Chapter 759: Ancient Seal

“Get out of here, now.”

“Go!”

At that moment, the Nine Heavens Martial Emperors cried out in shock and anger almost simultaneously. Their Divine Thought avatars dissipated one after another. This time, it wasn’t a death-like dissipation; they had actively severed the connection to their avatars. It was clear that their true bodies were in such a perilous situation that they couldn’t even spare a wisp of divine thought here.

An inexplicable sense of dread flowed through everyone’s heart.

“Ancestor…”

Before Long Yuan and the others, Long Xingtian’s figure was also slowly fading away.

As his form disappeared, he transmitted a thought, “My true self has run into some trouble. Leave this place immediately and wait for me by the abyss…”

“What?”

But just then, Long Xingtian suddenly let out a horrified, choked cry. His voice was filled with terror, as if he had seen something unbelievable. His dissipating form was actually trembling.

Long Yuan’s heart leaped in shock. “Ancestor, what’s wrong?” he cried out.

‘The Ancestor is a mighty Nine Heavens Martial Emperor. What on earth did he encounter in the abyss to make him show such fear?’

“It’s the Celestial Dragon Ancestor! The Celestial Dragon Ancestor from our Long family who entered this ancient demon land over six thousand years ago—he’s not dead! Ah, Ancestor, what are you doing? I’m a Long family disciple! No, you’re not the Celestial Dragon Ancestor! Who are you?! Ah—” Long Xingtian’s face was a mask of terror as he spoke in anger and shock, while simultaneously sending a frantic message to Long Yuan. “Run! Get out of this ancient demon land now, and never come back…”

BANG!

Before Long Xingtian could finish, his entire being instantly exploded, turning into pure Profound essence before vanishing into the void. In his final moments, his face was filled with terror and horror.

“Our ancestor…” Long Yuan and the others felt their hearts drop, their faces turning ashen.

He was dead. The Ancestor was actually dead.

Long Yuan could clearly sense that, at first, Ancestor Long Xingtian’s Divine Thought avatar had been dissipating voluntarily so he could focus on the crisis his real body was facing.

But at the last moment, his Divine Thought avatar had instantly collapsed due to a loss of mental support. There was only one explanation for this: just like the first three Nine Heavens Martial Emperors, his ancestor had fallen.

What in the world was going on? Why did the Ancestor say he had met the Celestial Dragon Ancestor who entered this place six thousand years ago?

Long Yuan’s mind was a tangled mess, and he was at a complete loss.

“Patriarch, what do we do now?” a few elders of the Long family asked, their faces filled with panic and their minds blank.

Long Yuan’s gaze gradually hardened. “We leave this place immediately. Whatever the Ancestor encountered, it’s not something we can handle. Listen to him. We’ll leave this ancient demon land right away and return to Liuxian City. We will never come back here.”

One elder hesitated. “But the Ancestor…”

Long Yuan shot him a fierce glare. “No ‘buts.’ The Ancestor has very likely fallen. If we die here too, then our Long family of Liuxian City will be finished.”

With that, Long Yuan immediately led the members of the Long family and flew at top speed toward the exit near the abyss.

It wasn’t just the Long family. The Martial Emperors from the other families had also lost all interest in treasure hunting and were fleeing for their lives.

「At this time.」

Ye Xuan and his group, who had long since left the altar, were flying rapidly toward the abyss.

His expression was grim as he looked down at the rolling valleys and black earth below, the cold glint in his eyes growing more intense.

‘That’s right, it’s a seal. An incomparably massive seal.’

Ye Xuan’s heart clenched violently.

He had already figured it out. This entire land, seemingly peaceful, was in fact a gigantic seal, containing countless profound and mysterious patterns.

These patterns were hidden deep underground and were exceptionally large, which was why Ye Xuan hadn’t noticed them at first. It was only after being inspired by the black Demonic Qi at the altar that he had begun to form a theory.

“Young Master Ye, what are you talking about?” Xiao Wuji and the others couldn’t help but ask when they saw the grave expression on Ye Xuan’s face.

Ye Xuan’s gaze was ice-cold. “The entire mysterious land we’re in,” he said frigidly, “is actually a gigantic seal. That altar was its core. Our actions there likely broke some of the seal’s nodes, causing it some damage.”

“This entire mysterious land is a seal?”

Xiao Wuji and the others were dumbfounded.

This mysterious land was vast and boundless. Even for powerful Martial Emperors like them, they couldn’t cross it in a single day of flying at top speed. For such a massive area to be a seal was something they couldn’t wrap their minds around.

Princess Qing, at their side, was also shocked. “Xuan Ye, are you sure? A seal this large is too exaggerated. Even the titans of the Profound Domain probably couldn’t create something like this.”

“I’m not mistaken,” Ye Xuan said, shaking his head. “And the ones who laid this seal were likely great powers of our Human Race from the ancient era, because the energy for this seal is supplied by the Profound Stones that we Martial Artists absorb.”

The shock on Xiao Wuji’s face intensified. “Young Master Ye, are you saying the Profound Stones we’ve found in this mysterious land were placed here by ancient powers of the Human Race?”

