Chapter 500 - 442: [Dao’s Lingering Calamity]

The pool water was viscous, a dark gray bordering on black ink.

Qi Yun casually cast a Water-Avoiding Curse. The moment the dark gray water touched the Spiritual Light, it slid apart silently as if encountering its natural enemy, forming a waterless tunnel that led straight to the bottom of the pool.

The two figures descended. They were surrounded by absolute darkness and a dead silence that seemed capable of swallowing all light. Only the Water-Avoiding Spiritual Light illuminated the cold, smooth rocks of the pool walls, which were covered in eerie patterns.

As they continued to dive deeper, the pale gold sword scar between Qi Yun’s brows grew slightly hot. His gaze pierced through the Spiritual Light and darkness, looking toward the increasingly widening field of vision below. "As expected..." he said in a low voice.

The pool water seemed incredibly deep, as if it connected to another dimension.

After descending for about a thousand zhang, the view before them suddenly opened up!

The dark gray pool water disappeared, replaced by a vast, dead-silent underground space that felt as if it were located deep within the earth’s core.

The space was an irregular sphere, its diameter impossible to estimate.

The dome and walls were completely formed from that cold, blue-black rock covered in natural Dao Patterns, exuding an eternal, unchanging chill.

And in the center of this vast space floated independent stone chambers, each as massive as a mountain!

These stone chambers looked as though they had been directly hollowed out and carved from some kind of black Divine Gold.

Each one was a perfect square with sides exceeding a thousand zhang. Their surfaces were as smooth as mirrors, faintly rippling with a dark luster.

Complex Sealing Runes were engraved on the tightly shut doors of the stone chambers. Every stroke contained a terrifying power of suppression and sealing.

Just looking at them from a distance made one’s Divine Soul sting, as if staring for a few moments longer would suck them right in.

Through the crevices of those stone chambers that were not entirely closed, one could faintly see inside.

Inside each stone chamber sat a figure in a cross-legged position.

These figures were all towering and majestic. Even while sitting cross-legged, they gave off an indomitable aura that could support heaven and earth. They wore ancient clothing of various styles: some wore simple and unadorned Daoist Robes, some wore fierce armor, and others wore magnificent long robes...

Yet without exception, their eyes were tightly closed. They looked so lifelike that it seemed they had merely fallen into a deep slumber.

However, the aura radiating from their bodies was exceedingly terrifying!

It was a solidified, deathly silent, yet boundlessly majestic coercion!

They were like volcanoes that had slept for hundreds of millions of years. Sealed within them was a terrifying energy capable of burning the heavens and boiling the seas, yet they were frozen at absolute zero, presenting an eerie stillness.

"The aura of a Fruit Position..." Qi Yun narrowed his eyes. His gaze swept over the floating thousand-zhang stone chambers like the most precise carving knife, his heart chilling with awe. "Are the things sealed here... the remains of Reincarnation True Monarchs?"

His gaze rapidly swept past, counting silently in his head. One, two, three... ten... twenty... thirty... A total of thirty-three stone chambers!

This meant there were at least thirty-three such remains of Dharma Bodies!

Qi Yun thought to himself, "To think the Holy Sect... has actually sealed so many True Monarch remains in this place. Could they all be the Holy Sect’s True Monarchs from past generations who have passed away or reincarnated?"

According to common sense, when a True Monarch reincarnated, they would entrust themselves to their Fruit Position.

As long as they completed their reincarnation, they would connect with the Fruit Position and retrieve their Dharma Body. This would allow them to rapidly recover a portion, or even all, of their True Monarch Cultivation, instantly becoming a monarch once again!

But the remains of these Dharma Bodies before him felt a bit off.

Although their coercion was majestic and the aura of the Fruit Position faintly appeared, there was an incongruous feeling—a sinister vibe seeping through the dead silence, and chaos hiding beneath the solemnity.

The light of those phantom Fruit Positions also looked as though it had been covered in a layer of ashen dust.

At this moment, Cai Shen—who had become unusually silent and wore a grave expression ever since entering this place—spoke slowly. His voice was exceptionally clear in this dead-silent space, carrying a trace of unprecedented solemnity and dread.

"No, Qi the Kid, you are mistaken. These are not ordinary Dharma Bodies left behind by True Monarchs after their reincarnation."

The glow of the patterns on his golden robe had dimmed somewhat as he stared fixatedly at the stone chambers.

"These things... are [Dao Remnant Banes]."

"[Dao Remnant Banes]?" Qi Yun’s expression shifted as he turned to look at Cai Shen.

He considered himself well-read and knowledgeable. Whether it was the official history of Profound Yellow, the secret records of the Demon Dao, or even some ancient hidden secrets, he had dabbled in them all, yet he had never heard of this term.

Cai Shen took a deep breath, as if trying to dispel the formless oppression in the air, and slowly explained, "The Dao dissipates and the body perishes, yet the obsession remains! The vicious energy condenses, leaving behind a disaster that becomes a bane!"

He spat out every word very slowly, carrying the heaviness of describing a taboo existence.

"Those capable of becoming a True Monarch are all individuals with resolute wills and clear Dao Hearts. Having weathered myriad tribulations, they have seen through life and death. Even if their path of the Great Dao ultimately reaches its end, leading to the dissipation of their cultivation and Dao, and the destruction of their body and soul, most can face it calmly, undergoing Transformation Dao to return to the void. Rarely do they breed intense resentment and unwillingness."

He paused and pointed at the stone chambers. "But... there are no absolutes in this world.

