Chen Zhou continued to walk forward, unhurried.
This path was long, so long that it seemed to have no end.
As he went deeper, he could feel the pressure from all sides growing exponentially.
The shadow monsters also became increasingly stronger. At first, they collapsed upon contact, but later, they could even persist for a moment under the wash of his death qi.
However, it was only a moment.
In the face of absolute death, anything weaker than him was nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs.
After an unknown amount of time, when Chen Zhou crushed another wave of powerful shadow monsters, the darkness ahead finally changed.
A point of crimson light lit up at the end of the path.
Chen Zhou quickened his pace.
Passing through the last of the darkness, what appeared before him was a cave dwelling steeped in the color of blood.
Broken walls and ruined pillars could be seen everywhere, and a large number of shattered remains were scattered on the ground.
A giant severed arm, thicker than a water vat, was stuck diagonally in the ground. Its black scales were still stained with blood scabs. It was impossible to tell what kind of massive demon the owner of the arm had been.
Not far away was a tattered humanoid skeleton; judging by the frame, it should have been a human cultivator.
His chest was pierced by a giant horn, pinning him firmly to a stone stele.
Further away, there were all sorts of strangely shaped remains—some human, some demon—piled up like a mountain.
The entire cave dwelling was permeated with an ancient aura of slaughter.
The blood had long since dried, turning a dark red, but that soaring malevolent aura still made Chen Zhou feel a slight chill in his heart, even after countless ages.
'What a terrifying aura...'
Chen Zhou stopped walking.
Just looking at the remains fallen here, their owners in life each had an aura far exceeding the sixth-stage.
'Seventh-stage? Or even eighth-stage?'
Chen Zhou’s heart tightened. Whose dream was this place?
A fallen dream, with the lingering aura of a battlefield, was already this terrifying.
He tentatively reached out his hand, wanting to touch a severed demon claw closest to him.
This was at least the remains of a seventh-stage grand demon. If he could bring one back, whether it was fed to the purifying world blood bodhi or dismantled for use as sacrifice material, it would be a huge gain.
However, his hand passed through the severed claw without any resistance.
'I can't pick it up?'
Chen Zhou frowned and immediately released his ghost domain.
The gray mist spread out, attempting to wrap around the severed claw and take it away.
But the ghost domain similarly grasped at nothing.
The mist passed through the severed claw as if it were merely a clump of air.
Even Lady Zhi, who had been in the dream interlayer, could be locked onto by the ghost domain. Yet now, he couldn't even catch a single severed claw?
'I see.' After thinking for a moment, Chen Zhou understood.
A fallen dream was inherently illusory; it was a brand of the past.
What was seen and heard here were all phantom images, impossible to touch or take away.
'So, the rewards aren't these remains?'
Chen Zhou set aside his greed and continued toward the depths of the cave dwelling.
The further in he went, the more terrifying the traces of the great battle became.
Ravines crisscrossed the ground, and the walls were covered with claw marks and sword scars. Some marks had even severed space, with small spatial cracks still flickering to this day.
In the deepest part of the cave dwelling, at the center of the messy battlefield, three broken artifacts lay quietly on the ground.
One was a ghost-aura-shrouded black clay jar, its surface covered in cracks, yet it still leaked a dense yin qi.
Not far away was a broken fly-whisk. Most of its white bristles had fallen off, yet it still possessed an ethereal aura.
In the furthest corner was a dim sash. Its material was like clouds and mist, its five-colored brilliance having faded, leaving only ruin.
'These three artifacts...'
He could clearly perceive that even though these were just the phantom images of three broken artifacts, the aura they emitted was far more terrifying than his own Eternal Calamity Karma-Fire.
He tried to touch them again, but the result was the same.
Just like those remains, they were only illusory projections that could not be touched.
These were not the rewards either.
Chen Zhou looked as he walked, slowly passing through the core of these ruins, until a massive pavilion appeared ahead.
The pavilion was entirely pitch-black and ancient in style, overall shrouded in a layer of haze.
Above the pavilion's door hung a plaque with three blood-colored characters written in a vigorous and flowing style.
Immortal-Slaying Shrine.
The shrine doors were tightly shut. Flanking the entrance were two ten-zhang-tall statues of golden-armored celestial soldiers.
One celestial soldier had a face as fair as jade and eyes like bright stars, holding a pair of gilded maces, appearing majestic and divine.
The other celestial soldier had a thick beard and a rugged face, his eyes wide with fury, gripping a broad-bladed blade the size of a door, emitting a piercing malevolent aura.
Although these two golden-armored celestial soldiers were inanimate, the majesty they exuded was almost at the level of the Three Transformations of Eerification.
