Chapter 460: Ancient Visitor (Two-in-One)

"I prefer things with a bit of history to them."

Yan Jing spoke with absolute seriousness.

"..."

Ning Wei lifted his heavy monolids. "Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?"

"Your eyes are really small."

"Are you sick in the head?" Ning Wei's chest ached with anger. "Faking age only involves two methods: you either reverse the object's time, or accelerate its lifespan."

"I do have methods for this, but I can't use them right now. Aren't you able to mimic me? That kind of ability should work."

"I see—"

Yan Jing's eyes flickered before he nodded in satisfaction. "Understood. Thank you."

He looked at the piece of paper in his hand.

Weird energy surged in his palm.

Even though he had deliberately held back, Yan Jing could still feel that in that brief moment, the weird energy in his body had depleted by about a twentieth due to the grayish-white sand.

However, the effect was excellent.

The slip of paper in his palm had nearly turned into a pitch-black layer of carbon. The handwriting on it could only be faintly made out through a few remaining details.

More importantly, it exuded an unmistakably ancient aura that could not be faked. It was the mark of time, something extremely difficult to forge.

Standing nearby, Ning Wei watched with secret alarm. That ability was completely different from Yan Jing's previous power to change his appearance; this involved the passage of time.

To be skilled in both the paths of time and space at once...

The guy in front of him was simply too mysterious. When did the Wizard Tribe produce such a monster?

"Not bad, not bad."

Yan Jing casually tossed the piece of paper onto the ground.

That was just a trial run.

What came next was the real major project.

"Time to get to work!"

He dragged Ning Wei along, heading toward the sandy land ahead of them.

For two days, everything passed peacefully.

Until noon on the third day.

The two of them had already passed the final stone block, and digging the sand around it had reached its final stage.

Suddenly, amid the violently swirling sand, Ning Wei's eyes narrowed.

A dark shadow lay exposed in the sand that Yan Jing had just smashed open.

It looked to be about a meter long and several decimeters wide. In terms of size, it was completely different from those old-era items they had found before.

What was that?

He pushed through the blowing sand and took a few steps toward it. A second later, the thing actually moved!

A well-proportioned figure gradually stretched out, and a man half a head taller than him appeared before his eyes.

The man's long, pitch-black hair fluttered in the wind and sand. He wore a ragged, ancient-style black garment full of holes, with a Jade Pendant tied to his waist by a blade of grass. His cold gaze, tinged with a hint of confusion, looked down at Ning Wei.

"&*#%—"

He spoke in a language Ning Wei had never heard before. It sounded like local slang mixed with obscure syllables.

Seeing that Ning Wei had no intention of answering, he frowned and reached out to grab him.

Ning Wei was greatly alarmed and immediately tried to resist, but the weird energy in his body had barely recovered. Just as the man was about to seize him by the neck, Yan Jing blinked directly in front of him, stepping between Ning Wei and the man.

Seeing Yan Jing appear, the man's frown deepened, but the movement of his right hand did not stop.

Yan Jing's eyes flashed, and he reached out his hand as well.

Their movements seemed incredibly slow, yet at the exact moment they made contact, the swirling sand around them surged wildly, pouring down like an avalanche as if to bury them alive.

It took Yan Jing quite a bit of effort to drag Ning Wei out of the deep pit buried by the grayish-white sand.

As for that man, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Who won just now?"

Ning Wei lay on the ground, panting heavily. The hairs on his body were still standing on end. The oppressive pressure the moment that man reached out was overwhelmingly strong; he had almost thought he was a dead man.

"I won by a hair."

Yan Jing's eyes flickered. "But he probably wasn't using his full strength either."

"Judging from his clothes... that guy should be from the Lost Era."

"The Lost Era?!" Even though he had braced himself, Ning Wei still sat up abruptly and looked at Yan Jing. "How could someone possibly live from back then until now?"

"It's only been about ten thousand years. What's so impossible about that?"

Yan Jing said softly, "If it were a Deity, they would probably live even longer, right?"

Ning Wei couldn't answer that. He only knew that those at the Summit could live for five hundred years, and those at the Ninth Tier could live for nearly a millennium.

As for how long even stronger individuals could live, he had no concept.

Besides, even if a Divine Envoy or someone in the Demigod Realm could live for ten thousand years, that man just now was definitely not a Divine Envoy.

Even if Yan Jing was absurdly strong, he was still far from reaching that level.

The two discussed it for a while longer before finally deciding to move forward.

Afternoon.

The moment the two finally stepped out of the sandy region.

Ning Wei breathed in the long-lost fresh air, feeling his eyes grow a bit moist.

