Powerful fluctuations of aura erupted. Cracks began to appear on the surface of the statues as an oppressive atmosphere descended. It was like mountains falling upon a person’s chest, making it difficult to breathe.

Qin Yu had a dignified expression. He had never tried facing 12 statues at once before. He lifted his hand and the jade box appeared. Opening the lid, the green ‘god water’ was revealed. With a thought, he stimulated it to send out its aura.

Roar –

The walking corpses that were pushed away became restless once more. They moved all around, their formidable strength causing the ground to crack.

The aura of the ‘god water’ was an incomparable temptation to them.

A walking corpse that had its chest blown open and its organs half-hanging out suddenly cried out loud and threw itself forward.

But before it could reach Qin Yu, it screamed out in pain. An invisible hand seemed to grab it in midair, causing it to freeze in place.

Bang –

Its head blew apart!

What followed after was a second, third, and fourth walking corpse…they all rushed forward after suppressing the fear in their hearts. But without exception, all of them were easily killed.

Qin Yu didn’t even turn his head around to look at the walking corpses falling around him. All of his concentration was completely focused on the awakening statues.

If the ‘god water’ wasn’t useful, then facing the encirclement of 12 statues he would only be able to temporarily escape this area.

Luckily, the scene that Qin Yu was worried about didn’t occur. The cracks on the surface of the statues began to appear at an increasingly slow pace before they finally came to a stop. Then, these cracks started to close up. By the time they vanished, the statues had returned to being completely quiet.

Qin Yu didn’t dare to put away the jade box. He stepped forward and raced ahead, passing through the 12 statues and entering the palace gates.

A long shrine appeared in his line of sight. Both sides of the shrine were filled with stone beads. Although they were low-grade, the pure quantity alone made Qin Yu’s heart skip a beat.

They were buried in a thick layer of fallen leaves. Besides a few that were green, most were withered and yellow.

Qin Yu pursed his lips and continued walking towards the shrine. He saw four terrifying statues that were 10,000 feet tall.

They stood two on each side, occupying all cardinal directions of the world. A rich blood red light shined from their eyes. The light converged in midair and scattered downwards, forming an incomparably large imprisoning blood cage.

But now, these four stone statues were all damaged and the blood red imprisonment had several openings cracked open on its surface. Although they weren’t too large, it was enough for a cultivator to freely wander in.

Qin Yu carefully sensed his surroundings. When he didn’t sense anything wrong he flew up until he was just outside one of the cracks.

When he looked in, he stiffened for a moment. His jaw dropped open and a look of shock colored his face.

What was growing within this blood red cage was an incomparably large ancient tree. Its exposed roots twisted around like giant dragons. Its bough that seemed to block out the skies was formed from countless branches. Between the verdant green leaves were blue fruits – these fruits were the key to entering the Sealed Stone World and the treasure that could resist the ‘destruction of will’, they were stone beads!

That’s right, although the color was different, whether it was in appearance or size they completely matched. And most importantly, a thick layer of stone beads had fallen beneath the cover of this ancient heaven-reaching tree…this could no longer be described with numbers alone. Rather, this was a mountain formed of stone beads!

At this time, even Qin Yu’s mind went blank for a moment. He fell into a long period of stunned silence. Within the Sealed Stone World, people struggled and competed for these stone beads to survive, even slaughtering each other for them. But they were actually fruits grown on a large tree. After they matured they fell down beneath this tree. They remained here uncollected, like crushed stones along a river bank.

After a long time, Qin Yu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had a sudden impulse just now to immediately rush in and collect all of the stone beads.

If he could rush in and absorb all of them, just how formidable would his will become? Just thinking about that left him shaking in excitement!

“Don’t be anxious! Stand firm, stand firm!” He repeated these words to himself again and again, warning himself to be cautious. Sometime later, he opened his eyes and carefully looked around the ancient heaven-supporting tree and the stone beads that had piled up beneath. Soon, he found something wrong.

Although the ground was stacked with thick layers of dead branches and leaves, the thickness wasn’t even throughout. Some places had withstood some sort of barrage and large pits had formed as a result.

Moreover, the roots that were exposed aboveground were incomplete in some places. They had clearly been damaged by some external force.

A vine fell down from the ancient tree. As it reached the ground it was covered by dead leaves. Following it, he could faintly see something pale white at the bottom.

Qin Yu’s eyes shrank. Human bones!

It seemed that he wasn’t the first person to come here in the Sealed Stone World. The openings in the blood red imprisonment were proof of this. And although the ancient tree seemed peaceful, it clearly wasn't as harmless as it seemed.

