Upon hearing the voice, the yellow-robed elder who was speeding ahead paused, his form faltering for a moment. He turned to look back at the four individuals who had remained almost stationary, his brows furrowing as he uttered a low rebuke, "A bunch of useless trash!"
Although he spoke these words, he knew he couldn't simply abandon them.
Overwhelmed by excitement and agitation, his mind had been consumed with thoughts of the momentous events to come and the deep, long-held yearning for his homeland. After saying that one sentence to the four, he had completely put them out of his mind.
With a flick of his large sleeve, a stream of black smoke shot out from behind the yellow-robed elder, resembling a long rope. It instantly wrapped around the four figures and pulled them into the distant sky, flying away at great speed...
About thirty breaths later, a world-shaking roar echoed across the entire South Sea region. The once clear, sunny sky over the sea inexplicably became shrouded in dark, heavy clouds.
The sea surface, which had been rippling gently, underwent a sudden and dramatic transformation. A cataclysmic tsunami rolled in, creating waves a thousand zhang high.
No matter how far away they were, all living beings on the islands felt a world-destroying power rising from the depths of the ocean.
Beneath the ink-black sky, in a certain spot, a pillar of black energy dozens of li wide shot up into the heavens, connecting with the oppressive, leaden clouds. It seemed as if it would drag the entire sky down into the sea.
As for the small island where the yellow-robed elder and his four companions had been, it had now vanished into nothingness, as if it had never existed in this world. It disappeared without a sound, leaving only a colossal, dark cavern where the island once stood.
Strangely, the thousand-zhang-high waves that raged all around were unable to surge into the massive hole. They could only roar and howl around its perimeter.
From within the pitch-black cavern, plumes of bone-chilling black smoke continuously billowed into the sky. Beneath the smoke, a vortex covered in ancient runes slowly rotated. Amidst the swirling of these ancient symbols, something black and tangled, like a messy ball of hemp, slowly began to float up.
To say it was "slow" was only in comparison to the crashing waves and the ceaselessly rising jets of black smoke. In truth, in just half a breath, the object was mostly revealed.
Upon closer inspection, it was a long-haired man in black robes, so emaciated he resembled a skeleton. The clothes on his body might not have originally been black, but after the passage of countless years, they had become tattered, black strips of cloth that hung from his withered frame like a scarecrow in an off-season field.
The man's long hair obscured his face. As his body continued to rise, his gaunt frame appeared unusually tall, yet his hair, seemingly endless in length, hung straight down.
As he "slowly" ascended, the black-robed man, who had kept his head bowed, finally tilted his face up when his torso was halfway exposed. He allowed his long hair to slide slightly to the sides of his cheeks, revealing a face covered in wrinkles, a picture of extreme old age.
The wrinkles were layered upon each other like the dry bark of an old tree. His gaze was fixed greedily on the scene before him, and then a hoarse, ancient voice emanated from his throat.
"Master, the great formation you and the two Martial Uncles created with your Essence Blood has finally allowed us to return to the mortal realm. Disciple has not failed your command; I have brought them back... In the years that remain, we will take back this heaven and earth that originally belonged to us.
"Most importantly, we must find that hidden space and reclaim the ultimate treasure that is rightfully ours...
"We... have returned to the mortal realm..."
As the black-robed elder's voice fell, he had already shot into the sky, trailing billows of black smoke behind him.
Following him, two more long-haired figures in black robes rushed out from the black vortex. Looking down into the vortex, one could see dense ranks of gaunt figures floating up, numbering four to five hundred.
Greed and bloodlust filled their eyes as they chanted in unison, "Lost is our home, a vast and hazy land; Gained are our bodies, desolate as drifting duckweed; The swift steeds arrive, the blood river surges..."
Their voices were filled with a hatred that was vast and unending...
With a "boom," Li Yan's vision was filled with a flash of light, and his Divine Sense arrived in a world of silver.
Looking at the surrounding scene, Li Yan was overjoyed, but his head was still a little dizzy—a result of overexerting his Divine Sense.
'If I hadn't advanced to the Pseudo-Core Realm, I still would have been helpless against this Silver Page.'
Just now, Li Yan had used a full ninety percent of his Divine Sense, a formidable power comparable to that of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator. This time, just as his Divine Sense was about to be repelled by the restriction on the Silver Page, he had instantly and forcibly condensed all of it into a single point, forming a black spike of Divine Sense. With that final strike, he had at last managed to enter the Silver Page.
Li Yan remained on high alert, surveying his surroundings. He had always been one to plan before acting. The moment his Divine Sense spike breached the Silver Page's restriction, he had immediately withdrawn the greater part of his Divine Sense back to his body.
He left only a single thread of Divine Sense to enter the Silver Page. If the situation inside was worse than he imagined, the most he would lose was this one thread, preventing his Divine Soul from suffering a severe injury.
If that were the outcome, it would have been truly tragic for him.
Unexpectedly, the situation inside the Silver Page was beyond his imagination—or rather, it exceeded any scenario he had previously conceived.
First, this wisp of his Divine Sense was not attacked at all. On the contrary, the entire space within the Silver Page was surprisingly quiet.
The surroundings were a vast expanse of silver-white, with nothing visible in the boundless haze. According to Li Yan's thinking, there was a fifty percent chance he would be attacked the moment his Divine Sense penetrated the Silver Page.
Alternatively, many words or runes should have appeared. In the minds of the cultivators who had fought over it in the pagoda, there was an over eighty percent certainty that this Silver Page was something akin to a Jade Slip, which should have been inscribed with some kind of cultivation method, Immortal Art, or perhaps a secret art for array refining or artifact refining.
