Within the square.
Qin Yu tightly frowned as he slowly retracted his fist. What lay in front of him was a fathomless black hole, and Mantuo, who had originally been in the spot of the black hole, had vanished from sight.
Just who had saved her?
That aura that arrived just now had been evil and cold. It carried with it a rich flavor of death, as if it had been buried in the ground for countless years.
He closed his eyes. His divine sense burst out, sweeping all around him like a hurricane. Then after a long time, he opened his eyes, a cloudy expression on his face.
There was no trail left behind. It was like her entire being had been erased.
His frown deepened. Qin Yu suddenly felt that this palace around him was much more mystical than before.
He took a deep breath and quickly composed himself. Although he hadn’t been able to eliminate Mantuo, this didn’t matter to him too much. If it weren’t for the fact that he just happened to have an appropriate solution to get rid of all these people at once, he wouldn’t even have bothered with these cultivators from the Three United Trade Association.
Finding more stone beads and unraveling the mystery behind the palace was what truly mattered in his mind.
If she ran away then she ran away. She had best not make another appearance before him, otherwise he would simply kill her and be done with it.
Qin Yu’s figure flickered and he left the square. He sank into the thick fog and started exploring other unknown regions of the divine palace.
…
Deep within the sealed stone ‘nebula’. Here, each sealed stone was inconceivably large. Each one seemed like an ancient divine mountain that reached into the heavens.
On one of these sealed stones, a massive luxurious palace had been constructed. Within this palace, in the grand hall, three figures sat around a round table.
There was tea steaming on the table that exuded an enchanting fragrance. If someone with a low level of cultivation were to take a sip, they would blow apart from the strength contained within the tea!
True peak existences, regardless of where they were, always had the qualifications to live lives that average and mediocre people would never be able to imagine.
But at this moment, the three figures in the hall weren’t in the mood to enjoy this incomparably precious spirit tea. They allowed the strength it contained to fade away.
There was an invisible suppression in the room. It made the air still and quiet, like an invisible layer of ice…but in the end, the silence would be broken.
The one in the main position facing the doors of the hall suddenly spoke up. He was an old man wearing black robes with purple stripes. “Those people that entered the Sea of Bewildering Fog have already died.”
There had been 64 experts. Most of them were at the peak of Blue Sea and there were even half-step Calamity Immortals. But when he spoke about them, they seemed completely inconsequential. Within the almost completely closed off environment of the Sealed Stone World, a massive number of masters had been acc.u.mulated over the long years. If one wasn’t a Calamity Immortal then they weren’t worthy of much attention.
To the left, a middle-aged man with silver hair spoke up, “This man was able to take advantage of the walking corpses to kill the cultivators of the trade association. It’s clear that he has the strength to frighten the walking corpses. Is he relying upon some external object or himself?”
The last person said, “Regardless of what the reason is, we must obtain it. If we aren’t restricted by the walking corpses and we can avoid those statues, we might have a chance of uncovering the secrets of the Sea of Bewildering Fog.”
The black and purple-robed old man revealed a thoughtful look. “I am only worried that our actions will draw the attention of the sequencers.”
The silver-haired middle-aged man sneered, “What is there to be afraid of? They are just lucky people who arrived a little earlier than us. If we really have to fight them there isn’t necessarily a reason to fear them.”
The last person said, “That may be so, but we should still be careful. Don’t forget about Frostfire who died some time ago. He was preparing to attack the sequence, but in the end he died inexplicably.”
The silver-haired middle-aged man stood up, “If we don’t give it our all and struggle then we will never have the opportunity to step into the sequence. If you are scared, I will do it myself.”
The old man waved his hand, “Silver King is right. We have to make a bet sooner or later. There’s no reason to miss out on this opportunity before us.” He looked at the last man. “I will join.”
After several breaths of time, the last person said, “Alright.”
…
Atop the pure white altar, blood red flames crazily burned. Mantuo was wrapped in torn flower petals within, recklessly laughing.
“You will never be able to kill me. But as long as you agree to my condition, I will give up my resistance and allow you to complete your sacrifice.”
Shu He said, “Speak.”
Mantuo lifted a hand. Black energy wove together within the blood red flames, condensing into Qin Yu’s figure.
“Find him. Then, in the cruelest way imaginable, kill him!”
Shu He nodded, “Very well, I agree!”
