Chapter 180: The Prehistoric Pyramid
This was a very large source mine, appearing spacious even with over a thousand people digging inside. Panicked cries rang out, echoing far into the distance.
The source miners fled toward the exit like madmen. Everywhere were stone bones, piled up in sheets, hard as rock. People stumbled and fell constantly, with crowding and trampling occurring.
Deep within the mine shaft, blood-colored mist drifted. Anyone who touched it would inevitably scream in agony, instantly dissolving into pus and blood, dying a violent death. The cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land all made their moves, either offering up weapons or displaying secret techniques to block the icy, sinister threads of mist.
But neither weapons nor secret techniques could stop the blood mist. It possessed a powerful corrosive quality, and in the blink of an eye, over a dozen weapons were melted away. "Ghost! Save me!" "It has three eyes, I saw a demon!" The source miners fled for their lives, shouting all kinds of things in extreme terror.
Ye Fan sensed something was terribly wrong. The premonitions of those elderly source miners who had seen many years were likely coming true. He was nimble, sprinting at the front, and within three to five breaths, he had rushed out of the mine shaft, only stopping when he reached a sufficiently safe distance.
"Boom!"
The mine shaft was blasted open from within. A group of cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land rushed out in disarray. One middle-aged man among them was nearly insane, screaming in terror, but in the blink of an eye, he dissolved into a pool of pus and blood and fell down.
The mine shaft fell into great chaos. Screams and wails filled the air. Those who had escaped trembled in fear, crawling and stumbling to get far away from there.
It wasn't until half an hour later that everything calmed down. Nearly a thousand people had gone down the shaft to dig for stone bones, but only a little over three hundred escaped. The rest had all died inside.
The cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land all had faces as dark as water. They had just tried to seal off the blood mist, but the result was five of them dying tragically, including a middle-aged man at the Dao Palace Secret Realm.
With such an incident occurring, they quickly reported it upward. A ghost mine had appeared—this was the sight they least wanted to see.
Before long, a Supreme Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land, along with seven or eight eminent elders, arrived swiftly and inquired in detail about the situation down the shaft.
However, no one could give a clear explanation. They couldn't describe it in detail, only saying that they seemed to have seen a ghost standing motionless. "All of you, step back." The Supreme Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land, Li Yuan, shouted. He pointed his fingers like a sword and slashed forward from afar. A beam of light shot out, transforming into a giant light sword that chopped downward.
The sound was like thunder, and dust and sand flew. That large mine was split open, dark and deep, looking eerie.
Supreme Elder Li Yuan continued to vibrate his fingers. The light sword, over thirty meters long, kept falling, cutting open the mine shaft and exposing it completely to the open air.
All the earth and stone were teleported several hundred meters away. A huge pit appeared there. Many stone bones were extracted by Li Yuan and landed not far away.
Ye Fan watched from the side, shocked inside. A large number of bones had all turned into fossils. Upon closer inspection, he could tell they were not human bones. Although some were humanoid, they still differed from the human race. Supreme Elder Li Yuan kept moving, using his great sword to split open the source mine and his techniques to extract all the stone bones. On the reddish-brown earth, a mountain of stone bones quickly formed, numbering at least ten thousand.
Strands of blood mist rose. When Li Yuan's light sword touched them, it made a sizzling sound and was actually corroded. He waved his large sleeve, dispersing the blood mist and sending it into the sky. It was a long time before things settled here. Then, he executed a secret technique. A large hand formed from azure light reached deep into the mine shaft. The earth trembled violently. That large hand grabbed all the earth and stone from under the mine and placed them on the ground. "Demon!" "It's that demon!"
It was a patch of blood-colored earth and stone, containing several pieces of Source, each as big as a washbasin. Such a volume was very rare and extremely precious, considered a rich vein. What was surprising was that each piece of Source had something inside it and was not pure.
The first two pieces of Source sealed bright red liquid, clearly blood. It was one of these Source pieces that had just broken, causing the blood inside to flow out and leading to the tragic incident. "Just how powerful is this kind of creature? Its blood, even turned into mist, can kill cultivators at the Dao Palace Secret Realm..." The several eminent elders of Yaoguang Holy Land all felt a chill in their hearts. Supreme Elder Li Yuan also furrowed his brows.
The third piece of Source sealed a crystalline finger, very beautiful, as white and tender as a scallion. Although it was a severed finger, it made people feel its extraordinariness, with a vigorous essence contained within.
The fourth piece of Source was the most shocking. It sealed half a head. The face had fine scales, and on the forehead was a vertical eye. The black hair was thick. The head had been split diagonally in two. "It should be from two different creatures. The slender finger and the half head clearly don't come from the same body." The several eminent elders were very surprised. "These four pieces of Source are too important. I need to personally escort them back to the Holy Land." Supreme Elder Li Yuan's expression was grave.
Although these were not the legendary peerless Divine Source, they contained creatures inside, making their value immeasurable. They could not afford any loss. He sealed the four pieces of Source, then flicked his sleeve and stored them away. Afterwards, he carefully examined the earth and stone on the ground.
Among the earth and stone brought up together with the four strange Source pieces were two shattered stone skeletons. One was slender, the other imposing. They were two different kinds of creatures. Although humanoid, they were definitely not human. The slender stone skeleton had six arms, and the imposing corpse had a pair of bone wings.
Ye Fan saw this clearly from a distance and was secretly astonished. What kind of powerful creatures were these? Why were they nowhere to be seen now?
"Rumble!"
