The Sacred Ruins

After the Golden Lion King escaped with heavy injuries that nearly ground down his shoulder and the entire right side of his body, the whole of Vatican medicinal garden was shaken!

"I wasn’t seeing things, was I? The one escaping at sonic speeds is the African Lion King?!" [1] Along the way, many were dumbfounded.

In the depths of the medicinal garden, Chu Feng picked up the golden chakram. There was not even a spot of blood; it sparkled gently like the masterpiece of a grandmaster artist.

On the ground, the Panther King’s body was laid in pieces—he had died a horrible death.

At the moment, all the beast kings who had arrived in the area were speechless. Even the Golden Lion King who had four severed shackles was defeated; who would not fear such Demon King Chu?

"What are you waiting for?!" Yellow Ox excitedly muttered; it was now time to reap the benefits. The whole garden was filled with resplendent fruits, a sight that caused many to drool.

"Mou!" The great black yak could wait no longer. He rushed in, roaring loudly and started to pick the fruits.

Chu Feng held onto the Golden Chakram and was in no rush to take action. He observed his surroundings and the remaining king level entities.

These people all felt their blood run cold, all of them tensing up nervously. Who knew what plans Demon King Chu had for them. If he decided to attack, who could stand up to him?

"King Chu, there are tens of mysterious trees. It is sufficient for all of us to evolve. Please rest assured; we have no plans to offend you."

A powerful beast king expressed his goodwill towards Chu Feng, tactfully stating that they would let Chu Feng take his fill first at the same time.

To the proud king level entities, this was already considered a compromise. They were truly not willing to provoke this Demon King Chu; the shiny circular weapon in his hand was exceedingly terrifying.

Who was the Golden Lion King? He was widely known as being peerless in the same realm. It was always him sweeping through all his enemies, and since he came into being, no one had ever beaten him in combat.

Of course, that was when not taking the experts with six severed shackles into account.

And such a tyrannical beast king who was able to sweep away all beast kings was nearly killed by an eastern youth. Who would not be apprehensive of such a vicious person?

Chu Feng nodded; it was sufficient to have exerted a deterring effect. He swiftly made his move, jumping onto an ancient tree.

"Ha, ha..." The great black yak was excited and happy. He was like a cow chewing on peony as he simply ate quite a few fruits and directly chewed off another glowing bowl-sized flower.

The whole area was suffused with the fragrance of fruits and flowing with sanctified mists; the scene was akin to heaven.

"That’s odd, there’s no taste." The great black yak pondered; he didn’t feel full even after eating so much.

The whole medicinal garden was overflowing with a dense spiritual energy and prismatic lights. It was like a mythical realm—many ancient trees took root here, emanating divine light.

Yellow Ox’s movements were agile and precise. He bit down on a golden peach and swallowed after chewing a couple of times.

After that, he dashed towards a violet vine and plucked a fruit the size of an infant’s fist and ate it, still trailing purple mist.

"That’s odd, everything is lacking in flavor." Yellow Ox had some misgivings. According to records, such glistening fruits should be extremely potent.

However, right now, the flavor was extremely mild, and apart from being extremely fragrant, the flavors were all very light.

He quickly moved and arrived at another tree. He breathed in the pollen from one of the already bloomed flowers and circulated his breathing technique.

"How come?" This time, Yellow Ox was even more puzzled; the flowers all looked extraordinary. They were translucent and shining like jade, enshrouded by mists and glowing lights.

However, when one actually breathed in, there was no substantial intoxicating feeling; only an insignificant portion of the light entered the nostrils.

Yellow Ox was bewildered. He changed trees and tested repeatedly but the results were the same. He knew something was odd, but this time, the problem was not small.

On the other side, Chu Feng was also pondering; the whole area was permeated with floral fragrance that was able to penetrate the soul. Dense mist hung in the air and myriad prismatic lights caused one to feel like he would achieve ascension and leave this earth any moment.

However, when one actually came in contact with the flowers, the absorbable portion was extremely limited.

Boom!

Chu Feng crossed several hundred meters in an instant and landed on the ground, blasting apart the earth and stones under his feet. The beast kings in the vicinity hurriedly moved away.

He had his eyes on an ancient tree which was wholly like cornelian in color. There were a few flowers the size of bowls blooming on it, emanating red mists. Apparently, it looked like a divine flower!

Chu Feng circulated his special breathing technique and relaxed all the pores on his body, aiming to absorb the mist of red pollen. However, only a few strands of it could be extracted.

"Yellow Ox, something’s not right!" Chu Feng arrived before Yellow Ox with a swoosh, having a doubtful expression on his face.

Normally, that bowl sized flower with flowing resplendent lights should possess astonishing medicinal potency that was enough to let Chu Feng evolve.

However, he found that he was only able to obtain a small, insignificant portion!

"There’s definitely something wrong. It seems that this place has magnified our perceptions—our sense of smell has been increased when the actual floral fragrance isn’t that dense. Even our vision has been affected!"

The black yak had also rushed over, cursing continuously. He had eaten a belly full of fruits but there wasn’t much effect.

Yellow Ox suspiciously said, "I’ve been wondering about how odd this whole place was. Even the depths of Mount Kunlun and the Pilgrimage Grounds have not fully revived. How could there be hundreds of ancient trees, all blossoming and bearing fruits? Now, it appears things are not as they seem."

"There is still some effect. I feel that if we can eat hundreds of those fruits, we can still evolve!" The black yak provided his opinion.

Under normal circumstances, just a few of these seemingly divine fruits should be sufficient for evolution.

However, the situation was completely different this time; they would need tens of not hundreds of fruits.

"There definitely is some effect, but the place itself is problematic, we shall pick one more round of fruits and then immediately leave!" Yellow Ox said with a solemn expression.

