You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

As Chen Yang spoke, he took the lead and walked towards the passage ahead.

This passage is narrower than the stone steps leading down, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

The two walked one after the other for about several dozen steps, when a seemingly ordinary stone wall appeared in front of them, blocking their way.

"Master, there's something wrong with this stone wall."

Li Rou suddenly reminded her.

"The area behind it is empty, with faint fluctuations of an array. It's very well hidden, like a secret door. The mechanism... might be on the third stone brick on the left. Try pressing it gently."

As instructed, Chen Yang groped his way to the left wall in the darkness, found the third slightly protruding stone brick, and gently pressed it inward with a wisp of soft energy.

"Click".

A soft click of a mechanism. The seemingly solid stone wall in front of them silently cracked open, then slowly slid to one side, revealing a small, even more secluded chamber, only about ten feet square!

In the center of the secret chamber, there was a stone platform, and on the platform, there was a crystal ball the size of a fist, crystal clear, with what appeared to be flowing light inside!

"There really is a secret room here!"

Liu Piaopiao gasped in surprise, her gaze immediately drawn to the crystal ball.

"This...this seems to be a kind of 'detection spirit stone'! It's usually used to monitor the situation in a specific area!"

"Brother Chen, try channeling your magic power into it; maybe you can see what's happening outside!"

Chen Yang's heart stirred, and he stepped forward, gently placing his palm on the crystal ball, slowly injecting the pure mana of the Qingwei Yuanjiang Great Technique into it.

"Om..."

The crystal ball trembled slightly, and the light flowing inside suddenly accelerated. Then, a soft light screen was projected from the sphere, forming a clear three-dimensional image in the air above the secret chamber! The image showed a panoramic view of the ruins of the city they had just left!

It can even zoom in and out, switching between different areas of detail!
"This...this is something like the 'Sky-Gazing Mirror' from the City Lord's Mansion!"

Liu Piaopiao carefully examined the architectural layout in the image and suddenly realized what was going on.

"The place we've come to is very likely the former city lord's mansion or core command post of this ancient city!"

This secret room is where the entire city's activities are monitored!

Chen Yang had no time to reflect on his feelings. He immediately manipulated the camera, first focusing the view on the area where they had been and the entrance to the city.

The image was so clear it was breathtaking.

The once orderly ruined streets were now a scene of carnage! Limbs and severed bodies were scattered everywhere, and blood stained the ground dark red.

Dozens or even hundreds of "evil spirits" roamed wildly through the streets and ruins, attacking and killing.

Meanwhile, many more cultivators lay on the ground in various miserable poses. Some were torn into pieces, some were dried up, and others seemed to have been scared to death. Of the hundreds of cultivators who were still alive, very few were still able to move in the footage; most had become cold corpses on the ground.

However, Chen Yang also noticed that in several relatively hidden corners, such as the gaps between collapsed houses and near underground drainage outlets, there seemed to be faint array lights or magical artifact lights flashing by. Obviously, like them, a very small number of people who reacted quickly or had special life-saving methods hid in time.

One of the spiritual light fluctuations faintly carried the aura of water and blood, much like the aura of Xue Kainan and Liu Cheng. It seems that although these two guys are arrogant, they are not lacking in things to protect themselves.

Chen Yang's attention was finally locked on the most striking presence in the image—the pale, mutated monster.

At this moment, it is standing in the center of a square.

In one of its pale misty hands, it held a cultivator who was still struggling weakly. The cultivator's face was full of fear, and he futilely released weak protective spiritual light and attack spells, which were like mud sinking into the sea when they hit the white demon.

Then, under the horrified gazes of Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao, the white demonic creature... lowered its head, opened its blurry "mouth," and viciously "gnawed" at the cultivator's neck!

There was no blood splattering, but the cultivator's body visibly withered and shriveled, eventually turning into a skin-and-bones mummy that was carelessly discarded.

The pale mist on the white monster's body seemed to have solidified and thickened slightly.

"Too...too cruel!"

Liu Piaopiao's face turned pale, and she turned her head away, unable to bear to look any longer.

"This...this is simply demonic!"

Chen Yang frowned, turned off the uncomfortable close-up, zoomed out, and said in a deep voice.

"Cruelty is secondary."

The key question is, how many of these mutated monsters are there? If there are many, it would be a catastrophic disaster for all of us trial participants. We were lucky to find this hiding place today, but what about tomorrow night? Will we be so lucky?

