Chapter 2014: Where Are the Ancient Ruins?
Yan Huang and the others lifted their gaze, looking at the demonic handsome creature in the void, and said indifferently, "What he said isn't wrong. If we join forces to kill you, wouldn't that be even easier?"
The demonic handsome creature let out a sinister laugh, as if he had heard a joke. "A bunch of people who don't understand the rules. There have been many naive ones like you before, but in the end, they all died miserably."
As he spoke, his body suddenly became illusory, as if turning into a wisp of green smoke, dissipating without a trace, causing Lin Feng and the others' pupils to contract slightly.
"This ancient creature is quite strange," Lin Feng said with a slight frown, then added, "Let's search on our own."
"Alright." The others nodded in agreement. For now, they had to rely on themselves. The group flickered, soared into the air, and spread their divine senses to begin searching the castle. However, this castle seemed exactly as they had sensed—lonely, empty, like a dead city.
"Let's go down." At that moment, Lin Feng descended toward the ground, landing above a creature that had no lifeblood, and asked, "Do all eight castles have ancient ruins?"
The creature looked up at Lin Feng and the others, a hint of fear in its eyes, and nodded.
"Where are the ancient ruins?"
"I don't know. Only the guardian of the ruins knows where they are," the creature replied.
"Why don't we see any human martial cultivators in the castle?" Snow Moon Palace Master asked coldly.
"Human martial cultivators?" The creature's expression stiffened, a trace of panic appearing. Its lips moved as if it dared not speak.
"Speak." An old man beside Snow Moon Palace Master exuded a terrifying masculine aura and asked coldly. Instantly, the creature's face turned pale. It suddenly soared into the air and said, "I don't know."
"You're asking for death." The old man shot into the sky, but at that moment, a sound of a zither seemed to pierce through the void, transforming into a terrifying spear of death. The old man's body retreated explosively, and the spear plunged into the creature. In an instant, the creature directly dissipated, annihilated in the void.
Lin Feng's gaze suddenly turned, shooting into the distance. There, the demonic handsome creature had an eerie look in his eyes and was sneering at them. "In this castle, I am the king. If you don't obey my will, do you still think you can enter the ancient ruins?"
"Let's go check outside the city." Lin Feng said coldly, and then the group whistled out of the castle, causing the guardian creature's expression to stiffen, his face not looking good.
When Lin Feng and the others descended outside the castle, they saw quite a few human martial cultivators. They immediately dropped down and landed in front of a middle-aged man. Lin Feng asked, "Sir, why do so few human martial cultivators set foot in this castle? Is it because they fear those creatures?"
"Outsiders?" The man said indifferently.
Lin Feng and the others nodded. They knew that Emperor-level creatures could seize human bodies, which was probably why human martial cultivators avoided entering. But was it safe outside the castle?
"Emperor-level creatures can devour a person's spiritual energy and blood, strengthening themselves. They refine human martial cultivators into creatures as their killing moves. The stronger they become, the more formidable they are, until they directly possess and attach themselves to a human martial cultivator's body. These castles are their foundation—perhaps it's related to the ancient ruins. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that ordinary Emperor-level creatures can't leave the castle even one step. Only those whose spiritual energy and blood have been strengthened can leave the castle for a certain distance. Once they've grown strong enough to be like humans, they come out directly to devour people. We human martial cultivators also want to enter the castle to find the ancient ruins, but we dare not do so before we're strong enough. Since you're outsiders, take care of yourselves." The man said indifferently, then flickered away, seemingly unwilling to talk more with Lin Feng.
Moreover, this man's expression was quite sinister. If not for the fact that Lin Feng and his group were powerful, he probably wouldn't have bothered to respond to Lin Feng at all.
Lin Feng and the others exchanged glances, seeing a hint of caution in each other's eyes. This trip was likely more dangerous than they had imagined. The Emperor-level creature was an evil existence; it could devour spiritual energy and blood. And the guardians of the eight castles actually wanted them to fight and battle each other, leaving them no choice unless they gave up on entering the ruins. If they tried to seek refuge with another castle's guardian, that guardian wouldn't bother with them either, because what they wanted wasn't just to devour other guardians but also to consume these powerful outsiders.
Nutrients—to put it bluntly, those Emperor-level creatures treated these outsiders as nutrients to strengthen themselves.
"You have no choice." At that moment, a voice rolled in. Lin Feng and the others suddenly turned their gaze. Outside the castle ahead, a huge face appeared in the void—it was that demonic handsome creature. His face was eerie as he sneered, "Come back. If you don't join me in the war of conquest, they will kill you just the same. There's no second path."
With that, the demonic handsome face gradually disappeared. Lin Feng and the others looked quite displeased.
"I'm sorry. What I know is limited, as I've never actually been here before. It's only been a hundred years since someone last set foot in this sacred land's secret realm," Snow Moon Princess said apologetically.
"It's fine. Let's go with the flow. Let's enter the city," Lin Feng said coldly.
"After entering the city, do we really have to go to war with the other castles?" Snow Moon Princess sought Lin Feng's opinion.
"How can we let something that's neither human nor ghost dictate our actions? Kill him, and the ruins will eventually be revealed." Lin Feng's murderous intent spread, causing Snow Moon Princess's heart to tremble slightly.
Stepping into the castle, the ancient creature was there waiting for them, asking indifferently, "Have you made your decision?"
