Chapter 748: Ancient Mythical Beast |
After entering through the stone gate, Han Li and the others passed through a dim passageway before arriving in an extremely spacious hall.
The interior of the hall was also quite dim, and there were some yellow oil lamps hanging from the walls on either side. Some type of white oil was being burned in the lamps, and it produced no smoke, but it did release a slightly sickly sweet aroma.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief, and everyone else was also looking quite relieved.
Escaping from two Great Encompassment cultivators was no mean feat, and if the restrictions had been opened just a moment later, perhaps all of them would've been wiped out.
Even though they were now temporarily safe, Han Li hadn't let down his guard in the slightest.
He had no idea what this place was, and if it weren't for the desperate nature of their circumstances, he definitely wouldn't have ventured into this type of place. In most cases, restricted areas of major tribes were places of special meaning, usually either containing some cultivation arts, secret scriptures, or treasures, or places where certain things were sealed.
Given how apprehensive Gui Mu and Yin Xu were about damaging the restrictions in this place, it was very likely that there was something sealed in here.
After taking a brief moment to catch their breath, everyone immediately split up to search the hall.
The entire ground in the hall was riddled with layers upon layers of extremely complex array patterns, while two very long murals had been carved onto the walls on either side. The scenes depicted in the murals mostly consisted of battles between different beasts, much like what had been seen on the palace gates.
Han Li turned to discover that there were no tunnels that led anywhere deeper at the end of the hall. Instead, there was a giant humanoid beast relief engraved onto the entire wall, and it was the same beast as the one engraved onto the right side of the palace.
However, on this occasion, the giant beast was in an upright position, rather than a crouching one, revealing its legs to resemble those of a horse or a deer, rather than those of a human. There was a clear bend at the knee joint, and a series of giant black scales had been engraved all over them.
It had one hand raised up high with its fingers curled up into claws and a ball of black mist hovering over the palm of the hand, while in its other hand was a very strange-looking giant fiery sword. It appeared to be roaring to the heavens, and there was a primordial aura of menace emanating from it.
"The fact that we were able to break the spatial restriction outside means that it definitely won't be able to keep them out for long," Shi Chuankong said as he scoured his surroundings with a concerned expression.
"Let's not panic. We should figure out what kind of place this is first," Han Li said.
"This seems to be some type of ceremonial site. Take a look at the murals over there," Weeping Soul suddenly said.
Everyone turned to the innermost part of the wall on the right hand side, and sure enough, the murals there depicted some type of ancient humanoid beings performing a ceremony for an ancient deity.
The scene depicted in the mural displayed bloodshed on an enormous scale, with tens of thousands of Gray Realm beings serving as sacrifices. There were both unintelligent Gray Realm demons, as well as beings from civilized tribes thrown into the mix, and all of them had been herded into a giant crater that resembled an enormous bowl.
Outside the crater crouched he giant beast engraved onto the wall. Half of its body was leaning over the edge of the crater, and its cavernous mouth was opened slightly with a look of greed on its face.
Han Li recognized some of the beings in the crater, and using them as reference, he was able to determine that the giant beast had to have been at least ten thousand feet in size.
After taking a glance at the giant crater, Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he took a few steps back, then turned to a strange indentation in the ground.
The lines and patterns on the ground seemed to be completely chaotic and haphazard, but he had noticed that all of them actually converged to this small indentation, which was only several dozen feet in size.
"Have you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Li?" Baili Yan asked.
"Take a look at that indentation there. Doesn't it look like a miniature version of the crater depicted in that ceremonial mural?" Han Li asked.
"Now that you mention it, it doesn't look rather similar. It looks like this place really is a ceremonial site then," Shi Chuankong replied.
"There's a very good chance that the creature on the murals is being sealed here, and that's why this is a restricted area," Han Li speculated.
"No wonder no fighting is allowed here, the Infernal Tribe must be afraid of damaging the seal and releasing that creature," Fox 3 said.
Right at this moment, the entire hall suddenly shuddered violently as a burst of rumbling rang out from outside.
"They've begun breaking the restrictions..." Weeping Soul said.
"At this point, there's already no way back for us. Seeing as the Infernal Tribe is clearly apprehensive of this thing, let's find a way to release it, and perhaps that could give us some chance of surviving this," Han Li said with a grim expression.
