Xu Zimo applied slight pressure, and a scream erupted from the red-robed elder’s mouth.
That right fist was crushed into dust.
Xu Zimo slowly reached out and placed his hand on the elder’s head.
“G-Godly Monarch,” the elder trembled all over and stammered.
“Spare me, my lord, I’m willing to do anything.”
“Tell me about yourselves,” Xu Zimo asked.
“I’m an elder of the Seven Fears Cult. Our sect is based in the Great Marshlands. What else do you want to know?” the elder quickly responded.
“Seven Fears Cult?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Yes, this sect was founded by our ancestor, the Saint Sovereign Seven Fears. We’re not the strongest, but we’re somewhat renowned in the Great Marshlands,” the elder answered without hesitation.
“What is a ‘Saint Sovereign’?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Breaking through the tenth meridian gate makes one a Saint Sovereign,” the elder replied.
“Explain the realms beyond Grand Emperor,” Xu Zimo said.
“Ten meridian gates means Saint Sovereign. Eleven gates and you reach the Infinite Dao Realm. It gets quite complex after that, I don’t fully understand it myself,” said the elder. “That kind of information isn’t something a mere Grand Empyrean like me would have access to.”
“How many of your Seven Fears Cult are still in the Eternal Lands?” Xu Zimo asked.
“None. They’ve all died at your hands,” the elder quickly shook his head and shouted, “Let me go. I’ve told you everything I know, I beg you.”
“Unfortunately, keeping you alive is pointless,” Xu Zimo said with a shake of his head.
With one more strike of his right hand, there was a loud “boom,” and the elder’s corpse fell rigidly to the ground.
At that moment, the sealed gates of the southern district were finally broken open.
Only then did Eternal City respond and begin its counterattack.
But when they arrived at the gates and saw the street piled with corpses, everyone froze.
Xu Zimo ignored the others and went straight to the location of the Immortal Dao Ruins.
Disciples of the Eternal God Sect used to guard this area, but they had already been killed.
The ruins were enveloped in a void formation. Xu Zimo tore the formation apart with both hands and entered the ruins directly.
...
This vast land had undergone tens of thousands of years of recovery, yet it still hadn’t regenerated.
The earth was dry and cracked. Not a single green plant could be seen. The ground looked like countless spider webs spreading to the horizon.
One could tell how intense the battle here must have been by the scorched soil and blackened vegetation.
Flocks of vultures circled in the sky, searching for fresh flesh and food.
When they saw Xu Zimo enter, they dove down and attacked him directly.
“Coo, coo!” Their sharp cries cut through the air, but within moments, all the vultures fell to the ground, lifeless.
Xu Zimo frowned as he observed the scene.
There were no roads here, only endless white bones and jagged stones everywhere.
The ground was blackened. The air was dry, making it uncomfortable to breathe.
Smoke from ancient flames still drifted across the land like war banners, as though even the sky had been stained black.
Xu Zimo stepped forward across the land.
Besides the vultures overhead, many skeletons wandered aimlessly like ghosts.
They didn’t attack him, merely wandered about this land without direction.
The outer layer of the Immortal Dao Ruins was no longer dangerous. The Eternal God Sect had long since cleared it.
Only the ruins remained, still showing traces of past prosperity and the devastation of war.
Xu Zimo kept moving forward. The so-called Heaven-Unity Record was likely at the core of the ruins.
That area was still filled with danger. According to the Eternal Godly Monarch, he had once searched the core but found nothing.
Eventually, he was forced to enter the Immortal Dao Bridge.
As Xu Zimo ventured deeper, the skeletons he encountered grew stronger.
No longer mindless like those outside, these began to show signs of intelligence.
Of course, none of them posed a real obstacle to Xu Zimo.
After walking for about an hour, he finally reached the core of the Immortal Dao Ruins.
A massive crater lay at his feet, bottomless, with no end in sight.
It was hard to imagine what kind of attack could have caused such devastating destruction.
Inside the massive pit were countless smaller craters.
A transparent barrier blocked Xu Zimo’s path outside the giant pit.
He reached out and touched the barrier. He could feel a force resisting his entry.
He tried using the Heaven-Unity Key given to him by the Eternal Godly Monarch.
As soon as the key touched the barrier, the illusionary face within the key began devouring the barrier’s power.
In just a few moments, the barrier had a gaping hole ripped in it.
If Xu Zimo hadn’t stopped it, the entire barrier might have been completely devoured.
Xu Zimo put the key away and stepped into the core area inside the barrier.
As soon as he entered, he felt an incredibly evil energy.
This energy was the most malevolent he had ever encountered on the Primordial Heartlands, bar none.
The sky within the barrier was a dark red color. This evil force had fused with the spiritforce and the air itself.
It constantly attempted to erode Xu Zimo’s body.
Even Grand Empyreans couldn’t withstand the pressure inside this barrier. Given enough time, even a Godly Monarch would struggle.
“Those who died here were at least at the Immortal path,” Xu Zimo speculated inwardly.
Within the red aura, countless skeletons glowed with black and red light and wandered around.
They moved as if patrolling, and when they saw Xu Zimo, they swarmed toward him.
Xu Zimo slapped them into powder. The remaining skeletons felt fear and backed away.
...
He roughly estimated that each skeleton here had the strength of the Fusion Heaven Realm.
Even a Grand Empyrean would be overwhelmed if all these skeletons attacked at once.
With a strange feeling, Xu Zimo kept walking. None of the skeletons attacked him again.
Instead, they followed him from a distance, as if monitoring him.
Xu Zimo closed his eyes and spread out his soul entirely, trying to sense the source of the evil energy in this land.
After a long time, Xu Zimo opened his eyes and looked eastward with a deep gaze.
“Over there... something powerful seems to be awakening.”
Although he didn’t know exactly what was happening at the source, he had definitely sensed the presence of life within it.