Suddenly, the open-air mine collapsed. Everyone was startled. The bottom of the mine shaft sank, revealing a pitch-black hole. The mine shaft, suspected to be a burial pit, had an even deeper abyss beneath it! It wasn't something they had dug out, but a pit that had existed long ago, now exposed. A cold, sinister aura surged upward, making everyone shiver. Even Supreme Elder Li Yuan of Yaoguang Holy Land could not remain calm. He said, "It seems this place is extraordinary."
He ordered everyone to step back. He personally acted, extending his divine sense. After a careful observation, he exerted his utmost, operating a supreme secret technique.
"Boom!"
The heavens shook and the earth moved. The entire reddish-brown ground cracked. He used the Yaoguang Divine Art to make the mine shaft rise with a thunderous noise. This was a great secret technique akin to moving mountains and filling seas.
Earth and stone flew everywhere. The ground fissured. The mine shaft kept rising, with much earth and stone splitting apart and being thrown into the distance.
The Supreme Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land operated his secret technique, causing the earth's crust for several li around to move violently.
The large hole beneath the burial pit was no longer low-lying. It slowly rose. "Heavens... what is that?" The crimson earth shook. The sinister, oppressive aura grew heavier and heavier. A cold metallic luster appeared. "A giant piece of iron!" As the earth and stone shifted, the large pit was no longer sunken. It leveled with the ground, and everything could be seen.
This was a considerable structure. The ground was paved with hard stone, very flat, covering an area of several li. At the edges stood enormous stone pillars, soaring into the sky.
And in the very center of the stone ground stood a pyramid cast from metal. It was over a hundred meters high, entirely cyan in color. A metallic luster appeared, with not a trace of rust. Ye Fan was startled. What was this thing? It was engraved with the sun, moon, and stars, all shimmering with light.
This enormous pyramid was cast from an unknown metal. At the latest, it was an artifact from before the Primordial Era, possibly even older. Yet time had not worn it away.
Supreme Elder Li Yuan of Yaoguang Holy Land frowned. Then he waved his large sleeve, trying to collect this huge pyramid.
But he was startled. He exerted force repeatedly and found he could shake it. However, a hazy mist surged, and he could not draw it into his sleeve. "There's something strange!"
Li Yuan walked up close, channeling his divine power, and swept it toward the pyramid. The sun, moon, and stars on it all lit up. With a flash of light, he actually entered it.
Behind him, the eminent elders of Yaoguang Holy Land were all shocked, showing worried expressions.
"Boom!"
The cyan pyramid shook violently, giving people a suffocating feeling, causing many ordinary people to collapse on the spot.
After a moment, the sun, moon, and stars on the pyramid flowed with colorful light. Li Yuan, his face pale, rushed out. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he staggered backward. "Fall back! Everyone fall back! Don't come near this place!" he shouted, his body swaying.
Ye Fan was shocked inside. What was so strange about this pyramid that even the Supreme Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land had suffered a loss? "This matter is of great importance. Seal off all news about this place. I will immediately return to the Holy Land. You must not approach this place under any circumstances." Li Yuan instructed solemnly, then hurriedly left, preparing to cross the void.
The Fifteenth Mining District became a forbidden zone, with no entry or exit allowed. Ye Fan frowned. This place was not good. He didn't want to stay long, but for now, he couldn't leave.
On the fourth day after Supreme Elder Li Yuan left, the Holy Maiden of Yao Chi arrived, bringing news that the Saint Lord would personally visit soon.
Ye Fan curled his lip and cursed his bad luck. Yao Xi had arrived. If she discovered him, she would definitely skin him alive.
From afar, he saw Yao Xi, just as before—a celestial beauty with a nation-toppling grace, like a pearl emitting auspicious light, her jade body radiating rosy clouds, breathtakingly beautiful. Thousands of ordinary people saw her and thought a fairy had descended to the mortal world. Many lost their composure, then felt ashamed of their own inferiority.
Ye Fan hid among the thousands of ordinary people, not too worried about being recognized. He secretly curled his lip. The so-called fairy's undergarment was still in his bosom.
If such a secret were to leak out, the several Holy Lands would definitely be shaken. "No news must be leaked. The Fifteenth District is completely sealed. No one is allowed to enter or leave." The Holy Maiden of Yao Chi's voice, like heavenly music, echoed.
But at that moment, the Holy Maiden of Yao Chi suddenly stopped speaking. She seemed stunned, as if very surprised.
Ye Fan's heart stirred. Had she discovered him? That seemed unlikely.
Just then, the other cultivators of Yaoguang Holy Land also exclaimed. "You... who are you? How did you get in?!"
Ye Fan turned his head at the sound and looked toward the pyramid. A faint cyan light shimmered. In front of that cyan iron pyramid, an old woman had appeared, no one knew when. Silent and without a sound, no one knew how she had arrived, as if she had materialized out of thin air. She was circling the pyramid, examining it, muttering something to herself.
Remember, the Fifteenth Mining District was a vast, boundless expanse of reddish-brown earth, very open. If an outsider had intruded, they would have been detected immediately. But before this, no one had noticed her at all.
Ye Fan was extremely shocked. He thought to himself, "It's her!"
He had not expected to see this old woman again in the Northern Domain.
Years ago, outside the Ancient Forbidden Land, when he first encountered the Old Madman, this old woman had manifested. It was through her muttering that he understood the Old Madman was a man from six thousand years ago. "Someone from the same era as the Old Madman... she has appeared here..." Ye Fan could not help but be shocked inside.
Sorry, everyone. I've been busy with things these past couple of days. Today is still just one chapter. Tomorrow should be fine, and I'll return to two chapters.