Dangerous Origin

"Don't touch these stone statues carelessly. Since they're alive, any outside stimulus could awaken them," the knight warned.

Wu Xiangnan moved among the stone statues, carefully observing each of their expressions, gazes, and even the direction of their movements. After a long while, standing amid the countless statues, he turned toward a certain direction in confusion.

"Did you find something?" the knight asked when he saw Wu Xiangnan's thoughtful expression.

"The movements of these statues are mostly running, or slightly reaching their arms forward. There's something in their eyes... longing? Are they fighting over something?" Wu Xiangnan speculated. Staring in that direction, he continued, "Judging by where most of them were headed, it's over there."

"What's over there?"

"I don't know. Perhaps we should go take a look."

The three of them weaved through the numerous grotesque stone statues. The deeper they went, the denser the statues became. Across the ruins of this Demon Shrine, there were at least forty or fifty "Mysteries" turned to stone, and the aura fluctuations they gave off were all terrifying.

As the three ventured deeper, a short black shrine finally appeared before them.

The shrine was only two or three meters tall, roughly the size of an ordinary basketball court. Pitch-black walls and ancient stone pillars supported a Japanese-style shrine roof. At the center of the shrine stood a burly divine statue, golden rings coiled around its body and a magatama hanging behind its back. It looked exceptionally valiant.

Its left palm faced upward, as though it were holding something aloft, but its hand was completely empty. A silver, chaotic sphere floated at the center of its right palm, emitting an eerie, illusory glow within the dark shrine as it rolled like a living creature.

The instant Wu Xiangnan and the knight saw the