The Giant Remains Beneath the Death Battlefield

Heavy, leaden clouds drifted slowly, as if about to press down upon the ground, suffocatingly oppressive.

The red-brown, hard earth resembled rock that had been soaked in blood—dry, cold, and deathly still. White bones stretched as far as the eye could see: human skeletons, the bones of giant birds dozens of meters long, lion skeletons twenty meters in length, the skeletal remains of enormous dragons seventy or eighty meters long.

This was a death battlefield at the junction of the central and western regions, desolate and barren. Even fire-seed beings rarely set foot here, for it was a place of ill omen. Legend said that over the endless ages, many powerful kings had fallen in this very spot, and as time passed, no one dared to approach lightly.

The Five-Colored Skeleton King, having reached the Perfected Man realm, did not seem to be one of cunning or deceit. After a two-hour private conference with Xiao Chen, the alliance between the Eastern and Western regions was formally established.

The Angel King led his thirteen elite warriors, and Xiao Chen brought Sha Polang, Old Huang, and a dozen other experts. They arrived at this region.

"The sovereign we suspect is awakening seems to be sleeping beneath this land," the Angel King said. "Now that I have entered this place, I can already feel a troubling aura. I can faintly sense it rising from deep underground."

Xiao Chen frowned. This place was only a few hundred li from the God Village, and less than thirty li from the Bone Well that led to the Nine Provinces.

That well, penetrating the underworld, resembled the spine of an unimaginably enormous skeleton. It was said that in ancient times, a supreme sovereign had fallen in this region. Could all of this be coincidence?

If a sovereign emerged, heaven and earth would split apart, and countless fire-seed beings would turn to dust. For the fire-seed beings of the surrounding lands, there was no choice but to stop it.

"We need to go deep underground. If he is still sleeping, we have a thirty percent chance of success," the Five-Colored Skeleton King said, his tone grave.

The Angel King's thirteen warriors and Sha Polang began to cautiously and carefully break open the dry, red-brown earth. Each of them focused with extraordinary concentration, wary of making too much noise and waking the sleeping sovereign.

"No need to be afraid. A sleeping sovereign is hard to rouse. Go ahead and open the ground," the Five-Colored Skeleton King commanded with boldness.

With this order, the experts no longer restrained themselves. They quickly shattered the surface and began digging deep into the earth. Without a doubt, this was a mad act—to dig out a sovereign. The very thought made everyone tremble.

The Angel King's first and second warriors, as well as Sha Polang and the others, had already reached the Fish-Leap realm. For experts of such strength, breaking through the ground was simple, and they moved very quickly.

A dark, lightless hole appeared on the surface, driving deep into the earth. An eerie fluctuation that chilled the heart rippled outward.

"If we fail, we all die," Xiao Chen said, watching the Five-Colored Skeleton King as if trying to see into his heart. "Rather than this, wouldn't it be better to go far away and avoid the danger?"

"If we want to survive, we have to enter the depths of the continent. But there, the sovereigns rule. I would rather die than be enslaved by them," said the Five-Colored Skeleton King. Five-colored divine light swirled around his body, and even the wings on his back shimmered with rainbow light, making him appear sacred and majestic.

He had attained his five-colored heavenly king form in the outer regions. If he killed his way into the depths of the continent, he would surely be favored by the sovereigns. But he would rather be the head of a chicken in the outer regions than the tail of a phoenix in the depths.

Xiao Chen nodded. This was a proud and unyielding king. If they truly managed to kill the sleeping sovereign underground, the situation would be completely overturned, and their strength would advance by leaps and bounds. It was indeed worth the risk.

Just then, cries of alarm came from the pitch-black underground.

Then, flashes of light. The Angel King's warriors and Sha Polang carried up piles of glittering broken bones—they were actually pieces of a colored diamond bone body.

"Deep underground, there are many dried bones, even the remains of this kind of super-evolutionary."

Hearing this, Xiao Chen and the Five-Colored Skeleton King both felt a chill. The earth beneath them was indeed no simple matter.

"Keep digging," ordered the Five-Colored Skeleton King.

As time passed, the unsettling aura grew heavier. The fluctuations from deep underground became more and more pronounced.

Suddenly, a fierce baleful aura shot up into the sky, startling even Xiao Chen and the Five-Colored Skeleton King. More cries of alarm came from underground.

Sha Polang was the first to rush up, panic written all over his frame. His soul-fire trembled as he sent a mental fluctuation: "We dug up... a big one!"

The Angel King's thirteen warriors also flew up in alarm, all wearing shocked expressions. Everyone's soul-fire beat violently—they had clearly been terrified.

"What kind of big thing? Did you find something related to the sovereign?" asked the Angel King.

"We really did dig up a big one. King, go down and see for yourself. A fingernail the size of a small mountain!"