“That’s right.” Ye Xuan nodded. “Look at the direction of this valley. If you see it as a branch of the giant seal, and then consider the placement of those forty-nine altars, it should be a node within the seal. And the key position of this node would surely be supported by an energy source…”

As he spoke, Ye Xuan’s gaze grew even colder. He threw a punch at a spot on the valley floor. With a BOOM, dust and smoke filled the air, revealing a huge crater in the valley. Inside the crater, a vein of Upper Grade Profound Stones nearly ten feet high appeared before them, emitting dense fluctuations of Profound Qi.

“There really are Profound Stones.”

“This…”

Expressions of absolute shock appeared on the faces of Xiao Wuji and the others.

‘I really wasn’t wrong.’

Ye Xuan murmured, his heart feeling incredibly heavy.

Although he had spoken with a firm tone earlier, it had mostly been speculation.

Deep down, he had been hoping his guess was wrong.

But now that it was confirmed, his mood became exceedingly grim.

This whole land was so vast and expansive. To cover it with a seal and leave behind so many Profound Stones to maintain it—what kind of monumental undertaking was this?

At the very least, in Ye Xuan’s memory, even Holy City, the so-called supreme ruler of the continent today, probably couldn’t pull off something of this magnitude.

Moreover, a seal this vast had already surpassed the level of an ordinary Ninth-level seal.

Above Ninth-level… what did that even mean?

For Martial Artists, Tier Nine was the level of an Emperor. Above Tier Nine was the legendary Saint Realm, where one could shatter the void with martial might.

But in the nearly ten-thousand-year history of the Celestial Profound Continent, not a single person had reached the Saint Realm. It was only mentioned briefly in ancient records.

Didn’t this massive, ancient seal, which surpassed the Ninth-level, mean that the legendary Saint Realm truly existed?

Ye Xuan’s blood boiled with excitement.

BOOM!

With a surge of formless Profound essence, Ye Xuan buried the Upper Grade Profound Stones again before setting off once more.

“Young Master Ye, you…” Xiao Wuji and the others were. They had assumed Ye Xuan would take the Upper Grade Profound Stones, but instead, he had reburied them, completely intact.

Ye Xuan knew what they were thinking. “The reason this seal is breaking,” he said gravely, “is partly because we entered the altar, and partly because the Martial Artists who have come here have dug up too many Profound Stones, weakening the seal’s power. So if I were to take this vein of Upper Grade Profound Stones, I would undoubtedly accelerate the seal’s collapse.”

Profound Stones were good things; nobody didn’t want them. Furthermore, Ye Xuan had used up most of the supreme-grade and Upper Grade Profound Stones he’d acquired when he broke through to the Martial Emperor realm.

But Ye Xuan knew how to weigh his priorities. For him, getting more Profound Stones now was meaningless. It would only cause the seal to break more completely, putting himself, and even the entire continent, in grave danger.

“You mean the seal hasn’t completely broken yet?” Xiao Wuji asked, puzzled.

“Of course not.” Ye Xuan gave a cold laugh. “A seal this enormous isn’t so easily broken. Otherwise, the entity sealed here wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to trick us into entering the altar to steal our bodies.”

Xiao Wuji and the others looked thoughtful.

“I just wonder what exactly is sealed here,” they lamented.

Ye Xuan also shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.

But deep inside, he had a theory.

‘According to Zhan Shang, this was the ancient homeland of the Spirit Demon Race. Could it be that what’s sealed here is a powerful expert from the ancient Spirit Demon Race?’

Ye Xuan pondered this, but with Zhan Shang not around, he had no way of verifying it.

Flying at top speed, Ye Xuan’s group finally returned to the abyss.

“BOOM!”

The Demonic Evil Qi at the bottom of the abyss was now surging violently, like a roaring tide, majestic and imposing. Terrifying waves of pressure swept out, striking fear into the hearts of all who felt it.

“The Demonic Evil Qi here has grown much stronger.”

A hint of gravity appeared in Ye Xuan’s eyes.

When he first arrived at the abyss, the Demonic Evil Qi at the passage entrance, at least, hadn’t been very strong. But now, it seemed some strange transformation had occurred at the bottom of the abyss. Huge swaths of Demonic Evil Qi were boiling and surging, having already flooded past many of the passage entrances.

“Everyone, this black mist is surging. In a few hours, it will probably completely submerge this abyss. We must leave as soon as possible.”

Ye Xuan was the first to enter the Demonic Evil Qi.

Waves of killing intent assaulted his mind. Ye Xuan held his breath and focused his mind to resist.

Before long, a passage entrance appeared before him.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Ye Xuan, Xiao Wuji, and the others entered the passage. Princess Qing of the Moon God Palace followed closely behind.

“ROAR!”

Just then…

From the bottom of the abyss, a sudden roar erupted. The sound was like a deafening thunderclap, a bolt from the blue that shook the very earth.

A monstrous wave of malevolence and tyranny accompanied the roar, so powerful that it caused Ye Xuan’s expression to change drastically, his mind reeling.

“PTUI!”

Martial Emperors at the Peak of Tier Eight Second Layer, like Xiao Ming, spat out blood. Their faces turned pale, and their spirits withered. The single roar had inflicted internal injuries upon them.