Chapter 596: Return of Myriad Spirits
Outside of the Radiant Death City were seas and mountains of corpses.
Chu Feng knew not how many days and night he had stood here. He stretched his body occasionally as he scattered fist intent and deployed his spiritual arts. He was utilizing the boundless pressure here to temper himself, his breathing technique, and spiritual and physical arts. It was like a baptism for him.
He was in a special environment where he would occasionally reach a revelation. There were ancient fist seals, sword intents capable of rending the starry skies, spear qi capable of piercing the cosmos, and traces of a giant sky-splitting axe...
It was difficult to imagine what kind of experts were born here. It was completely unsurmisable.
That was because every time Chu Feng came in contact with a terrifying fist intent, a sword concept, or traces of a sky rending dagger-ax, he seemed to hear the breathing of an ancient being. It was outrageously powerful and excessively terrifying. It was as though that existence could blot out the skies with one hand!
In this manner, Chu Feng sought comprehension here, tempered his body, and continuously stretched his limbs. He utilized his spiritual power to immerse himself in a wondrous state.
He didn't obtain a substantial art and only touched upon a certain mood. But this was enough for him to forge ahead as though he had obtained boundless nourishment to absorb.
Several days passed by in this manner, and Chu Feng found himself undergoing a great transformation. He had improved significantly with regards to his comprehension of physical arts and spiritual battles. It could be considered an advancement by leaps and bounds.
He had gained such benefits within mere days. Chu Feng believed that he might undergo a qualitative transformation if only he could stay here to comprehend and improve himself for a long time.
He was attempting to circulate the Robbery Induction Breathing Technique in hopes of grasping the actual arts from those remnant first intents and spiritual concepts. That would allow him to undergo a transformation and grow even more powerful.
However, he couldn't accomplish it for the moment.
With various kinds of spiritual seals and martial trajectories, this place could be called a grotto paradise which allowed the evolver to comprehend and absorb nutrients. In the end, he might perhaps break through the cocoon to become a butterfly!
This place wasn't just a land of calamity or a dead city. It was also a matchless place for evolvers!
Naturally, the prerequisite was that one needed to be alive to sense all of this.
Under normal circumstances, how could other creatures still be alive after reaching here? They would've been crushed long ago and turned to puddles of blood. Only those who were strong enough would be left with intact corpses.
Chu Feng possessed the stone box, which kept his vitality alive.
After comprehending for several days, he felt his spirit grow fatigued, not to mention his body was already wounded before. Several of his bones had been broken when he entered this space.
Presently, although the bones had reconnected and his flesh had healed, it was still quite taxing for him to comprehend the dao here.
Chu Feng decided to rest. He brought out some food from his spatial bottle and began wolfing down to supplement his physical needs. Now, this was the advantage of being a glutton.
The Deity meat and other rare delicacies he had left behind were put to good use. Although this short period wasn't enough to starve him to death, there was no stopping the hunger.
To a wounded, everything he ate was a beneficial supplement.
Additionally, he had captured so many divine sons and even robbed Qin Luoyin at the critical moment. There was naturally no shortage of divine medicines and spiritual pills on him.
Chu Feng had already ingested some of them. Now, he was popping them in large mouthfuls and chewing through them like candy.
If there was any other person around here, they would feel an extreme heartache. This was a classic case of a cow chewing on a tree peony.
The results were stunning. After swallowing several batches of "candy", Chu Feng's body and spirit felt much better. His body was full of vitality and his spirit was surging about.
So much so that he felt he had been over-supplemented.
At this moment, Chu Feng sighed emotionally. How good it would've been to be born in a top-grade orthodoxy. The reserves Qin Luoyin had in her spatial bracelet was too abundant.
He ingested some of the medicinal elixirs Qin Luoyin had left behind and felt his vitality grow exuberant. He had recovered completely and even comprehended all kinds of fist seals and spiritual arts from this place. His strength had grown even more.
"I wonder how Qin Luoyin is doing?" Chu Feng muttered to himself.
He believed that if the other party was still alive, she would surely have discovered the exceptionally brilliant city amidst the darkness. That was because this place was too special and akin to the only torch in the dark night.
However, he was also clear that she wouldn't be able to approach without any special circumstances. At most, she would be able to watch from several hundred kilometers away. Charging in forcibly would result in certain destruction, a death in both form and soul.
In the end, Chu Feng exceeded his peak level after the recovery of his flesh and spirit. His physical body had grown stronger, and his vitality was exuberant. After seeking comprehension for several days, he grew restless and wanted to go in to take a look.
If even the exterior of the city was like so, how would it be inside?
In the end, Chu Feng made his move. He decided to explore the city interior. His confidence stemmed from the stone box which served to protect him.
A golden arhat who went in would have his golden body destroyed, and even a Bodhisattva might not be able to go in unscathed. But this stone box was peculiar and mysterious. It was actually able to protect Chu Feng perfectly.
This was his greatest protection at present!
Back when he picked up this item at Mount Kunlun, he never expected that it would turn out to be so extraordinary. Now, it seemed to be quite odd.
Chu Feng stepped over mountains and seas of corpses and traversed a land of flowing blood. He saw too many races here, but nine parts of them were those he didn't recognize. For him, all of them were new species, so much so that he suspected whether or not these species were from this cosmos.
He had researched all of the races in the starry sky via the photon computer and seen no small number of races. Even so, he was unfamiliar with most of the dead creatures here.
As he saw it, this city was like hell. It had collected all the corpses of creatures from various parts of the cosmos—or even from other realms—and crushed everything.
"The forebears of earth had perhaps been banished here. Countless people had died, but they were only a small part of the dead here." Chu Feng frowned.
