The group crossed the bridge and walked several hundred meters before the stench of blood began to fade slightly, though it still lingered at the edges of their senses.
"Prepare yourselves. The inner palace grounds lie ahead. What's waiting there is even more ghastly…" Dan Chi's tone was grim as he warned the group.
The so-called inner palace grounds were also nothing but ruins, though among the rubble, remnants of broken walls and crumbled pillars could still be discerned — enough to identify this as the former site of the Myriad Phenomena Empire's imperial palace.
The group picked their way through mounds of debris until a broad elevated platform came into view ahead.
As they drew closer, every person's heart began to pound harder. A violent wave of nausea surged up from the pit of every stomach.
What lay before them could no longer be described by the word "grisly."
It was nothing short of savage — inhumanly cruel.
The vast plaza was covered floor to floor with statues. On the left side, the statues were all of infants and toddlers — the oldest no more than seven or eight years old, the youngest still at the crawling stage.
These children had clearly been living, breathing human beings. They had been drenched in molten metal, cast into sculptures while still alive.
Some had lost their heads. Others were missing all four limbs. Some had been split open from chest to groin. Every imaginable horror was represented.
On the right side stood statues of women, completely nude, similarly cast in molten metal — every one of them a tableau of unimaginable suffering.
Their expressions told the story of the agonies they had endured in their final moments.
"Beasts! Absolute beasts!"
The younger members of the group could not help but curse upon witnessing this nightmarish sight.
Even Jiang Chen, who carried the memories of two lifetimes, felt an impulse to lose control on the spot.
In the martial world, the annihilation of a nation or the slaughter of an entire clan was not unheard of.
But even in the act of killing or seeking revenge, there was no need for such barbaric methods. Bone towers, rivers of blood, and now these fields of sculptures…
This went far beyond anything that could be called "revenge."
Though Jiang Chen had not yet met a single person from the Chiding Central Domain, the ruins of the Myriad Phenomena Empire spoke volumes about what kind of power it truly was.
This was nothing short of an atrocity against all humanity.
Extermination and slaughter were not uncommon in the martial world. But to commit such atrocities and then flaunt the violence with such inhuman pride — that was exceedingly rare.
"Why not destroy them? Let them rest in peace?" Ling Bi'er asked in a low, subdued voice.
"Destroy them?" Elder Liancheng let out a cold snort. "You're far too naive. Every one of these seals bears the unique handiwork of the Chiding Central Domain. The moment anyone tampers with them, the seals will retaliate. And not only that — the people of the Chiding Central Domain will know immediately. They left a warning back then: if any of this is destroyed, they won't hesitate to come and slaughter the Myriad Phenomena Domain once more. And moreover…"
"Moreover what?"
"Moreover, they said that if they come a second time, no cultivator above the Yuan realm will be left alive in the Myriad Phenomena Domain." As Elder Liancheng spoke these words, the muscles on his face twitched slightly — his fear of the Chiding Central Domain was plainly evident.
Palace Master Dan Chi stepped forward and raised his hand. "Enough. Let's not dwell on this for now. The other sects should have some people here ahead of us already. Let's gather at the sacrificial area."
The sacrificial area was located at the Grand Temple of the Myriad Phenomena Empire, still some distance away.
No one in the group wished to linger any longer in this suffocating place, and they followed Dan Chi toward the temple.
The Grand Temple, as the sacred site for honoring the ancestors of the Myriad Phenomena imperial family, was naturally no more intact than the rest — nothing but rubble. But it was here, in the vicinity of the Grand Temple, that the memorial rites of the Myriad Phenomena Grand Ceremony would be held.
When Dan Qian Palace arrived, they found that the Beiming Sect and the Great Sacred Hall had already come.
"Brother Dan Chi, you've arrived?" Supreme Tian Ming spotted Dan Qian Palace's contingent and started slightly — clearly surprised by how few people Dan Qian Palace had brought.
"Brother Tian Ming, you're early," Dan Chi greeted him warmly, stepping forward.
The members of the Great Sacred Hall all wore solemn expressions. They glanced over at Dan Qian Palace, and Xiang Wentian merely offered a distant nod toward Dan Chi.
It was clear that in this sacred precinct, everyone's mood was complicated, and no one had the heart for pleasantries.
"Have the other sects not arrived yet?" Dan Chi looked around.
"The Carefree Sect should be arriving soon. As for the Holy Sword Palace, it's hard to say. Some of the lesser sects probably haven't assembled here yet."
The Myriad Phenomena Grand Ceremony was attended not only by the traditional six major sects but also by various fifth-tier and sixth-tier sects that came to pay their respects.
However, the six major sects had always dominated the ceremony.
Now that the Three Star Sect had been destroyed and its territory carved up, the six major sects had become five.
As they spoke, the Carefree Sect's delegation did indeed arrive. Like the Great Sacred Hall and the Beiming Sect, all three contingents numbered well over a hundred — closer to two hundred.
So upon seeing Dan Qian Palace's meager procession, Wei Wuying, Sect Master of the Carefree Sect, smiled and said, "Brother Dan Chi, Dan Qian Palace is keeping rather a low profile this time around."