#77 - Chapter 77: Ancient People 30,000 Years Ago

You saw boundless corpses. It seemed you hadn't entered a city, but a world of the dead. The dilapidated streets and decaying bronze roads were littered with bodies, stretching endlessly. The clothes worn by these corpses were incredibly ancient.

And crucially, you recognized the armor and clothing worn by these corpses. Though ancient, they were strikingly similar to the uniforms of the Great Wu Dynasty's army in the present-day Central Province!

"These dead people... could they all be soldiers of the Great Wu Dynasty?"

"But how could soldiers of the Great Wu Dynasty appear in the Dead City of Chaoge?"

The air was thick with a putrid, corrosive stench. Lin Changqing crouched before a corpse, observing it intently.

For some reason, the corpse's features remained lifelike, its face contorted in terror, as if it had witnessed something utterly horrifying.

This deceased soldier was clad in scarlet armor.

The Great Wu Dynasty revered the virtue of fire, and the army's armor was uniformly scarlet, each piece being a spiritual artifact in itself.

The soldier's body also bore a waist牌(waist牌), inscribed with the words 'Fire Xuan Camp, 甲352(Jia 352)'.

Lin Changqing rose and looked ahead. Countless scarlet-armored soldiers lay dead, their faces all bearing the same look of terror, as if they had witnessed something unspeakable.

From the color and style of the armor, and the waist牌(waist牌), you felt it was highly likely that these dead soldiers were indeed from the Great Wu Dynasty.

The Fire Xuan Camp was one of the four major camps guarding the Great Wu Dynasty's capital. Its soldiers were all elites. It was said that in the early days of the dynasty, the Fire Xuan King, leader of the Fire Xuan Camp, had followed the Great Wu's founding emperor in campaigns to the south and north.

Thirty thousand years ago, the Fire Xuan King led his troops to conquer the demonic beasts of the Northern Desert's Hundred Thousand Mountains and the endless sea tribes of the Southern Sea, expanding the Great Wu's territory. Because of these merits, the Great Wu's founding emperor permanently retained the Fire Xuan King's Fire Xuan Camp, which remains one of the four major camps guarding the capital to this day.

You were already feeling puzzled by being suddenly sucked into the Dead City of Chaoge. Now, seeing so many dead soldiers of the Great Wu Dynasty here, you felt even more lost in a fog.

When did these soldiers die? Judging from the style of their clothing, it was extremely ancient, definitely not recent.

And why would soldiers of the Great Wu Dynasty appear in the Dead City of Chaoge, only to die mysteriously?

Furthermore, you wanted to know how to leave this place.

You continued forward, attempting to find some clues. After two quarters of an hour, you made a discovery. You found a letter in the arms of a dead soldier.

"Taihong 352..." Upon seeing the date at the beginning of the letter, a look of shock appeared in Lin Changqing's eyes.

The current year was Taixu 350.

But the Taihong era dated back thirty thousand years in the Great Wu Dynasty, to the reign of the Great Wu's founding emperor!

"These dead soldiers are actually from thirty thousand years ago!" Lin Changqing was somewhat incredulous. He suddenly thought of a secret he had heard.

If these dead soldiers were from thirty thousand years ago, then it would align with the secret he had heard.

In the Wu Kingdom, there was a very strange phenomenon. The Wu Kingdom had a total of eighteen provinces. Except for Qing Province, the Great Wu Dynasty had dispatched officials and soldiers to every province.

Only Qing Province had no officials or soldiers dispatched by the Great Wu Dynasty.

Some said that Qing Province was too desolate for the Great Wu Dynasty to care about.

But the secret Lin Changqing had heard said that Qing Province was a cursed land.

Thirty thousand years ago, the Great Wu's founding emperor was in high spirits. His cultivation had reached the tenth level of the Transformation God Sovereign, and it was even said that he had touched the Return to Void stage. He was powerful and unmatched, and he vowed to unify the eighteen provinces of the Wu Kingdom.

After unifying the other seventeen provinces, he personally led an army of 100,000 to conquer Qing Province. But unexpectedly, he returned in a panic three days later. All 100,000 soldiers had died, and only he and a few generals and nobles returned heavily injured.

