A canyon.
Very long.
Very vast.
Its end was nowhere in sight.
The cliffs on either side were absurdly high, like two enormous palms closing together, slicing the sky into a narrow slit.
Light leaked through that slit, pale and cold, with a quality that did not belong to the mortal world.
And packed densely throughout the canyon were...
Cocoons.
Things that looked like insect cocoons.
Every one in sight was as large as a truck.
Their grayish-white shells were covered in twisted patterns, like countless sealed faces.
Some cocoons squirmed faintly. The things beneath their shells struggled and breathed, peering at the outside world in some indescribable way.
Yang Yong clenched his back teeth.
He knew this place.
This was... where the Whale Lord had sealed the Source of Eerie.
One hundred and six Sources of Eerie.
One hundred and six nightmares from the Abyss.
"Old Cao!" Yang Yong lowered his voice, his throat tight. "What's wrong with you? You just signed me up for this job?"
Cao Xianming did not answer.
He stared at the Data Model in his hands, its streams of data still flickering at tremendous speed.
Only after a long while did he raise his head and look at Yang Yong.
"Yang Yong, you really have no idea you're carrying a divine artifact."
"What?"
"We've known each other for quite some time." There was a certain conviction in Cao Xianming's voice. "Based on the scraps of information you've let slip, I've worked out a conclusion..."
He stared into Yang Yong's eyes.
"That method of yours needs an enormous quantity of Eerie."
Yang Yong froze.
"In this apocalypse, the greatest use of that method is actually refining the body, not artifacts."
Cao Xianming spoke faster. "It has been consuming its stored... essence all along. In other