Chapter 248: Otherworldly Deities and the Divine Hall

The wooden boat slowly approached the continent.

Qingqing tilted her head, a few strands of hair clinging to her snow-white neck; her profile was breathtakingly beautiful. Not until the boat was only a dozen meters from the shore did she calmly withdraw her gaze and look at the person beside her:

"They have no malice."

"Mm."

"My Spiritual Sense didn't detect any malice either!" Zhang Suannai hurriedly added.

"..."

An ethereal, long-drawn-out whale song drifted over.

On the boat, besides Qingqing, Chen Shu, Zhang Suannai, and the strange bird all turned their heads at the same time.

"Splash..."

A giant creature leaped out of the sea behind them, revealing a pitch-black back and a snow-white belly, then crashed into the water with a boom, sending waves soaring.

"Wow!"

Zhang Suannai couldn't help but cry out.

Chen Shu, however, remained silent.

After waiting a few seconds, there was still only this one figure.

Perhaps its companions were busy with other things.

Chen Shu withdrew his gaze.

At this moment, the strange bird seemed to have received some information; it lowered its head, its round eyes darting back and forth between them, lingering particularly on Chen Shu. It opened its beak, and out came that same gender-neutral voice, sounding like a parrot or a myna:

"Humans! When did you arrive?"

"Three months ago."

"Three months..."

"More than ninety days, I suppose."

"More than ninety days..."

"It's been quite a while, anyway."

"Came here following the big fish?"

"Yes."

"I know now!"

"What is it?"

"I know now!"

"Is there a problem?"

"I know now!"

"..."

Chen Shu helplessly closed his mouth.

Zhang Suannai, on the other hand, was full of interest and kept trying to chat with the strange bird; even though it only repeated that one phrase, she didn't find it boring. Every time she spoke to the bird, her eyes seemed to shine.

"Human! If you keep looking at me with those eyes like I'm a curiosity, I'll throw you down!"

"Oh, oh..."

Zhang Suannai turned her head away.

As a disciple of the Sword Sect, when traveling abroad, one who understands the times is a hero.

Although she couldn't manage to stop looking at it with curious eyes, she could at least manage not to look at it.

The wooden boat reached the shore.

The moment he stepped onto this land, Chen Shu felt a gaze from afar. This gaze seemed to come from the starry sky above, from another world, almost identical to the feeling in the Yuling Divine Temple, but it vanished as soon as it appeared.

Chen Shu glanced at the two people beside him.

Qingqing's expression was indifferent.

Zhang Suannai had her head held high, her expression blank.

Clearly, it was the same for her.

At this moment, the strange bird spoke again: "Humans! You stay here! Anywhere you like! You can eat grass or meat! Don't run far! Don't go over there!"

"Didn't you say you would send us back?" Zhang Suannai asked.

"A fish is going out! I'll send you out then!" the strange bird said, then paused, hurriedly shook its head, and changed its words, "No, no! I'm going to find other beasts! You stay here!"

"Who are you going to find?"

"You stay here!"

The strange bird flapped its wings and took flight quickly, leaving the few of them staring at each other.

Zhang Suannai scratched her cheek and said, "Why do I feel like this bird's attitude changed halfway through?"

"It did."

"Emmm..."

Zhang Suannai fell into thought and soon had an answer—

It must be that these strange beasts had finally discovered her extraordinary nature and decided to give her special treatment! This strange bird wasn't high-ranking enough, so it must have run off to find the lobby manager to personally host her!

That must be it!

The three of them stepped forward.

Countless gazes were fixed on them from the shadows.

The number of strange beasts here was truly absurd. And since a strange beast was at least equivalent to a Fourth-tier Practitioner, by that calculation, the strange beasts here were undoubtedly a very powerful force.

"Let's rest for a while."

Chen Shu looked up at the sky; the sun was directly overhead, and it was already high noon. The three of them found another coconut tree, sat in the shade, and took out the dried food they had prepared earlier to eat.

The situation was becoming increasingly complicated.

Chen Shu had a heart full of questions at this moment, urgently awaiting answers.

It was about two in the afternoon.

A giant dog with a shoulder height of over three meters and a sturdy build emerged from the forest and came before them; the strange bird from the morning was with it.

Seeing this, Zhang Suannai's eyes lit up.

It was just as she had expected.

"Humans!"

The strange bird hovered at the top of the coconut tree, flapping its wings continuously as if wanting to land, but its size made the coconut tree inconvenient, so it had to land on the beach nearby with regret; this invisibly lowered its status, making it somewhat displeased.

"Humans!"

"Please speak."

Chen Shu and Zhang Suannai both looked at them.

The aura of this giant dog was terrifying and unfathomable; it likely possessed High-Tier strength.

Qingqing, meanwhile, remained with her eyes closed in meditation.

"You are heading to... We have gifts to give you! After that, we will take you out!"

"Heading where?" Chen Shu asked.

"We have gifts to give you! After that, we will take you out!"

"It probably doesn't know how to translate anymore," Zhang Suannai whispered to Chen Shu.

"Bullshit!"

"Why?" Chen Shu ignored Zhang Suannai's words.

"You can ask Lord Huang!" the strange bird said. "Lord Huang is right beside me! Lord Huang can also speak your language!"

The two looked at the giant dog.

Although from a biological perspective, wolves and dogs are almost the same species, it was clearly visible that this was a giant dog rather than a giant wolf—it looked more like a rural dog than a wolf-dog.

From the *Classic of Strange Beasts*, it can be learned that the era when strange beasts appeared was during the Xia Dynasty, and there were no strange beasts even in the early Xia Dynasty.

Strange beasts did not appear out of thin air either.

