The Ancient Battlefield: Curses, Omens, and the Dream Flower's Root

The ancient battlefield was somber and dim, a sinister haze coiling like demonic shadows. A chilling dread permeated the air.

Crack

From within a sprawling ruin ahead came the sharp sound of brittle wood snapping, tightening every nerve.

“Be careful,” King of Reincarnation warned. “Any corner of this battlefield might conceal unimaginable danger.”

Broken walls and scattered debris lay before them—a chaos that had endured countless ages. The ruins had not fully decayed, a testament to the divine power that had once fortified them.

A rustling sound came from the rubble, as if something was struggling to rise. The tension mounted.

Scrape

A tiny, fleshy paw emerged from the debris, pushing aside stones with difficulty. A small figure crawled out, dazed and uncertain.

“Ya ya—”

Keke started. That tiny form was strikingly similar to its own—a member of the Heaven-Defying Clan, without a doubt.

Even Xiao Chen and the others froze in disbelief. How could a member of the Heaven-Defying Clan appear in this primordial battlefield?

It was a petrified little beast, scarcely a foot tall, pitiful and lost. It touched its own broken arm with a tiny paw, eyes vacant.

Yes, it was missing a forearm. The sight stirred instant pity.

Keke’s large eyes reddened, tears welling. It would have rushed forward, but Xiao Chen held it back. In this eerie, malevolent field, such appearances invited suspicion.

“How can this be?” murmured the Little Defiant Dragon, also doubtful.

“Is that Keke’s ancestor?” Sha Polang’s eyes went wide with astonishment.

The three skeletons remained cautious, scanning the petrified beast ahead.

“The Death World was once the center of all realms, where mighty beings from every corner paid homage. That great war occurred long before the conflict between the Otherworld and the Land of Chaos. Could it be that Keke’s clan had already been cursed by that time?” Xiao Chen’s voice was thick with questions. He probed carefully and confirmed that the little beast was not an illusion—it was genuine stone.

The beast stared blankly in their direction, utterly vacant, as if its soul had been stripped away. It mechanically rubbed its broken limb.

“Ya ya…” Keke was heartbroken, reaching out a tiny paw as if to comfort the petrified creature.

Xiao Chen led Keke forward slowly. In this ancient battlefield, caution was paramount—he would not let the little one be caught off guard.

The King of Reincarnation, King Qin Guang, the Little Defiant Dragon, and the others followed closely, gathering at the ruins to silently observe the stone beast.

Like a little wretch, it stared with blank eyes, without wit or spirit.

Xiao Chen furrowed his brow. Extending his divine sense for a closer look, he confirmed it was a true stone body, not some exquisite illusion. Keke’s eyes spilled tears as it stepped forward.

Thump, thump

The stone jar at Xiao Chen’s waist vibrated violently. He changed color instantly and summoned the Stone-Man King puppet, even as the jar flew out of its own accord.

Keke had grown wary through many trials; before Xiao Chen could pull it back, it had already enveloped itself in Paradise Lost.

The others braced for battle, but strangely, the petrified little beast was smoothly drawn into Paradise Lost without resistance. As it entered, the last trace of vitality seemed to drain away, leaving it completely fossilized—still and lifeless.

“Not good! That primordial curse spirit deliberately led us here. He has set a death array—the curse power in this ground is overwhelming!” The King of Reincarnation cried out in shock.

The three skeletons, most sensitive to curses, felt their very marrow freeze as a dreadful aura flooded the surroundings.

Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent reacted instantly, darting into Keke’s Paradise Lost. Xiao Chen quickly deployed the Divine Diagram and the Ancient Scroll, arranging them around the group.

ROAR!

A heaven-shaking howl erupted from the ruins. In the distance, a hideous demonic shadow writhed within a cloud of black mist. As it roared, baleful beams shot up from all around Xiao Chen’s party, piercing the heavens.

“A cursed dead land…” Yanluo Wang was furious.

“The seed of the Dream Flower was my hope for rebirth, yet you snatched it first! You will all die!” The voice was like a mourning night owl and a cursing ghost, dripping with rancor, chilling the blood.

All around, sword-like strands of killing qi moved in unseen currents, bringing death so close that everyone felt its icy breath. These were the tangible forms of intangible curses—their sheer scale defied imagination.

Xiao Chen and the others could not feel it clearly, but King Qin Guang, Yanluo Wang, and the King of Reincarnation were terrified. In their eyes, the curse power surged like a cataclysmic tide, flooding heaven and earth.

