Chapter 166

After the blinding white light, Ji Chen felt his head as heavy as if it had been filled with lead, his ears buzzing, and everything before his eyes blurred.

He shook his head, trying hard to wake himself up.

When his vision gradually recovered, he found that he was still standing in the same place, but the surrounding scene had undergone earth-shaking changes.

The originally noisy crowd had disappeared, replaced by a deathly silence, and a weird tranquility permeated the air.

"Ceng Yue!" Ji Chen's heart tightened, and he turned his head to look for Ceng Yue's figure.

Fortunately, Ceng Yue was standing beside him, but her face was pale and her brows were locked tight, as if she were also trying to digest everything before her.

Their gazes met, and they both saw deep doubt and unease in each other's eyes.

"What... is going on?" Ji Chen looked around and found that they seemed to be trapped in a huge spherical space, the surrounding walls flickering with ghostly blue light, covered in dense runes, like some kind of mysterious code.

"These runes..." Ceng Yue stared at the runes on the wall.

"Have you seen them?" Ji Chen's heart stirred. "Where?"

Ceng Yue shook her head. "I can't remember for a moment, but they feel very familiar."

Ji Chen walked to the wall and touched a rune, and a cold energy instantly spread throughout his body, making him unable to help shivering.

"This energy..." Ji Chen furrowed his brows. "It's very similar to the energy fluctuations of the dark aura from before."

He tried to use his supernatural ability to analyze the runes, but the runes released a powerful force to resist him, and a sharp pain came from his head, everything going black before his eyes, almost fainting.

"Don't touch them blindly!" Ceng Yue grabbed him. "These runes are very dangerous!"

Ji Chen took a deep breath, enduring the sharp pain, his heart filled with unwillingness.

Could it be that they were helpless like this?

The surrounding air seemed to have solidified, making it hard to breathe.

Just then, Ceng Yue's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had thought of something.

She tugged at Ji Chen's sleeve. "Ji Chen..."

Ceng Yue's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had thought of something.

She tugged at Ji Chen's sleeve. "Ji Chen, I have a way, let me try."

Although Ji Chen was anxious, he still nodded, his eyes filled with trust.

Ceng Yue took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to mobilize her supernatural ability fluctuations.

Her body gradually radiated a faint light, shining together with the surrounding ghostly blue light.

"These runes shouldn't have such a strong sense of rejection toward me," Ceng Yue thought to herself, slowly extending her hand, her fingertips lightly touching the nearest rune.

Almost the moment she touched it, the rune began to flicker, as if triggered by something.

Ceng Yue was happy in her heart, continuing to use her supernatural ability fluctuations to touch the runes.

The light of the runes gradually became soft, and the surrounding ability users cast admiring glances, as if saying: "This woman is really powerful!"

Just when everyone thought the runes were about to be successfully interpreted, a sudden change occurred.

The originally soft runes suddenly released countless small runes, which flew toward the surrounding ability users like darts.

For a time, the surroundings fell into chaos, exclamations and sounds of dodging rising one after another.

Ji Chen's heart tightened, reacting rapidly, his hands extending like lightning, steadily protecting Ceng Yue.

His movements were full of power and a sense of security, like an indestructible shield.

The surrounding ability users cast grateful glances at him, but Ji Chen's gaze remained fixed on the incoming runes, his eyes flashing with determination and vigilance.

"Ceng Yue, follow me closely!" Ji Chen said in a low voice, his tone carrying unquestionable decisiveness.

The small runes attacked like a rainstorm, and Ji Chen was quick-witted, pulling Ceng Yue behind him, blocking all attacks like a steel city wall.

"Hold on to me!" he said in a low voice, his tone carrying unquestionable majesty.

Ceng Yue obediently gripped his clothes tightly, feeling the warmth and power coming from him, her eyes filled with love and reliance; in this chaotic atmosphere, a hint of warmth actually emerged.

"Holy crap, these runes even have an automatic tracking function?" Ji Chen complained while resisting the runes.

These runes were extremely fast, their attacks tricky, and ordinary ability users couldn't handle them at all.

However, Ji Chen discovered that the moment these small runes touched his body, they weirdly vanished!

"Could it be..." a bold idea emerged in Ji Chen's mind.

He tried to actively touch a rune, and sure enough, the rune was like being sucked by a magnet, merging into his body, transforming into a pure energy that was rapidly absorbed and transformed.

