The Decaying Stone Man

A living Stone Man!

The sudden appearance shocked Xiao Chen deeply.

Not far away, a broken, crumbling stone hand groped along the cold, hard ground, pulling itself up from beneath the foundations. It had emerged from below the foundation, unable to budge the stone base itself, yet it shattered the surrounding hard earth to see the light of day again.

The blood radiance that shrouded the area surged wildly, madly grinding against that stone palm. A rustling sound followed as stone powder showered down.

It was not that the stone hand was fragile—it was nearly rotted through, already in a state like bean curd dregs, pitted and pocked like a honeycomb. Even as it emerged, stone powder automatically crumbled and fell.

Bang!

The stone hand, extended with great effort, suddenly shook violently, cracking the hard earth even wider and revealing a longer arm.

It was a wretched, grotesque sight —like a piece of rotten wood decayed to its extreme. The stone arm was rotted through in many places, with only thin strands connecting some sections, as if they might snap at any moment.

That a Stone Man, supposedly indestructible and imperishable, could be in a state worse than rotten wood was shocking beyond belief. It was hard to imagine what kind of ordeal this Stone Man had suffered to be reduced to such a miserable state.

The surrounding blood radiance rushed furiously, sweeping in to strike, and another shower of stone powder fell.

After his initial shock, Xiao Chen summoned the Divine Diagram before him and charged over, instantly enveloping the Stone Man’s hand.

A stone arm so broken and near shapeless—if it had been a Stone Man of this abandoned land, why would blood radiance of the same origin sweep and destroy it?

Bang!

The Divine Diagram descended weightily, shattering the utterly decayed stone arm into fragments, like a broken jar dashed against the ground. There was hardly any divine power left in it.

A very faint voice came from beneath the foundation of the great palace. The Stone Man within still had a trace of divine consciousness—not weak by ordinary standards, but utterly unworthy of a Stone Man’s station.

Sensing this, Xiao Chen relaxed. This Stone Man posed no threat; he could easily suppress it.

Having made his judgment, Xiao Chen broke open the cold, rock-hard ground, pushed the shattered earth aside, and dug a large pit, gradually revealing what lay underground.

It was a ghastly sight!

More than half of the Stone Man’s body was pinned beneath the foundation, with only half a skull and the right shoulder and arm exposed. Clearly, even that exposed part had taken untold ages of struggle to escape from the foundation.

Xiao Chen probed with his powerful divine sense to see what lay beneath the foundation, but he found that the great palace possessed a mysterious power that could block a probe from even a cultivator of his level.

Indeed, it was worthy of being a forbidden land in this abandoned realm. In a sense, this great palace had once been the Sacred Hall of the Land of Sin, bearing unimaginable divine force. The world itself had been destroyed, yet it remained perfectly preserved.

Xiao Chen merged with the Divine Diagram, taking on a similar aura to the palace, and only then could he slowly explore the conditions beneath the foundation.

The part of the Stone Man crushed under the foundation had completely rotted away, long turned to yellow earth. The lightest force would make it crumble.

Only half a skull, a right shoulder, and a right arm remained. The Stone Man opened its single eye, staring coldly at Xiao Chen, and spoke in a very weak voice, "You are not my descendant. You are the scion of the sinners of this chaotic land."

It naturally transmitted its thoughts through divine sense, as the odd ancient syllables it occasionally uttered were impossible to understand. Although its stone body was nearly decayed, its innate authority remained—this had been a supreme king of the Otherworld.

"How did you come to be sealed here?" Xiao Chen looked down at it coldly, the Divine Diagram hovering above its skull, ready to strike at any moment.

"Are you interrogating me from on high?" Though the Stone Man was extremely weak, its deep eyes shot two sharp beams of light, a glimpse of its former lordly demeanor. Even in disgrace, it carried a certain bearing, as if it still held the initiative.

Bang!

In response, Xiao Chen said nothing, simply drove the Divine Diagram down, destroying the Stone Man’s honeycombed right shoulder, grinding it into yellow earth.

He felt no pity or mercy for this former sovereign king. It was precisely Stone Men like this of the Otherworld that had turned the Land of Sin into its present state.

"Even if you don't tell me, I know. In the great war of old, you sought to destroy this palace but were instead suppressed here by the Stone Man king of the Land of Sin." Xiao Chen stared coldly into its eye. "I didn't expect your life force to be so tenacious—countless civilization epochs have passed, yet you still haven't completely vanished. If I hadn't come here by chance, you might have escaped a wisp of your divine thought and borrowed a corpse to reanimate your soul."

