The Army Burial Valley

The Army Burial Valley blazed with murderous intent. The manifest thought-image of the Brass Eight Trigram descended like a heavenly canopy, sealing off the mouth of the second valley with an overwhelming, dreadful momentum that set the entire valley trembling, as if it might shatter at any moment.

The Martial Imprint strode to the colossal divine tree and gave a violent shudder. Azure light blazed from his entire body, and in an instant, he merged with the giant tree.

"Boom!"

The three-hundred-zhang divine tree burst into dazzling radiance, as if reborn in that instant. Like a heavenly pillar supporting the cosmos, it exuded an ancient, terrifying aura. Pinpricks of cyan light began to flicker within its pitch-black wooden body, growing denser by the moment.

This was the Martial Imprint of yore—or rather, the martial ancestor’s divine weapon, a true divine tree!

"Boom!"

Thunderclaps exploded around the tree, electricity completely engulfing it. The three-hundred-zhang tree had gained life, truly resurrected. One could even clearly sense it breathing.

Once the Martial Imprint merged with its original body, it became a divine ancestor weapon with its own soul. Now it had reached an inconceivable level of power.

"Hahaha…" It roared with laughter. But it did not carry the dignity of a Divine Ancestor—it sounded more like a ten-thousand-year-old fiend emerging from the earth. Even more absurdly, the divine tree actually bent over, its normally straight trunk curving into an arc.

"This charlatan is getting carried away," Xiao Chen muttered, thoroughly dissatisfied with the spectacle. He knew that the divine tree before him had possibly reached the Divine Ancestor realm, but he still could not summon an iota of respect. In his eyes, this old trickster was a shameless divine swindler.

Bai Qi wanted to laugh but couldn't, and simply warned Xiao Chen to be careful.

"Hey, boy, you don't like it? Even if you train for another thousand years, you'll still have to bow your head before me!" The Martial Imprint shook its charlatan's divine-tree body with exaggerated glee, its laughter booming through the valley.

"What arrogance…" Xiao Chen could only mutter helplessly.

"Clang!"

A tremendous noise suddenly erupted from deep within the second valley. The Martial Imprint was so startled that it instantly dropped its wild demeanor, sensing something terribly wrong. It swiftly shrank its body and shot out through the gap connecting the two valleys.

"Charlatan, you finally came out! No longer hiding in your shell! Today you are doomed to be refined!" the Brass Eight Trigram roared with overweening arrogance.

"Want to refine me and gain divine power? You have indeed transformed into a world-shaking evil weapon. But I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I am now a union of soul and body — not something a bound Eight Trigram like you can suppress."

"What if we join in?" The mysterious man holding the Chaotic War Halberd and the mysterious woman bearing the War Sword stepped forward together.

"Roar!"

Several divine ancestor weapons forced the Martial Imprint into the central region, where the Brass Eight Trigram, bound by giant iron chains, was shaking its body violently. The eight mysterious symbols of the Eight Trigram burst forth with countless beams of light, sealing toward the Martial Imprint.

This was the true power of a Divine Ancestor—utterly unassailable by mortal strength.

The Martial Imprint sensed the danger. The divine tree took human form, shaking heaven and earth, unleashing Martial Way combat power to its utmost limit.

"Want to seal me? Impossible—unless a Divine Ancestor comes in person!"

Every punch he threw sent rivers roaring through the valley, shaking the Eight Wastes. That was the terrifying power of a supreme martial artist, enough to crush any obstacle.

"I am a Divine Ancestor today, and I will refine you for certain!" The Brass Eight Trigram's voice was cold and merciless.

"You're not worthy!"

"You are far too arrogant." The mysterious man with the Chaotic War Halberd swung his weapon, and everything within its reach turned to primordial chaos as he and the mysterious woman attacked together.

At the same time, the black unicorn and a three-headed, nine-tailed tyrannosaur charged in with savage force.

"Ah…!"

The Martial Imprint roared, his fists shattering the void. The energy from his mouth stretched for hundreds of li, colliding violently with the eight mysterious symbols. The entire valley shook, while his fists clashed incessantly with the Chaotic War Halberd, producing deafening metallic screams.

"Clang!" The Martial Imprint used his physical body to send the mountain-sized black unicorn and tyrannosaur flying.

"Invincible under the Martial Way!"

"Rumble!"

The first valley shook violently. The Martial Imprint fought several divine ancestor weapons; though at a disadvantage, he showed no signs of defeat.

"Bam!"

But at that moment, something unexpected happened. From the darkness another figure emerged, who hurled a smooth stone ball that struck the Martial Imprint squarely on the back, sending him flying.

"Stone weapon!"

The Martial Imprint shot out two cold beams from his eyes, staring icily at the divine weapons, then turning to the person holding the stone weapon. His eyes flared with terrifying light.

"You!"

In the second valley, Xiao Chen broke out in a cold sweat. To have someone approach within such close range without his divine sense detecting them was almost unthinkable.

He finally broke free of the attacker, but in the distance, Bai Qi had been felled, alive or dead unknown.

Xiao Chen turned to see the creature that had struck him—a golden Ancestral Dragon. No, perhaps it was better called a Dragon King, because though it possessed the head and body of an Ancestral Dragon, it lacked several dragon claws. It looked more like a thick millstone-sized serpent topped with a dragon head, its whole body gleaming gold.

"Who are you!"

