205: The Abyss Dead City, Ancient Bronze Lamp

The Baleful Spirit Tide receded, and the rift zone of the Star Abyss of Fallen Gods returned to its deathly, chaotic state. Only the occasionally flickering spatial rifts and the thin, floating Evil Qi remained as proof of the thrilling impact that had just occurred. Ye Chen returned to the 'star chaser' flying boat, and the gazes of Iron Battle and the others towards him were now like those looking up at a deity.

The flying boat dared not linger, carefully weaving through the dangerous gaps in the rift zone, heading towards the core area of the Star Abyss of Fallen Gods, which grew increasingly deep and seemed like primeval darkness.

The deeper they went, the more bizarre the scenery became. Space was no longer simply shattered; it presented an abnormal state of being twisted, folded, and even inverted. Sometimes, the flying boat was clearly sailing forward, but the scenery outside the porthole might be retreating; sometimes, one could see a huge fragment of a continent where the mountains and rivers were growing upside down. The Laws here were chaotic to the extreme; gravity came and went, and the flow of time also seemed to become unstable.

The flying boat's shields and navigation System were under immense pressure. If not for Ye Chen frequently stabilizing the surrounding space with his own power and using his Nirvana Sword Intent to disperse some of the latent Law erosion, the flying boat would have long since disintegrated.

Several months later, the flying boat finally passed through the extremely chaotic rift zone and truly entered the scope of the Star Abyss of Fallen Gods.

The scene before them caused everyone to gasp in cold air.

This was not pure Void Realm, but a vast, boundless... dark continent formed by the condensation of countless shattered worlds, star cores, ancient corpses, and various incomprehensible materials! The continent was unknown how many millions of miles wide, suspended in absolute darkness, its surface crisscrossed with ravines, filled with bottomless canyons and twisted mountain ranges, emitting a deathly and dilapidated aura that was concentrated to the extreme.

This was the Star Abyss of Fallen Gods! The final battlefield of ancient gods and demons, the graveyard of ten thousand worlds!

And in the very depths of that dark continent, one could faintly see a point of extremely weak Chaos brilliance that was out of place with the surrounding deathly silence, flickering stubbornly. That was precisely where the ancestral rune fragment Ye Chen sensed was located!

The goal was just ahead, but the journey would clearly not be smooth.

Ye Chen could feel that countless dangerous auras were lurking on this dark continent. Some auras were brutal and chaotic, like the previous Fiend Souls, but older and more powerful; some auras were cold and deathly, as if they were some ominous things that had been sleeping for eons; and in some places, the spatial structure was fragile to the extreme, forming natural, deadly traps.

'The flying boat is too large a target and easily attracts unnecessary trouble. You all find a relatively safe place to hide here and wait for my return,' Ye Chen instructed Iron Battle. Going deep into such a dangerous place with the flying boat would only be restrictive.

Iron Battle knew the horror of this place and quickly agreed: 'Senior, rest assured. We will wait here for your return. Please be careful!'

Ye Chen nodded and hesitated no longer. His figure transformed into a faint sword light, left the flying boat, and landed silently on that dark, deathly continent.

Stepping on the cold, hard ground that seemed to be made of solidified blood and broken divine bones, a desolate, tragic, and suffocating ancient battlefield aura rushed towards him. The air was filled with a mixture of rust, dust, and eternal deathly silence. His Divine Sense was greatly suppressed here, only able to extend a few hundred miles; beyond that, it became blurred, as if swallowed by an invisible force.

He restrained all his aura, reducing his presence to the minimum, and like a ghost, he sped towards the direction of the point of Chaos brilliance he sensed. Using the Chaos Limitless Steps here made him even more at home, as if he had merged with this deathly darkness.

Along the way, he saw countless shocking scenes.

The overturned skeletons of gods and demons, larger than mountains, still emitted a heart-palpitating pressure even after endless years of death; broken, long, river-like weapon remains were inserted into the earth, telling of the tragic past; vast blood lakes that had dried up and were as dark as oil had calm, waveless surfaces but emitted curse-like evil thoughts...

He carefully avoided areas that emitted dangerous auras, such as a twisted forest that constantly emitted low whispers, an altar piled up with countless skulls, and a huge cave that was constantly oozing black, viscous liquid.

Several days later, he arrived at the edge of a huge canyon that looked like it had been split by a sharp blade. Across the canyon was a relatively complete... city ruin!

It was a huge city with a very ancient style. The city walls had long since collapsed, and most of the buildings inside were dilapidated, but one could still faintly see its former grandeur. The whole city was deathly still, with no signs of life, like a huge tomb. And the point of Chaos brilliance in Ye Chen's sensing was in the central area of this dead city!

His eyes narrowed slightly. He could feel that this dead city was definitely not simple. A dense, lingering resentment and a strange Law field permeated the city, and it seemed that some kind of powerful Restriction existed.

He pondered for a moment but decided to enter. The ancestral rune fragment was right in front of him and could not be missed.

He leaped down the canyon and landed silently on the broken wall at the edge of the dead city. The streets inside the city were wide but covered with thick dust, and the dark windows of the buildings on both sides watched this uninvited guest indifferently, like countless eyes.

As soon as he stepped into the city, he felt his body sink, and an invisible force pressed down, as if it wanted to completely freeze his cultivation, Physical Body, and even his Divine Soul! This was an extremely powerful death Law field!

Fortunately, he was well-prepared. His Great Accomplishment Nirvana Sword Intent circulated automatically, forming a thin 'Nirvana Emptiness' barrier around him, isolating the death suppression force. Nirvana was also a kind of ending, somewhat homologous to the Law of death, so it could effectively resist it.

