252: An Age Without Saints? (Fifty-one)

Burial Ground of Immortals.

There was no light here; it seemed to be entirely void.

The pressure of the Earth Venerable behind him vanished completely the moment he stepped into this place.

In its place was an all-encompassing silence.

"Cough..."

Gu Yun stumbled two steps and steadied himself against a cold black stone.

He panted heavily, trying to calm the roiling Qi and blood within his body.

Having forcefully withstood the attacks of two Earth Venerables, he had nearly exhausted all his trump cards.

The huntian bell's light had dimmed, and it had retreated into his Sea of Consciousness to recuperate; it could not be used again for a short time.

"So this is the Life Forbidden Zone..."

Gu Yun forced himself to stand straight, attempting to survey his surroundings.

However, to his alarm, his Minds Eye had failed.

That pair of eyes that could once see through falsehoods were now pitch black, unable to see anything.

Once his Divine Thought extended more than three feet outside his body, it would be instantly shredded by the strange Laws omnipresent in this space.

He had become a "blind man."

Not only that.

The Laws here were chaotic to the extreme.

Even the concepts of time and space had become blurred.

Gu Yun attempted to circulate his Azure Heaven Indestructible Art, wanting to absorb the surrounding energy to heal his wounds.

But the next moment, he immediately stopped, his expression changing slightly.

The "Qi" here was problematic.

It was a type of energy filled with decay, corruption, and the will of death; once inhaled into the body, not only would it fail to heal his wounds, but it would also pollute his dao foundation.

Gu Yun was shocked.

This place was a hundred times more dangerous than he had imagined.

He took out a few Medicinal Pills from his storage ring and swallowed them; though it was like trying to put out a burning cart of firewood with a cup of water, it was better than nothing.

"Since I am here, I must adapt."

Gu Yun adjusted his mindset; since he had entered, there was no turning back.

Relying on his intuition, he groped his way forward through this pitch-black, rocky wasteland.

The ground beneath his feet was exceptionally hard, and occasionally he would step on something dry and brittle, producing a "crack" sound.

Those were the bones of experts from the God Realm.

Gu Yun casually threw away a finger bone and continued forward.

Not having walked far, he saw a broken spear half-buried in the soil; the spear shaft was engraved with ancient sacred runes, but it was already covered in rust and devoid of all spiritual essence.

It seemed to be the remains of a sacred weapon.

This place was truly a graveyard for the strong.

Just as Gu Yun was exploring cautiously.

Thump!

Thump!

The Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart in his chest suddenly began to beat violently, without any warning.

The Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart hammered, as if it were about to burst.

That was... extreme fear.

This feeling was even more desperate than when he faced the pursuit of the two Earth Venerables.

"Something is wrong."

Gu Yun stopped abruptly, feeling a chill rise up his spine.

He could feel it.

Deep within this silent darkness, countless gazes were fixed on him.

Those gazes carried no emotion whatsoever.

Only mockery, greed, and... appetite.

It was as if he were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

"Where did this little bug come from, to have stumbled in here?"

"It's been so many years; I haven't smelled such fresh flesh and blood."

Another voice rang out, accompanied by a sharp, strange laugh.

"And it's a Primordial Chaos Sacred Body? Tsk tsk, this scent... it truly makes one nostalgic."

"Stop talking nonsense, let's split him up."

The third voice was more overbearing and direct.

Gu Yun felt a chill in his heart.

The owners of these voices did not treat him as a "person" at all, but as a dish, a piece of meat.

They were even discussing how to "split" him up.

"Stop playing god and acting like a ghost!"

Gu Yun shouted, forcefully driving the remaining Venerable power in his body to slash with his sword toward the direction the voice came from.

"Punish Heaven!"

The sword light flared, illuminating the darkness for a ten-zhang radius.

But the next moment.

That Sword Qi, which was enough to wound an Earth Venerable, vanished into the darkness without a trace.

"Hehe, the little bug is quite fierce."

The sharp voice rang out again, filled with mockery.

As the voice fell.

Boom!

Terrifying pressure descended from all directions with a boom.

Gu Yun's body went rigid instantly.

He felt as if he were imprisoned by an invisible force, unable to move.

Despair.

True despair.

He prepared to detonate his primordial dao fruit for one final self-destruction.

However, under that terrifying pressure, he was stripped of even the qualification to self-destruct.

A withered hand covered in red hair reached out from the darkness, grabbing toward Gu Yun's chest.

It wanted to dig out that Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart while he was still alive.

Just as the sharp claws were about to touch Gu Yun's lapel.

The situation changed suddenly.

Hum—

A warmth suddenly came from Gu Yun's chest.

Immediately after, an extremely faint, not powerful, yet incongruous aura emanated from his chest.

That aura carried no killing intent; one could even say it was plain and unremarkable.

But it possessed a certain quality.

A kind of aloof, sharp, Sword Intent that seemed to stand above all things.

The red-haired, withered hand reaching toward Gu Yun trembled violently the moment this aura appeared, and it pulled back abruptly.

"This... this aura?!"

The sharp voice let out a shriek of terror.

In the darkness, those figures hidden within began to tremble violently.

Gu Yun was stunned.

He subconsciously reached into his chest and pulled something out.

A rough, unremarkable stone talisman.

It was exactly the one he had traded for from the mysterious sword-carrying youth in the Falling Star Mystic Realm years ago.

At this moment, this stone talisman was emitting a faint green light.

"It's him!"

The old voice trembled.

"Didn't he go to 'that place'? Why is his token here!"

"Forget it... I'm not getting involved in this muddy water."

The most overbearing voice was the quickest to turn cowardly now.

It seemed to recall some past that was too unbearable to look back on.

"Hehe... leaving..."

"Bad luck! Such bad luck!"

The surroundings returned to silence.

The terrifying pressure that had nearly suffocated Gu Yun also vanished along with them.

Gu Yun gripped the stone talisman tightly in his hand, standing in place, unable to recover his senses for a long time.

He was drenched in a cold sweat.

"I... I survived?"

He found it hard to believe.

Several taboo existences suspected to have surpassed the Saint Realm were just scared away by a small stone talisman?

Gu Yun lowered his head, looking at the stone talisman in his hand.

Gu Yun thought of that youth who carried an ancient sword, wore a gentle smile on his face, yet gave off a strong sense of danger.

Who exactly was he?

Gu Yun took a deep breath and solemnly tucked the stone talisman back into his chest, keeping it close.

This item was now his greatest amulet in this godforsaken place.

With this "tiger skin," as long as he didn't court death, he might truly find a sliver of survival in this Burial Ground of Immortals.

Gu Yun sat cross-legged and began to heal his wounds right there in this perilous forbidden zone.

He bet that those monsters wouldn't dare touch him.

The facts proved he had bet correctly.

Those terrifying wills hovered around for a long time, but eventually retreated, unwillingly.

Several hours later.

Gu Yun's aura stabilized slightly.

He stood up and cast his gaze deeper into the Burial Ground of Immortals.

Since he couldn't get out, he would head further in.

Since this was the "Burial Ground of Immortals," besides danger, it must also bury earth-shattering secrets.

Gu Yun adjusted his robes, gripped the stone talisman, and strode toward the depths of the darkness.

His figure submerged into the darkness ahead.