Although Elder Chen was a powerhouse at the Earth Saint level, he had absolutely no resistance under Long Xiaoxuan's dragon might. The overwhelming dragon pressure transformed into an all-encompassing crushing force that pinned Elder Chen so completely he couldn't move a muscle.
Long Xiaoxuan opened his massive jaws and swallowed Elder Chen whole in one gulp, like gulping down a date without chewing.
The instant Elder Chen was devoured, six bizarrely shaped demon butterflies fled in panic from where he had stood. But under the shredding force of the dragon might, they were crushed into nothingness in midair before they could escape.
Moments later, Long Xiaoxuan turned into a beam of infinitesimal light and returned to Jiang Chen's side.
When Long Xiaoxuan killed someone, he simply deployed the True Dragon Domain to seal the area, then devoured his target with a massive bite. There was no scene to clean up afterward.
Elder Chen's Storage Ring naturally ended up in Jiang Chen's hands.
Jiang Chen gave it only a cursory glance—he had no time to examine it closely.
"Brother Long, I need to call upon your divine ability once more—carry me across this lake."
Long Xiaoxuan wasted no words. He immediately transformed into a swirling mass of wind and clouds, enveloped Jiang Chen within it, and soared through the sky. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the island.
Returning to a familiar place, Jiang Chen let his guard down even less than before.
However, since there was no one else around this time, he had far fewer reservations. Whenever he spotted anything suspicious along the way, he stopped to examine it carefully.
The outer perimeter of the island clearly held nothing special. Jiang Chen made his way inward and soon arrived beneath the altar.
He raised his head to gaze at the three-tiered platform. At its summit on the third tier, the sacred altar stood towering, giving off an unfathomable aura.
Jiang Chen ascended the steps and quickly reached the third-tier platform.
Standing below the altar, he studied the ground for a considerable time. Beneath the altar, various strange characters and patterns had been carved into the stone.
As for the altar itself, the faint, almost imperceptible restrictions surrounding it made Jiang Chen reluctant to approach rashly.
The reason Jiang Chen had returned to this island was simply to get to the bottom of things. He had always felt that something on this island had yet to be uncovered.
And whatever that hidden thing was, it should be far more precious than those Heaven Grade spiritual medicines.
Now, with no elder-level powerhouses constraining him, Jiang Chen could examine everything to his heart's content. Yet even so, after studying for nearly half an hour, he still couldn't find any clues.
The nameless sacred blade was already resting in his hand.
Though Jiang Chen could feel the blade's throbbing pulse, the exact connection between it and the altar remained a complete mystery to him so far.
In truth, Jiang Chen found it peculiar. The altar should be a sacred place, not to be profaned. And while the blade was a fine weapon, it was ultimately an instrument of slaughter.
These two things, in principle, should have no connection whatsoever.
Yet Jiang Chen could distinctly sense some profoundly mysterious link between them—a link he could feel but could not successfully bring together.
Just as a hint of disappointment flickered through Jiang Chen's heart—
Suddenly, the trembling of the nameless sacred blade intensified dramatically. Then the blade transformed into a streak of black light and shot forward through the air.
In the next instant, the nameless sacred blade plunged directly into the top of the altar like a key turning in a lock.
Boom!
The blade fit perfectly. In an instant, the pillars surrounding the entire altar began trembling in unison, emitting deep, resonant hums.
The whole platform shook gently beneath his feet.
The next moment, a strange spatial gate materialized before Jiang Chen's eyes.
From the gate erupted a terrifying force that seemed intent on devouring all heaven and earth, pulling Jiang Chen's body straight inside.
Everything went dark before his eyes, and he vanished completely into the void.
...
Outside Illusory Wave Mountain.
As the final day of the harvesting period arrived, the expressions on the faces of the sect leaders and powerhouses present grew visibly heavier.
This was already the last day of the Illusory Wave Mountain harvest. And to this day, not a single person had emerged from inside.
No one in the outside world had any idea what was happening within.
The interior and exterior of Illusory Wave Mountain were completely isolated worlds—there was no way to communicate through spiritual sense, let alone probe the inside with divine consciousness.
Although every person present was a major figure of the Myriad Elephant Region with deep composure and vast experience, as time stretched on, a measure of tension had crept into everyone's hearts.
After all, this Illusory Wave Mountain harvest had been far too bizarre. On the final day, not a single person had come out early—this was completely different from all previous harvests.
In past harvests, people would typically begin emerging three or four days before the deadline.
This time, however, not a single person had come out early. Had something gone wrong inside?
Though no one wanted to think that way, faced with such an abnormal situation, the uneasy thought simply would not go away.
No matter which sect's team this time, they had sent their very best. The elder contingents were the pillar-level figures of their respective sects.
The young geniuses might not have been an absolute concentration of every talent, but they were all outstanding individuals within their sects.
"Sigh, I wonder what exactly happened in there? This is extremely abnormal," said the Heavenly Darkness Sovereign of the Northern Darkness Sect with a heavy sigh.