"I am the greatest being in all the world — —"

As it spoke, the Ancestral Dragon-headed serpent swelled, growing to the thickness of a house, coiling like a great mountain.

"It's you!" Xiao Chen ground his teeth in fury.

This monster was actually the Golden Divine Halberd in disguise! Though its appearance had changed drastically, he had recognized it.

"Why did you ambush me? What happened to Bai Qi?" Xiao Chen said darkly, preparing to unleash the twenty-seven War Swords to cleave this fellow.

"Hahaha…" The Golden Divine Halberd laughed smugly. "He's fine—just knocked unconscious by Old Black."

At that moment, a massive black shadow flew over—it was indeed the Dark-Iron Seal, which had transformed not into an animal but a pitch-black miniature mountain.

"You two…" Xiao Chen harbored no enmity toward them; they had cooperated well in the past.

"We didn't mean to ambush you. This place is too sinister and perilous. We wanted to secretly send you out of the valley," the Golden Divine Halberd explained, though its words sounded a bit like overcompensating.

"You two have made quite the progress. In just over a hundred years, you've achieved super-evolution and reached the Sixth Heaven of Half-Ancestor…"

"Super-evolution? What, you think we're scrap iron? Back in the day, we were peerless divine weapons! Damn it all—if we hadn't fallen by accident…" The Golden Divine Halberd was indignant but stopped himself, as if reluctant to say more.

Xiao Chen knew that in the distant past, they had certainly been no ordinary artifacts; otherwise, how could they have so easily slain the past incarnations of Laozi and the Buddha on the Demon Plain?

"Isn't the second valley a cursed land? How can you come and go freely?"

"Although the second valley is sinister, there is a secret passage leading outside. We dare not go to the first valley, but we can wander freely around the outskirts of the second."

"How did you find this place?" Xiao Chen had many questions.

Hearing this, the Dark-Iron Seal said indignantly, "You ruined us back then. If you were going to shatter your body, fine, but you dragged us down with you…"

Xiao Chen found the tone unpleasant and wanted to kick them both.

"We followed that stone drill in here. It bored a secret passage."

Xiao Chen was startled. He paid special attention to the Stone Man and the stone weapons, having experienced their terrifying power firsthand in years past.

Legend said the Stone Man's body was divided into nine parts and treasured by the various Divine Ancestors—definitely not ordinary artifacts!

Hearing such news again, how could he not be excited? He pressed urgently, "Where did that stone drill go?"

"God damn it, it disappeared. After entering, we never saw it again."

Xiao Chen fell into deep thought. A stone weapon had also entered the Army Burial Valley—this place was clearly extraordinary.

"Let's get you two out of here. This is no place to linger."

When Bai Qi regained consciousness, he immediately charged at the Dark-Iron Seal, but Xiao Chen stopped him and briefly explained the situation.

The Golden Divine Halberd and the Dark-Iron Seal had obtained mysterious power within the valley, allowing them to blend into the environment easily—hence their successful sneak attacks on Bai Qi and Xiao Chen.

"A secret passage connecting to the outside? Unbelievable…" Bai Qi had thought this was a closed world, never expecting a spatial passage to remain.

"Wrong, wrong—that way leads deeper into the valley. We need to hug the edge." Noticing Xiao Chen and Bai Qi heading the wrong way, the Dark-Iron Seal quickly corrected them. It had been years since they had dared venture into the valley's depths.

"Clang!"

Just then, another tremendous noise boomed, shaking the valley. Could it be some massive creature turning over? Xiao Chen wondered anxiously, and asked the Golden Divine Halberd, "You two have lived here so long—do you know what that is?"

"That weird sound never happened before. We found it very strange today too, so we wanted to send you out as fast as possible to avoid accidents. Even we need to lie low."

"Clang!" Another violent tremor shook the valley, sending rocks tumbling down the cliffs.

"Clink! Clink!"

"Ouch!"

The Dark-Iron Seal and the Golden Divine Halberd cried out in pain as a pebble-sized chip that bounced off the mountains struck them. It felt like being crushed by a hundred thousand great mountains.

They found this incredible.

Xiao Chen's heavenly eye perceived immediately that something was wrong. He snatched up the small stone that had rolled to the ground.

After careful examination, his body shook and his heart raced with excitement—he could hardly believe his eyes.

This was a tiny stone skull!

No, half a stone skull—perfectly split down the middle, leaving only the left half of a stone cranium!

The moment he picked it up, he confirmed in an instant: it was from the same source as the broken stone man fragments he had collected years ago!

Its half-skull is actually here…

Xiao Chen gazed up at the pitch-black valley cliffs, hoping for more discoveries.

"Motherf***er!"

This was the favorite exclamation of the Dark-Iron Seal and the Golden Divine Halberd. Seeing the broken stone skull, both of them screamed.

"Boom!"

At that moment, a violent explosion came from ahead, accompanied by a surge of powerful energy.

"Not good!"

The Dark-Iron Seal and the Golden Divine Halberd cried out together and dashed forward.

"It's over—the secret passage is sealed!"

"The world's power has revived and closed that spatial channel!"

The two artifacts howled in panic.

Xiao Chen, however, was not alarmed. Finding half a stone skull here had shocked and thrilled him. He intended to explore further—perhaps there would be more discoveries.

Though he still did not understand what power this tiny Stone Man possessed, the fact that several Divine Ancestors had each treasured a fragment meant it was anything but ordinary.