"Forget it, who cares who came first or last? As people often say, the wise are teachers, and the student surpasses the master. Whoever can bring this technique to its pinnacle is the one with true skill!" Xiao Hua thought, then turned his gaze once more toward the enormous stone pillars towering outside the hall and plunging into the seawater.
Xiao Hua flew out of the hall, but rather than heading directly for the central pillar, he flew toward one on the outer ring. When he reached it, he saw clearly that this was no stone pillar at all—it was plainly a colossal pillar piled from white bones! The bones were like jade, utterly untouched by the seawater's corrosion. The moment his gaze fell upon them, a faint dizziness rose within him of its own accord. Xiao Hua did not dare look any longer. He slowly flew upward, taking the time of a meal before finally reaching the pillar's summit. There stood a platform several hundred zhang across, upon which a tall, intact hall stood. The hall emitted a ghostly white glow beneath the seawater. Its gates and pillars were all constructed of white bone, and countless strange beast heads and netherbeasts had been carved into those bones by some unknown method. These netherbeasts were lifelike and terrifying beyond measure, looking exactly like the Houtu Hall Xiao Hua had seen in Houtu Village of Million Meng Mountain.
However, this bone hall was several times larger than the previous Houtu Hall. Its bone-forged gates stood open, and the gate that resembled a beast's maw exuded a terrifying aura, as though it would devour Xiao Hua whole the instant he approached.
Xiao Hua's soul sense swept over it, yet the gates blocked it completely, preventing him from seeing the hall's interior. Standing