Chen Zhou instantly judged the strength of these two celestial soldiers.
'Their majesty is stronger than mine, but they are just inanimate objects. Are they the door gods of this place? Or the system's test?'
Just as Chen Zhou was observing the two golden-armored celestial soldiers, golden light suddenly flared in their eyes, and they came to life.
Buzz—
One golden-armored celestial soldier slightly raised his dual maces, blocking the shrine door.
The other held his blade horizontally, pointing it from afar at Chen Zhou.
"This is the place where the master passed away," the celestial soldier on the left holding the dual maces spoke, his voice loud like the clashing of metal and stone.
"Outsiders are not permitted to intrude," the blade-wielding celestial soldier on the right said in a voice like muffled thunder. "Please leave immediately, or you will be executed without mercy."
Chen Zhou stopped and felt the aura of the two celestial soldiers.
Although their majesty was strong, such puppet creations seemed to have lacked maintenance for their core arrays over the long years. Their strength had worn down until barely a tenth remained.
Chen Zhou compared the celestial soldiers to himself and felt he could win, so he was not afraid.
He had already come this far; retreat?
Naturally impossible.
"Why should this seat retreat?"
Chen Zhou’s voice was icy. Instead of retreating, he took a step forward.
"Audacious!"
"Seeking death!"
The two celestial soldiers were enraged by the sight.
Buzz—!
Spiritual energy erupted instantly. The blade-wielding celestial soldier stepped out, his single blade transforming into a cold light capable of splitting the heavens and earth as it slashed down toward Chen Zhou’s head.
This single strike was enough to cleave mountains and tear the earth.
However, Chen Zhou didn't even lift an eyelid.
Silently, his ghost domain expanded instantly. The death qi transformed into a heaven-devouring behemoth, opening its bloody maw.
The blade light, which was enough to split mountains and stones, was directly eroded by the death qi the moment it touched the edge of the ghost domain, disintegrating instantly.
"What?!" the blade-wielding celestial soldier cried out in alarm.
Chen Zhou controlled the ghost domain to contract. Without any technique, relying solely on pure crushing force, he applied it to the two golden-armored celestial soldiers.
Crack— Shatter—
The faces of the two celestial soldiers simultaneously showed looks of horror.
The golden armor they were so proud of shattered inch by inch under the pressure of Chen Zhou’s ghost domain.
"You... you are also... a god?"
"Impossible! This realm clearly no longer has any..."
Before they could finish their words, the ghost domain had already swept over them.
Bang! Bang!
Two loud bangs echoed as the two ten-zhang-tall golden-armored celestial soldiers, whose majesty was nearly equal to Chen Zhou's, were crushed into fine powder by the ghost domain!
Golden dust drifted down, scattering across the ground.
However, Chen Zhou’s brow furrowed slightly.
It was too easy.
'Something's wrong. They clearly had strength close to the Three Transformations of Eerification. Even if they were worn down, they couldn't be crushed by the ghost domain so easily.'
Sure enough, in the next moment, a sudden change occurred.
The crushed golden powder did not dissipate but instead reconverged within the gray mist.
A moment later, the powder reshaped itself.
The two golden-armored celestial soldiers reappeared in their original spots, completely unharmed.
'An immortal body? Or is it that as long as they are within this Immortal-Slaying Shrine, they are indestructible?'
Just as Chen Zhou was about to strike again to completely erase their existence, the two newly reshaped celestial soldiers did not move again.
They looked at each other, both seeing extreme shock in the other's eyes.
Then, to Chen Zhou’s surprise, the two golden-armored celestial soldiers dropped to one knee in unison and bowed their heads.
Their attitude had done a complete one-eighty.
"This subordinate pays respects to the Divine Lord!"
"So it is a descendant of my divine race. We have offended you. We were ordered to guard the shrine and did not know it was the lord’s arrival. We hope for your forgiveness!"
'Descendant of the divine race?'
Chen Zhou’s brow twitched as he keenly caught that phrase.
He did not admit it, nor did he deny it.
"How did you recognize me?"
The celestial soldiers remained kneeling and answered respectfully, "Reporting to the lord, you possess the supreme divine bloodline of our race. We would never mistake it."
"How can you tell?"
"It is the power you used just now," the mace-wielding celestial soldier explained. "That domain power which governs life and death is precisely the manifestation of our race’s true god's divine power!"
The blade-wielding celestial soldier also added in a booming voice, "We were created by the master, and the only highest directive in our core arrays is to kill all outsiders who attempt to approach.
"But just now, when the lord’s true god's divine power touched our cores, only then did we realize it was one of our own.
