395: Chapter 394 I sensed it... the divine guidance to kill!

"The ancestral star..." Yilan muttered thoughtfully, sighing with emotion, "That is only a place of our fantasies; perhaps we will never be able to return in this lifetime."

"No one knows exactly where it is. We only know from scattered ancient texts that it is a place where many races stand tall and prosperity flourishes. We all yearn for it..."

Lie Shan shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Hundreds of years have passed, and we have done nothing but trap ourselves here, breeding generation after generation. The only one who has actually lived on the ancestral star is Elder Fox."

As he spoke, Lie Shan glanced at the Fox-man.

The Fox-man was already old and frail, his eyes cloudy. He also shook his head. "It has been a long time, and I have forgotten how we first came to this place, but I still clearly remember that on our ancestral star, Venerables were not rare..."

"However..." Yilan said calmly, "According to the records in the ancient texts, there is an underground Teleportation Array here. If it can be repaired, it is possible to return to the ancestral star."

"No!" Lie Shan suddenly glared at Yilan and said in a heavy voice:

"That place is the spatial node of this region. If even the slightest thing goes wrong, it will trigger a spatial storm, which could very likely kill us all!

Have you forgotten? According to the ancient texts and the oral traditions passed down by our ancestors, our three tribes attempted it together over three hundred years ago. The result was a failure with countless casualties; many sages died in that disaster! Since then, no one from our three tribes has been allowed to attempt contact with the Teleportation Array!"

Lie Shan gritted his teeth and said, "And this time, if it weren't for Mo Luo secretly repairing it without permission, how could it have triggered a spatial anomaly, causing us to nearly face extinction?"

"But if we don't repair the Teleportation Array, our descendants will be trapped in this place forever!" Yilan said angrily.

"But what was the result?!" Lie Shan was equally furious, but then a cold sneer suddenly appeared on his face. "Could it be that Mo Luo was acting under your instructions?"

"Of course not!" Yilan snorted coldly and stopped speaking.

Chu Xuan watched the two of them argue, his expression thoughtful. Then, changing the subject, he continued to ask, "I heard earlier that besides you all, ghosts exist in this place? What kind of species are they exactly?"

Yilan replied, "Those things do not have fixed forms. Although their numbers are very small, they are extremely bizarre and terrifying, with unpredictable movements and are incredibly hard to kill. They have always existed in these mountains, and only completely hide away when the tide arrives."

"Is that so... It seems I won't have the chance to see them." Chu Xuan felt a slight sense of regret, then continued to ask:

"Then what is the deal with this giant mountain we are currently on? Why doesn't the tide submerge this mountain? Moreover, I feel like there seems to be some latent danger here."

"This is the Holy Mountain. There is a Holy Spirit residing on the mountain, and it must not be desecrated." Yilan's gaze held a hint of awe as he looked toward the peak of the giant mountain from afar:

"When the tide comes, all the other mountains are submerged. Only this Holy Mountain rises and falls with the tide, giving us a place to stay."

"I see..." Chu Xuan nodded. No wonder when they first arrived here, they found that the other peaks had disappeared.

In the entire mountain range, only this one giant peak remained.

At this time, Yilan reminded him, "However, we must not travel up the mountain, otherwise disaster will befall us. The lightest price is being lost and trapped for a few days; if one goes too far, they will never come out again. The Holy Spirit must not be desecrated."

"Holy Spirit..." Chu Xuan's eyes showed thought as he remembered that every time he gained spirituality value from a kill, the System would prompt that an unknown living being was intercepting the spirituality.

Looking at it this way, that unknown being might be the so-called Holy Spirit Yilan spoke of.

"Have you ever seen the Holy Spirit?" Chu Xuan asked.

"I have not seen it." Yilan shook his head, but his tone was extremely serious as he said, "But we can feel that a great existence resides here. It is because of this Holy Spirit and this Holy Mountain that we are protected from being swallowed by the tide."

Lie Shan said gloomily, "Perhaps this Holy Spirit, like us, came from the ancestral star, but for some special reason, it cannot leave the mountain."

Chu Xuan looked up at the giant peak but did not discover anything peculiar.

Regarding this, Chu Xuan did not have the curiosity to insist on going to investigate.

He still remembered that in his dream, he had asked Future Tang Zheng about the Tianxing Mountains.

The other party had clearly mentioned that this was a place where worlds fused, and it was not dangerous for him, provided he didn't act recklessly and stubborn.

This so-called "reckless and stubborn" behavior, looking at it now, should be related to this Holy Mountain.

Afterward, Chu Xuan said no more, took out a barbarian soul fruit, and began to consume it.

When it first entered his stomach, he didn't feel much, but after a short while, Chu Xuan felt as if a flood dragon was surging wildly within his body; his flesh and bones felt as if they were being violently torn apart.

