Chapter 565: Discovery of the Beast God!

After advancing about half an hour, the corridor ahead suddenly narrowed, splitting into several branching paths.

Each branch emitted sha-qi of slightly differing colors and densities, radiating unsettling fluctuations.

Tan Lang halted at the fork, carefully sensing the flow of sha-qi, the earth vein vibrations, and the barely perceptible special markers belonging to the Beast God organization in the air.

"The second one on the left."

After a moment, Tan Lang transmitted his voice through true qi, pointing to a passage where the sha-qi glowed dark red and carried a faint scent of blood.

"This passage's sha-qi contains an extremely faint Beast God aura, matching several distinctive traits, and the earth vein vibrations point toward Buried Weapons Valley."

"They likely came here before, or deliberately guided the sha-qi here. Taking this path may get us closer to the core faster, but also increases the chance of encountering their traps or patrols."

Chen Mu nodded, offering no objection.

Since they had chosen this dangerous path, they naturally sought the route most likely to reach their target.

The two turned into the passage thick with dark red sha-qi.

Upon entering, they felt the bloodlust and violent aura in the air intensify severalfold.

Tan Lang grew even more cautious, dimming the crystal's glow to near nothing, maintaining only minimal illumination and sensing.

The two moved like true shadows, silent and unseen.

After advancing another roughly incense-stick's worth of time, the corridor ahead suddenly opened into the edge of a naturally formed underground cavern.

Inside the cavern, dark red sha-qi churned like thick fog, severely obstructing vision and spiritual sense.

Yet faintly, from deep within the cavern, came a dull, heavy sound, as if a giant hammer struck the ground.

Chen Mu and Tan Lang exchanged a glance, both seeing wariness in each other's eyes.

Without words, they both suppressed their qi to near nothingness, like two withered leaves clinging to the cavern entrance's rocky wall, slowly extending their gaze inward.

In the center of the cavern stood a massive pool of churning thick dark red liquid, bubbles constantly rising and bursting, releasing potent stench of blood and deadly poison.

Around the pool lay numerous fresh or semi-fresh, enormous beast skeletons, some still clinging with flesh—clearly dumped into the pool not long ago.

Beside the pool stood a towering altar, ten zhang high and grotesque.

The altar was pyramid-shaped, its surface engraved with countless twisted, bizarre, primal, and bloody beast totems and ancient runes, now emitting flickering dark red halos that connected with the pool's aura, forming a malevolent, vast energy cycle.

Around the altar, shadowy figures stood—no fewer than ten.

Seven of them were scattered at key nodes around the altar, each at the peak of Earth Altar Realm, tirelessly sustaining the altar's operation, continuously channeling purified blood-sha energy extracted from the pool into the altar.

What truly sent a chill through Chen Mu and Tan Lang were the three figures atop the altar!

The central figure stood nearly one zhang tall, eyes blazing red, gripping a massive hammer wrapped in black Lei Guang, its head deeply embedded in a recess at the altar's peak.

To the left stood a tall, slender figure cloaked in a wide, dark green cloak woven from countless fragments of shadow, face obscured.

His entire body radiated bone-chilling cold, his cultivation level also at Mid Tiangong Realm.

His hands hovered, continuously drawing forth streams of pure icy blood-sha from the pool, transforming them into dark green runes that merged into the altar.

To the right stood the most normally proportioned figure, clad in a long robe, his cultivation level at the peak of Mid Tiangong Realm—and to Chen Mu, he felt even more dangerous and elusive than the other two.

Three Tiangong Realm Beast Gods!

Alongside seven Earth Altar peak Beast God enforcers, and this ominous blood-altar.

This force far exceeded prior intelligence.

The source of the anomaly in Buried Weapons Valley likely lay within the object wrapped in bloodlight atop this altar.

And the Beast God organization was attempting, through this bloody and cruel method, to activate, control, or seize this object!

Chen Mu and Tan Lang hid within the cavern entrance's shadows, taking in every detail.

Both felt the altar's terrifying energy fluctuations growing stronger and more unstable, and the three Beast Gods' unhidden, determined gazes burning with intent.

Tan Lang stared fixedly at the three figures atop the altar, transmitting to Chen Mu in a voice heavier than ever before.

"Situation has changed… three Mid Tiangong Realm… the ritual is at its critical point—the object is about to be fully activated or drawn forth… Wu Qu, what do you think?"

Should they risk a surprise attack now, while the three Beast Gods are fully focused on the ritual, attempting to seize or destroy the object?

Or should they continue hiding, waiting for a better opportunity—or retreat now and plan anew?

Either choice carried incalculable risk.

Three Mid Tiangong Realm cultivators, in this cavern environment they had cultivated and enhanced with the blood-altar, possessed power sufficient to crush most comparable combinations.

A direct confrontation offered negligible odds of victory.

Chen Mu's gaze locked onto the bloodlight-wrapped object at the altar's center, calculating the distance, angle, possible intercepts, and escape route after acquisition.

His heartbeat remained steady, his eyes sharp as a blade.

After several breaths of silence, Chen Mu replied via true qi transmission, his voice calm.

"We can wait. Let them complete the final step of the ritual—the moment the object's power is fully triggered but not yet fully controlled… that may be when it is most unstable, and their minds and energies most entangled."

"At that instant, I will strike with full force to seize the object. You, at all costs, halt the Beast Gods for an instant. Once I have it, immediately flee using the Star Seal."

Tan Lang whirled toward Chen Mu, as if trying to discern beneath his calm mask how much confidence lay behind this near-suicidal plan.

Halt them for an instant?

How easily said.

And for Chen Mu to seize the object, guarded by layers of bloodlight and altar power, while surrounded by two other Tiangong Beast Gods and seven Earth Altar peaks—was nearly impossible.

But this might be the only chance for success—and the only way to fully achieve their mission objective.

If they retreated now, and the Beast Gods fully seized control of the object, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Moreover, Chen Mu had mentioned the Star Seal…

Tan Lang gave Chen Mu a long, piercing look, a flash of ruthlessness and resolve in his eyes.

He slowly nodded, replying via true qi transmission.

"Agreed."

The two fell silent, like the most patient hunters, merging completely with the surrounding darkness, shadows, and sha-qi, their eyes fixed on the altar's intensifying bloodlight and the three Beast Gods' increasingly solemn expressions.

In the cavern, only the gurgling of the blood pool, the hum of the altar's runes flickering on and off, and the increasingly clear, ancient, primordial growl that shuddered the soul—the beast's awakening roar—remained.