A hesitant look flashed through Weeping Soul's eyes upon hearing this, but ultimately, she didn't say anything.
Han Li was just about to say something upon noticing her hesitant expression when Shi Qinghou's voice rang out in his mind.
"I suggest you don't do that. I've already recalled what this thing is, and if you release it, there's a very good chance you'll all be killed before those two can even get to you."
"You know what this creature is?" Han Li asked.
"Have you heard of the Kun Hou?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"What's that?"
"The Kun Hou is a being that's existed since the very inception of the Gray Realm. It's said that it was formed by the baleful essence of the Gray Realm, and its power is unmatched. Even to this day, many of the Gray Realm's tribes still worship it as an ancient deity.
“As for exactly why it's been sealed here by the Infernal Tribe, that's beyond me. I'm telling you this as a precautionary warning, but ultimately, the decision is still up to you," Shi Qinghou explained, then fell silent again.
"Master, what should we do?" Weeping Soul asked.
Everyone else also turned to him, and it was clear that they had all grown accustomed to looking to him for leadership.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Regardless of what's down there, let's release it first," Han Li decided.
Outside the hall, the rumbling was becoming louder and louder, and it seemed that Gui Mu and Yin Xu were becoming more and more agitated.
"The restrictions here are extremely complex. I don't think we currently possess the power to destroy it by force in a short time, so we should perhaps try and set up some arrays to unravel it," Shi Chuankong suggested.
Han Li nodded in agreement, then declared, "Time is of the essence, so let's get to work."
With that, everyone split up and began searching for the important points in the array.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he turned his gaze to the ceremonial altar ahead of him, and he quickly discovered that there were many squiggly worm-like patterns engraved onto the altar, which had previously appeared quite smooth. These patterns filled the entire altar, and there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to them. On top of that, all of the patterns were filled with some type of black dirt-like substance.
The ceremonial pit was also filled with patterns, which formed a strange flame-like design.
After conducting an extensive examination, Han Li didn't notice anything amiss, and he turned his gaze to the surrounding murals, but once again, he wasn't able to find any points of interest.
"Have any of you found anything?" Fox 3 asked as he made his way back from a corner of the hall.
"There are some patterns on the ground, but they're completely random and appear to only be there for decorative purposes," Shi Chuankong replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li raised his head to look up at the ceiling, where there were a total of seven circles of runes engraved, with each successive circle larger than the previous one, and at the very center of the seven circles was an upside-down black pillar.
"Take a look up there," Han Li suddenly said, and everyone immediately obliged.
"That seems to be some sort of spatial array," Shi Chuankong remarked as his eyes lit up.
"Do you recognize it, Brother Shi?" Fox 3 asked.
Instead of immediately responding, Shi Chuankong's brows became tightly furrowed as he fell into deep thought, and only after a brief silence did he reply, "This restriction is split up into two parts, and its overall layout shares some similarities with the All-encompassing Restrictive Array of our Devil Realm. On top of that, the patterns on its surface overlap with many of the spatial array patterns that I've seen earlier in Gray Realm scriptures related to arrays."
"Can any of the information on those scriptures be referenced here?" Han Li asked.
"I can't say for sure. There are some similarities, but also some clear differences. For example, there are many fire-attribute array patterns in this array, and I don't know what they're there for," Shi Chuankong replied with a hesitant expression.
Right as he was speaking, another resounding boom rang out from outside, and the ground trembled beneath everyone's feet.
"We don't have any time left. Just take a gamble and do what you think is right. If worse comes to worst, we'll just have to wait for Yin Xu and Gui Mu to get here, then fight them to the death and attempt to use their power to destroy the seal in here," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"Alright, in that case, please follow my instructions and lend me your assistance, everyone," Shi Chuankong replied with a solemn nod.
Everyone gave a collective affirmative response, and Shi Chuankong began handing out Baleful Inkstones and array plates, all of which were to be set up on the ground in the hall.
After that was done, he began instructing everyone to embed the same items into the ceiling above.
Aside from the sounds of Shi Chuankong's verbal instructions and everyone's shuffling feet, the only other sound that could be heard was the rumbling from outside, and the atmosphere had become extremely tense.