Keeping in mind the potential danger he could end up finding himself in if he ran into one of the Void Integration Realm cultivators that should have found a way into the palace complex following after the city lord of Desolate River City, Xuan Hao didn’t linger around near the small tower that the four youths had disappeared inside of for long. Especially so because there was a very real chance that the old remnant soul might pick up on some traces left behind by his divine sense and decide to investigate the surroundings.
After all, though he had already willingly dispersed the bit of divine sense he had left behind within those four, there would inevitably be some traces of his presence within their bodies. Still, the old remnant soul shouldn’t be able to tell he wasn’t someone from the fragmented continent with just those few traces left behind and would hopefully just think it was some safety measure that had been left behind by a senior.
No matter, even if the other party decided to search around, he would already be far away from the small tower and wouldn’t be easy to find for the old remnant soul that was essentially anchored to the small tower. Not to mention, it wouldn’t have any real reason to try and find him after it realized there was nothing wrong with the four youths and he hadn’t harmed them in any way- Or... Well... He hadn’t harmed them in a direct, traceable manner.
Shaking his head as he thought this to himself while he began making his way deeper into the palace complex, Xuan Hao found himself advancing through the ancient passages and hallways with ease. The few traps and formations that might have originally blocked his path forward having long since decayed to the point where they couldn’t properly exert their full strength and ultimately ended up being little more than a nuisance that could be easily dealt with.
Different from the formations he had faced in the ancient structures outside the palace complex, as it was clear from a glance that those formations hadn’t lost any of their strength over the years.
Although, as he began analyzing the different decaying formations and traps, he encountered along the way, it didn’t take him long to realize the reason behind this obvious difference in survivability of the formations within the palace complex and those found outside it.
The formations outside the palace complex were all linked together with the grand formation that kept the city center itself operating and had prevented it from being destroyed over the countless years by the building spatial anomalies that had formed the different spatial currents that divided up the city itself and separated it from the outside world, while the formations within the palace complex weren’t connected to the grand formation. Meaning they decayed normally and weren’t being kept functioning by the terrifying formation behind the ancient city center.
Of course, though this was the case, he had a feeling that the different formations within the palace complex might have once been connected to the grand formation guarding the city center, it was just that the grand formation had been forced to cut this connection over time to ensure it was able to remain stable and continue functioning normally.
After all, amazing as the formation that kept the ancient city center hidden and safe was, it would inevitably end up degrading over time without anyone around to maintain it and no new resources around to repair itself. Even with a formation spirit around somewhere within the depths of the formation, it would at most extend the life of the ancient formation. Stopping the decline was impossible...
Reaching the edge of what should be the main palace at the very core of the vast palace complex that looked more like a city the size of a small kingdom, Xuan Hao couldn’t help sighing in amazement as he looked towards the towering palace that looked like a divine palace descended from the heavens above even in its current decayed state.
Travelling through the palace complex, he hadn’t just gone straight for this central palace but had taken some time to learn more about this palace complex or more specifically, Desolate River City, that this ancient city center housing the palace complex had once been a part of.
From the bits of information he managed to gather while avoiding certain places he concluded also might be home to some surviving remnant soul, he learnt that Desolate River City had once served as the home to one of the core factions of the ancient world the fragmented continent had once been a part of. The city itself being named not after the terrifying spatial currents beside it, but instead the founder of the faction.
Originally, this faction had been one of the foremost powers within the ancient world before the descend of the church of the plague god, but after that devastating war, two of the four top powers within the ancient world was reduced to ash, while only the faction in control of Desolate River City and another major faction remained within the ancient world.
At the time, records scattered throughout the city described the state of Desolate River City being far from optimal, as the lord had been injured during the battle against a subordinate god under the plague god and was unable to recover from the plague qi that had invaded his body. Leaving everyone deeply worried about the other remaining major power within the ancient world, as they hadn’t suffered any real damage during the war because of how they had taken the backseat and watched from the side during most of the battle.
Even if nothing was said, it was clear that this major power already harbored the intention of becoming the sole ruler of the ancient world... And following the departure of the church of the plague god, there was a very real chance of this happening.
But as things were starting to heat up between the two sides, a new enemy emerged from the void in the form of corrupted beings that slowly began corrupting their world. Forcing the two sides already about to clash into facing this new enemy together.
Good thing was that this new enemy was nowhere near as oppressive as the church of the plague god, while the bad thing was the fact that no matter how many corrupted beings they killed, it would never be enough as new ones would always emerge to fill in for the fallen.
From what started at a few probing skirmishes at first soon enough developed into large battlefield spanning most of the ancient world, be it on the ground or in the sky, clashes between the two sides could be seen playing out everywhere throughout the world. Reminding everyone of the war that had only ended a little over a hundred years earlier by that point in time.
Starting with this war against the corrupted beings born through the Dao of Corruption, Xuan Hao found it increasingly difficult to get any records on what happened. Only finding a few scattered records that described a few battles that were either won or lost in places that had long since perished alongside the world that this fragmented continent had once been a part of.
The one saving grace to the lack of information was the fact that the few records he found did describe how the beings born through the Dao of Corruption slowly seeped into and corrupted the fundamental laws of the world. Turning it into a dead world that was impossible for anyone to live in outside of those beings born through the Dao of Corruption.
The scenes and environment described by in these records reminded him of the space he had been transported into through the system when he had obtained the enlightenment opportunity in the past. Making him wonder if the place he had been transported to had been a dead world that had once been thriving with life before it had ultimately been transformed into a dead world with nothing around, but creatures and beings related to the Dao of Corruption that he had seen back then.
At the same time, outside of the space where he gained enlightenment in the Dao of Corruption, he inevitably also thought about the other worlds he had been taken to through the enlightenment space.
Wondering if it might be possible for him to find the worlds that the system had taken him to in the future to not just use as a way to further his own comprehension of the Dao, but also as a potential cultivation ground for the sect in the future. After all, if he was strong enough, it should be possible to create some passage to those worlds in the future.
Of course, before that, he would still have to first find them and confirm their existence, while also making sure they were safe.
At the very least, the Dao of Corruption world wasn’t safe...
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