Chapter 773: Secret Patterns in the Darkness
"I'm here." Another voice emerged from the darkness, Lin Feng's voice, his icy gaze sweeping across the dark world without any trace of fear.
The silent dark space was filled with a terrifying stillness. The man who had just attacked him was killed instantly, his skull snapped off. This man was terrifying, causing others with ill intentions to dare not act rashly.
"Lin Feng." Tang Youyou called out, already arriving by Lin Feng's side. Lin Feng extended a hand, touched Tang Youyou's body, then grasped her hand and said, "Stay close to me."
Lin Feng's physical body was formidable, and when the Nine Revolutions Buddha-Demon Art circulated, it became even more terrifying. Without a powerful attack, no one could hope to shake his body. In this dark environment, Tang Youyou was safer behind him.
"Where are we?" Jun Moxi's voice came from behind. A vast, righteous aura circulated around his body, causing faint traces of light to appear in the space. This light seemed suppressed by the darkness, leaving the surroundings still very dark, with visibility only up to ten meters.
At that moment, Lin Feng clearly saw many sharp eyes staring in their direction from ahead, flickering with cold, eerie light. This made him realize one fact: once they entered the secret realm, they could become enemies or rivals. Those with malicious intentions were always ready to strike and kill others.
This dark space was very vast. The faint light source that could illuminate about ten meters couldn't reveal how wide it truly was. As for what lay ahead, it was even darker, narrow and lightless.
Lin Feng's cold gaze swept over the crowd, icy and piercing, domineering and fierce. Only then did those people withdraw their gazes, knowing that Lin Feng was not someone to be trifled with, so they let it go for now.
Yun Feiyang and Huangfu Long also followed behind Jun Moxi as they entered. The five of them gathered together.
"It's too crowded here. Let's move from the side." Lin Feng spoke, then shifted his body to the side. The other four followed Lin Feng's movement. Soon, they saw a stone wall engraved with strange patterns. They didn't provoke others, but they hoped others wouldn't provoke them either.
The righteous light from Jun Moxi illuminated the darkness as they slowly advanced, touching the patterned stone wall beside them. Those patterns seemed to follow a peculiar rhythm, giving Lin Feng, who touched them, an unusual feeling—as if these patterns weren't dead, but possessed their own life, like life patterns.
"These patterns seem strange." Yun Feiyang spoke, and the others nodded in agreement. Under the faint light, they looked at the complex, hard-to-understand lines. Indeed, they were strange. They felt as if they weren't touching mere lines, but rather a source of power that could erupt with immense force at any moment.
"Let me try." Huangfu Long was somewhat excited. A faint luster emanated from his body as his true essence power flowed along one of the obscure patterns, slowly covering the complete pattern.
A powerful force gradually spread out, making Huangfu Long's heartbeat quicken. So strong! The stone wall held a terrifying power.
"Let go." Lin Feng interrupted Huangfu Long's action, cutting off the true essence power and stopping its flow through the stone wall patterns. The terrifying force gradually faded, leaving Huangfu Long with a sense of loss. What was that power just now?
Turning back, Huangfu Long looked at the others. The five of them exchanged glances. Just placing true essence on these patterns had triggered such a shocking, terrifying power.
"Ah..." A scream shattered the darkness. Lin Feng and the others were startled, their gazes snapping around. They saw the stone wall ahead spew out a destructive force, piercing through the body of a powerful cultivator, killing him instantly.
"Huff..." Huangfu Long was stunned, letting out a deep breath. His mouth felt dry as he looked at Lin Feng.
"That was close!" If Lin Feng hadn't stopped him, would that terrifying force on the stone wall have instantly obliterated him too? Thinking about it, his heart couldn't calm down. It was very possible.
The few of them stared at each other. By now, everyone knew that the patterns on the stone wall were strange and terrifying. Just by channeling true essence power along those obscure patterns, they could produce such a vast destructive force, instantly killing a person. It was too powerful.