"Woohoo! Takeoff!" Ji Chen felt secretly happy; this was a huge profit!

He was like a human-shaped vacuum cleaner, crazily absorbing the incoming runes, the supernatural ability within him surging like a broken dam, his sense of power continuously climbing, making him feel filled with explosive power.

The surrounding ability users were all dumbfounded.

"Holy crap, what kind of operation is this?" "Did this guy use a cheat?" "What kind of heaven-defying constitution is this!" Exclamations rose one after another, and the glances cast at Ji Chen were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Ji Chen didn't have time to pay attention to them; he was busy "eating" the runes!

He felt his supernatural ability rapidly improving, even vaguely touching a bottleneck at a higher level.

Just as the last rune was absorbed, a series of strange images suddenly emerged in Ji Chen's mind: a vast starry sky, an ancient altar, mysterious people in black...

These images flashed by, but left deep doubts in his heart.

"This is..." Ji Chen snapped his eyes open. He turned to look at Ceng Yue, only to find that Ceng Yue was also looking at him with a grave expression.

"I seem to have... seen some things," Ji Chen said slowly.

"Me too," Ceng Yue said in a low tone. "Some... secrets about the dark aura."

The two looked at each other, seeing the same shock and unease in each other's eyes.

They had a premonition that a greater storm was coming...

"Let's go," Ji Chen took Ceng Yue's hand, his tone firm. "Let's go take a look."

Ji Chen closed his eyes tightly, as if struggling with something.

His brows were locked tight, the veins on his forehead bulging, as if he were playing tug-of-war with the mysterious images in his mind.

Those images flashed like a carousel; the starry sky was deep and cold, the altar ancient and mysterious, the people in black were shadowy, carrying a suffocating pressure.

This wasn't a travelogue, it was simply a horror movie!

Ceng Yue stood to the side, her gaze like a torch, staring dead at Ji Chen.

She could feel the aura of unease radiating from him, like a beast trapped in a cage, ready to break free at any moment.

She clenched her fists tightly, her nails almost digging into her flesh, and her heart hung along with it.

The ability users who were originally chattering were now like they had been pressed on the mute button, not daring to even breathe loudly.

They widened their eyes like a group of onlookers, wanting to watch the excitement but not daring to approach; the tense atmosphere was like an invisible giant net, enveloping the entire area.

The images became increasingly clear, and increasingly terrifying.

It was as if countless invisible hands were tearing at space, and the dark aura surged like a tide, almost swallowing the entire world.

Ji Chen felt an unprecedented sense of fear, drowning him like a tide.

His heart thumped, as if it were about to jump out of his chest, and the cold sweat on his forehead rolled down like broken beads, hitting the ground and emitting slight sounds; the air seemed to have become bone-chillingly cold, making one's hair stand on end.

He felt as if he were in an ice cellar, his limbs and bones frozen stiff, and his breathing became difficult.

This feeling was like watching a horror movie as a child and being scared into the covers, his whole body chilled to the bone!

He gritted his teeth, trying hard to stay awake, attempting to see every detail in the images clearly.

"This... this isn't going to be a big deal, is it?" an ability user couldn't help but whisper, their voice carrying obvious trembling.

Ceng Yue's gaze swept over the crowd, finally falling back on Ji Chen, only to see his eyelids suddenly twitch, and he snapped his eyes open.

"Something's wrong!" he said in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of gravity he had never shown before.

"Indeed, something's wrong," Ceng Yue responded, a dangerous light flashing in her eyes, her clenched fists not relaxing in the slightest.

Ji Chen slowly raised his head, his eyes seeming to hold a certain determination; he took Ceng Yue's hand, his gaze firm. "Let's go, let's go take a look."

Ji Chen took a deep breath, as if wanting to exhale all his fear.

His tightly closed eyes snapped open, sharp light flashing in them like a drawn sword, instantly slicing through the tension solidified in the air.

He began to rapidly recall the images in his mind, those starry skies, altars, and people in black playing back in his mind like film strips.

"This is absolutely not some simple hallucination!" he whispered, his tone filled with certainty.

He felt like a detective solving a mystery; those seemingly unrelated images were now like key clues, guiding him to find the truth.