"We have guarded this place with dull wits and actually mistook the lord’s divine majesty for an enemy intrusion. We ask the lord to punish us!"
Divine bloodline... true god's divine power...
Chen Zhou’s eyes flickered.
Were they referring to the ghost domain and death qi?
He continued to ask, "What lies beyond this Immortal-Slaying Shrine?"
"Reporting to the lord," the mace-wielding celestial soldier replied, "we do not know."
"You don't know?"
"Yes." The blade-wielding celestial soldier took over. "We are merely gatekeeping puppets created by the master. Our only mission is to guard this gate.
"We do not have the authority, nor have we ever set foot half a step inside the shrine, much less know what is within."
Chen Zhou frowned slightly. "Who is your master?"
"Master..." A hint of confusion flashed in the eyes of the two celestial soldiers. "...is a god."
Chen Zhou: "..."
Nonsense.
The mace-wielding celestial soldier hurriedly said, "In our memories, there is no name for the master. We... know nothing at all."
Chen Zhou was silent for a moment before switching to another question.
"How many years have you been waiting here?"
This question also seemed to stump them.
After a long while, the blade-wielding celestial soldier spoke with uncertainty, "...I can't remember clearly."
"Time is stagnant here, and our memories are often worn down."
"However..." The blade-wielder seemed to think of something. "However, based on the wear and tear of our internal core arrays, a conservative estimate would be... at least tens of thousands of years."
Tens of thousands of years!
Chen Zhou’s heart sank.
Just two gatekeeping puppets had existed for at least tens of thousands of years.
How terrifying was their master?
And was this land the dream left behind after that so-called god had fallen?
Chen Zhou asked no more. These two puppets clearly knew limited information.
He prepared to investigate the truth himself.
Chen Zhou asked, "In that case, can this seat enter now?"
"Of course! Of course!"
The two celestial soldiers hurriedly moved out of the way, their attitudes respectful to the extreme.
The blade-wielding celestial soldier even held his blade horizontally across his front and said respectfully, "Divine Lord, please enter. We welcome the Divine Lord!"
The moment he stepped into the Immortal-Slaying Shrine, the scene before him suddenly opened up.
There was a whole different world here.
The sky was a dark purplish-red, as if eternally at dusk.
The ground was not soil but a thick layer of grayish-white bone ash.
One by one, stalks of celestial grass emitting a faint phosphorescence grew out of the bone ash.
In the center of this eerie celestial realm, several water ponds of various sizes were scattered about.
Some ponds were only a few zhang wide, with black silt churning inside.
Others were crystal clear, the water surface calm, with only occasional human faces flashing within.
Chen Zhou’s gaze went straight to the center, to the largest pond.
That pond was several hundred zhang wide.
The pond was filled with viscous blood.
Within the blood pond, huge bubbles would occasionally roll to the surface, bursting with a 'gloop' sound and releasing a dense fragrance of fresh blood.
And on the shore of that blood pond, three figures sat on the ground in a triangular formation.
Each of them held a strange fishing rod, seemingly fishing for something within that blood pond.
Chen Zhou’s heart sank the moment he saw these three people.
He stopped walking, his entire body’s death qi beginning to instinctively go on guard.
These three...
He looked to the left.
It was a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe, his face haggard and his aura gloomy.
By his side sat a ghost-aura-shrouded clay jar.
At that moment, the clay jar was half-submerged in the blood water, serving as his fish basket.
The clay jar would vibrate violently from time to time, sending out ripples of crimson, as if something was struggling frantically inside.
The middle-aged man tapped the clay jar impatiently. "Behave!"
Chen Zhou looked to the right.
It was a young man, handsome and elegant, with a cinnabar mark on his forehead and an otherworldly temperament.
A broken fly-whisk with an ethereal aura was casually draped over his shoulder.
And the young man’s fishing rod was the most peculiar.
The fishing line hung in the air, not entering the blood pond at all, and there wasn't even bait on the hook.
He sat with his eyes closed in meditation, his spirit wandering elsewhere, seemingly completely uninterested in whether he could catch any fish, leaving everything to fate.
The final person was a woman dressed in magnificent court attire.
Her appearance was otherworldly and her elegance unmatched, but her face was pale, with almost no trace of blood.
A five-colored sash was draped over her shoulders, its light shimmering and moving without any wind.
She seemed somewhat bored, her bare feet occasionally tapping the surface of the blood pond, creating ripples.
Chen Zhou’s heart sank to the bottom.
He could feel that these three people were surrounded by an incredibly dense death qi!
Its purity even far exceeded his own.
They and he were of the same kind.
Evil spirits!
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