175: Egg?

Stepping inside felt like passing through a layer of cold, viscous water curtain.

The scene of Chaos behind him vanished instantly, along with light, sound, and all familiar fluctuations of Law, all completely cut off.

Lin Dao found himself standing on a solid, cold ground.

The surroundings were in absolute darkness; even with his Great Emperor-level Divine Thought, he could barely extend it a few hundred zhang, beyond which it was blocked and devoured by invisible forces.

The only thing he could perceive was the texture of the ground beneath his feet—rough, hard, and carrying an eternal chill, seemingly composed of some unknown metal or rock.

He tried to circulate his Chaos Emperor Dao, causing a faint Chaos light to shine around him, but this light seemed to be devoured by the surrounding darkness, only able to illuminate a range of about ten zhang around him, like a candle in the wind.

By the help of this faint light, he saw clearly beneath his feet.

The ground was a dull gray, covered in a kind of twisted, never-before-seen gouges. These gouges were not decorations, but rather looked like marks left by some immense power crushing or scraping, extending all the way into the depths of the darkness.

He crouched down and touched the gouges with his fingers.

The touch was ice-cold and incredibly hard.

With his power, he could not leave even the slightest mark on them.

These gouges contained a trace of extremely faint yet incredibly Advanced energy residue, originating from the same source as the battle marks he had sensed earlier on the stone gate.

"Strong defense."

Lin Dao judged in his heart.

The existence that created this region and left these gouges likely had strength not below his own.

He stood up and walked cautiously forward along the direction where the gouges extended.

The sound of his footsteps seemed exceptionally clear in the deathly silence.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, there was still endless darkness ahead.

His Divine Thought detection range did not increase, and the surrounding scenery barely changed, save for the seemingly endless gouged ground beneath his feet.

Suddenly, he stopped.

At the boundary between the darkness ahead and his Chaos light, something different appeared on the ground.

They were a few fragments.

One piece was a fragment of a creature's carapace, palm-sized and dark gold in color. Its broken edges were jagged, and it was covered in fine, rune-like natural patterns. It felt heavy and cold in his hand, faintly emitting a trace of weak life essence fluctuations, but this fluctuation was extremely ancient, as if it came from hundreds of millions of years ago.

Another piece was a broken blade fragment of a weapon, only the length of a forearm. It was pitch black, and the material was unrecognizable. The edge still flashed with a chilling light that made one's heart palpitate. When Lin Dao lightly touched it with his finger, the Chaos Qi at his fingertip actually felt a sting!

The sharpness of this broken blade far exceeded any Emperor weapon he had ever seen!

The third piece was a small pile of dark red, sand-like crystals. They were scattered beside the carapace fragment, emitting extremely weak heat and a kind of... residual tyrannical and chaotic will.

Lin Dao picked these things up and sensed them carefully.

Although the life essence on the carapace fragment was weak, its level was extremely high, far surpassing any Divine Beast or Holy Spirit he had ever seen.

The "Sharpness" Law contained within that broken blade also reached an inconceivable level.

And the chaotic will within the dark red crystals carried a pure desire for destruction, completely incompatible with the thinking of orderly beings.

"Left behind by creatures of at least the Emperor level... and not just one kind."

Lin Dao's expression was grave.

Had a great battle involving multiple Emperor-level existences broken out here in the unimaginably distant past?

Was that stone gate the entrance to the battlefield? Or a Seal?

He put away these fragments that might have research value and continued forward.

After walking for who knows how long, a change finally appeared ahead.

The gouges on the ground came to an end.

In their place was a huge chasm spanning across the darkness.

This chasm was bottomless, over a thousand zhang wide, and its edges were as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been cleaved open by a single strike from some unimaginable sharp blade.

Below the chasm was an even deeper darkness; even when Lin Dao's Divine Thought probed into it, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, instantly losing connection.

And on the opposite bank of the chasm, the darkness seemed to be a bit lighter.

Vaguely, one could see some blurry, huge shadows standing on the ground on the opposite bank, looking like the remains of buildings, or perhaps the skeletons of some giant creatures.

To continue exploring, he had to cross this chasm.

Lin Dao did not rashly fly across.

He flicked his finger, and a condensed Sword Qi shot toward the space above the chasm.

Chi!

The Sword Qi had barely flown less than ten zhang from the edge of the chasm when it seemed to collide with an invisible wall, instantly shattering and annihilating!

