Chapter 1110: Life and Death Reveals the Heavenly Venerate
Chapter 1110: Life and Death Reveals the Heavenly Venerate
The corpses were all encased in translucent, pale blue ice.
Through the crystalline prisons, one could still faintly make out the final expressions etched upon their faces.
Rage, terror, confusion...
They were chillingly lifelike, as if still breathing within their frozen tombs.
An endless expanse of these ice coffins, packed tightly together, filled their entire field of vision, covering the surface of the black ocean.
It wasn't just the Dao Integration cultivators; even the three Dharma Transmitters leading the expedition felt a cold dread creep up their spines, leaving them stunned into horrified silence.
By the time they recovered from the sheer shock of the scene, the True Immortal's remains that had lured them here had vanished without a trace.
"What... what in the world is this damned place?!"
His voice was a mere whisper, as if he feared disturbing the slumbering dead, and a tremor of deep-seated fear was unmistakable in his tone.
It wasn't that they had never seen death before.
But to see such an immense number of bodies gathered in one place, all preserving the vibrant expressions of their final living moments...
The shock of such a spectacle was beyond what words could describe.
No one answered Zhu Gongchuan's question.
The group flew silently above the sea of death for the better part of a day, yet they still could not find its end.
"A rough estimate puts the number of corpses here at over two billion... I doubt the entire population of cultivators and mortals in the outer prefectures of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance even comes close to this. What on earth..."
"These people are not from the Xuanhuang Realm. Or rather, the vast majority are not," Dharma Transmitter Wei said slowly.
"Judging by their attire, they seem to have come from countless different cultivation worlds. For what reason they were all frozen here, I cannot say."
"So many bodies, hidden right within the territory of our Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. And yet, for all this time, we've been completely unaware," another Dharma Transmitter, Chu, remarked, his expression turning grim.
"What was the purpose of that True Immortal's remains in luring us here? Don't tell me it intends to turn us into... one of them?"
"Unlikely. We've been here for quite some time now and haven't been attacked."
...
They discussed in hushed tones, but remained clueless about the ultimate goal of the True Immortal's remains.
"Let's keep looking."
And so they flew over the sea of death for a long while longer.
Finally, Dharma Transmitter Wei noticed something. "These countless frozen bodies... they seem to form a colossal array."
"An array?"
The others exchanged bewildered glances, then carefully surveyed their surroundings once more.
"An array of this scale must possess world-shattering power. Could this be a secret plot by the Five Elders Council, something they've been setting up for years to destroy our Alliance?"
Not everyone present was an expert in the Dao of arrays, and after failing to make sense of it, their minds began to race with wild speculation.
"This array is impossibly complex. We're only seeing a small corner of it, not the whole picture, so we can't deduce its true purpose. The priority now is to report our findings to the Alliance headquarters. The longer I stay here, the more unsettling this place feels," Dharma Transmitter Chu said gravely.
"Fortunately, this array doesn't seem to be targeting outsiders like us. It's neither a trapping array nor a killing array. As long as we find its core, we should be able to get out," Dharma Transmitter Wei added, offering his own judgment.
With two of the Dharma Transmitters having reached a conclusion, the others finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
After wandering through the array for several days, the group finally located its core. Passing through it, they expected to leave this bizarre region, but to their surprise, they did not return to the white mist.
Instead, they found themselves above another, unfamiliar ocean.
Unlike the silent, frozen black sea they had just left, here the salty sea breeze was gentle, and the cries of seabirds filled the air.
From time to time, schools of fish would leap from the surface or dart through the waters below.
It was a scene teeming with life, a sight that soothed the soul.
After a moment of astonishment, the group quickly scanned their surroundings but found no signs of danger.
The Dao Integration cultivators began to relax slightly.
But the three leading Dharma Transmitters wore expressions of unprecedented gravity.
Dharma Transmitter Wei's brow was tightly furrowed as he gazed at the sky, muttering to himself, "Different worlds... two sides of a single entity."
"One for life, one for death."
Dharma Transmitter Chu cut him off. "No, that's not quite right. Death is the source of life, and life is but a gathering from death. This is..."
The two locked eyes, a look of sheer horror dawning on their faces.
"The reversal of life and death?"
With a shared, unspoken understanding, neither of them voiced these words aloud.
Instead, they switched to communicating via spiritual sense.
"I see... so this must be the dojo of that Rebirth Heavenly Venerate?"
"No wonder He was able to reverse the principles of heaven and earth and attain the rank of Heavenly Venerate so quickly! He must have been hiding in this white mist all along, using this array as a foundation to study the principles of life and death to absolute perfection!"
"Then what is the connection between the True Immortal's remains and the Rebirth Heavenly Venerate?"
As one mystery was solved, new questions immediately arose in their minds.
"From the looks of it, they're probably not working together."
"Perhaps it discovered this dojo long ago and deliberately led us here to probe the Rebirth Heavenly Venerate's secrets?"
The two of them fell into deep thought.
After a long period of contemplation, they still had no definitive answer.
"If we find the array core in this world of life, we should be able to leave." Having come to no conclusions and finding no clues about the Rebirth Heavenly Venerate's true identity after searching the dojo, the three Dharma Transmitters decided to return for now and plan their next move.
But just as they were preparing to depart, Dharma Transmitter Wei froze, as if struck by a sudden thought.
"Reversing life and death... reversing life and death..."
"The grand array is complete, yet the dead cultivators have not been reawakened. What is truly being revived... is the WORLD?"
"In that case, the Rebirth Heavenly Venerate's true goal is..."
Dharma Transmitter Wei looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his face instantly turning deathly pale.
"Go!" he shouted, his decision swift and absolute.
However, as if sensing the thought that had just flashed through his mind...
A figure seemingly composed of white mist materialized silently, blocking their path.
Faced with this sudden enemy—very likely the elusive Rebirth Heavenly Venerate himself—the group's tension spiked to its absolute peak.
A battle seemed imminent.
Dharma Transmitter Wei stared at the figure before them, and after a moment, a look of utter disbelief flashed in his eyes.
"It's..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the white mist figure abruptly opened its eyes.
An endless torrent of white mist surged from its body, rushing towards them like an overwhelming tide.
In an instant, it completely engulfed the entire party from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Ten Dao Integration cultivators, three Dharma Transmitters.
Such a formidable force, yet they were utterly powerless to resist, vanishing into the white mist in the blink of an eye.
(End of Chapter)
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