Chapter 277 Warnings on the Murals of the Ruins
In the photo taken at Nantianmen, the giant hand emerging from the depths of the crack startled everyone awake.
It didn't actually fall.
But it is precisely because it has not truly fallen that it makes people feel even colder.
No matter how ferocious the void creatures ahead were, that generation had ultimately held them off and fought their way back. What was truly worrying was not the monsters that pounced down, but the hand that appeared.
While the situation on Mount Tai remains deadlocked, the various factions have been frantically venturing deeper into the other ruins.
What they want to know now is no longer where there is more treasure.
But what does that hand really mean?
The first to respond was Emei.
Shushan Sword Tomb, Central Plaza.
The high-precision scanner, which was sent beneath the Black Stone Sword Monument by the third exploration team of the Kyoto Alliance at the cost of human lives, finally tore a hole in the surface layer of sword intent after several rounds of overload.
In the central intelligence room beneath Kyoto, dozens of eyes were simultaneously fixed on the screen.
What everyone had seen before was only the surface mural on the back of the sword monument—a sword cultivator soaring into the sky, battling a dark shadow beyond the rift in the heavens.
This time, however, after the multiple spectra and divine sense calibration were superimposed simultaneously, a layer of extremely fine and chaotic background inscriptions slowly emerged inside the Black Stone Sword Stele.
That doesn't look like a proper stone inscription.
It's more like a battlefield record that someone forcibly etched in at the last moment with their remaining sword intent.
The paleographer in charge of deciphering the script stared at the few lines of blurry ancient seal script, and soon sweat beaded on his forehead.
"They're out."
"This is the day's log."
The first passage of classical Chinese was gradually translated into modern Chinese.
[After countless years, the Abyss first appeared. Within the rifts of the starry sky, countless wandering spirits ceaselessly feed on the spiritual energy of all things.]
Wang Mingyuan's eyes twitched violently.
The second paragraph then appears.
[In the year *** of the Liyuan Era, the Great Tide was approaching. The Heavenly Court's defenses crumbled, and the dragons of the four seas tried to fill the sea's eye with their own bodies to sever the coordinates of its descent, but ultimately failed.]
The third paragraph is even more so than the first two.
The Abyss Demon cannot be defeated in a single battle; it is an endless pursuit. Today, we sever the earth's veins, abandon the spiritual energy of this realm, and forcibly close the dimensional barrier with the blood and souls of the cultivators of this realm. If the spiritual energy of future generations rises again, remember to first secure this realm and be cautious in opening any gates.
Wang Mingyuan sat there, motionless for a long time.
The reason why the Shu Mountain severed its earth veins was not simply because it couldn't defeat them.
It's because they realized long ago that this thing couldn't be stopped after just one wave.
"Not enough."
Wang Mingyuan suddenly looked up, his voice hoarse.
"Retrieve all the deep images of the Temple of War and the East China Sea."
Soon, the two new images were projected side by side into the air.
On the left is a relief carving on a corner of the underground palace of the Taklamakan War God Temple.
The relief was badly damaged, but the core content was still clear. In the scene, those tall, muscular cultivators did not die in a single battle, but were worn down layer by layer in a long and arduous struggle. From the cracks in the sky, tiny black shadows and thin streams of black liquid seeped down, like rain or insects, sticking to the entire battlefield and impossible to shake off.
Along the edge of the relief, two lines of extremely thick ancient characters are also engraved:
[The wandering spirits persist, but the calamity has not yet arrived.]
[Though flesh and blood are exhausted, the demons of the abyss remain undefeated.]
To the right is the secret scroll with dragon patterns deep within the main hall of the East Sea Dragon Palace, beneath the base of the Sea-Stabilizing Iron God.
The secret document is severely damaged, but some of the most crucial sentences have been completely transcribed.
[The sea eye is about to be sealed, but the old enemy continues its relentless pursuit.]
