Chapter 178: Before the Ancient Pyramid

This was a vast source mine; even with thousands of people digging within, it still felt remarkably spacious. Frightened screams erupted, echoing far into the distance.

The miners frantically fled towards the exit. Stone bones were everywhere, piled in layers and as hard as rock. People stumbled frequently, leading to widespread crowding and trampling.

In the deepest part of the mine, a blood-red mist drifted. Anyone who touched it screamed horribly, instantly dissolving into putrid blood and dying a violent death. The cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land immediately took action, either conjuring weapons or deploying secret techniques to block the chilling mist.

However, neither weapons nor secret techniques could block the blood mist. It was highly corrosive, melting over a dozen weapons in moments. "Ghost, help!" "It has three eyes, I saw a devil!" the miners shrieked, fleeing for their lives in extreme terror.

Ye Fan sensed that something terrible was happening, realizing that the premonitions of the elderly miners were likely coming true. Nimble-footed, he ran at the very front, bursting out of the mine shaft in just a few breaths and not stopping until he reached a sufficiently safe distance.

"Bang!" The mine shaft was breached, and the cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land rushed out in disarray. One middle-aged man, almost insane with terror, shrieked, but in a blink of an eye, he dissolved into a pool of putrid blood and fell.

The mine shaft descended into chaos; screams and wails filled the air. Those who escaped were trembling, scrambling and crawling to get away from the area.

It was not until fifteen minutes later that everything quieted down. Nearly a thousand people had gone down to excavate the stone bones, but in the end, only just over three hundred escaped; all the rest perished inside.

The cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land all had grim expressions. They had tried to block the blood mist earlier, but five people had died tragically, including a middle-aged man from the Dao Palace Realm.

After such an incident, they quickly reported it to their superiors. A ghost mine had appeared, which was the sight they least wished to see.

Before long, a Grand Elder from Yaoguang Holy Land and seven or eight esteemed experts quickly arrived, inquiring in detail about the situation underground.

As a result, no one could articulate what happened or describe it in detail, only mentioning seeing something like a ghost, motionless. "Everyone step back," shouted Li Yuan, the Grand Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land. He joined his fingers like a sword and remotely slashed forward. A beam of light shot out, transforming into a massive light sword that cleaved downwards.

A thunderous roar erupted, and dust flew everywhere. The large mine was sliced open, revealing a dark, eerie, and very strange sight.

Grand Elder Li Yuan continued to move his fingers. The light sword, dozens of meters long, continuously descended, splitting the mine shaft open and exposing it completely to the sky.

All the earth and stones were teleported hundreds of meters away. A massive sinkhole appeared there, and many stone bones were drawn out by Li Yuan, landing nearby.

Ye Fan watched from the side, astonished. A large number of bones had all turned into fossils; upon closer inspection, it was clear that none were human bones. Although some were humanoid, they differed from humans. Grand Elder Li Yuan continued his actions, cleaving the source mine with his great sword and extracting all the stone bones with his techniques. Soon, a mountain of stone bones, numbering tens of thousands, appeared on the reddish-brown earth.

Wisps of blood mist rose, and when Li Yuan's light sword touched it, it hissed and began to dissolve. He waved his large sleeve, dispersing the blood mist and sending it towards the sky. It was a long time before the area quieted down. Then, he performed a secret technique, forming a large hand of condensed green light that reached into the depths of the mine shaft.

The earth trembled instantly as the large hand grasped all the earth and stones from beneath the mine shaft and placed them on the ground. "A devil!" "It's that devil!"

It was a stretch of blood-colored earth and stones. Among them were several "sources," each as large as a washbasin. Such a size was extremely rare and precious, qualifying it as a rich ore deposit. What was surprising was that each source contained something inside; it was not pure.

The first two sources sealed contained bright red liquid, clearly blood. It was the rupture of one of these sources, and the outflow of blood, that had just caused the tragedy. "How powerful is this creature, that its blood, turning into mist, can kill cultivators of the Dao Palace Realm..." The esteemed experts of Yaoguang Holy Land were all deeply awed. Grand Elder Li Yuan also frowned.

Inside the third source was a crystalline finger, exquisitely beautiful, as pure white and delicate as a spring onion. Although it was a severed finger, one could feel its extraordinary nature; a vibrant essence was contained within.

The fourth source was the most astonishing, as it sealed half a skull. The skull had fine scales on its face, a vertical eye on its forehead, dense black hair, and had been diagonally split in half. "These must belong to two different creatures; the slender finger and half-skull clearly aren't from the same body," the esteemed experts exclaimed in surprise. "These four sources are too important; I must personally escort them back to the Holy Land," Grand Elder Li Yuan said with a solemn expression.

Although these weren't the legendary peerless divine sources, they sealed living beings within, making their value immeasurable and ensuring they could not be lost. He sealed the four sources, then, with a wave of his sleeve, collected them. Afterward, he carefully examined the earth and stones on the ground.

Along with the four wondrous sources, two fractured stone bones were extracted from the earth and stones. One was slender, the other mighty, representing two different creatures. Although humanoid, they were definitely not human; the slender stone bone had six arms, while the mighty carcass had a pair of bone wings.

Ye Fan saw everything clearly from a distance, secretly marveling. What kind of powerful creatures were these, and why were they nowhere to be seen now? "Rumble!"

