Chapter 1406: Ancient Hunting Zone
So ancient that even the mythological altar had weathered away, cracks and broken lines overlapping, leaving behind a mottled, timeworn appearance, nearly destroyed by the ages.
Ye Fan had departed, but over a dozen types of ancient blood were flowing, emitting the most terrifying fluctuations on the Corpse Map, with divine radiance like an ocean, lightning and thunder roaring.
Various strange phenomena appeared in this place. Within the Corpse Map were figures of gods and demons, forming an altar. At this moment, light blazed brilliantly, blood rain poured down, and yin winds howled.
Sounds of ghosts wailing and spirits shrieking came from this place. The Corpse Map rotated, as if a true realm of gods and demons had descended.
The ancient altar actively absorbed over a dozen of the strongest ancient bloodlines, and the mythological ancient figures carved upon it, some corresponding to the blood, became extremely blazing, rumbling and shaking as if about to revive and step out from the stone wall!
This was a kind of strange phenomenon, truly shocking to the heart.
No one knew how long passed before it calmed down, returning to the tranquility of the long ages, cold and desolate, without a single sound.
The universe was vast and boundless, dark and cold. Ye Fan and his group delved deep into an ancient domain. This place was deathly still, without a trace of life fluctuation, as if they had intruded into an ancient forbidden zone of life that had long since withered away.
Too quiet, beyond imagination! They could clearly hear the sound of their own blood impacting the walls of their blood vessels, as well as the various internal organs pulsing, like drumbeats in their ears.
Ye Fan and the others were in the darkness, all on high alert. It was too dark; even starlight was invisible, pitch black, so dark they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces.
At this moment, only spiritual perception could exist; their eyes were useless. Strands of golden divine radiance spread from Ye Fan's body, probing in all directions.
Thump, thump...
A tremendous heartbeat sound came, as if a giant who had split heaven and earth lay here, sleeping.
Pang Bo, Dragon Horse, and the others stood together, finding it unbelievable. In this boundless darkness, there was actually such a rhythm, truly eerie.
Ye Fan's body emitted strands of golden threads, reaching into the infinitely distant depths of darkness. This was the manifestation of spiritual perception, reaching without limit.
Especially between his brows, a vertical eye appeared—that was the strongest heavenly eye opened after unlocking his body's treasure, shooting out a blazing light, gazing across the universe.
"That is..."
Ye Fan's expression changed immediately. Ahead, there was a giant corpse, tens of thousands of zhang long. The thumping fluctuations were coming from there.
"Too terrifying, is it his heartbeat?" After adapting, Pang Bo and the others spread their spiritual perception, searching the ten directions, and saw this giant ancient corpse.
He was so tall, truly shocking. This was no dharma manifestation of heaven and earth, nor a strange phenomenon, but a true body.
This was left behind from who knows how many years ago. The entire body was ice-cold, floating in the desolate universe, still emitting a chilling aura.
"Impossible, look at his attire, at least a being from before the Primordial Era. How could there still be the sound of a heartbeat?!" Even Dragon Horse was uneasy, his heart trembling.
"Rustle"
Suddenly, a tearing-apart-heaven-and-earth fluctuation rapidly swept over, making this place extremely dangerous, like crashing waves pulling that giant corpse toward a place of deepest darkness.
Ye Fan and the others' bodies were also uncontrollably pulled forward. It was as if there was a sea eye there, swallowing heaven and earth, about to suck in all matter.
They finally saw clearly that they were at the edge of a massive black hole, about to be drawn in. A scorching heat burned their bodies, about to decompose and refine them.
"Retreat quickly!"
Ye Fan led the charge toward the distance. Such a massive black hole devoured all things, destroyed everything, and emitted a power of ancient gods and demons.
The ten-thousand-zhang-long giant corpse silently disappeared into the black hole, its posture unchanged since ancient times, as if in slumber.
Thump, thump...
The terrifying heartbeat sounded, making people feel it was beyond belief. Could it really still have life?
"Rise!" At the last moment, Ye Fan and the others rushed out of the black hole's edge, reaching a sufficiently safe zone. He activated the Weapon Art secret technique, trying to restrain that massive corpse and bring it out together.
Unfortunately, it was ultimately too late. Most of it had fallen into the cosmic sea eye, dark and boundless, invisible, with only one arm flying out.
The giant corpse had actually long since been shattered. In the distant past, just before death, it had forcibly pieced together the various parts of its body.
Thump, thump...
"Maybe it's not his heart. I vaguely saw a divine drum resonating within his body," Ye Fan explained.
Dragon Horse, Golden Lion, Nine-Tailed Crocodile Dragon, Scorpion, Black Bear Saint, and the others swarmed forward, surrounding that several-thousand-zhang-long arm.
