This was clearly unusual. Normally, the mountains were teeming with ferocious beasts, monkeys howled, and tigers roared, never a moment of peace. The scene before them was obviously abnormal.
Chen Nan felt the scene was somewhat familiar, and in just a moment he remembered it. He dragged his heavily injured body forward with difficulty, the stench growing stronger and stronger, making him want to vomit.
After walking forward for about a mile, huge footprints began to appear on the ground, each more than two zhang long. He finally determined where he was.
"I fled without knowing which way was up, and somehow I stumbled upon this place." Chen Nan felt a little excited, and a crazy plan flashed into his mind.
"Hehe, haha..." he laughed loudly.
The stench grew stronger, almost nauseating, and Chen Nan cautiously crept forward. The terrain became increasingly flat, and a wide valley came into view ahead. Through the swaying shadows of the trees, a beautiful small lake could be seen in the valley, its azure surface as smooth as a mirror.
The valley covers an area of about eight or nine square kilometers and is surrounded by mountains, but these do not completely enclose the valley. The trees in the valley are sparse, and even grass is scarce. The ground has been hardened to the point of being like stone by the giants' trampling. A small river meanders through the valley, passing a mirror-like lake, and then flows out of the lake at the other end, slowly flowing out of the valley.
As they drew closer, the parts of the valley hidden by the trees were revealed, and what they saw was a horrifying and gruesome sight.
A towering mountain of bones, hundreds of feet high, stands in the center of the valley. Bands of clouds swirl around the mountain, the stark white bones are awe-inspiring, and the eerie, cold light is chilling.
On White Bone Mountain stands a grand palace, several dozen feet tall. Constructed of an unknown material, the palace gleams with an overall black sheen. The main entrance is strikingly shaped like the gaping maw of a demon, menacing and terrifying. Upon closer inspection, the entire palace seems to be modeled after the head of a ferocious monster, giving it an eerie and dreadful feel.
This place was not unfamiliar to Chen Nan. A few months ago, he had forced Tiger King Xiaoyu to bring him here. It was a demon temple built by the ancient god who survived the great battle outside the City of Sin thousands of years ago.
Although he had been here before, Chen Nan still felt a chill run down his spine and his whole body felt cold. Despite knowing some of the secrets of the Demon Palace, he was still uneasy because he suspected that the old man who looked like a dried-up corpse hadn't told him the truth and seemed to be hiding something from him.
However, he had no choice at this moment and could only rely on the information he had about this place to fight against the powerful enemy that was about to catch up.
The valley was quiet; the giants who had gone out hunting had not yet returned. Chen Nan rushed towards the skeletons, determined to climb the terrifying demonic temple before the giants returned.
At this moment, the countless pursuing troops halted their advance in the forest several miles from the valley. Having tracked them all the way here, they sensed the unusual atmosphere. The deathly silence of the forest and the pungent stench indicated that ferocious beasts lurked ahead, making it an extremely dangerous area.
The group hesitated, fearing they might encounter some terrifying monster. But eventually, someone took a step forward.
People die for wealth, birds die for food. The pursuing army numbers in the hundreds, including mercenary groups, assassin organizations, and lone bounty hunters. Ling Yun's anonymous, huge bounty on Chen Nan has driven many "professionals" to a frenzy. Now that they know their target is critically injured, many are unwilling to miss the opportunity to kill Chen Nan.
Once the first person took a step, a second person followed, and hundreds of people pressed forward one after another, as the pursuing army advanced once more.
As Chen Nan endured the overwhelming stench and climbed up the mountain of bones, the pursuing army had already arrived outside the valley. Everyone was stunned. The scene before them was too astonishing. The white bones and the Black Demon Palace made everyone's scalp tingle and their spines tremble. Even the timid ones could hardly stand up.
Everyone was already considering retreating. The scene ahead, which resembled a demonic realm, stunned them, and no one dared to take another step forward.
However, just then, a figure covered in blood appeared in everyone's sight. Chen Nan was about to climb the White Bone Mountain and was less than five zhang away from the pitch-black hall.
