Shi Hao was immediately moved. Who was this person? Such arrogance was enough to make anyone’s heart tremble!
“Isn’t this the Demon Venerable’s tomb?” he asked.
“Demon Venerable? Quite the boast. Just a little fellow who died here long ago, nothing more than a neighbor to my resting place,” the old man replied.
His face was sallow, with patches of rotting flesh nearly peeling off, even revealing his cheekbones. His sunken eye sockets sagged, a truly horrifying sight.
Shi Hao stared at him, then glanced at the massive tomb behind him. Was there more to this place?
Had the Demon Venerable not been buried here after his fall, but merely happened to rest beside this grand tomb?
He then turned his gaze to Amanda and the jade coffin. The coffin was indeed ancient, its engravings and symbols not belonging to this era.
Yet, he hadn’t expected hidden truths here—ones that would drag out figures and events from the Emperor Fall Era!
“The Emperor Fall Era… That was so long ago. What a glorious age it must have been. Your true form perished, leaving behind only an empty, decaying remnant—ethereal, formless, drifting. What state is it in now?” Shi Hao inquired.
Due to the tomb’s influence, he found it difficult to see through the old man. Even his Heavenly Eye was useless here.
“Young man, you shouldn’t have come. Those who arrive here become the living dead, servants of the Netherworld. Leave, quickly,” the old man warned.
“What do you mean?” Shi Hao asked.
He remained calm. Having endured countless trials, nothing could shake his resolve now.
“This is the resting place of the mighty, not to be disturbed. Anyone who comes here will be cursed. Even if you endure now, sooner or later, you’ll return to die and become a servant!” the old man said gravely.
Shi Hao’s expression remained indifferent as he scrutinized the old man.
“Do you know how the curse here came to be?” the old man asked. His gray hair was still thick, but the roots were peeling from his scalp, as if ready to fall from his skull.
“How?” Shi Hao pressed.
“The remnants of the fallen carried broken runes. A single wisp leaked from the tomb, turning this place into a cursed land,” the old man explained.
“So the remnants are inside the tomb, and you’re just a manifested illusion?” Shi Hao stared at him.
The tomb was too eerie. His Heavenly Eye was useless here, making it hard to distinguish truth from illusion. Even his divine sense struggled to pierce the cursed mist before the tomb.
At the same time, he grew wary. If just a wisp of aura could turn this place into a death zone, what would happen if the remnants were fully exposed?
As if reading his thoughts, the old man said, “If the true form emerges, the heavens will collapse, the earth will split, all life will wither, and this era will be buried.”
By his own admission, he was no longer the powerhouse of the Emperor Fall Era—just a decaying remnant with fragments of consciousness.
He was a shadow of his former self.
Yet, if the true remnants were to awaken, they would bury this entire epoch!
Such a claim was terrifying. Just how dreadful was the entity buried within this tomb?
“This river was formed from a few drops of residual blood that seeped from the remnants, infused with the essence of time and the power of thunder. When the tomb surfaced in this era, the blood flowed back on its own,” the old man said.
Anyone else would tremble at such horrifying secrets, enough to shake even the mightiest figures.
But Shi Hao remained composed. Having weathered life and death, battled imperial clans, and faced Anlan himself, he stood firm even here.
He had his own judgment and confidence.
“None of this concerns me. I only wish to take that girl and the elder seated there.”
He pointed to Amanda and the Great Demonic Deity, the Fifteenth Grandfather. He intended to take them both.
“Young man, your demands are too high. You’re too late. They’ve already become the living dead, turned into servants,” the old man said.
*Clang!*
Without a word, Shi Hao strode forward, donning his Everlasting Battle Armor. The silver plates gleamed, enhancing his heroic aura, his divine halo shining even brighter.
“What, do you intend to fight here?”
*Boom!*
The tomb trembled as a terrifying ripple surged forth, awe-inspiring, as if a colossal entity was awakening.
“To turn them into servants, you’ll have to kill me first!” Shi Hao declared resolutely.
“This is unwise. You truly don’t know when to retreat. Even if you resist the curse now, one day, you’ll return willingly as a servant,” the old man said coldly.
Despite resembling a living corpse, he still displayed some emotion.
Shi Hao didn’t stop. His grandfather and Amanda were here. No matter the danger, he wouldn’t abandon them.
*Clang!*
Next, he drew the Great Luo Sword Embryo.
