Chapter 15: Pang Bo's Crisis

Two greenish lights brushed past him and came to a halt dozens of meters away, flickering continuously like will-o'-the-wisps. At the same time, this expanse of ruins became as pitch-black as ink, with people unable to see their own hands before their eyes; even the stars in the sky were completely blotted out, no longer visible.

"It's haunted!" Pang Bo instinctively felt around him, but regrettably, he hadn't brought the bronze plaque from the Ancient Great Leiyin Temple with him.

At this very moment, aside from those two greenish lights, they could see nothing at all. A thick shroud of black mist had completely enveloped the entire ruin. The two green orbs were each about the size of a washbasin, resembling twin will-o'-the-wisps or a pair of gigantic eyes, emanating a chilling, ghostly aura from within the black fog.

"There really are unclean, foul entities here!" Ye Fan and Pang Bo instantly grew tense.

Only Lin An stood quietly in his original spot. Those two green lights seemed to harbor an instinctive fear of him; whichever direction Lin An moved, they would instinctively choose to move in the opposite direction.

"Swish."

This time, the two balls of green light moved at an incredible speed, reaching them in the blink of an eye. Once again, they lunged straight at Ye Fan. Pang Bo tried to step in and help, but was sent flying by four or five dried corpses.

The green lights accelerated further, locking entirely onto Ye Fan, darting erratically to his left and right. Finally, with a flash of brilliance, both lights vanished, plunging straight into his body.

However, shortly thereafter, they flew back out from Ye Fan's body and shot directly toward Pang Bo.

Pang Bo only had time to utter a single curse before falling flat on his back to the ground, which deeply startled Ye Fan, who rushed over in haste.

"Pang Bo, what's wrong with you?"

Yet, before Ye Fan could reach him, Pang Bo flipped himself up into a sitting position. His eyes had turned a ghastly green. He stood up instantly and let out a low, beast-like roar, casting a cold, unblinking stare at Ye Fan for a full several minutes before finally looking away.

"What on earth are you? Get out of his body!" Ye Fan shouted in a low voice.

"Do not worry. For Pang Bo, this is also a stroke of fortune. I can assure you that Pang Bo will come to no harm whatsoever; otherwise, I would have intervened from the very beginning and stopped these two lights from taking him!"

Lin An walked up to Ye Fan's side and spoke to him.

With Lin An's guarantee, the heavy stone in Ye Fan's chest finally dropped.

Whatever Lin An said, he chose to believe.

"Boom!"

At that very moment, a violent gale whipped up, sending sand and stones flying across the ruins while black mist surged turbulently. Pang Bo stood in the center of the wind, his hair whipping wildly about. Then, he suddenly strode forward, causing dozens of ancient corpses scattered around to float into the air and follow him deep into the ruins.

In an instant, the area cleared up, and the boundless starry sky reappeared in the firmament. In the distance, Pang Bo could be seen flying swiftly away, enveloped in churning black mist and rolling dust, accompanied by dozens of ancient corpses as he gradually faded into the distance.

Pang Bo's speed at that moment was blistering, easily rivaling elders who navigated the skies by riding divine rainbows. Moving like lightning, he vanished from Ye Fan's line of sight in a flash.

Fortunately, Ye Fan was now in the Life Spring realm and capable of riding a divine rainbow, allowing him to quickly give chase alongside Lin An.

By the dead of night, having traveled an unknown distance, Ye Fan finally drew close to the deepest part of the ruins. Here, the muffled booming sound grew even more powerful, resonating at fixed intervals. Every time it struck, it felt as though someone were pounding directly against a person's heart. Ye Fan's face turned pale as he staggered forward; even with his formidable physique, he could barely manage to support himself here. Had it been an ordinary person, their heart surely would have shattered long ago.

Trees gradually grew sparse here, replaced by an increasing number of dilapidated ancient structures. The spiritual energy grew progressively denser, radiating a vibrant vitality that made this place resemble a blessed land even more than the Lingxu Paradise.

"Dong!"

With another dull thud, Ye Fan climbed a lofty mountain and gazed into the distance. The so-called "deepest part of the ruins" lay right before him. Dense clusters of ancient buildings stood densely packed; though mostly half-collapsed and reduced to ruins, one could still imagine their former grandeur.

What was most astonishing, however, was that this endless expanse of ancient architecture was actually built in a ring around a volcano. Blazing flames soared into the sky from that location, and churning magma boiled within the craterous rim. Although it had not overflowed, it was terrifying enough to dye half the sky a blazing red.

The sheer, monumental grandeur of the ancient structures encircling this volcano presented a profoundly bizarre spectacle.

At that moment, Ye Fan was utterly shocked, for he beheld an incredible scene: as the boiling magma churned, a magnificent ancient palace of crystal-clear purity bobbed up and down within the crater, repeatedly surfacing and submerging.

"Dong!"

The muffled booming sound rang out once again, originating from deep within the volcano—or more precisely, from the ancient palace bobbing amidst the magma. It shone brilliantly, exceptionally translucent, exuding an aura of the passage of time while ripples of divine radiance circulated around it.

Among the other architectural complexes, nearly twenty fierce avian beasts and primitive ferocious beasts were scattered about. All of them were exotic species, mostly unheard of and unseen, each possessing extraordinary and wondrous traits.

For instance, a silver-winged centipede, as thick as a human arm and two meters long, flashed with a pristine luster as if cast from pure silver. It lay quietly amidst the ruins, and no other creature dared to cross its domain by even half a step.

There was also a ferocious beast resembling a massive ox with a lion's head, its entire body covered in dense green scales. Standing over a dozen meters tall like a small mountain amidst the ruins, it likewise claimed a territory entirely for itself.

Nearly twenty such terrifying creatures bore testimony to the perilous nature of the deep ruins. At this moment, they tightly surrounded the volcano, gazing with tense vigilance at the ancient palace continuously rising and falling within the magma.

It was then that Ye Fan finally spotted Pang Bo, standing among the ruins at the base of the volcano, and let out a long breath of relief. At this moment, Elder Wu Qingfeng and several other elderly cultivators had surrounded him; though they had not attacked, they had successfully trapped him.

Nearly twenty elders from the Lingxu Paradise had arrived, roughly matching the number of fierce beasts and wild creatures. One could say the strength of both factions was evenly matched.

"And..." Ye Fan was startled once more when he noticed that on the other side of the volcano, there were three entities suspected of being great demons. Among them was a giant of a man, extraordinarily imposing and standing a full three meters tall. Though he possessed a completely human body, a pair of bovine horns grew from his head.

Simultaneously, Ye Fan spotted four or five genuine human cultivators. One of them appeared to be the master of the Lingxu Paradise, whom he had once caught a glimpse of from afar. Beside him stood four white-haired and white-bearded elders, positioned not far from the volcanic crater either.

Everyone had chosen their positions strictly according to their strength tiers. At the base of the volcano stood dozens of fierce beasts and the group of elders from the Lingxu Paradise, while higher up on the volcano itself were beings of an even higher echelon. Their objective was entirely identical: all had come for the ancient palace submerged within the magma.

The various powerhouses all watched the volcanic crater with breathless tension. Down below, the magma boiled away, and the divine-light-shrouded ancient palace drifted up and down, as if the power of time itself flowed around it, imbuing the air with an aura of primordial antiquity.

The arrival of Lin An and Ye Fan did not draw much attention from the gathered individuals; everyone's gaze remained firmly fixed upon the churning magma not far away.