more impossible for warships to travel through this place. The warships that [The Beginning] was currently able to create would probably be destroyed as well.
This district was also occupied by large amounts of low-level Invaders.
These Invaders were all oddly-shaped. They looked like ancient violent beasts; they were all of varying shapes, but they were both ugly and savage-looking. It was as though their creator had randomly flung a handful of dirt out, and these beasts had taken on whatever shapes were formed when this handful of dirt landed on the ground.
These low-level Invaders didn't have any intellectual abilities and relied on their basic instincts. They were violent and bloodthirsty. They would even attack and kill their own kind; the victor of such skirmishes would become more powerful after consuming its own kind. This seemed to be the only way for the Invaders to become more powerful—they did not rely on cultivation methods.
The more he observed these Invaders, the more surprised he became.
He noticed that the shapes of these Invaders seemed familiar and looked like the spatial violent beasts that had surged out from the crack in space, when the Domain Gate to the Heavenly Wasteland Domain had opened. More importantly, the aura and outer appearance of the lowest-level Invaders seemed to be an exact match with the hordes of beasts that had attacked Deer City back then.
"Does this mean that the hordes of beasts that had attacked Deer City back then were in fact these lowest-level Invaders?"
Ye Qingyu was extremely shocked by this discovery.
The Invaders only existed within the Chaos District and over the years, the people of the Dark Realm had resisted their attacks, so they were forced to live in the Chaos District that was west of the Great Wall. Although these Invaders had successfully occupied the territory of the Dark Realm on several occasions throughout history, they had never managed to conquer the Dark Realm and were quickly driven away from the territory that they had claimed. Thus, the idea of them entering the Vast Thousand Domains seemed even more absurd. Why would there be Invaders masquerading as hordes of beasts outside the city walls of Deer City?
Moreover, this was not the first time that they had appeared.
When his parents died fighting the Invaders back then, they had been secretly attacked by that mysterious small sword.
The Invaders masquerading as hordes of beasts had only appeared outside Deer City and were not spotted at any other domain besides the Heavenly Wasteland Domain—as for the appearance of the puppet bloodworm, that should have been an exception. In regards to the Great Ancient Dragon Emperor who was corrupted by darkness, Ye Qingyu wanted to believe that they were puppets groomed by the Sky Emperor within the Vast Thousand Domains.
He became even more confused as he walked through the Chaos District.
The living conditions grew harsher.
As he walked deeper within the Chaos District, the layer of chaotic dust became sparser and the hurricane from the chaotic power of laws became more violent. The air rang with disorderly Dao sounds, resembling the angry growls of the ancient vicious beasts that would disappear and reappear elusively. The conditions were so terrible that one couldn’t help but shiver in fear.
Naturally, powerful experts such as Ye Qingyu and Song Xiaojun were not fazed by this.
They were here in search of traces from Bai Yuanxing and the others, and thus they concealed their appearance and aura with their Emperor qi, since they didn’t want to waste time. As they moved forward with their search, their presence was not discovered by the large amounts of Invaders that resided there.
They spent one entire morning searching and moving deeper into the Chaos District. After that, they were now several tens of thousands of kilometers deep within the Chaos District.
They noticed something different up ahead.
There were several extremely rare light yellow rocks in the depths of the black rocky hill. These yellow rocks were all of varying heights, arranged in an orderly manner on the hill. They stood out strikingly against the endless expanse of black burnt rocks and could be seen from a distance.
These were the abandoned ruins of an ancient city.
Ye Qingyu and Song Xiaojun were both very surprised.
How could there be signs that intellectual lifeforms had once lived in such a chaotic district?
They instantly arrived at the ruins of this ancient city.
The yellow stones were faded and dotted with age; many saber slashes and sword marks could be seen on the surfaces of these rocks. These stones were from an ancient age; from the surface area of the ruins of the ancient city, it was clear that it had once been gigantic at its peak, stretching for hundreds of kilometers. It was likely a flourishing city but now, all that was left were its crumbling walls and tiles. Its rich past had faded away in history; it was no longer possible for normal people to visit this historic site.
The city walls were in such terrible shape that it was impossible to determine in which era this ancient city had been built.
There was not a trace of martial aura left on the saber and sword marks that covered the crumbling city walls, the marks being old and weathered themselves.
Nonetheless, Ye Qingyu was heartened by what he saw.
These were all good signs.
The fact that such an ancient city had once existed had debunked all previous theories that the Chaos District could definitely not sustain any form of life. This also signified that this had once been a place where intellectual lifeforms had managed to flourish; the chances of Bai Yuanxing and the others surviving in such harsh conditions had also increased.
Ye Qingyu released his divine sense and it radiated across the surroundings.
Ye Qingyu and Song Xiaojun continued to make their way forward.
They were heartened when they continued to come across signs that seemed to point at the existence of intellectual lifeforms. They saw several broken pieces of armor, and an ancient war carriage that seemed to have been fossilized within the black volcanic rock, but they were still able to make out its shape…
As they made their way deeper into the Chaos District, they encountered even more Invaders.
There were several hundred thousands of Invaders, living in herds in large areas of this District. Each herd had a King-level Invader that had the ability to rule over and command lower-level Invaders; their roles were just like the commanders in the military organizing their troops. The more powerful Invaders seemed to have a higher level of intellect and were able to control their basic instincts to kill; they would also stop members of their herd from engaging in meaningless killing. The lower-level Invaders would obey the King-level Invaders' commands without fail, as though this was also part of their basic instincts.
The King-level Invaders were as powerful as martial artists of the Saint realm.
Six hours later, both Ye Qingyu and Song Xiaojun had already traveled several million kilometers deep into the Chaos District.
Ye Qingyu suddenly stopped and cocked his head to the side as he listened carefully.
He heard a series of angry growls in the howling chaotic windstorm.
These were the growls of a Quasi-emperor-level Invader; it seemed extremely enraged as though it was commanding the members of its herd to attack. There were also sounds of a fight; wisps of martial yuan qi ripples that Ye Qingyu was extremely familiar with, which could be detected in the chaotic windstorm, were appearing and disappearing elusively.
"These are the auras of formation yuan qi martial experts… Could it be Bai Yuanxing and the others?"
Ye Qingyu wondered in excitement.