Right now, both of them were covered in sand. Even their eyebrows were caked with a thick layer of grayish-white dust. Their skin felt as rough as tree bark, its crevices completely packed with dirt and sand.

This "project" had simply been too massive. Coupled with the fact that Ning Wei had lost his weird energy and could only do miscellaneous chores, it had not been an easy task for the two of them.

However, Yan Jing was still very satisfied with the results.

"Once you recover your weird energy, we'll head to the next area."

Ahead of them was a sparse jungle that looked like it wouldn't take too long to cross. What was rather strange was the rolling sound of thunder echoing from the sky, yet neither of them could see any lightning.

After Ning Wei spent about half an hour recovering, the two walked into the jungle.

To their surprise, everything inside looked completely normal. There wasn't a trace of the eerie atmosphere that permeated the Sand Domain.

Sunlight spilled through the gaps between the leaves, casting slanted shadows. The weird energy here was as abundant as it was in the outside world.

"This might be a rest area."

Yan Jing deduced this based on Wen Xu's memories. "In trial grounds like this, wherever there's a dead zone, there's usually a safe zone. They don't completely seal off all paths to survival. It looks like this place is the safe path."

Ning Wei nodded. By now, he agreed with the vast majority of Yan Jing's theories.

Their previous encounters in the sandy region had proven that this Wizard truly had some real skills.

Just as the two were chatting, a breeze blew past the treetops. They exchanged a glance, then simultaneously stepped to the side with a casual, relaxed stride.

The very next instant, two pitch-black feathered arrows shot through the space they had just been standing in. Kicking up a gust of wind, they slammed directly into a massive, thick tree.

The tree explosively shattered, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust.

"You want to take this, or should I?" Yan Jing looked at Ning Wei with a smile.

"I'll do it."

Ning Wei reached out a hand, his weird energy surging. The next second, countless translucent figures appeared all around them.

These figures were the residual souls of beings who had died in this Domain. They wore clothes identical to what they had worn in life, but their facial features were completely blurred, save for a single, wide-open mouth.

Ning Wei twitched his fingertips. The figures all opened their mouths wide, as if unleashing a silent roar.

A second or two later, the residual souls swarmed over one another, charging off in a specific direction.

"Just wait," Ning Wei said softly.

It didn't take long before the residual souls dragged several figures in prison uniforms out of the jungle and brought them before the two.

"Where are you all from?"

Faced with these criminals, Ning Wei seemed to have regained his usual demeanor as a prison staff member. His voice held absolutely no emotion.

The prisoners stared wide-eyed as Ning Wei pulled his work ID from his pocket.

They hadn't gotten a clear look at him earlier, so they hadn't anticipated at all that a staff member would actually enter God Storage Land.

"Reporting to you, sir, some of us are from Haidu, and some are from Elite City—"

The group was so terrified they almost dropped to their knees. Thankfully, the residual souls beside them propped them up, preventing them from falling.

"You were sent here to explore, not to attack one another."

Ning Wei furrowed his brow. "Attacking staff members is punishable by death under prison law."

The prisoners immediately began trembling like leaves, and one of them even wet his pants in fear.

"That's not it, sir! It's—it's just that the area ahead requires people to sacrifice their lives to pass! We—we didn't have a choice."

A man wearing a prison uniform with an anchor tattoo on his arm hurriedly spoke up.

Ning Wei raised an eyebrow. "What area is ahead?"

"Sir, we can take you there." Seeing the critical situation, another person hurriedly chimed in. "We just came from there. We know the place very well."

"Yes, sir. We weren't neglecting our duties, we really just had no other choice. According to what the map says, this was our only option."

Someone else chimed in.

"What map?" Ning Wei keenly caught the crux of the man's words.

The man hastily pulled a piece of parchment from his shirt and presented it to the two of them.

The map wasn't large, only about the size of a mousepad, and it depicted seven distinct areas.

Just ahead of the sandy region the two had previously been in was the dense jungle they were currently in. They formed a circle that enclosed the four central areas.

Among these inner areas, the map illustrated a volcano, a canyon marked with lightning, and a set of stairs.

Finally, there was a red X-shaped mark.

Clearly, that spot appeared to be the most dangerous of all.

Aside from that, the map was annotated with several "hints."

For example, the annotation next to the lightning canyon right in front of them read:

[Corpses can be used to attract lightning.

When someone attempts to pass, three bolts of lightning will strike the canyon every minute. One corpse can withstand a single lightning strike.

After passing the first lightning strike zone, you can enter a nearby recessed mountain range to look for an exit.

Once the exit is found, you may leave.]

