Lan Tian spent roughly a quarter of an hour in the stone chamber, making out the general contents of the murals.
The murals on the four walls depicted an ancient life inheritance ritual. The humanoid figures condensed some form of energy into a solid core, then used that core as a seed to cultivate plantlike life-forms.
It closely matched the path of life law he followed. Although the ancient writing differed from the modern common language he knew, he could largely understand its core terminology and logic.
These ruins were more valuable than he had expected. The ritual details and energy circulation routes recorded in the murals offered direct reference material for understanding the deeper structure of life law.
As he was deciphering a passage about "life core condensation," the perception of his Blue Silver God Domain suddenly picked up a mass of soul power fluctuations surging through the passage behind him.
A pack of soul beasts.
He turned to face the passage entrance.
The soul power fluctuations crowded densely together in his perception. There were roughly twenty or thirty beasts, mostly hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts, with a few ten-thousand-year ones among them.
Something had probably disturbed the soul beasts near the entrance to the ruins. They had charged through the stone doors as a pack and were now pouring deeper along the passage.
Heavy footsteps and low growls drew steadily closer from the far end of the passage. Dust shook loose from the stone walls.
Lan Tian did not dodge.
Standing in the stone chamber doorway, he stamped hard on the ground.
Seven soul rings rose from beneath his feet in succession: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red.
The light of the seven soul rings suddenly burst forth in the dim passage, illuminating the entire corridor.
The