Chapter 457: That Twisted, Mysterious, and Struggling History

"Sorry about that."

Yan Jing paused for a moment, then offered an apologetic smile.

Looking at the harmless face before him, Ning Wei took a deep breath and lay back on the ground. "Did you leave that note?"

"Yes." Yan Jing smiled.

"Do you know I never spare anyone who knows my past?" Ning Wei asked softly.

Yan Jing laughed. "It's fine. First, with your strength, Officer, you can't kill me. Second, we can cooperate."

Ning Wei thought for a moment before speaking. "Are our goals the same?"

"They can be."

"But the higher-ups tested you. You're only at the Third Tier."

"That's a secret."

"So why did you drag a staff member into the God Storage Land?"

After pondering for a few seconds, Ning Wei sat back up and looked at Yan Jing. "Taking such a huge risk, you must be after something."

"Do you know her?" Yan Jing pulled a portrait from his pocket and handed it to Ning Wei.

It depicted a woman in her thirties or forties, wearing a radiant, slightly exaggerated smile that revealed her teeth. A hint of heroic spirit hid between her striking brows and eyes, and her skin was far too pale for a Wizard.

Large, pale orange waves of hair were swept over one shoulder, bringing to mind a warm stove in the dead of winter.

She wore an apron and stood with her hands on her hips, holding a spatula still stained with grease.

Ning Wei began to understand. "You want to cooperate with me? Because of her?"

When the woman was taken into the Great Prison, he had asked around and learned that this seemingly ordinary woman actually had quite the background. Wen Xu, a potential criminal, had been arrested because of her as well.

"She's locked up in the special inmate cell block." Ning Wei's expression was calm. "I take two shifts there every month."

He had to toss out a bargaining chip to prevent Yan Jing from making a move against him here.

"I didn't expect you to have such high status, Officer." Yan Jing smiled. A person's past was simply too fragmented for him to observe every single detail, so discovering this was an unexpected delight.

"I'm just a bottom-rung First Level clerk," Ning Wei said flatly. "I just know a lot of people. Guarding the special inmates isn't a good job; most people don't want to do it, so I take it."

"Why?"

Ning Wei hadn't wanted to answer, but knowing he was at a disadvantage, he had no choice. "Because of money."

"I generally don't trade with Points. Most people in the special cells have smuggled goods, and I need those."

"Very good." Yan Jing smiled. "Officer, I believe our cooperation will be extremely pleasant."

"You aren't planning to sell that woman out?" Ning Wei raised an eyebrow. "I figured you'd sell her off the first chance you got."

"Do I look like someone with no backbone?"

Yan Jing chuckled.

Ning Wei shrugged. "If you want the truth, probably."

Photos of special inmates being escorted into the prison always circulated in their private group chats.

He had seen Yan Jing's picture.

At the time, he had been astonished that a guy who looked completely incapable of killing a rat could be a potential criminal.

Looking at it now, the higher-ups were truly far-sighted. How could a guy who conquered the Wizard Tribe in such a short time be simple?

"Cowardice is also a talent." Yan Jing didn't take offense at Ning Wei's assessment. He just smiled, stood up, and looked out at the sky full of dust. "Besides that, there is one more thing—the God Storage Land."

"How much do you know about this place? Why is she so invested in it?"

The dust in the air was a grayish-black, drastically reducing visibility under the assault of the fierce winds. In the distance, a cluster of stones could be vaguely seen jutting out of the sand at chaotic angles.

In the sky above, a black, sun-like orb cast a dim light. If one looked up and stared carefully, they would realize it was actually spinning.

Aside from the howling wind, there were no other sounds. The silence was terrifying.

Ning Wei surveyed the scene and slowly shook his head. "I haven't heard any specific details."

"I only know she seems to be searching for something to help her take the final step, and that such a thing might be hidden here."

"She values this event heavily. She even sent a six-man team in with the inmates; they are all elites from the Great Prison."

"But none of them are at the Summit, right?" Yan Jing asked. "I heard that those at the Summit can't enter here."

Ning Wei nodded. "That's true."

"Then that's fine." Yan Jing nodded. "Let's go."

The two stood and walked deeper into the dust storm.

The sandy ground before them seemed to stretch on forever. Without a clear direction, they randomly picked the closest black stone in sight and headed toward it.

Their pace wasn't fast. Before figuring out exactly what was going on here, they both tacitly agreed not to use any Weird Energy.

"This place must be massive," Yan Jing observed, looking around. "We've been here for quite a while and haven't run into anyone else."

"Maybe they're all dead." Ning Wei's mouth was no more forgiving than Yan Jing's.

"My tribesmen are here too. If it's the others who died, I'd be happy to see it." Yan Jing chuckled.

