CHAPTER 223: THE FOUR-MAN SQUAD HEADS NORTH

At the mention of the Seven Children, Jun Laoye's eyes gleamed with golden light. "The Seven Children... they were cultivators on the verge of reaching the Divine Core Realm."

He urged Lu Chen to tell them everything he knew about their past.

Helpless, Lu Chen summoned Wind Dragon. As they traveled north, he recounted all the information he had.

For over thirty minutes, the four pressed onward. Out of consideration for Nantian Wan'er's weaker constitution, they paused occasionally to rest. Along the way, they searched the ruins for hidden treasures and covered the exposed corpses with dust as a small act of respect for those whose wealth they had taken.

Nantian Yijian and Jun Laoye peppered Wind Dragon with questions about the Seven Children's secrets, eventually learning everything that he was willing to share. Yet even Wind Dragon could only speak of events before the Seven Children were brought into the secret realm. As for tales like "From the Eastern Pole came the Seven Children, striking down demonic spirits and restoring spirit qi," Wind Dragon merely laughed them off to save face.

Their journey continued, interrupted only by short rests.

Four hours later, they had traveled over five thousand li north, arriving at the point where the Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk's reaction was the strongest. Following its guidance, the four crossed plains and gorges. At first, they had still encountered a few groups of cultivators, but eventually, only eerie silence and piles of bones greeted them.

The scenery had transformed. Pale gray gave way to faint green, and now, before Lu Chen, the forest was completely ashen. Stones, plants, and trees alike were dull gray, lifeless, and decayed, as if they had always been that way. The corpses scattered on the ground had long since turned to brittle, dark bones, their tattered robes appearing ancient, unlike anything from the current era.

"Little Lu, this should be a boundary line," Wind Dragon said, circling above Lu Chen. Staring at the nearby remains, he continued, "I have a feeling those cultivators we encountered along the way died within the last ten thousand years. Most of their bodies are still intact. But the bones deeper in the forest... notice how they've completely lost all traces of spiritual essence."

"That's true. So, should we still go in?" Lu Chen frowned at the ashen forest ahead. "There are no signs of other cultivators entering. It's likely very dangerous. But if it's unexplored, there must be great rewards. Risk always comes with gain."

"Let me scout ahead," Wind Dragon said, taking flight. He landed beside a pile of bones, releasing his divine sense to probe the surroundings. "If anything unusual appears, we'll retreat immediately. Protecting your lives is the top priority."

Ten minutes later, Wind Dragon returned, his expression grave. "I extended my divine sense thirty thousand zhang to the north, but I still couldn't detect the boundary. The area gives off a chilling, murderous aura.

"I believe this area was once a battlefield. Otherwise, such a phenomenon wouldn't exist. The further north I sensed, the stronger the aura of death, and the more decayed the cultivators' bones became."

He landed on Lu Chen's head again. "At the farthest point my divine sense reached, even the lightest touch would make the bones crumble to dust."

"Can decay really be that severe?" Lu Chen peered into the vision Wind Dragon had shared. "A cultivator's body is tempered and fortified. Such corrosion shouldn't happen so easily."

"I know what caused it," Jun Laoye said, setting down a token he had been holding. "When I was young, my father told me that once a cultivator loses the support of spirit qi, their flesh decays over time, just like an ordinary person's."

"You're talking about flesh, not bones," Lu Chen replied.

Jun Laoye turned toward him. "My father also said that a high-level cultivator's bones are the hardest part to refine. Once tempered, they become the most resilient part of the body. Even without spirit qi, such bones wouldn't decay for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years."

He pressed his hand against a nearby pile of bones, applying a bit of force. The bones snapped instantly. "For the remains to deteriorate this badly, these cultivators must have died hundreds of thousands of years ago."

"Lord Wind Dragon..." Nantian Yijian looked at him and asked softly, "Didn't you cross the continent three hundred thousand years ago? Haven't you heard of this secret realm? With so many corpses and bones piled up like mountains, it must have been famous back then."

"Three hundred thousand years ago?" Wind Dragon glanced at him awkwardly. "The cultivation world was at its peak back then. There were easily hundreds of thousands of battlefields of this scale. My cultivation wasn't high at the time, and many secret realms were beyond my reach. But judging from the robes left behind, their style resembles something we once saw in a secret realm of the Primordial Era."

"Robes from the Primordial Era?" Nantian Wan'er chimed in softly. "I remember you mentioning that before the Primordial Era, there was a time when giants ruled the continent. Since there's a giant beneath the Heavenly Mandate Hall, could this secret realm be—"

Before she could continue, Jun Laoye interrupted her. "A secret realm since the Primordial Era? That doesn't seem right. If it really dates back to the Primordial Era, these corpses shouldn't even be here after so long."

"Little Jun makes a good point," Lu Chen said, frowning and rubbing his chin. "Even if the cultivators from the Primordial Era had ways to preserve their bones, it's impossible for all of them to possess such techniques. And if they did, why wasn't that art ever passed down? There's not a single record or rumor of it."

He walked to a skeleton and pressed lightly on its ribs. "There's another thing you might have overlooked. The rate of decay isn't uniform."

"The closer the remains are to the central pit, the less weathered they are. The farther away, the more severely eroded," Lu Chen explained, looking around. "Think back to what we've seen along the way. Both the bones that had originally been here and the cultivators who died while exploring had perished in the same postures."

Hearing this, Nantian Wan'er immediately recalled Wind Dragon's earlier words. "Right... Lord Wind Dragon did say that the farther north we went, the more decayed the bones became."

"Wait, if that's true..." Jun Laoye interrupted suddenly, unease crossing his face. "When we landed, we were at the eastern edge of the area. I don't remember seeing any skeletons wearing these robes."

He picked up a tattered piece of a robe and handed it to Lu Chen. "The first fragments like this only appeared here. And this is the only area no other cultivators seem to have entered."

"What are you all talking about? I'm getting more confused," Nantian Yijian muttered, scratching his head and pacing. "Why do the bones decay at different rates? And why say there are no skeletons in the east when clearly there are?"

Lu Chen, Nantian Wan'er, and Jun Laoye exchanged glances but remained silent.

Among the four, the others either had powerful backing or hailed from long-established sects. Nantian Yijian, on the other hand, was an ordinary cultivator with no background. He was completely oblivious to the hidden secrets of the cultivation world.

"Come on, tell me what's going on. I'm smart enough! I might even figure it out!" he urged.

Seeing no response, he turned to Wind Dragon for help. Wind Dragon merely gestured for silence, signaling him to wait and that he would explain later.

Frustrated, Nantian Yijian stood quietly beside Lu Chen, his tightly clenched fists betraying his impatience.

The commotion finally roused Red Fox. She yawned and said impatiently, "Stop guessing. This is indeed a secret realm that has existed since the Primordial Era. These corpses remain intact because of the terrain itself."

She continued, "I already checked from the cliff earlier. Too many cultivators died here, and the land has naturally become ideal for preserving corpses."

"Regardless of whether the battlefield or the secret realm existed first, that giant likely chose to bury itself here for the same reason. With so much corpse qi saturating the ground and the place sealed for ages, it's no wonder the bodies remained preserved."

A faint glow flickered between her brows as she studied the bones. "As for the varying degrees of decay, that's because the giant's corpse qi reshaped the terrain. Giants were the most powerful race of their time. Even after death, their aura lingered for ages. If one was buried in a place like this, the surrounding environment would naturally mutate."

When Red Fox finished, she shot Wind Dragon a fierce glare. "Wind Dragon, your cultivation may have declined, but your knowledge and memory haven't. Why didn't you just explain this to them?"