Clearly, the goal of these men was to make it through the first lightning strike zone and then leave God Storage Land.

Judging by their wretched state, they must have had a rough time in God Storage Land over these past few days.

Seeing the four black stone markers annotated on the sandy region and the hint beside it reading "Watch your step," Yan Jing and Ning Wei exchanged a look. They now believed a large portion of the map in front of them.

The two of them had been trekking through the sandy terrain for days, and aside from the figure they had dug up at the very end, they hadn't seen a single living soul.

This proved that the map wasn't just something these men had randomly scribbled.

As for why there were so many residual souls in this seemingly peaceful area, it was likely due to the lightning canyon up ahead.

"Let's go."

Ning Wei spoke coldly, and together with Yan Jing, he escorted the prisoners forward.

The prisoners' hearts were filled with extreme apprehension.

They were terrified that Ning Wei and Yan Jing would use them to "test the waters."

But with their lives in Ning Wei's hands, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk forward.

Soon, the group passed through the dense jungle, and their field of vision abruptly opened up.

They now stood beneath a high cliff. Below them, two mountain ranges gradually converged from the sides, forming a U-shaped valley.

The valley walls were steep, and getting down would take some effort.

The rolling thunder they had heard earlier was echoing from the very end of this valley.

"How do you prove what's written on the parchment?"

Ning Wei asked, making everyone's hearts skip a beat.

The thing they feared most had finally happened. The men immediately started shouting over one another, erupting into a chaotic mess.

"Stop messing with them and just ask," Yan Jing said. Ning Wei sighed; he had just wanted to scare them a bit for fun, but Yan Jing saw right through it.

Left with no choice, he immediately summoned the residual souls from the bottom of the valley and began questioning them.

During this process, the prisoners looked at Yan Jing with a mix of gratitude and surprise.

They couldn't understand why this guy, who was wearing a prison uniform just like them, could order Ning Wei around.

Though confused, none of them dared to ask.

Finally, Ning Wei sighed. "It's true. These residual souls all died after being pushed down to attract the lightning."

"The map's description isn't complete. A corpse can only absorb one strike, but living people can withstand multiple hits depending on their constitution."

"Of course, guys like these would probably die after a single hit at most."

Yan Jing didn't completely believe Ning Wei's words and was about to test it himself when a voice suddenly echoed within his body. "Young Master, this place looks like the spot where some mutated species from our homeland used to temper their bodies."

"Temper their bodies?"

Yan Jing searched through Wen Xu's memories and indeed found something similar.

During the ancient era, there truly were beings focused on physical cultivation who used lightning attraction methods to temper their bodies.

However, as the path of the physical body gradually declined, this method was also lost to time.

After all, most people could only withstand one bolt of lightning. What the hell kind of tempering was that?

He shared this information with Ning Wei.

Ning Wei was a bit surprised, but after thinking it over, he nodded. "It's possible."

"Why don't you go down and try it?" Yan Jing said.

Ning Wei pointed expressionlessly at the men beside them. "Let them go."

The prisoners shook with terror.

Yan Jing pondered for a moment, then finally nodded. "You guys go."

These people had wanted to kill them from the start, so he didn't feel guilty. He was just worried that they were too weak to effectively test anything.

However, he eventually thought of a good solution.

And so, wailing and crying to the heavens, the men were herded down a steep slope into Thunder Valley by Ning Wei and the residual souls.

"What do we do now?"

The man with the anchor tattoo on his arm asked.

Not only were they forced to enter Thunder Valley, but they were also being watched to ensure they didn't kill each other.

Seeing that no one else had any ideas, the man sighed. "I'll go in first. Once the lightning strikes me, the rest of you make a run for it."

"But you have to promise me one thing: go to the sea region, find a certain person, and give her my belongings."

After getting their assurance, the man closed his eyes and braced himself, sprinting into the canyon.

He hadn't run far before the clouds above the once-clear canyon churned violently. The sky instantly darkened with dense storm clouds, and a split second later, a black bolt of lightning several meters thick struck straight down.

The man's scalp tingled with terror. He tried to dodge, but it was completely inescapable. He could only watch helplessly as the thunderbolt slammed into his body.

Right at that moment, the sound of a Piano drifted into his ears.

In the next instant, the man felt his entire body surge with boundless strength.

Facing the lightning crashing straight toward him, an unusual sense of confidence suddenly welled up in his heart.

Then, he threw a heavy punch!

Bang!

Accompanied by an intense numbing sensation, the thunderbolt was actually shattered into pieces.

Up on the cliff, Ning Wei stared dumbfounded at Yan Jing, who was playing a Piano with his fingertips.