Back then, this ancient body had been dismembered. A sword had cleaved off this arm, the cut smooth. Even now, strands of sword qi were still bursting forth.
This was shocking. This battle was at least from the Primordial Era, yet the dao principles and order had not completely dissipated, leaving people stunned.
This was a Great Sage, of an unknown race, supremely powerful. Back then, he might have glimpsed the threshold of the Quasi-Emperor realm, otherwise his corpse would not have endured to this day.
So many long years had passed, yet the essence within his body had not completely dispersed. Clearly, this was an extraordinary figure, who had cultivated a secret technique to fuse his shattered body and seal in all his blood essence.
At least a million years had passed. Although some essence had been lost, his blood essence was still stronger than that of all saints, comparable to the peak of a Saint King.
"We've hit the jackpot! Such an arm, its blood is overwhelmingly domineering, its essence at the Saint King peak, enough for us to refine ancient blood!"
Dragon Horse, Black Bear Saint, and the others shouted, all extremely excited.
The twelve saints had embarked on the same path, refining their own blood essence, evolving toward the True Dragon or their respective ancient ancestors. This was a blessing and great fortune for them.
In the following months, lightning tribulations came one after another. The several-thousand-zhang-long giant arm contained too much blood essence, suspected to be from a divine demonic variant.
The twelve saints gained immense benefits!
This was just an episode. They formally entered the Mythological Ancient Path, exploring this desolate universe, searching for the Nine-Layered Coffin of the Mythological Era and the Ancient Tree of Life.
But the universe was too vast. Searching like this, they were like a few specks of dust drifting in a vast ocean, impossible to cover the entire ancient domain.
Unless an ancient Great Emperor were resurrected, an individual was too insignificant compared to a star domain.
This was a desolate world. From start to finish, not to mention the Ancient Tree of Life, even the Mulberry Ancient, Earth Corpse, Sacred Spirits, Metal-Eating Beasts, Divine Race, and others were nowhere to be seen. Large numbers of cultivators who had joined them were also invisible.
Ye Fan was somewhat unsettled, fearing changes. They had been in the Mythological Ancient Domain for several months, yet hadn't seen a single living creature.
"Oh, a giant stele, towering into the universe, so enormous!"
On this day, they finally made a startling discovery. Ahead in the starry sky stood a giant stone stele, impossible to describe as merely magnificent. It wasn't ten zhang, a hundred zhang, or a thousand zhang, but millions of li high!
It was comparable to an ancient star, even larger than many planets, standing there like a boundary marker, majestic and ancient.
On it were some ancient characters. Even after countless ages, there was still a dao resonance, causing resonance.
This was a boundary marker, with a solemn warning: ahead was the Mythological Ancient Hunting Zone, where many terrifying creatures roamed. Crossing the boundary could bring fatal disaster.
"What ancient divine script? I understand now. To be precise, it should be the ancient script of the Mythological Era, abbreviated as divine script." Ye Fan stared at the ancient characters on the stele, muttering to himself.
They stepped into this ancient domain and immediately felt an unusual atmosphere. It was no longer so desolate; there were faint traces of life fluctuation.
"No way, is there a living ancient star?" Pang Bo was excited.
However, when they advanced a distance, their expressions changed drastically. There were indeed life fluctuations, but it wasn't an ancient star—it was broken arms, severed limbs, and large patches of bloodstains.
A massacre had occurred here, with a large number of cultivators annihilated, and not too long ago, probably within the last half month.
"So many long years have passed, and the Mythological Ancient Hunting Zone still has creatures. What are they? Do they usually roam the starry sky?!" Golden Lion was puzzled.
"Be careful. This ancient hunting zone is truly eerie, inhabited by powerful beings. They might have sensed our arrival," Ye Fan warned.
"Here they come! This kind of thing has smelled our blood essence!" Black Bear Saint shouted, alerting everyone.
In his direction, a silver light rushed over rapidly, like a python or a great white shark, tearing through the universe, leaving a blazing white trail as it charged.
It opened a bloody maw, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth, each like a sword, over a meter long, chillingly sinister.
This was a creature that was part fish, part python, covered in silver-white scales that shimmered, over ten zhang long, with a bloody aura surging to the heavens.
"Bang!"
Pang Bo struck out, slapping the creature apart, flesh and blood a blurry mess. But he quickly changed color. In the distance, densely packed, silver light flickered, a group of eerie fish-pythons charged over.
"This is truly bizarre. This is the starry sky, how can such a group of powerful creatures appear? It really lives up to the Mythological Ancient Hunting Zone!" Ye Fan frowned, vaguely feeling uneasy.
It was like a school of piranhas. One wasn't much, but so many, over time, could definitely pose a threat.
"Let's go!"
