Chapter 778: Bones of the Strong
Seeing Lin Feng leave, the people from Heavenly Lake had ugly expressions. Lin Feng had been silent earlier, making it impossible to gauge his strength. Now, with absolutely shocking power, he had annihilated the eight strong experts of the Heavenly Pivot Snow Peak, intimidating everyone. Yet he even declared he disdained to associate with them—utterly arrogant, as if he hadn't placed them in his eyes at all.
The people of the Heavenly Pivot Peak had complicated expressions. Baili Xi's eyes flickered with a cold gleam. Lin Feng's strength was terrifying, far surpassing his own.
Tianchi Xue was also shocked by Lin Feng's ferocity. When she first met Lin Feng, she had been displeased with his tone when speaking to her. She had looked at him with contempt in her gaze. But now she realized that Lin Feng held her in utter disregard. She, the Holy Maiden of Heavenly Lake, meant nothing in Lin Feng's eyes—he even said she wasn't worthy of Huangfu Long.
Jun Moxi and the others naturally followed Lin Feng as he left. Huangfu Long glanced at Lin Feng, then at Tianchi Xue, and called out to Lin Feng, "Lin Feng, since you're so strong, there's no use in me following you. I'll stay and take care of my future wife."
Lin Feng turned back to look at Huangfu Long, seeing him sheepishly rubbing his head. He couldn't help but shake his head slightly. This guy was really dense, still fixated on that Heavenly Lake Holy Maiden. He was a persistent one.
"Fine, Great Pest. If you ever find you don't like her anymore, just leave," Lin Feng said. He didn't think highly of this pair. Tianchi Xue, as the Holy Maiden of Heavenly Lake, thought herself above others, unable to distinguish right from wrong, and looked down on grassroots geniuses like Huangfu Long. But Huangfu Long was honest and straightforward—he did whatever he thought, and since he said he wanted to marry the Heavenly Lake Holy Maiden, he kept working toward that goal. Lin Feng believed Tianchi Xue wasn't worthy of the Great Pest.
"Alright." Huangfu Long gave a silly smile. Then Lin Feng turned and strode away.
The desolate spatial world was filled with an ancient, bleak aura, along with a sense of deathly stillness. No one had set foot here for a hundred years. Mountains still stood tall, lakes and rivers still flowed, but there was no sign of human life—not a single living person. It was like a forsaken world.
"This area is so vast. We don't even know which direction to go. And does the legendary emperor's tomb really exist?" Lin Feng stopped, looked up at the sky. A desolate, ancient aura swirled above their heads, devoid of any vitality. This world seemed incredibly vast.
"In the past few hundred years, many people have set foot in this world. Legend has it that those who walked out alive all became powerful experts, so strong that even mid-grade empires couldn't contain them. That's why we, a hundred years later, can't know the specifics of what's inside. Since people have entered several times, it means that if we want to find anything, it certainly won't be easy," Jun Moxi said. Things too easily obtained would likely have been taken by the strong experts who entered in the past few hundred years.
Lin Feng nodded slightly. "But we were the first to arrive in this area through the Time-Space Sacrificial Altar. If we walk blindly in the wrong direction, we'll lose any advantage we have over the others."
"We should keep going in one direction," Tang Youyou offered her opinion. Her eyes looked at the sky, her beautiful eyes flickering as if she were trying to figure out which direction they had descended into this area.
"I can't tell which direction we came from," Tang Youyou shook her head. This was their first time experiencing a Time-Space Sacrificial Altar crossing space. They had all been in a daze of tension, suddenly falling, and couldn't distinguish which direction they had entered from.
Not only Tang Youyou, but the others couldn't tell either.
Lin Feng frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then said, "Let's head north."
"Why north?" Tang Youyou asked curiously.
"The deathly stillness aura is strongest in the north," Lin Feng replied. The others' eyes narrowed. They exchanged glances and then nodded. The stronger the deathly stillness aura, the more death had occurred there.
Since the four had decided on a direction, they all flickered and moved northward continuously. Along the way, they still saw no one, which seemed to indicate they hadn't chosen the wrong direction.
