The Siege of the Divine Stele

In the end, the phantom images of the other divine steles all vanished, leaving only the real ancient stele inscribed with the words 'Eternally Settle the Secluded Island.' It alone was suppressing the Demon Well.

The crowd could not help but wonder—were there truly several more ancient steles in this world, each eternally settling a region like the stele on Dragon Island? Others might have doubted, but Xiao Chen was certain there were more. After all, he had personally witnessed the 'Eternally Settle the Yellow River' stele long ago.

The deep Demon Well shook violently, as if connected to another world. Countless souls seemed to struggle and churn within it, on the verge of erupting outward.

At that moment, the real divine stele blazed with brilliant light, forcefully suppressing the blinding radiance about to burst from the Demon Well. A boundless, overwhelming power surged through the City of the Dead like a vast ocean.

The Demon Well trembled incessantly but could not break free from the stele's seal. The intense light within the well grew dimmer and dimmer, until with a final flash, it vanished into the depths. The colossal divine stele shimmered with dazzling radiance, its carved images seeming to come fully alive.

With a thunderous roar, the patterns on the stele flew out from its surface. Savage dragons, divine beings, seas of blood, cities of the dead, and pure lands intertwined, forming a curtain of light that descended over the Demon Well, sealing it beneath.

On that day, the seas around Dragon Island surged with towering waves, the entire ocean boiling like a cauldron. The whole island trembled faintly. The forest whipped wildly, leaves scattered, savage beasts bellowed, ferocious birds shrieked, and the City of the Dead shook violently, erupting with pillar-like black light.

From a mountain peak on Dragon Island that had lain silent for years, a thick plume of black mist suddenly surged. A jet-black iron seal shot into the sky, streaking toward the city like a meteor, leaving a trail of dazzling dark light in its wake.

The iron seal began no larger than a fist, but by the time it reached the City of the Dead, it had grown to the size of a mountain, crashing down upon the divine stele. The stele flashed, sending a curtain of light into the sky. The iron seal struck with a deafening boom but was sent hurtling backward.

Then, from a mountain range that had lain in ruins for untold ages, a divine halberd burst forth with blinding radiance from the shattered remains, rising into the sky and cleaving toward the ancient stele in the city.

Yet it too was flung back by the stele, the thirty-meter-long halberd tearing through the void as it was cast high into the heavens.

Next, the Buddha's Dharma Wheel atop the city gate tower boomed like a great bell, its sound resonating between heaven and earth. Blazing with dazzling light, it charged toward the ancient stele deep within the city. The ancient stele trembled violently, and even the Dharma Wheel was sent flying, streaking across the sky like a colossal meteor with a long tail of light.

After that, a valley on Dragon Island split open, and a massive bronze eight trigrams diagram soared into the air, carrying the force of thunder and lightning as it struck at the stele below. Yet even the terrifying power of the bronze eight trigrams could not shake the stele; it too was sent flying back.

Then the iron seal, the divine halberd, the Dharma Wheel, and the bronze eight trigrams struck the ancient stele in succession. Thunderous crashes echoed without end, and the entire City of the Dead trembled. But the stele remained unharmed. Finally, from the dragon clans surrounding the city, two beams of light shot forth. An Ancestral Dragon Horn, a hundred meters long and shimmering with radiance, and an Ancestral Dragon Claw, sharp as a heavenly blade, tore through the air and struck at the divine stele.

The City of the Dead, silent for endless ages, roared with sound today. Eerie black light blotted out the sun and sky. Though the rain of blood had ceased, the atmosphere was now even more terrifying. An invisible murderous aura pervaded the entire ancient city.

Under the assault of the Ancestral Dragon Horn, the Buddha's Dharma Wheel, and the other sacred artifacts, the ancient stele shook violently. At the same time, the dragon clans rose high into the sky, unleashing all their curses and attacks against the stele. Clearly, their ultimate target was the Demon Well, which seemed to connect to a strange world. Only the ancient stele suppressed it, and all other forces sought to break through.

The countless skeletons outside the city all gazed up at the sky. In that moment, they seemed to gain souls. The boundless sea of bones was shrouded in a pallid green light—the death light of the netherworld. A vast pressure like a raging ocean surged toward the dragon clans in the sky.

Even the dragon clans did not dare to take this eerie green death light lightly. Beams of divine radiance rained down, tearing great rents through the deathly light curtain, shattering countless white bones below, scattering them in piles.

Clearly, this army of bones was guarding the City of the Dead. Shrill, hair-raising cries rose from the bone sea from time to time, and the sounds of an ancient war seemed to pierce through time. The dragon clans were forced to divert part of their attention to this ancient battlefield.

