Secret Realm Within the Ruins
After two days of flying, Liliath and her companions found the second exploration point by following the route given by the Sea Emperor.
This exploration point is also a remnant of Martial Imprints, a mountain that has been pierced through. An attack of this magnitude would be enough to pierce through a planet in the Universe Sea, but in this world with extremely high spatial stability, the density of a single rock is tens of thousands of times that of an ordinary rock. Therefore, it only pierced through a mountain and did not cause further damage.
"What caused this attack?" Liliath could see the huge hole from afar.
"It looks a bit like Finger Force, but the hole is too big. It looks more like it was caused by a firearm." Dokter said this while glancing at Liliath beside him.
"It's unlikely to be a firearm. There were no powerful firearms in Ancient Era. Firearms only became truly powerful after the emergence of the Mechanical Race in the Middle Ancient Era. Before that, firearms were not powerful enough to be used in this level of warfare." Miko shook his head and gave his explanation. Although he hadn't seen the hole, common sense told him that it couldn't have been caused by a firearm.
"Touch it and you'll see," Elsa exclaimed.
Everyone jumped down from the top of the Silver Skeleton and climbed towards the spot where the mountain had been pierced.
Upon reaching the point of penetration, they discovered that the hole was much larger than they had imagined, with a diameter of at least a thousand meters. After climbing inside, the group reached out and touched the ground beneath their feet. The surface felt smooth, unlike anything they had experienced from cutting; it felt more like it had been melted by high temperatures.
Scarlet and the others also felt a peculiar Martial Dao Intent emanating from their fingertips, and they silently sensed it.
Liliath, who originally thought she would still gain nothing, did not expect that the moment she touched the ground, her consciousness would be pulled to another space.
She saw a black figure hovering in mid-air. She looked up and was startled to find that it was a Hunting Martial Beast.
Just as they were about to flee, they realized that the Hunting Martial Beast's gaze wasn't on them, but rather on the mountainside where they had just been. Liliath also saw it; on the other side of the mountain, a Dark Race was hiding. The Dark Race member was pressed tightly against the back of the mountain, holding his breath, seemingly waiting to ambush the Hunting Martial Beast once it got close.
But soon, Liliath witnessed an unbelievable scene: the Hunting Martial Beast didn't fly over at all, but instead opened its huge mouth and spat out a white shockwave that pierced through the mountain and engulfed the Dark Race.
"A direct piercing kill!" Liliath watched this scene in utter astonishment.
A moment later, she finally snapped out of that scene, looking somewhat dazed.
Elsa, who was standing nearby, noticed what Liliath was doing and asked with some concern, "Lily, are you alright?"
"It's nothing," Liliath, not intending to explain for the moment, because what she had just witnessed seemed to have given her a vague sense of what was going on. She tried hard to grasp this feeling. She immediately sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes, recalling what had just happened.
"Elsa, don't disturb her. It seems she's made some progress," Scarlet reminded her from the side.
The group stayed in the same spot for another day, but it seemed that Liliath wouldn't wake up anytime soon.
"The first awakening of Martial Dao Intent takes a long time, so you shouldn't wait any longer. Let's head straight to the third exploration point." The Sea Emperor noticed Liliath's condition and addressed the others.
"I'll stay and keep Lily." Elsa was still a little worried.
"I'll stay. You won't be able to handle the skeletons, and besides, I can attack from a distance," Dokter suggested.
"No one needs to stay. There's no danger nearby. These skeletons are enough to handle. If things get too difficult, I'll wake Lily. Besides, Gu Ding will catch up in a few days. You all go to the third point." The Sea Emperor immediately made the arrangements.
"Alright then," Elsa and the others said, and stopped arguing after hearing what the Sea Emperor said.
Since Liliath was in the middle of her training and hadn't given the skeletons any orders beforehand, Scarlet and the others had no choice but to walk towards the third point.
Gu Ding sat atop the Golden Skeleton for five days without encountering any trouble. Even when humans or Dark Race passed by, they all chose to detour upon seeing the enormous Silver Skeleton from afar. Having spent so many days in this ruin, he had learned what not to provoke.
In Gu Ding's mind, all the Martial Dao Intent Spiritual Affinity Realm that he had seen appeared, numbering in the hundreds, automatically playing out in his mind like a three-dimensional projection.
More than two hundred images were gradually reduced during the rehearsal, eventually becoming one hundred, fifty, twenty, ten... until finally, they were combined into one image.