The next moment, Chu Feng and his party took action. Breaking the sound barrier, they traversed the area thunderously and proceeded to collect the fruits.

The black yak stuffed anything and everything he saw into his mouth. Like a taotie [2], he bit and chewed his way through the area, with some trees getting swallowed entirely.

Chu Feng circulated this special breathing technique and combed through the area, pausing momentarily before each flower before rushing onto the next. All of the available essences were absorbed at each stop.

"Eh? I ate a fruit with potent medicine effect!" The great black yak was pleasantly surprised. His whole body felt hot and his blood boiled.

However, after calming down, this caused him to be suspicious and uneasy.

"Phew..."

Amidst the diffuse brilliance, Chu Feng was investigating a flower with frightening potency. It was shrouded in a dense haze and there was no time to slowly absorb it.

He simply plucked the flower and put it in his mouth before heading towards another direction.

"What is that?!"

Chu Feng and the two oxen had reached the depths of the sacred medicinal garden. Before them was a patch of haziness; there were actually two small boundaries.

Within one of them were a couple of ancient trees, upon them were some human-shaped life forms hanging, akin to growing fruits.

However, the trio did not touch the barriers, knowing how dangerous it might be.

The other smaller barrier was silvery white and translucent. There was a single brightly colored tree inside that was truly brilliant and incomparably divine.

What is this tree? There was a special boundary protecting it!

The three were stunned as they investigated in detail. They revealed expressions of astonishment soon afterward.

On the leaves of the small but brilliant tree, there were beads of blood. They were translucent and sparkling, surrounded by scarlet mist. It was equally beautiful and terrifying.

There seemed to be something buried in the ground beneath the little tree. As they looked closer, they were astonished. There were king level scales and feathers buried there, some were even visible on the surface.

"That is..." The great black yak’s eyes went wide as he felt his scalp tingling.

Previously, the great black yak had mentioned that there was a friend of his who had reached the Vatican much earlier and was pursuing his fortune there. He had requested the black yak to come and help out.

He never thought that, just after a short while, his friend would be found, dead and buried.

"I was wondering why I couldn’t find them after arriving at the Divine City!" The great black yak’s expression was solemn. After that, his gaze fell on another area where he saw a white and lustrous object made of flesh.

"Don’t tell me that’s part of the Indian White Elephant’s trunk!" He was greatly surprised. That elephant was an extremely terrifying existence. Could it be that he, too, had fallen here?

"Just as recorded in ancient tomes, this evil tree is being fed with precious blood. This doesn’t bode well. Let’s leave!" Yellow Ox’s expression shifted as he suddenly remembered.

Immediately, they fled for their lives.

"Boom!"

The air thunderously exploded as the trio reached the highest speeds their physical bodies could bear. It was much faster than their normal speed.

They ran just like the Golden Lion King some time ago, with complete abandon.

At this time, many king level entities had arrived and were staring at the flowers and fruits with burning eyes. Afterward, they charged into the forest, roaring and shouting.

"It’s dangerous, run!" the trio cried out to everyone they came across.

It was safer for everyone to escape together. They could look out for each other if they encountered misfortune.

Right now, the three had guessed the true purpose of this place. It was a terrifying killing field; it was possible that many kings would die a miserable death within.

"Run!"

Although they shouted at the top of their lungs, no one heeded them. Some experts looked at them as if they were looking at fools. With so many flowers and fruits for the taking, only a fool would run away.

Only the few king level entities who had arrived around the same time as the trio were alarmed. Their expressions changed because they too had discovered that the medicinal effects were not optimal even after eating a lot of fruits.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..." They started following Chu Feng to escape.

Within the Divine City, Schiller was chuckling with the very picture of kindness. He stood upon a church, observing the sacred medicinal garden, a brilliant light flashing across his eyes. His aged body surging with bursts of divine light.

He was widely known as the last holy knight. Having broken six shackles, he was one of the top experts!

Furthermore, he was an elder of the Holy See. There was no one more familiar with the Vatican than he.

The Arctic King was also present. With long white hair hanging down behind him, he stood upon the church, bathing in the divine light. He revealed all his snow-white teeth in a terrifying smile.

This was completely different from his usual amiable attitude!

"It has begun." Schiller smiled, his body flooded with increasingly divine and auspicious light.

In the depths of the medicinal garden, even the Silvermoon Wolf and the Undead Phoenix had already killed their way inside. They had each subdued a sect-protecting weapon of the Holy See!

Various experts were all roaring, and the whole medicinal garden was in a huge clamor as they fought for their fortunes.

However, suddenly and without warning, all the ancient trees within the garden disappeared into the earth!

There were only a couple of relatively less divine trees left in the area.

This caused everyone to be stunned!

Surrounded by silvery lights and arcs of lightning, a three-meter tall tree appeared within the medicinal garden, emanating a frightening aura.

At this moment, the Undead Phoenix’s whole body was overflowing with flames. She tensed up and spread her wings violently, wanting to fly away.

However, it was too late!

There were ten odd fruits growing upon this silver tree and some of them dropped down and scattered in every direction.

"A walnut tree?"

The normal beast kings were astonished. They did not sense any danger because their divine instincts had been sealed!

The Vatican was a Holy Land and, since ancient times, had always been surrounded by legends and myths.

That silvery white tree was indeed a walnut tree. However, it had long since evolved to an unimaginable level, terrifying to the extreme.

At this moment, the descending silver walnuts burst open.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several silvery mushroom clouds popped up, each surging with dreadful energy.

Each silvery walnut exploded with the power of a nuclear bomb!

...

[1] Right... I’m just as confused as you. It’s the author’s habit.

[2] The taotie is both one of the four evil fiends in Chinese mythology. It appears as motifs commonly found on Chinese ritual bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou dynasty.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taotie