Suddenly, the open-pit mine collapsed, startling everyone. The bottom of the mine shaft sank, revealing a pitch-black hole. The mine shaft, suspected to be a burial pit, surprisingly had a bottomless pit beneath it! It was not something dug by the miners, but an ancient deep pit that had just been exposed. A chilling aura shot skyward, causing everyone to shiver. Even Grand Elder Li Yuan of Yaoguang Holy Land could no longer remain calm. He said, "It seems this place is extraordinary."

He ordered everyone to step back. He personally took action, extending his divine sense, and after an observation, he exerted himself to the utmost, activating a supreme secret technique.

"Boom!" The heavens shook and the earth quaked; the reddish-brown ground shattered. He used the Yaoguang Divine Art to make the mine shaft rumble upwards; this was a grand secret technique akin to moving mountains and filling seas.

Earth and stones flew chaotically, and the ground cracked open. The mine shaft continuously rose, and many rocks split open, being thrown into the distance.

The Grand Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land activated a secret technique, causing the earth's crust for several square miles to move violently.

The large hole beneath the burial pit was no longer sunken; it slowly floated upwards. "Heavens... what is that?" The reddish earth shook, and an eerie, oppressive aura grew heavier, as a cold metallic sheen appeared. "A gigantic piece of iron!" As the earth and stones shifted, the large pit was no longer sunken; it became completely visible, level with the ground.

This was quite a substantial structure. The ground was paved with hard stones, very flat, extending for several miles in circumference. At the edges, massive stone pillars soared high into the sky.

And right in the center of the stone ground, stood a metal pyramid. It was over a hundred meters tall, entirely cyan, with a metallic sheen, and not a trace of rust. Ye Fan was startled; what was this thing? It was engraved with suns, moons, and stars, which flickered with light.

This massive pyramid, cast from an unknown metal, was at least an artifact from the Primeval Era, possibly even older, yet the passage of time had not eroded it.

Grand Elder Li Yuan of Yaoguang Holy Land frowned. Then he waved his large sleeve, intending to put away the gigantic pyramid.

However, he was startled; despite exerting himself repeatedly, he found he could not move it. Moreover, a hazy mist surged, preventing him from pulling it into his sleeve. "Something strange is going on!"

Li Yuan walked closer, channeling his divine power and sweeping it towards the pyramid. The suns, moons, and stars on it all lit up, and with a flash of light, he was drawn inside.

Behind him, all the esteemed experts of Yaoguang Holy Land were surprised and showed concern.

"Boom!" The cyan pyramid shook violently, causing a suffocating sensation and making many mortals collapse to the ground on the spot.

Moments later, the suns, moons, and stars on the pyramid glowed with iridescent light. Li Yuan emerged, his face pale, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, stumbling backward. "Step back, everyone step back, don't come near here!" he roared, his body swaying. Ye Fan was astonished, wondering what was so strange about this pyramid that even the Grand Elder of Yaoguang Holy Land had suffered.

"This place is of great importance. Seal off all information about it. I will return to the Holy Land immediately; none of you must approach this area," Li Yuan gravely instructed. He then hastily departed, preparing to cross the void. Mining Area Fifteen became a forbidden zone, with no entry or exit allowed. Ye Fan frowned; this place felt ominous, and he didn't want to stay long, but currently, he couldn't leave.

On the fourth day after Grand Elder Li Yuan departed, the Saintess of Yaoguang arrived, bringing news that the Holy Lord would soon arrive in person.

Ye Fan's mouth twitched, and he inwardly cursed his bad luck. Yao Xi had actually arrived; if she discovered him, she would surely flay him alive.

From afar, he saw Yao Xi, as beautiful as ever, with a celestial grace that could topple nations. She was like a luminous pearl emitting auspicious light, her jade-like body radiating a beautiful glow that was breathtaking. Thousands of mortals who saw her thought an immortal fairy had descended to earth; many lost their composure and then felt ashamed of themselves.

Ye Fan hid among the thousands of mortals, not worrying about being recognized. He secretly curled his lips, thinking that the so-called fairy's bra was still in his possession.

If such a secret were to get out, the major Holy Lands would certainly be shaken. "Not a single piece of information must leak out. District Fifteen is completely sealed; no one is allowed to enter or exit," the Saintess of Yaoguang declared, her voice echoing like a celestial melody.

However, just then, the Saintess of Yaoguang suddenly stopped speaking. Her expression froze, as if greatly surprised.

Ye Fan's heart stirred. Had she discovered him? That seemed unlikely.

Just then, other cultivators from Yaoguang Holy Land also exclaimed in surprise. "You... who are you, and how did you get in here?!"

Hearing this, Ye Fan turned his head to look at the pyramid, where a faint cyan glow emerged. In front of the cyan metal tower, an old woman had appeared at some unknown time. Silently, no one knew how she had arrived; it was as if she had materialized out of thin air. She was observing the pyramid, seemingly muttering something to herself.

One should know that Mining Area Fifteen was a boundless expanse of reddish-brown earth, very open. If an outsider had intruded, they would have been discovered immediately. Yet, no one had detected her presence until now.

Ye Fan was utterly shocked, muttering to himself, "It's actually her!"

He had not expected to see this old woman again in the Northern Region.

Years ago, when he first encountered the Old Madman outside the Ancient Forbidden Land, this old woman had appeared. It was through her muttering that he learned the Old Madman was from six thousand years ago. "Someone from the same era as the Old Madman, she actually appeared here..." Ye Fan couldn't help but be astonished.