Chapter 182: An Ancient Sacrificial Temple
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The Foundation Building realm could already be considered a good enough cultivation level in the present cultivation world, but in ancient times, the era when great cultivators were all around, Foundation Building cultivators were practically the same as ants.
Mo Tiange gazed at the divine dragon monument before her eyes. This was the first time she ever felt so insignificant, as insignificant as a drop of water in the vast ocean—she would fade into the water as long as there was a wave.
This was the powerful pressure of divine beasts from the Middle Ages, though the only thing that remained was their breath.
Not to mention Foundation Building cultivators, but even Nascent Soul cultivators also wouldn’t have the ability to resist under this kind of pressure.
“Junior Martial Brother Ye!”
Hearing Jiang Shanghang’s voice snapped Mo Tiange out of her daze. She then said with a sigh, “No wonder it’s called divine dragon’s breath. Such formidable power…”
Jiang Shanghang said, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, if you enter the underground palace, you’ll find that the divine dragon’s breath there is even stronger.”
“An even stronger divine dragon’s breath…” Mo Tiange mumbled. The existence of an even stronger divine dragon’s breath showed that the underground palace was no ordinary place, and the dangers might be extreme. In the end, what kind of treasures was there that Ren Yufeng chose to plot against her before they even entered?
“Forget it. There’s no need to worry about it; we’ll see when we get in.” Mo Tiange looked around then asked Jiang Shanghang, “Senior Martial Brother Jiang, where’s the entrance to the underground palace?”
Jiang Shanghang bypassed the divine dragon monument with her. Mo Tiange then saw on the flat ground that there was a black cave opening. If she hadn’t paid attention to it, she might’ve thought it was a pit dug by some fish or prawn in the seabed.
“Here?”
“En.” Jiang Shanghang said, “This cave mouth definitely wasn’t opened with the typical method required. It probably showed itself because it was attracted by the divine dragon’s breath here.”
Many secret places were hidden and unknown at the beginning, but nothing could beat the passage of time so gradually, the original power they had waned— this was most likely the case with the underground palace.
The two of them took a short moment to examine their respective belongings. Once they were ready, Jiang Shanghang once again took the lead, slowly going deeper into the cave.
A dark, narrow stone passage… It was precisely the same as underground palaces on land.
Right after she entered the underground palace, a momentary wave of haziness struck her because the divine dragon’s breath here was even thicker. This kind of sacred omnipotence carried a trace of ancient power, and being under the pressure of this kind of power made small cultivators like them tremble with fear.
After silently taking some time to regulate her breathing, Mo Tiange’s mind finally calmed down. Under the effect of the Soul-Refining Art, she unexpectedly still felt deeply intimidated.
Jiang Shanghang, whose expression remained the same, said softly, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, be careful. This path isn’t the genuine entrance, so there might be traps here.”
Mo Tiange asked, “Where did you guys walk up to last time?”
“Last time, aside from Senior Martial Brother Ren, all of us only walked up to this area.” As he said that, they passed through the long stone passage and entered a stone room.
This stone room had a very high ceiling and was extremely large. The light from the entrance couldn’t reach this place, so the two of them had to rely on the bit of light from the moonstones they brought for lighting, so they simply couldn’t see the end of the room. There was also absolutely nothing in this stone room. It wasn’t like a sitting room, but it also wasn’t like a hall; it seemed to only be a slightly spacious stone passage.
“That Water Carp Beast originally nested here for God knows how long,” Jiang Shanghang said while walking next to the walls to examine them.
Mo Tiange said, “From what it looks like, this stone room must be over ten thousand years old at the least. That Water Carp Beast was only a fifth rank beast; no matter how long it lived, it wouldn’t have lived for more than ten thousand years, right?”
Jiang Shanghang was startled but soon nodded his head. “You’re right… Could it be that the Water Carp Beast wasn’t originally from the underground palace?”
“Maybe; didn’t you say it wasn’t affected by the restriction around the divine dragon monument?”
