Chapter 629 - 345: Primordial Echo (Part 2)

This skill was a Tier Four Spell, an advanced version of the Candlelight Skill.

He quickly finished casting it, and with a wave of his hand, Lü Zhong sent it forth.

A massive sphere of light left his hand, emitting a dazzling Spiritual Light as it slowly rose. It finally settled against the stone ceiling, illuminating an area a hundred li in every direction. However, this still wasn’t enough to reach the end of the space. Beyond the light’s reach, it was still pitch-black.

Fortunately, this was enough.

When Lü Zhong saw the ruins before him clearly, he couldn’t help but look shocked again.

’This architectural style... I’ve never seen anything like it!’

It was neither from ancient times nor from the primordial era.

To be precise, it wasn’t built by the Human Race at all. The massive gates, shaped like inverted triangles and built from giant green rocks, were at least thirty to fifty feet wide. How could they be a creation of the Human Race?

’A civilization of another species?’ Lü Zhong thought, his expression turning peculiar.

This didn’t quite match his impression of the Cultivation Realm.

Suppressing his thoughts and seeing this was an unfamiliar "civilization," Lü Zhong acted with caution. He didn’t venture in himself but instead released an Incarnation, preparing to control it for exploration.

His true body remained floating in the air, continuing to maintain the glowing sun.

He also took the opportunity to recover his Magical Power to deal with any potential threats.

As for the Incarnation, its cultivation was only at the Late-stage of Qi Refining, so it could only hold the Fire Crow Sword and use the Light Body Skill to slowly descend to the ground.

Walking through the ruins, Lü Zhong felt as if he were in a kingdom of giants.

Giant carved stone pillars, giant flagstone streets, giant multi-story houses, giant openwork stone chairs... Everything he saw was absurdly large.

Everything indicated that a civilization had indeed once existed here.

But it was so ancient that time had eroded everything away, leaving only these stone ruins to tell later generations of its past.

Before he knew it, Lü Zhong arrived before a colossal temple.

Seeing the temple, he was suddenly startled. Carved on the tightly shut doors were lifelike images of the Exotic Beast, so vivid they seemed ready to leap out at any moment.

Not only that, but other parts of the doors depicted the Exotic Beast’s abilities.

Its withered yellow form, its incredibly realistic illusions, and its incomparably powerful ripples were all clearly described in images.

It was worth noting that in a corner, Lü Zhong also saw a group of strange, small, prostrating figures. Their bodies were shaped like inverted triangles and bore no resemblance to the human form. Judging by the surrounding scene, they were clearly performing a sacrifice, and the object of their worship was the very Exotic Beast he was hunting. If he wasn’t mistaken, these small sacrificial figures were the natives of this place, but for some reason, they had vanished without a trace.

He moved his gaze to the bottom right corner of the door, where there was a small, smooth gap.

’Did it come out from here?’

Lü Zhong returned his consciousness to his true body. After performing a scene regression, which consumed nearly half of his Power of Divine Sense, he finally confirmed his suspicion.

Three years ago, the Exotic Beast had emerged from this very spot. It then began to wander through the various subterranean worlds until it was discovered by the Western Border Alliance.

’It seems the only way to find answers is to go inside.’

After a moment’s thought, Lü Zhong released another Incarnation.

This time, however, he didn’t give it any Magical Treasures. He simply cast the Spirit Sword Skill, condensing nine Spirit Swords for its protection.

The Incarnation used the Light Body Skill to land and then tried to push open the temple doors.

Unexpectedly, the doors opened with a single push.

Immediately after, a black mist surged out from behind them.

It instantly engulfed the Incarnation.

The black mist came and went quickly.

When everything calmed down, the Incarnation was gone without a trace.

High in the air, Lü Zhong’s face was filled with shock and doubt.

Just now, the moment the Incarnation was swallowed by the black mist, he had completely lost contact with it. But what was very strange was that he could still clearly sense that this Incarnation had not been destroyed. It still existed, perfectly fine, but he had no idea where it had been sent.

Switching to the other Incarnation’s perspective, Lü Zhong took control and was surprised to find that after the mysterious black mist dissipated, the scene inside the temple was completely revealed. Unexpectedly, it was empty.