This secret realm was indeed full of dangers at every step. No one knew when they might encounter peril. Even a stone wall could take a life.
Many people noticed this scene and quickly moved away from the stone wall, advancing from the middle path, not daring to get close to the wall. It was too dangerous.
However, Lin Feng and his group didn't leave. If they didn't use true essence power to trigger the patterns on the stone wall, the wall wouldn't attack on its own. On the contrary, Lin Feng had developed a very strong interest in these peculiar patterns.
What kind of pattern could possess such a strange power? It was like the legendary forbidden seals, capable of being triggered and activated.
His hand stroked the patterns, and Lin Feng said quietly to Jun Moxi and the others, "These patterns are special. We can copy them down. They might be useful in the future."
"I think so too." Jun Moxi nodded in agreement with Lin Feng. Even powerful martial techniques didn't have such formidable divine abilities, but these patterns on the stone wall did. It would be a waste not to copy them. According to legend, an emperor's palace wouldn't contain anything simple.
Lin Feng nodded slightly to Jun Moxi, who immediately understood. He extinguished the light of his true essence, plunging the area into darkness so that others couldn't see that anyone was still there.
Placing his hand on the stone wall patterns, Lin Feng quietly felt the flow of these lines. Soon, he memorized a complete pattern, then released his hand.
"No, I can't remember it." Lin Feng's pupils contracted sharply. The moment he let go, he found he couldn't recall the obscure pattern. It was too complex, extremely difficult to understand, and in an instant, it seemed like he had forgotten most of it.
The others felt it for a moment, then all said, "I can't remember it either."
"It seems this is a powerful secret pattern." Jun Moxi remarked, which was exactly what the others had guessed. This secret pattern was so formidable that it couldn't even be memorized.
A martial cultivator's memory was incredibly powerful. If they set their mind to it, they could remember everything at a glance. But when they used their hands to feel the pattern, as soon as they let go, they felt they had forgotten a lot. They couldn't understand how this peculiar pattern formed a complete whole.
"It seems we have no fate with these patterns." Jun Moxi sighed, feeling quite regretful. Such a unique pattern, and they couldn't imprint it in their minds.
"Let me try again." Lin Feng was silent for a moment, then spoke again, his gaze fixed on the pitch-black stone wall. In his eyes, a bone-chilling, icy gleam suddenly appeared—detached, emotionless. At this moment, his eyes became exceptionally eerie, as if they could pierce through everything.
"Copy!" The Heavenly Radiance Martial Soul flickered. His pitch-black, boundless pupils seemed to sink inward. The vein patterns on the wall were etched into those eerie eyes, then absorbed into them.
At that moment, Lin Feng's eerie pupils rotated slightly, and in his mind, a picture seemed to be engraved there, as if branded into his consciousness, never to be forgotten.
"The Heavenly Radiance Martial Soul, it works after all." A deep gleam flashed in Lin Feng's eyes. The others looked at him. In the darkness, they could only see those shocking pupils—so terrifying. They hadn't expected Lin Feng to possess such a divine ability.
His footsteps slowly moved forward. Lin Feng's Heavenly Radiance Martial Soul once again emitted an eerie light, imprinting another pattern into his mind.
His head felt a bit dizzy. Lin Feng sensed a stabbing pain in his spirit. Using the Heavenly Radiance Martial Soul to copy the secret patterns on the stone wall consumed a tremendous amount of his spiritual power. The patterns seemed to contain a strange, mysterious force that was very difficult to absorb.
"What terrifying secret patterns. Could these have been personally engraved by an emperor, as the legends say?" Lin Feng had never heard of such secret patterns before. His heart trembled. After he had copied three more complete secret patterns, he felt he couldn't hold on any longer. His head swayed, the eerie light in his Heavenly Radiance Martial Soul faded, and his eyes returned to normal.
In total, he could only copy five complete secret patterns!