They left this place, turning into several beams of light rushing into the distance. Behind them, covering the sky and earth, silver scales densely packed, flooding the starry sky, chasing them.
Half a month later, Pang Bo, Black Bear Saint, Scorpion, and the others cursed repeatedly. That silver creature was actually the most docile. Deep in the hunting zone, they had seen even more terrifying creatures, fighting every day.
In just half a month, their group had clashed with at least dozens of powerful ancient creatures. Relatively speaking,
"Careful, a few Crocodile Sharks have appeared!" Ye Fan warned.
Several massive creatures, each with a ferocious appearance, their bodies covered in cyan-gold scales that flickered with cold light, with a bloody aura surging to the heavens. They had the body of a crocodile and the head of a shark, densely covered in scales, cold light flashing.
These few were exceptionally powerful, reaching the Saint realm, and were a few minor realms higher than Ye Fan and the others.
Ye Fan and his group were not afraid, but they dared not be careless. In this place, bloodshed could not be seen. As soon as one creature was killed, the bloody scent would inevitably attract many ancient beasts.
"This isn't right. This is a dry star domain, no living ancient stars. How do these creatures survive? Where do they come from?" Pang Bo wondered.
"Let's leave this place first," Ye Fan said. In the Mythological Ancient Hunting Zone, the best choice was to avoid killing, otherwise, the ancient creatures drawn out would become increasingly terrifying.
Once, they even sensed the aura of a Great Sage, the "king" of this ancient domain. If they truly collided, there would definitely be big trouble.
Boom!
In the distance, several black creatures appeared, each over two thousand zhang long, shaped like tiger whales but covered in black, shining scales, their killing intent even denser.
"Damn it, have we entered a sea region, or come to the universe?" Pang Bo cursed.
"Kill..."
Days later, they had ventured deeper, frequently encountering ancient creatures, fighting without cease. And at this moment, they heard the roar of battle reaching the heavens. They discovered a large number of cultivators, fiercely battling various beasts.
"Ah..."
"No!"
"Pfft"
Blood splattered, screams continuous. This was a great melee, with all kinds of ancient creatures appearing.
A creature with a dragon's body and a tiger-shark head, an ancient Saint King, emitted black light, bloodily sweeping through one side, killing many powerful cultivators who had entered the Mythological Ancient Domain from the Golden City.
"Blood Beast, that guy has met a tough opponent. A fish-python at the Heavenly King level is chasing him!" Pang Bo laughed.
In the distance, among the young supremes, Blood Beast had run into big trouble. A silver fish-python nearing the Saint King peak, about to become a Great Accomplishment, five thousand zhang long, was relentlessly chasing him.
"Earth Corpse is also there, blocked by a Dark Turtle, unable to escape." Ye Fan's eyes were sharp.
A Black Tortoise, like a small mountain, had grooves on its black hard shell, like the Eight Trigrams, shining with strands of divine radiance. Its dao cultivation was unfathomable, nearly freezing Earth Corpse in place.
The two clashed fiercely. Even Earth Corpse, as powerful as he was, only fought to a stalemate, unable to kill the Black Tortoise.
"The Divine Race has also arrived!" Dragon Horse said, staring in another direction.
There, Xin Lan was glowing all over, bloodily battling many ancient creatures. At her feet were corpses everywhere. The gory, brilliant blood flowers set off her transcendent nature, like a deity descending to the mortal world.
"Boom!"
Ye Fan and his group also suffered an impact. Approaching this battlefield, it was impossible to avoid becoming targets. A giant python, as thick as a mountain, hissed as it flicked its tongue.
It coiled around a huge meteor, looking down at them, its aura terrifying. It was definitely a standout among Saint Kings.
"This isn't right. Even if this is the Mythological Ancient Domain's hunting zone, there shouldn't be so many creatures. Over the long ages, what have they relied on to survive?"
"Humans, are you people also trying to reach the Mythological Other Shore?" The giant python asked majestically.
"I don't understand what you're saying. We're just passing through, don't want to fight you." Pang Bo roared, not wanting to be drawn into a bloody battle.
"A big one has really come. It's a Great Sage, definitely the king of this ancient hunting zone!" Dragon Horse shouted, sensing a terrifying aura.
Previously, they had almost run into one, but had avoided it.
At this moment, ahead, heaven and earth split apart. Countless ancient beasts retreated, making way. An ancient flood dragon appeared, only one zhang long, but with terrifying majesty. It stood on the head of a several-thousand-zhang-long ancient beast, emitting overwhelming power.
"The trouble for the Four Young Masters of the Golden Serpent Clan is huge!" Pang Bo said.
The four young masters of the Golden Serpent Clan were too powerful, slaughtering until blood seas surged and corpses piled like mountains, but they were targeted by the king of the ancient hunting zone!
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