349: Chapter 349 A Sea of ​​Bones

This vast Yellow-brown Plain was far more expansive than Lu Chen had anticipated.

The terrain was flat, lacking significant landmarks, and combined with the omnipresent, perception-dulling gray mist, it was nearly impossible to accurately judge direction and cross it in a short time.

The environment was completely unfamiliar, and Qing Cang's sensing could only provide a general direction; the specific path still had to be figured out.

Lu Chen had no better way, so he could only follow that vague sense, maintaining a fixed direction and constantly moving forward.

Fortunately, this seemingly dead plain was not empty; the Stone Roots lurking underground were almost everywhere, bursting out of the earth at intervals to launch attacks.

However, these Stone Roots no longer posed any threat; instead, they had become a "mobile granary" for the Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beast pack.

Whenever signs of Stone Root activity were discovered...

Even without Lu Chen's instructions, the beast pack would take the initiative to pounce.

With overwhelming numbers and increasingly skillful coordination, they would quickly tear them apart and feast.

The entire process was efficient and swift; Lu Chen and Qing Yi didn't even need to stop their pace, simply moving forward steadily while the battles behind them resolved themselves.

The aura of the beast pack also grew and solidified at a visible rate through these repeated hunts and consumptions.

"Young Master, we have been walking in this area for twenty-three days."

When the firm yellow-brown ground beneath their feet finally transitioned into relatively soft soil mixed with gravel...

And the scene ahead also changed, Qing Yi, standing by his side, spoke softly.

Her tone also carried a hint of relaxation from leaving the long, monotonous environment.

During these twenty-three days, the deeper they went, the more Stone Roots they encountered, and the stronger the individual roots became.

By the Late Stage, it had become common for hundreds to burst out at once, with many having auras close to the Peak of Foundation Establishment.

The Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beast pack no longer handled them as effortlessly as at the beginning; occasionally, injuries occurred, requiring a brief rest.

But overall, relying on their massive numbers, their inherent restraint of the Stone Roots, and the strength gained from constant consumption...

The beast pack still firmly held an absolute advantage, ensuring that Lu Chen and Qing Yi's progress was never hindered.

Finally, they left that oppressive and monotonous yellow-brown world.

Before them was still a plain that stretched beyond the horizon, but the scenery had changed.

Under the grayish-white sky, the ground was no longer bare rock.

Instead, it was covered with a layer of low, sparse, dark gray vegetation, like a hybrid of lichen and some twisted shrub, spreading across the ground.

The strange smell in the air, a mix of metallic rust and ancient energy, had faded considerably.

It was replaced by a more humid scent with a faint hint of plants.

And at the far reaches of the plain, at the end of the horizon, the silhouette of a Towering Peak was faintly visible.

That mountain was extremely tall; the lower half still showed its rugged and steep slopes, while the upper half was completely hidden in a denser white mist that seemed to touch the sky.

Its Peak was nowhere to be seen, only exuding a heart-pounding sense of majesty and mystery.

It might be a new landmark, or it might hide new dangers and opportunities.

Just as Lu Chen was about to step forward and continue toward that Mountain in the Mist, a short and slightly strange beast roar suddenly came from beside him.

It wasn't a warning of an enemy attack, but more like a low cry upon discovering something peculiar.

He turned to look and saw an exceptionally sturdy Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beast about dozens of yards away on the right, digging vigorously at the ground with its front claws, dust flying everywhere.

In front of it, a grayish-white, unusually thick, long object had already been mostly dragged out of the soil.

It was a bone.

Visually, it was over ten feet long, and its thickest part was wider than an adult man's waist; clearly, it was not a human bone, nor was it something an ordinary Yao Beast could possess.

The texture of the bone looked very ancient, its surface covered with fine cracks like those on crazed porcelain.

Its color was a dull grayish-white, as if it had been buried underground for an incredibly long time.

Lu Chen's heart stirred, and with a slight flicker of his body, he appeared beside that Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beast.

The strange beast immediately stopped its actions, submissively lowering its body and letting out a pleasing low cry, fully presenting its discovery to its master.

Lu Chen's gaze did not linger on that huge bone for long.

His eyes fell into the depths of the pit dug by the Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beast.

Inside the pit, there was more than just this one grayish-white object.

More giant bones, some intact and some broken, were half-hidden and half-exposed in the similarly colored soil.

Layer upon layer, they extended downward to an unknown depth, as if a graveyard belonging to giant beasts was buried there.

A more intense and pure aura of ancient death, mixed with the earthy scent of the soil, wafted faintly from the pit.

Lu Chen's eyes were solemn as his thoughts were instantly transmitted to the entire beast pack.

"Roar!"

"Awoo!"

Upon receiving the command, the Star Marrow Rushing Thunder Beasts immediately went into action, spreading out from that initial pit with claws flying as they began a larger-scale excavation.

They were highly efficient, quickly uncovering the surface soil within a radius of over a hundred yards.

When the loose soil was cleared and the scene below was completely exposed...

Even with Lu Chen's composure, his pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly.

White bones, a forest of white bones.

Densely packed and innumerable, various huge, twisted, and strange bones overlapped and pressed against each other, filling the space several feet underground and even deeper.

There were leg bones as thick as pillars and ribs comparable to the size of a house when spread out.

There were hideous skulls with horns, and even more strange bone fragments and Bone Spikes that were impossible to identify as belonging to any known creature.

All the bones showed the same dull grayish-white color, covered with cracks from the erosion of time.

They lay quietly in the brown soil, forming a shocking and hair-raising layer of skeletal remains.

This place seemed to be a forgotten collective graveyard of ancient giant beasts.

And this was just the small area where they stood.

Lu Chen looked into the distance at the seemingly calm, vast plain covered with sparse, withered vegetation.

In his eyes now, it was shrouded in a grim shadow.

This accidentally discovered layer of bones was just the tip of the iceberg.

Beneath the endless grassland ahead, heaven knows how many more such white bones, silent for countless years, were buried.

Such a massive concentration of beast remains appearing here was definitely not natural.

There must be an unknown secret hidden behind it, perhaps an ancient battlefield, the hunting ground of some terrifying existence, or an even more bizarre reason.

However, there was no point in turning back.

He had no other choice but to continue forward, treading upon this "bone bed" of unknown thickness toward the unknown.