Compared to the intangible curses they knew, this was an apocalypse beyond their understanding.

“Such overwhelming force—no expert could withstand it! Even a Stone-Man King would surely fall here!” exclaimed the King of Reincarnation.

Hundreds of curses interwove, forming a tornado that engulfed the ruins.

But a long time passed, and the dreadful curses did not descend; no one died.

“Could this stone jar truly suppress all curses?” The group could scarcely believe it. The thousand-fold waves of curse energy circled them, raging endlessly, yet never touching them.

The stone jar hung quietly in the void, radiating a soft light like a calm anchor, unmoving.

“Roar! How can this be? Could that be the legendary Source of All Evil?” The demonic shadow in the black mist roared in fury.

The stone jar, previously still, blazed with brilliant light. Every mark on its surface flared, and the torrents of curse power surged toward it, converging like a thousand rivers returning to the sea.

“That’s the Soul-Snatching Curse!”

“And the Soul-Extinguishing Curse!”

The three skeletons exclaimed in awe, recognizing many lost curse techniques. But all were devoured by the stone jar, as if all curses flowed home to one source.

Heaven and earth were vast and dim. The towering waves of curse energy continuously surged and converged from every direction.

Like a small sun, the stone jar illuminated the primordial battlefield. Every mark upon it seemed alive, gently trembling and writhing.

“No—is it really the Source of All Evil?!”

The demonic shadow screamed, its form rapidly fading like smoke about to dissipate.

“By heaven!” The three skeletons were astounded. “He was formed from hundreds and thousands of curses! He used the scattered curse power of the battlefield to reforge a body!”

The stone jar suppressed endless curses. The shadow’s fate was sealed. Half an hour later, the ruins fell silent. The tidal waves of curse power had been completely absorbed by the stone jar, and the shadow vanished into it, forever still.

“The Source of All Evil…” Xiao Chen frowned, studying the stone jar in his hand. It had now dimmed, looking ancient and ordinary.

“Ya ya?” Keke shook Paradise Lost, puzzled, as the petrified beast showed no response.

“It’s a fake, crafted from the remains of a Stone Man.” Xiao Chen sent divine power into the stone body and immediately saw through the deception.

Still, it was a treasure. Though most of the Stone Man’s essence had leaked away, a trace remained worth refining.

This unexpected incident had eliminated the curse spirit, and the three skeletons breathed long sighs of relief. Finally, the menace of ten thousand years was ended.

Keke discovered a withered half-root at the spot where the shadow had been hiding. It brought it back to show Xiao Chen. The root was barely a foot long, dry and brittle, nearly rotted—it seemed a single touch would snap it.

But repeated attempts by Xiao Chen and Keke could not damage it in the slightest.

“This belonged to that curse spirit,” said the King of Reincarnation, frowning. “It has no life force, yet feels strangely familiar.”

“Indeed, there is an unusual sensation,” Yanluo Wang agreed.

“It looks very much like the root of the Dream Flower,” Keke said in its childish voice.

Everyone examined it closely. Though withered, the root indeed resembled that of the Dream Flower.

They were not surprised by the little one’s keen sensitivity.

“It really is the Dream Flower’s root. No wonder that curse spirit pestered us for over ten thousand years—perhaps the seed was truly lost by him in this battlefield,” sighed King Qin Guang. Then he wondered, “What use is a withered root? Why didn’t he discard it?”

Xiao Chen’s heart stirred. This sacred object, drawn on the Ancestral Dragon Skin Map, must be extraordinary. “Keke, try planting it in your Paradise Lost.”

“It’s been dead for ages. What good can planting it do?” The little thing grumbled reluctantly but finally planted it.

Instantly, everyone sensed an unusual aura—vast life essence began to flow rapidly.

“This—” All showed surprise.

“Is it… truly reviving?” Keke stared at the dry root with curiosity.

The next moment, life essence within Paradise Lost surged even more fiercely. Streams of multicolored light converged toward the withered root.

“Ya ya! Not good!” Keke cried out. “My orchard!”

Nearby divine trees—the celestial peach tree, the flying immortal tree, the purple-diamond yin wood—all had their essence drained, drawn away by the root. The little one was frantic to stop it.

“Let it be for now,” Xiao Chen held it back.

A full hour passed before the life essence stopped flowing. All the spirit trees drooped, their leaves wilted, as if they had suffered a century of drought.

Yet the withered root, having absorbed such vast vitality, showed no change—still dry, still lifeless.

