After the
Anyone who could remember the ten-character mantra had to be the very successor Great Emperor Kong Ming had been searching for.
Five successors, and in the end only one could prevail.
Nie Li was not yet strong enough. He had no idea what kind of beings the other four successors were.
Whenever he silently recited the ten-character mantra, Nie Li could feel his Soul Power surging rapidly, and within his Soul Sea, some mysterious seedling had begun to sprout.
It was like a seed, slowly growing as his Soul Sea expanded.
Nie Li sensed that this thing had always been hiding in the deepest reaches of his Soul Sea. Only after he had comprehended certain mysteries of the ten-character mantra had this seedling finally begun to grow.
What on earth was this thing?
"Did you find anything on the ancient stele?" Du Ze asked, looking at Nie Li, since he had noticed him standing before the stele for quite some time.
"I found a few things, but the clues haven't come together yet. Let's keep looking for the Stone of Radiance," Nie Li said.
"Oh." Du Ze was somewhat puzzled but didn't press further.
The group continued on toward the distant mountains.
"
"Got it, I understand." Wei Nan nodded and quickly fused with his Demon Spirit. His limbs grew powerfully sturdy, and he dashed off like the wind.
Wei Nan maintained roughly a kilometer's distance from Nie Li and the main group, scouting along the perimeter, but turned up nothing further.
Gradually, they reached the base of the mountain. The faint glimmers of light on the slope were now close at hand.
"I'll go take a look," Nie Li said. He swiftly fused with his Shadow Demon Spirit and flew up toward the slope, his figure vanishing completely into the darkness.
Just as Nie Li had suspected, it was a sprawling village. But unlike villages elsewhere, these dwellings were built atop enormous, towering trees. In certain areas, broad platforms had been constructed, and atop them perched massive Demon Beasts—Thunder Birds—resting quietly.
Atop each Thunder Bird's head sat a crown-like organ that emitted a soft glow in the dark.
Those points of light that had risen into the night sky moments ago were coming from these very Thunder Birds.
Nie Li estimated that this vast village housed at least tens of thousands of residents. And from where he stood, even deeper in the mountains, more scattered lights could be seen. So this was not the only settlement!
Guards wearing gray leather armor stood watch on massive tree branches, gripping sharp spears. Not far away, on the mountainside, a group of people were chipping away at the rock face with pickaxes, as though digging for something.
"Slacking off? You're asking for death!" a guard barked in the language of the Ulan Empire, cracking a whip and lashing it viciously across the backs of the miners.
Some miners, unable to bear the strain, collapsed to the ground. The guards showed no mercy whatsoever, continuing to whip them until one of the miners finally went still. Only then did a guard sneer coldly: "Drag him out and bury him!"
The ore they were mining—could it be? Raw Scarlet Blood Crystals!
The value of Scarlet Blood Crystals was beyond question. Even though it took hundreds of catties of raw ore to refine a single small piece, the material was still enormously valuable. Nie Li hadn't expected there to be a Scarlet Blood Crystal mine here!
Just as Nie Li was about to continue scouting, he suddenly sensed a thread of killing intent. He immediately gripped the Celestial Meteor Thunder Sword, warily turning toward the nearby bushes.
The grass rustled, and a figure slowly emerged.
"Who are you?" An otherworldly girl holding a long sword stepped out from the dense foliage, watching Nie Li warily, her eyes full of hostility.
Nie Li studied her. Her appearance differed from ordinary humans—behind her back grew a pair of silver wings. These wings were not the product of Demon Spirit fusion; they had simply grown from her body. She wore silver armor, and her emerald-green eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.