The black Devil’s Snare flower petals directly decomposed. The woman in the blood red flames cackled as she was reduced to ashes.
…
The deeper Qin Yu ventured into the divine palace, the more statues there were. Perhaps because the green ‘god water’ covered up his aura, or perhaps because the statues dreaded its strength, Qin Yu was able to temporarily rid himself of the threat from the statues. When he suppressed his desire to finish swallowing the remaining ‘god water’, it was clear it had been the correct decision to make.
And most importantly, after removing the threat of the statues, the entire divine palace held almost no more danger to Qin Yu. He could calmly walk through it and slowly dig out its secrets.
In a smaller temple, Qin Yu stood before a statue. When he saw the skeletons covering the ground, a grim expression crossed his face.
Since entering the Sea of Bewildering Fog, he had seen many dead people in the form of walking corpses. But this was the first time he had seen this type of skeleton. Of course, the reason he was so cautious was because this skeleton gave off an unusual feeling.
Even if the person had died and all that was left behind were bones, it still emitted an extremely sharp and fierce aura. It was like a sword aimed at the skies, about to stab a hole in the heavens.
Each bone had strange markings atop it. They started from the foot bones, making their way up the legs. Using the spine as a channel, the radiated out through the ribs, meeting back up at the neck, and snaking their way up around the head to finally merge at the point between the eyebrows.
Although Qin Yu had no idea what these lines represented, he still felt an instinctual sense of awe…to have such a feeling with his current cultivation, these markings had to be extraordinary.
After a brief hesitation, Qin Yu stood before the skeleton, cupped his hands together, and bowed. Then, with a flick of his sleeves he put the skeleton away. After looking around and seeing no other harvests, he turned to leave.
But as he stepped out of the temple doors, a deep thunderous ringing came from the distance. Then, a thick pall of fog rushed towards him like a tsunami.
Hu –
Wind howled against him, causing him to narrow his eyes. He lifted a hand and grasped forward. He slowly opened his eyes, his pupils shining as he did.
Stone bead!
What was grasped in his hand was a low-grade stone bead. Without any hesitation, Qin Yu howled forward.
A formidable aura tumbled all around his body, breaking apart the fog that hurled his away. Excitement appeared in Qin Yu’s eyes. His most basic goal of coming to the Sea of Bewildering Fog was to obtain stone beads to enhance his will. Now, he had finally made some discoveries.
Whoosh –
Another stone bead wrapped in fog came howling his way. Qin Yu lifted a hand and grabbed it. But then, his eyebrows rose at this moment. He lifted his other hand and grabbed a green leaf.
It seemed ordinary and common. The markings on it were clear, as if it were a leaf he could find anywhere outside. But this was the Sealed Stone World. Besides stone, there should be nothing else here.
Was there plant life in this palace?
Qin Yu held onto this leaf and his speed increased by several degrees. When he came to a stop he had already obtained six stone beads along the way.
What was in front of him was the entrance to a grand palace. The gates had been broken apart by some unknown strength, leaving half a door hanging ajar. The strong winds were coming from deep inside this palace.
Qin Yu carefully looked over. As expected, beneath the broken palace door, there were some stone beads that had been blocked…as well as some green leaves.
It was here!
But entering the palace wasn’t a simple matter. 12 giant statues stood above the palace gates. Their appearance was sudden and incongruous with their surroundings. It was apparent that they had been moved here afterwards.
Besides the statues, there was a dense crowd of walking corpses shambling around outside the palace gates. They often look towards the palace as if they were earnestly seeking something.
As if suddenly sensing the arrival of a strange new aura, the walking corpses turned their heads. Their ash gray eyes caused one’s heart to shrink.
Rah!
The walking corpses roared, their faces fiercely twisting.
Qin Yu was expressionless. A formidable will suddenly erupted, causing the thick fog to tumble even further. It was like an invisible storm swept through the world. Wherever it went, walking corpses would stiffen and they would emit low roars of fear and alarm.
They all withdrew in a panic. The fierce looks on their faces had transformed into terror.
Amongst the walking corpses in front of Qin Yu, several of them had especially formidable auras. If his will wasn’t able to suppress them, even Qin Yu would find it troublesome to deal with them.
And besides them, there were other things he had to deal with.
Among the 12 statues, there were humans, beasts, as well as other strange and unusual looking life forms. At this moment, they were all wildly absorbing the fog around them.