He arrived below the city. During this process, he saw some corpses belonging to ancient earth. Their appearance and clothing matched those in the records.
The majestic city walls were fairly tall. The wall itself was made up of piled rocks, so it was rather simple, ancient, and unadorned. However, it had been stained with the scarlet color of blood.
The entire city was bloody, but it was emitting a dazzling radiance.
The tall wall was comparable to a stretching mountain range, and it possessed an ancient yet majestic aura.
Chu Feng frowned because he couldn't fly in this space and had no choice but to climb up.
He observed briefly and confirmed that there were no killing domains. Then, he proceeded to climb upward along the wall like a giant gecko.
He frowned as he sensed the aura of precipitated time upon the wall. If he had to put a date to it, Chu Feng felt that this wall had existed since the creation of heaven and earth!
The wall was too ancient, and those traces of the vicissitudes were akin to the ends of the long river of time.
Chu Feng tried to leave a mark on the wall, but no matter what methods he used, it was unshakeable. These boulders were very large and coarse. They appeared quite ordinary, but even an evolver like him with strength exceeding the visualization realm couldn't leave a mark on them.
What kind of rock was this? It was inconceivably solid!
If only he could take a piece of it out, he reckoned it would be considered a treasured material by the major sects in the starry skies. However, the rocks still looked quite ordinary on the surface.
In the end, Chu Feng climbed to the top and gazed into the city.
It was during this moment that his body froze up completely. His muscle tensed up, and his entire being was petrified. His eyes widened then contracted as he gazed fixedly at the scenery within the city.
This was an ancient city capable of supporting millions of residents. It wasn't of an excessively large scale, but it wasn't too small, either.
The city was densely packed with corpses which had practically drowned the place. The mountain of dead bodies was almost as tall as the wall. They were emitting terrifying auras and surging with radiance.
Doubtlessly, all of them were experts.
Even Chu Feng who had come well-prepared felt shocked beyond words. He was incomparably shaken at the sight of the city full of experts' corpses. There was simply no end to them? How many living beings had died here?
The corpses occupied a third of the city region, while the remaining third was empty.
The last area shocked Chu Feng the most and was also the reason why he was petrified.
There was a giant millstone at the center of the city. It was made up of an incomparably massive stone that actually occupied an entire third of the city!
It was hard to imagine who had carved such a millstone. It moved slowly as though it had been rotating since time immemorial and never stopped before.
Chu Feng's scalp grew numb and his hair stood on end.
He saw a horrifying scene. The corpses in the city would be moved from time to time by an ineffable force and fall into the grinding stone. They fell through the hole in the grinding stone and were crushed within.
It was difficult to even look because it was simply too horrific.
One could sense unimaginably powerful combat intents and spiritual wills being obliterated completely, converted into pure spiritual seeds.
The physical bodies of those dead people contained terrifying power, however, each and every one of them was easily shattered. Blood flowed out along with the purest of energies.
From the fleshly body to one's spirit, everything was destroyed and returned to their source.
That giant millstone was an intricate apparatus that had been operating since time immemorial. It had been turning constantly and processing the endless corpses.
The efficiency was quite high because, before long, the vast pile of corpses had reached the bottom and would soon be cleared completely.
Suddenly, the countless corpses fell down pell-mell from the air. They were like falling dumplings as they quickly filled up the one-third of the map.
They were all glowing with light just like this city. The intensity of energy within their bodies was shocking, and they were obviously experts when they were alive.
Where did those corpses come from? There were simply too many of them constantly being crushed by the giant millstone. It seemed like the millstones' daily job, but it was too odd and too frightening.
As expected, a mountain of corpses fell from the sky and filled up a third of the city region.
Chu Feng was shaken. Had this been going on since antiquity? The grinding stone seemed like a rather good apparatus. It had been operating all this time, so just how many corpses had it crushed?
He stared fixedly at those corpses. Some of them died from miserable injuries, but others were completely unharmed as though they had died of old age. In the end, all of them had appeared here.
Chu Feng observed in detail and found that some of the corpses were vivid and lifelike. It would seem they had died not so long ago.
At the same time, he also noticed some saint corpses, but they were crushed all the same after entering the grinding stone. They were transformed into a pool of blood and disintegrated into source energy which ultimately returned to the heaven and earth.
One had to know that a saint's body was invincible even after death. Destroying it was even more difficult than demolishing a star. In the end, they were all disintegrated after falling into the grinding stone.
Chu Feng even saw some half-broken vermilion bird carcasses. They were also destroyed cleanly with their divine blood spraying out in all directions, returning to the grand origins.
Additionally, there were intense resentments and powerful wills hanging in the air. They were all boiling just a moment ago, but now, they had been completely destroyed by the grinding stone.
Chu Feng had a feeling that this grinding stone was like a land of rebirth, sending people back into the reincarnation cycle.
That was because he had indeed seen the empty spiritual seeds left behind after the resentments and lingering wills were destroyed.
After a prolonged period of observation, he gained some comprehension. The curtain would fall over everything at the end of reincarnation. The glory and brilliance of the past would be erased and never seen again.
Chu Feng walked along the wall and took a stroll around the city. In the end, he saw the scenery on the other end of the coarse grinding stone, and it shook him greatly. Even his spirit was trembling.
His earlier observations weren't wrong. The corpses were destroyed and transformed into pools of blood whereupon they would be broken down into energy. Only some weak spiritual seeds with no memories would be left behind.
In another direction, there was a hazy road along which the spiritual seeds would walk after coming out of the grinding stone.
That path was connected to another realm.
"This is... the return of spirits?!" Chu Feng felt his hair stand on end.
Afterward, he sensed a certain force as the coarse grinding stone sought to suck him over. That was the power of reincarnation.