After walking around the inside of the mountain for close to two hours, Chu Yang finally managed to find something different from the usual rocky terrain with a few large rocks appearing every now and then.
Not only that, but Chu Yang had also realized that the inside of the mountain was far larger than the mountain itself. If he was walking around outside, he would have at least managed to reach the edge of the sect given his current speed, yet the inside of the mountain did not seem to have any end in sight…
The thing in question was a large complex of ruins!
The ruins themselves looked like the remains of what had once been an ancient city, of which only a few pillars and walls remained intact over the long passage of time.
"I wonder what a city is doing inside a mountain…"
Saying his thoughts out loud as he made his way inside what little remained of the ancient city, Chu Yang began looking through the ruins. Trying his best to find anything that could help him figure out just why the city was there in the first place.
Walking through the empty streets of the ruins of the ancient city, Chu Yang soon arrived in front of the largest of all the buildings and also the one which remained the most intact over the years. Given the fact that it was located at the centre of the city, Chu Yang easily deduced that the building should have once belonged to the lord of the ancient city.
Looking around the premise of the large ruins resembling a small palace, Chu Yang could not help but feel a bit weird.
After having walked through the ancient city, Chu Yang saw no signs of combat having taken place inside the ancient city in the past. Even the buildings had no signs of being attacked, they had simply stood there over a long period of time and had slowly begun decaying and breaking apart without any maintenance.
As for the people who had once lived inside the ancient city, it seemed like they had just left. Leaving behind the city to slowly decay on its own…
Why they had just decided to leave their city, Chu Yang really had no idea. Maybe looking through the estate in the form of a decaying palace that belonged to the past lord of the city would have some clues as to what had happened, though he did not have too many hopes. After all, just from looking at the state of the ancient city, Chu Yang could tell just how long ago it had been since someone had truly lived inside the ruined ancient city!
Thump-! Crack~
Having made up his mind before entering the decaying small palace located at the centre of the city, Chu Yang was caught slightly off guard by the oversized rock eating rats inside the palace itself.
From the looks of it, it appeared that the oversized rock eating rats had made the abandoned and decaying palace into their home, as it should be quite hard for the stronger and more aggressive demon beasts to enter
"…"
Gazing over towards the oversized rock eating rats peacefully going about their own business without paying any attention to him, Chu Yang decided to also ignore them, as he slowly moved around them before making his way into the deeper parts of the decaying palace.
Rock eating rats were not hostile demon beasts and were instead the kind of demon beast that did not really care about humans unless they were attacked. Instead preferring to spend all their time eating rocks.
There was no reason for him to just start randomly attacking the peaceful oversized rock eating rats!
…
"W-What in the world is this!?"
Reaching the deeper parts of the decaying palace, Chu Yang could not help opening his mouth slightly as he exclaimed with a both confused and surprised expression on his face.
Inside of what was supposed to be the centre room of the small decaying palace stood a large artificial pond of blood with human bones lining the sides of the pond itself. Even after an unknown number of years had passed since its construction, the blood pond at the centre of the decaying palace remained completely intact.
Not only that, but the blood inside of the pool itself also seemed like it was new. As though it had been gathered just a few minutes ago!
Of course, Chu? Yang knew this was not possible, as the ancient city had long since been abandoned! However, looking at the giant pool of blood that had been dug into the ground and lined with human bones in front of him, he had a feeling that he found out what happened to the people of the ancient city in the past…
As he walked a bit closer to get a better look of the blood pond, Chu Yang suddenly felt the Devil Immortal Jade that he was always carrying around with him begin to move.
"Wai-"
Whoosh~
Before Chu Yang even had time to react, the Devil Immortal Jade suddenly flew out before diving into the blood pond in front of him. Disappearing from sight.
"…"
Not knowing what to say upon witnessing the jade that helped increase his cultivation speed suddenly fly away before disappearing into the blood pond, Chu Yang could only walk up to the blood pond and see if he could find out what had happened to the Devil Immortal Jade.
Hoping that he would be able to get it back again, or his cultivation speed would end up decreasing without the help of the Devil Immortal Jade! Not really something he wanted to happen when he was so close to breaking through to the Core Formation Realm…
"Lotus flowers?"
Seeing a few small but beautiful red lotus flowers growing inside the blood pond after getting up beside the blood pond itself, Chu Yang could not help wondering just what kind of lotus flowers grew inside a pond made of blood.
They truly are beautiful; I should be able to get them if I enter-
Smack!
Slapping himself, Chu Yang instantly retreated from the blood pond. Fearfully looking towards the blood red lotus flowers inside the blood pond.
Looking at the blood red lotus flowers inside the blood pond, he had felt himself losing control of both his body and mind! If he was even a second later to regain control over his body and mind again, he would have entered the blood pond!
Dangerous!
That was the only word that he could describe the blood pond in front of him!
To think I lost the Devil Immortal Jade just like that-
Whoosh!
Just as Chu Yang was about to get as far away from the blood pond as possible while lamenting over losing his Devil Immortal Jade, the jade in question suddenly flew back up from the blood pond before landing in front of him covered in blood.
First you fly off and dive into the blood pond, then when I decide to leave, you come back again?
Looking speechlessly at the Devil Immortal Jade that had just landed in front of him, Chu Yang didn't know what to say.
About to pick the Devil Immortal Jade back up after it had come back out of the blood pond, Chu Yang was about to grab hold of it when he suddenly felt a terrifying force repel him.
Whoosh!
Bang!
Sending his body flying a few meters back before slamming into one of the nearby walls.
"Ah-! What in the world is that blood!?"
Getting back up, Chu Yang could not help looking towards the blood pond with an even more fearful expression on his face.
When he felt the terrifying force earlier that had suddenly sent him flying, Chu Yang had very clearly seen that the terrifying force in question, was nothing more than a bit of remnant power contained inside the blood!
For the blood to contain such strong power, Chu Yang could only imagine how powerful the person in question was. Not to mention, there was an entire pool of blood inside the small decaying palace!
"It looks like the Devil Immortal Jade has absorbed the blood… I wonder if something changed after it absorbed the blood…"
Muttering this to himself as he arrived back at the place where the Devil Immortal Jade had landed after leaving the blood pond, Chu Yang cautiously picked up the now clean Devil Immortal Jade before testing it out to see if there had been any changes to it after it absorbed the blood from the blood pond.
Fwoosh!
"This!? I-I'm about to breakthrough!?"
Suddenly feeling his bottleneck loosen, as blood red qi entered his dantian the moment he used the Devil Immortal Jade to cultivate like he had done in the past, Chu Yang quickly found a place as far away from the blood pond as he could go before sitting down in a meditation position to breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm.
Even if he wanted to move further away from the blood pond, he did not dare to delay his breakthrough for too long, as even a single mistake might end up with his breakthrough failing!