The black stone grew closer and closer until, suddenly, Yan Jing stopped in his tracks.

Not because he sensed something wrong, but because he seemed to have stepped on something.

He looked down at his feet.

Poking out of the grayish-black sand was the corner of something gleaming gold.

"What is this?"

Yan Jing touched it with his hand and easily pulled it out of the sand.

It was a golden bone. Once exposed from the sand, a gilded luster flowed across its surface, radiating a steady stream of Weird Energy.

Before the two could figure out what it was, the luster faded away at a terrifying speed.

The brilliant surface rapidly discolored, ultimately turning into an ordinary stretch of grayish-white dead bone before crumbling away in the wind.

"I feel like something just entered my heart."

Yan Jing looked at his palm in confusion.

If he had to make an analogy, it was like a single drop of rain falling into a lake.

Had he not been paying close attention at that moment, the increase would have been so minute it might have gone unnoticed.

"I know what it is. It's a remnant heart of reaching the summit."

Ning Wei's eyes burned bright. "Perhaps a massive number of powerhouses fell in this region in the past, leaving behind many items containing the heart of reaching the summit."

"Following that logic, there might also be items with residual divinity."

According to Ning Wei, divinity was the essential element required for a Ninth Tier expert to step into the Tenth Tier as a Divine Envoy.

Yan Jing understood. No wonder the domain lord of Yueyin chose to hold the ranking matches here.

If the participants successfully condensed the heart of reaching the summit here, she could pivot to cultivating them. Even if they didn't, the environment would make the "nourishment" needed for her future plans far more fertile.

"It's just a bit too little."

Yan Jing felt it carefully. That tiny speck of the heart of reaching the summit was truly better than nothing, but barely.

It seemed to belong to an extinct minor Pathway called Gu.

Furthermore, his true body was only at the Sixth Tier; he had no idea why he was even capable of absorbing the heart of reaching the summit.

"Too little?"

Ning Wei was somewhat speechless. "Just how big is your capacity for the heart of reaching the summit? That wasn't a small amount at all."

"It wasn't?"

Yan Jing was bewildered. "I always thought the required amount of the heart of reaching the summit was the same for everyone."

"How is that possible?" Ning Wei sighed. "While it's the same for the majority, individual differences still exist."

"Simply put, the stronger a person is before the Seventh Rank, the more they will need."

This was the first piece of bad news Yan Jing had received.

Over the past few days, he had collected quite a few items containing the heart of reaching the summit in Haidu, but he never expected something like this.

"It should be fine. I'm not particularly strong either..."

Yan Jing muttered.

In his view, "particularly strong" meant being able to casually crush those at the Summit, something he couldn't do yet.

Perhaps that bone simply held too little of the heart of reaching the summit.

However, he really did need to prepare more items containing the heart of reaching the summit.

The two pressed forward. Just as they neared the stones, Ning Wei's face suddenly lit up. "I stepped on one too."

He looked down and saw a grayish-white hand.

He bent over to pick it up, but in the next instant, the hand actually moved.

It clamped firmly onto his ankle and viciously dragged him downward!

Ning Wei's expression changed. The Weird Energy around his body instantly erupted, transforming into a vast marshland in the blink of an eye. Amidst the surging Weird Energy, he finally broke free from the thick hand.

"Your strength isn't bad." Yan Jing clapped. This level of Weird Energy output efficiency was roughly on par with the first fold of his Fear Stance.

Unexpectedly, Ning Wei, who had his back to him, suddenly turned his head, startling even Yan Jing.

Ning Wei's face had grown so gaunt he was nearly unrecognizable.

"I can't... my Weird Energy is gone..." he rasped, his voice so weak he sounded completely drained.

Only then did Yan Jing realize that the vast marsh-like surge of Weird Energy hadn't been actively released by Ning Wei; it had been forcefully sucked out of him by the surrounding black dust.

He looked down and saw the hand appear once more. This time, it grabbed his leg.

"Quick... retreat! There's something wrong with these black stones..."

Ning Wei immediately began backing away.

Based on his estimation, the owner of the hand was likely guarding these very stones.

They needed to step back and reconsider their plan.

To his surprise, before he could take more than a few steps, Yan Jing lifted his leg and forcefully "uprooted" a figure straight out of the ground like a breaching whale, slamming it heavily onto the dirt!

It was a humanoid creature with a hand growing out of its chest. Beneath the hand, a gaping, bloodstained maw covered its belly, and where its head should have been sat a fleshy tumor. For a moment, it was impossible to tell where its eyes were.

"Not bad," Yan Jing smiled. "Very unique look."

