Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 253: Remaining Three Pieces

Escaping alive from the perilous Mist Swamp, Fang Hao found another relatively hidden mud cave and spent half a day completely clearing the residual toxins from his body, his injuries also mostly recovered. Thinking back to those three Ink-Scaled Poison Flood Dragons and that strange seven-colored poisonous python, he still felt a lingering fear. If he hadn’t prepared in advance and decisively used that precious Grade 4 Earth Escape Talisman, he would have been in grave danger this time.

Three fragments remaining. After finishing his meditation and returning to his Peak state, Fang Hao took out the star evolution plate. When he placed the newly obtained sixth fragment together with the other five, the needle in the center of the compass, as well as the dim halos representing the locations of the remaining fragments, all underwent obvious changes.

The needle was no longer spinning erratically, but began to tremble slightly in a certain direction. And those remaining dim halos representing the positions of the three fragments had actually shifted, as if the distance between them... was closing? Moreover, they were all converging in a common direction—the deepest part of the Secret Realm, that blank area on the map marked as the Unknown Forbidden Land!

Hmm? This is... the sensing between the fragments has become stronger? Are they attracting each other, or are they being attracted by some place? Fang Hao felt uncertain and suspicious. He tried to slowly inject a trace of Spiritual Qi in the direction of the Unknown Forbidden Land and concentrated his mind to sense it.

Hum—! The star evolution plate shook violently, and the starlight in the central area shone brightly! The blank area on the compass that was originally blurry and represented the Unknown Forbidden Land actually began to show blurry, extremely dim patterns! Although it was still not clear, one could vaguely see that it seemed to be the outline of an incomparably vast, complex ruin, as if shrouded by an invisible force!

And in the depths of that blurry ruin outline, three extremely bright, closely packed points of light suddenly lit up like three stars in the night! The light they emitted even passed through the compass, faintly conveying a strong sense of summoning, connected by Bloodline, into Fang Hao’s consciousness! It was far stronger than any previous fragment! As if saying—Come, come here, we are all here!

This feeling was so clear and so strong that the hand holding the compass trembled slightly. He could feel that the remaining three battle heaven axe fragments were in the depths of those Unknown Forbidden Land ruins, and, it seemed, in the same place!

How can this be? Three fragments gathered together? Fang Hao was both surprised and happy. He was surprised that these three fragments were actually concentrated in one place, and in the deepest, most dangerous, and most core part of the Unknown Forbidden Land of the Secret Realm, where unimaginable great terror must be hidden. He was happy that he didn’t need to run around and search adventurously like before; as long as he went to one place, it was possible to collect all the fragments at once!

But this also meant that the danger was concentrated as well. To be able to gather three battle heaven axe fragments, that place was definitely not simple. It could be an important ruin of the ancient War Heaven Clan, or the lair of some peerless ferocious beast, or even the location of the core secret of the entire Secret Realm.

Whatever, wealth is sought in danger! Since the fragments were calling, he would go and see! It was also a good opportunity to see what the deepest part of this Secret Realm really looked like. Fang Hao took a deep breath, his eyes becoming firm again. He put away the star evolution plate and the fragments, identified the direction, and set off towards the deepest part of the Secret Realm, that legendary Unknown Forbidden Land.

The further he went into the depths of the Secret Realm, the more strange and dangerous the environment became. The sky was a perpetual dark red, as if it were congealed blood clots. The earth was cracked, filled with crisscrossing ravines, some bottomless, emitting the scent of sulfur and death. The air was heavy, and the Spiritual Qi was mixed with thick Devilish Qi and Death Qi. If an ordinary Cultivator stayed here for too long, they would likely have their mind eroded, or even suffer from Qi Deviation.

Broken architectural ruins began to appear on the ground, with a rough, ancient style, carrying a barbaric Aura, seemingly the remnants of some ancient race. Occasionally, one could see the bones of huge, unknown creatures, half-buried in the soil, emitting a faint pressure. The Demon Beasts active here had a more ferocious and violent Aura, and most carried a demonic nature, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

Fang Hao dared not be careless in the slightest, operating his Shadowless Evasion Technique and Ethereal Art to the limit, trying his best to avoid areas emitting powerful Auras. Even so, he encountered several attacks. A demonic Demon Beast wolf burning with black flames and having red eyes, a huge tentacle monster with suction cups that suddenly sprang out from a crack in the ground, and a group of demon bats hiding in the shadows that could emit shrieks interfering with the Divine Soul... these creatures were at least Tier 4, and their attack methods were strange and ruthless.

