CHAPTER 232: THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE PRIMORDIAL ERA

Lu Chen wiped his right hand across his forehead, activating both his Divine Eye and the Eye of the Ancestral Dragon simultaneously. The two eyes converged as he focused on the bottom of the ravine.

From hundreds of meters... to thousands... then to tens of thousands... Lu Chen strained with all his might, pushing both eyes to their limits, but he still failed to see the bottom.

If it were merely that the bottom was out of sight, he might not have been so shaken, but both his eyes were capable of perceiving truth and purging darkness.

Earlier, as he traced the mountain of skeletons downward, he realized the ravine only grew more vast, filled with countless pale bones that seemed to occupy nearly eighty percent of the space.

Lu Chen lifted his head, scanning the mountain of skeletons from side to side. "This..."

He shuddered. "This mountain of bones... it might be bigger than the Three Peaks and Six Academies combined. How many cultivators died here?"

He glanced once more at the bottomless ravine. Just as he was about to return to the others and report what he had seen, he accidentally nudged a boulder off the cliffside.

It slid down and collided with the mountain of skeletons, sending forth a chilling series of thuds, yet no sound of it hitting the bottom ever came.

Lu Chen frowned. "Even after all this time, it hasn't reached the bottom?"

Jun Laoye noticed his expression. He hummed thoughtfully, activating the Heavenly Lightning Eye on his forehead. Striding quickly to Lu Chen's side, he peered into the ravine's depths. "Huh? How deep is this? I still can't see the bottom with my Divine Eye."

"The mountain of skeletons before us... Don't tell me it was piled layer by layer from the bottom," he murmured, turning to Lu Chen with a strange expression, even doubting the limits of the Heavenly Lightning Eye. "For a ravine like this... the number of deaths must rival the population of an entire continent."

"So you're saying there are even more bones down there?" Nantian Yijian leaned over the cliff, his voice tight with disbelief. "No wonder the north is deserted. Who'd dare come here after so many died in such a chilling place..."

Lu Chen didn't reply. Instead, he turned and approached Wind Dragon, projecting everything he had seen.

A three-dimensional image of the ravine appeared above the ground. Lu Chen filled in the missing parts of the projection based on his observations.

Jun Laoye studied it, then patted Nantian Yijian and led him closer.

Wind Dragon furrowed his brow deeper as he examined the image, occasionally performing a spell to synchronize it into the small world, sending inquiries to his main body.

Most of the beasts in the small world were secluded elsewhere, cultivating. Sensing the call, Wind Dragon's main body arrived at the core area.

Observing the dense bones, Main Wind Dragon's expression turned grim. He called out to the other elemental chieftains several times, but no one responded, nor could anyone provide proper information.

He instructed the clone to wait in place, taking part of the bones with him to the Thirty-Three Mountains in search of Feng Tiancheng.

Clone Wind Dragon studied the mountain of skeletons with a solemn expression. Unable to recall anything, he could only wake up Red Fox and ask her. "Red Fox, does your bloodline memory contain anything about this mountain of skeletons? So many cultivators died here... your bloodline should have a record of it, right?"

Red Fox opened her eyes and was about to curse until she spotted the towering mountain of skeletons and Lu Chen's projection. She sucked in a sharp breath and swallowed her words.

She calmed slightly and turned to Wind Dragon with a grim expression. "Where are we? How can there be so many bones?"

"We're still beneath the cliff. We haven't left..." Wind Dragon said anxiously. "Red Fox, don't dodge the question. If there's a record, speak up."

Her eyes glowed blood-red. She snapped, "Why the rush? Can't I organize my thoughts first?"

For the first time, Wind Dragon urged her with visible anxiety. "Then hurry. This place feels... strange."

The mountain of skeletons clearly shook him profoundly. "All the great clans participated in our debate back in the Central Continent. Even then, there had never been an occurrence where so many cultivators died at once."

