Gu Sheng sprinted furiously, not daring to pause for a moment. It wasn’t until he crossed a simple yet luminous ancient gate, like some kind of boundary, that he suddenly felt the relentless pursuit behind him, vanishing abruptly!
He halted, swiftly turning back, and vigilantly gazed towards the outside of the gate.
All he saw were the densely packed, wave-like black shadows, all halted outside that gate. Their blurred faces seemed to be "staring" at the inside of the gate at Gu Sheng, but none dared to cross that threshold, as if there existed some rule or taboo they couldn’t breach.
Confirming his temporary safety, Gu Sheng finally let out a long sigh of relief, finally having leisure to carefully observe and think about what on earth he had encountered just now.
Standing inside the gate, he sharply scrutinized those black shadows outside, which had come to a stop.
This time, he looked more closely.
"These shadows... although their forms are vague and largely composed of that eerie black energy, upon closer inspection, the outlines of their clothing, the styles of the weapons they wield, even some minor habitual movements, seem to have differences..."
Gu Sheng rubbed his chin, his mind racing rapidly.
"Moreover, their cultivation fluctuations are mostly concentrated from the Peak of the Heavenly Martial Realm to the Early Stage of the Sect Realm, with very few particularly prominent ones..."
A bold conjecture gradually took shape in his mind.
"Could it be... these black shadows are not native spiritual beings born of this Secret Realm itself, but rather... martial artists from all directions who previously explored this main hall and tragically perished here?! Their residual souls, obsessions, or lifelong cultivations were in some unknown way absorbed and transformed by this Secret Realm, ultimately forming these eerie guardian existences?"
This thought slightly chilled his back.
If this were true, the number of strong individuals devoured by this main hall was likely an extremely staggering number!
While he was immersed in this astonishing speculation, a sudden heavy and ancient mechanism sound came from behind!
Clack... rumble...
He whipped around abruptly, seeing the central area behind him, in this relatively safe zone, where the ground was slowly cracking open. A stone tablet, about a zhang tall, entirely in a bronze color, covered with countless complex and unfamiliar inscriptions, was rising slowly from underground!
The stone tablet exuded a desolate, ancient, and solemn aura. The inscriptions on it twisted like worms or serpents, completely different from any script he knew of, filled with mystery.
"Is this... an inscription?"
Gu Sheng stepped forward a few paces, scrutinizing those characters closely.
"These characters... never seen before. They have such an ancient and profound style, could it be... the script of an Ancient Era?"
He recalled the divisions of the Martial Artist eras.
Nowadays, it is generally believed that martial arts civilizations have experienced the Ancient, Far Ancient, Near Ancient, and current eras.
Among them, the Far Ancient and Ancient Eras, due to their remoteness and seemingly having undergone some enormous upheaval, resulted in severe information gaps, with very few surviving records, shrouded in a fog of mystery. Gu Sheng had out of curiosity delved into some fragmented ancient texts, having limited knowledge, but very limited comprehension.
"If this inscription is truly in an ancient script, then this Secret Realm... this Golden-winged Roc..."
Gu Sheng’s heart trembled violently.
"Could this Golden-winged Roc have survived from the Far Ancient Era?"
But then he immediately cast doubt on this.
"No... according to scattered records, the Far Ancient Era was unimaginably distant. The living beings of that era possessed terrifying powers capable of moving mountains, filling seas, plucking stars, and capturing the moon--far exceeding today’s Venerable and Saints.
While this Golden Wing Ridge Secret Realm is wondrous, its stature does not seem to reach such legendary levels.
Moreover, the memories left by Situ Qingfeng’s mother, as well as the various ’selection’ and ’testing’ signs shown by this Secret Realm, indicate that the Golden-winged Roc retained clear intelligence and a definite purpose before its demise..."
If the Golden-winged Roc were an ancient being, then the value of this Secret Realm and the secrets it might conceal would vastly surpass what he previously imagined! But if not, how then would one explain this ancient inscription?

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