The Era of Gods-Chapter 699: Ancestor’s Remains?
Seconds later, the black hole rapidly expanded and transformed into Lin Xiao’s figure, who then pressed on his stomach and let out a satisfied burp.
"Not bad in taste!"
He reached a finger into his mouth to pick out a constantly squirming straw from between his teeth, inserted it back into his mouth, and began to nibble it clean. Then, biting down as if chewing noodles, he slowly munched and swallowed the wriggling straw inch by inch.
Lin Xiao found that the devouring power of this black hole was truly immense, seemingly capable of swallowing and digesting almost anything.
The decrepit hut he devoured a moment ago was a manifestation of the residual power left by an Ancestor after falling, combined with the rules of this world. Despite appearing as a mere thatched hut, once ingested, it would be inescapable for anyone below Rank 8 unless they possessed a special offensive Magic Weapon. Everything else would be devoured without exception.
After digesting the hut, he gained an incredibly pure surge of Strength, which directly fused with his own, greatly enhancing his Mana and slightly bolstering his physique.
It should be noted that he has now reached the late phase of Rank 8, and the Dream Ancestor Mark has been continuously infusing him with power. It’s estimated that before long, he could reach the peak of Rank 8, on par with the Ancestral Tomb’s Angel Envoy.
The fact that even at this level he could feel a significant increase in Strength highlighted just how potent this substance was.
However, such relics were scarce. Although he had only just entered the Ancestral Tomb, after devouring the hut, he knew that these manifestations of residual Ancestor Power within the Ancestral Tomb were few and scattered everywhere. The majority of them are free-moving, and those that take the form of decrepit thatched huts like the one before are exceedingly rare; relying on consuming these relics to enhance one’s power was hardly feasible.
With the effort it took, it was better to honestly seek out the Tomb of Myriad Gods first.
Upon entering the Ancestral Tomb, Lin Xiao lost his connection to the Tomb of Myriad Gods. Finding the actual Tomb of Myriad Gods within a limited time in this perilous world was also part of the challenge.
Please note, this is the Ancestral Tomb we are talking about. There is more than one Ancestor who has fallen here, and the power of an Ancestor, even after falling countless eons ago, will not dissipate. Any creature living in this world will be eroded by the mingled forces of residual Ancestor Power and Death Qi.
If they cannot find their target or leave this world within a protracted period, they will be corroded by the Death Qi—those too weak will turn to ash and die, while those somewhat stronger will retain their flesh but be transformed into vile Zombies or the like.
It’s also possible that those with immense Strength can withstand the corruption of the Ancestor Power and not die, but eventually they will be affected by the Ancestor Power and turn into some sort of monster.
There is no one who can withstand it indefinitely; those who are not Ancestors cannot stay forever.
However, Lin Xiao... that might be a different story.
Although the black hole can devour the omnipresent Death Qi and Ancestor Power to transform it into his own Strength, he has not yet come of age, and the power of the black hole has not reached its maximum. Over time, he too will be affected.
But this will take an incredibly long time, on the order of tens of thousands of years. By then, who knows how powerful he will have become. At the very least, he will have had more than enough time to flee this world.
Half a year later.
Lin Xiao crossed what seemed like an endless wasteland and arrived before a stand of withered trees. The charred trees were bare, without any remaining leaves, and not a single leaf lay on the ground.
Lin Xiao stood silently before the withered forest for a moment, then reached out his hand and clenched it in the air. A fierce Flame gathered in his palm, quickly forming a burning fireball that he launched onto one of the withered trees. The fire caught and burned swiftly, and the five to six-meter-tall tree soon became a flaming husk.
Two minutes later, the withered tree burned to ashes, leaving only a small piece, the size of a fingertip, of pitch-black material that fell into the dust, glinting enticingly.
Lin Xiao glanced at it but didn’t make a move, choosing instead to summon another fireball and set the second withered tree ablaze.
After burning six trees in succession, and just as he prepared to burn a seventh, the misty withered forest ahead trembled slightly. The trembling quickly intensified, and the ground began to bulge.
He swiftly retreated and watched as the ground bulged and split open. Thick withered branches emerged, soon revealing their full form—a gigantic withered tree hundreds of meters tall, with sprawling branches laden with fruits large as tables. At the center, a massive burl bore a twisted face, and an almost imperceptible but compelling call echoed out of nowhere into Lin Xiao’s mind.
He was instantly immune to the giant tree’s seduction and turned to leave without a second thought.
The distorted face on the huge burl twisted in Wrath, its thick branches swaying as the fruits split open, releasing various strangely shaped creatures that lunged at him.
"Bring it on!"
Lin Xiao stood his ground as the creatures caught up. As the first, resembling a fierce demon, charged at him, the surrounding space immediately collapsed inward, a swath of darkness swallowing it whole.
The nearest demon, contorted by the terrifying pulling force, plummeted into the black hole and vanished.
