Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 591
Li Yao thought quickly and immediately understood what the Blade of Chaos was doing.
If the Mausoleum of Chaos was really somewhere deep inside the Star Swallowing Sea, and countless enormous beasts had been produced inside the mausoleum, then it was inevitable that some of them would have hit the mountains under the lake and left traces after they were released.
After the traces were discovered, with thorough analysis, it was possible to track the route of their movement and eventually locate the coordinates where they were released.
The coordinates would be the entrance to the Mausoleum of Chaos.
Very soon, night fell. The swirls deep inside the Star Swallowing Sea were all uttering bubbling noises, and the water level that was dropping fast began to rise again. The mountains below the lake were consumed one after another until they were entirely drowned by the black water.
Although the sky-hunting warship could travel in ordinary seawater, it would not take long before its shell was corroded, crushed, and shattered if it moved in the Star Swallowing Sea.
Besides, the penetration of light was extremely bad inside the Star Swallowing Sea. The sky-hunting warship was no better than a blind fish after it dived in. The few probe biochemical beasts were far from enough to clearly see the entire bottom of the lake.
Therefore, they had to retreat for now and rest for a night in the middle of the raging tides and lightning of the Star Swallowing Sea.
Following that, they lurked at night and worked during the day for three days, continuing their research deep inside the Star Swallowing Ocean, only to find nothing. Not only did they fail to find any traces left by the prehistoric beasts, they did not even have a second chance to see the electromagnetic illusions of the beasts, as if the mirages were merely everybody's imagination.
But Yuchi Ba was as cold, tough, and unwavering as a slab of iron. He commanded his team patiently to search among the mountains below the lake.
On the fourth day, the illuminance of God Chaos finally fell upon the exploration team.
Although Li Yao did not know the details, he could clearly feel that the sky-hunting warship was flying in a more patterned route. It seemed to be hovering around a certain location at the bottom of the lake.
Looking ahead, he could see that the lake water, which had plunged to the lowest point, was revealing hundreds of crooked wrinkles that looked like the hunched backs of dragons.
Maybe it was his imagination, but Li Yao suddenly felt that the ridges of the mountains seemed to be condensing into a howling face whose mouth was so wide open that it was being split apart.
Hu!
The sky-hunting warship dashed to one of the ridges that seemed unattractive but in fact had hundreds of traces caused by enormous beasts.
The left side of the ridge was even as smooth as a mirror because of the rubbing of the scales. If one were to observe it from the sky from an appropriate angle, it would seem like a glittering gem that had been embedded into the Star Swallowing Sea.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two small boats were launched from the lower part of the abdomen of the sky-hunting warship and dashed toward the ridge. Before they landed, dozens of shadows lunged out of the boats and rushed to the top on the ridge.
Li Yao was suddenly alarmed. He knew that they were the real core members of the Blade of Chaos, and they perhaps knew dozens of times more information regarding the Mausoleum of Chaos than Li Yao did.
The elites of the Blade of Chaos were all riding armor beasts with multiple limbs that seemed to have combined the advantages of dozens of types of huge insects.
Their claws, teeth, and limbs pierced deeply into the solid rock stratums, allowing them to move on the vertical cliff, which was as smooth as a mirror, agilely as if they were moving on the ground.
Li Yao noticed that they would bash several straight metal rods into the rocks every time they moved forward a certain distance. Following which, they connected the devices with synthesized nerves and eventually joined them with a cluster of enormous biochemical brain.
It should be some form of space detection gear based on the genes of bats. By releasing an oriented vibration wave to the depths of the underground and absorbing the vibration wave that is fed back, the size and structure of the underground space can easily be determined.
The Star Glory Federation had similar magical equipment. Such tools were mandatory in underground prospecting jobs.
Very soon, the entire ridge of the mountain was brimming with metal rods, which made it look like a crocodile that had been stabbed with spears all over its body.
The buffer liquids inside the cabin were quickly extracted, indicating that their journey was coming to an end.
Yuchi Ba was obviously overjoyed. "We have located the Mausoleum of Chaos. All squads, gather and prepare to work!"
In the following hour, the more bizarre-shaped demons were projected to the nearby of the mountain under the lake. They were busy doing their jobs around the ridge.
The only part that Li Yao could understand was that some of the demons were planting powerful time bombs based on the terrain of the ridge.
Judging from the techniques of their installment and the size of their bombs, it was possible that they could blow up rocks almost a hundred meters thick.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! We must finish the work before the lake water flows again, or everything will be in vain!" Yuchi Ba landed on the mountain and roared to issue commands.
Even by Li Yao's standard as a super bomb expert, the detonation team was definitely well trained. It only took them slightly more than four hours for them to complete the complicated work of hole-digging and bomb-planting. At this moment, the other workers around the ridge finished their jobs, too.
All of them retreated to the sky-hunting warship again.
At this moment, it was already dusk, and the lake water was about to soar up.
In less than an hour, the mountain would be drowned again.
