Amidst the endless mountains, the vast land was sunk for thousands of miles, and in the soil, golden fragments scattered, as if a layer of gold dust had been sprinkled on it.
Long Chen had seen the golden powder before; it was Bai Shishi's golden power, which could draw upon the earth's golden power. But that gold power could only be used by Bai Shishi, not absorbed by her.
So after the battle, the pure golden power will re-enter the depths of the earth, and those golden impurities will scatter.
On the battlefield, a terrifying pressure lingered. Ordinary people approaching the battlefield felt a tingling pain on their skin, as if pricked by needles, showing just how intense the fighting must have been.
As they approached the core of the battlefield, some people could no longer hold on, unable to withstand the terrifying pressure, and had to stop. If they pressed forward, they would get hurt.
People were shocked—was this the true power of a top-tier powerhouse? They couldn't even step into the battlefield.
Long Chen led Luo Bing, Luo Ning, Mu Qingyun, and others into the core of the battlefield. Long Chen crushed a golden nugget the size of a fist, and gold sand immediately flew everywhere.
"This battle happened three days ago. The opponent was an earth-element powerhouse, with impure gold and mixed with mud and sand. They really came prepared, specifically targeting Bai Shishi." Long Chen looked at Jinsha, his expression grave as he spoke.
"Wouldn't Bai Shishi and the others be in danger?" Luo Ning exclaimed in surprise.
"No, I've seen the scene. All the bloodstains belong to the other side. Not a single person from the Celestial Maiden Alliance was killed.
It must have been Bai Shishi who sensed the enemy, ordered the Celestial Maiden Alliance to leave, and faced the enemy alone. In this battle, the power of gold clearly suppressed the power of earth, so it was obvious that Bai Shishi was not the one at a disadvantage. Long Chen said.
Hearing this, Luo Bing and the others were overjoyed. Bai Shishi truly deserved her reputation as the top expert of Lingxiao Academy, single-handedly holding off the pursuit.
"Among the people we know, only the number one strongest of the Jiuding Sect is a terrifying earth-element expert. It seems the one chasing Bai Shishi is him." Luo Bing said.
The deaths of Luo Qingyang and the Luo Alliance disciples dealt her a heavy blow, but after Long Chen's guidance, she forced herself to suppress her grief and tried her best to shake off her negative emotions.
"It seems so. The leader of the Nine Cauldrons Sect is an earth cultivator, and most of his disciples are earth cultivators.
Lü Chunyang was the top young member of the Jiuding Sect, and only he dared to hunt Bai Shishi. However, clearly, he had overestimated himself and underestimated her.
If my guess is correct, if it weren't for their numbers, Bai Shishi might very well have taken out Lü Chunyang. Long Chen said.
Everyone nodded. With Bai Shishi's proud personality, being hunted down was the greatest provocation to her, and she was determined to fight back.
After searching further, traces from the battlefield seemed to confirm Long Chen's account. There were signs of a group of people fleeing in confusion, which meant Bai Shishi had killed and fled the enemy.
However, Bai Shishi did not pursue them. The enemy fled, and she left. Perhaps out of concern for her subordinates' safety, she gave up the chase.
"I just don't know, between Lü Chunyang and Zhao Wuzheng, who is stronger?" Luo Ning asked curiously.
"It should be Zhao Wuzheng. Although both Zhao Wuzheng and I only used our physical strength to tententically exchange a move, this guy's foundation is very solid, and he puts a lot of pressure on me." Long Chen pondered for a moment and said.
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but feel their scalps tingle. They had just used their physical strength to exchange a move, and it was so terrifyingly powerful. What kind of full-force attack? Looking at the battlefield stretching thousands of miles ahead, everyone felt powerless—the gap was simply too great.
"We should find Bai Shishi as soon as possible. If she gets set up, we'll be in even greater danger." Long Chen led his men and continued galloping deeper into the area.
Once he found Bai Shishi's battlefield, things became much simpler. Bai Xiaole possessed a spatial divine art that could roughly lock onto Bai Shishi's golden power.
This is not a bloodline divine power. Although Bai Shishi and Bai Xiaole are half-siblings sharing the same father, both have inherited their mother's bloodline divine powers. Perhaps because of this, the siblings seem to have little affection.
Originally, Bai Xiaole didn't want to go after Bai Shishi. He kept urging Long Chen to go find Lü Chunyang, hoping Long Chen would take him out. That would be like slapping Bai Shishi's face and dampening her momentum. The person Bai Shishi couldn't handle was killed by Long Chen, which would be so satisfying.
But in the end, he dared not disobey Long Chen's orders and could only lead everyone to chase after Bai Shishi. As they ran along the way, Long Chen was somewhat surprised.
Because along the way, Bai Shishi hadn't encountered any other powerful opponents. She didn't know if they were gathering men or if they had been injured in the previous battle and were recovering.
Long Chen led the group on a journey for a full day and night. Suddenly, a thought struck him, as if he sensed something.
Long Chen looked in that direction and saw a large area of ruins. According to Bai Xiaole's detection, Bai Shishi was in that direction.
Long Chen led the group in a wild dash, seeing many ancient sect ruins along the way, but none of them went treasure-hunting. Bai Shishi didn't explore other areas along the way, seemingly heading straight for this place.
This was an endless expanse of ruins, so old that its original appearance was no longer recognizable.
However, judging from those decayed and collapsed buildings, this once seemed to be an extremely grand sect.
Long Chen led the group carefully into the ruins. He looked around, paced back and forth for a while, seemingly measuring something, when suddenly he squatted down and pushed aside a rock beside his feet.
"Bang!"
The rock was pushed aside, kicking up a cloud of dust. Behind the rock, a damaged corner appeared.
Seeing this, the disciples hurried over to help, quickly unearthing a plaque over a hundred zhang long. The plaque was already broken, but after being pieced together, two ancient immortal characters appeared.
Luo Bing and the others didn't recognize it; this ancient immortal script was very different from the ancient script they had learned.
"Xinghe"—
Long Chen recognized those two characters. The handwriting was exactly the same as the Xinghe Cangqiong Technique. Everyone continued digging, but there was no complete plaque left.
Long Chen shook his head. The plaque was already shattered. The large piece was enriched with runes, preserving it for a long time, while the tiny fragments had completely decayed away.
"I'm afraid this is the Dao lineage of the Star River Saint Lord. Bai Shishi is quite impressive—she found this place in no time."
He knew Bai Shishi was here, but it was too large to determine her exact location. Moreover, if they could find this place, others might too. Long Chen told everyone to conceal their auras and slowly advance toward the center of the ruins.
This place didn't seem smaller than Lingxiao Academy. Along the way, tall buildings collapsed, and everywhere were broken walls and ruins. It seemed to have been the site of a great battle.
But the time had passed so long that even the buildings had weathered away, making it impossible to see what they used to look like, let alone the corpses and such.
Long Chen suddenly made a gesture to everyone, telling them not to make a sound. Just as everyone was puzzled, a flying boat suddenly appeared in the void. A group of people stepped down from it. Seeing their attire, Luo Bing and the others were startled:
"People from Qinghe Palace!"