An incessant stream of demon-like creatures attacked, and one by one, they were devoured by the black hole. When nearly half had been consumed, those further away, too fearful to approach, returned to the vicinity of the giant tree. The branches fell and impaled them, rapidly sucking them dry into ash, and soon new fruits formed on the branches. The giant tree slowly sank back into the ground and disappeared from sight.
He who knows the times is a true leader; retreat can be as swift as defeat.
Unable to reach it deep underground, Lin Xiao changed direction and continued onward.
As months passed one after another in the vast Ancestral Tomb where time seemed non-existent, he rarely encountered monsters, given the great distances he traversed, but inevitably he would come across various strange creatures...
Two-headed monster.
Multiple-headed giant snake.
Giant covered with flesh tumours.
A massive creature akin to a jellyfish.
One by one, monsters endowed with Ancestor Power emerged with various abilities, the vast majority of which were not his match and were devoured by him; there were also extremely powerful beings like the giant tree he had encountered before.
Even within the Ancestral Tomb, where they seemed less imposing due to being suppressed, if let loose in the outside world, each one could easily destroy an entire world.
Take that withered tree, for instance; the creatures that flew out of its fruits each contained energy not inferior to any Rank 7 creatures. If set free in the outside world, who knows how quickly they would evolve into something even more terrifying.
It’s worth mentioning that most of the monsters he encountered were derivatives of Ancestor Power, but there were also a few that were mutations of ancient powerhouses, such as the giant covered in tumours that he had encountered earlier, which was the mutated form of a twice-transformed individual.
Another year later, Lin Xiao still hadn’t found the location of the Tomb of Myriad Gods, nor did he know how vast the Ancestral Tomb truly was; he just kept walking in one direction for a whole year and a half without reaching the end.
By this time, the omnipresent Death Qi and Ancestor Power within the Ancestral Tomb had already had a certain impact on his flesh body. His Golden Real Body, long exposed to the corrosive Death Qi, had darkened slightly in color.
Although he was far from mutating due to the erosion, this was not a good sign.
Unbeknownst to him, three years had passed.
Lin Xiao traversed an expanse of plains immeasurable in distance before arriving at a grey-white highland with no end in sight to the left, right, or above.
After spending a long time in the Ancestral Tomb under the erosion of Ancestor Power, and having devoured countless monsters of this world, he gradually acquired some characteristics peculiar to the creatures of this world while being eroded himself.
For instance, the unique vision of this world, which once had a maximum range of about ten meters, instantly returned to normal after acquiring this world-specific vision. The Death Qi and Ancestor Power filling the Void, though still omnipresent, could no longer affect him; to him, they were like the air of any other world.
His ultra-distant vision allowed him to spot enemies from afar, making it easier to confront them.
This highland, visible neither to the left nor the right, was so tall that he could barely see its top.
Flying up would definitely not get him to the end, and there was no point in hoping left or right either. It was like the Wall of the World, reaching the end of the world and barring everything.
The main reason Lin Xiao concluded that this was an immense highland rather than the edge of the world was the presence of numerous irregular-sized caves pockmarking this huge wall, from which even more intense Ancestor Power gushed forth.
Looking up at the highland whose boundaries he couldn’t see, Lin Xiao already had a bold guess in his heart—
This was by no means a mere highland; it was very likely the corpse of an ancestor.
His guess was mainly based on two points: first, this highland, like the Wall of the World, had appeared abruptly with no sign of its emergence from the ground, which is not typical of the terrain where plains meet highlands.
The second point of his conjecture lay in the grey-white color of this highland’s texture, which resembled bone material.
The third and most crucial point was that as he gazed at this towering Wall of the World, a vast and ancient aura hit him in the face.
Recalling the spirited years of yesteryear, Lin Xiao could feel the majesty of this Ancestor as it traversed the starry sea in the ancient times, and its irresistible divine might.
Yet, all of this is now nothing but the smoke of the past. Even the Ancestors, eternal and indestructible, have their times of fall, leaving only their bones lying silently within the Ancestral Tomb, waiting for later generations to explore.
Sigh, alas!
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However, that being said, this was just Lin Xiao’s uncertain conjecture; to confirm, he would still need to investigate in earnest.
He steadied his spirit and, without hesitation, walked towards that Wall of the World; he intended to enter and take a look inside.
Randomly picking the nearest hole, he urged his twice-transformed self to grow into a Golden Giant tens of meters tall and entered against the gushing Death Qi.
The moment he entered and saw the bone material inside the cave, Lin Xiao knew that his previous guess was very likely true; this might really be the corpse of an ancestor, although he had no idea which Ancestor’s bones they were.
He knew of at least four or five Ancestors buried here, such as the original Innate Ancestor, All-Embracing Progenitor, and two other Ancestors he was aware of. And he did not know if there were other Ancestors besides the ones he knew about.
Lin Xiao did not know what these Ancestors looked like, and this skeleton might be as big as a planet; therefore, he couldn’t view the full extent. If Tishar were to wake up, she might recognize which Ancestor it was, but she dared not show herself.
