Chapter 2495
Previously in the Source Sea, countless cultivators died fighting for Source Strength and Star Sources. All of these dead cultivators fell into the Source Sea and went missing.
But in fact, they were all gathered here.
The jade slip was gone too. Before Yang Kai was swallowed, he felt the jade slip exploding in his hand, turned into some form of energy that wrapped around him, as if it was protecting him.
After he entered this place, the energy barrier disappeared.
It was as though the function of the jade slip was to provide protection for the holder to enter this place. Without the jade slip, Yang Kai would have suffered unbearable consequences while being devoured and sent here.
Before Wu Meng Chuan died, he desperately wanted to destroy the jade slip, so it was obvious that he did not wish for it to fall into the hands of others, allowing them to enter this place. But what secrets could be hidden here?
Why did the old swindler come in here too?
Yang Kai looked startled and confused as he examined the surroundings but found nothing. He could not sense the old man's aura even with his Divine Sense.
After pondering for a moment, he turned to look at the rivers of blood on the floor and followed the flow.
No matter what this place was and what secrets were hidden here, Yang Kai believed that the destination of the confluence of the blood rivers most probably held the answers he sought.
This peculiar world seemed to be enormous. Yang Kai travelled for more than two hours, but the scenery still remained the same, bleak. If it were not for his perseverance, he would have just stopped moving forward.
Another two hours later, Yang Kai suddenly twitched his brow and looked up in a certain direction.
He heard some explosions echoing from that side, and when he looked up, he saw that the place was shining vaguely, radiating formidable waves of power.
Someone was fighting over there!
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes in surprise because he saw the old swindler entering this place alone, so if people were battling over there, he must be one of them, but the question was, who was his opponent?
Judging from the waves of power, the strength of the one fighting with the old swindler seemed to be extremely high. Although Yang Kai still did not fully understand the capabilities of the old swindler, he was sure that an ordinary First-Order Emperor Realm Master was no match for him.
So, for a person who was able to put up such an intense fight with the old man, he or she must be someone extraordinary.
Was there another hidden Master in this damned place?
The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more confused he became. Out of pure curiosity, he sped in the direction of the fight, hiding his aura with his Nihility Secret Technique.
The closer he got there, the more obvious the fallout he felt from the battle.
In the span of a stick worth of incense, Yang Kai arrived at a small hill and hid behind it. He peeked out from the small hill and his face changed dramatically at the scene before his eyes.
The old man was indeed over there. He stood in the void with his clothes flapping and his black hair blowing in the wind. He seemed to have gone through many vicissitudes from the view of his back, looking aloof and indifferent to the changing world.
Not far in front of him was the skeleton that had been seen inside the black hole before, sitting cross-legged. It was a bit different from what everyone had seen earlier though, as some flesh was actually formed on its bones. The bright scarlet flesh was constantly forming from the absorption of the blood flowing from the surroundings.
The blood of the entire world seemed to be gathering towards the skeleton.
At this moment, there was not much flesh on the skeleton as it seemed that it had only just started to form, and even the bones were not completely covered yet, but this vision of the skeleton was already horrifying enough.
The hands of the skeleton were formed into a mysterious seal and a terrifying devouring power exploded out of the white bones, swallowing the incoming rivers of blood unceasingly.
The old swindler was constantly launching exceptionally ferocious attacks to interrupt the flow of blood, stopping the skeleton from devouring it.
The formidable impact of the attacks landed on the skeleton, but it remained still.
Yang Kai did not know how long this situation had carried on, as the old man continued to strike the confluence of blood with his power again and again, causing the blood to evaporate.
However, there was too much blood in this world, and even if the old man attempted to stop its flow, there was always more that gathered from all directions, pouring into the skeleton.
Yang Kai was forcibly suppressing the fear in his heart as his face turned pale.
Because he actually sensed a presence of life in the skeleton. Although it was quite weak, just like a candle that could be blown out by the wind at any time, it was indeed there.
In other words, the skeleton was still alive!
No one knew exactly which Great Emperor left this skeleton behind, but according to the clues Yang Kai gathered, the most likely candidate was the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor.
It was rumoured that the Soul of the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor was annihilated in the War of Emperors tens of thousands of years ago and he could not be more dead; however, given the situation now, it seemed that this rumour was false.
If this skeleton really belonged to the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, it could only mean that he was not dead yet and had instead fallen into a certain kind of deep sleep. The blood that gathered here could be the opportunity for him to wake up again!
Yang Kai suddenly recalled something Wu Meng Chuan said during their life or death battle that made him truly concerned.
He had said, 'how can a person as strong as my Ancestor die so easily!'
If that was the case, Wu Meng Chuan seemed to know the inside story. After all, he was the descendant of the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, so it was reasonable for him to know that his Ancestor was still alive.