In an instant, Chu Xuan was covered in sweat.

[Your Strength +1]

[Your agility +8]

Following the System prompt, Chu Xuan's entire body looked as if it had been fished out of water, but a bright light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

In the dream, his strength attribute had reached 180 points and could no longer progress, but now it had finally increased by one point, and his agility attribute had surged by a full 8 points!

One had to know that although Chu Xuan's agility attribute was not as high as his strength, it had reached 145 points; now it had jumped by 8 points, instantly reaching 153 points.

Chu Xuan couldn't help but marvel once again that the Tianxing Mountains were indeed a treasure land.

Whether it was the life essence or these strange fruits, they were all extremely rare treasures. To think they could allow Chu Xuan's already maximized basic attributes to continue to Breakthrough before converting to real attribute was truly astounding.

After another five minutes or so, Chu Xuan let out a long breath, and then, under Lie Shan's slightly surprised gaze, he directly consumed a second one.

An even more intense tearing sensation came from every part of his body.

This kind of pure physical pain was even extremely close to the feeling Chu Xuan had when he underwent the baptism of the Fire of Nirvana.

Sweat was pouring off Chu Xuan's entire body like rain.

Fortunately, Chu Xuan had grown somewhat accustomed to such pain; its impact on his combat strength wasn't too great, and it wasn't enough to put him in danger.

[Your Strength +1]

[Your agility +7]

The effect had decreased slightly, but there were still significant gains.

However, just as Chu Xuan was preparing to consume the third barbarian soul fruit, Yilan suddenly let out a soft "Eh?"

"It seems the tide is receding?" Yilan stood up and looked into the distance, wondering, "Something is wrong. Why did the tide recede so early this time?"

At the same time, Lin Jie, who had already selected a piece of armor and come near Chu Xuan, suddenly had a drastic change in expression. "Big Brother Chu Xuan, something is wrong. I feel an incomparable sense of crisis..."

Lin Jie suddenly clutched his heart. "This feeling of suffocation... it's similar to the feeling when we first arrived here, but it's even stronger..."

"I can't see clearly... I can't see clearly..." Lin Jie's face was already deathly pale.

"No need to look, let's leave first!" Chu Xuan's intoxication vanished instantly. He suddenly grabbed Lin Jie by the collar, hoisted him up, and sprinted away.

At the same time, Chu Xuan didn't forget to shout to Tan Ziming and the others, "Retreat, quickly!"

Their current position was right where they had entered this place not long ago.

Not far away, a spatial portal that was difficult to discern with the naked eye was faintly visible. As long as they entered it, they could return to their original world without waiting for the time limit to expire.

Chu Xuan had specifically chosen this place to drink the high-grade life essence together just in case, so they could withdraw quickly.

However, what happened next caused Chu Xuan's heart to sink abruptly.

Swoosh!

Chu Xuan sped past with Lin Jie, but they passed straight through the slightly distorted spatial portal and were unable to enter the spatial tunnel.

It wasn't just the two of them.

Even Tan Ziming, Fatty Hu, Xu Shuya, and Su Qiaoqiao hurried over after hearing Chu Xuan's voice, but they also passed right through it.

They tried several more times, but the result remained the same.

"We can't go back?!"

Realizing this, everyone's faces turned pale.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

Rumble—!!

A dull roar suddenly came from the ground beneath their feet.

It started as a slight tremor and instantly turned into a violent shaking.

Countless fine fissures cracked open on the surface, the surrounding wooden stockades began to shatter, the trees on the mountain collapsed, and boulders rolled down from the steep cliffs.

It was as if an earth dragon was turning over; even the entire giant peak that pierced the clouds began to shake violently.

"What's going on?!"

Cries of alarm rang out.

Even the dwarves and orcs who had lived here all their lives and experienced countless tides were all panic-stricken at this moment.

No one knew exactly what had happened, but everyone simultaneously felt an indescribable sense of pressure, as if an imminent catastrophe was about to descend.

"Get out of here, fast!"

Mo Luo, who had originally appeared to be passed out drunk on the ground, suddenly flipped up and leaped to his feet, screaming as he fled toward the outside of the mountain.

"We should go too!"

Chu Xuan's eyes flashed, and he led the group in a rush toward the exit. In a few breaths, they had reached the outermost edge.

The tide was receding even faster now.

But the ground beneath their feet was still shaking violently.

They had reached the edge of the tide; any further and they would step into the water. Here, even flying was impossible, as the water posed a danger of corroding flesh and dissolving bones.

However, from behind them, low groans began to echo, sounding to their ears like the roars of ancient behemoths.

"Old man, hurry up and take out the Tide-Crossing Ark you built!!" Mo Luo screamed.