The people at the valley entrance were greatly alarmed.
People were racking their brains. Many knew that Chen Nan was already at his limit and that if they chased after him now, they would surely be able to kill him. However, the scene before them was too eerie, and no one dared to rush forward.
Just as Chen Nan was about ten feet away from the main hall, the leader of a large mercenary group finally couldn't resist and spurred his dragon forward. Seeing someone take action, the other dragon knights in the air also urged their dragons forward, hoping to get a share of the credit.
The dragon riders hadn't gained much of an advantage in their pursuit of Chen Nan over the past few days. Due to the obstructed view of the mountains and forests, they were less agile than ground-based martial artists. Furthermore, in this primeval forest, they dared not freely ride their dragons high in the sky, fearing they might disturb the giant dragons that occasionally flew by. They had been operating with great restraint these past few days.
Now they could finally take advantage of their strengths and act first. The dragons flew towards the bone mountain almost side by side.
Chen Nan was extremely anxious. He hadn't expected his pursuers to be so fast, catching up so quickly. Seeing the dragon knights getting closer and closer, he mustered his last bit of strength and leaped onto the bone mountain, landing with a thud on the steps below the main hall.
The nine-tiered steps were covered with divine bones, radiating a faint, holy glow that made Chen Nan, covered in blood, appear even more eerie. Five dragon knights arrived above the hall with lightning speed, each brandishing their swords and swooping down. In their eyes, Chen Nan was already meat on a chopping block, and they all wanted to grab him first.
But at that moment, the earth trembled, and two towering figures appeared in the distant mountains and forests, their earth-shattering roars echoing throughout the heavens and earth. The two ancient giants had spotted the dragon knights above the Demon Temple, and they charged towards them like madmen.
The entire earth was trembling.
The people at the valley entrance were terrified and fled in panic, quickly hiding in the forest. The dragon knights, not caring about killing Chen Nan, all rode their dragons away. However, in the chaos, one of the dragon knights still managed to strike down with his sword, the intense fighting spirit creating a terrifying sound as it cut through the air.
Chen Nan was exhausted and rolled to the side with difficulty. With a loud "boom", the divine bone was hit and flew everywhere, and the nine steps were shattered into pieces.
Although Chen Nan did not suffer a direct impact, the aftershocks were beyond his ability to withstand at this moment. A strong energy flow surged into his body, and his already cracked internal organs were further shaken, causing his injuries to become extremely severe, and he was on the verge of death.
Ancient giants have guarded this place for generations, and the Demon Temple is a sacred symbol in their eyes. The two giants were furious when they saw the steps being damaged and chased after the dragon knight.
The people hiding in the mountains were terrified when they saw the crazed giant. They ran away in a panic, completely disoriented.
The dragon riders were also shocked. They hadn't expected the berserk giant to be so fast, almost catching up with them. The dragons roared in fright and rushed into the sky.
The dragon knight flying at the back was even more shocked, because he saw that the two giants seemed to be locked on him and ignored the other dragon knights.
With a loud whooshing sound, a giant hurled a stone club at the last dragon knight.
The dragon let out a brief, mournful cry, showering down countless drops of blood as it plummeted from the sky. The stone club struck the dragon precisely, instantly shattering its bones and tendons, while the dragon rider on its back was smashed into a bloody pulp.
The other dragon riders were pale, some so terrified they nearly lost control of their bladder and bowels. The people fleeing from the forest also witnessed this, and the more timid ones were so frightened their legs trembled.
After the giants slammed the person who dared to desecrate the "sacred mountain" down, they seemed to feel a sense of relief, but they had no intention of letting the others go. Normally, no beast or monster would dare to trespass into their territory, and even dragons would retreat at the mere smell of their scent. Today, so many people had come, and they were so "weak," that they felt their authority had been offended.
The dragon riders eventually escaped further and further away, getting out of the giant's attack range, but the people in the forest were not so lucky. No matter how fast they ran, they could not outrun the giant's pace.