He might even know that his Ancestor was hidden here, and was ready to use the jade slip to enter this place at the right time. Unfortunately, he was killed by Yang Kai in the end and attempted to destroy the jade slip before he died…
Various thoughts flashed across Yang Kai's mind; he could almost confirm that this skeleton belonged to Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, and if he continued to regrow his flesh from the fresh blood here, the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor might be resurrected!
Back then, four Great Emperors died here in order to kill him. If the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor were to be resurrected, the peace of the Star Boundary would be at stake.
Yang Kai broke out in a cold sweat considering all this.
Suddenly, a subtle aura rippled from up ahead. It was incredibly weak at first, but it gradually became stronger as time passed, as if a sleeping dragon was slowly rising from a deep slumber.
The old swindler, who was standing in the void, certainly noticed this aura too. With his face turned solemn as he sped up his hand movements, performing all kinds of indescribable yet powerful Secret Techniques, targeting the skeleton directly.
In a short time, the ground beneath the skeleton crumbled, and even space around it was about to collapse.
The old swindler squinted ahead, but after a long pause, he snorted coldly.
Dust flew everywhere, and an extremely thick wall of blood-red light emerged in front of the skeleton. There were cracks all over the wall, but it seemed to have successfully blocked all the attacks from the old swindler, leaving the skeleton unscathed.
A sharp gaze suddenly pierced from behind the wall of blood light, as if it travelled from ancient times, freezing the world.
"You're awake!" The old man curled his lip unhappily.
The skeleton was staring at the old man with a pair of unformed eyes, faint ghost fires quivering in its sockets. As his upper and lower teeth collided with each other, he gave out a grating voice, "Duan Hong Chen?"
The old man burst into loud laughter and answered uninhibitedly, "That's right, it is this Old Master. Wu Kuang, I can't believe you still remember this Old Master after sleeping for so many years!"
The skeleton replied with a deep voice, "How could this King forget your cheeky face? How unfortunate that the first person that I see when I wake up is you!"
Duan Hong Chen smiled, "Disappointed? Then who did you want to see? Tell me, this Old Master can disguise himself as that person. As you know, the disguise skill of this Old Master is matchless in this world."
The skeleton was indifferent. After being silent for a while, he asked, "How long did this King sleep?"
Duan Hong Chen's face turned solemn, "This Old Master doesn't really remember precisely how long it was, but it's been at least a couple tens of thousands of years."
The skeleton sighed, "It looks like it's been a long time."
The old man and the skeleton were chatting like old friends who had not seen each other for many years and there was no tension between them at all.
Yang Kai, who was still hiding behind the small hill far away, felt terror stabbing his heart.
Since the old man called the skeleton Wu Kuang, it confirmed that he was really the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor! The Heaven Devouring Great Emperor had not died. He just used some mystical Secret Technique to put himself to sleep inside this strange space for tens of thousands of years, waiting for this moment of resurrection.
If news of this spread, the entire Star Boundary would be in an uproar.
However, what shocked Yang Kai even more was the name of the old man.
Duan Hong Chen!
Yang Kai had never heard of this name, but he was familiar with his title.
The Bustling World Great Emperor!
Wu Kuang, the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor recognized this old swindler, which meant that they were people with the same status during the same period, and only that Great Emperor would be able to carry the name 'Duan Hong Chen'.
[Is he really the Bustling World Great Emperor?]
Yang Kai was so shocked that he could hardly breathe. When the old man declared that he would ask Temple Master Wen to expel Yang Kai if he ever saw Wen Zi Shan again, Yang Kai had just made a sarcastic remark about his identity.
He would have never thought that his sarcastic remark would turn out to be true.
It was rumoured that the Bustling World Great Emperor led an unrestrained lifestyle and was always wandering around the world for pleasure. It somehow made sense to Yang Kai that this old man was the Bustling World Great Emperor as his behaviour really matched with the rumours.
The reason Yao Si obediently listened to the old man's order and left, even showing a lowly expression in front of him, was probably because he knew his identity.
But what happened to his cultivation?
The strength of the Bustling World Great Emperor was supposed to be as high as the sky, so how could he possibly show up here with just a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation now?
Wu Kuang was just as curious as Yang Kai about this phenomenon.
"Why did your cultivation drop so much?"
"This Old Master cut his own cultivation," Duan Hong Chen smiled faintly, completely nonchalant.
"Cut your own cultivation!?" Wu Kuang's eyes flashed as he asked in a deep voice, "Why? What made you go so far?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"
Wu Kuang seemed to have comprehended something, he pressed on, "Did you cut your own cultivation so that you could enter this place to find me?"
Duan Hong Chen nodded, "Of course. As you are most likely aware, after your death, the world barrier surrounding this place became a little fragile, so Emperor Realm Masters could not pass through it from the outside without disrupting it. If this Old Master wanted to come here, this was the only way."
