Chapter 1720 - 869: Remnant Spirit of the Era (2)

The surroundings were deathly silent, with a biting cold pressure coming from all directions. There was no light, only some vague and massive, extremely strange silhouettes swimming slowly in the darkness.

Some dragged giant tails covered with bone spikes, some opened giant mouths filled with fangs, with forms somewhere between huge beetles and writhing mollusks, exuding an ancient suffocating aura.

Is this...the Devonian?

In the depths of this dark, cold, survival-of-the-fittest primordial ocean, a feeble "spirit" bearing the breath of chaotic life was born.

It was not a divinity nurtured by heaven and earth, more like a strand of will carrying the primordial wildness of life and the cyclic laws of disease, accidentally condensed during the cruel competition, death, decay, and rebirth processes of countless primitive beings.

It was confused, chaotic, powerful, and capricious, instinctively attracting and assimilating the life essence and death decay permeating the ocean, like a giant, constantly pulsating, primordial "flesh placenta" formed by the aggregation of countless tiny lives...

This was the "Ancient God’s" initial, most primitive form!

It had survived unimaginably long eras, struggling in the Barbaric Era of the primordial ocean, witnessing the rise and fall of countless species, until the era of the serpent-bodied civilization.

Li Yan’s mind was shaken!

He finally understood the nature of this evil being—a relic born at the origin of life, through countless epochs, long abandoned by the times.

It had been one of the dominators of the primordial ocean, possessing nearly immortal life force, but its will was pure "wild divinity," incompatible with the communication methods of the later-born Human Clan and all wise beings.

Its "thought" was more like a chaotic tide of life, an instinctive display of the cyclical laws of life and death.

Its "plague," in the era in which it existed, might have been nothing more than a natural part of the life cycle. Yet, for later intelligent races, it was a world-ending fiend causing endless calamities!

"Roar——!!!"

From deep within the stone tower, a final wail full of reluctance and despair, originating from the soul level, was heard.

The pulsating dark red flesh, under the dual devouring of the Soul-hooking Thunder Lock and the Daluo Dharma Body, rapidly deflated like a punctured airbag and withered.

The massive life source was forcefully extracted, and that chaotic, primordial will flickered like a candle in the wind, eventually extinguishing completely.

Poof!

The last bit of dark red turned into a puddle of foul-smelling, lifeless rotten flesh and blood, flowing down along the stone tower’s crevices, and was instantly engulfed by the mud at the bottom of the pool.

Buzz...

With the complete eradication of this evil being’s source, the entire ruin space emitted a low hum, like a sigh of relief mixed with mourning.

The bizarre fungi covering the palace remains, broken stone tower walls, and even floating in the air, in various terrifying forms, seemed to lose all life force in an instant, rapidly fading, drying, and cracking.

In just a few breaths, the fungi that once covered everything like a colorful shroud turned into a thick layer of lifeless gray-white dust, falling swiftly.

The entire Penglai ruins were instantly shrouded in a deathly gray-white silence. The cloying, suffocating, sweet decay in the air rapidly dissipated, leaving only pure, icy, all-encompassing stillness of extinction!

Rumble!!!

The trembling of the ruin space did not stop; rather, it intensified abruptly.

Enormous stone pillars collapsed thunderously, the already broken halls turned to powder in the dust cloud, and deep chasms tore open the ground.

Meanwhile, outside, along the frozen coast of Penglai.

The massive beast horde, fretful and roaring madly around the stone tower clusters, seemed to simultaneously lose their souls.

Countless pairs of scarlet eyes, filled with madness and a desire for destruction, instantly lost all luster, becoming hollow and gray.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Like dominoes toppled, beginning from the outermost edge, massive ice-armored bear beasts, fierce multi-eyed giant lizards, bone-spiked ice wolves, and sky-covering monstrous birds...stiffly collapsed one by one.

Without even a cry, their large bodies hit the frozen ground, splattered ice chips and bloodstains, and instantly lost all vitality.

The survival of such a huge beast horde in this era was inherently unreasonable, as it relied on the power of the ancient god within the tower.

However, their Divine Soul had long been eroded, parasitized, and controlled by the omnipresent fungal spores.

The death of the fungi source severed the last thread maintaining their frenzied lives, taking with it their remaining twisted vitality.

In a moment, the once-dark and despairing beast horde turned into a silent, massive pile of corpses covering the coastline.

Wang Daoxuan and his group noticed the change and came out to investigate.

The horrific scene of death before their eyes made everyone feel icy cold.

This is not something that ordinary spells can achieve.

Splosh~

As everyone was shocked, the water rippled, Li Yan burst out from below and rolled to his feet, his expression serious: "We must leave now!"

"Brother Yan!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and quickly surrounded him.

"What happened down there?"

"How did those beasts die?"

No time for further explanation, Li Yan waved to cut off their conversation, speaking gravely: "This place is dangerous; let’s find a boat and leave quickly."

Fatty Lin just wanted to ask about the treasure aura his treasure-seeking eye saw, but hearing Li Yan’s words, he was puzzled: "Aren’t those monsters all dead? What danger could still be here? We finally reached Penglai..."

Boom!

Before his words could fall, the ground shook again.

This time, it was more intense, like a dragon turning over.

Kong Shangzhao suddenly remembered something, swallowed, and pointed at the ground: "Is the thing below still alive?"

They had previously explored another Immortal Island, already knowing that beneath these islands were enormous turtles of extraordinary size, drifting in the sea.

However, in this era, such giant beasts fundamentally couldn’t live; just like those they’d previously found, only fossil remains were left.

Thus, none of them considered this possibility.

"Let’s go first, discuss later!"

Li Yan couldn’t care to explain, leading everyone in a run towards the shore.

Indeed, as soon as they reached the shore, they discovered something unusual.

The sea level was rising rapidly, waves surging continuously upward, already reaching the previous mid-mountain level.

The good news was, seemingly affected by the undercurrents, several fragmented ship decks were being washed towards the shore like rafts.

Not caring about the frigid sea, everyone jumped onto the rafts, paddling frantically.

An hour later, looking at the disappearing island and the giant whirlpool in the distance, everyone felt a surge of lingering fear.

Li Yan then recounted the cause.

"That thing has strong life force; the giant turtle is thus affected and still alive, but it’s turned into a puppet... Now free, where it might appear next is unknown..."

Fatty Lin looked at the now calm sea with regret in his eyes, muttering: "Pity, those treasures must be extraordinary."

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said: "Treasures are countless in the world; not all can be seized. Escaping with one’s life is already a blessing of fate, leave them to other fated ones."

As he spoke, he looked around, "What do we do now?"

"Li Dong, go see!"

Lv San immediately released the hawk, soaring in the sky.

About an hour later, the hawk reappeared, swooping in the air.

Lv San looked up and frowned as he spoke: "I found a ship, but it’s not of Central Earth style, and the people onboard are Red-haired Barbarians."

"Probably not Red-haired Barbarians."

Kong Shangzhao mused: "Given this area, most likely they’re from the Raksha country, but on one side is Japan, the other is the Nuerhan Governorate, what are they doing here?"

Long Yan’er smiled and said: "No matter what they’re doing, let’s board the ship first!"

With that, she tossed a pouch from her waist high into the air.

Li Dong’s hawk immediately dove, grabbed the pouch, and after a circle, flew into the distance, while Long Yan’er also started chanting a spell.

An hour later, a large ship appeared on the distant sea level, loaded with sore, grumbling Raksha country people...