The two of them looked at each other; both were silent. If the Water Carp Beast wasn’t the spiritual beast guarding this underground palace, then either the underground palace simply didn’t have any guardian spiritual beast or the like, or the underground palace itself was much more dangerous than the Water Carp Beast.
If it was the former, then it would be easy to handle as they only needed to press forward and kill Ren Yufeng. If it was the latter, however… That meant this underground palace wasn’t a place Foundation Building cultivators like them could charge into; they might lose their lives for nothing.
For some time, the two of them were lost in their respective thoughts. In the end, Jiang Shanghang couldn’t help but ask, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, what are your thoughts on this matter?”
Mo Tiange pondered in silence before answering slowly, “There isn’t really anything to be afraid of. The eight of them walked in front of us, so if there’s anything dangerous, won’t we just need to retreat as soon as possible?”
Actually, what she really thought was: it wouldn’t be so bad that she wouldn’t even have the time to enter her Virtual Sky World, right? Jiang Shanghang’s cultivation level was lower than hers. She had several kinds of methods to knock him out in an instant and pull him along into the Virtual Sky World.
Jiang Shanghang hesitated for a moment but in the end, he nodded. “You’re right. I guess we’re just going to follow behind them now?”
“En; we’ll continue on for a while. If we can confirm there’s no danger, we can try to go to other places.”
Jiang Shanghang nodded in agreement, and the two of them once again took off.
This wasn’t a stone room indeed; rather, it was a spacious stone passage that was extremely long. They walked for a long time, but they still couldn’t reach the end. Fortunately, there were traces left behind by the eight people ahead of them along the way. They also didn’t dare to use Fleeing Technique because they were afraid they’d be discovered by the others, and they were afraid there was some danger here.
Based on the traces they found along the way, the eight people ahead of them went through several battles, though their opponents weren’t demonic beasts—actually, it seemed like they ran into some traps, and there was also a problem with the passage collapsing.
Fortunately, the eight people ahead cleared up the path, so Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang didn’t come across any danger along the way.
They continued to walk in silence and eventually, the path led them into the main hall. The tall, thick stone door, which had the same dragon engraving as the divine dragon monument, was half opened. Upon passing through the hall door, they discovered that the main hall was supported by tall, towering stone pillars and the ground was covered by neat stone slabs, but everything had the same dragon drawings on their surfaces.
They proceeded forward slowly. In the darkness, a towering stone statue gradually emerged in their field of view. It had both deer and ox horns, a camel head, rabbit eyes, a serpent neck, a sea monster belly, fish scales, and eagle’s claws. Its momentum was staggering, practically soaring to the sky.
The statue of a divine dragon. Inside this hall, there was unexpectedly an enshrined divine dragon statue!
Mo Tiange and Jiang Shanghang looked at each other; both were completely speechless. The momentum this divine dragon statue had was even more formidable than the momentum the divine dragon monument had. This kind of pressure practically made them at a loss for words.
Mo Tiange took several steps back, putting some distance between herself and the statue while panting. “This isn’t an ordinary statue.”
Jiang Shanghang, whose face was pale, nodded. The two of them retreated until they reached the doorway before they felt the pressure easing down.
Neither of them spoke. After a while, Mo Tiange suddenly said, “Senior Martial Brother Jiang, what kind of place do you think this is?”
Jiang Shanghang turned to look at her then asked in confusion, “What do you mean, Junior Martial Brother Ye?”
Mo Tiange turned her body to the side then pointed at the shallow engravings on the back of the stone door. “Look—what engravings are those?”
Jiang Shanghang went to examine them with a belly full of questions. “These’re just common drawings… If this place was over ten thousand years old, these engravings aren’t out of the ordinary at all.”
“You’re right, but take a closer look; what do the engravings depict?”
Jiang Shanghang turned around to examine the engravings again. A short moment later, he was thoroughly frightened. “This is…”
“It’s the sacrificial scene from several million years ago,” Mo Tiange said faintly, “This is probably a sacrificial temple from an ancient era.”
