The golden skeleton of a Saint Emperor lay beneath a thick ancient tree. Its lustrous white bones still held the last, guttering glimmer of sacred light, and despite the passage of ages, they remained hard and flawless.
But to the two men, the sight sent a chill to the bone.
To be fair, neither of them was a stranger to the death of a Saint Emperor. Li Yun, in particular, had personally hunted down more Saint Emperors than he could count.
The death of a mere Saint Emperor hardly seemed like something that should terrify them.
But as the saying went, the unknown bred fear.
Fear of the unknown was an instinct people were born with.
And here lay the skeleton of a Saint Emperor, plain as day in this strange Mountain Forest. No matter how they looked at it, something felt wrong.
Saint Emperor Guangling's hair stood on end, and his face turned white as paper. The roars, wild laughter, and grief-stricken cries he had heard moments ago still seemed to echo through his mind, refusing to fade.
He edged closer to Li Yun, unable to hide the panic in his voice. "Fellow Daoist Li, something's wrong here. Very wrong!"
"There's clearly no one around, so how did a Saint Emperor's skeleton end up here?"
"There might be dangers here we can't even imagine... Maybe we should..."
Saint Emperor Guangling left the sentence unfinished, but his meaning was clear. He wanted to turn back.
Li Yun's gaze darkened as he stared at the skeleton, his expression grave.
He was wary too.
Ever since they had entered the Primordial Secret Realm, every place had brimmed with beauty, rich Dao Resonance, and abundant Spirit Qi. It had felt like a Blessed Land within a Cave Heaven, almost making them forget the