Chapter 81: Grave and Audience

The Bai Qi Ling is reacting?

A doubt flashed through Chen Ling’s mind. He held the Bai Qi Ling in his hand and continued forward.

The appearance of the Bai Qi Ling had been extremely suspicious from the start, as if someone had passed it to him from the depths of the Ancient Treasury through the Soldier God path... Now that Chen Ling had walked into the depths of the Ancient Treasury, the Bai Qi Ling was reacting again. Perhaps it was guiding him toward something?

As Chen Ling gradually went deeper into the Ancient Treasury, the giant sword piercing heaven and earth also slowly drew closer to him, and an inexplicable chill lingered around him, as if it could freeze his marrow.

This chill was not cold in the physical sense, but an indescribable feeling, like walking into a mass grave in the middle of the night, the hair-raising sensation that someone was watching you.

Chen Ling suddenly thought that, in a sense, he was also walking through a great tomb...

A great tomb of war that had existed since the dawn of humanity.

Chen Ling’s gaze swept over the surroundings, large trenches situated everywhere... No, those could no longer be called trenches, but "pits," pits containing hundreds or thousands of figures, motionless like sculptures, like the Terracotta Warriors Chen Ling had visited.

In the trial area, the largest trench Chen Ling had seen could only hold fifty people, but here, a casual glance showed hundreds at the very least, and as he went deeper, thousand-man pits were everywhere.

"It’s getting colder." Chen Ling frowned tightly.

Just as the cold air around him became unbearable, the Bai Qi Ling in his hand became increasingly scalding, like a miniature sun held in his hand, the heat driving all the cold away to within half a meter.

But holding the token, Chen Ling didn't feel burned; instead, he felt an inexplicable sense of security.

Where exactly did it want to guide him?

Chen Ling’s pace quickened involuntarily. As he gradually approached the black giant sword, he seemed to vaguely see something flashing around him... A feeling of being watched welled up in his heart.

But every time Chen Ling turned to look, he couldn't see their shadows, as if it were just his hallucination.

There’s something in the depths of the Ancient Treasury!

Chen Ling’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter. Just as he couldn't help but want to turn back, a massive pit appeared before his eyes.

It was a circular pit several kilometers in diameter. Under the dim sky, he couldn't see the end of it. Standing at the edge of this pit, Chen Ling felt as small as an ant.

Shock appeared in Chen Ling’s eyes.

How many people could such a large pit hold? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions??

This was the largest pit Chen Ling had seen since entering the Soldier Path Ancient Treasury. All the pits he had seen before, combined, weren't as large as this one... But strangely, this giant pit was empty.

There were no periodically respawning killing-intent projections inside. In the center of the empty giant pit, only a desolate grave stood alone.

A bone-chilling cold emanated from the pit. Even with the token in hand, Chen Ling couldn't help but shiver... His eyes couldn't see what was in the giant pit, but he felt as if he could hear the wails of countless resentful souls filled with killing intent above the pit.

Chen Ling suddenly remembered reading in a history book that the Qin general Bai Qi had buried 400,000 Zhao soldiers alive after the Battle of Changping. It was precisely because of this that Bai Qi’s name as the "God of Slaughter" had been passed down through the ages.

Chen Ling’s gaze fell on the center of the giant pit, on that single desolate grave, his eyes narrowing slightly.

This giant pit didn't spawn killing-intent projections like the other pits... Instead, there was a desolate grave. Did this mean that this desolate grave was enough to rival hundreds of thousands of killing-intent projections?

"Could it be that..."

Chen Ling looked at the scalding token in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then entered the giant pit and walked straight toward the desolate grave.

As Chen Ling approached, he slowly saw the full view of the desolate grave. Rather than a grave, it was more like a half-person-high mound... There was nothing in front of the mound, comparable to the mass grave Chen Ling had buried before.

How could the dignified God of Slaughter, Bai Qi, be buried in such a place?

Chen Ling’s heart was full of doubt. He stopped in front of the desolate grave, and the heat of the token in his hand slowly faded, as if guiding Chen Ling here had been its only purpose.

At the same time, a chilling cold emerged around him. On the ground in front of the desolate grave, a line of blood-red characters seemed to seep out from the bottom of the soil, slowly appearing:

—Three kowtows and nine prostrations, and I shall pass on my divine arts to you;

The moment he saw this line of text, Chen Ling couldn't help but furrow his brow.

Before he could react, an even colder aura exploded from the void behind him. Countless scarlet eyes opened suddenly, their gaze piercing through the boundaries of the theater, as if an invisible, world-destroying beast were roaring and growling!

A violent wind whipped up from within Chen Ling’s body, crashing toward the desolate grave opposite,

and almost simultaneously, a black killing intent, condensed to the point of being almost tangible, surged out from the earthen grave, as if the master of this desolate grave were standing from the ages past, casting a gaze filled with killing intent toward this place!

Boom—!!

Two terrifying auras collided in the giant pit, like a circular wave bursting toward the surroundings, the aftermath lifting the surrounding sand and soil, revealing the chilling blood-red color and piles of white bones beneath.

On the ground in front of the desolate grave, a large character composed of seeping blood appeared, hideous and incomparable:

—Calamity

Chen Ling stood at the edge of the collision of the two auras, his bright red theatrical robes flapping. He shielded his eyes with his hand, black killing intent rolling around him, the terrifying pressure almost suffocating him.

Did the Audience fight with Bai Qi?

This thought flashed through Chen Ling’s mind, and he suddenly felt a surge of joy.

If Bai Qi could contend with the Audience, could he potentially destroy the Audience completely? If the Audience died here, he would also be completely free!

Once this thought arose, it was hard to shake off. Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as Chen Ling had imagined. Through his fingers, Chen Ling could see the desolate grave trembling, as if it were about to shatter soon.

The scarlet eyes behind Chen Ling gradually faded into nothingness, and the "world-destroying" pressure subsided. At the same time, the killing intent surging from the grave also flowed back to the bottom of the pit.

The massive giant pit fell into dead silence once again.

The clash between the two sides came and went suddenly. If not for the fact that the surrounding ground had been scraped away, revealing the scarlet blood underneath, Chen Ling would have thought everything that just happened was merely a hallucination.

Chen Ling’s gaze returned to the desolate grave. There were indeed many more cracks on the surface of the mound... It seemed that Bai Qi had not held the upper hand in the exchange just now.

Just as Chen Ling was feeling regret, another line of blood-red text seeped out from the ground.

—Help me be reborn, and I shall fulfill your heart’s desire.