There really was no such thing as a free lunch in this world!

The reason Qin Yu was able to easily rush to this ancient tree was because he had luckily managed to complete his transformation of will and also because he obtained the ‘god water’.

He didn’t think that others would be that lucky. If they came here with just their strength alone, they had to be terrifyingly strong.

But such terrifying existences had been buried beneath this ancient tree. Although things might not be as he suspected they were, just the possibility that it might be true filled Qin Yu with fear.

Qin Yu stood outside the blood red imprisonment, taking in deep breaths. Since he discovered the ancient tree and stone beads, it was impossible for him to give up on them.

Since this was so, there was no other reason to hesitate. Riches and dangers followed hand-in-hand…if he wished to obtain a great good fortune, he had to withstand the corresponding risks.

In the world of his mind, the Ancient giant reared back its head and roared. If danger were to arrive, he could transform into the incarnation of an Ancient. Moreover, before Undying left he had given him a black bead in which he had sealed a projection of Spectral Disaster. That should be enough to maintain his life.

After making all these preparations, Qin Yu didn’t hesitate anymore. He stepped in.

While this was just a single layer, the outside and inside of the blood red imprisonment seemed like two entirely different worlds.

A boundless aura erupted from the tree. It was like the incarnations of the heavens and earth, suppressing all living beings that stepped into their domain.

Qin Yu stuffily coughed and his face paled. It was like he was shouldering a mountain. Even his body began to gently shiver.

After pausing for a moment, only then did Qin Yu barely manage to adapt to the suppression from this ancient tree.

He took a step forward. Just this simple movement seemed to exhaust the entirety of his strength.

Sweat gushed out, streaming down his forehead. Qin Yu seemed to hear the pained groans of his bones.

A thought drilled out from his heart, completely out of his control – You cannot resist this suppression, so give up!

The more suppression there was, the fiercer this thought became. A hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes.

Within the world of his mind, the Ancient giant roared at the heavens.

Qin Yu’s eyes were restored to pure brightness. Immediately, his complexion darkened. He had been sufficiently careful and yet he managed to fall for some trick. He looked up at the ancient tree that was thousands of times taller than him. His eyes were as firm as stone as he said, “I definitely can!”

Second step.

Third step.

Fourth step.

Qin Yu slowly made his way forward. Sweat drenched his robes and dripped down from the bottom of the hems before falling to the ground. Although he was withstanding the suppression that came from this ancient tree, he didn’t relax at all.

Qin Yu didn’t believe that this ancient tree’s methods were limited to this. The stone beads were the key to entering the Sealed Stone World as well as the treasures that this world’s living beings used to survive.

In other words, this massive ancient tree that produced stone beads was the very foundation of the Sealed Stone World!

How could Qin Yu dare underestimate it?

The scope of the blood red imprisonment was large, but the crown of the ancient tree was even larger. Soon, Qin Yu came in front of the stone beads which had piled up into a mountain.

Even if he had seen it before, when he finally arrived in front of it, he still felt an intense psychological impact from the pure number of them.

As a fluctuation appeared in Qin Yu’s mind, a powerful impact crashed into him. Like an arrow that came from the horizon, it landed between Qin Yu’s eyebrows.

Bang –

His ears thundered and his field of vision fell into darkness. He felt as if he were a plank of wood in a raging sea, about to break apart at any moment.

Before the first wave subsided, the second bombardment came. Qin Yu’s face drained of all color and blood overflowed from every orifice of his head.

From the crown of the tree, a vine slowly fell down. It swung around gently, as if it were overjoyed it would soon grab onto a prey.

The vine twined around Qin Yu’s body. Like a snake, it slowly tightened and then pulled him up towards the crown.

Meanwhile, the third bombardment arrived. Qin Yu twitched several times before falling limp.

Shalala –

Within the crown of the tree, there was a light rustling sound. The branches and leaves separated outwards to reveal several translucent things that were shaped like suckers.

Gulp –

One could clearly hear swallowing sounds ring through the air. These suckers were like people that had been starving for many years and now finally had a feast placed before them.

When the fangs of these suckers were about to stab into Qin Yu’s body, his eyes flew open. He raised his hands and broke the vines apart. Then, he punched out.

Paka –

Paka –

The sucker-like things were ground to dust. The ancient tree began to tremble as if its pain points had been pressed. This, the world of the blood red imprisonment started to shake with it. Countless sturdy tree branches fell down from the skies.

Qin Yu roared out loud and his bones began to pop and crackle. His body instantly grew to a hundred feet tall.

“Since I have already come this far, I won’t leave so easily!”

He used the secret art of the Ancient race’s inheritance.