Relying on his powerful Physical Body, the power of ice and fire, and the exquisite combat techniques brought by the War Heaven Scripture, Fang Hao resolved these troubles with no danger, but he also added a few shallow wounds to his body. He became increasingly aware of the danger in this area and became even more vigilant about that Unknown Forbidden Land.

Just like this, after traveling for about three or four days in the midst of danger, Fang Hao finally arrived at the boundary of the area known as the Unknown Forbidden Land.

Before his eyes was an indescribable scene. The earth here seemed to have been torn apart by some unimaginable great force, forming an incomparably huge, bottomless circular canyon, or rather, the edge of a basin. The interior of the canyon was shrouded in thick, inseparable gray mist like lead clouds; when his Divine Sense probed into it, it was like a mud ox entering the sea, instantly losing contact. Deep in the mist, some towering, strange-shaped shadows could be vaguely seen, as if they were collapsed giant towers, broken mountain Peaks, or the bones of some huge creature.

And in the very center of the canyon, where the gray mist was thickest, a dark red light faintly shone through. At the same time, an Aura that was desolate, ancient, barbaric, and yet carried endless sorrow and Battle Intent, permeated from the depths of the canyon like a tide, shrouding the entire edge of the Forbidden Land.

This is the place. Fang Hao stood on the edge of the circular canyon and looked down, seeing only rolling gray mist, bottomless. But he could clearly feel that the six battle heaven axe fragments in his bosom were heating up slightly, trembling, and emitting a resonant longing. And from the depths of the canyon, the sense of summoning from the three fragments was also strong to the extreme, almost breaking out of his body.

Going down! Fang Hao did not hesitate anymore. He carefully checked his own state, the Medicinal Pill and Talisman were all prepared, and then he took a deep breath, leaped, and jumped into the surging gray mist.

Once he entered the gray mist, Fang Hao immediately felt as if he had jumped into thick glue. His vision was completely cut off, and he could only see a range of a few zhang around him. His Divine Sense was also severely suppressed, and he could barely perceive blurry outlines within ten zhang. What was even more terrifying was that this gray mist contained a strange energy with extremely strong corrosiveness, mixed with Devilish Qi, Death Qi, and resentment, constantly trying to drill into his body and erode his flesh, Spiritual Qi, and Divine Soul.

Fang Hao immediately operated the Chaos Derivation Art, with Chaos Qi circulating in his body, forcibly refining and dispelling the intruding strange energy. At the same time, the powers of Earth Fire Burning Body and Cold Ice Bone Erosion spontaneously formed a thin layer of ice-and-fire intertwined halo on his body surface, resisting the erosion of the gray mist. Even so, he felt waves of cold and irritability, and in his ears, it seemed that countless tiny hisses full of resentment were echoing, requiring him to constantly guard his mind to remain clear.

He descended cautiously, not daring to go too fast, with his Clear Spring Spirit Eyes operating at full power, vigilant against potential dangers hidden in the gray mist. The gray mist was terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of his own descent cutting through the wind, and the occasional hair-raising friction sounds or whispers that sounded from nowhere.

After descending for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the surrounding gray mist seemed to have thinned slightly. His feet touched something solid, and he finally stepped on the ground. The ground was hard, cold black rock, covered with cracks and pits left by battles. Around him, more distinct outlines of ruins began to appear.

Broken giant stone pillars, collapsed magnificent halls, shattered hideous statues... everything was shrouded in gray mist, appearing strange and desolate. The air was filled with an inseparable dust of time and the scent of death. Fang Hao could even feel that in the earth beneath his feet, there seemed to be some terrifying energy fluctuations remaining, which were the traces left by the ancient great battle, and after countless years, they had still not completely dissipated.

Following the resonant guidance of the fragments in his bosom, he cautiously moved forward towards the center of the canyon, in the direction from which the dark red light came. On the way, he saw more traces of battle, some cracks several zhang deep, and the residual Sword Qi and Saber Intent, even after countless years, still made his skin sting. He also saw more bones, some humanoid, and various strange-shaped giant beast bones, many of which had already weathered into powder, but still emitted a faint pressure, recounting the tragedy of that great battle.

Suddenly, the gray mist in front surged violently, and a huge, blurry black shadow, carrying intense Death Qi and Killing Intent, suddenly pounced towards Fang Hao! It seemed to be a Puppet or Corpse Soldier that had lost most of its flesh and was left with only bones and tattered armor, standing three zhang tall, with two points of ghostly green fire burning in its eye sockets, and a rusty giant axe in its hand that emitted sky-high Killing Intent!

