Chapter 191: Strange Thunder

Arriving at this conclusion,

Zhou Huai's heartbeat skipped a beat.

It immediately issued instructions to Jasmine beside it.

"Notify everyone down below that no one is allowed to cross the bridge without authorization."

"I will go over first to scout out the situation."

Jasmine's pretty face was filled with worry, but she still nodded heavily.

"Understood, Master! Please be careful with everything!"

Zhou Huai said no more.

It controlled Moria, and with a flash of its figure, stepped onto the dark grey ancient stone bridge.

The stone slabs underfoot were cold and hard, covered with fine cracks and slippery moss, and every step exuded the heavy weight of passing years.

The bridge deck was very wide, and the railings on both sides were carved with arcane and incomprehensible characters. Under the dim light, they looked like twisted eyes, silently watching this uninvited guest.

Moria's figure shuttled across the bridge, like a ghost melting into the night.

It walked quite slowly, every step exceptionally cautious, with its spirit highly concentrated, perceiving every subtle disturbance around it.

Above the lake surface remained that dead silence.

However, beneath the lake surface was another scene entirely.

"Splash—!"

The calm lake water suddenly began to churn violently, and massive waves slapped against the bridge piers without warning, splashing water several meters high.

Immediately after, several unimaginably massive shadows slowly floated up from the depths of the lake, cruising back and forth beneath Moria.

They did not leap out of the water, but that undisguised hostility, filled with violence and greed, was palpable.

Zhou Huai's consciousness was inside Moria, and its heart suddenly sank.

Merely by slightly sensing the energy fluctuations emitted by those shadows, it could clearly judge that.

Every exotic beast at the bottom of this lake had a Rank absolutely no lower than Level 40.

Among them, there were even a few auras so powerful that even it felt a wave of palpitation.

Zhou Huai rejoiced inwardly.

Fortunately, it didn't act rashly at the time and directly have Moria fly across the lake surface to check the source of the golden light.

Otherwise, once it intruded into the territory of these aquatic overlords, even Moria, who possessed shadow abilities, would likely find it hard to escape death.

As for why they dared not come onto the bridge to attack now,

Zhou Huai guessed that it was very likely these exotic beasts possessed a certain innate dread toward this ancient stone bridge.

Or perhaps, it was protected by some even more powerful existence.

Zhou Huai stopped pondering deeply and quickened its pace.

Walking on the bridge deck for about five minutes,

it finally reached the other end of the bridge and stepped onto the land on the opposite bank of the lake.

Here, it was still shrouded by that thick, impenetrable white fog.

The visible range was even less than five meters.

However, that cluster of golden light in the distance became increasingly clear and dazzling.

It was like a heart suspended in the thick fog, beating rhythmically, thump by thump. With every flicker, the surrounding mist churned accordingly.

Zhou Huai did not hesitate, walking straight in the direction where the light flickered.

All around was dead silence, with only its own footsteps echoing in the empty mist, appearing exceptionally clear.

Not long after walking, several huge, blurred outlines appeared in the thick fog ahead.

Zhou Huai slowed its pace and cautiously approached.

When it completely passed through that layer of thin mist, the scene before its eyes caused its breathing to pause slightly.

That was a ruined, grand-scale complex of buildings.

Ancient buildings piled up from massive black boulders stood quietly in the mist, resembling the skeletons of ancient giant beasts.

The style of these buildings was completely different from any kind in Zhou Huai's cognition.

They were sharp-angled, with bold lines, filled with a primitive and wild aesthetic, as if they were building blocks casually put together by gods.

Upon the tall stone walls were covered with huge claw marks so deep they reached the bone, as if some behemoth had engaged in a tragic and fierce battle here.

And among those claw marks, Zhou Huai once again saw those familiar, arcane, and eerie characters.

They were deeply branded onto the stone walls, having undergone the erosion of who knows how many years, yet still clearly visible.

Seeing these buildings, Zhou Huai became even more certain in its heart.

This Secret Realm should be the ancient civilization ruins spoken of by Nakamura Shinichiro!

That being said, within Great Xia Country, there were at least two ruins.

One was near Ximeng City, triggering that city-destroying beast tide ten years ago.

Another was a thousand meters underground in Donghai City.

No wonder Zhou Family and the Liu family made such a massive mobilization, dispatching so many experts to enter and explore here.

They obviously had already realized this point.

After all, there were Divine Artifacts existing within the ruins.

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai's heart also grew fiery hot.

No matter what, it had to seize the clues regarding the Divine Artifact before Zhou Family and the Liu family.

It controlled Moria, and with a flash of its figure, silently melted into the shadows of the corner, beginning to sneak through this dead ancient city.

"Roar—!"

As soon as it entered the building complex, a low, suppressed roar came to its ears.

That sound seemed to come from the depths of Hell, filled with violence and hunger.

Moria stopped behind a broken wall, cautiously sticking out its head.

In a semi-collapsed watchtower not far away, a giant lizard over thirty meters in body length was entrenched there.

Its entire body was covered in thick, dark green scales, with three spiral sharp horns growing on top of its head, and a pair of lava-like vertical pupils vigilantly scanning its surroundings.

[Calamity-grade BOSS · Earth Abyss Demon Lizard LV32]

Zhou Huai's pupils abruptly constricted.

Right upon entering, it ran into a Calamity-grade BOSS.

It immediately withdrew its gaze, not daring to have the slightest bit of prying again.

It continued to shuttle through the shadows.

Soon, it discovered with shock that

this dead ancient city was simply a nest of BOSSes!

Almost every ruined building inhabited an exotic beast powerful enough to suffocate people.

Their Rank lowest was at least Level 30.

Moreover, without exception, they were all BOSS-level existences!

Zhou Huai even saw a cyclops the size of a small hill on a collapsed square ruin, fast asleep leaning against a broken stone pillar.

Every breath it took whipped up a gust of wind, blowing the rubble on the ground to roll about.

[Calamity-grade BOSS · Primeval Cyclops LV35]

Zhou Huai roughly estimated.

Just along this path it had walked, the BOSS-level exotic beasts discovered already exceeded twenty.

Fortunately, the Ranks of these BOSSes were all between Level 30 and Level 35, and no Hell existences appeared.

Even so, it was terrifying enough.

This place was simply a desperate dead zone.

Moria's figure leaped rapidly among the shadows of the buildings, like the most agile cheetah, avoiding one powerful exotic beast after another.

Finally, it arrived at a huge and empty square.

Here was the source of that golden light.

Right in the center of the square stood a massive stone pillar reaching a hundred meters in height.

The entire stone pillar was a deep purplish-black, with a mirror-smooth surface, yet engraved densely with golden runes.

Countless golden electric currents thicker than arms, like wildly dancing giant golden snakes, wound around the stone pillar, continuously climbing upwards, and then exploded thunderously at the top, making a crackling loud sound.

Every explosion had an extremely pure force of thunder spreading out in all directions.

That power was overbearing, berserk, and filled with the aura of destruction and rebirth.

Zhou Huai controlled Moria, standing at the edge of the square, dazedly gazing at that heaven-connecting thunder stone pillar.

In those silver pupils, for the first time, an uncontrollable excitement and wild joy were revealed.

This power…

This force of thunder…

That's right.

It is definitely Strange Thunder!