Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 1699: Chapter 862: Could They Be the Same Kind of Existence? (2)

Gu Sheng sprinted furiously, not daring to pause for a moment. It wasn’t until he crossed a simple yet luminous ancient gate, like some kind of boundary, that he suddenly felt the relentless pursuit behind him, vanishing abruptly!

He halted, swiftly turning back, and vigilantly gazed towards the outside of the gate.

All he saw were the densely packed, wave-like black shadows, all halted outside that gate. Their blurred faces seemed to be "staring" at the inside of the gate at Gu Sheng, but none dared to cross that threshold, as if there existed some rule or taboo they couldn’t breach.

Confirming his temporary safety, Gu Sheng finally let out a long sigh of relief, finally having leisure to carefully observe and think about what on earth he had encountered just now.

Standing inside the gate, he sharply scrutinized those black shadows outside, which had come to a stop.

This time, he looked more closely.

"These shadows... although their forms are vague and largely composed of that eerie black energy, upon closer inspection, the outlines of their clothing, the styles of the weapons they wield, even some minor habitual movements, seem to have differences..."

Gu Sheng rubbed his chin, his mind racing rapidly.

"Moreover, their cultivation fluctuations are mostly concentrated from the Peak of the Heavenly Martial Realm to the Early Stage of the Sect Realm, with very few particularly prominent ones..."

A bold conjecture gradually took shape in his mind.

"Could it be... these black shadows are not native spiritual beings born of this Secret Realm itself, but rather... martial artists from all directions who previously explored this main hall and tragically perished here?! Their residual souls, obsessions, or lifelong cultivations were in some unknown way absorbed and transformed by this Secret Realm, ultimately forming these eerie guardian existences?"

This thought slightly chilled his back.

If this were true, the number of strong individuals devoured by this main hall was likely an extremely staggering number!

While he was immersed in this astonishing speculation, a sudden heavy and ancient mechanism sound came from behind!

Clack... rumble...

He whipped around abruptly, seeing the central area behind him, in this relatively safe zone, where the ground was slowly cracking open. A stone tablet, about a zhang tall, entirely in a bronze color, covered with countless complex and unfamiliar inscriptions, was rising slowly from underground!

The stone tablet exuded a desolate, ancient, and solemn aura. The inscriptions on it twisted like worms or serpents, completely different from any script he knew of, filled with mystery.

"Is this... an inscription?"

Gu Sheng stepped forward a few paces, scrutinizing those characters closely.

"These characters... never seen before. They have such an ancient and profound style, could it be... the script of an Ancient Era?"

He recalled the divisions of the Martial Artist eras.

Nowadays, it is generally believed that martial arts civilizations have experienced the Ancient, Far Ancient, Near Ancient, and current eras.

Among them, the Far Ancient and Ancient Eras, due to their remoteness and seemingly having undergone some enormous upheaval, resulted in severe information gaps, with very few surviving records, shrouded in a fog of mystery. Gu Sheng had out of curiosity delved into some fragmented ancient texts, having limited knowledge, but very limited comprehension.

"If this inscription is truly in an ancient script, then this Secret Realm... this Golden-winged Roc..."

Gu Sheng’s heart trembled violently.

"Could this Golden-winged Roc have survived from the Far Ancient Era?"

But then he immediately cast doubt on this.

"No... according to scattered records, the Far Ancient Era was unimaginably distant. The living beings of that era possessed terrifying powers capable of moving mountains, filling seas, plucking stars, and capturing the moon--far exceeding today’s Venerable and Saints.

While this Golden Wing Ridge Secret Realm is wondrous, its stature does not seem to reach such legendary levels.

Moreover, the memories left by Situ Qingfeng’s mother, as well as the various ’selection’ and ’testing’ signs shown by this Secret Realm, indicate that the Golden-winged Roc retained clear intelligence and a definite purpose before its demise..."

His heart was tumultuously stirred by these two contradictory hypotheses.