"Kid, I don't need you to rush me!" Yilan hurriedly rubbed a ruby ring on his emerald finger.

In the next instant, a miniature boat appeared out of thin air.

Yilan tossed it upward.

The small boat expanded rapidly against the wind, turning into a nearly hundred-meter-long ship in the blink of an eye, floating in mid-air.

Yilan shouted, "This ark cannot truly cross the tide; it won't be long before it sinks. When that happens, we'll only have a path to death!"

"That's still better than dying right now!" Mo Luo was so anxious he was about to jump out of his skin. He leaped up and climbed aboard, urging, "Start the ship, start the ship!"

"I know! Don't rush me!" Yilan cursed as he leaped to the bow.

There was no helm there, but there was a transparent crystal ball containing a miniature boat.

As Yilan chanted complex syllables, his hands emitted a strange magical power that coiled into the crystal ball.

Immediately, the large ship began to vibrate.

At the same time, many other orcs and dwarves leaped aboard as if they had seen a life-saving straw, not caring at all if the ship would sink later.

"There are about twelve minutes left before we can be expelled from here. Let's get on the ship first!" Chu Xuan waved his hand, leading the remaining members like Tan Ziming to board the ship as well.

Boom!!

The Tide-Crossing Ark flew forward over a hundred meters and finally crashed into the receding tide with a roar.

The ship wasn't small, but with nearly a hundred people crowding onto the deck, it was still a bit cramped. However, no one cared about that now.

Everything had happened too hastily. Even now, people's hearts were tight as they stared fixedly at the towering giant peak that was still shaking violently.

"Too slow!" Lie Shan shouted. "Old Yilan, do you even know how to sail this ship?"

"Shut up, I'm already doing my best to drive it!" Yilan roared, gorgeous magical power surging from his hands.

"No!" Fatty Hu's face was pale as he pointed toward the mountain and cried out, "That mountain seems to be moving toward us. Is it chasing us??!"

At these words, everyone looked closely.

The ark broke through the waves, seemingly moving fast, yet it hadn't pulled much distance from the towering giant mountain behind it.

At this moment, even though there were no other reference points on the sea, everyone noticed the anomaly and couldn't help but show looks of alarm.

"So it's not the tide receding at all; it's the Holy Mountain slowly rising and moving, which is why it looks like the tide is receding," Xu Shuya said with a trembling voice.

Just as she finished speaking, the trembling surface of the sea suddenly began to boil, surging violently.

Giant waves rose layer by layer, and the large ship beneath their feet tossed wildly like duckweed.

In the distance, a dull low groan, like an ancient horn, rolled from the seawater beneath the mountain, as if some gargantuan creature was waking up.

"Speed up, speed up!" Mo Luo jumped up and down, screaming at the top of his lungs, "My respected Clan Chief, I beg you, please speed up!"

"Don't annoy me, get lost!" Yilan hissed, desperately pushing his magical power, his eyes nearly splitting.

The bow split the wild waves, racing outward recklessly, yet it still couldn't pull much distance from that giant mountain; instead, it grew even closer.

The people on this ship were like prey targeted by a giant beast, unable to escape no matter what.

In particular, an uncontrollable sense of dread surged in everyone's hearts, as they were shrouded by a strong shadow of death.

"What on earth is happening? It has never been like this before!"

"Could it be that we inadvertently desecrated the Holy Spirit?"

"Holy Spirit, please forgive our sins!"

Many orcs and dwarves seemed to lose their minds, screaming and shouting frantically, while some prostrated themselves toward the giant mountain, praying for forgiveness.

"This sense of dread... it feels like the pressure of facing a Specter stronger than me up close..." Tan Ziming's whole body was trembling.

"Yes, that's the feeling!" Fatty Hu nodded repeatedly.

"Look over there..." Xu Shuya suddenly pointed ahead.

As the towering giant mountain rose section by section, a large amount of reefs and vegetation were falling off in rustling heaps.

An incomparably massive silhouette rose slowly from the mist, finally leaving the water and revealing a faint golden shell covered in ancient patterns beneath.

A pair of eyes, dozens of zhang wide and resembling two dark gold suns, slowly opened at the front of the shell.

Wherever the gaze swept, the air seemed to freeze. Everyone felt a wave of coldness through their bodies, as if their blood had been frozen.

At the same time.

An incomparable black mist of The Gloom surged out, rising continuously to cover the sky and sun, also obscuring the giant head that had emerged from the seawater.

Only that pair of soul-stirring eyes remained, like lights in the dark of night.

And then, a sentence of low-pitched words that made everyone's hearts skip a beat and caused Chu Xuan's expression to suddenly freeze drifted slowly from within The Gloom:

"I sense it... the Divine... Guidance of a Sure-Kill!!"