"You talk too much!" Though only a decayed half-skull remained, the Stone Man still struck a posture of world-dominating disdain, not deigning to look Xiao Chen straight in the eye. The meaning was clear: "Men like you, I could have crushed a whole host of with a flip of my hand back then." That was the unmistakable attitude of an Otherworld Stone Man—that arrogance, that self-assurance of one who acknowledges no equal, undisguised.

Xiao Chen was not angered. He knew well that a complete Stone Man indeed possessed the supreme divine power to overturn heaven and earth with a gesture, to control all creation. But not being angry did not mean he would let it off. He gently shook the Divine Diagram, intending to probe the Stone Man's memories with his divine sense.

For a being of this level was a living treasure trove. Not to mention its various divine abilities and combat techniques, even the unique method for advancing to become a Stone Man would make even Ancestral Gods fight each other to obtain it—especially this Stone Man king, a former ruler of the Otherworld. Its mind cultivation method was surely a world-shaking supreme art.

"You want the treasure trove of my divine consciousness?" The Stone Man laughed coldly, letting the Divine Diagram descend without any intention of resisting.

Seeing this, Xiao Chen stopped the Divine Diagram and did not act rashly. A dying camel is still bigger than a horse—this had been a Stone Man king, after all, and surely possessed some extremely sinister divine arts. But since he was merged with the Divine Diagram, he had nothing to fear.

"Come. My treasure trove of divine consciousness is open to you. My great Dao must be passed down; it cannot be extinguished in this dark, sunless place." The Stone Man spoke as if to its own descendants, not at all like it was addressing a descendant of its enemies.

After a slight hesitation, Xiao Chen fixed his gaze on the Stone Man.

"Afraid? I need no scheme against you. My Dao cannot be imparted to you, but I will use you to spread it. My descendants will surely obtain this supreme Dao one day!" The Stone Man’s single eye glowed dimly as it said in a low voice, "From the moment you appeared before me, it was inevitable. You will become the vessel for my Dao transmission!"

"Arrogant nonsense!" Xiao Chen snorted coldly.

At that moment, the nearly decayed stone skull suddenly emitted beams of yellow light—not attacking Xiao Chen, but merely floating around the skull itself. At the same time, the half-skull began to crack with a crunching sound, starting to break apart.

"I cannot die at another’s hands. Only I am worthy of killing myself." With these words, the stone skull completely collapsed, and a final wisp of yellow light shot out from the single eye. A hazy yellow radiance streaked toward the Divine Diagram. Xiao Chen was prepared; the Diagram descended hazily to meet it.

Boom!

A great explosion shook the palace, and the surrounding blood radiance retreated like a receding tide, opening a vast space of clear sky.

A decaying Stone Man, suppressed for countless civilization epochs and on the verge of utter destruction, still displayed such terrifying divine power—far beyond Xiao Chen's expectations. If he had not been protected by the Divine Diagram, an ordinary Ancestral God would likely have been annihilated.

Such was the residual power of a true Stone Man king. What overwhelming might would they have possessed at their peak?

The Divine Diagram shook violently, grinding away at the faint yellow light wave after wave, but in the end, a beam of yellow radiance pierced into the Diagram.

"I recall those glorious years—the entire world trembled beneath my feet! Nothing could stop my advance!" At that moment, a towering figure materialized within the Divine Diagram, facing Xiao Chen with a domineering, world-despising attitude.

"But now you can only remember," Xiao Chen replied calmly.

A heaven-shaking roar erupted. The figure of the Otherworld Stone Man king expanded massively within the world of the Divine Diagram, swelling to a sky-scraping, terrifying stature.

He was trying to shatter the Divine Diagram, to destroy this supreme treasure that had once cost the Otherworld dearly!

The Diagram grew hazy, then burst forth ten thousand beams of light. Mysterious power flowed from all sides, grinding against the giant shadow like sharp blades cutting through loose earth, easily shattering it.

"As I said, you can only remember now… you are no longer what you once were!" Xiao Chen stood in the distance, watching all of this calmly.

"Roar…!"

Though the giant figure was shattered, it still surged toward Xiao Chen.

The Diagram grew hazy again; countless beams of light swirled within, gathering into a vast and mighty force that ground down the phantom until it was utterly destroyed.

But the purest drop of its origin remained, taking shape before him as a crystal-clear image: a Stone Man standing alone in the void—evil and demonic to the extreme, his gaze sharp as a blade. A wild, frenzied, peerless Stone Man! It was as stunning and shocking as the five stone carved diagrams Xiao Chen had imprinted on his heart.