If the Golden-winged Roc were an ancient being, then the value of this Secret Realm and the secrets it might conceal would vastly surpass what he previously imagined! But if not, how then would one explain this ancient inscription?

The fog before him seemed to grow thicker.

This main hall, this Secret Realm, and that Golden-winged Roc that died countless ages ago--what story do they truly conceal?

Gu Sheng forcibly suppressed the intense emotional turbulence aroused by the mystery of the ancient inscriptions and the era of the Secret Realm, knowing this was not the moment to delve into these matters.

The immediate priority was to locate the relic of the Golden-winged Roc and enhance his own strength to face the outside threat of the Secret Realm.

He took a deep breath, drew closer to that bronze stone tablet which had just risen, and examined the strange characters on it in even greater detail. Though he couldn’t fully decipher them, by interpreting the arrangement of the characters and certain recurring combinations that seemed to represent honorifics or ceremonial dedications, he gradually formed a vague deduction in his mind.

"This appears... not to be an ordinary inscription recording cultivation techniques or events, but rather a... eulogy?"

Gu Sheng frowned slightly, his fingertips unconsciously tracing over those cold engravings.

"The content of the eulogy seemingly commemorates and eulogizes an exceedingly powerful existence resting here. Moreover, the tone of the person who erected this tablet carries a sense of... acting under orders, as if he were commanded to guard this... ’Immortal Tomb’?"

Immortal Tomb!

This deduction caused another jolt in his heart.

If this truly were the tomb of an ancient Great Power, the opportunities and dangers within would far exceed previous estimates! And what role did the Golden-winged Roc play in this place? Guardian beast? Sacrificial companion? Or... someone interred here?

Countless questions surged like a tide.

"Enough, it’s difficult to glimpse the whole picture with these fragmentary ancient inscriptions alone."

Gu Sheng shook his head, deciding not to dwell on these incomprehensible snippets.

"It’s better to proceed according to the original plan, delve deeper into the main hall, and find the relic of the Golden-winged Roc. Perhaps it can provide some answers."

He glanced one last time at the pitch-black shadows outside the door, even more convinced of another of his hypotheses.

"These shadows, they are likely the martial artists from various eras who explored this main hall and fell here over eons.

Their power, even their residual souls’ obsessions, were assimilated and absorbed by this Secret Realm, becoming part of the Secret Realm’s protective mechanism, repeating endlessly, eternally without cease... truly pitiful and lamentable."

Just as he withdrew his gaze, ready to turn and continue deeper in, an unexpected change occurred!

The bronze stone tablet, as if sensed his gaze and thoughts, with those complex, twisted ancient characters suddenly all lighting up with a gentle and mysterious radiance!

Immediately, in Gu Sheng’s astonished gaze, those glowing characters seemed to come alive, detaching from the tablet, transforming into myriad lustrous symbols, like dancing sprites, beginning to slowly revolve and spiral around his body!

An indescribable ancient and majestic pressure, as if stemming from the ends of time and space, instantly enveloped Gu Sheng’s entire body!

Alarms blared in his mind, instinctively wanting to leap backwards, escaping the encircling strange script.

However, he barely reacted when he was horrified to find that the air around his body seemed to have transformed into solidified millennium-old Mystic Ice, incredibly heavy, anchoring him firmly in place, almost unable to move a single finger! He could only watch in shock as those faintly glowing ancient characters revolved around him like a flowing star river.

"Is this... Spatial Imprisonment?!"

Gu Sheng was terrified.

Before he could devise a counter-measure, the entire hall suddenly shook terribly, without any warning! It was not the physical tremor of an earthquake, but a high-frequency vibration originating from space itself! Walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything blurred and twisted!

"Spatial fluctuation! This bronze tablet... is a trigger-type teleportation restriction!"

Gu Sheng instantly understood, but his body was shackled, with no means to resist, only able to allow the mighty Space Power to envelop him.