As the mysterious voice faded, the endless, churning mists that pervaded the deepest part of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range immediately parted in response, revealing a passage. It was deep and boundless, leading into the mysterious heart of the range.
"So it is someone from the Martial God Hall, and by the looks of it, a figure of no low status, far higher than Martial God An Yang, worthy of being called a Divine Elder."
Upon hearing this, Ye Chen guessed that this mysterious person's status was certainly not low. To be hailed as a Divine Elder meant they were a Heavenly God realm existence, yet they were only ranked eighteenth. This showed the terrifying depth of the Martial God Hall's foundation; the true number of Heavenly God powerhouses was far more than one or two.
Once the passage appeared, the Eighteenth Divine Elder stepped into it. The misty passage then quickly closed, preventing Ye Chen from following immediately.
Old Yan said, "Little Chen, do you still want to follow? But I must point out, this isn't simple mist. Inside lies an extraordinary formation, a combination of a maze and a defensive array, and it's no ordinary formation—it's quite profound. To be honest, this old man isn't skilled in the path of formations. Forcibly breaking through is somewhat possible, but it would also alert them. You need to consider this clearly."
The surging mists ahead were utterly impenetrable, impossible to see through, containing an extraordinary formation. Even an existence like Old Yan could only consider breaking it by force, which spoke volumes about the formation's unusual nature.
However, a faint arc slowly lifted at the corner of Ye Chen's mouth as he smiled, brimming with boundless confidence. "A formation? That happens to be my specialty!"
Old Yan was taken aback. This guy even knew the path of formations? At that moment, Ye Chen called softly, "Old Yan, lend me your power!"
Without hesitation, Old Yan immediately channeled a surge of power into his body. Feeling the vast, unimaginable power flowing into his limbs and bones, Ye Chen felt as if his entire body was filled with infinite strength, as if he had returned to his previous life.
With just a casual movement, he could easily shatter the void and destroy mountains and rivers for thousands of miles—a terror beyond description.
What incredibly powerful strength!
After sensing this power, Ye Chen was both shocked and held Old Yan in even higher regard. Just from this power alone, it was stronger than that of the Academy Head or the kingdom's ancestor.
Unfortunately, it was ultimately borrowed strength from another. He let out a soft sigh, then approached the mists. A sharp light flashed in his eyes, piercing through the mist. In moments, the complete structural diagram of the entire formation was laid bare before him.
Every formation line, all its intricacies, were fully taken in by his sight.
"A decent enough formation, barely qualifying as a fourth-grade formation," Ye Chen said indifferently. Though his words called it decent, his tone clearly indicated he didn't hold it in high regard.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ye Chen flicked his fingers, sending out streams of finger-light that continuously shot into the mists and vanished.
Immediately, amidst the churning mists, a passage appeared, identical to the one the Martial God Hall's Eighteenth Divine Elder had entered moments before.
All of this left Old Yan quite astonished. He hadn't expected Ye Chen to truly be a master of formations. But he also worried, "Little Chen, won't the people inside know once you open the formation?"
"It's fine, they won't notice," Ye Chen said with a light laugh, filled with endless confidence. In his previous life, he had delved deeply into the path of formations, receiving true formation inheritance. While he hadn't reached the legendary grandmaster level in this aspect, he could still be considered a formation master.
The formation before him, though decent, combined a maze and a defensive array, containing many intricacies. An ordinary person who didn't know better and barged in might be trapped forever within the formation, unable to leave.
Even a Heavenly God realm existence could potentially be completely lost within it. But before Ye Chen, it was like showing off one's meager skills in the presence of a master.
Moreover, unless the deepest existence was a formation grandmaster-level figure, wanting to detect him opening this passage—
Impossible!
This stemmed from Ye Chen's powerful confidence. After opening a passage, Old Yan's power receded, making him sigh softly. It still wasn't his own power. It seemed he needed to grow stronger even faster.
Walking into the passage formed by the mists, he meandered through the illusory maze formation for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn before finally stepping out of the passage.
However, the scene before him suddenly changed completely. Compared to the verdant mountain forests outside the formation, here stood towering, majestic black mountain peaks. Each one was a thousand zhang high, piercing the clouds, their imposing grandeur awe-inspiring and intimidating.
On these black mountain peaks, almost no grass grew. It was a place of darkness and deathly silence. Moreover, a vast, sinister, and terrifying aura slowly emanated from even deeper within, overwhelming and heart-trembling.
Even Ye Chen hadn't imagined that the deepest part of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range would be such a realm—like a land of death, unsettling and making him cautious.
Ye Chen walked towards the black mountains, the true core. Using a secret technique to sense the faint traces of aura left by the Eighteenth Divine Elder, he followed along. After passing three black mountains, his vision suddenly darkened, and a shocking scene appeared before him.
Before him stood a divine peak, far taller and more massive than all the other mountains, its grandeur unimaginable.
