Chapter 597: The Source of the Mutation

This place was utterly bizarre. A gigantic millstone slowly turned, easily grinding even the bodies of saints, reputed to be immortal and indestructible even by planetary collisions, into bloody paste, which eventually decomposed into energy.

What was the origin of this rough stone millstone? It was unimaginable!

Of course, Chu Feng had no time to think about such things. He was currently being pulled, about to be thrown onto the millstone. He felt he had truly acted rashly.

Earlier, protected by the stone box, he had not been annihilated by the murderous aura and saintly blood energy outside the city. But here, it was different; he was no longer in control and found himself suspended in the air.

A force was moving the dead bodies within the city. He, too, was lifted into the air along with them, and then all were flown towards the millstone.

"No!" Chu Feng shrieked. At this critical moment, he resisted with all his might, but to no avail.

He had believed that with the stone box, he could safely enter and exit this deadly abyss. However, reality taught him that excessive curiosity could be fatal, and there was no going back.

In mid-air, vast numbers of corpses were transported above the millstone. There were tens of millions of them, densely packed, ranging from ant-sized creatures to giant golden Rocs, encompassing countless races. They fell like dumplings into a pot, plummeting downwards with a constant pattering sound.

That many fell at once, followed by another batch, all crashing onto the millstone.

There was an opening on top of the millstone. Normally, ordinary millstones would have grains or seeds fed through this opening to be ground into pulp or fine powder by the two stones.

Now, it was bodies being crushed, a terrifying sight. Chu Feng was experiencing this firsthand, and it sent shivers down his spine, like an electric current running from head to toe, exuding a chilling aura.

Millions of corpses lay on the gigantic millstone, along with some plants. Now, they were all being drawn by a strange energy towards the opening.

As Chu Feng was experiencing it himself, his feelings were naturally profound.

A mysterious vortex appeared at the millstone's opening. It sucked him and the densely packed corpses downwards. He watched with wide eyes as the bodies that had fallen in earlier were crushed into pulp, blood splashing everywhere. The feeling was truly inexpressible; "horrifying" didn't even begin to cover it.

When it was his turn to fall, he saw a golden-bodied Bodhisattva among a pile of corpses. Before its death, it had maintained a solemn and dignified appearance, still emitting a powerful life force. But once it fell in, it was no different from the other bodies. With a *plop*, a golden spray of blood shot up high, nearly splattering onto Chu Feng. This made his scalp tingle, and a chilling sensation filled his head.

"Damn it!" Chu Feng was truly terrified. He felt the immense terror of impending death. He was going to die, a horrific death, soon to be dismembered. His heart turned cold.

Rather than suffer this, he thought, he might as well slit his own throat to avoid the torment.

However, as soon as the thought emerged, he dismissed it. Choosing death was too unchallenging, as he was clearly doomed no matter what. But choosing life, that would be incredibly difficult.

For this reason, he chose the difficult latter option.

"I have to live!" Chu Feng shrieked. Then, he watched with wide eyes as half a corpse, suspected to be a true phoenix, glittered all over. It was brilliant, exuding a rich aura, terrifying beyond measure, with wisps of immortal mist and divine radiance naturally escaping. Even with the stone box protecting him, at such close proximity, he still felt his body ache and threaten to burst apart.

He was certain that without the stone box, approaching that half-corpse, suspected to be an immortal bird, would have caused him to instantly explode into a cloud of blood mist. The energy contained within that corpse was simply too terrifying.

Even so, this magnificent divine bird, with its vibrant wings, swirling white mist, and radiant immortal light, was still crushed into bloody paste by the stone millstone with a *plop*.

Chu Feng shivered violently. His soul was aghast, his mind in shock. It was hard to guess the realm of that divine bird, or how powerful it had been.

"Are you trying to scare me? Here I come! I'll take a trip down the path of reincarnation. Eighteen years is too long; I'll be a man again at fourteen, and still a true hero! I swear, in my next life, after I capture all those saintesses, I'll first go... Oh, damn it, let me finish! Dammit... Ah!"

Chu Feng was tossed around like a gourd. He fell into the opening of the millstone, plummeting into the vortex. He saw many bone fragments, some golden, some fiery red, imbued with immortal energy, which had not yet completely vanished.

Of course, there were also many beings at the level of Golden-Bodied Arhats around. They were decisively crushed the moment they fell in, blood blooming in colorful splashes, so dazzling that it revealed the terrifying extremity of the world. Chu Feng's hair stood on end from being drenched in that blood.

Experiencing such brutality up close, Chu Feng's psychological trauma was practically infinite.

"Damn you! Here... I come!" Chu Feng cried out. He couldn't resist at all; he was simply sucked into the midst of the blood and bone fragments, subjected to the crushing force of the two millstones.

Blood splattered everywhere as Chu Feng screamed, his cries echoing through the Bright City of Death. He was the only living being capable of making a sound, as everyone else was dead.

He didn't close his eyes; instead, he opened them wide. Giving up completely, he wanted to see how he would die, to witness the ultimate misery.

Blood splattered, yet he found that he had not been crushed; he was still alive. At that moment, his chest emitted a faint glow where the stone box lay, protecting him in the final crucial moment.

