212: Chapter 212 Who exactly is he?

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble——!!!!

Accompanied by a deafening roar and the violent trembling of the platform, those two bluish-black stone doors, which seemed as if they had never been opened since time immemorial, slowly and bit by bit opened inward. Every movement felt like a grueling struggle against frozen time, with sparks from the friction flashing briefly in the darkness.

An indescribable aura surged out wildly from the opening crack of the doors.

It wasn't a simple flow of air, but rather the outpouring of a "field."

It was ancient, desolate, and savage, carrying a primitive loneliness that seemed to come from the very birth of the universe. Under the wash of this aura, everyone felt as small as a speck of dust, their very souls trembling uncontrollably.

Most bizarrely, within this aura of extreme deathly stillness, there was a faint, ethereal... dragon's roar, seemingly originating from the depths of the soul.

That dragon's roar didn't sound like the growl of a living creature, but more like... an echo etched into space that would never dissipate, filled with endless sorrow and resentment.

When the stone doors opened completely, revealing the profound darkness behind them, the entire platform fell silent.

Lin Tianyi immediately shone the beam of his high-intensity tactical flashlight inside, attempting to illuminate the world behind the doors.

However, the beam of light, capable of piercing through thick fog, was swallowed by an invisible beast the moment it entered the darkness. It only illuminated a distance of less than five meters behind the doors before it could no longer advance a single inch.

Light, here, seemed to have lost its original physical properties.

The world behind the doors lay quietly before them like a gargantuan abyss with its bloody maw wide open, filled with unknown temptation and lethal danger.

"Are we going in?"

Fatty swallowed hard, his voice dry. He had asked this question many times, but never before had it felt so heavy.

Outside the doors was a dead end.

Inside the doors was the unknown.

No matter the choice, it felt like gambling with their lives.

"There's no turning back now."

Song Yiqing, leaning on his bone staff, took the first step. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable determination.

He knew that from the moment Zhang Qilin used the black gold ancient blade as a key to open this door, they had already been swept into some grander, more ancient karma.

Whatever lay behind the doors, they had to face it.

Everyone looked at each other, seeing resolve in one another's eyes.

Following closely behind Song Yiqing, they entered the "South Heaven Gate" that exuded an ominous aura one by one.

Zhang Qilin was the last to enter. After he pulled out the black gold ancient blade used as a key, those two massive stone doors slowly and completely closed behind him with a thunderous boom.

Their retreat was completely cut off.

The moment the stone doors fully closed, the surroundings were instantly plunged into an absolute darkness where one couldn't even see their own hand.

And an absolute, deathly silence.

The previous echoing dragon's roar had also vanished.

It was as if the entire world had been put on mute.

[Inside the Livestream Room]

The screen was pitch black.

Only the small green dot in the lower-right corner, representing that the signal was still connected, flickered tenaciously.

After a silence lasting dozens of seconds, the bullet chat began to flow again, but the quantity and speed were far from before. Every word was tinged with tension and unease.

[They went in... they really went in...]

[It's over, the doors are closed. There's no way back now.]

[Why isn't there any light? Where's Lin Tianyi's flashlight? Is it broken?]

[No, didn't you see? The light couldn't shine in just now! There's something wrong with the darkness here! It can swallow light!]

[I'm so scared... I feel like I'm in that dark space too, unable to see or hear anything...]

[Kyushu Ancient History Research Institute - Professor Li]: Everyone, do not panic. According to scattered records in ancient texts, certain powerful 'fields' or 'formations' from the primordial era can indeed distort physical laws, including light. They might have entered an independent space covered by a formation. Now, we can only trust in them.

...

Inside the space behind the doors.

"Nobody move!"

Lin Tianyi's voice rang out in the darkness, carrying a hint of suppressed panic.

"My flashlight... it's useless! It won't emit any light at all!"

He pressed the switch repeatedly, but couldn't even hear the sound of an electric current. The flashlight was like a cold lump of iron.

"Mine too." Wang Shan's voice also rang out, trembling slightly.

"It's not just the flashlights." Song Yiqing's voice sounded exceptionally clear and calm in the darkness. "Feel for yourselves; all the electronic devices on us have failed. The livestream equipment, communicators, night vision goggles... they've all turned into scrap metal."

This discovery sent a chill through everyone's hearts.

This meant that they had not only lost their last bit of contact with the outside world but also all assistance from modern technology.

They had completely returned to the most primitive state of survival.

"Everyone, back to back, form a circle. Don't get separated." Song Yiqing quickly issued instructions.