Seeing the creature extend its hand to dig downward in an apparent attempt to flee underground, he blinked to its side and smashed a fist directly into the fleshy tumor.

The hand hurriedly pulled back to defend but was pierced clean through along with the tumor. Foul-smelling liquid exploded outward as the figure swayed and collapsed to the ground.

Yan Jing grabbed the body and examined its front and back for a moment before looking up at the dumbfounded Ning Wei. "Doesn't look like this thing has anything valuable on it."

Ning Wei took a deep breath, reining in the look he'd give a monster, and walked over to Yan Jing.

He had felt the power of that hand firsthand and knew it wasn't weak by any stretch. He never expected this seemingly frail man before him to be far more terrifying than the creature.

"I've never seen this thing before," he murmured. "I don't know what it is."

"I think I do."

Yan Jing narrowed his eyes. "I've seen people similar to it."

"You have?" Ning Wei asked, confused.

"Yeah, the Gluttony Tribe."

Yan Jing nodded.

In Wen Xu's memories, the Wizard Tribe had once visited the Domain associated with the Gluttony Pathway.

The people there, much like Rose, had large mouths growing on their stomachs.

Except, they didn't have hands on their chests.

And they had normal heads on their necks.

"There's a story behind this place."

Yan Jing narrowed his eyes; sorting through Wen Xu's memories, he seemed to have found a location incredibly similar to this one.

But he still needed to verify it further.

The two walked toward the stones once more. This time, no oddities occurred, and they reached them without incident.

This particular stone was rather short, standing only about half a meter tall.

It lacked any writing or symbols. Ning Wei ran his hand over it but didn't find anything unusual.

"Seems to be empty," he said.

Unexpectedly, the moment Yan Jing reached out and touched the stone, it vibrated, and two large characters appeared on its surface.

"A-Plus!"

In the next instant, streaks of white light sank into Yan Jing's body.

(Heaven Devouring Art)

A mottled ancient tome seemingly materialized within Yan Jing's mindscape.

Yan Jing paused. He flipped through the ancient text and quickly confirmed it was a cultivation method of the Gluttony Tribe.

It appeared highly precious, capable of forging a Dao spirit for members of the Gluttony Tribe during ancient times.

Dao spirit...

Yan Jing blinked. According to Wen Xu's memories, this was an ancient path of cultivation that had long since been severed.

"Sure enough, this is an ancient trial ground..." Yan Jing spoke softly.

This place was likely a grotto-heaven or trial ground from antiquity, hiding countless rare treasures.

But for them now, it was largely useless.

The Source of Mutation had descended, severing the ancient paths entirely.

What they needed more now were the relics of powerhouses who had wandered in here by mistake and perished.

However...

Yan Jing checked the Power of the White Stone in his body and discovered that it had actually increased quite a bit.

'So the Power of the White Stone is related to the previous cultivation systems?' Yan Jing thought to himself.

"An ancient trial ground..." Beside him, Ning Wei was somewhat in disbelief.

He had no idea how Yan Jing had reached such a conclusion.

But if it were true, there might really be a deeper secret to this place.

"The history of a lost era might be hidden here."

He grew excited and looked at Yan Jing.

"The history of a lost era?" Yan Jing's eyes lit up as well.

If this had been earlier, he might not have understood what a lost era meant.

But things were different now.

Armed with Wen Xu's memories, no one understood history better than he did.

This "lost era" referred to the epoch when the Source of Mutation first descended.

At the time, powerhouses from tens of thousands of Pathways faced the descent of the Source of Mutation and made different choices.

Some chose to conform and accept the changes, but it was too late. Their own paths had already been set, and in the end, they could only fall from grace.

Some chose to resist, sparking massive wars that even saw the fall of Sources of Mutation. Yet as new Sources of Mutation appeared one after another, the resistors were ultimately and tragically drowned out by the river of time.

Still others chose to innovate, studying the relationship between the Sources of Mutation and the original Pathways. Though their own paths were fixed, they sought to pave the way for future generations.

All in all, it was an era of struggle and a twisted slice of history. Countless Domains ushered in agonizing changes, and the entire Inner World faced a new paradigm.

And it was from that point on that the Inner World and the Surface World gradually began to make contact.

Because of the Sources of Mutation, people from the Surface World were finally able to be summoned into the Inner World to encounter Transcendent power.

If powerhouse after powerhouse was truly buried here, they might really find remnants of existence from that chaotic era.

The existence of the Gluttony Tribe predated even the lost era!

What kind of era was that? Mutation and ancient paths coexisted. Pioneers had long since carved out invincible paths, ultimately becoming gods in the new age.

"So what's the plan?"

The two shared a tacit look, their burning gazes locking onto the sandy ground.

"We dig!"