The final image showed only a fist and a finger. Gu Ding had initially derived his martial arts essence from the two stone carvings, which also consisted of a fist and a finger. He knew that this was the Martial Dao Intent.
As the last image faded, Gu Ding, without using his divine source, pointed a finger, and a powerful spatial fluctuation rippled where his fingertip touched the void. As the fluctuation spread, the surrounding air began to stagnate. Most terrifyingly, even in this stable space, spiderweb-like cracks the size of a broad bean appeared on Gu Ding's fingertip. The cracks only lasted a moment before automatically returning to their original state, but this was enough to demonstrate the terrifying power of Gu Ding's attack.
Seeing the power of this strike, Gu Ding was quite satisfied, because the intent of this finger strike had broken through to the Spiritual Affinity Realm. He immediately clenched his fist again and threw another punch, still without using Divine Source.
The force of the fist surged through the void, causing the space it touched to distort. Moreover, a few soft cracking sounds came from the spot where the fist finally struck, like ice cracking after being hit hard. Gu Ding also saw several spatial cracks form instantly.
Gu Ding was also satisfied with his second attack; this punch had also broken through to the Spiritual Affinity Realm. With this, Gu Ding's Martial Dao Intent had finally reached the second major realm.
Gu Ding jumped off the Golden Skeleton and stored it in his Storage Space. Then he leaped onto the head of the Silver Skeleton and rode it towards Liliath's location.
Two days later, Gu Ding found Liliath's location. The little girl was still sitting cross-legged in the same spot, clearly still comprehending the Martial Dao Intent. Gu Ding didn't disturb her, but instead sat down himself and began to comprehend the Martial Dao Intent here as well. Although it was impossible to break through again, it was still a form of accumulation.
Meanwhile, Liliath's mind was also taking shape with over a hundred images of the Entrance to the Microscopic Realm. These were all things she had memorized when she, Elsa, and Dokter studied Martial Dao Intent together. Although she had never actually reached the Micro Realm, these images were still an accumulation in her mind, providing her with a wealth of reference information.
What remained most vividly in her mind was the attack she had witnessed from the Hunting Martial Beast not long ago. The white cannon fire spewing from its mouth was not much different from a gun attack.
In Liliath's mind, every angle of the Hunting Martial Beast's attack appeared. And other parts of the scene that could be used as a reference gradually merged into the Hunting Martial Beast's attack scene, including information such as movement techniques and attack angles, which became clearer and clearer in Liliath's mind.
Over a hundred images were finally reduced to one over several days. That single image was deeply etched into Liliath's mind.
Only then did Liliath acquire a Gun Armament, which transformed into a cannon and fired it at a distant mountain.
With a deafening roar, a white flash shot out, blasting a huge hole in the spot she had aimed at, without the slightest deviation. Behind the mountain, a small Bronze Skeleton perished instantly under the bombardment.
"This move is called the Cloud Piercing Cannon!" Liliath said with some pride after seeing the effect of the cannon.
When she turned around, she found that Gu Ding, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground not far away, was looking at her with a surprised expression.
"When did you arrive?" Liliath then noticed that Elsa and the others had long since left, while Gu Ding, who had been left behind at the previous exploration point, appeared in front of her.
"About ten hours ago," Gu Ding calculated the time, "Your firearms mastery directly entered the Subtle Mastery?"
Gu Ding could tell at a glance that Liliath's attack just now was not at the initial stage of the Micro Realm, but rather at the Subtle Mastery.
"Have Subtle Mastery?" Liliath herself was a little confused.
"It might be due to the accumulation of knowledge and experience, after all, you and Elsa spent a long time comprehending the Martial Dao Intent." Gu Ding didn't seem too surprised.
"I've got this sorted out on my end. How much longer do you need?" Liliath asked.
"We can set off now. I've already recorded the Martial Dao Intent here, but they won't be of much help to me, so there's no need to waste any more time." Gu Ding stood up.
The two returned to the top of the Silver Skeleton and headed towards the third exploration point.
Elsa and her group, lacking the Silver Skeleton for transportation and with Miko's slower pace due to her cultivation level, took six days to reach the third exploration point. By then, Gu Ding and Liliath had already been on their way for a day.
The third exploration point is a secret realm formed by a special environment. Because the secret realm contains a large amount of energy fluctuations, many awakened skeletons in the vicinity have flocked to this coordinate. Nearly a thousand Bronze Skeleton, dozens of Silver Skeleton, and even a few Golden Skeleton are blocking the entrance of the secret realm.
Such a spectacular scene led Elsa and her companions to observe from afar. (To be continued...)