It was said that after the Great Wu's founding emperor returned heavily injured, he only said one sentence: 'Future generations must not go to Qing Province. It is a cursed land, a land forsaken by the gods.'

This was the origin of the saying that Qing Province was a cursed land, but no one really believed it.

After all, how powerful was the Great Wu's founding emperor? Legend had it that he had touched the Return to Void stage. Who could have injured him so severely?

Therefore, the story about the Great Wu's founding emperor being defeated in Qing Province had always been treated as a joke by the people of the Wu Kingdom.

But now, in Lin Changqing's view, this secret might be true.

Thirty thousand years ago, what caused the Great Wu's founding emperor's 100,000 soldiers to perish was likely the Dead City of Chaoge.

The Dead City of Chaoge also had the ability to do so, after all, this was once the capital of the Great Shang.

Understanding the origins of these dead soldiers did not ease Lin Changqing's mind.

You had to know that those who followed the Great Wu's founding emperor were all elite soldiers. Among them, some generals might even be Nascent Soul True Monarchs or even Transformation God Sovereigns. Yet, even such people had died.

Could you survive and leave the Dead City of Chaoge?

Furthermore, what did the Great Wu's founding emperor mean by 'Qing Province, a cursed land, a land forsaken by the gods'?

Could it be that the Great Wu's founding emperor had discovered something in the Dead City of Chaoge?

Thinking this, you continued forward. You did not want to stay in place and wait for death. You wanted to explore as much information as possible.

You walked forward for an hour and discovered a corpse of high status. He seemed to have been a general or noble of the Great Wu in life. The clothes he wore were extremely luxurious. You judged that his cultivation might be Nascent Soul, because even in death, you could feel a great pressure emanating from him.

Furthermore, you saw the sword he held in his hand. It seemed to be a high-grade Dao artifact, entirely wood-yellow in color, looking extremely mystical.

You wanted to take the sword from the hand of this dead general. After all, it was a high-grade Dao artifact, but you were surprised to find that you could not take the sword.

You felt a restriction preventing you from taking it.

"Looks like I can't take it." You shook your head, gave up the idea of taking the high-grade Dao artifact, and continued forward.

After walking for another three hours, you seemed to have arrived in a completely new area. The corpses of soldiers lying on the bronze ground became fewer and fewer.

You continued forward for ten minutes, reaching the end of the street. At the end of the street was a city gate. You pushed the door open and extended another road. At the other end of the road, you saw a bronze ancient city. It stood before you like a behemoth. In front of the ancient city stood a huge stone tablet, on which was written "Chaoge North Xuan City".

You looked back and saw a stone tablet behind you, on which was written "Chaoge Desolate Bright City".

It seemed you had come from one ancient city to another in the Dead City of Chaoge. There was more than one city!

The ancient city where the Great Wu soldiers were buried was called Desolate Bright City, and now you had come to North Xuan City.

"It seems the legends are true. In ancient times, Chaoge, though called a capital, was extremely vast, like a small world."

"According to rumors, King Zhou of Shang had boundless magical power and once subdued a three-legged Golden Crow. What kind of divine beast is the three-legged Golden Crow? But it is said that in Chaoge, the three-legged Golden Crow once flapped its wings for seven days and seven nights, yet it could not travel all over Chaoge. It can be seen how vast and boundless Chaoge was."

Lin Changqing looked at the bronze ancient city in front of him with great emotion. At his speed, four hours were enough to traverse a large county.

But in Chaoge, four hours only took you from where the dead soldiers of the Great Wu were to here.

He really couldn't imagine how big the Dead City of Chaoge was?

How many bronze ancient cities like this were there in the Dead City of Chaoge?

Thousands? Tens of thousands? Or even hundreds of thousands?

Even a mythical creature like the three-legged Golden Crow could not travel all over Chaoge even if it flapped its wings for seven days and seven nights.

Perhaps the vastness of the Dead City of Chaoge could really be compared to a small world.

You entered the bronze ancient city in front of you. After exploring inside for an hour, you made a discovery in the very center of the ancient city.