He walked along the wide central avenue towards the center of the city. The closer he got to the center, the stronger the death suppression force became. At the same time, a faint, seemingly ancient sound of prayer and fighting echoed in the air, interfering with his mind.

On both sides of the street, some relatively well-preserved buildings began to appear. Some looked like temples, enshrining long-decayed and unrecognizable divine statues; some looked like barracks, with scattered rusted weapons and armor; more were ordinary residential houses, but they had long been empty, leaving only dust and deathly silence.

Suddenly, his footsteps paused, and his sharp gaze looked towards the corner of the street ahead.

There, silently, a team of figures appeared.

They were not living creatures, but... soldiers wearing broken bronze armor and holding rusted long spears! Their bodies were long withered, like mummies, with ghostly green soul fires jumping in their eye sockets. Their movements were stiff and orderly, and the aura they emitted had actually reached the Tiangang Realm Early Stage level!

Moreover, it was not just one team! From the surrounding streets and ruins, teams of such bronze corpse soldiers kept emerging, densely packed, and in the blink of an eye, they blocked Ye Chen's front and back paths! They were silent, with only the 'clack' sound of armor rubbing and those ghostly green soul fires locking onto Ye Chen, the intruder.

These corpse soldiers were the guardians of this dead city! They were infected by the death Law of this place, turned into undead, stubbornly executing their duties before death—guarding the city and killing all intruders!

'Kill!'

There was no shouting, only a cold killing intent surging like a tide! The corpse soldiers at the very front raised their long spears in unison, and ghostly green death energy gathered at the tips of the spears, turning into corrosive rays that shot towards Ye Chen like a rainstorm!

At the same time, the corpse soldiers in the rear marched with steady and heavy steps, pressing forward like a bronze wall. Their long spears were like a forest, aiming to pierce and crush Ye Chen!

Ye Chen's eyes turned cold. The strength of these individual corpse soldiers was not top-notch, but there were many of them, and their auras were connected, as if they had formed some kind of battle formation. Under the blessing of this death Law field, their power could not be underestimated.

He no longer held back and drew the guixu sword!

'Nirvana — Circular Dance!'

He spun his body, and the guixu sword drew a perfect circular gray mark! The Nirvana Sword Intent spread to the surroundings like mercury pouring onto the ground! The incoming death rays were silenced the moment they touched the gray mark; those pressing bronze corpse soldiers were like being harvested by an invisible sickle, and the moment they touched the gray mark, their armor, bodies, and soul fires were all 'cut off' and 'extinguished,' turning into fly ash!

Under one sword strike, the corpse soldiers within a hundred-zhang radius were cleared!

However, more corpse soldiers poured in from all directions, as if they were endless. They stepped on the fly ash of their companions and continued to charge silently and firmly.

Ye Chen frowned slightly. If he kept killing like this, he would probably alert the more terrifying existence in the city. He had to finish this quickly!

He locked his gaze on the tallest, broken temple in the center of the city. In his sensing, the ancestral rune fragment was right there!

'Those who block me, die!'

He gave a low shout, no longer entangled, and his figure turned into a gray sword light that tore through the darkness, charging straight towards the temple! With the guixu sword leading the way, the Nirvana Sword Intent erupted with full force, and wherever it passed, whether it was corpse soldiers or the broken walls blocking the way, everything was turned into nothingness by that absolute 'Nirvana' power, forcefully carving out a straight path in the endless ocean of corpse soldiers!

His speed was extremely fast, and within a few breaths, he had broken through heavy obstacles and arrived before that magnificent yet broken temple.

The temple gate was already broken, and the interior was dark. Ye Chen did not hesitate and stepped in!

The interior of the temple was extremely spacious. In the center, there was no divine statue, but a long-extinguished, dust-covered altar. On the altar, an object was suspended—

It was not the form of an ancestral rune fragment as expected, but a... lamp with an ancient style, only the size of a palm, and made entirely of some dark cyan metal!

Inside the lamp, there was no lamp oil, nor was there a wick. There was only a weak... Chaos-colored flame that seemed to be extinguished at any moment, burning quietly.

And the source of the fluctuation that attracted the chaos ancestral talisman came precisely from this ancient lamp, or rather, from that weak Chaos flame in the center of the lamp!

This Chaos flame seemed to be what the ancestral rune fragment had turned into, or it had been lodged in and fused with it!

Ye Chen's gaze was instantly attracted by the ancient lamp. He could feel that although that point of Chaos flame was weak, its essence was extremely pure and ancient, as if it contained the 'living' side of Chaos, diametrically opposite to the 'death' of Nirvana, yet originating from the same source.

He slowly reached out his hand, wanting to retrieve this ancient lamp.

However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the ancient lamp—

'Thump!'

A dull heartbeat, as if coming from the Nine Nether Hell, suddenly came from deep beneath the temple floor!

The entire temple shook violently, and the dust that had accumulated for eons fell down with a rustle.

Behind the altar, that huge wall, carved with countless patterns of gods and demons fighting, suddenly rippled like water! A terrifying aura, far more terrifying than those corpse soldiers outside, carrying rich divinity yet completely fallen and decayed, was slowly... awakening, like a prehistoric giant beast that had been sleeping for eons!

On the wall, the eyes of those carved god and demon patterns all lit up with scarlet light simultaneously!

'Those who... profane... the divine domain... shall die!'

A hoarse, ancient, and hateful, violent intent, like a cold poisonous snake, instantly wrapped around Ye Chen's Divine Soul!