As the commander of the Qingxuan Army, Young Lord Shang had suppressed the Chizha Abyss for a century. Even when facing the horrifying demonic sound tide of world extinction, he had remained calm and composed.
Yet now, he felt a bone-deep terror he had not experienced in a very long time.
There were simply too many dead cultivators in this frozen sea.
Young Lord Shang could hardly imagine where all these cultivators had come from.
The number of cultivators buried here was likely greater than in the entire Xuanhuang Realm!
Sacred Embryo Li Fan feigned being frightened by the sight before them, his body trembling slightly, his face etched with horror.
"Young Lord, do not act rashly. Caution is paramount."
After a moment, he seemed to come to his senses and consoled Young Lord Shang.
Young Lord Shang's face remained grim. He scanned their surroundings from time to time, as if some unknown enemy lurked nearby.
"Something... isn't right here. Did you hear any sound?" Young Lord Shang asked via divine sense transmission.
"A sound? What sound?" Sacred Embryo Li Fan was genuinely taken aback; this was not feigned.
With a dark expression, Young Lord Shang said, "Perhaps it is because I have stayed in Chizha Abyss for so long that I am sensitive to any sound. Ever since coming to this Lost Domain, I have faintly heard a sort of whisper. It comes and goes. Did you not hear it?"
Sacred Embryo Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
This was not his first time here.
He had even guided various cultivators here before.
Yet none had been like Young Lord Shang, capable of hearing an inexplicable sound in this deathly silent, frozen sea.
With other thoughts stirring in his mind, Sacred Embryo Li Fan said solemnly, "What do you think, Young Lord? This place must involve immense secrets. But by the same token, looking deeper into it will surely entail tremendous risk. Should we leave now while we remain undiscovered, or should we investigate?"
Young Lord Shang did not answer Li Fan immediately. His ears twitched slightly, as though he were distinguishing the sounds he heard.
After a moment, he transmitted, "Brother Li, follow me. I have a premonition that tracing the source of this sound might unravel part of the mystery here."
Sacred Embryo Li Fan nodded slightly. Sword shadows unsheathed, hovering around them in guard.
"Caution is paramount."
The two traversed the boundless frozen sea.
Regarding the overall structure of the Grand Formation of Inverting Life and Death, Li Fan was actually already well aware of it.
However, since he was pretending this was his first visit, he did not expose it even as he watched Young Lord Shang lead him running in circles within the formation.
He simply followed behind in silence.
Yet as Young Lord Shang stubbornly pressed on in a certain direction, Sacred Embryo Li Fan also noticed subtle changes emerging in their surroundings.
They had previously even eluded the analysis of the Terminal Dissociation Disc and been overlooked by him!
*There is actually such a hidden variation within the grand formation? Truly worthy of a formation capable of attaining the Longevity realm,* Li Fan thought, secretly startled.
They continued forward.
It felt as if they were walking in place, except the frozen coffins in the surrounding dead sea constantly revolved around them.
The deeper they went, the faster the surrounding scenery spun.
"Brother Li, be careful. It seems the source of the sound is just ahead!" Young Lord Shang's voice also carried tension.
As if passing through a long, narrow spacetime tunnel, their surroundings blurred into concentric overlapping lines from the sheer speed.
Then, as they broke through the tunnel's end, the countless circles converged to a single point.
And then exploded across their vision.
A vast expanse opened before them.
Yet the surrounding air grew colder still.
It was so cold that even Sacred Embryo Li Fan and his companion felt their bodies stiffening.
"Phew..."
Circulating the spiritual energy within their bodies, they tried to dispel the bone-chilling cold.
The two carefully surveyed their surroundings.
They appeared to be inside a silvery-white sphere of light. Aside from faintly visible, blurry boundaries, the place was completely empty.
Yet when they looked back toward the direction they had come from, the sight made their pupils contract sharply.
A small sphere, resembling a pair of yin-yang fish, spun continuously as it floated quietly in midair.
From its murky portion, Sacred Embryo Li Fan could faintly sense the aura of the deathly silent frozen sea from before.
And inside this white sphere of light, there were actually eight more such small yin-yang spheres!
Nine in total, arranged in a peculiar shape.
Young Lord Shang swallowed hard.
Just within one of these yin-yang spheres, the number of the dead was beyond counting.
If that number were multiplied by nine...
The two exchanged a glance, each seeing the dread in the other's heart.
Even their divine sense transmissions became cautious and subdued, for fear of disturbing the nine yin-yang spheres.
"Young Lord, that sound you heard before..."
"Gone. Once we entered here, it stopped abruptly and mysteriously vanished. Wait..." Young Lord Shang froze suddenly and turned his head toward the direction opposite the yin-yang spheres.
Sacred Embryo Li Fan followed his gaze, but saw nothing.
"Careful," Young Lord Shang warned in a hushed tone, and said no more.
His body stiffened, not moving an inch. His aura also became exceedingly faint in an instant.
Only then did Sacred Embryo Li Fan sense that some invisible presence seemed to have descended into this space.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
Though there was no physical sound, the heavy footsteps stomped palpably upon Li Fan's heart.
It drew closer and closer.
It paid no heed to the two rash intruders, heading straight toward the vicinity of the nine Yin-Yang Beads.
*Whoosh...*
The sound of a soft breath echoed.
The space near the Yin-Yang Beads twisted and rippled in waves as a result.
Like something boiling in scalding water, the yin and yang halves on the nine small spheres revolved around each other, becoming ever more distinct.
And Young Lord Shang and Li Fan distinctly saw wisps of frozen corpses flowing into the nine Yin-Yang Beads along with the breath of this unknown presence.
The eerie process did not last long.
As the oppressive footsteps gradually receded, the silvery-white space slowly returned to normal.
The nine Yin-Yang Beads also settled down, regaining their calm.
Only after a long while did the two dare to communicate via divine sense.
"What on earth was that just now?"
"The sense of danger pricked like needles across my entire body, and my spiritual perception shrieked warnings like mad. It felt as if catastrophe could strike at any second... Even a Longevity Heavenly Venerable might not give off such a feeling, could they?"
After just a few words, the two fell into an intensely oppressive silence.
"The sound I heard earlier must have been the echo of that unknown presence's footsteps in this place," Young Lord Shang surmised. "Even though it has departed, the echoes still linger."
"The countless frozen corpses within the Yin-Yang Beads seem to be that entity's handiwork. But I still cannot understand where on earth so many bodies came from. And what lies outside this silvery-white space?"
Sacred Embryo Li Fan could not answer these questions either.
He had originally thought this was merely Heavenly Venerable Rebirth's dao arena. Little did he expect that in this lifetime, through a stroke of serendipity, he would uncover a far deeper secret hidden behind it.
Chapter 1172