Sang Luo drew closer and saw that the stone monunt was engraved with countless nas.
"These are the Beastn who died in the great war. I don’t know who carved their nas, but at least they’ve left a mark of their existence in this world." Lou Xianyue pulled her into his embrace, strolling forward.
They passed through the forest of stone monunts and arrived at the Chaotic Burial Mound.
Countless skeletons were interred here.
The skeletons retained the very poses they held at the mont of death. So Beastman Warriors were lunging forward with swords, others were holding shields in defense. So fought savagely in their beast forms. There were scenes of duels, and of several warriors ganging up on one... All were frozen in their final monts.
The Beastn showed no fear; it was as if they never knew death was coming.
There was only one explanation.
They had all died in a single, sudden instant.
To snatch the life from so many powerful Beastman Warriors in an instant... one could only imagine the terrifying power behind it.
This Chaotic Burial Mound had clearly never been disturbed. There were no signs of entry in the vicinity. Qiankun Bags and Space Rings still hung from the clothes of the dead, untouched by any tomb raider.
Lou Xianyue said, "The souls of these skeletons dissipated long ago, making everything on them ownerless. There are a few noteworthy items here worth taking."
"Taking things from the dead is bad luck!" Sang Luo was hesitant to touch them.
Lou Xianyue had no such qualms and collected everything.
Raising a child was expensive, after all.
He, too, was learning to be thrifty. It would be a waste to leave them behind.
He then tossed out a string of prayer beads and chanted the Rebirth Mantra, causing all the skeletons to completely dissipate.
Not far ahead, a lone, armored Beastman remained. His back was to them as he knelt on one knee, his Heavy Sword plunged into the ground before him. It was clear that in life, he had been a powerful, burly warrior.
Sang Luo walked over and saw that inside the armor was a large-frad skeleton.
In its other hand, the skeleton held an unlit candle.
’This candle... isn’t sothing you’d expect to find in a Chaotic Burial Mound.’
"This one is dressed differently from the other Beastman Warriors. He must have been an important figure in life. His armor looks like sothing a general would wear. There’s a totem on the chest plate—a shark with three tails... A family crest?"
Understanding dawned on Lou Xianyue. "I know who he is."
Sang Luo looked at him.
He said, "Thousands of years ago, a powerful general erged from the North Sea: the Three-tailed Spear Shark General. He was at the Beast Emperor rank, with a cruel, bloodthirsty nature. He loved to collect the skulls of Beastn from various tribes to display his glorious battle record."
"He captured rmaids from all over, and countless died at his hands. He even killed an adolescent heir of the King Shark, cruelly rendering its body into a Longevity Candle. Legend has it that he vanished one day without a trace, his fate unknown... To think he also died here, in this field of bones."
"That power took the life of a Beast Emperor in an instant?" Sang Luo glanced again at the candle in the skeleton’s hand. "Don’t tell this candle is..."
"Yes. The Longevity Candle he rendered from the oil of rfolk."
"...That’s so depraved!"
"Legend says a Longevity Candle made from rfolk can be used for Divine Communication. He must have encountered sothing terrifying in this tomb, or perhaps he was trapped and couldn’t escape. That’s why he took out the Longevity Candle, hoping to use Spirit Communication to summon a God." As soon as Lou Xianyue took the candle, the skeleton and its armor disintegrated.
At the sa ti, a foul-slling Black Qi rapidly filled the air—a necrotic toxin.
"Sang’er, use the power of the Undying Fire to light the Longevity Candle."
Sang Luo quickly took the candle Lou Xianyue handed her. A pale red fla sparked to life in the Deep Sea, burning brightly as it lit the Longevity Candle that had been sealed away for millennia.
The Black Qi rapidly dissipated.
An ancient, heavy stone door had appeared on the wall at so point.
Lou Xianyue stepped forward and pushed open the stone door.
On the other side was not an exit, but another cavern. The space inside was extrely cramped and narrow.
A shrine rested upon a stone platform. It was long faded and covered in dust, the wood so rotten that its original appearance was impossible to make out.
The idol inside was headless, so there was no telling who it depicted.
Before the shrine sat a single, faded incense burner with three sticks of incense beside it.
"I’m not sure which great entity you are, but we ant no offense by our intrusion. My apologies." Sang Luo lit the three sticks of incense and inserted them into the burner. It still felt like sothing was missing. She glanced at the Longevity Candle in her hand, then looked to Lou Xianyue.
He nodded at her.
Sang Luo placed the Longevity Candle before the shrine, pressed her palms together, and brought them to her forehead as she bowed.
The incense smoke curled upward, slowly coalescing into a human form...
An ancient, wizened voice echoed in her mind.
"I have waited for many long years, and at last, a junior has found this place. Fulfill my final wish, and I shall pass my legacy on to you."
Sang Luo’s eyes widened. She looked at Lou Xianyue. "Ah Ze, did you—did you hear an old man’s voice!?"
Lou Xianyue shook his head. "You heard sothing?"
"The old man said if I fulfill one of his wishes, he’ll give his legacy. This whole situation... doesn’t it feel like the setup for a possession by an Evil Cultivator?"
"Hah. Anyone enshrined and worshiped by later generations was likely a deceased Ancient Divine Beast. The voice you’re hearing is probably just a sliver of its lingering consciousness."
"Should I agree?" The offer of a Divine Beast’s legacy was tempting.
"Go on and ask. What is his wish? What does he want in exchange?"
Sang Luo resud her conversation with the voice in her mind.
"May I ask what wish you want to fulfill, Senior?"
"Help kill soone. Wanqi You!"
Sang Luo relayed the ssage to Lou Xianyue word for word. "Wanqi You. He wants to kill soone by that na. It must be an enemy from his past."
"I’ve never heard that na before." Lou Xianyue frowned. "We don’t know how long this senior has been gone, or if his enemy is even still alive. Besides, an act of revenge can be a minor affair or a monuntal one. If your target’s strength far surpasses ours, this task would beco a dangerous burden for you—an unnecessary karmic entanglent. It’s best to be cautious."
Sang Luo had been about to ask what the reward would be, but Lou Xianyue’s words made a lot of sense.
She shook her head. "Never mind. It’s too risky. Let’s go. It’s not like I’m desperate for a legacy."
"Wait! Young one, wait, don’t leave! This God’s remnant soul doesn’t have much ti left. I fear I cannot wait for another to arrive."
Seeing that the two didn’t turn back, the remnant soul grew anxious. "At least look at the item before you go! If you help fulfill my final wish, this will be yours!"
A Nine-legged Furnace materialized out of thin air before them. It radiated a dazzling golden light, an extraordinary sight utterly out of place in the dilapidated cavern.
Lou Xianyue’s eyes lit up. "A nine-legged... Creation Furnace!"
It was the first ti Sang Luo had seen him so astonished. Ah Ze himself was an Artifact Refiner who had created countless Treasures; it was rare to see him this excited over a single artifact.
"Is it so great treasure?"
"Yes. It’s a Divine Rank supre treasure. The Creation Furnace. It contains the Life Rules... and it can bring the dead back to life."
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