Investigation Complete!
An endless, thick black curtain, like a layer of silt that never dries, covers every inch of the earth.
Shi Jian's figure was like a ghost lurking in the shadows.
The Life-Extinguishing Nether Lightning resonated with the surrounding Dao of Darkness passages, completely erasing his vital Qi and Blood, Law Power, and spiritual fluctuations.
In the Nine Realms, thunder cultivators have always been synonymous with extreme yang and earth-shattering power. However, at this moment, Shi Jian has vividly demonstrated the profound mysteries of extreme yin and life and death.
After traveling for several days, the area remained desolate.
The vastness and desolation of this realm far surpasses that of ordinary secret realms and grotto-heavens.
Between heaven and earth, there was no changing of the sun, moon, or stars; only the biting wind swirled and howled among the black crystal rocks.
Along the way, they encountered nothing but low-level Night Beast that were completely dazed and confused.
Those creatures were entirely black, without eyes or noses, only a huge mouth full of tiny, backward-pointing teeth, which sustained its life by devouring the Lightless Dao energy floating in the air.
Half a month later, Shi Jian paused slightly.
Thousands of miles ahead, at the edge of the plain, the outline of a vast, shadowy region could be faintly seen.
It turned out to be a giant city.
A magnificent city built entirely of towering black stone blocks.
The city walls were over ten thousand feet high, like a mountain range lying across the darkness, enclosing an area of thousands of miles within them.
The city walls are inscribed with a large number of bizarre runes that twist like withered branches; they also emit a faint suction force, greedily gathering the spiritual energy of the Dao of Darkness passages in the surrounding void.
Unlike the untamed, wild Night Beast on the outskirts, figures clad in armor and wielding weapons stood prominently atop the city walls.
The guards were over two zhang tall, human-like in shape, with four arms, rows of bone spurs extending from their backs, and their bodies covered with cold, dark scales. Their auras ranged from the Golden Core to the Nascent Soul Early Stage stage.
Above the city, a thick black light curtain seemed to hang, blocking the invasion of the dark winds from the outside.
Above the city, a giant eyeball carved from deep black crystal floats: the eyeball slowly rotates, surveying the surrounding wasteland.
"There are even well-established cities here; it seems that civilization has not completely died out."
Shi Jian lay in wait in the shadows of a precipice, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.
He did not approach rashly.
Even though he now considers his combat strength to be comparable to that of an ordinary Perfected Spirit Transformation at the peak, it's still best to be cautious in this Lightless Realm.
Shi Jian flicked his finger slightly, and a wisp of life-destroying black lightning shot out from the sky.
Dozens of miles away, a patrol team of more than ten four-armed Night Beast was speeding across the Gobi Desert.
The last Golden Core Night Beast suddenly froze, unable to even utter a mournful cry, before being swallowed whole by the void rift that abruptly opened in the ground.
The small team, completely unaware, continued running forward.
In the void, space twists and turns like a tide.
The four-armed Night Beast was tightly bound by several black lightning bolts, unable to move, its eyes flashing with terror.
Shi Jian hovered in mid-air, his white robe as white as snow, his face as cold as Mysterious Ice.
He then raised one hand, his five fingers like steel hooks gripping the Night Beast's head; a bolt of purple-gold lightning instantly pierced through its body, forcefully tearing apart the Night Beast's will and soul...
"Roar--!!"
The Night Beast convulsed violently, its bones cracking under the strain.
However, before the Spirit Transformation stage, it could do nothing, like an ant, completely at the mercy of others, unable even to spontaneously disintegrate its divine soul.
Shortly after half an incense stick's time, Shi Jian released his hand.
The Golden Core Night Beast's eyes rolled back, its soul was completely shattered, and its life force was extinguished, leaving only an empty shell.
A thunderous roar instantly turned his remains into dust and vanished.
"Just as I thought."
"Just as I guessed, it really is a Daoist relic left behind by a Dao Venerable."
The information obtained from the soul search wasn't exhaustive, but it was enough to piece together the secrets of this realm; this realm, hundreds of thousands of years ago, was called the [Lightless Dao Dynasty].
Its founder was none other than the [Lightless] Dao Venerable, one of the four major attainments of the Dao of Darkness.
When that Dao Venerable reached the end of his lifespan and his Dao vanished, his body transformed into heaven and earth. He attempted to use the entire Daoist dynasty as a cradle for his successors to inherit the throne.
However, the Heavenly Dao are unpredictable, and its direct lineage has been withering away in the struggle for power and profit generation after generation, with no one able to condense a complete Six Dao Immortal Foundation.
As a result, the Lightless Dao Fruit remained suspended in mid-air for many years, causing it to go completely berserk
The power of the fruition spread out, turning the entire great world into a dead zone that isolated the Nine Realms; the original divine dynasty cultivators and all living beings of heaven and earth, under the erosion of darkness for hundreds of thousands of years, had their physical bodies and souls completely distorted.
They eventually degenerated into the bloodthirsty and brutal Night Beast race we know today.
Only those with profound cultivation and powerful bloodlines can retain their inherited consciousness.
The Profound Lightning Imperial Clan discovered this Death Realm tens of thousands of years ago and transformed it into a training ground, and even a place for raising livestock.
Every thousand years, the Profound Lightning Imperial Clan would open the boundary gate, allowing their descendants to enter and hunt, while also using the yang power of thunder cultivators to wear down the increasingly solidified barrier of this realm.
"Every city is one of the outer anchor points of the Lightless Dao Fruit."
Shi Jian raised his eyes and looked at the majestic black city in the distance. The city in front of him was called Black Nightmare City; the city lord who was in charge of it was a Night Beast in the Early Spirit Transformation.
Within the entire city, there are over a million living beings.
They were all subjects and prey dependent on this Spirit Transformation Night Beast.
There were no other Spirit Transformation in the city.
Most importantly, from the scattered memories he had just gathered, Shi Jian confirmed one thing: in the deepest core of the Death Realm, there truly existed a sacred place where all abysses converged.
It is known as: The Polar Night Sacred Abyss.
Lei Jin's words were true.
Not only is the Nine Heavens Great Sun Divine Lightning Wood possibly located near the abyss, but the Night Beast Emperor at the Five-Foundation Extreme Realm is also the most core guardian of the Lightless Dao Fruit.
"The Dao of Darkness Night Beast in the Early Spirit Transformation possesses the purest Dark Beast Heart Core..."
Shi Jian's eyes darkened as he had an idea. He desperately needed resources now; [Radiant Yang Lightning] had now reached forty percent completion, and to truly achieve perfection, he needed more than just thunderwood.
It requires massive resources to continuously improve the Immortal Foundation.
The Profound Lightning Beast Emperor offered a very high price: a core from an Early Spirit Transformation could be exchanged for ten years of cultivation in the High Antiquity Lightning Pool, and Middle Spirit Transformation could exchange it for a fifth-tier Thunder Pill!
Now that we've stumbled upon it, there's no reason for us to leave empty-handed.
As for the city, there are the million mutated creatures.
In this age of great strife, those Non-Self of our kind are excluded; even the Principle of this world are devouring each other, let alone flesh and blood ants.
Shi Jian moved swiftly, making no attempt to conceal his presence, transforming into a bolt of lightning and heading straight towards Black Nightmare City.