When the sky-hunting warship flew multiple kilometers away in a hurry, seven earsplitting explosions burst out behind Li Yao. Seven streams of mystic rays soared up into the sky and formed a complicated pattern in midair before they hit the mountain heavily like shooting stars!
After a huge boom, a colorful mushroom cloud slowly rose up, mixed with creaking noises, as if countless devils were grinning hideously and escaping from the Mausoleum of Chaos.
The sky-hunting warship managed to turn around in midair by force and aimed at the source of the mushroom cloud. All the warriors, including Li Yao, were ready for battle. Should there be anything wrong, they would be able to connect to their biochemical beasts quickly.
However, the shrieks came to an abrupt halt after three minutes. As it turned out, they were nothing but compressed air currents that had been locked for forty thousand years below the ground. The probe of soundwaves and infrared rays did not report the traces of any living creature, either.
The sky-hunting warship finally emboldened itself to go closer.
The raging mushroom gradually dispersed. Everybody could see that the upper half part of the ridge had almost been blown away entirely, giving birth to an irregular black hole. When the sky-hunting warship approached and scanned, it was determined that a vast space was hidden below the mountain and that the fractures of many parts of the space were in an absolutely precise plane, indicating the work of intelligent creatures.
"Hoooo!"
Everybody inside the cabin roared in excitement.
Then, around the mountain, translucent vesicles that both looked like swimming bladders and bubbles gradually bulged.
The vesicles swallowed each other and gradually expanded in size until it covered the entire mountain like a glass cap.
When the black lake water rose up again, it was blocked from the vesicles. Not a single drop of water was able to leak into it.
The sky-hunting warship flew to the top of the glass cap and extended a translucent soft tube from the abdomen, which connected the cabin to the glass cap like an umbilical cord.
Then, the sky-hunting warship slowly moved upwards at the same speed of the rising lake water and returned to the surface of the lake. Eventually, it was docked thirty meters above the Star Swallowing Sea.
Right now, the entrance to the Mausoleum was hundreds of meters below the Star Swallowing Sea, but it was connected to the sky-hunting warship through an 'umbilical cord'.
"Inside the Star Swallowing Sea, the super high-intensity waterproof cover can last for three to five days. We must finish the preliminary exploration during this time!"
Yuchi Ba did not go back on his word. After making sure that there was enough fresh air inside the Mausoleum of Chaos, he was the first to enter the place through the long 'umbilical cord', leading a large batch of explorers.
Li Yao's mission, on the other hand, was to stick closely to Chu Zhengqing and Chu Feiyin, two specialists in the studies of Chaos. They suffered in the weird silence for more than two hours before they were permitted to enter the Mausoleum of Chaos!
"Let's go, Master Chu!"
With a telepathic thought, Li Yao's brainwaves spread out, and a transparent vesicle slowly rose up around his neck and covered his entire head.
On his back, a small piece of membrane was fluctuating, filtering the air in the outside world multiple times before it was sent into the vesicle.
Although the examination had proved that the air inside the Mausoleum of Chaos was normal, it was a relic from forty thousand years ago. There was no telling whether or not a fatal virus or microorganisms still existed in the air. Therefore, it was best to stay prudent.
Li Yao, Chu Zhengqing, and Chu Feiyin were enveloped by a cluster of bright yellow buffer liquids and fell quickly along the 'umbilical cord'. After sliding for almost twenty seconds, they landed somewhere near the entrance of the Mausoleum of Chaos.
Chapter 890: 'God' Has Appeared |
The fault caused by the detonation was a perfect relay station after simple modifications. The explorers did the final preparations in the place before they slowly descended underground through the temporary lifts.
Around a hundred warriors who were responsible for exploring the way and small demon beasts, of which there were multiple times more, were sent into the tomb first for preliminary surveying. After they ascertained that the environment was safe, the researchers went inside in batches.
Li Yao was given an interactive brainwave receptor that looked like an antenna and two biochemical chips that looked like contact lenses.
When he stuck the antenna to his forehead softly and put the biochemical chips on his eyes, after a beep, a lot of information immediately appeared on his retina, as well as instructions for him and the general map of the Mausoleum of Chaos.
The underground space that was outlined by bright green strokes was dozens of times larger than Li Yao had expected. It had multiple floors as well as countless pathways and independent rooms, which made the tomb look like a splendid underground palace.
The pulley span quickly as the lift slowly descended. Li Yao felt like he was an ant with a thread tied to his waist that had been tossed off a cliff thousands of meters high.
After passing through a narrow, vertical pathway, they found themselves in a space more than five hundred meters both in length and width. The dark walls around seemed to boast an uncanny attraction force that absorbed all light rays and sound.
They seemed to have fallen into an abyss, and it was not until three minutes later that the lift landed on the ground again.
The ground was dry and firm, refined out of a certain unknown rock material. Li Yao breathed deeply in relief when his feet finally stepped on the ground again.
When the mutated fireflies danced randomly in the enormous space and sprayed the cold florescence in every direction, everybody was deeply attracted to the bones of an enormous creature at the center of the space.