But none of that happened or appeared.
Remaining vigilant, Li Yan began to traverse the interior of the Silver Page at high speed. After a moment, he discovered with frustration that he had gained nothing at all.
'I've tried to activate this Silver Page with Spirit Power and incantations before when I couldn't open it. It shouldn't be any type of magical treasure or talisman. Could it be...'
Li Yan had long since determined that these three Silver Pages were not magical treasures or talismans. Now, having found nothing, he couldn't help but think of the magical treasures of the Demon Clan, which he was also unable to wield.
For a moment, he felt it was a possibility. After all, the origin of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda was mysterious, and its creation likely dated back to a very, very long time ago.
Moreover, the purpose of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda itself was likely to be a magical treasure forged to suppress the souls of demons and the like. It wouldn't be impossible if the original master of the pagoda had subdued some members of the Demon Clan and imprisoned them within.
After these demons were refined within the pagoda, they might have left behind the magical treasures they once used, which eventually scattered throughout the pagoda's various levels. Thinking about it this way, it didn't seem too surprising.
If that were the case, wouldn't this Silver Page that so many cultivators had fought over be nothing more than a useless piece of scrap paper?
Of course, this was all just Li Yan's speculation. He certainly wouldn't give up so easily. A wisp of his Divine Sense remained inside the Silver Page.
In the cave, Li Yan raised his five fingers. With a series of movements, streams of Spirit Power shot towards the Silver Page. He wanted to see if driving it with his own Spirit Power would cause any unusual phenomena from inside the Silver Page this time.
More than ten breaths later, Li Yan withdrew his Spirit Power. He then cast a series of incantations, causing the Silver Page to radiate with brilliant light.
After another ten-plus breaths, Li Yan's Divine Sense inside the Silver Page discovered with resignation that regardless of whether it was Spirit Power or incantations, at most they would only cause some spiritual fluctuations within the page. After a short pause, everything would return to normal again.
By now, Li Yan had explored everything he could and tried every incantation he knew. He could only stare blankly at the surroundings within the Silver Page, and a bitter smile touched his lips.
He thought for a moment and felt he should check the other two Silver Pages. If they were the same, he could only set them aside for the future when his cultivation was much greater. Perhaps then he would find another way to study them.
Just as Li Yan was about to withdraw his Divine Sense, an extremely cold and indifferent voice suddenly echoed within the silver space. Li Yan was startled and almost subconsciously retracted his Divine Sense, but thankfully, he had been on guard and had some ability to react.
"I am the fifty-ninth generation Fourth Elder of the Undead Nether Phoenix clan, named 'Tatian.' The time I have left is short. My remaining Essence Blood will be transformed into ten caches.
"If you are of my clan's bloodline, this is my final gift to you. If you are not of my clan, you must immediately deliver this item to the Undead Nether Phoenix clan. You are not permitted to keep it for yourself.
"You must also inform them of the existence of the other nine drops of Essence Blood. Otherwise, you will be hunted by my clan for generations upon generations, until your very Divine Soul is annihilated."
The voice was desolate and profound. Its sudden appearance startled Li Yan, but as he listened to the end, his expression changed several times.
There were several reasons for Li Yan's surprise:
First, among the myriad demonic beasts in this world, aside from the four peerless ferocious beasts, the most supreme were none other than the Dragon and Phoenix clans. The latter, phoenixes, were actually one race, comprised of the male Feng and female Huang.
But whether Dragon or Phoenix, these were just general terms. The Dragon clan was divided into many types, such as the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, Torch Dragon, Winged Dragon, Flood Dragon, and so on. The same was true for the Phoenix clan, which included the Green Luan, Fire Phoenix, Ice Phoenix, Green Phoenix, and others.
This "Undead Nether Phoenix" was an exceptionally powerful branch of the Phoenix clan. Its feathers were silver-grey, its blood was silver-white, and its body as tough as a star. Even though it was not as adept at spatial powers as other phoenix clans, an adult Undead Nether Phoenix could traverse any space. It was almost impervious to spatial turbulence and astral winds, possessing a truly near-indestructible body.
But nothing in this world was absolute. Although the lifespan of an Undead Nether Phoenix was measured in tens of thousands of years and its physical body was terrifyingly strong, there would eventually come a time when it would perish. This phoenix named "Tatian" was one such case, but it still demonstrated the power of its race.
Second, since the Undead Nether Phoenix was almost indestructible, the words just spoken undoubtedly revealed that this particular phoenix was on the verge of death. Who had killed it? And who could possibly kill it?
Even a juvenile Undead Nether Phoenix was equivalent to a Golden Core stage existence. The desolation in this voice clearly indicated that this was an adult Undead Nether Phoenix.
According to the records Li Yan had read, an adult Undead Nether Phoenix could no longer remain in the Mortal Realm. Its cultivation had long surpassed the Spirit Transformation realm and was not tolerated by the laws of this heaven and earth.
The cultivation of demonic beasts was much simpler than that of humans. In addition to their innate divine arts from their bloodline, their daily cultivation speed was astonishingly fast. Some demonic beasts simply ate, drank, and slept, and as long as their bodies grew, they would be in a constant state of advancement.
Whether this was true for the Undead Nether Phoenix, Li Yan had not seen any mention in the records. But this dying Undead Nether Phoenix was certainly an extraordinary being. Just from its faint words, Li Yan could hear a majesty that disregarded all else.