"That old woman's cultivation was profound-at least one major realm above mine."
"And that young woman had already reached the early Heavenly Balance Realm despite her age."
"They probably aren't from the Southern Sun Kingdom..." Fang Ling thought.
"They must have come for the Lost Ancient Mine too. I need to reach the hall before they do."
He used the Divine Movement Step his master, Flower Thief, had taught him.
The Divine Movement Step was a movement art unrivaled beneath the heavens.
Mastering its first level granted peerless speed.
At the second level, one could shrink vast distances to inches and move instantaneously.
The Divine Movement Step had more than these two levels. There was a third, but he was still far from reaching it.
At the third level, one moved fast enough to reverse time and make it flow backward.
How far time flowed backward depended on just how fast one could move.
He had once personally witnessed his master, Flower Thief, unleash the extreme speed of the third level, taking him back half an incense stick's worth of time-one incense stick lasted about five minutes.
Half an incense stick might not sound like much, but in a clash between supreme experts, the smallest instant could decide victory or defeat.
His figure flashed, and Fang Ling was already inside the Lost Ancient Mine, standing in a broad mining tunnel.
"The force field really is formidable. Even my teleportation range has been shortened considerably."
Once he entered the mine, a crushing gravitational force descended upon him.
Anyone without sufficient strength who forced their way inside would be crushed outright.
Every mining tunnel ultimately led to the same place: that mysterious hall.
So Fang Ling followed the tunnel, advancing swiftly.
About a quarter of an hour later, he reached its end.
Before him stood an ancient bronze door, its surface mottled and covered in the scars of time.
Four stone statues stood before the ancient bronze door.
All of them depicted demons rather than humans.
Apart from these, skeletal remains littered the ground. These bones had endured for years without crumbling, proof that their owners must have been powerful experts in life.
He strode straight ahead, and sure enough, just as Bai Xingyou had said, puppets barred his way!
These four demonic stone statues were the puppets.
Normally, they remained in statue form, but they would manifest once a living creature approached.
The four statues did not activate together. Only one, shaped like a dog, manifested.
Fang Ling studied its form and recognized what it was.
It was a Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf with a greater demon bloodline.
The Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf opened its sharp-fanged jaws and immediately lunged at Fang Ling to bite him.
Fang Ling raised his hand and threw a simple straight punch.
With a bang, the Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf was instantly smashed to pieces.
This Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf had bitten off Bai Xingyou's arm all those years ago, but to Fang Ling, it was still far too weak.
After the Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf was destroyed, the remaining three statues activated simultaneously.
They manifested as a Si Snake, a Ghost Muntjac, and a Thunder Lion.
Among them, the Thunder Lion possessed a royal bloodline within the Demon Race and formidable innate powers over lightning.
The auras of these three puppets were also far stronger than that of the Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf.
The Blue-Tailed Gray Wolf had only been around the middle Heavenly Balance Realm.
The Si Snake, however, was in the early Heavenly Authority Realm, the same realm as Fang Ling.
The Ghost Muntjac was stronger still, its cultivation reaching the late Heavenly Authority Realm.
And the Thunder Lion was even more terrifying, having reached the early Jade Balance Realm.
All three attacked Fang Ling at once.
The Si Snake opened its enormous jaws and sprayed purple poison gas from its mouth.
A terrifying beast soul appeared behind the Ghost Muntjac, opening its huge maw to swallow Fang Ling.
The Thunder Lion was even more frenzied. Lightning flashed over its body as it unleashed wave after wave of thunder.
Fang Ling's expression darkened. He dared not be careless.
Thump, thump, thump! His previously calm heart began pounding violently. Blood surged through his body, boiling hot.
He threw a punch that roared like thunder across the nine heavens, shaking heaven and earth with a deafening crash.
At the same time, the wind from his fist transformed into a river of stars, swaying and undulating along its path.
The attacks of all three beast puppets were instantly engulfed by his fist's power.
The residual force slammed into them, sending violent tremors through their bodies and shattering them as well!
This was the Galaxy Boundless Fist he had painstakingly practiced since childhood, one of the world's supreme fist arts.
And this was only the second level of the Galaxy Boundless Fist. If he could master its fifth level, he could even shatter the stars in the heavens from across the distant celestial road.
After destroying these obstacles, he was about to move forward.
But suddenly, the four shattered guardian statues restored themselves in an instant!
The fragments scattered across the ground reformed in the blink of an eye, without so much as a crack remaining.
"If I can destroy you once, I can destroy you again. How could you possibly stop me?" Fang Ling snorted coldly and continued forward.
Yet the restored statues did not manifest again to block him. They seemed to have truly become mere decorations.
Fang Ling was slightly surprised, but he did not dwell on it and walked straight up to the door.
He pushed hard, slowly opening the ancient bronze door.
Beyond it lay a spacious, brightly lit hall.
Green lamps were densely arranged around the hall, candle flames burning upon them.
He had no idea what these candles were made from. Countless years had passed, yet they still burned.
At the very center of the hall stood a crystal coffin.
Apart from that, there was nothing else within the enormous hall.
Fang Ling approached the crystal coffin, intending to open it and look inside.
But just then, something bizarre happened!
The crystal coffin suddenly stood upright. With a bang, its lid slammed heavily onto the floor.
At the same time, the ancient bronze door slowly closed, sealing off the exit.
A person lay within the crystal coffin. He slowly opened his eyes and stared fixedly at Fang Ling.
"You have some ability, to have destroyed the four puppets I placed at the entrance."
The man's appearance was rather unusual. A single golden horn actually grew from his forehead.
His eyes were also unlike those of ordinary humans, gleaming faintly gold.
"It should already be the year of great contention foretold by the priest's calculations..."
"Now that I have awakened, I will no longer need to slumber here," the strange man murmured to himself.
"You're from the Golden-Horn Race!" Fang Ling exclaimed in surprise after carefully studying his appearance.
His master, Sword Demon, often told Fang Ling stories about challenging powerful experts from various races, and he had mentioned the Golden-Horn Race among them.
Their exceptionally tenacious vitality had left a deep impression on Sword Demon.
But he had said this race had been exterminated fifty thousand years ago. Yet this fellow before him...
"Oh? To think the Great Chu Kingdom has someone like you who recognizes my origins," the young man of the Golden-Horn Race said with slight surprise.
"The Great Chu Kingdom? Then you must have been sleeping here for at least twenty thousand years," Fang Ling muttered.
The Great Chu Kingdom had preceded the Southern Sun Kingdom, which had only been founded a little over twenty thousand years ago. The Great Chu Kingdom before it had lasted roughly fifty thousand years.
"I do not know how long I have slept here either. Perhaps more than twenty thousand years..." the Golden-Horn Race youth said indifferently.
"Although you look quite appetizing, I do not intend to kill you."
"Now that I have awakened, I will return to the world, and I will need to recruit some subordinates."
"Become my servant! I shall bestow supreme glory upon you!"
"Not interested." Fang Ling shook his head in disappointment, then turned to leave.
"I thought this hall was an ancient ruin. Turns out it was only built a few tens of thousands of years ago..."
Seeing him leave as though no one else were present, the Golden-Horn Race youth's eyes instantly blazed with murderous intent.
"I gave you a chance, and you failed to cherish it. Then become the food that restores my strength!" he said coldly.
Before you continue