An hour later, a high slope appeared ahead of the four. On it, a wave of annihilation aura rushed toward them, carrying a hint of deathly stillness.
"Bones." Lin Feng's eyes narrowed slightly. Not far ahead of him, there was a skeleton, completely decayed and dried up.
"So many bones." His gaze swept across the high slope. There wasn't just one skeleton, but many wind-dried ones. As he continued forward, a light breeze stirred with their steps, and some bones instantly turned to powder, vanishing into nothing. A mere touch reduced them to dust, as if they had existed for an unknown age.
"Heavenly Martial Realm experts are all at the Unity of Heaven and Man stage. Their bodies have undergone tempering and transformation, making their bones extremely tough. Even after death, the bones remain firm and durable, even usable as sharp tools. These bones that scatter with a breath should be from Mysterious Martial Realm cultivators—likely those who entered this secret realm a hundred years ago," Jun Moxi said, looking at the bones being blown away.
"If so, with so many bones here, there must have been a great battle, surely over something," Yun Feiyang said slowly. His body flickered forward, instantly reaching the top of the slope.
"Come look," Yun Feiyang called out. The three stepped forward as well, climbing the slope. When they saw the scene in the distance, their eyes all narrowed.
So many buildings—ruined houses, cave dwellings, all connected in a stretch. It was obvious that these were the original inhabitants of this spatial world.
It seemed these bones were the result of friction and killing when martial cultivators who entered thought they had found something.
"Let's go take a look." Lin Feng stepped forward, flickering toward the area below. Many of the buildings were dilapidated, many completely destroyed. Hardly any remained intact.
"Split up and look around," Lin Feng paused and said to the three. They all nodded in understanding and began searching the area.
Lin Feng's body flickered as he stepped into a cave dwelling. Inside, there were living supplies, all covered in dust. A skeleton lay on the ground, its tilted body still in a cross-legged sitting posture. It had likely been moved by someone. Its calm posture suggested it had been killed instantly, without even a chance to react.
Lin Feng lifted the skeleton and tapped on its bones. They gave off a clanging echo, very solid, even after who knows how many years.
"The corpse of an expert above the Mysterious Martial Realm," Lin Feng's eyes narrowed. Looking at its peaceful posture, with no obvious cracks on the bones, what kind of terrifying expert could kill someone above the Mysterious Martial Realm without any warning? At the very least, it would be the Heavenly Martial Realm.
Nothing was found in the cave dwelling. If there had been any treasures, they would have been plundered long ago.
With a flicker, Lin Feng exited the cave dwelling and entered another building. He found that almost every building or cave dwelling had skeletons that had been moved, all maintaining very complete postures, as if killed instantly without a chance to react.
But with so many houses and cave dwellings here, and countless bones, what kind of terrifying existence could kill so many experts at once?
They searched this area for an hour but found nothing except bones and worthless items. The same was true for Lin Feng and the other three—this place had been cleaned out long ago.
In the void, a cold aura flickered past. Lin Feng and the others looked up and saw the people from Heavenly Lake. They directly crossed over Lin Feng and the others' heads without even pausing. The leader was Yu Tianji, the leader of the Heavenly Pivot Peak.
"So many bones. Perhaps, countless years ago, a world-shaking battle occurred here. These Heavenly Martial Realm experts who lived here were all killed in an instant, without even a scratch," the four gathered together, all seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
So many bones of experts—they should all be from Heavenly Martial Realm cultivators. Just as Lin Feng had heard, Martial Emperors ruled above, and Heavenly Martial Realm cultivators were mere servants, killed in an instant by someone.
Moreover, since there were Heavenly Martial Realm corpses here, there must also be powerful Venerable Realm bones.
Occasionally, a few figures flickered across the void above—outside experts who had entered the secret realm. They indeed hadn't died and were all heading in this direction.
"Even Heavenly Martial Realm experts died in countless numbers, showing how prosperous and strong this place once was. Finding any random secret manual or treasure would be of great use to us."
The four didn't waste any more time. They continued their journey, flickering northward.