There was no telling what the creature used to be. Its thick bones jabbed at the ceiling, forming a dense primitive forest. Illuminated by the florescence, the bones were emitting bright green, metallic colors. Several of the bones were dozens of meters long and thicker than the main guns of many crystal warships.
Li Yao squinted and observed the walls around him.
Dozens of iron rings had been nailed to the walls, bound by huge chains that were connected to every part of the bones. After forty thousand years, all the chains looked as good as new. Even the tiniest stripes on them were still clearly visible.
However, all the chains showed signs that they had been pulled hard. Some of the iron rings had even been yanked out of the wall, leaving holes and cracks on the wall. Some other chains looked like noodles as they had been stretched to their limits.
Claw traces several meters deep were everywhere on the walls. Many thick talons had been broken and embedded into the walls.
On one of the walls, there was even a dent dozens of meters in diameter, as if an enormous battering ram had hit the wall brutally once before.
Li Yao closed his eyes and imagined what had happened forty thousand years ago.
A ferocious animal hundreds of meters long had been locked in this place with chains for some reason.
The ferocious beast must have struggled hard in agony and ripped apart many chains and magical equipment that had been carved with rune arrays.
In the meantime, the animal also left appalling traces on the wall. It was in such excruciating pain that it did not stop even when its claws were broken and embedded into the wall. It simply continued bashing the wall hard with its head.
What was it that put the enormous beast in such pain?
Some sort of experiment?
Several paleontologists and historians discussed with each other near the corpse of the enormous beast.
One of the paleontologists seemed to be assigned the task to study the enormous beast. He immediately began to work with his assistants.
In the meantime, Li Yao, who had a lot of experience in fighting, noticed something weird very quickly, too.
The bones on the torso of the enormous beast had a lot of fractures, but they did not collapse inward but protruded outward.
It appeared that something had crawled into its stomach and gone on a rampage before crawling out the same way.
Li Yao swallowed hard and felt for the first time that he might not necessarily be secure during the exploration of the Mausoleum of Chaos even though his real capability was close to the Nascent Soul Stage.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao led a few researchers further into the vast space under the guidance of the arrowheads on his retina.
After they passed through a long pathway, the scenes that unraveled in front of Li Yao made him have the illusion that he had stepped into the cosmos.
The boundless space just now had already left them with the impression of the splendor and magnificence of a palace.
However, compared to the temple in front him, it was nothing more than a matchbox placed next to a skyscraper.
They could not see the boundary of the temple at all. Standing above the temple, they discovered that there were stairs that went straight down. Its end was wreathed in vague, gray mist.
The gray mist was fluctuating as if a living creature. It could not have looked more mysterious.
Li Yao finally understood why Yuchi Ba risked recruiting so many newcomers for the operation.
The Mausoleum of Chaos was too vast. However many explorers there were, they would be like salt in the water and would be dissolved instantly, leaving no trace.
Very soon, the virtual image of the entire temple was displayed on his retina through the biochemical chips.
By echolocation, it was estimated that the temple was more than thirty kilometers both in length and width. It was basically an enormous city.
That was just the first floor.
With the guidance of the arrowheads, they groped in the darkness for more than ten minutes before they got down the stairs and reached the bottom level of the temple.
The ground there was not the solid rock plate anymore but moist soil that would make soft sounds when anybody stepped on it.
The edge of the temple was still black rocks. However, a magnificent embossment had been carved after every fixed distance on the rocks.
Most of the embossments were the scenes where bizarre-looking giants were spraying the seeds of life in some weird worlds. Sometimes, the few embossments that were next to each other were telling a complete story.
For example, on one of the embossments, a light gray, giant round plate landed on a scorching planet, and the traces of ancient creatures had been engraved inside the ocean at the bottom part of the embossment.
On the second embossment, many enormous tyrannosaurs were teleported to the planet through cone-shaped rays of light.
However, compared to the fossils excavated nowadays, those tyrannosaurs all boasted extremely strong arms, and they looked more like the Pangu Clan that Li Yao had seen deep inside his genes.
On the third embossment, the tyrannosaurs extended their arms to the ocean. Corroded by a weird force, their arms withered. But a huge amount of bright golden liquid was secreted from the wrinkles of their skin and dropped into the ocean.
That seemed to be the essence of their arms.
On the fourth embossment, the ocean creatures that had absorbed the bright golden liquid had grown primitive limbs and begun to march toward the land.
The four embossments combined seemed to be indicating that the tyrannosaurs paid a price of their arms for the ocean creatures' ability to move toward the land.
"If that's true, one of the assumptions about Chaos has been disapproved now," Chu Zhengqing, the master of the studies of Chaos, said slowly with a solemn face. "Judging from the structure of the temple and its relative position in the entire underground architecture, it should be a temple of sacrifices for the ancient civilization. Since the embossments around the temple recorded so many stories where the Pangu Clan created the world and enlightened the creatures, it is evident enough that Chaos was sort of a 'worshipper' of Pangu, too.