What was happening? Chu Feng's eyes widened. He hadn't died? He could survive in this deadly place?!

Upon closer inspection, although blood and bone fragments surged around him, they didn't actually touch his body. He was separated from them by a layer of light membrane.

Chu Feng noticed that the stone box reacted intensely here, becoming even more extraordinary. After taking it out, he saw a glow spreading from its previously crystal-clear edges.

Subsequently, Chu Feng rotated with the millstone. There was a strange field here, seemingly twisting space, ensuring that Chu Feng wouldn't be crushed and remained alive between the two millstones.

At this moment, Chu Feng was alive, and this experience was incredibly exhilarating.

Blood of various colors and bone fragments swirled around him like a raging mudslide. He was subjected to wave after wave of this bizarre "baptism."

He had witnessed all sorts of repulsive flesh and blood. Even his resilient nerves felt a slight urge to vomit.

He vaguely saw Roc claws, fierce monkey heads, white jade holy elephant trunks, even phoenix wings, and dragon marrow. He watched them with his own eyes as they turned into mud.

Chu Feng swore that if he could escape from here, he would never eat again. Seeing those so-called delicacies rotting together and constantly being churned, he felt utterly nauseous.

"Is this on purpose?! From now on, one of the great joys of my life will probably be gone. I still wanted to taste all the delicacies in the world, but now just seeing this makes me want to gag!"

Chu Feng couldn't move; though not dead, he still couldn't escape. He rotated with the millstone, round after round, cycle after cycle, watching other physical forms being crushed, blood-mud splattering.

"Hmm?!"

In the process, Chu Feng made an astonishing discovery. He stared intently at the millstone, activating his Fiery Golden Eyes to see clearly and observe meticulously.

As the millstone rotated, a faint glow emerged from a very few of the hardest bone fragments, rising onto the millstone itself. For example, the divine bird suspected to be an immortal phoenix had one incredibly tough bone that emitted this faint light.

Even after saints were crushed, no such light appeared.

Subsequently, he made a significant discovery: There were some characters inside the millstone, and the faint light that flew up merged into them.

Chu Feng's pupils immediately constricted. He realized that this was an ultimate treasure. Only divine birds like the immortal phoenix could emit a wisp of faint light that merged into them, becoming a part of them. This was absolutely heaven-defying!

Upon closer inspection, it was a line of golden characters, only a few dozen in number, gleaming brightly. In this place of flowing blood, they appeared incredibly sacred.

Chu Feng's eyes burned even brighter, his Fiery Golden Eyes spewing flames. He wanted to see clearly and memorize the golden characters inside the millstone.

Then, in an instant, he screamed, his eyes in searing pain, quickly shutting them. Bloody tears flowed from the corners of his eyes. Those runes were too extraordinary, like forbidden artifacts, not to be glimpsed.

Chu Feng's heart was shaken. What exactly were those?

He desperately wanted to obtain them; his heart yearned for them. Did the millstone contain a scripture? He wondered how heaven-defying it could be.

But there seemed to be only a few dozen characters, which was too short.

It was a long time before Chu Feng opened his eyes, which still stung. Thankfully, his eyes weren't destroyed, though two streams of bloody tears flowed. The situation just now had been truly dangerous.

Subsequently, Chu Feng cautiously and carefully extended a wisp of his divine sense to continue observing. The result was a loud *boom*, his mind nearly disintegrated, and his entire body trembled. His mind went blank, and he remained in a daze for a long time!

It was truly too dangerous; he had only extended a wisp of his spiritual energy, just a simple attempt to investigate, yet he was almost obliterated on the spot!

Unparalleled terror!

Chu Feng had a premonition that he had touched upon the most crucial thing here. This was a colossal secret, not to be leaked. Any attempt to decipher it would lead to catastrophic death.

He took out a bottle of medicinal liquid, which originally belonged to Qin Luoyin and could heal spiritual injuries and similar problems. Fortunately, although he was almost annihilated, the stone box protected him at the crucial moment, preventing severe damage, so he recovered after drinking the liquid.

Then, Chu Feng noticed that the stone box was changing. The crystal-clear patterns on its edges were spreading, and eventually, an entire side became transparent, revealing intricate patterns forming a design.

In an instant, Chu Feng understood; he realized that all the previous anomalies of the stone box were connected to this place.

Only after truly entering the Bright City of Death, specifically inside the millstone, did he come into contact with the source of the stone box's transformations.

Then, Chu Feng discovered that on one complete side of the stone box, a landscape painting appeared, containing dozens of golden specks of light.

He became even more cautious, activating his Fiery Golden Eyes to stare at this side of the stone box. He then realized that the dozens of golden specks were incredibly complex and dazzling runes.

"Could they be exactly the same as the dozens of characters on the millstone?!"

Chu Feng was stunned. Had the stone box copied the heaven-defying characters from inside the millstone? Or had they always been on that side of the stone box, only now surfacing due to resonance? He had no way of knowing.

The landscape painting on the stone box, whose terrain he couldn't identify, was already composed of tadpole-like patterns. Now, with dozens of golden characters distributed within it, it became even more mysterious.