Darkness is the easiest breeding ground for fear and the easiest way for a team to get lost.

Just as everyone had gathered together to form a simple defensive circle.

Patter.

A soft sound rang out abruptly in the deathly silent darkness.

The sound was like a drop of water falling from a very high place onto the stone slab below.

Patter... patter... pat-ter...

The sound of dripping began to grow denser.

One after another, it came from all directions, irregular yet terrifyingly clear.

"Is... is it a leak?" Fatty asked nervously.

"No." Zhang Qilin's voice took on a hint of gravity for the first time. "It's not water."

He reached out, fumbled in the darkness for a moment, and then put his finger to the tip of his nose.

"It's blood."

Blood!

This single word made everyone's blood feel as if it were about to freeze!

In this endless darkness, it was actually raining... blood?!

Immediately after, a thick stench of blood that seemed to have accumulated for thousands of years, mixed with a metallic smell of rust and the rank odor of some unknown creature, quickly spread through the air.

The smell was so strong it almost felt physical, drilling into everyone's nostrils, stimulating their nerves, and making them want to gag.

"What... what kind of hellish place is this?" Fatty felt his teeth chattering.

"This is a... battlefield."

Song Yiqing's voice echoed faintly in the darkness.

"A battlefield that has been sealed away for countless ages, yet the 'war'... has never ended."

Although he had lost his sight, his "Qi Sense" had been amplified countless times in this pure darkness and ancient aura!

He could "see"!

He could "see" that in every corner of this space, incredibly powerful and tragic energy imprints remained! There were holy, bright ones, as well as violent, dark ones. These energies were entangled and clashing; even after endless ages, they still hadn't dissipated!

And that ethereal dragon's roar, that thick stench of blood—it was exactly these energy imprints constantly and repeatedly replaying that world-shaking battle from back then!

Just then!

Roar——!!!!

A beastly roar filled with endless violence and madness suddenly exploded in everyone's ears!

The roar didn't seem to come from any direction, but instead rang directly in their minds, carrying a mental shockwave capable of tearing the soul apart!

Everyone, including Zhang Qilin, felt their heads buzz as if they had been struck hard by an invisible giant hammer. Stars danced before their eyes, and they were momentarily dazed!

Danger!

Extreme danger!

Zhang Qilin was the first to react. He didn't even have time to shout a warning; his physical instincts had already responded!

He violently pushed Fatty and Song Yiqing aside, while simultaneously swinging the black gold ancient blade in his hand fiercely toward the direction the mental shockwave had come from!

Clang!

A deafening sound of metal clashing exploded!

An unimaginable, massive force traveled up the blade!

Zhang Qilin let out a muffled groan, sent flying by the force and slamming hard against the stone wall behind him!

"Little Brother!" Fatty cried out in horror.

Although he couldn't see, that loud crash and Zhang Qilin's groan made him realize that something in the darkness had attacked! Moreover, the opponent's strength was even greater than Zhang Qilin's!

"It's coming!"

Wang Xianzhi issued a short warning. Her longsword had already turned into a curtain of light as she relied on her combat instincts to frantically slash at the darkness before her!

Clang, clang, clang!

A series of dense clashing sounds, like rain hitting banana leaves, rang out!

Wang Xianzhi felt waves of massive force constantly traveling from the sword, numbing her palms and weakening her arms, forcing her to step back repeatedly!

She could feel that she wasn't facing a single enemy, but... a group! A group of enemies moving silently in the darkness with immense strength and incredible speed!

"What on earth are these things?!" Lin Tianyi roared. Although he couldn't see, he had also drawn his military knife and held it before him, on high alert.

"They are... 'Soldiers'..."

Zhang Qilin, who had been slammed against the wall, slowly stood up and spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, his voice cold.

"The 'Soldiers'... from those reliefs."

The moment his words fell!

Boom!

A ball of ghostly, eerie blue flame suddenly lit up in the center of the space!

The flame had ignited from the leg bone of the unknown creature that Song Yiqing was leaning on!

In that critical moment, he had actually squeezed the last bit of his Life Essence from his body to ignite this bone containing strange energy, turning it into a massive, temporary torch!

The eerie blue firelight, though weak, tenaciously dispelled the darkness within dozens of meters, finally allowing everyone to see the true face of their enemies!

It was a group... no, an army!

An army composed of skeletons!

They were exactly those armored giants from the stone door reliefs!