Hearing this, Xiao Chen and the Five-Colored Skeleton King both changed expression. Together, they rushed into the underground.

The baleful aura was chilling, like the blade of a sword pressing against one's skin. In the dark depths of the earth, a mountain-like giant object lay silently. At first glance, it did look like a black hill—dark, sinister, and terrifying, with death qi swirling around it.

But looking closer, one could not help but be shocked. It was indeed a fingernail, pitch-black all over, with only a faint, dull luster. It exuded a terrifying baleful aura, standing there in stillness.

Xiao Chen tapped it lightly. It rang like metal or stone—hard beyond compare, impossible to damage in the slightest. Sha Polang and the Angel King's warriors had initially taken it for ordinary dead stone, but when they couldn't break it, they unearthed the whole thing only then to realize its mystery.

"Sh-should we keep digging?" asked the Angel King's second warrior, Keed, his voice trembling. "If we dig further, will we... uncover the sovereign's palm?"

"Dig!"

Xiao Chen and the Angel King answered at the same time.

The experts involved in the excavation were all terrified. A giant fingernail like this clearly was not something an ordinary fire-seed being could possess. At the very least, it was a sovereign!

They continued digging, but they did not find the finger bone connected to the nail. This enormous black fingernail seemed to exist alone, which slightly relieved Sha Polang and Old Huang.

But before their minds could settle, cries of alarm came again from deep underground. The baleful aura grew even denser. This time, they had dug up a section of finger bone—enormous beyond reason, like a small mountain ridge lying horizontally beneath the earth.

Even the Five-Colored Skeleton King was silent for a long time. His second warrior, Keed, stepped forward and said, "My king, there is an ancient legend in the outer regions of the continent. In ages past, a sovereign—who seemed to have surpassed the sovereign realm—vanished from the Death Continent for unknown reasons. Could this be...?"

Xiao Chen knew far less about the death world than they did, so he listened with great interest.

The Five-Colored Skeleton King pondered for a long time before saying, "In those days, there were powerful beings named Nuwa and Youchao. They fought a supreme existence that had surpassed the sovereign realm on this very land. Perhaps the bones beneath this earth are..."

This was a secret that stunned Xiao Chen. A great battle from untold eons ago must have shaken heaven and earth. If he guessed correctly, it had likely risen to the level of the Ancestral Gods.

If Nuwa and Youchao had revived in this world, they too would surely have reached that level. Were the giant bones underground the remains of that being who surpassed the sovereign realm, defeated and left here?

"Ya ya..." The little white beast squeezed curiously to the front, nestling against Xiao Chen as it studied the enormous finger bone.

Xiao Chen smiled and pinched its nose. "Go to the God Village and tell Elder Li Mu what's happening here."

Keke waved her little claw in protest, then slipped free of Xiao Chen's hand, transformed into a beam of white light, and shot into the sky.

It was very necessary to inform the God Tribe of everything happening here. If they truly disturbed the sleeping sovereign, the God Village would likely suffer as well.

The more they dug, the more shocking it became. Soon, they had unearthed a dozen giant bones, each the size of a small mountain. The scale was beyond belief. Even the legendary sovereigns had never possessed bones like these. They could not be damaged in the slightest, and their hardness was unimaginable.

By the end, the earth beneath the death battlefield had been hollowed out, and the discoveries grew more astonishing. To Xiao Chen's surprise, the layer containing the giant bones gradually extended toward a small city thirty li away—the very location of the Bone Well.

At this point, one could only conclude that the spinal bone was indeed left behind by the being who had surpassed the sovereign realm. But why it connected to the Nine Provinces was hard to guess. The most likely possibility was that a being of the level of Ancestral God Nuwa had done so, and it had certainly undergone some form of refinement.

In the end, the underground excavation did not extend all the way to the Bone Well. Instead, it turned in a different direction.

The God Tribe elders Li Mu and Zhao Ying arrived in person, bringing with them more than a dozen powerful warriors of the God Tribe. The Five-Colored Skeleton King was not surprised by this; in fact, his alliance with Xiao Chen was precisely intended to draw in the God Tribe, for he had long known of their connection.

And it was at this moment that an even more astonishing discovery was made deep underground. A vast quantity of yin jade—commonly called death jade—was found in the dark, lightless strata. This was the earth's marrow formed from the densest yin energy.

For cultivators, it was a rare celestial treasure. Adding even a small amount when refining a divine artifact could raise its quality.

Cries of astonishment rang out. Sha Polang and the Angel King's warriors had unearthed what looked like a chest bone. The deep earth was hollowed out, revealing the chest cavity. At the same time, hazy, luminous mist began to flow outward.

Multicolored light shimmered, auspicious rays crisscrossed—there was no terrifying baleful aura, only a dense, fragrant scent.

