Having shaken off the bloodshed and chaos behind him, Neji did not stop. The energy turbulence and spatial disturbances erupting in the hilly region were like a boulder cast into stagnant water, certain to draw more covetous eyes and prying attention. This was no place to linger.
He pushed his speed to the limit. Chaos True Essence surged through his body as he became a hard-to-track gray afterimage, streaking through the increasingly bizarre terrain of the Ancestral Grounds.
The dark-gold crystallized hills gradually fell behind him. Ahead lay an unbroken forest of deathly white stone pillars, like skeletal remains. Every pillar soared into the clouds, its surface riddled with honeycomb-like holes. As the wind passed through them, it produced mournful, eerie wails, as though countless dead souls were whispering.
The life energy here had grown sparse and cold, and the air was thick with an aura of decay and deathly stillness. Even the strange creatures that relied on Divine Tree energy for survival showed few signs of ever setting foot here.
Instead, Neji slowed down. The more dangerous and lifeless a place appeared, the more likely it was to conceal unknown secrets. He needed an absolutely secluded and safe place to digest his previous gains and deal with the bloody scent on him and any possible tracking marks.
His Divine Eye swept through the stone forest, penetrating the honeycomb holes and examining the energy structures within.
He discovered that this stone forest was not naturally formed. It resembled the weathered remains of some enormous creation after it had decayed. The arrangement of the stone pillars faintly followed a certain pattern, their interiors hollow and still bearing weak traces of long-defunct energy circuits.
Neji chose a relatively concealed stone pillar with the most intact internal structure and silently slipped into one