"Boom!" Lin Feng took a step forward. His terrifying demonic eyes seemed to pierce through the other's gaze, and the power of death twisted out, causing the demonic handsome creature's expression to stiffen. He snorted coldly and waved the zither strings in his hand. Instantly, countless creatures roared out.
But at that moment, Lin Feng's bloodline seemed to ignite. Flames shot into the sky, and a terrifying, extreme masculine aura raged. A roar rolled out. Lin Feng's body seemed as dazzling as the sun. A flame holy spirit materialized in the void, transforming into a sun sword that slashed down violently, carrying the roar of a death demon god holy spirit. With a crackling sound, the entire void was swept clean. Lin Feng charged straight ahead, heading directly for the demonic handsome creature.
"Ungrateful wretch." The demonic handsome man's expression turned extremely eerie. From his pupils, substantial phantom figures shot out, charging into Lin Feng's mind.
"Bright King Holy Spirits!" From between Lin Feng's brows, five Bright King Holy Spirits floated out. These five Bright Kings transformed into ferocious Tathagata bodies, subduing inner demons and slaying earthly demons. The bell sounds rolled, and those holy spirits shattered all soul attacks, surging forward. The terrifying images imprinted themselves into the demonic handsome man's pupils, causing his eyes to ache sharply.
"Kill!" Lin Feng struck out with a palm. The five holy spirits continued to charge forward to kill, while in his hand, sword-wielding holy spirits materialized. Lin Feng gripped them, and suddenly, a dazzling, terrifying sword light burst forth. This sword seemed to sever the heavens and split the universe.
"Chi..." The demonic handsome man's body was slashed apart. Instantly, countless creatures charged at Lin Feng, while wisps of green smoke scattered and fled, extremely fast and formless.
"I want you dead!" A rolling roar resounded through the void. Snow Moon Princess and the others wanted to pursue, but they found that the green smoke had split into thousands of strands. They only froze or obliterated part of it before the demonic handsome man's trace completely disappeared, leaving only the terrifying voice echoing in the air.
"Without him to lead the way, the ancient ruins will be hard to find," one of Snow Moon Princess's guards said.
"Since there are eight castles here, I believe those guardian creatures must know something. If they don't hand over the ruins, we'll annihilate them all, raze the castles to the ground, and let the human martial cultivators come in to sweep them clean." Lin Feng's expression was cold, causing the old man's heart to tremble slightly. He thought to himself that the Holy Emperor's consort had good judgment—this guy was a ruthless character with formidable strength. That demonic handsome creature, though not extremely powerful, was still at the Emperor level. Even after leaving its body, its soul was very formidable, yet it was suppressed by five Bright Kings. Moreover, the extreme masculine aura Lin Feng unleashed made Emperor-level creatures utterly vulnerable.
Lin Feng and the others flickered forward. However, after a short while, they saw Yan Huang and his group approaching. Upon seeing Lin Feng, Yan Huang said to Snow Moon Princess, "Did you try to kill the guardian creature?"
"If we don't kill him, he won't lead us to the ancient ruins," Snow Moon Princess replied.
"Nonsense. Don't you know that killing the guardian creature might make it impossible to find the entrance to the ancient ruins? We only needed to intimidate him a little, and you actually attacked." Yan Huang said coldly.
"Yan Huang, Snow Moon Princess also represents the Tianci Dynasty. Watch your tone," the old man beside Snow Moon Princess said displeasedly.
"How dare you. Is it your place to speak to me?" Yan Huang scolded, showing no courtesy.
"It was my decision to kill the guardian creature," Lin Feng said calmly, causing Yan Huang's gaze to slowly turn and land on Lin Feng. "Lin Feng, although you are a guest invited by the Tianci Dynasty, it's best not to interfere with my affairs."
"What I do doesn't require your meddling. I'm not your subordinate, and you have no right," Lin Feng said coldly, his sharp gaze pressing directly on Yan Huang.
Staring at Lin Feng, Yan Huang was silent for a moment, then snorted coldly. "You'd better pray we find the ancient ruins."
"You'd better not speak to me in that tone," Lin Feng immediately retorted, causing Yan Huang and his group's expressions to stiffen. An invisible pressure of confrontation seemed to clash in the void, as if it could erupt at any moment.
"Brother, we've only just set foot in the ancient saint's relic site. The ruins haven't even been found yet," Snow Moon Princess also said coldly. Yan Huang glanced at her, then said coldly, "Let's go."
With that, he led his people away, flicking his sleeves. At the same time, in the eight interconnected castles, various events were unfolding. Everyone was searching for the ancient ruins!
PS: A few words I want to say: First, the WeChat public platform is not a QQ group. You can only receive my group messages, and I can only send one per day. The messages you send are only seen by me, so you won't be disturbed. Second, the public platform is free—I'm not asking for money. I'll often share news about the novel, like updates and bursts of chapters, which seems beneficial only to fans of the novel. After all, everyone reads in all sorts of places, and some places even stop updating arbitrarily, leading some to come and curse me for dropping the story, or say I only update two chapters a day—it's utterly baffling. Third, the novel will be published in print in the future, and might be adapted into mobile games or online games. Sharing these things on the platform is more convenient. Also, when I asked for character images of the novel, you didn't need to send pictures of Japanese girls to tempt me—where's your sense of decency... The follower count just broke ten thousand. I'll start drafting now, with a burst of chapters on Monday. Finally, an ad: WeChat ID: jngwuhen888, which is "Jing Wuhun" in pinyin plus three 8s, letting you get up close to understand my pure life at eighteen! RI
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