Chapter 1336: Stone Forest

Yan Buji transformed into a gray‑gold stream of light, like a lone bird flying through a violent storm, he surged into the area of that pale stone forest.

Upon stepping in, the suffocating pressure around him suddenly eased. The surging, wildly colored Mutant Force aura was blocked outside by an invisible force, only able to roar and crash at the stone forest's edge, yet unable to step beyond the thunder pool. The air was filled with an ancient, barren deathly silence, icy to the bone, yet far purer than the outside world's mind‑twisting Mutant Force.

"Hu"

He let out a long breath of foul air, quickly found a natural barrier formed by several huge bone‑white stone pillars, leaned back against the cold, rough stone, and swiftly turned his inner vision inward. His chaotic power was nearly half depleted, his spirit sent waves of fatigue from constantly resisting the Mutant Force corrosion, and even the newborn "Infinite Chaos Essence" crystal dimmed slightly in its brilliance.

"The edge of this Dao Realm is this dangerous…" he thought, heart pounding. If not for this strange stone forest, the consequences would be unbearable to imagine.

He dared not delay, immediately sat cross‑legged and fully activated his chaotic cultivation method. The heavenly and earthly qi here differed greatly from the outside—it was an older, source‑near chaotic pure qi, thin yet extremely pure, greatly aiding his recovery of chaotic power. At the same time, he carefully drew a wisp of the surrounding barren deathly qi, attempting to refine it with the chaotic nature of inclusiveness, to temper his will and solidify his Dao Foundation.

After several cycles, his state recovered largely. He then rose and cautiously explored this temporary refuge.

The stone forest stretched boundlessly, towering pale stone pillars like bones propping up the sky stood densely, piercing the surging sea of rosy clouds above. The stone was icy cold and hard, its surface smooth, only the ages left traces of wind erosion and some unfathomable natural patterns. All sounds were silent, only deathly intent circulated; time here seemed to have sunk into slumber.

He restrained his breath, moving between the stone pillars' shadows. His divine sense still dared not reach far; he could rely only on sight and spiritual perception.

After walking a short distance, the view ahead suddenly opened up into a clearing. In the center of the clearing stood a stone unlike any other.

This stone was not bone‑white but showed a dark, mysterious azure hue, its substance neither stone nor jade, warm and lustrous yet inwardly restrained. Its surface was covered with countless naturally formed Dao inscriptions! These inscriptions were not carved later but were natural condensations of heaven and earth's Dao patterns, profound and extraordinary, containing the supreme principles of law and reason. The stone's shape was ancient and simple, vaguely resembling a blurred figure seated in meditation, contemplating the Dao.

When Yan Buji approached this mysterious azure stone, the "Infinite Chaos Essence" within him and the "Mirror Heart" simultaneously produced a clear resonance! The Mirror Heart also transmitted a strong desire to decipher the mysteries within.

"Great Dao Stele Inscriptions?!" Yan Buji's eyes flashed with brilliant light. Legends say that within the Dao Realm there are stone steles naturally born of heaven and earth's Dao patterns, supreme treasures for enlightenment!

He suppressed his excitement, stepped forward slowly, and lightly placed his palm upon the cold stele's body.

"Hum—"

A vast, ancient yet balanced surge of thought flowed along his arm into his sea of consciousness! It was not a specific technique transmission, but a supreme exposition of the principle of "Silence Extinction Return to the True"! It expounded not simple extinction, but how all things flourish then decline, return to simplicity and truth, nurturing the creative life of transformation within the ultimate "Void"—a sublime mystery. Its ambiance tacitly matched his own realization of "Silence Extinction" from the Return to the Ruins, and the stone forest's barren deathly qi, yet it was far more systematic and profound.

This "Silence Extinction Return to the True" principle seemed precisely a fundamental law for coping with, even mastering, the outside world's violent Mutant Force!

Yan Buji was lost in ecstasy, his mind completely immersed. His Chaotic Dao, which embraces all streams, now benefited from the "Silence Extinction Return to the True" principle, as if he had found the pivotal hinge; many vague insights on how to resolve and utilize the Mutant Force instantly became clear!

He seemed to glimpse a path forward: taking Chaos as the foundation and "Silence Extinction Return to the True" as the gateway, he could perhaps carve out a pure land in this perilous Dao Realm… and even transform that terrifying Mutant Force into nourishment for his own Chaotic Evolution!

Just as his mind merged with the stele and he forgot self and object, he failed to notice that in the stone forest's deeper, darker corners, several pairs of pale, hollow eyes were silently watching him.

The owners of those eyes, their bodies nearly fused with the stone pillars, were wholly bone‑colored, their forms between human and beast, their bodies suffused with the same deathly qi as the stone forest, moving soundlessly, like spirits born of the stone forest itself… or perhaps… guardians.

Toward Yan Buji, this outsider—especially the chaotic aura on him that shared the stone forest's deathly origin yet possessed greater "vitality"—they held a cold scrutiny and a faint, veiled rejection.

Among them, the tallest pale figure, whose eyes seemed to swirl with gray vortices, slowly raised a finger like a stalactite, pointing at Yan Buji immersed in Dao comprehension, and sent a silent mental ripple to his companion beside him:

"Heretic… disturb this stillness… probe the holy stele…"

"Verdict: foreign object."

"Thus… purify."

The next moment, several pale figures, like ghosts merging into shadows, soundlessly emerged from the stone pillars on all sides, moving to encircle Yan Buji. Their aura blended perfectly with the stone forest; their motion stirred not even a breath of wind, as if they were inherently part of this deathly stillness.

Crisis, originating from the stone forest itself!

At this moment, Yan Buji's mind was still largely immersed in the profound mystery of the "Silence Extinction Return to the True" principle, only a faint yet sharp warning rose from the depths of his spiritual perception…

That thread of warning from deep within his spiritual perception, like an ice needle piercing his brain, jolted Yan Buji awake from his deep Dao contemplation!

He didn't even have time to think; the instinct honed from years of wandering the edge of life and death reacted before consciousness—his whole body burst with gray‑gold chaotic death qi, forming a solid shield, while his form flickered like a ghost to the side‑rear!

"Screech! Screech! Screech!"

Several pale, icy, lifeless petrifying beams grazed his afterimage, striking the mysterious azure stele behind where he had been sitting cross‑legged. Upon contact, the beams left no trace on the stele—only causing its Dao patterns to flicker briefly before absorbing and neutralizing their energy entirely.

Yan Buji steadied his stance, his gaze icy as he swept toward the source of attack. He saw seven or eight pale figures, the same color as the stone forest, silently surrounding him. They varied in form—some like human skeletons, others like crouching stone beasts—but shared the hollow eyes that held absolute indifference and rejection toward all life.

"Stone sprites? Or monsters bred from this place's deathly qi?" Yan Buji's heart tightened. These beings' aura blended perfectly with the stone forest; without active attack they'd be nearly undetectable. Their strength, shockingly, ranged from the Nascent Soul to the Void‑Refining stages, and the leader—a tall stone spirit whose eyes swirled with gray vortices—exuded the pressure of a Great Vehicle Stage cultivator!