Red Fox muttered an incantation under her breath, the red glow in her eyes intensifying. "I have no record of this mountain of skeletons. But for so many cultivators to die at once... and around the time of the Primordial Era... there's only one explanation."

Red Fox leapt from Nantian Wan'er's arms, her expression grave as she surveyed the mountain of skeletons. "My bloodline inheritance holds memories of this. I'll delve into it... It must be where the last great battle of the Primordial Era was fought. It marks the end of that era, as well as the fall of the giants' rule."

She transformed into her true form and set up a formation at her feet. She sliced her palm, letting a drop of her blood essence fall onto the center of the formation. The crimson droplet quickly spread, filling the formation.

An illusory scene materialized before Lu Chen. Layers of blood mist rose from the formation, drifting upward and coalescing into a circular mirror. Within it, images played as if a movie were being projected.

It was similar to what he had experienced at the Beast King Manor, but this time, the memory belonged solely to Red Fox's bloodline, and she alone maintained the formation.

Seeing the miraculous vision, Nantian Yijian rushed forward with wide, curious eyes, eager to witness the scene. The moment a flicker of red light appeared, however, darkness engulfed him, and he collapsed to the ground.

Red Fox and the others, still absorbed in the vision, immediately cast a protective barrier around him, using their spells to send him safely toward Jun Laoye.

Jun Laoye sensed Nantian Yijian approaching and, with a series of hand seals, caught him, keeping him away from the formation. Having heard of bloodline-memory spells, he knew his cultivation was insufficient for him to observe it directly. Before any red glow could reach him, he turned his back and blocked his hearing.

While focusing on Red Fox's scene, Lu Chen performed hand seals to channel the spirit qi in his Heavenly Pool. A shimmering layer of Yang Purifying Water emerged, protecting both his and Nantian Wan'er's minds.

The illusory scene lacked the grandeur and world-shaking power of the Beast King Manor vision, yet its sense of immersion far surpassed that earlier experience. The previous scenes had depicted events from eons ago, long before the continent had formed. As such, they felt distant, like reading or listening to a story. Red Fox's vision, on the other hand, was different.

Though rough in execution, it conveyed the battle between the giants and the regular-sized cultivators so vividly that Lu Chen felt as if he were part of it, fighting alongside the tiny cultivators against the giants.

He studied the scene closely. The giants were few in number, but they wielded devastating spells. Each attack could level sections of the continent and instantly kill tens of thousands of cultivators. Their assaults pounded the land like colossal elephants trampling an anthill, leaving only destruction in their wake.

The regular-sized cultivators, however, were countless. Many gathered in formations to amplify their spells, launching attacks that could wound a giant. Like ants, as some fell, others rushed forward to fill the gaps. They were relentless. The more that died, the more pressed on. Eventually, even the giants, overwhelmed by sheer numbers, crumbled.

Red Fox's bloodline memory preserved only critical events. The battle unfolded day by day, leaving the continent fractured and broken.

Lu Chen coughed softly. A tremor of unease passed through him as he rested his right hand on Wind Dragon, who tried to stop him from continuing to watch. But a beam of spirit qi shot down from the sky, halting Wind Dragon.

Sensing familiarity within the energy, Wind Dragon glanced upward, but saw nothing unusual. When he looked back, Nantian Wan'er had turned away, and Lu Chen was enveloped in layers of protective light, shielded from the scene's effects.

Seeing Lu Chen safe, Wind Dragon suppressed his doubts and continued observing the battlefield within the mirror.

The war was nearing its end. The land was soaked in blood, streams flowing through cracks, mingling with severed limbs and corpses. Almost no land or vegetation remained. Wherever there was space, a cultivator, or their corpse, immediately filled it.

In this merciless conflict, the tiny cultivators charged fearlessly. The already sparse giants fell one by one, their bodies shattering on impact, spraying blood across the land, which flowed into ever-larger crimson rivers.