According to legends, the sacrificial temples in the ancient era were built just like palaces. Although this underground palace looked crude, upon more thorough examination, it was indeed a magnificent palace. The spacious stone passage was probably the genuine, main passage that led to the temple hall. There weren’t many words on these murals because in that era, words had just come into usage, so people were more accustomed to using murals to record events.
These murals showed a tall sacrificial altar. Several priests, who were all in white robes, stood on the altar, while both males and females knelt wearing only animal skins to cover their bodies—only men of the ancient era would’ve worn clothes made of animal skin.
“Several million years…” Jiang Shanghang’s face once again paled as he was filled with incredulity. Eventually, he asked, “Is it possible for remnants from several million years ago to exist until now? Moreover, how could they be inside an ocean?”
Mo Tiange chuckled. “Senior Martial Brother Jiang, there’s an old saying: ‘White clouds change into grey dogs; seas change into mulberry fields’—the changes in human affairs often take freakish forms, and the world’s changing all the time. Within several million years, what was once a blue ocean could’ve become a mulberry field now, and what was once a sacrificial temple might also be buried under the ocean. Maybe it’s precisely because it was submerged in the ocean that it wasn’t touched by humans for several millions of years and could be preserved until now.”
Mo Tiange caressed the rough surface of the wall, silently sensing this distant era. For a moment, the two of them were silent.
“Several million years… Then there’s basically no treasure at all in this underground palace…” Jiang Shanghang mumbled; disappointment flashed across his face. After several million years, whatever magic weapons were originally here would’ve already lost their usefulness—one should never think magic weapons and medicinal pills could exist forever; that was simply impossible.
“Correct.” Mo Tiange wasn’t at all disappointed; after all, her original reason for participating on this trip wasn’t to obtain treasure. Nevertheless, as she pondered the matter, she suddenly frowned. “Wrong… There is a treasure here.”
Jiang Shanghang looked up in bewilderment. “What?”
Mo Tiange smiled and stared at him. “Ren Yufeng went through all kinds of hardship just to come to this place and even schemed to stab me in the back—do you think there could possibly be no treasures here? If this really was a sacrificial temple from several million years ago, it indeed wouldn’t have any magic weapons, spirit pills, or the like. However, this place possesses divine dragon’s breath, one that’s thicker than the one the divine dragon monument has!”
Upon hearing what she said, Jiang Shanghang once again turned pale. “The divine dragon’s breath—is he tired of living!?”
Such a formidable force… How could insignificant Foundation Building cultivators like them long for something like that? Not to mention them, but even Nascent Soul cultivators also wouldn’t dare to think they could absorb this kind of ancient era’s mysterious force! Absorbing a force that one couldn’t master would only cause their bodies to explode, thus killing them!
“Maybe he has some kind of secret technique.” Mo Tiange pondered with a frown, “Whatever we know, Ren Yufeng certainly knows too. The fact that he planned these things and took this approach showed that his real purpose wasn’t trivial. Aside from the divine dragon’s breath, what other things are there that could satisfy his desire?”
Jiang Shanghang didn’t say anything. This matter had gone beyond his scope of imagination. He never once thought Ren Yufeng would’ve had this kind of idea, and he also didn’t know what to do now. He came to this underground palace naturally because he wanted to look for treasure but now, not only was there no treasure, but there might also be a calamity waiting for them.
“Junior Martial Brother Ye.” After a long period of silence, Jiang Shanghang said, “Since there are no treasures, shouldn’t we head back?”
Mo Tiange was also conflicted about this. She wanted to kill Ren Yufeng, but she didn’t want to lose her own life in the process—who knew what kind of techniques Ren Yufeng would use? If he succeeded and took possession of that divine dragon’s breath, his cultivation level would certainly grow by leaps and bounds. At that point, whether she could defeat him or not would be an issue. If he didn’t succeed and perished because his body exploded, would his technique have any other effects? What if it also harmed her?
The two of them contemplated the matter for a long time, but neither of them could come to a decision.