Chapter 3367: Predecessors of the Wood Spirits

Jian Chen glanced past these predecessors of the Wood Spirits and discovered a strange phenomenon very quickly. All of these people knelt on the ground in an orderly manner, where nine at the very least formed a row, amounting to over a dozen rows.

The predecessors recognised by the Jade Heaven Ruler and the others all belonged to the last row.

"If each row of experts here is equivalent to an age, then the Wood Spirits have endured over a dozen ages until now." Jian Chen thought. He glanced past the Heaven Fighting Ruler, Jade Heaven Ruler, and the others. It was as clear as day. The nine of them were the representatives of this age.

Jian Chen drifted forwards. He arrived before the experts of the previous age extremely carefully. They had already perished and their bodies had eroded away, such that they would disperse as dust from the slightest touch.

However, they still retained some of the presence from when they were alive, which was mighty and tremendous.

However, Jian Chen could clearly sense that while the experts of the previous age were also Chaotic Primes, they were all much stronger than the Jade Heaven Ruler.

Among the nine of them, at least half of them were mid Chaotic Primes, which consisted of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Heavenly Layers.

There were even two or three of them that had reached late Chaotic Prime.

In short, the experts of the previous age were far stronger than the current ones.

Suddenly, Jian Chen seemed to notice something. His eyes suddenly narrowed, and he extended his finger gently. A jade slip covered in dust burst out from the earth, landing in Jian Chen's hand gently.

Immediately, the Jade Heaven Ruler, the Heaven Fighting Ruler, and the seven other rulers' gazes gathered on Jian Chen.

Jian Chen clutched the jade slip and was about to check its contents subconsciously, but after hesitating slightly, he glanced past his nine companions and tossed the jade slip towards the Jade Heaven Ruler. "Your predecessors left this behind, so take a look at what's recorded inside."

Afterwards, Jian Chen looked away from the Jade Heaven Ruler and began studying the figure who left behind the jade slip. He muttered to himself, "Hopefully, it has some useful information."

He checked the experts of the previous age once again and discovered that only one of them had left behind a jade slip. The eight others had not left behind anything.

Including their Space Rings and the god artifacts in their possession, everything had all eroded away.

"Medium quality god artifacts are already capable of existing for eternity unless severely damaged. Otherwise, it's virtually impossible for god artifacts to erode away. This makes no sense." Jian Chen gradually furrowed his brows as his eyes shone with uncertainty.

At the same time, the Jade Heaven Ruler checked through all the details in the jade slip, and her expression immediately became extremely mixed. Shortly afterwards, the jade slip was passed between the hands of the Wood Spirits before ending up in Jian Chen's hand.

Without any hesitation, Jian Chen immediately checked the contents inside.

When he saw the information recorded inside, he fell silent. His gaze towards the experts also changed in a drastic manner.

There was not a lot of information recorded in the jade slip, but it was extremely impactful, as it contained the complete details of why the experts had passed away.

The previous age composed of nine Chaotic Primes. They did not perish due to external forces. Instead, they offered up their lives willingly to try and awaken the artifact spirit of the ancestral god artifact from its slumber.

Not only did they sacrifice their lives, but they even exhausted all the heavenly resources and god artifacts on them, as well as their vitality and energy, just in hopes of awakening the artifact spirit.

The contents of the jade slip explained how the previous age of experts had died, and it allowed Jian Chen to understand something.

The sovereign god artifact of the Wood Spirits was slumbering.

Jian Chen could not help but look towards the tiny hut on the hill at the front. All these generations of experts all knelt towards the wooden hut.

"Is the wooden hut where the artifact spirit of the sovereign god artifact dwells? Or should I say the wooden hut is where the Grand Exalt of the Wood Spirits resided?" Jian Chen thought. He could vaguely sense that they could not afford to approach the wooden hut and lethal danger lurked nearby.

Jian Chen slowly drifted forwards. Very quickly, he made his way past the previous age of experts and arrived near the experts in the second last row.

They were rulers of the Wood Spirits from two ages ago.

There were a total of ten people in this generation.

However, all ten of them had reached late Chaotic Prime!

Each generation of experts that appeared here was stronger the further back they were from.

"The Wood Spirits World is already declining with each generation. Let alone no one being able to reach Grand Prime, probably even Chaotic Primes will cease to appear in the future."

"Spirit of the ancestral artifact, when will you awaken? The Wood Spirits need you."

Jian Chen discovered another two jade slips in front of the ten experts, which recorded the sorrows and helplessness that these experts felt.

Jian Chen continued onwards and arrived before the third row from the back, seeing the information they left behind once again.

It was not in jade slips this time, but instead engraved on a green, stone plate. The stone plate was so tough that it already reached the ranks of high quality god artifacts.

Even Ninth Heavenly Layer Chaotic Primes would struggle to leave a mark on such a tough material.

"As per the ancestor's will, we've offered up everything we have willingly, depleting everything and casting aside our lives, passing all of our vitality and energy to the spirit of the ancestral artifact, in hopes that the spirit of the ancestral artifact can awaken soon."

Gazing at all these experts kneeling here, Jian Chen's heart grew heavy. By now, how could he not know why these experts had all perished? He also understood why these god artifacts that could exist for eternity had eroded away.

Over a hundred experts of the Wood Spirits had offered up their lives willingly, offering up everything that they had, just in hopes of awakening the artifact spirit of the sovereign god artifact.

The medium and even high quality god artifacts that belonged to them had not suffered any severe damage. Instead, they had also offered themselves up in hopes of awakening the artifact spirit just like their masters.

There were over a dozen generations at the very least, a total of over a hundred Chaotic Primes, who all offered up themselves for such a goal. Just how solemn and stirring of a sight was this?

The nine experts beside Jian Chen were all sorrowful. Their hearts weighed heavily too.

They had not finished their journey yet. They continued onwards and gradually, they learnt about some matters from even further back from the information left behind by their predecessors.

"The origin energy in the Wood Spirits World is gradually declining. The laws are growing weaker too, which is all caused by the spirit of the ancestral artifact's slumber. We must awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact."

"Cultivation is becoming more and more difficult, while breakthroughs to higher realms are gradually turning into hopeless fantasies. This world was born because of the spirit of the ancestral artifact, but it will also perish because of the spirit of the ancestral artifact."

"Spirit of the ancestral artifact, our race depends on you."

"Spirit of the ancestral artifact, what can we do for you to recover?"

"In our generation, there were nine First Heavenly Layer Grand Primes, no Chaotic Primes, and no Infinite Primes."

"Our race has already entered an abnormal phase of development. The strong grow stronger and the weak grow weaker, while cultivators in between have almost vanished altogether."

"The spirit of the ancestral artifact was severely damaged in the past. After using a tremendous amount of power to create this world and leave behind the laws, it's already declining with each passing day."

……

…

Towards the front, everyone who appeared were Grand Primes. They had all perished, their bodies corroded away, turning to dust from the slightest touch. For the sake of awakening the ancestral artifact, they sacrificed themselves.

Of course, not everyone left behind information. Along the way, they discovered three generations of experts who left no information behind at all.

When they reached an even earlier generation of experts, Jian Chen's expression suddenly changed. He saw a piece of information.

"The spirit of the ancestral artifact has entered a slumber, so this place has become a forbidden zone that can only be entered without ever leaving. The only way to leave is to awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact. So be it. If that's the case, then I'll sacrifice myself and make an offering to the spirit of the ancestral artifact and my clansmen outside."

The information left behind by that expert made Jian Chen stop. He continued to levitate in the air in a seated position as his expression changed with uncertainty.

"You can only enter without leaving? The only way to leave is to awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact?"