The divine peak blotted out the sky and sun, truly the emperor among peaks, vastly larger and more imposing than the other black mountains. Its massive body rose halfway into the boundless clouds, shrouded by them as if reaching straight to the Nine Heavens above.
It was hard to believe that such an enormous divine peak stood in the deepest part of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range, yet it was invisible from the outside.
But this also made Ye Chen increasingly aware that the Demonic Beast Mountain Range was no ordinary place.
Soon, Ye Chen discovered that at the foot of the divine peak stood a massive ancient hall. The hall complex stretched out, empty and devoid of people, standing there lonely with only a heart-trembling deathly silence.
Suddenly, Ye Chen's gaze sharpened because he saw specks of fluorescent light suddenly drifting through the void. Countless, filling the sky, they drifted in from beyond the mists, all floating towards the divine hall.
He casually caught one speck of fluorescence on his hand and immediately understood, but his expression also turned grave. "Spiritual power!?"
These light points were condensed from spiritual power. Moreover, these spiritual light points carried various auras—not from a single living being, but from thousands upon thousands of beings.
"Strange, why are there so many spiritual power light points appearing, and these are all from ordinary people's spiritual power," Ye Chen wondered with suspicion. Then, looking at the ground, he discovered there were actually streams of crimson liquid flowing.
Upon closer look, this wasn't ordinary water at all—it was real blood. And not just one or two streams, nor dozens or hundreds, but thousands upon thousands.
Stream after stream of bloodlines defied the principle of water flowing downhill. They flowed continuously from all directions, eventually merging into trickling streams. Stream after stream of bloodlines kept merging together until the blood flow grew thicker and thicker, finally becoming a river of blood, gurgling as it flowed towards the divine hall, filled with a terrifying, eerie atmosphere.
All of this made both Ye Chen and Old Yan feel a chill. Because it was all too bizarre. The appearance of spiritual power light points and the river of blood was heart-palpitating and filled with immense horror.
But where did all this blood and spiritual power light points come from? Especially the spiritual power light points—they couldn't last long in the world. Within a day, they would inevitably dissipate completely.
Suddenly, Ye Chen's expression changed slightly. He thought of the brutal battle at the Demon-Suppressing City battlefield and immediately understood most of it. So that was it.
What a clever Demonic Beast Mountain Range. Losing a treasure and inciting a demonic beast uprising was fake. The real reason was to seize the opportunity to devour the blood and spiritual power of countless living beings.
Could it be that the Beast God incited the demonic beast uprising to absorb so much blood and spiritual power light points, supplementing itself to advance to a higher level?
The more he thought about it, the more his heart pounded with fear. Having devoured so much blood and spiritual power, the Beast God must be unimaginably terrifying, perhaps even surpassing the Heavenly God realm.
After all, the demonic beast uprisings weren't just once or twice. Looking at the thousand-year history of Xia Feng Kingdom, they occurred roughly every one hundred and fifty years. So far, there had been at least six or seven such events, each causing casualties in the hundreds of thousands.
By now, the number of beings who had died had long exceeded a million. Just how strong had the Beast God, who had devoured the essence blood and spiritual power of these beings, become...
Ye Chen's expression turned completely somber. Regarding the tens of thousands dying in war, though it touched his heart, he understood it was an inevitable part of the mortal world, unavoidable. Thus, he had taken the bone fragment with a clear conscience.
But if the purpose of inciting the uprising was to devour the essence blood and spiritual power of countless beings, that was cultivating the path of demons and devils. Such a being deserved death by all and must not be left alive, or it would be a great calamity.
If given the chance, he wouldn't mind taking action to kill the Beast God, to prevent it from bringing disaster to the mortal world.
As if sensing the killing intent emerging from Ye Chen, Old Yan appeared and said, "Little Chen, don't act rashly. Things don't seem as simple as imagined."
Ye Chen naturally understood. Before the truth was fully clear, he couldn't be hasty in judgment. Since he was already here, he also wanted to see why the Eighteenth Divine Elder had come to this place.
Vaguely, he had a feeling that the Martial God Hall's Eighteenth Divine Elder coming here would involve a shocking, major event.
His intuition had always been accurate, never wrong before.
At that moment, his gaze suddenly shifted because he saw a figure appear before the ancient hall—it was the Martial God Hall's Eighteenth Divine Elder.
The Eighteenth Divine Elder stood in the void, suddenly performing a respectful bowing ceremony towards the ancient hall and saying, "Zhang Bailong, the Eighteenth Divine Elder of the Martial God Hall, requests an audience with the Vast Heaven Great Sage. The Hall Master sends his greetings and wishes to discuss the matter of 'Slaying the Heavens' together!"
Slaying the Heavens!?
Ye Chen's heart gave a violent leap. He felt he was about to learn of a shocking, major event, one with vast implications!