The Ancestral Dragon Horn, the Buddha's Dharma Wheel, and the others continued to hammer the divine stele. The City of the Dead itself began to shake. Xiao Chen and the others could no longer remain near the plaza—it was the true eye of the storm, where all forces converged.

The black iron seal, the radiant divine halberd, and the ancient bronze eight trigrams were clearly sacred artifacts on the same level as the Buddha's Dharma Wheel, relics that had appeared in ancient myths and legends—divine weapons of immense power.

The Dharma Wheel belonged to the Buddha. By inference, the beings corresponding to the other sacred artifacts must have been from the same era or of the same level. Whether the Buddha and those others still lived was unknown. But one thing was certain: the previous generation's Ancestral Dragon had long since passed away; otherwise, the Ancestral Dragon Horn and Claw could not have separated from the dragon's body.

"Legendary weapons—to whom do they belong?" Many asked this question. Though they had heard of a few sacred artifacts, no one truly knew their owners.

The divine stele seemed on the verge of collapse. It had withstood attacks from multiple sides while still sealing the Demon Well below, appearing unable to resist much longer. But at that moment, the railing stones around the plaza suddenly erupted with towering light, resonating with the stele's radiance to jointly resist the external forces.

"Could they really be ancient tombstones?!" Someone gasped. After all, those stone tablets looked exactly like tombstones, and they stood in this City of the Dead.

The railing stone tablets and the divine stele merged as one, forming a brilliant light curtain that covered the entire plaza. Fortunately, Xiao Chen and the others had already retreated; otherwise, they would have been trapped inside.

The dragon clans and the sacred artifacts seemed unwilling to give up this opportunity. They attacked the divine stele relentlessly. Xiao Chen and the others could not remain in the nearby area; they retreated quickly, hoping to use this chance to escape the City of the Dead. But they found no way back. The ancient city was like a maze—all the streets looked alike, complex and bewildering. Before they knew it, they had wandered into a cluster of halls.

Before a row of imposing halls stood a block of black stone inscribed with three ancient characters: Demon Fall Hall. The place exuded an oppressive feeling; the three characters seemed to reveal its origin.

A massive shadow flashed overhead. Everyone looked up in alarm. A humanoid giant over twenty meters tall leaped across and vanished among the halls. It could not be human—its size was too immense, yet it moved like the wind, silent and without a trace, impossible to track.

An eerie wind swept through. The blood-red doors of the ancient halls creaked open and shut, adding to the chilling atmosphere.

The group did not enter the halls but detoured around them, continuing forward. However, before they had gone far through the ancient streets, another grand complex of ancient buildings appeared before them. A black stone stood in front of the halls, bearing three ancient characters: God Fall Hall.

This was clearly the counterpart to Demon Fall Hall. 'Fall' and 'Downfall' together told the tale.

The few dozen surviving cultivators felt a chill run through them. No one dared to investigate. They all skirted around and kept searching for a way out, their hearts heavy with the fear that they might not leave alive.

The crowd gradually dispersed. Many began to search on their own for the city's exit. Soon, a scream rang out. Xiao Chen and Liu Mu rushed forward to find a pool of bloody flesh on an empty street, with mist of blood hanging in the air. A huge claw mark over a meter long was imprinted on the ground. The dead man seemed to have been crushed by some enormous creature!

Warily scanning their surroundings, Xiao Chen exchanged a glance with Liu Mu and quickly retreated. They sensed a colossal presence lurking in the shadows, its claws perhaps already reaching for them. Though they had not seen it clearly, the feeling was unmistakable.

They fled the area swiftly, and another scream rang out immediately—someone else had arrived and met with misfortune.

The three skeletons stayed close to Xiao Chen, while Liu Ruyan and Yan Qingcheng followed tightly as well. This was a city of terror; whether they could leave safely was unknown.

Passing through countless streets, they saw many grand halls, including many unheard-of pagan temples. Still, Xiao Chen and his group could not find the way out of the City of the Dead. They could sense the energy fluctuations from the divine stele at the city's center, but when they moved in the opposite direction in search of the city gate, they could never find the true path. The ancient streets constantly led them astray, as if the directions in the city were shrouded in a sinister veil, impossible to discern.

A rumbling sound like ten thousand horses galloping filled the air. The ancient buildings around them shook violently. Xiao Chen and the others quickly darted into a deep alley. Their instincts told them a group of colossal beings was charging down the main street. In the thunderous noise, waves of savage murderous aura swept past.