At the final moment of destruction, the Stone Man revealed such divine bearing, such an emphatic image—what did it mean?

"I told you—my great Dao cannot be severed. You will be the vessel for spreading my supreme art!" The wild, frenzied Stone Man displayed his bearing to the fullest, his ultimate dharma form revealed in all its clarity, burning itself into Xiao Chen’s heart.

"From the moment you appeared before me, it was inevitable. You will transmit my Dao for me." The Stone Man, at this moment, had no emotional fluctuation; he only manifested his divine bearing, seeking to leave his Dao brand.

"You say I will transmit it, and I will? I may grasp your Dao brand, but your descendants will never even dream of it!" Xiao Chen stood quietly in the distance, replying coldly.

"Hahaha!" The Stone Man laughed loudly. "None but my descendants can cultivate my great Dao!"

With that, the wild, frenzied Stone Man abruptly charged toward Xiao Chen.

By now, Xiao Chen was a little uneasy. A former Stone Man king with heaven-spanning, earth-shattering abilities might possess unimaginable means. He directly shook the Divine Diagram and struck out with two Heavenly Marks to block the figure.

Boom!

A violent shock. The last wisp of the Stone Man’s origin collapsed, but in the instant before it vanished, that image blazed with incomparable brilliance, as if illuminating a thousand ages and connecting past and present.

It appeared clearly before Xiao Chen’s eyes, leaving an indelible impression—even if he wanted to forget, he could not.

"Use your body to transmit my great Dao!" These were the final words of the Otherworld Stone Man king before he dissipated into nothingness.

Xiao Chen had once spent a full fifty years imprinting the stone carved diagrams of five Stone Man kings from the great palace into his heart—a tremendous effort. Yet this Otherworld Stone Man king had taken such an extreme path: destroying himself to force his ultimate dharma form and bearing into Xiao Chen’s mind, compelling him to remember it.

"Use my body to transmit your Dao…" Xiao Chen sneered. He was not worried. He believed that as his realm advanced, he would naturally be able to fathom the other’s Dao rhythm. He did not fear that this would someday create a Stone Man of the Otherworld; he simply regarded it as a grand gift received.

He emerged from the Divine Diagram, standing on the cold earth, watching ghostly phantoms flit about in the blood radiance. Slowly, he walked into the distance.

Xiao Chen did not know how to return. He wandered through this ruined land, encountering the black hurricane again—the torrent formed from the grudges of ten thousand ages no longer hunted him, having acknowledged him as it had the great palace.

Far beyond the blood curtain, he turned to look back. The great palace stood towering; blood light surged to heaven, as if connected to some unknown place.

Xiao Chen soared up into the deep vault of the sky, heading toward a place where the blood light merged—flickering and dimming, it seemed profoundly mysterious.

Clang! Clang!

The War Swords chimed softly; the Divine Diagram shook. Xiao Chen arrived in an instant—it was a broken passage through time and space.

Chaotic mist churned; time was in disorder, space twisted—mysterious and unfathomable.

"This seems to be a passage that was never fully opened. Where does it lead?" Xiao Chen was puzzled.

This ruined world, aside from three blood moons, one blood sun, and a few scattered stars, was utterly destroyed. The space passage itself had crumbled to this state—he wondered if it could still be reopened.

Xiao Chen was somewhat hopeful. Using the Divine Diagram to clear the way, he stepped inside and immediately felt the supreme force of time surge forward from all directions, as if trying to grind him to dust.

But he was no longer what he had been. His body was now comparable to an Ancestral God’s; an Ancestral God’s flesh blazed with ten thousand beams of light, and all temporal power dissolved before him. Xiao Chen strode forward.

After advancing several hours, he felt this place grow ever more mysterious. The space passage was vast and ethereal; tiny stars had been refined into bright pearls, embedded around the chaotic tunnel, dazzlingly radiant, exuding an aura of infinite antiquity.

Just then, a broken fragment of stone blocked the way ahead. Several ancient characters were carved on it, the strokes like iron hooks and silver sweeps, vigorous and forceful.

Xiao Chen did not recognize a single one. That script was too ancient, like a celestial book to him. But there was a faint divine consciousness imprint on it. When his divine sense swept over it, an immensely dignified fluctuation of thought transmitted:

"Forbidden ground—stop. Ahead lies the passage to the Celestial Realm."