Though they fought back and forth, neither side had gained the upper hand. The human race was stronger, but this was, after all, the ghost race's home ground. Having suddenly broken through the ghost race's blockade and reached its rear, then battling the ghosts in a place so thick with ghostly energy, put the humans at an innate disadvantage. To have reached the situation before them was already quite an achievement.
But after all that struggle, neither side had gained anything. The outcome was hard for both to accept.
"Hm?" Lu Xiaotian couldn't help letting out a soft exclamation.
As the human and ghost armies struggled to look after themselves and retreated in disorder, fierce vengeful spirits rose from the black waters surging in like a flood. Across that boundless expanse of black water, a vast, semicircular dome of dim gray light emerged.
Within the gray dome seemed to be countless skeletons and shadowy figures of human cultivators. They looked somewhat like the human cultivators and ghosts who had been swallowed by the strange black water earlier. The dome held back a vast region, and even the strange black water couldn't penetrate it.
Beyond the hazy gray barrier, faintly visible on the other side, stood the ruins of an ancient cultivator settlement.
Lu Xiaotian's heart gave a leap. This was exactly the area where the fragment of the Dinghuang Cauldron had fallen. It was almost too much of a coincidence that the strange black water hadn't swallowed it. Or perhaps the area was protected by a restriction left behind by ancient cultivators, and the many fallen humans and ghosts were the key to activating it?
Rather than keep guessing for no reason, I'd be better off going in and taking a look. Lu Xiaotian rubbed his chin and glanced around.