Upon sensing someone approaching, Chu Feng quickly harnessed the power of the array formation to conceal himself.
"Hurry, hurry, faster! If we're too late, someone else will snatch it away!"
Before long, over a dozen figures appeared within Chu Feng's field of vision.
These should all be primordial creatures. Their appearance bore a strong resemblance to what he had seen on the murals — that transitional state where they were on the verge of taking human form, yet still retained their beastly features.
However, their clothing was extremely sparse. They wore almost nothing at all, using only crude leather wrappings to cover their most private areas. In truth, they looked more like primitives.
But Chu Feng clearly remembered that on the mural, the one who bore a striking resemblance to Yan Ruyu had been wearing proper attire. Though that attire was unusual and distinctly different from what ordinary people wore, it had been refined and elegant — nothing like the wretched state of these creatures before him.
More importantly, Chu Feng could sense their cultivation. Their cultivation was only at the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
Never mind that Chu Feng was currently cloaked in the power of the array formation within the Demon-Slaying Emperor's tomb — even without that power, he could have dealt with these creatures effortlessly.
"That's strange. This is completely different from the power of the primordial creatures I sensed before."
"Could it be that among primordial creatures, there are distinctions of strength and weakness?"
Chu Feng harbored this suspicion but did not step forward to ask immediately. He wanted to observe what they were going to do first.
And under his patient watch, it did not take long for Chu Feng to discern their purpose.
These creatures had come for the remains of those colossal beasts.
All the flesh and blood of those massive creatures had already been devoured, and even their origins had been fully drained. Yet, for these creatures, the remains still seemed to hold value.
They used specialized tools to hammer the bones apart, and once the bones were shattered, something glittering could be found within — residual origin energy.
That residual origin energy could be used for cultivation, though it was extremely faint. So faint, in fact, that Chu Feng could not even use it to gauge what level of cultivation those colossal beasts had possessed in life. Even for cultivation purposes, its effect would be negligible — certainly nothing Chu Feng would ever bother with.
Yet these creatures treated the fragmented origin energy like priceless treasures, carefully gathering every last shard.
Then again, when he thought about it, while that broken origin energy was useless to Chu Feng, it likely held considerable value for beings at the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
"Hurry, hurry! If you're slow, someone else will take it all. Move it!"
"After we're done with this one, we still need to get the next one!"
Among them, a figure who appeared to be their leader continuously urged the others on.
They not only hurried each other along but also chatted among themselves as they worked. And through their conversation, Chu Feng managed to piece together the general situation.
Those colossal beasts that had died had indeed been hunted and killed. And the ones responsible for the hunt were the same kind as these creatures currently smashing bones — fellow primordial creatures, but not these ones themselves.
Among the primordial creatures, there were not only differences in strength but also clear distinctions of status — of rank and station.
The ones before Chu Feng were the lowest of the low, the very bottom rung among the primordial creatures. The powerful primordial creatures hunted those colossal beasts as prey, devouring their flesh and absorbing their essence to advance their cultivation. As for these bottom-dwelling creatures, all they could do was pick through what the powerful ones left behind — smashing apart the bones and collecting that trace amount of residual origin energy to aid their own cultivation.
In other words, they were scavengers.
"I wonder if these creatures would know anything about Yan Ruyu."
Looking at their lowly status, and then recalling how noble Yan Ruyu appeared in the mural, Chu Feng began to question whether these creatures could actually provide any useful leads.
"No point overthinking it. I'll find out once I ask."
In the end, Chu Feng made up his mind to go and question them.
Though he had made his decision, Chu Feng did not simply reveal himself. Instead, he first employed his World Spirit art to alter his appearance. He transformed himself to look very similar to these primordial creatures, even changing the clothes he wore to match theirs.