Chapter 197: The Body

Sorry for the late release, everyone.

I’ve been busy with exams and couldn’t update on time like I wanted to. Thank you for being patient and still following the story.

Now that exams are out of the way, I’ll get back to posting more regularly.

Appreciate all of you.

Back to the story

The creature’s massive body finally settled.

What remained of the ridge under their feet stopped sinking and only trembled occasionally as the last of the dark fluid drained from the ruptured core. The fog around them thinned in slow, uneven patches. Long pale limbs lay motionless across the membrane. The few hatchlings still present had either fled into the deeper mist or gone still near the wound.

Lian kept his blade ready for a while longer. Elara did the same. Ryzek’s four amber eyes swept the fading fog until he was satisfied nothing else was rising.

“It’s done,” Ryzek said at last.

None of them relaxed completely. The fight had taken too much. Lian’s ribs burned with every breath. Elara’s thigh and arm were still bleeding through the temporary seals she had managed. Ryzek’s energy reserves were clearly low, the crystalline ridges along his arms duller than before.

They climbed carefully across the sagging body until they reached a section of solid stone that had been hidden beneath the fog and the creature’s bulk. The platforms and gaps they had been crossing earlier were gone — either destroyed or left far behind when the creature moved. In their place, a wide opening in the corridor wall stood exposed, previously blocked by the fog and the mass of the living thing.

Cold air drifted out of the opening.

Lian exchanged a look with the other two, then led the way inside.

The passage beyond was short and smooth. The blue embers from the outer corridor did not follow them. Instead, a dim silver light came from further ahead. After a few dozen steps the passage opened into a large, circular chamber.

The air inside was dry and still.

At the center of the chamber rested a raised stone platform. On it lay a body.

The figure was humanoid, tall, and preserved far beyond what time should have allowed. Pale skin had turned almost translucent. Long white hair spread across the stone. The clothing was simple but made from materials that still held a faint residual glow. Both hands rested on the chest, fingers interlocked around the hilt of a dark, unadorned blade that had been laid lengthwise along the body.

There was no smell of decay.

Ryzek stopped several paces away from the platform.

“This is the owner,” he said quietly. “Or what remains of him.”

Elara’s eyes moved across the chamber, checking the walls and ceiling for traps or secondary mechanisms. Lian stepped closer to the platform, stopping just outside arm’s reach of the body. The residual energy around the figure was old and dense, but it no longer carried the aggressive pressure of a living cultivator. Whatever power this person had held in life had long since settled into the tomb itself.

The main reason they had come this far returned to the front of Lian’s mind.

Resources. Techniques. Inheritance. Anything that could accelerate growth and close the gap between his current strength and the enemies waiting far above his level. The living gate, the white room, the corridor, and the creature in the fog had all been obstacles placed in front of that goal. This body was the center of it.

“Do we move him?” Elara asked.

“Not yet,” Lian said. He studied the hands locked around the blade and the way the body had been arranged. “Everything here was placed deliberately. If there is a final mechanism, it will be tied to this.”

Ryzek walked a slow circle around the platform, examining the floor and the base of the raised stone.

“No obvious formations,” he said. “But the entire chamber is still carrying residual power. Touch the wrong thing and we may trigger whatever was left to protect the remains.”

Lian nodded once.

He kept his eyes on the dark blade resting under the dead man’s hands. The weapon carried the same quiet density as the rest of the chamber. It did not shine. It simply waited.

Outside, far behind them, the last traces of the fog creature continued to settle into silence.

In front of them lay the reason they had entered the tomb in the first place.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak

Keep it as reminders