The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

It seems that the resting place of the Chu family ancestor is not a tomb that belongs solely to him.

Or perhaps, the ancestors of the Chu family chose to die inside the ancient tomb where the array's core was located in order to maintain this demon-locking array.

After Chu Xiu and Chi Xiao entered this ancient tomb, they did not trigger any mechanisms or formations. Instead, as they went deeper into the tomb, they discovered many mist ghosts trapped by mechanisms and formations.

It was as if the array and mechanisms within the tomb were designed solely to target these ghosts from beginning to end.

"What exactly are these strange things?"

Chu Xiu followed closely behind Chi Xiao. After she casually killed the True Transcending Realm ghosts she encountered along the way, she used her imperial aura to refine the ghost energy that maintained the ghosts' physical bodies one by one, and her cultivation steadily improved.

Chi Xiao shook his head.

Even though she had lived in ancient times for a period of time, she did not know the origins of these ghosts from the Sea of ​​Mist.

All that is known is that as long as the mist shrouding the endless sea remains, these ghosts will never be completely eradicated.

For countless years, the powerful figures of all races on the Heavenly Continent have been helpless in the face of this.

They had no choice but to settle for second best, seeking only isolation rather than eradication.

After Chi Xiao killed the last Transcendent Realm ghost in sight, what came into view for the two of them was an ancient, broken altar.

Using the light reflected from the dazzling night crystal above the altar, Chu Xiu could clearly see that in the very center of the altar was a lake that looked like stagnant water.

The lakeside is surrounded by four equally broken totem stone pillars.

The stone pillars are engraved and coiled with the four sacred spirits representing the four continents of heaven: the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise.

"Legend has it that the four continents of the east, west, south, and north were transformed from the bodies of the four great holy spirits."

Chi Xiao looked up at the Vermilion Bird totem so close to him, his eyes filled with longing.

"The Four Continents of Heaven?" Chu Xiu asked doubtfully. "But aren't there five major continents in total?"

Upon hearing this, Chi Xiao looked at the stagnant pool of water in the very center of the altar.

The location of the stagnant water reflects the location of the Central Continent of the Heavenly Land today.

"The so-called Central Continent is actually a giant floating island that fell from the heavens."

"This floating giant island was the heart's desire of all the races of the Sky Continent in the ancient times."

"Once upon a time, the power that dominated this island was now regarded as a model by the Demon Realm of the Eastern Continent, the Monster Realm of the Western Continent, and the Hundred Families of the Human Race of the Northern Continent, and they were willing to be under its command."

"That power is called—the Heavenly Court!"

Heaven!

Chu Xiu's eyes sharpened, his pupils dilating.

Chi Xiao sighed, "Now it shall be called the Ancient Heavenly Court."

"In the era when I was born, the Heavenly Court had already fallen for ten thousand years. Its glorious history was nothing more than a legend told by those old monsters who had lived for countless years."

"By now, most of those old monsters are probably dead."

Chi Xiao walked to the edge of the stagnant pool, bent down and reached out to touch the water. She saw wisps of cold air emerge from the stagnant water, wrapping around her slender fingers and freezing into ice.

Chi Xiao raised an eyebrow: "Beneath the lake, there is another cave, but the lake water is actually of the extreme Yin nature."

"With my extreme Yang power, I will protect my lord as he enters the water; there should be no problem."

Chu Xiu stepped forward, and even when he was only five steps away from the Dead Water, he could feel a bone-chilling cold.

Shouldn't a lake with such icy cold water be frozen solid...?

Even if the lake is unique in that it doesn't freeze, the lakeside shouldn't be so normal and unremarkable.

Chi Xiao nodded and said, "This altar seems to still be functioning."

"I can sense an extremely yang energy that is almost identical to the energy within my body, which is imprisoned at the bottom of the lake by this altar."

How can extreme yin imprison the power of extreme yang?

Even Chixiao had never heard of such a reversible method of confinement.

"What happened here doesn't seem to be as simple as I thought..."

Chu Xiu hesitated for a moment, then decided to delve deeper.

Since the imperial aura within him has a restraining effect on ghosts, he should not need to worry about his own safety.

As for Chi Xiao, this powerful figure is not someone a junior like him in the Shattered Void Realm needs to worry about.

Chi Xiao reached out and slowly took Chu Xiu's hand, channeling warm energy into Chu Xiu's body, filling his entire body and eventually forming a yang energy barrier on his skin, enough to keep out the yin energy of the lake.

After completing the protection for Chu Xiu, Chi Xiao transformed into a red light and returned to the sword.

Chu Xiu gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, letting the Crimson Sky Sword guide him as he plunged into the lake, rapidly descending.

As expected, the icy lake water was completely blocked from his body by Chixiao's yang energy barrier, and could not harm him in the slightest.

Chu Xiu looked around and saw that everywhere he looked, there were corpses frozen into ice.

These remains include not only the ghosts that invaded the tomb, but also some demons that revealed their true forms, and lifelike human remains.

Without exception, the faces of these remains were contorted with terror.

"This is……"

Chu Xiu frowned and asked.

"Living sacrifice."

Chi Xiao's voice came from within the sword, and those two short words were enough to ignite Chu Xiu's anger.

"What do the people who created all this value life to?!"

Chi Xiao did not answer, but he was equally displeased.

As a sword spirit under the command of Yao Zhong, the human emperor, she naturally made the majority of her acquaintances throughout her life from the human race.

Even though he was a spirit of an object, under the influence of Emperor Yao, he developed a fondness for the human race.

Seeing this scene of human sacrifice, she, like Chu Xiu, could not remain indifferent.

The two of them had an extremely negative impression of the person who built the altar.

Having ventured deep into the stagnant waters for a full half hour, Chu Xiu had witnessed no fewer than tens of thousands of living beings frozen solid.

Even after reaching the bottom of the lake, Chu Xiu's heart remained restless.

He looked around and saw hundreds of icebergs that had sunk to the bottom in the thick mud and sand. Most of them were large demons, but no human remains were found.

Chi Xiao transformed into human form and sensed the faint yang energy emanating from the remains of these demons:

"Most of these monster remains are offshoots or variants of yang-attribute divine beasts, and should be the main offerings of the altar. Those floating in the lake should only be secondary offerings."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu's doubts deepened.

What was the purpose of building this altar and this tomb?

Why would the ancestor of the Chu family, a man of great love, choose this place as his final resting place?

Why are the ghosts from the Misty Sea here? Why is the Demon-Locking Array ineffective against them?

A barrage of questions bombarded Chu Xiu's mind, making him extremely irritable.

He desperately wanted to know the truth about it all.

Chi Xiao sighed and pointed to a huge stone coffin that was buried in mud and sand a hundred meters away.

"My lord, perhaps the owner of that stone coffin will give you the answer you seek."