Upon hearing this, Liu Piaopiao realized the seriousness of the problem and said with great concern.

"This white monster... I've never heard of it before, nor have my elders mentioned that there's anything like it in the Trial Grounds!"

Logically speaking, although the Trial Grounds are dangerous, the controllers of the blessed lands will clean them up regularly to maintain them within a 'controllable' range of difficulty.

If such a mutated monster, clearly exceeding the norm and capable of threatening the lives of the vast majority of trial participants, had appeared, it should have been eliminated long ago!

Chen Yang looked at her.

"You mean, this white monster shouldn't exist in the first place? Or that if it does appear, it will be eliminated immediately?"

"Yes!"

Liu Piaopiao nodded affirmatively.

"Trials are for selection and tempering, not for slaughter. The appearance of such an uncontrollable and powerful monster is itself a sign of mismanagement, or... some kind of accident they don't know about? But... this one in front of us is clearly alive and kicking..."

Chen Yang seemed to be deep in thought.

"An accident...maybe."

But there's no point in worrying about this now.

At least for now, we are safe.

That's enough.

He stopped channeling magic into the crystal ball, and the image in the air quickly dimmed and dissipated, plunging the secret chamber back into darkness, with only the crystal ball itself emitting a faint glow.

"Let's rest here for the night and wait until the monsters retreat at dawn."

Chen Yang said to Liu Piaopiao.

"Ah."

Liu Piaopiao nodded, found a relatively clean corner, sat down against the cold stone wall, and began to regulate her breathing, but her brows still carried an unyielding worry.

Chen Yang also sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes to rest, but kept his consciousness slightly extended, alert to any subtle movements around him.

The long night passed slowly in this silent yet safe underground chamber.

When Chen Yang "felt" that a new day had arrived, he and Liu Piaopiao opened their eyes almost simultaneously.

Without saying much, the two stood up in unison.

Chen Yang opened the hidden door again, and the two carefully returned along the passage they had come from. When they arrived at the original open underground space, Chen Yang cast a spell again, moving the rubble blocking the entrance to create a gap. After carefully sensing for a moment and confirming that there was no aura or movement of demons outside, he finally pushed open the stone slab completely and crawled out first.

Back on the ground, a strong, nauseating stench of blood and a faint smell of burning filled the air. In the morning light, the horrific scene of last night's battle was laid bare.

Black and red bloodstains were splattered on the broken walls and ruins, and fragments of broken magical artifacts and clothing were scattered everywhere. There were also many corpses with twisted postures and tragic deaths.

The entire ruined city was as silent as a real tomb.

Looking at the human tragedy before her, Liu Piaopiao's eyes flashed with a hint of pity and sorrow, and she whispered.

"Life is unpredictable... People who were alive and well yesterday..."

Chen Yang silently surveyed the tragic scene and said in a deep voice.

"The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, is a fundamental principle of nature."

This is especially true in this trial ground. Let's go; we shouldn't linger here. The smell of blood might attract other dangerous things.

The two concealed their presence and quickly traversed this death zone, leaving behind the ruins of the ancient city that had become a ghost town.

The two became even more cautious on the rest of their journey.

Following the guidance of Liu Piaopiao's compass, they headed in the direction where "celestial traces" and gatherings of people might be found. Along the way, they indeed began to see the figures of some cultivators, some alone, some in small groups, most of them in a hurry, their faces showing vigilance and fatigue, but all seemingly heading in the same direction as them.

Chen Yang approached a seemingly kind-looking, lone cultivator and struck up a conversation to inquire about his whereabouts.

The rogue cultivator was quite straightforward. Seeing that Chen Yang's aura was deep and that Liu Piaopiao was dressed as a disciple of a blessed land, he told the truth.

"Fellow Daoist, are you also going to 'Luoxia Mountain'? I heard that someone discovered the ruins of an ancient immortal sect there! It's quite large, and although it's dilapidated, there should still be some good things left behind! Now that the news has spread, many people are rushing there! If you go too late, you won't even get a sip of soup!"

Sunset Mountain? Remnants of a celestial sect?

Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao exchanged a glance, both seeing the interest in each other's eyes.

"Brother Chen, shall we go take a look?"

Liu Piaopiao made the suggestion.

"There are many people there; you might be able to find out news about your friend."

Moreover, since it's a relic of a celestial sect, perhaps there really are some fortuitous encounters."