At the same time, a powerful field fluctuation, carrying meanings of repulsion and destruction, flashed and vanished above the chasm.

"An anti-flight Domain? Or a spatial fault?"

Lin Dao frowned slightly.

This chasm was an obstacle set up by someone.

He walked to the edge of the chasm and looked down; there was still absolute darkness and a feeling that devoured everything.

Looking to both sides, the chasm meandered, with no end in sight.

He tried to condense a wisp of Chaos Qi into a thread and lowered it down.

After the thread extended a few hundred zhang, it suddenly lost control, and its connection with him was forcibly severed.

"There is also something strange below."

It seemed he had to find a way from the chasm itself.

He carefully observed the two walls of the chasm.

It was the same dull, hard material, incredibly smooth.

He tried to place his palm on the wall, urging his Chaos Qi, wanting to adhere to it.

However, a slippery, repulsive force came from the wall surface; his Chaos Qi could not effectively adhere to it!

"Is even climbing forbidden?"

Lin Dao felt it was somewhat tricky.

The existence that set this obstacle had considered things quite thoroughly.

He pondered for a moment, then cast his gaze toward the blurry shadows on the opposite bank again.

Perhaps the clue was on the opposite bank.

He stepped back a few paces, his Chaos Qi began to circulate rapidly, and all his power condensed into his legs.

Since he couldn't fly or climb, he would jump across!

A distance of a thousand zhang was not a difficult task for an Emperor-level Physical Body and power.

The key was to resist the invisible force field above the chasm and deal with potential unknown risks.

He took a deep breath and exerted force with his feet!

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet was kicked into a circle of fine cracks!

He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, turning into a streak of Chaos light, shooting toward the opposite bank!

The moment his body entered the space above the chasm—

Hum!

That powerful repulsive force field appeared again, like an invisible giant hand, slamming fiercely toward his body, wanting to push him back to where he started or press him into the abyss!

At the same time, in the darkness below the chasm, something seemed to have been disturbed, and a creepy, fine sound like countless bones rubbing against each other came from below!

Lin Dao was prepared; his inner Chaos Emperor Dao roared, forcibly resisting that repulsive force field. His speed only decreased slightly, and he still firmly charged toward the opposite bank.

However, the change below was even faster!

Chi chi chi—!

Countless pale white energy spikes, like bone spurs, shot out from the darkness below the chasm, densely covering all the space he could dodge!

These bone spike energies contained a cold, deathly Law, specifically designed to erode life essence and Divine Soul!

There was a force field blocking in front, and bone spike attacks from below!

Lin Dao remained calm in the face of danger; while in mid-air, he quickly formed Seals with his hands.

"Chaos Barrier!"

A solid gray shield instantly formed beneath his feet, with Chaos Qi rotating on the shield surface like a millstone.

Pu pu pu pu—!

Dense bone spikes slammed into the Chaos Barrier, making a teeth-gritting sound.

Most of the bone spikes were shredded and annihilated by the rotating Chaos Qi, but there were still a few with extremely strong penetrating power that pierced through the barrier and continued shooting toward Lin Dao!

Lin Dao's eyes turned cold. He pointed his fingers in succession, and several streaks of Chaos Sword Qi shot out precisely, detonating those leaking bone spikes in mid-air.

With just this delay, his forward momentum slowed down a bit more, and his body began to show a tendency to fall.

And the repulsive force field above was still like a maggot on the bone, constantly pressing down on him.

Seeing that he was less than a hundred zhang away from the opposite bank, the sound of bone friction in the darkness below grew louder again, and it was even denser and closer!

Obviously, a more violent attack was about to come!

Lin Dao no longer held back.

"Open!"

He let out a low shout, and the Chaos Qi around his body erupted completely, as if igniting a thruster behind him. His speed soared suddenly, forcibly pushing against the repulsive force field, turning into a gray lightning bolt that tore through the darkness, instantly crossing the final hundred zhang distance!

The moment his feet landed steadily on the solid ground on the opposite bank, dense explosions of countless bone spikes hitting the bank wall came from the chasm behind him, along with a sharp, unwilling hiss from some existence.

Lin Dao slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and looked back at the still dark and deep chasm.

The attack intensity of those bone spike energies was already close to the Peak of Quasi-Emperor, and the quantity was endless. If not for his formidable strength, any other Great Emperor would probably have had to expend considerable effort, and might even have been injured.

