Checking in for 100,000 Years

"Little Horse!"

Ye Yun's expression changed as he suddenly spoke.

"My Lord, please give your instructions!"

The Big Black Horse instantly perked up.

"I have to leave for a while, but I will be back soon. For now, you take the carriage and wait for me at the Heavenly Star Dynasty..."

Ye Yun instructed calmly.

"Alright, My Lord!"

The Big Black Horse promptly nodded.

Ye Yun glanced at the emptiness before him.

The void suddenly split open. He stepped in and vanished in the twinkling of an eye.

Its hooves a blur, the Big Black Horse pulled the black carriage at lightning speed, leaving behind the Shenfeng Dynasty, which now showed no signs of life.

「...」

Ye Yun tore through the void, traversed a distance of hundreds of billions of miles, and arrived near an abyss enveloped in black qi. Standing in the void, he gazed at the distant Ancient Demon Abyss. Its gaping, pitch-black entrance resembled that of a colossal beast, and a familiar sensation washed over him.

A hundred thousand years ago, Ye Yun, Qin Yao, and Nangong Jade had formed a team to explore the Ancient Demon Abyss.

The Cangnan Continent has a long history, its vast territories holding many mysterious places inherited from ancient times. Few knew of these locations; only those at or above the level of a Super Sect were privy to information about these places, designated as Mysterious Forbidden Lands. The Ancient Demon Abyss was one of them. It was one such Mysterious Forbidden Land, passed down from the ancient era to the present day.

Within the Ancient Demon Abyss, there were numerous corpses of Ancient Giant Demons, though it was unknown who had slain them. And in the deepest part of the Ancient Demon Abyss, where the Demonic Qi was most concentrated, a few Ancient Giant Demons still lived.

On the periphery of the Ancient Demon Abyss stood the Eighteen Heavenly Iron Pillars. Their surfaces were covered in various mysterious runes that forcefully sealed the Ancient Giant Demons and the Demonic Qi within.

Even Cultivators of the Life and Death Realm faced a slim chance of survival if they rashly entered this place. Cultivators of the Eternal Realm could perish if they were not careful. The scattered corpses of slain Ancient Giant Demons had long since undergone various grotesque transformations. Furthermore, the living Ancient Giant Demons, comparable to great Cultivators of the Eternal Realm, possessed terrifying strength.

Ye Yun had once fought an Ancient Giant Demon, but the demon was no match for him and fled after being injured. The Ancient Giant Demons, as their name implied, stood up to a hundred zhang tall, possessed immense strength, and had formidable physical defenses. Whether by Divine Weapon or Divine Skill, it was challenging to inflict serious harm upon them. Fortunately, these Ancient Giant Demons had not broken through the seal of the Eighteen Heavenly Iron Pillars; otherwise, the entire Cangnan Continent would have suffered a catastrophe.

This place was rarely trodden by humans. Even Eternal Level Sects would not allow their Disciples to train here. Back then, Ye Yun, exceptionally skilled and daring, and finding himself bored at the time, had brought two female confidantes to explore this Ancient Demon Abyss. And their exploration had yielded some minor gains.

Ye Yun flipped his palm, and a Nail of Killing Immortals appeared. This blood-red nail was one of the gains from the Ancient Demon Abyss. He had gifted it to Qin Yao back then. Unexpectedly, it was because of this small Nail of Killing Immortals that a wisp of Qin Yao's lingering obsession had endured for a full hundred thousand years. Ye Yun sighed endlessly.

If not for that expedition to the Ancient Demon Abyss, he wouldn't have obtained the Nail of Killing Immortals. Qin Yao would likely have perished long ago, soon after his own death. A deep question troubled Ye Yun's mind. Qin Yao and Nangong Jade were like sisters, and his relationship with both of them had been excellent. So why would Nangong Jade attack the Dragon God Sect? And Qin Yao's eventual demise was also due to the appearance of an Ancient Giant Demon. These thoughts filled Ye Yun with suspicion.

"A hundred thousand years have passed. Nangong Jade must surely be long gone from this world?" Ye Yun murmured quietly to himself.