He discovered that the clothes of those people in black seemed to be printed with some strange pattern, like an ancient badge, and the shape of the altar was somewhat similar to a pattern he had seen in an ancient book before.

"Wait, this pattern..." Ji Chen furrowed his brows, his fingers tracing in the air, attempting to restore the pattern.

"I seem to have seen it somewhere..." He pondered deeply, a flash of inspiration in his mind. "That's it! It's that book, 'Secret History of Supernatural Abilities'!"

Ji Chen's train of thought gradually became clear; he was full of confidence, as if he had found the key to breaking the situation.

The surrounding ability users saw him regain his composure and also felt like they had taken a reassurance pill; the originally tense atmosphere gradually eased.

"Let's go! Let's go to that place and take a look!" Ji Chen's eyes flashed with a firm light, taking Ceng Yue's hand and walking out first.

The crowd followed closely behind, following Ji Chen and Ceng Yue, setting off toward the mysterious location that appeared in the images.

However, their advance wasn't smooth sailing.

On the way, they encountered an attack by a group of dark creatures.

These creatures were distorted in shape, their bodies radiating a nauseating stench, like a group of evil ghosts crawling out of hell, pouncing toward them fiercely.

"Holy crap, what is this thing?" an ability user exclaimed, looking at the monsters waving their claws, his scalp tingling.

"Don't just stand there! Finish them!" another ability user roared, launching an attack first.

Various supernatural ability lights intertwined and flickered in the darkness, like fireworks exploding in a cluster.

However, the attacks of these dark creatures were exceptionally ferocious, and they were numerous, making the ability users struggle somewhat.

Ji Chen saw this scene, anger burning in his heart.

"These scumbags!" he roared in a low voice, instantly unleashing powerful supernatural ability, like an angry lion, rushing toward the dark creatures.

Ceng Yue followed closely behind, remaining silent, but the ice blades in her hand were like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, ruthlessly harvesting the lives of the dark creatures.

The atmosphere of the battle was very intense, the sounds of various energy collisions and the roars of monsters intertwined, like a crazy symphony, deafening.

Ji Chen blasted a dark creature into slag with one punch, his gaze like a torch, staring dead at the enemy before him.

"These guys definitely have some unspeakable secret behind them!"

Ceng Yue looked at Ji Chen.

"Be careful..." she had only said two words before being drowned in the clamor of battle.

Ji Chen blasted a dark creature into slag with one punch, his gaze like a torch, staring dead at the enemy before him.

The air was filled with the smell of rot and burning, the pungent odor making one unable to help furrowing their brows.

The surrounding ability users also tried their best, various energy lights intertwining and flickering, as if fireworks were blooming in the night sky.

"These scumbags!" Ji Chen roared in a low voice, instantly unleashing powerful supernatural ability, like an angry lion, rushing toward the dark creatures.

Ceng Yue followed closely behind, remaining silent, but the ice blades in her hand were like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, ruthlessly harvesting the lives of the dark creatures.

The ice blades sliced through the air, emitting sharp whistling sounds, and the cold air rushed toward them, making one's heart feel cold.

In the battle, Ji Chen and Ceng Yue's gazes met, filled with love and trust.

This emotion was like a warm light on the battlefield, giving them infinite power.

"Eat this move of mine!" Ji Chen roared, his fists booming like thunder, the powerful energy fluctuations forcing the surrounding dark creatures to flee in all directions, some even directly blasted into fragments.

Golden light surged from his body, illuminating the entire battlefield, as if the sun had suddenly appeared in the night, dispelling all the haze.

The ability users saw this scene and cheered one after another, the joy of victory surging around them like a tide.

Ji Chen's gaze swept over the crowd, his mouth curling slightly, revealing a confident smile.

However, his smile soon faded, because he knew this was just the beginning.

The crowd followed Ji Chen and Ceng Yue, continuing to advance toward the mysterious location that appeared in the images.

When they finally arrived at their destination, a huge dark barrier appeared before them, the barrier radiating a suffocating dark aura, as if wanting to swallow everything.

Ji Chen and Ceng Yue stood before the huge dark barrier, observing it with firm gazes, the air filled with a tense atmosphere.

Ji Chen clenched his fists and said in a low voice: "It seems that what we have to face is far from as simple as these dark creatures."

Ceng Yue nodded, a firm light flashing in her eyes, the two holding each other's hands tightly, as if silently passing each other's power and determination.