Chen Yang nodded.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. With so many people around, we should proceed with caution."

Without further delay, the two quickened their pace, merging into the faintly forming crowd, and headed towards the so-called "Luoxia Mountain".

About an hour later, a majestic yet desolate mountain, as if eroded by time and war for millions of years, came into their view.

The mountains are steep and the peaks rise abruptly. In many places, the outlines of ruined palaces and pavilions can still be seen, embedded in the cliffs, telling the story of past glory.

At the foot of the mountain, no fewer than a hundred people had gathered, in small groups, pointing and gesturing towards the mountain. Many had already begun climbing up the mountain along the faintly discernible ancient path.

The air was filled with a faint, complex scent, a mixture of dust, ancient spiritual energy, and a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood.

"Looks like this is the place."

Chen Yang looked up at this once magnificent, now dilapidated, sacred mountain.

The two followed the crowd up the mountain. What they saw along the way was horrifying. The collapsed stone pillars of the mountain gate were covered with marks from sword cuts and magical attacks.

Along the stone steps, one can see skeletons that have long been weathered but still maintain a struggling or fighting posture.

Before some dilapidated cave dwellings lay broken magical artifacts and decaying jade slips. Clearly, this immortal sect had experienced an exceptionally brutal war of annihilation in the distant past.

"Who, or what force, could be so powerful as to slaughter such a powerful sect?"

Looking at the devastation along the way, Liu Piaopiao muttered to herself.

"Life is unpredictable; there is always someone better."

Chen Yang repeated what he had said before, his tone calm.

"Even the most powerful sect cannot withstand the passage of time and the emergence of even greater forces. Let's hurry and head straight for the core area."

He noticed that most of the cultivators were carefully searching the ruins of caves and palaces at the foot and halfway up the mountain, trying to find any overlooked treasures or inheritances. Small-scale conflicts occasionally broke out over a particular item that seemed to possess some spiritual value.

"Brother Chen, shall we also go and take a look at those caves?"

Liu Piaopiao felt a little envious.

"No need."

Chen Yang shook his head.

"With too many people, the chances of finding something good are slim, and it's easy to get caught up in unnecessary trouble. Let's go directly to the mountaintop or the core hall area."

If there's anything truly good, it's most likely to be there.

Moreover, there are fewer people there, making it easier for us to observe and find people.

Liu Piaopiao thought it made sense, so she suppressed her curiosity and followed Chen Yang, avoiding the crowds scrambling for the food, and quickly climbed up the mountain along the main path.

The higher you go, the more treacherous the road becomes, and the more magnificent the architectural ruins become, but the more severely they are damaged.

Meanwhile, the population was becoming increasingly sparse. Those who could climb up here so quickly were either highly capable and full of confidence, or like Chen Yang and his group, had a clear goal and did not want to waste time down below.

Finally, they arrived at a huge platform near the top of the mountain.

The platform is paved with a single piece of white jade-like boulder. Although it is covered with cracks, you can still feel its grandeur from back then.

At the end of the platform are three magnificent halls arranged in a "品" shape. Although they are also dilapidated, with peeling red paint and broken glazed tiles, their majestic and solemn aura still inspires awe.

At this moment, there were only twenty or thirty people on the platform, scattered in front of the three main halls, some observing intently, some trying to enter, and some seemingly having gained nothing, sitting on the broken steps to rest.

Some people even sat casually on the only remaining, dusty dragon throne in the central hall, looking down on the world with an air of superiority, attracting the attention of others.

Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao did not linger and went straight into the first hall on the left. The hall was spacious, and traces of carved beams and painted rafters were still visible, but most of them were dilapidated.

Several enormous golden pillars with coiled dragons supported the dome, and the ground was paved with jade that had long lost its luster.

Some of the early arrivals were knocking on the walls and floor inside the hall, or studying the remaining murals and sculptures, hoping to find hidden mechanisms or treasures.

Chen Yang's gaze swept across the hall. Although it appeared to be a magnificent and splendid ruin, the spiritual energy was thin, and the valuable items had probably been lost over the long years and countless looting.

He whispered to Liu Piaopiao.

"There's nothing to be found here. Let's go and check the back."

The two left the main hall, went around the platform, and walked towards the back of the three main halls.

Behind the platform lay an even more desolate mountain area, with jagged rocks, ancient trees, and withered vines. (End of Chapter)