“How awful!” Keke fumed, wanting to yank it out, but finally restrained itself.

“Wait patiently. Perhaps one day it will sprout new leaves. It clearly hasn’t completely lost its vitality. When it does, it might bear fruit—you’ll be salivating then.”

Keke wrinkled its nose and stopped grumbling.

They searched the ruins for another half hour but found nothing more, then continued onward.

“Do we really have to go that way? It’s extremely dangerous!” the three skeletons warned Xiao Chen.

Now, following his intuition, Xiao Chen headed deeper into the primordial battlefield, toward the aura of a Heavenly Stele.

After only a hundred li, they felt the terrifying fluctuations.

The grim sky churned with demonic mist. A thunderclap cracked, nearly splitting their eardrums.

Blood-red lightning, hundreds of li long, slashed across the pitch-black sky like rivers of blood, a sight most dreadful.

Massive thunder shook the earth, and from the ancient battlefield rose the wailing of ghosts.

“Whenever someone approaches the deepest forbidden zone, phenomena arise—each different, but always perilous. In our time, we stopped here, daring not advance,” said Yanluo Wang, peering ahead, recalling past fear.

The presence of the Heavenly Stele grew clearer. Xiao Chen sensed that this stele seemed more imposing than any he had encountered before.

“Could this be the legendary eighth or ninth Heavenly Stele?”

He had seen traces of the first seven, but knew nothing of the last two except from the Ancestral Dragon Skin Map.

Crack!

A thunderous blast split heaven and earth. A bolt of blood-red lightning, half a li wide and thousands of li long, seemed to tear open the dark firmament, racing right above them.

Like standing on the edge of an abyss, like entering the cycle of reincarnation—the dreadful pressure made everyone pale, their hairs standing on end. A cold chill rose from the depths of their hearts.

BOOM

The ancient battlefield shook. Fortunately, the blood-red lightning did not strike; it arced into the distance.

The blinding crimson made one think instantly of fresh blood. Such terrifying and sinister lightning chilled the soul.

“You must not follow. I will go ahead alone and see what lies beyond,” Xiao Chen said, unwilling to risk his companions.

“Ya ya!” Keke immediately protested, insisting on coming.

The Little Defiant Dragon and the three skeletons also stepped forward, determined to accompany him.

In the end, no one stayed behind. Xiao Chen could not persuade them and did not want them to take risks on his account.

“We can hide in Paradise Lost; it should be safe,” said Sha Polang and the Nine-Headed Serpent, promptly entering Keke’s world.

“Very well, but stay alert and be ready to retreat.”

They advanced another ten li. Suddenly, with several booming crashes, five massive blood-red lightning bolts struck down from the dark sky, and a rain of blood began to fall.

“True blood rain…” Xiao Chen stared at the crimson liquid in his palm, his expression grave.

Crack!

Two lightning bolts struck beside Xiao Chen, and the corpses of gods and demons tumbled through the air.

“That…” The Little Defiant Dragon and Keke widened their eyes in shock.

“Legend says the deeper you go, the more terrible it becomes. From ancient times until now, very few have ever penetrated the deepest depths,” Yanluo Wang said, his eye sockets gleaming with wary light.

BOOM

A gigantic blood-red fireball exploded in the sky, briefly illuminating the ancient battlefield like day, then countless divine and demonic corpses cascaded down from the heavens.

When the blood-red light faded, all the corpses vanished.

“What kind of cursed place is this?” Sha Polang shuddered in Paradise Lost, feeling a chill creeping up his spine.

They advanced another few dozen li, and then—DONG!—a colossal sound like the heavenly drum of the Nine Heavens boomed, shaking the battlefield as if it would overturn.

“That’s—” Xiao Chen’s eyes blazed with piercing light. As another blood-red lightning bolt tore across the sky, he saw it: a vast, majestic silhouette loomed, covering the firmament.

The Ninety-Nine Stone Steps swept across the heavens!

“An illusion? Or a replay of a bygone scene? This cannot be real!” Xiao Chen’s eyes shot out brilliant beams. As the light faded, the Ninety-Nine Stone Steps vanished completely.

BOOM

Another thunderous crash. A blood-red lightning bolt ten thousand li long split the dark sky, and several colossal Heavenly Stele shadows swept across the firmament.

“How is this possible?!”

Xiao Chen’s pupils contracted sharply. Shock flooded his heart. Why was he seeing such visions?

“Ya ya…” Keke murmured, equally shaken.

Everyone was stunned, feeling a chill that seemed to reach into their very souls.