To be certain, Ye Yun ingested a few medicinal pills to restore his Mana. Then, he unleashed his formidable Divine Sense and began to scan the entire Cangnan Continent.

A hundred thousand years ago, Nangong Jade was at the peak of the Tenth Layer of the Life and Death Realm. If she were still alive today, she would undoubtedly be a great Cultivator in the Eternal Realm. But it was simply impossible for Cultivators of the Eternal Realm to live for so long.

To dispel the doubt in his heart, Ye Yun's formidable Divine Sense swept over every Eternal Realm Cultivator on the Cangnan Continent. After a moment, he opened his eyes, a faint trace of confusion appearing on his face.

Nangong Jade was not among any of the Eternal Realm Cultivators. This could only mean... Nangong Jade was no longer of this world. Why, then, did she attack the Dragon God Sect all those years ago? Could it be that Qin Yao discovered something, prompting Nangong Jade to act, sending an Ancient Giant Demon to eliminate her?

"But the two of them were always as close as sisters. What deep-seated hatred could have driven her to such a cruel act?"

As this thought crossed his mind, Ye Yun directed his gaze towards the Ancient Demon Abyss. To unravel this mystery, I must find those Ancient Giant Demons.

With a single step, he vanished from his spot, and in the next moment, he entered the Ancient Demon Abyss, a place swirling with Demonic Qi. The Black Demonic Qi, like thick black serpents, writhed around him, radiating a terrifying killing intent. It would desperately lunge at any suspicious lifeform it encountered. A faint white light emanated from Ye Yun. Upon seeing him, the Black Demonic Qi shrieked and scattered in terror.

Ye Yun nodded. When he first entered the Ancient Demon Abyss back then, his cultivation base was only at the Eternal Realm; it was far from being as effortless as it was now. Now, he was in the Divine Monarch Realm. For him, flattening the entire Ancient Demon Abyss would be a simple matter. However, his main purpose this time was to find clues, so he naturally wouldn't raze the Ancient Demon Abyss to the ground.

Reflecting on the events Qin Yao had described, Ye Yun quickly came to a new realization. It was said that the two hundred fiftieth Sect Master of the Dragon God Sect had once offended a formidable power, leading to the Sect's continuous suppression. But in truth, it seemed that after his own demise, an unseen mastermind had already begun to exact revenge on the Dragon God Sect and those close to him.

Back then, Ye Yun had offended so many people; he couldn't immediately pinpoint who would have such audacity. If even Qin Yao was a target of revenge, then it was highly probable that his other confidantes had also been eliminated by this hidden mastermind. At this thought, a blaze of fury ignited within Ye Yun's heart.

However, too much time had passed—a full hundred thousand years. Most people from that era were long gone. Ye Yun knew that uncovering the truth from so far in the past would be incredibly difficult. This was far more challenging than identifying the mastermind who had been suppressing the Dragon God Sect for the past nearly ten thousand years.

"How interesting. Two masterminds..."

Ye Yun gave a faint smile, then broke through the surging Demonic Qi and flew deeper into the abyss.

The Ancient Demon Abyss was perpetually shrouded in dense Demonic Qi. The surroundings were a scene of chaos. Gleaming white bones lay scattered everywhere, alongside fragments of broken weapons and remnants of Dharma treasures. No ancient Sect on the Cangnan Continent possessed detailed records about the Ancient Demon Abyss.

Having been here once, Ye Yun naturally knew that an indescribably ferocious battle had once taken place here. Not only had many human Cultivators perished here, but there were also colossal skeletons belonging to fallen members of the Demon Clan. Others belonged to Ancient Giant Demons; these beings had been brutally dismembered, with severed limbs strewn about.

However, after an Ancient Giant Demon died, its corpse would be enveloped in Demonic Qi, causing its decay process to slow considerably. As a result, these fragments of Giant Demon corpses would give birth to numerous bizarre consciousnesses. Severed arms, disembodied heads, or even single legs could often be seen flying about within the Black Demonic Qi of the Ancient Demon Abyss.