I Grind to Martial Saint

After entering the gloomy Stone Hall, Han Yuan held up his flint and steel and scanned his surroundings.

The Stone Hall was quite large, and the floor was covered in a huge mess of debris, rubble, and other strange odds and ends...

It looked as if some kind of great turmoil had taken place here.

Dilapidated, chaotic, decaying...

”I thought something might have been preserved here... Looks like that was a long shot.”

Seeing the state of the Stone Hall, Ding Zihu couldn’t help but shake his head in disappointment.

”Not necessarily... Let’s take a closer look,” Han Yuan said calmly.

The two of them began to carefully investigate the Stone Hall.

There was indeed nothing intact left in the Stone Hall; the scattered debris on the floor was completely worthless.

Just as Han Yuan was thinking their trip had been for nothing...

”Holy shit!”

Ding Zihu suddenly shrieked.

”What’s wrong?”

Han Yuan’s expression tensed.

”Han Yuan... There’s a person over there!”

Ding Zihu pointed to a corner of the Stone Hall.

Han Yuan glanced over and, by the faint light of the flame, saw that there really was a figure there.

The person was sitting cross-legged in the corner of the Stone Hall, head bowed, clad in a black robe. It was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive.

But for a person to suddenly appear in a place like this ruined ancient city was naturally terrifying.

”Be careful.”

Han Yuan said in a low voice.

He stealthily approached the black-robed figure.

The Great Demon Gang Essence within his body began to circulate.

If the black-robed person made a single strange move, he would use overwhelming force to strike them down!

However, when Han Yuan reached the black-robed figure, it still didn’t react.

He thought for a moment, then gently pulled back the figure’s black hood.

A skull appeared before Han Yuan’s eyes.

”It seems it’s not an Evil Spirit... just a corpse.”

Han Yuan said softly.

Ding Zihu cautiously sidled over. After looking it over for a moment, he even shone his Eight Trigrams Mirror on it.

”Even my Dharma Artifact isn’t reacting. It seems it really is just an ordinary corpse.”

”But in a place like this... can there really be such a thing as an ’ordinary corpse’?”

Ding Zihu found it too strange.

If the corpse had suddenly sprung up to attack them, he actually wouldn’t have overthought it so much.

Han Yuan didn’t know how to explain it either.

Just then, he noticed some crude murals carved into the wall the corpse was leaning against.

”Ding Zihu, take a look at this.”

Han Yuan said softly.

At his words, Ding Zihu came closer to look and exclaimed in surprise, ”These murals... they must have all been carved by one person. If I’m not mistaken, it was probably this one right here.”

Han Yuan raised his flint and steel and began to study them carefully.

The murals were fragmented, but Han Yuan could still grasp their general meaning.

A long time ago.

This city had a City Lord who was valiant and skilled in battle. He led the city’s people in repelling many enemies and was deeply loved by them.

But later, the City Lord left on a trip... and when he returned, everything had changed.

His temperament became cruel and merciless. He would kill at the slightest provocation, slaughtering so many that heads rolled and rivers of blood flowed, until the people of the city were terrified of him.

Then, one day.

The City Lord ordered all the citizens to be driven out of the city, leaving only himself and his retinue of guards.

And on that very night.

An exceptionally strange earthquake occurred, and a massive fissure split the ground.

The entire ancient city sank directly into the earth, to sleep forever in the depths below.

After Han Yuan and Ding Zihu finished viewing the murals, they stared at each other, their hearts filled with shock and doubt.

”This story... seems simple on the surface... but the key details are so vague.”

Ding Zihu said with a frown.

He felt the content of the murals was too vague, lacking any crucial information.

For example, the City Lord was away for a time—what exactly happened that caused such a drastic change in his personality?

And why did the City Lord later order the citizens to evacuate?

Was it a coincidence that the city sank deep into the earth that very night?

In short, after looking at them, Ding Zihu found himself with even more questions.

”It is strange...”

Han Yuan nodded, then changed the subject. ”But judging from these murals... was this ancient city built on a Spiritual Land?”

Ding Zihu nodded slightly. ”It must have been. Back in the Chaotic Ancient Era, this area was already considered an auspicious location, which is why they chose to build a city here.”

”Later, after the city sank underground, the world underwent some changes, and this place became a Spiritual Land. Someone then used an Array to seal it off from the mortal world.”

”It’s just that the Abnormal People who sealed off this Spiritual Land back then probably never imagined...”

”...that the ruins of an ancient city were hidden underground.”

Han Yuan was lost in thought.

”But I’m curious, who is this person?” Ding Zihu asked, looking at the corpse.

”He must have been one of the City Lord’s guards... At the time, only the guards stayed behind with the City Lord.”

Han Yuan said calmly.

”That makes sense.”

”The corpses we saw in the underground river channel before... they were probably the City Lord’s guards too.”

”Someone moved their bodies out of this city.”

”They would rather place them in a dried-up riverbed than leave them in the ruins of this ancient city...”

”It seems some strange transformation occurred in this city.”

Ding Zihu analyzed.

”If there really was a strange transformation,”

”the source of it must be the City Lord.”

Han Yuan stated calmly.

After all, the City Lord was the cause of the city becoming what it was today.

”Mm... I just wonder what has become of that City Lord now.”

Ding Zihu’s expression was grave.

One must remember that the Chaotic Ancient Era was a brilliant and glorious age that gave birth to many legendary figures who were like Divine Demons.

Even if the names of these figures have been worn away by time,

their power is beyond question.