Screams echoed intermittently as many people were trampled into mincemeat by the giants. Fortunately, the forests blocked the giants' view, and the people scattered and fled in all directions, reducing casualties.
Even so, more than ninety people were killed or wounded, and the pursuing army lost almost a quarter of its forces near the valley.
Chen Nan held on with his steely will. He dared not close his eyes, knowing that if he lost consciousness now, he might never wake up again.
Seeing his pursuers suffer a brutal defeat at the hands of the giant Roulin, Chen Nan smiled. He knew the giants who went out hunting would return before nightfall, and he had already anticipated the situation.
However, Chen Nan's consciousness became increasingly blurred, and he felt he could not hold on any longer. He used his last bit of strength to crawl into the Demon Palace, hoping to ask for help from the god servant inside who looked like a dried corpse. But he fainted as soon as he crawled into the main hall.
After trampling countless pursuers to death, the two giants returned to the valley. They prostrated themselves before the Bone Mountain, making muffled sounds as if they were repenting for something. Subsequently, the other giants also returned one after another. They put down their prey and knelt down devoutly, praying incessantly.
In the evening, after the giants finished eating, they went to the caves on the west side of the valley, where they rested for the night.
The moonlight, like water, spilled down, turning the valley into a silvery white expanse. However, the Bone Mountain appeared incredibly eerie, with phosphorescent lights flickering and a ghostly atmosphere pervading it. The palace on the Bone Mountain looked particularly terrifying in the night, like a gigantic demon poking its hideous head out from among thousands of withered bones.
The main entrance to the menacing and terrifying hall was pitch black, without a trace of light. Wisps of cold air emanated from it, along with a faint, eerie whistling sound.
Chen Nan lay motionless on the ground inside the pitch-black palace gate, surrounded by dried blood. He had stopped breathing, his body was growing cold, and his life force was almost completely extinguished. He had already stepped into the gates of death, and was nearly halfway there.
Just as the last vestige of life within him was about to vanish, his body suddenly and strangely floated up, lying flat in the air. Two orbs of light, one gold and one black, emerged from his dantian and began to rotate horizontally around his head and feet.
The rotating two-colored orbs of light carried Chen Nan out of the palace gate and arrived above the main hall. Under the night sky, the two orbs of light, one gold and one black, shone like stars.
From afar, above the eerie and terrifying White Bone Mountain Palace, a young man covered in blood lay flat in the void. A dazzling golden sphere and a brilliant dark sphere swirled around him, rotating rapidly horizontally, appearing exceptionally eerie in the night sky.
The two colored spheres spun faster and faster, eventually forming a band of light around Chen Nan's body. One half of the band shone brightly with gold, while the other half shone with a dark, gleaming light. Finally, the band of light transformed into a disc, also half golden and half dark, and the disc grew larger and larger.
However, what is incredible is that the golden sphere moved to the side of the black disc, and the shiny black sphere moved to the side of the golden disc. The two discs eventually formed a yin-yang symbol, with the golden and black spheres becoming the yin and yang eyes in the yin-yang symbol.
Chen Nan's body also changed from being straight to curling up into an "S" shape, becoming the yin-yang dividing line of the Tai Chi diagram.
After the Tai Chi diagram was formed, the essence of heaven and earth from all directions rushed towards it as if drawn by a magic spell. The vast amount of this essence gathered together, gradually forming a radiant, ethereal light. A misty haze enveloped the Tai Chi diagram, and rosy light continuously surged inwards. At the same time, moonlight was also gathered and descended, forming a bright pillar of light that connected to the Tai Chi diagram from the high sky.
In an instant, the majestic demon palace was filled with abundant spiritual energy, and the moonlight and the essence of heaven and earth continuously converged towards the Taiji diagram. Chen Nan, who was inside the Taiji diagram, was now being infused with spiritual energy, and his broken meridians were rapidly reconnecting, while the cracks in his internal organs were also healing quickly.
The abundant spiritual energy was like a magic medicine for external injuries. The crisscrossing wounds on Chen Nan's body quickly scabbed over, and then the scars gradually faded until they disappeared...