Keke's delicate nose twitched, and she immediately revealed a look of ecstasy. In a flash, she turned into a beam of white light and shot straight to the front. Then, strands of seven-colored light flew out as the little creature cleared the way herself.

Xiao Chen, the Five-Colored Skeleton King, Li Mu, Zhao Ying, and the others followed closely behind.

"Rumble..."

Deep underground, there was a continuous roaring sound as the enormous chest bone was revealed. It looked like a naturally formed cage. The chest bone was embedded in the earth, and inside it lay a vast amount of yin jade, along with a dense growth of yin wood trees.

They were like a brilliant forest of purple coral—translucent, glittering with thousands of multicolored rays and auspicious light.

Among them were several old trees of purple diamond yin wood, carved from purple jade. A dense fragrance wafted from them. Yin wood trees tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand years old were extremely rare; only such ancient trees could bear the crystal-clear purple diamond yin wood fruit.

The fragrance drifted from ahead.

"Ya ya ya ya..."

Keke cried out in joy. Strand after strand of seven-colored light swept out, transplanting the more than a dozen royal trees at the very center into Paradise Lost.

The Angel King's warriors and Sha Polang also rushed forward. Though they had no use for the yin wood, they knew it was a divine treasure of great rarity.

But the most precious dozen royal trees had already been taken by Keke, which greatly disappointed them. Although there was plenty of purple diamond yin wood, only a few trees actually bore fruit.

"Ya ya!" Facing the angry stares of the thirteen Angel warriors, the little creature showed no sign of backing down. She blinked her big eyes and huffed back, as if to say she had found them first.

The God Tribe experts moved together, collecting all the remaining trees into their spatial rings. The Five-Colored Skeleton King could say nothing to this, for they truly had no use for such things.

"Purple diamond yin wood trees love shade. If you want to plant them well, you'd best collect some yin jade as well," the God Tribe elder Li Mu instructed the little white beast.

The little creature nodded seriously. She had collected a few yin wood trees before, but they had all withered and died. Now, she joined the God Tribe experts in dividing the yin jade earth marrow and carefully buried it in Paradise Lost before replanting the yin wood trees.

Looking at the gleaming purple fruits on the jade trees, the little creature was filled with a sense of accomplishment. Her divine garden now contained more and more treasure trees, and the variety was growing richer and richer. She had nearly collected every spiritual root in heaven and earth.

The God Tribe experts were also thoroughly satisfied. It was truly a great harvest. Although the little beast had taken the royal trees, they had overwhelmingly more in quantity.

After a thorough collection, the space was empty and silent, leaving only the enormous chest bone. Clearly, the chest bone had been driven into the earth by sheer force, coincidentally striking the location of the earth marrow. The yin wood trees had been there before, not caused by the giant bone.

Everyone began to continue digging. The giant bones of the being who had surpassed the sovereign realm were scattered deep beneath the earth. Could it be that the sleeping sovereign was absorbing the remnant essence of those giant bones?

Mountain-ridge-like arm bones and leg bones were discovered one after another, truly terrifying. It was hard to imagine the power that sovereign must have wielded in his time.

The God Tribe elder Li Mu secretly transmitted to Xiao Chen: "Although these giant bones are unimaginably hard, they no longer contain a single shred of essence. It seems... all the essence was refined into the spinal bone, which was then used to forge the Bone Well connecting the two realms. However, it appears to be an incomplete product, never achieving full connection."

The earth beneath the death battlefield was hollowed out. Nearly all the remains had been found, except for the spine and the skull. Everyone naturally knew where the spine was located, but the skull was nowhere to be found.

"Found it! We found the skull!" Sha Polang's cry of alarm came from deep underground.

Hearing this, everyone rushed into the dark belly of the earth.

There was no need to dig—this layer of earth was hollow. An enormous black skull floated silently there, as majestic as a mountain, flickering with a faint dark light.

"No, it's only the forehead bone. The rest is a phantom image," said the God Tribe elder Li Mu, frowning slightly.

"That is..." Xiao Chen was taken aback. That enormous forehead bone flickered with a dim light, like an ink-jade mirror, and within it, scenes began to appear.

A golden ocean, vast and boundless. A massive black skull, like a giant ship, drifted upon that golden sea.

"The World of Immortality... the Forbidden Sea... the King Ship!" Xiao Chen exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.

Just then, something even more astonishing happened. The Five-Colored Skeleton King's second warrior, Keed, flew in front of the ink-jade-like forehead bone. Before he could stop himself, he took a step forward and stepped right into the scene, emerging above the golden sea.

"It's... a space gate!" said the God Tribe elder Zhao Ying in astonishment. "With the forehead bone as a link, this place connects to another world."

Xiao Chen's heart surged with waves of emotion. All of this strained the imagination. The King Ship in the golden Forbidden Sea, the Bone Well in the small city, the giant bones deep underground... they were all inextricably linked.