Each of them was over three meters tall, wearing bluish-black armor that was long since rusted yet still glinted with a metallic chill. They weren't made of flesh and blood but were composed of unknown, ink-jade-like bones. Most terrifyingly, what burned within their eye sockets wasn't soul fire, but clumps of violent, murderous, and chaotic... Chaos Energy!

In their hands, they held various massive weapons—sharp axes, long spears, and greatswords—each exuding a heart-palpitating malevolent aura.

The one that had attacked Zhang Qilin just now was one of the Skeletal Warriors holding a giant axe! At this moment, a notch from the collision with the black gold ancient blade still remained on its massive battle-axe!

This group of silent Skeletal Warriors had the five of them completely surrounded.

They didn't make a sound, only coldly and ruthlessly staring at the prey within the firelight with their eye sockets burning with chaos flames.

That gaze wasn't looking at living beings, but at... "foreign objects" that needed to be purged.

"My god..." Fatty looked at the scene before him, which resembled a demonic army from hell. His legs gave way, and he slumped completely to the ground. "How... how are we supposed to fight this?"

There were dozens of them!

Every single one possessed terrifying strength capable of rivaling Zhang Qilin's!

Song Yiqing held the eerie blue bone staff torch, his face as pale as paper, but his eyes were exceptionally bright.

He saw it clearly!

He saw the true appearance of this space!

This was an immense circular plaza. The ground of the plaza was paved with a single, massive piece of black rock, carved with complex and profound formation patterns. Within those patterns, faint energy still flowed.

And in the very center of the plaza, at the end of everyone's sight, was an altar that towered into the clouds!

Atop the altar, nine massive Bronze Chains, like pillars of heaven, extended from all directions, collectively binding a... thing!

That thing was wrapped in thick, inseparable black mist. Its specific appearance couldn't be seen clearly, but a large, curled-up silhouette was faintly visible.

A supreme majesty, as if looking down upon all living things, seeped out from that black mist.

And that ethereal, sorrowful dragon's roar was coming from right there!

"There... that is the Formation Eye!" Song Yiqing's voice trembled slightly with excitement. "These skeletal soldiers are the 'formation spirits' guarding the eye! As long as the formation isn't broken, they cannot be killed and can respawn infinitely!"

His words instantly extinguished the sliver of fighting spirit that had just risen within everyone.

Unkillable? Infinite respawning?

This was even more despair-inducing than the Demonic Flame Spider Mother!

"Roar——!!!"

It seemed the appearance of the firelight had completely enraged them.

The leading Skeletal Warrior with the giant axe let out another soul-shaking roar and raised its massive axe high!

All the Skeletal Warriors raised their weapons at the same time!

Killing intent, like physical ice water, instantly flooded the entire space!

A hopeless, suicidal battle was about to begin.

However, at this critical moment!

The consistently silent Zhang Qilin suddenly moved.

He didn't look at the Skeletal Warriors but instead abruptly looked up toward the towering altar in the center of the plaza!

In his pitch-black eyes, a flash of unprecedented, intense struggle and confusion appeared.

Then, he slowly and gently uttered a single word in an extremely ancient, extremely raspy language that seemed as if it didn't belong to this era at all.

"...Open."

That word was like a divine decree where words become law!

Boom!!!!

Atop the altar, those nine massive Bronze Chains actually erupted with dazzling, brilliant golden light in an instant!

Countless profound runes flowed rapidly across the chains!

An indescribable, holy, and vast power erupted from the chains, sweeping across the entire plaza like a tsunami!

The Skeletal Warriors about to launch their attack were like snow under a blazing sun the moment they touched the golden light; the Chaos Energy on them was instantly purified and evaporated!

The flames in their eye sockets were suddenly extinguished.

Their tall bodies froze in place.

And then...

Clatter...

Like puppets that had lost their strings, their indestructible ink-jade bones actually shattered inch by inch in an instant, turning into a pile of ordinary bone dust with no energy fluctuations.

Just a single word.

The entire Skeletal Army, so powerful it induced despair, was annihilated!

Having done all this, Zhang Qilin's body swayed violently, and he fell to one knee, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

His eyes became incredibly hollow, as if his soul had been instantly extracted.

"Little Brother!!"

Fatty scrambled over to him.

Meanwhile, Song Yiqing looked at Zhang Qilin in shock, then at the distant altar which had returned to tranquility. An inconceivable yet only logical thought began to grow wildly in his mind—

Zhang Qilin...

Who... exactly is he?!

Why is he able to command the... formation here?!