"True Monarchs are also living beings. They also have the seven emotions and six desires. They also have things they cannot obtain, cannot let go of, and cannot reconcile.

"If their attachments are too deep at the moment of their fall... all sorts of extreme emotions will intertwine, forming a monstrous, unresolvable obsession and malicious intent. If, by some coincidence, this malicious intent does not completely dissipate along with their True Spirit, and instead invades the remaining Dharma Body that contains boundless Dao Power and a connection to their Fruit Position..."

Cai Shen lowered his voice a bit. "Then, this remnant Dharma Body will transform into a [Dao Remnant Bane]... driven purely by malicious intent and obsession.

"It possesses the power and Divine Techniques of its original body, and it inherits that monstrous resentment and desire for destruction. It is practically... a pure evil version of a True Monarch.

"Moreover, because its obsession does not scatter, its very existence is a distortion and pollution of the Heaven and Earth Laws. It is extremely troublesome to deal with, and extremely rare. This is also my first time... seeing such a massive number of [Dao Remnant Banes] sealed in one place."

Cai Shen spoke subtly, but Qi Yun instantly understood the deeper meaning behind his words.

[Dao Remnant Banes] were very rare.

Yet, in this secret land of the Holy Sect, a full thirty-three of them were sealed!

What did this mean?

This obviously wasn’t some bizarre hobby of the Holy Sect’s True Monarchs collecting "True Monarch action figures."

For these [Dao Remnant Banes] to be collectively sealed here, there must be a deeper, terrifyingly sinister purpose or secret.

Qi Yun’s gaze swept over the silent stone chambers once more, his eyes profound.

He could almost see that behind each tightly shut stone door was sealed a True Monarch Level monster that had once shaken the world, but was now left with only resentment and a thirst for destruction.

The waters of the Holy Sect were far deeper than he had imagined.

However, the purpose of his trip wasn’t to pry into the Holy Sect’s secrets.

Suppressing the shock and doubt in his heart, Qi Yun said in a deep voice, "This place is eerie; we shouldn’t stay for long. Senior, can you sense the exact location of the Luo River Map?"

Hearing this, Cai Shen gathered his Heart and Spirit. Closing his eyes and concentrating, faint golden ripples appeared around him as he carefully sensed the weak but unique connection to the Imperial Soldier of the same origin.

A moment later, he pointed toward the deeper part of this vast underground space. "The connection is very blurry, heavily interfered with by the aura of these [Dao Remnant Banes]. But the general direction... is over there."

The two didn’t delay any further. They urged the Water-Avoiding Spiritual Light, transforming into two imperceptible streaks of Flowing Light, and carefully flew toward the depths of the space, hugging the edges of the suspended thousand-zhang stone chambers.

Along the way, Qi Yun’s Divine Sense swept past the stone chambers one by one, like the most precise radar.

Aside from the thirty-three stone chambers radiating the ominous auras of the [Dao Remnant Banes], he "saw" even more.

Inside some relatively smaller stone chambers with seemingly less strict seals, a massive amount of bizarre objects with ancient, obscure auras were stored.

There were ancient war Divine Soldiers that were battered and broken, yet still exuded a terrifying Evil Qi; their spear tips were stained with dark golden Divine Blood that seemed as if it would never dry.

There was the heart of an unknown behemoth, sealed within a transparent crystal yet still slowly beating; each throb caused the surrounding void to tremble slightly.

There were pitch-black stone slabs inscribed with twisted, eerie text that made one’s Divine Soul dizzy with just a single glance.

There were bizarre fruits placed in Jade Boxes, emitting an alluring fragrance but instinctively making one feel a sense of danger.

There were even some peculiar creations whose shapes and purposes were completely incomprehensible, looking as if they hailed from foreign realms or the distant ancient past...

Every single item radiated a heart-palpitating ancient aura and powerful fluctuations. It was obvious they were by no means ordinary items; they might even be Exotic Treasures or forbidden artifacts left behind by a certain era or civilization.

Qi Yun thought to himself, "It seems this place is not only a graveyard for sealing [Dao Remnant Banes], but also the true treasury... where the Holy Sect stores the Exotic Treasures and forbidden artifacts obtained by past generations. This place is likely where the true foundation of the Holy Sect lies."

Just as these thoughts swirled in his mind—

"Found it!"

Beside him, Cai Shen suddenly let out a low shout of suppressed excitement and abruptly halted his flight. His burning gaze stared intently at a stone chamber ahead that looked completely ordinary. It was even a size smaller than the other chambers, and the runes on its surface were the dimmest.

Qi Yun instantly shifted over to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Cai Shen, his gaze also falling upon the tightly closed black door of that stone chamber.

This stone chamber was located at the very edge of all the chambers, in the most inconspicuous corner. Had it not been for Cai Shen’s precise sensing, it would have easily been overlooked.

The runes on the stone door were ancient and mottled. In many places, they had even worn away and peeled off, looking as if they hadn’t been maintained for a long time. The sealing fluctuations it emitted were so faint they were almost imperceptible.

However, the very instant Qi Yun and Cai Shen’s gazes focused on this stone chamber...

A voice rang out directly in their ears without any warning. It was airy, indifferent, seemingly devoid of any emotion, yet appeared to contain a wisdom that saw through everything:

"Darkness beneath the lamp, a veil before the eyes.

"Searching high and low, but cannot find it.

"It is not high up at the edge of the sky..."

The voice paused, carrying a faint, barely discernible sigh and guidance that seemed to transcend eternal eons:

"Lower your head, for it was originally... right beneath your feet."