The fierce battle from before, even though it has been a day or two, still leaves people too afraid to approach.
...
...
The ancient tomb had long since collapsed.
The sacrificial array’s shield blocked all the debris of stones and sand outside.
Long Yinghai’s originally pale and cold face was now in utter disarray, his strong body fragile beyond measure. He looked up at the swirling pitch-black aura before him, murmuring, "Why is there so much Netherworld’s Qi, and... how could it be utilized into an array?"
The Dragon Tomb Ancient Race had long explored ancient tombs, so they were naturally familiar with the Netherworld’s Qi.
And True Spirit Fragments, they weren’t unfamiliar with either.
When other races first encountered the "True Spirit Fragments" and were shocked, the Dragon Tomb Ancient Race had already discovered some "True Spirit Fragments" and "Ancient Cultivation Methods" through ancient tombs. These techniques, combined with the Dragon Tomb Ancient Race’s own traits, were what made them the strongest among the Ancient Races.
It’s quite laughable; the true talent of the Dragon Tomb Ancient Race was in "Beast Taming," enabling them to completely control demon beasts, even groups of them, thus serving the function of one person being equivalent to an army.
The two flood dragons pulling Long Yinghai’s palanquin were controlled by him through talent. Each flood dragon barely achieved the Purple Mansion Level in power. But now, within this sacrificial grand array, he was completely isolated, unable to summon the flood dragons at all.
Not to mention the flood dragons, even summoning the ancestors of his own tribe was impossible.
Compared to this predicament formed by Netherworld’s Qi, the Soul Threshold seemed insignificant.
But Long Yinghai truly saw for the first time so much Netherworld’s Qi, and such an extravagant amount of True Spirit Fragments was also unprecedented for him.
He had a vague premonition: perhaps a new era was dawning.
But what kind of era it was, he did not know.
The Divine Tiger King feebly said, "Lords, we... we should try with all our might once more."
Ye Congfeng glanced at him and said, "Fool! If this array could be broken by force, we would have done so already! Now the only method is to forcibly sustain ourselves through our inner reserves for as long as possible.
The disturbance at this ancient tomb is so great, soon someone will come. Even if not, by time reckoning... the Formless Celestial Venerable will arrive soon enough."
The Divine Tiger King was somewhat collapsing, saying, "But I... I can’t hold on any longer. I think we should break the array; those two monsters might come back!"
But no matter what he said, neither Long Yinghai nor Ye Congfeng paid him any heed.
The Divine Tiger King, helpless, at last... with a miserable scream, his entire being turned to ashes, merging into the sacrificial grand array.
The life energy accumulated on the array’s surface seemed to be waiting to be devoured.
And at this moment, Long Yinghai vaguely sensed something, his eyes snapping open, only to see a figure sweep the vast ruins aside, landing before the array shield.
Long Yinghai recognized this figure as the one he had impatiently driven away to be cannon fodder earlier.
"You... who exactly are you?"
Before the question was completed, a streak of grey light flashed in his eyes.
The light, in the form of shackles, instantly entangled his divine soul.
"Nine-Child... Demon... Mother!!"
Long Yinghai roared madly, gathering his divine soul power to resist. At other times he could hold on for a moment, but now...
"Master."
"Nine-Child Demon Mother, master."
The exclamation point turned into the most humble voice.
Song Yan glanced at Ye Congfeng, calmly saying, "Kill him."
Ye Congfeng was startled, hurriedly standing up.
Long Yinghai had already plunged forth in madness, pointed a finger, piercing Ye Congfeng’s skull.
Song Yan deployed the Chang Soul Evil Pearl, the Changwang Tiger Pattern on the pearl imitating shackles, which pulled Ye Congfeng’s divine soul onto the prayer beads, while Ye Congfeng’s body, deprived of the shield of power, turned into pure life energy within the sacrificial array.
Song Yan looked at the sacrificial array, slightly silent, before devouring all life energy on it.
A strong sense of pleasure surged within him; he vaguely sensed the white-clad immortal on the Free Celestial Demon Map becoming increasingly solid, its demon’s sound and demon body also advancing, and beyond that... the blank eyes had faint traces of deeper contours emerging.
Song Yan searched around, spending some time, found the array plate of the "Yin Mansion Sacrificial Array," dismantled the array, and put it away. Then he turned to the Netherworld’s Qi, attempting to collect it, but with just a touch, a deathly chill of dread flooded him.
Like being frozen, when he came back to his senses, the Netherworld’s Qi had vanished without a trace, dissipating outward...
The heavens seemed enraged; one moment the sky was full of stars, the next it turned into a maelstrom of sand and rocks, with a brewing storm...
In the ruins of the ancient tomb, soil was dug deep, revealing a stone tablet previously obscured, and on it were inscribed some characters.
Song Yan realized at a glance that this was the ancient cultivation method.
But with that mere glance, thunderclouds rolled across the sky, and almost in an instant, crimson celestial tribulations streaked across the firmament.
He turned and fled swiftly.
Red lightning struck down.
The entire stone tablet turned to dust.
A sudden downpour descended, whipped by the storm’s fury, rampaging wildly, transforming into a vast sea flowing horizontally.
An Li stood in the rain, the only audience permitted to witness the truth. By now, the rain had dampened her hair, her eyes’ black and white irises turning bewildered. When Song Yan took her away quickly and told her some things, she seemed to mature in a day, becoming somewhat silent.
Several days later, she, accompanied by Song Yan, merged seamlessly with the arriving contingents of the Formless Ancient Race for an investigation, sneaking aboard the Flying Palanquin as if they’d been inside all along.
The petite female cultivator sat like a doll, silent and wordless.
Song Yan lifted her, placing her little body on his lap, holding her as emotions beyond understanding rippled gently with the Palanquin’s sway.
Suddenly, Song Yan seemed to sense something, drawing back the curtain a bit.
Tang Yi reported from outside, "The storm in the distance shows no sign of abating."
Song Yan glanced at the dense black clouds afar and said, "Let’s pause for two days, then proceed."
...
Ancient tomb ruins.
A large number of True Spirit Fragments remained, not taken away.
Long Yinghai sat cross-legged amidst the wind and rain, quickly recovering.
His orders were: if encountering the Night King Ancient Race, or those from other races, attack immediately, heavily wound, or even... kill!