All strange beasts possess the characteristics of the original creatures on this planet, mostly animals, with a small number of plants or other biological categories; therefore, these strange beasts were likely evolved from the planet's own creatures under the influence of some kind of power.

This is a completely different path from the Demon Race of Dongzhou.

The giant dog with earth-yellow fur sat down nearby, staring at them calmly; it did not pant, maintaining the aloofness of a High-Tier powerhouse.

"Where is this?" Zhang Suannai asked first. "What is going on over there?"

"Nanzhou..."

The giant dog's voice was unusually deep and resonant: "The humans over there have been eroded; although they look like you, they are no longer human. We are responsible for fighting them, acting in your stead to resist them."

"What erosion?"

"Erosion from the gods of an alien world."

"Gods of an alien world..."

Zhang Suannai and Chen Shu both muttered this sentence.

Especially Chen Shu; many of his original questions were answered in an instant.

No wonder the great monk at Xinzheng Temple said that if one wanted to know where the gods had gone, one could head west.

So it wasn't Duqin; it was here.

"Our world is adjacent to a world that is about to be destroyed," the giant dog's deep voice continued. "Many years ago, the gods of the alien world found our neighboring world in search of a way to survive. They clashed with our gods, and subsequently, a struggle lasting thousands of years broke out between the gods of the two worlds. At first, we were at a disadvantage, but they could not project too much power through the world barrier. Later, the power they could project increased, and we also became stronger. Several thousand years ago, we gradually gained the upper hand. A god from the alien world felt very anxious; he found a method to sacrifice himself, and after death, he came to our world and became the source of the power on the other side of the continent. Initially, it could erode gods."

"No wonder those gods are nowhere to be seen!" Zhang Suannai opened her eyes wide. "What about now? Are they still fighting?"

"Hundreds of years ago, their world was already destroyed," the giant dog said indifferently. "We have already won this war, but the power left behind by that alien god has not yet disappeared."

"Then what about those gods? Why haven't they returned yet?"

"Just in case."

"Oh, I see!"

Zhang Suannai's eyes were round, and she muttered blankly: "So that's what happened..."

"Let's go."

The giant dog stood up and looked at them indifferently; its appearance, close to that of a rural dog, was one of honest simplicity: "You are all very unusual. At the Beast Ancestral Court, there are things that can help humans cultivate; perhaps they can help you."

"Okay."

Zhang Suannai agreed first.

The VIP treatment had arrived.

Chen Shu asked a question: "What is the Beast Ancestral Court? Is it the reason you appeared on this planet?"

"Yes."

"And where do you come from?"

"Us? We are the same as you, creatures of this planet. The power that made us this way came from the starry sky, from another planet in the same world as yours. This world only has civilizations on these two planets."

The giant dog paused and looked at him: "Because the residual power on this land only erodes humans, humans are destined to be unable to fight here. A long time ago, a human god named Shengzu requested the civilization of the other planet to descend power from the starry sky to help humans resist them, and thus we came to be."

"I see..."

Almost simultaneously, several giant raptors flew over and landed by the beach; the group utilized the raptors to fly toward the Beast Ancestral Court.

The giant dog ran below, leaping and weaving through the mountains and forests, sometimes even walking on air, no slower than the raptors.

The Beast Ancestral Court was only about a hundred kilometers away from here, also near the sea. It could be clearly seen that this was originally a ruin belonging to humans, a temple carved into a large mountain with a Danxia landform. Inside, human gods were worshipped, but the weathering was severe, and the appearance of the gods could no longer be discerned at all; one could only tell that the humans on this continent once had a glorious civilization.

At the same time, the Spirit Power here had become very different.

No matter how dense the Spirit Power is in other places, it is not of much substantial use to Cultivators who use modern Spirit Methods. Yet the Spirit Power here is mixed with a tiny amount of power superior to Spirit Power, which is hard to describe.

"You will live here."

The giant dog walked among the Divine Hall, the massive stone pillars covered in marks carved by time, setting off the insignificance of the individual.

"This war is nearing its end, and we will conduct one more wave of clearing. Once that is finished, we can send you out. Additionally, in this place, you can try to contact the outside world; perhaps you might succeed."

"Understood."

"You can find food yourselves, or you can ask us for it. You may do as you please here; there is no place you cannot go. I will come to see you often. If you feel bored, you can also go to the seaside to play; there are mermaids there."

"Okay."

The giant dog left.

The three of them looked at each other again.

Zhang Suannai was the most carefree; she sat cross-legged directly in the Divine Hall and said to them, "I just felt the gaze of my Sword God, so this place definitely won't have any danger. Let's just cultivate here with peace of mind."

Zhang Suannai felt wonderful inside.

These two could be considered to have enjoyed the treatment of VIPs by tagging along with her, and for a moment, her inner sense of pride was almost overflowing.

Chen Shu, meanwhile, habitually began to examine this Divine Hall.

The Divine Hall had a ceiling over ten meters high, no front door, and was supported by stone pillars in the middle. The stone pillars were also severely weathered, with several already broken. It was about twenty meters wide and seven or eight meters deep. The space was large, thus appearing exceptionally empty and desolate.

Because it was chiseled out and embedded into the mountain itself, the roof did not leak rain, though it was unknown if it would seep water.

An epic structure.

It has been battered by wind and rain for who knows how many years.

Perhaps they were the only human visitors in thousands of years; if it also had consciousness, perhaps it would feel gratified, right?

Chen Shu looked up and stared at the statue in the innermost part.

This was a seated statue, reaching the top of the Divine Hall, forcing one to look up. But after thousands of years, it had long since lost its shape, covered in pits and bumps everywhere, and could only barely be identified as a human figure.

Which deity was this, then?

Thousands of years ago, they must have been a peerless genius as well.

……

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