Yin Soldier? Or a Puppet remnant? Fang Hao’s heart tightened, and he dared not be slow. This ghostly thing’s Aura was not weak, probably around the Middle to Late Stage of Tier 4, and it carried a crazy intention of being fearless of death and destroying all living things.

Get lost! Fang Hao shouted in a low voice, and the yitian sword was unsheathed. He did not use complex Moves or elemental powers, but simply combined the basic force-generating techniques of the War Heaven Scripture with his Physical Body strength, and slashed out with a plain and unadorned sword! The sword light was condensed, carrying a tragic Aura of pressing forward indomitably.

Clang—! The loud sound of metal clashing echoed in the silent gray mist. The Corpse Soldier was slashed back a few steps, and a notch appeared on the giant axe in its hand, but it seemed to know no pain, the ghostly fire in its eye sockets flared up, and it pounced again crazily.

Fang Hao frowned; this ghostly thing had strong defense and no sense of pain, making it very difficult to deal with. He no longer held back, attaching Earth Core Flame Fire to his sword, and struck with one sword faster than the next, specifically attacking its joints and skull. The scorching flames had an additional restraining effect on such sinister things.

Sss sss sss—! After a dozen sword strikes, the Corpse Soldier finally had one arm severed, and its skull was also pierced through the eye socket by Fang Hao’s sword. The ghostly fire went out, and the huge skeleton collapsed to the ground with a clatter, turning into a pile of rotten bones.

It seems this place is not peaceful either, with such ghostly things wandering around. Fang Hao shook his sword and continued moving forward. Next, he encountered several waves of similar attacks from Corpse Soldiers or Puppet remnants, with varying strengths, but he resolved them one by one. These ghostly things seemed to be driven by some force in the Forbidden Land, guarding this area.

The closer he got to the center, the thinner the gray mist became, but that desolate, tragic Battle Intent became stronger and stronger. Finally, after traveling for more than half an hour, the scene before his eyes suddenly opened up.

The gray mist had dissipated for the most part here. Fang Hao found himself standing on the edge of an incomparably huge basin, as if formed by a meteorite impact. In the center of the basin was a relatively flat open area, but the ground was full of cracks, and in the center was a huge, bottomless pit, from which the dark red light was shining.

And on the open ground, there stood three dilapidated black stone tablets that still showed their former majestic outlines, distributed in a triangular shape. At the top of each stone tablet, a dark golden fragment was floating! It was exactly the remaining three battle heaven axe fragments! They were connected to each other by a dark golden energy light beam, forming a stable triangular light Formation, floating in mid-air. And that dark red light seemed to be shining from the bottomless pit below the light Formation composed of these three fragments, then absorbed and transformed by the fragments, emitting that desolate and tragic Battle Intent.

Three fragments! They are all here! Fang Hao was excited, but more than that, he was vigilant. He did not rush up immediately. When things are unusual, there must be demons. Were the three fragments just placed here without any defense? Moreover, judging by this posture, it seemed that these three fragments even formed a Formation, suppressing something?

He operated his Clear Spring Spirit Eyes at full power, carefully scanning the basin. Soon, he saw several fresh corpses of human Cultivators wearing different clothes around the three stone tablets! It looked like they had not been dead for more than a few days. Moreover, judging from their falling postures and the wounds on their bodies, it seemed that they were instantly killed by some invisible force when they tried to approach the fragments!

And around the basin, at the edge of the gray mist, he could vaguely see some powerful figures emitting dangerous Auras lingering, including Demon Beasts shrouded in Devilish Qi, and strange creatures of various forms, but they all seemed to fear something and dared not step into this open area shrouded by the light of the three fragments.

Is there a Restriction? Or a guardian? Fang Hao understood. He knew it wouldn’t be that simple. These three fragments seemed to be within easy reach, but in reality, to obtain them, he would likely have to face the more terrifying danger hidden in this basin, or it might even be the battle heaven axe fragments themselves testing latecomers.

He took a deep breath, calmed his excited mood, and his gaze became sharp and calm. He did not immediately step into the basin, but first carefully investigated the edge, looking for possible traces of Restrictions or the cause of death of those corpses.

In any case, the remaining three fragments were right before his eyes, and he would never give up. But this time, he must be more careful, because this place was the deepest part of the Secret Realm, the Unknown Forbidden Land that buried countless ancient secrets.