“Hmm? That looks familiar…” the old man muttered, his decaying skin prickling as if his hair stood on end.
He quickly retreated.
Shi Hao’s eyes narrowed, and he advanced again.
*Boom!*
The tomb shook violently, unleashing an overwhelming aura.
*Rumble!*
A figure merged with the old man, reaching out with a massive, rotting hand, bones exposed, exuding a sinister aura.
The force was devastating, as if the heavens would split and all creation would perish.
For a moment, it felt as though countless stars exploded, myriad races wailed, and endless lives turned to bloody mist.
The illusion was terrifyingly real.
“Humph!”
Shi Hao snorted. “First, you tried to lure me into the Dao. Now, these illusions won’t trap me.”
He remained calm, seeing through the deception. Without hesitation, he thrust the Great Luo Sword Embryo forward.
*Boom!*
The apocalyptic vision shattered.
The rotting hand was pierced but not destroyed, retracting swiftly.
“Suppress!”
The old man roared. A mighty fluctuation erupted as yellow earth rose from the tomb, forming a massive seal that descended upon Shi Hao.
*Bang!*
With a swing of his sword, Shi Hao cleaved the earthen seal apart.
*Splat!*
The blade, unstoppable and seemingly countering the tomb’s eerie power, sliced off a chunk of rotting flesh from the old man’s hand.
The old man turned to flee into the tomb.
*Thud!*
Shi Hao summoned the Void Immortal Gold Stele—a gift from the Burial Monarch Sanzang, rumored to be a wordless scripture from the Emperor Fall Era.
Using it like a brick, he smashed it against the old man’s head, sending him staggering. The old man howled as Dao runes flared.
“You claimed that if the remnants emerged, the heavens would fall and this era would be buried. Was that a lie?”
Shi Hao sneered, swinging the Great Luo Sword Embryo. The blade’s radiance surged—had he not restrained it, the slash could have spanned miles, possibly severing the tomb.
“Don’t touch the ancient tomb!”
The old man shuddered in terror, as if fearing something unimaginable.
Shi Hao sensed something—an intuition that destroying the tomb would unleash catastrophe.
Thankfully, he held back. The sword struck the old man but didn’t unleash its full power.
*Splat!*
The old man was severed at the waist, his body dissolving into two streaks of yellow light that vanished into the tomb.
Shi Hao spotted a fissure in the tomb—an entrance.
Without hesitation, he charged inside.
“You—!”
The old man was stunned. Others would have been reduced to bones by the curse, yet this young man had entered unscathed.
Since ancient times, few could even approach the tomb, let alone enter it.
The curse was too potent. Merely touching it would strip flesh from bone, turning intruders to dust.
Yet Shi Hao endured the agony, stepping inside to confront the old man. He needed answers.
*Thud!*
The Great Luo Sword Embryo struck the old man’s skull.
He screamed, his form collapsing into a piece of rotting flesh with a fragment of bone—his true body.
Shi Hao was stunned.
“Who are you? What’s your origin?” he demanded.
“Stop! Don’t act recklessly here. This tomb tolerates no disrespect, or we’ll both perish!”
“I asked you a question!” Shi Hao barked.
“I… am just a piece of rotting flesh and bone, left here by an unknown powerhouse in some forgotten era,” the old man quivered.
He had no pride, confessing immediately.
But Shi Hao was shaken. According to the old man, he wasn’t from this era. Long ago, a being had come to investigate, only to be struck by a beam of light from the tomb, losing a finger bone—which later gained sentience and became him.
What kind of being could leave behind flesh and bone so potent that it could manifest such a powerful entity?
The old man was no weakling—he was formidable!
Even more astonishing, the finger bone had resisted the tomb’s curse, merely rotting instead of disintegrating, and even developing consciousness.
“What is this place?” Shi Hao pressed.
“What I said earlier was true. This is indeed the resting place of a supreme being. Long ago, a master of the Forbidden Lands came to mourn here. He muttered as much himself.”
Shi Hao was dumbfounded.
“What else?” he asked.
“This tomb must not be broken. I once heard that the darkest upheaval in history is coming—a great reckoning. And here lies a being who may emerge to take part in it!” The old man trembled.
“What?” Shi Hao was stunned.
“This is but a fragment of the coming bloodshed. A key player in the future cataclysm will return from here. This tomb is a gateway,” the old man said fearfully.
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