And in the very back stood a figure.

It was the very Incarnation that had just disappeared.

At that moment, it slowly turned around. A golden mask had appeared on its face at some point. Its gaze was devoid of any emotion as it sized up the wary Lü Zhong.

After a long moment, a hoarse voice spoke with a strange word order.

"Future... did not expect... to be replaced... by you!"

"What do you mean by that?" Lü Zhong asked, his expression impassive.

"Speaking... simple... a little..." The controlled Incarnation, upon hearing Lü Zhong, let out a strange sigh, as if it had to think for a moment before breaking the sentence into words.

Hearing this, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but think:

’This thing controlling my Incarnation... doesn’t seem very bright.’

From his observations, the reason the Incarnation was being controlled was that golden mask.

He didn’t know what material it was made of, but a powerful fluctuation of Spiritual Qi was emanating from it. For a creation that had likely existed for millions of years, this level of Spiritual Qi fluctuation was illogical.

If he had to explain it, the only possibility was that it was a Spirit Treasure.

In Lü Zhong’s understanding, only a Spirit Treasure could spontaneously absorb nature’s spiritual energy, or even Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, to replenish its own consumption.

Thus, it could achieve immortality over thousands and tens of thousands of years.

As for the origin of a Spirit Treasure, that was also easy to explain.

Spirit Treasures were formed by nature.

It wasn’t impossible for an Innate Spiritual Treasure to be born deep underground.

And this golden mask, suspected to be a Spirit Treasure, was clearly formed from the condensation of Earth Element Qi, which fit the characteristics of something found deep underground.

He patiently communicated with it—or rather, "her."

According to her, she was the last individual of her civilization, her consciousness preserved only because it was housed within a "Divine Artifact." The Divine Artifact she spoke of was, of course, the golden mask.

Hearing this, Lü Zhong became even more certain of his suspicions.

At the same time, he discreetly sized her up as another guess surfaced in his mind. ’Could she be... the Artifact Spirit of the Spirit Treasure?’

A Spirit Treasure is inherently immortal. If one became its Artifact Spirit, they could naturally endure the long passage of time as well.

What a coincidence of coincidences!

A series of accidents had allowed this ancient being to preserve its consciousness.

Lü Zhong guessed further, thinking it was likely related to her race.

After all, some Immortal Cultivators who failed to attain Longevity had tried to use immortal Spirit Treasures to achieve a different kind of "eternal life." But without exception, all these mad schemes had ended in failure, at the cost of the Spirit Treasure’s destruction.

’Interesting!’ Lü Zhong couldn’t help but think.

’If I start from this point, by studying the racial characteristics of this Artifact Spirit, could I find an alternative method for Longevity?’

’For example, achieving eternal life with the help of a Spirit Treasure, just like her!’

Compared to the ethereal and unattainable Ascension to Immortality, with its countless unknown obstacles and hardships, this alternative method of Longevity was clearly much easier to achieve.

Obviously, the idea was incredibly tempting.

So much so that even he, who had always been strong-willed, couldn’t help but feel his breath quicken.

After some more communication, Lü Zhong noticed certain details, like the metamorphic changes in the rock, and realized her era was even more ancient than he had imagined. It wasn’t just the primordial past of a million years ago; it was quite possible it dated back to before the dawn of the Witch Dao.

Good heavens!

Waves of shock crashed through Lü Zhong’s mind.

This undoubtedly meant that the Human Race was not the first civilization of this world!

’This is getting more and more interesting!’ he thought to himself.

If he continued to delve deeper into this, combining it with the fact that the Immortal Dao was of foreign origin and that the Immortals described in the scriptures were identical to the Human Race... wouldn’t that mean the Human Race wasn’t native to this world either?

In other words, the Human Race of this world were actually the descendants of "colonizers." He couldn’t imagine what kind of storm such a claim would cause in the Cultivation Realm if it ever got out.

But very quickly, Lü Zhong extinguished these divergent thoughts one by one.

He had no interest in archaeology.

Compared to these historical secrets, as an Immortal Dao Cultivator, he was far more interested in the golden mask that was suspected to be a Spirit Treasure.