He turned around and looked ahead.

The Chaos light illuminated the scene before him.

It was still dark here, but a bit "brighter" than the opposite side of the chasm.

More and larger fragments were scattered on the ground.

There were hideous skulls the size of houses, broken spines like mountain ridges, massive stone pillars carved with unknown totems, and some rusted, strangely styled metal components.

This place looked like a huge ancient battlefield ruin.

And most eye-catching of all, in the center of the ruins, stood a relatively intact altar built of some kind of black stone.

The altar was not high, only nine levels, pyramid-shaped.

Each level was carved with runes similar to the gouges on the ground, but more complex and ancient.

These runes were currently dim and lusterless, but Lin Dao could feel that they contained unimaginable energy within them.

The top of the altar was flat.

Something seemed to be placed on it.

Lin Dao's gaze penetrated the darkness and landed on the top of the altar.

There, an egg... was quietly floating.

It was an egg about the size of a human head, with its entire body emitting a soft, pure, milky-white light.

The surface of the eggshell was incredibly smooth, without any patterns, yet it naturally flowed with a kind of Origin aura that was of the same source as Lin Huan's Primal Origin Body, but even more ancient and purer!

That's it!

The faint feeling of calling from before, its source was precisely this milky-white egg!

Lin Dao could clearly feel that this egg contained astonishing vitality, as if a condensed, nascent Universe was gestating within it.

The Primal Origin aura it emitted was a hundred times purer than that on Lin Huan!

What creature's egg was this?

Why did it appear on the altar in these ruins of an Emperor-level ancient battlefield?

What connection did it have with the Primal Origin Body?

Countless questions flooded into Lin Dao's mind.

He cautiously released his Divine Thought to probe the altar and the egg.

The altar itself, apart from those ancient runes, had no other abnormalities; it seemed to be just a carrier.

And that egg, besides the pure and majestic Primal Origin vitality, had no aggressiveness or repulsion, just like a sleeping baby.

Lin Dao walked up the steps of the altar step by step.

His footsteps landed on the stone steps, making a hollow echo.

When he stepped onto the last level and stood in front of the milky-white egg, the egg seemed to sense his approach; the milky-white luster flowing on its surface accelerated slightly, and the feeling of calling it emitted became even clearer.

Lin Dao reached out his hand, slowly approaching the egg.

The moment his fingertip was about to touch the eggshell—

A sudden change occurred!

Around the altar, those eight broken, massive stone pillars carved with unknown totems suddenly lit up with a ghostly blue light!

The totems on the pillars seemed to come alive, twisting and dancing!

At the same time, a cold, grand, and emotionless will, like a giant beast that had slept for eternity, suddenly awakened, shrouding the entire altar area!

"Intruder... coveting the Sacred Egg... Die!"

The strength of this will was not weaker than Lin Dao's at all, and it even carried a more ancient and wild majesty!

Immediately after, in the ruins in front of the altar, the ground split open, and a massive giant skeleton, pieced together from countless pale white bones, slowly crawled out!

This skeleton stood ten thousand zhang tall, with two balls of ghostly blue soul fire burning in its eye sockets, and it held a bone blade polished from the leg bone of some unknown giant beast, wrapped in black Death Qi!

The aura it emitted was surprisingly—Great Emperor level!

A skeleton possessing Emperor-level combat power!

And it was a guard controlled by that ancient will!

The skeleton raised its huge bone foot, and with one step, the entire ruin trembled.

Its hollow eye sockets, burning with soul fire, locked onto Lin Dao on the altar, and the bone blade in its hand was raised high; the shadow of death descended instantly!

Lin Dao looked at this Emperor-level skeleton and felt the ancient will shrouding the surroundings. Far from having fear in his eyes, he instead revealed unprecedented gravity and... a trace of excitement.

He finally understood that what was sealed, or rather guarded, behind that stone gate was this "Sacred Egg" containing the ultimate Primal Origin.

And to obtain it, he had to defeat this Emperor-level skeleton, as well as the potentially even more terrifying ancient will behind it!

A true Emperor-level battle to the death was unavoidable!

He slowly withdrew his hand that was reaching toward the Sacred Egg, turned around, and faced the ten-thousand-zhang skeleton stepping toward him. The Chaos Emperor aura around his body erupted completely without reservation, colliding fiercely with the skeleton's Death Emperor aura!

"It seems that without defeating you, I cannot get this thing."