The tides of history have a vanguard and a main current.
If the spiritual tide rises again in future generations, the vanguard will surely return, leading the main tide to follow its path.
The only sound in the entire intelligence room was the low hum of the equipment.
Emei says that the wandering souls are never truly gone.
The Temple of War says that the wandering souls continue, but the calamity has not yet arrived.
The Dragon Palace is even more direct—the Abyss Tide has a vanguard and a main tide.
Three sites, three different systems, but in the end, they all reveal the same thing.
The ancient generation did not face a catastrophe that ended after a battle.
It is a hunt that will involve repeated probing and relentless pressure.
"so……"
A strategist from a powerful family slowly sat back in his chair, his face gradually turning pale.
"Those void creatures in the first half of the photo taken at Nantianmen were just the vanguard."
"That last hand is the layer behind it. Perhaps... there's an even deeper layer?"
No one objected.
Because this is no longer something that can be guessed off the top of one's head.
These are three top-tier historical sites, each leaving behind the same warning in its own unique way.
A military commander spoke slowly, his voice low and menacing.
"The Dao Lord once said that an even greater calamity would occur ten years later."
"The whole world knows about this."
"I only knew this day would come before."
"Now, I finally know why that day came."
Humans and demons have been fighting, robbing, and digging for each other for years.
Looking back now, many things seem to be actively sending out signals.
The question is no longer "Will there be a next time?"
It was an even stronger wave that was still to come.
Yellow District, Bloodstone Town Black Market.
The deciphered documents were quickly discarded.
The previously deafening hawking in the black market hall quickly subsided.
"If the spiritual tide rises again in future generations, the vanguard will surely return, leading the main tide to follow its trail..."
An old hunter twitched his face as he finished reading the sentence.
The group of people next to them, who were still arguing about who should go to Mount Tai, who should go to the East China Sea, and who should go to the desert, also fell silent.
Because this statement has already been made very clear.
These signs of emptiness on Earth now are not a preview of the future.
They are the vanguard that is currently unfolding.
Previously, it was just weak.
It used to be just scattered.
But once the spiritual tide continues to rise and the relics continue to be uncovered, the things behind will find their way back along these relit old paths.
......
Ten Thousand Mountains, Valley of Ten Thousand Demons.
Several powerful demons surrounded a broken stone slab that had just been dragged out of the demon cave, their faces growing increasingly grim.
On the stone slab, there were only two short lines of ancient demonic patterns:
Heaven and earth are the hunting grounds, and all living beings are their prey.
Forwards are like flies, the home run is like an abyss.
After the nine-headed lion finished looking around, it remained motionless for a long time.
Only at the very end did it slowly raise its head, look up at the sky, and let out a deep, rumbling sound like thunder.
"So it turns out that back then, it wasn't just humans who were being chased and eaten."
"We demons are the same."
The secret scrolls from the Dragon Palace, the broken stele in the Demon Cave, and the hand at the South Heavenly Gate were enough for these great demons to understand many things.
This is not a problem unique to humans.
When the main tide truly comes down, no one can escape it.
The previous global craze for heritage sites was, at its core, driven by greed.
They are seizing opportunities, turning their lives around, and achieving instant success.
But now, a cold shell has formed over that fervor.
People are still scrambling to buy it.
But what they're fighting for is no longer just opportunity.
Rather, it's the path that allows oneself and one's community to live a few more years before the stronger mainstream truly comes down.
Above the nine heavens, the Heavenly Palace atop the clouds.
Gu Qing stood before the white jade railing, quietly gazing at the planet below that had begun to feel a chill.
The power of faith within my consciousness is still pulsating.
This round was heavier than the previous ones.
Gu Qing looked at it for a moment, her expression calm.
"That's right."
His gaze swept across the sea of clouds, landing on the human world that was beginning to stir with restlessness, his voice as soft as the wind.
"Next, it's their turn to fan the flames."