Venturing a few steps deeper along the stone platform, Chu Bai’s Divine Thought detected a mechanism.
’So, an Acquired construction.’
With a final turn of the mechanism, the ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed.
Chu Bai’s body plummeted like a swallow diving into an abyss. In the instant he fell, the crisp whistle of the wind in his ears rapidly deepened into a dull, thunderous roar.
That wasn’t the sound of natural wind, but the vibrations of extremely compressed air.
The instant he reached the bottom of the pit, Chu Bai felt his very flesh being dragged down. The space around him seemed to have turned from light air into viscous glue, and even the circulation of Magical Power in his body faltered for a second.
Five times the gravity!
"Hmph!"
Chu Bai grunted, and a series of rapid cracks, like popping beans, echoed from his bones.
He had cultivated the Iron Bone Casting Body Technique to Perfection, strengthening his body to the point it could withstand a direct blow from an Upper Grade Dharma Artifact. Had it been any ordinary Qi Cultivation practitioner, they would have been instantly crushed into a pile of gore under this terrifying, sudden pressure.
THUD!
His feet slammed into the ground, and a web of cracks instantly spread across the dark gold stone tiles.
Chu Bai steadied himself. Protected by the Land God’s divinity, his Mastery-level Guardian Scripture Divine Thought pushed against the immense pressure and spread out like a tide.
’This place... looks like an ancient battlefield.’
Before him lay a vast underground palace, its domed ceiling soaring hundreds of feet high.
The walls were covered with vicious claw marks and sword punctures of unfathomable depth. The air was no longer filled with the faint, green Evil Qi of the outside world, but with a "Divine Fiend"—an amalgam of Divine Dao Authority and potent despair.
The aura was sickening, yet it carried a chilling, murderous intent that made the heart pound.
VMMMM—!
As if awakened by the aura of a living being—Chu Bai—the mountain-like piles of broken weapons at the end of the corridor a few hundred yards away began to vibrate in unison.
Evil Qi converged, and dozens of translucent figures slowly rose from the rubble. They were clad in tattered armor and wielded broken swords, their eyes glowing with a bloody red light. The Spiritual Pressure emanating from each was no weaker than that of a cultivator at Qi Cultivation Perfection!
"Traveler, be careful..." The Clay Soil on his back seemed to shrink, its voice trembling with unconcealable fear. "These things were born from the Resentment of the Lingma Mountain God’s personal guards. They’re ruthless enough to devour a man, bones and all."
"The Lingma Mountain God?"
Chu Bai snorted, and the Fire Element Ring on his right wrist instantly flared with a scorching crimson light.
"They were personal guards in life. In death, they should rest in peace!"
Fire Step Ascension!
Even suppressed by five times the normal gravity, Chu Bai moved with astonishing speed. Faced with dozens of sharp Sword Qi strikes rushing toward him, he didn’t meet them head-on. Instead, his body moved like a serpent, weaving through the gaps between the sword images.
Golden Eye Breaking Illusion (Microscopic)!
In his vision, these Sword Evil Spirits were not invincible. Their core lay not in their ethereal bodies, but in the sliver of residual Divine Fiend that clung to the fragments of their broken blades.
"Shatter!"
Sidestepping a sword gust powerful enough to pierce through rock, Chu Bai formed his right hand into a finger-sword. Concentrating the Power of his Formless Cloud Hand into a single point, he precisely struck an opening under the lead Sword Evil Spirit’s ribs.
BOOM!
The Qi Cultivation Perfection Level Sword Evil Spirit stiffened for a moment, then, like snow melting under a scorching sun, it exploded into a cloud of ash.
Chu Bai charged into their ranks like a tiger pouncing on a flock of sheep.
When he couldn’t dodge in time, he used his own body as a shield, enduring several stray strands of Sword Qi. The impacts produced metallic CLANGS against his skin. With every palm he thrust, another one of the abominations was completely annihilated by the Microscopic-level impact of his Magical Power.
A quarter of an hour later, the raucous corridor fell silent once more.
Wiping a trickle of blood from the web of his thumb, a result of the impacts, Chu Bai looked toward the sealed, dark gold door ahead. From it, he sensed an aura as heavy as a mountain.
"All right, talk. This ’Lingma Mountain God’ you mentioned, what exactly was it?" Chu Bai asked in a low voice, steadying his breath.
The Clay Soil seemed to have completely recovered its wits. It remained silent for a long moment before speaking in a haunting voice, "It... its domain spanned a thousand li, and it received the worship of the masses. Its body was colossal, and with a single gesture, it could shatter mountains and stop rivers. It was a true Imperial Decree True God from before this world was broken."
"Extremely powerful."
The Land God’s assessment was succinct, but it sent a jolt through Chu Bai.
Chu Bai silently weighed the implications. ’A domain of a thousand li... In the Great Zhou’s current system of Divine Dao Ranks, a Divine Spirit capable of governing a domain that vast would be at least Regular Eighth-Grade. This Secret Realm is unique, so its rank might have been even higher. Could it have been equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Level when it was alive? If so, this is dangerous. The legacy left behind by a True God of this magnitude is unlikely to be simple.’
Chu Bai stared at the great door, the greed in his eyes slowly giving way to a sharp battle intent.
He raised his hand and pushed hard against the dark gold door.
As it swung open, he was not met with the sight of a floor littered with dazzling Gold and Silver Dharma Artifacts, but rather a hall so empty it felt desolate.
In the center of the hall was a pool that had long since run dry.
The cracked bottom of the pool revealed a pattern resembling dragon scales.
In the middle of the pool, a lone, green stone pillar stood tall. Atop the pillar, a Bright Pearl about the size of a baby’s fist, entirely a murky yellow color, hovered silently.
The Bright Pearl appeared unremarkable, but within the vision of Chu Bai’s Golden Eye Shattering Illusion, the space around it was strangely distorted, as if that tiny spot was withstanding an immeasurable weight.
"Profound Yellow Earth Essence!"
Chu Bai gasped, his eyes filled with utter shock.

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