Chapter Eighty-Five: The Severance of Heaven and Earth

Lin Feng led the others into the underground palace, crossed the golden stream, and arrived at its center.

As they looked around, a vast mural quickly drew Wang Jisheng's attention.

"Master Lin, look at this. It seems they're performing a human sacrifice, using living people as offerings!"

"Could that statue be the deity of some ancient tribe? But why would the temple not be built on the surface?"

Following the direction in which the mural stretched, Lin Feng studied it. The story painted there was simple enough.

It told of a tribe that worshiped a man-eating demon as a god and carried out annual living sacrifices. Later, a gifted human from the tribe, in order to save the woman he loved and keep her from becoming the supreme offering, devoted himself to cultivation day and night. In the end, he became an immortal, slew the demon, and sealed it away.

A clichéd, melodramatic tale.

And yet...

When Lin Feng reached the end, he suddenly spotted a line of writing there, and it was actually in the universal tongue of the cosmos.

Having roamed the universe for a hundred thousand years, Lin Feng knew very well that the last mural was indeed inscribed in the cosmic common language. How could anyone on Earth, with its level of civilization, possibly understand that language? Something was not right.

What was more, this passage was written in an archaic form, and it said:

"To preserve the Dao lineage, sever heaven from earth."

Could it be that the reason Earth had fallen into this age of spiritual decline was because, in some distant ancient era, a mighty being had used a great divine power to seal the whole planet off from the universe?

Because it could no longer communicate with the cosmos and replenish the spiritual energy it consumed, had Earth gradually been cut off from spiritual power?

But no matter who had cast such a spell, a seal like this always had a limit.

From the vague formation diagram shown in the mural, it was not hard to see that the seal's lifespan was about ten thousand years.

A shocking thought suddenly burst forth in Lin Feng's mind.

For the first time, he showed panic in front of others. He immediately turned and went to the edge of the altar, where the formation marked the places for placing spiritual objects. After a careful inspection, he roughly estimated the point in time when the spiritual objects had been set there.

Then his brows drew together, and his right fingertips flicked rapidly as he calculated.

A moment later, Lin Feng abruptly opened his eyes, his heart shaken to the core.

"How could this be?"

If his deductions were correct, this seal would collapse very soon.

When that time came, Earth would once again return to the universe, spiritual energy would surge in, and Earth would...

Experience a resurgence of spiritual energy.

...

While Lin Feng was still stunned into silence, Zheng Xuance suddenly cried out in alarm.

"Senior Brother Lin, come take a look. This formation diagram seems to have a problem!"

Lin Feng slowly recovered from his shock and glanced at the mural with a faint smile.

This world was truly becoming more and more interesting. First warriors, then mystics, then severing heaven from earth, then the resurgence of spiritual energy.

At this rate, life on Earth was not going to be dull from here on.

Shortly afterward, Lin Feng came over to Zheng Xuance as if nothing had happened. It turned out that he was studying the formation around the altar.

"The moment I stepped into the underground palace, I felt that something was off. You know, if this were truly the altar of a deity, a sealing formation would not be used."

"If I am not mistaken, this should be the Seven-Star Demon-Sealing Formation, the most stringent formation of the Three Pure Paths!"

Lin Feng swept a glance across the formation on the altar and gave a slight nod.

That was indeed the Seven-Star Demon-Sealing Formation.

"But that's just too strange. If they were performing living sacrifices to serve a deity, why would they also seal that deity away? Could it be..."

"When did I ever say that thing was a deity?" Lin Feng said with a shrug.

"Master Lin, that statue looks exactly like the evil god the human tribe was sacrificing to in the mural!" Wang Jisheng had come over to join the commotion.

He had hit the nail on the head.

This so-called underground palace was not a temple to a deity at all, but a prison used to confine one.

And who said that motionless thing had to be a statue?

"You damned fool, you deliberately led us to the lair of those strange worms, then sneaked into the underground palace yourself, wanting to take the spiritual treasure for yourself? You never expected this, did you? We had flamethrowers, and all those worms were wiped out by us!"

Just as Lin Feng and the others were studying the altar, Qian Youyou actually brought her people in through the main entrance of the underground palace.

The originally well-equipped, fully staffed mercenary force now had only Master Guo, Max, and eight or nine rank-and-file soldiers left.

The bone-eating beetles had not been easy to deal with. Even with flamethrowers, Qian Youyou and the others had come within an inch of death.

Thus she was enraged to the point of madness. Raising her pistol, she was about to shoot Lin Feng dead.

"The spiritual objects you want are right here. I won't compete with you. Take them all. How about that?"

Lin Feng calmly stepped aside, showing no intention of fighting her for them.

Qian Youyou, filthy and disheveled, entered the underground palace and came to the altar. One look was enough to show her that the floor was covered with spiritual treasures.

"Master Guo, come quick and see whether these are all thousand-year spiritual treasures!"

At the sight of the treasures, Qian Youyou forgot about Lin Feng and hurriedly called Master Guo over to identify them.

"Yes! Yes! These are all spiritual treasures. Some of them have even surpassed a thousand years; they're treasures of ten thousand years!"

Master Guo trembled all over like a nobody who had become rich overnight. Unable to wait, he scooped the spiritual treasures into his hands and clutched them to his chest.

"Wait! Those spiritual objects cannot be moved. They are the eyes of the formation. They have to..."

Zheng Xuance tried to step forward and stop them, but who would have expected Cao Rengui to suddenly leap out and roar:

"Miss Qian, you nearly died for this. These spiritual treasures should have been Miss Qian's from the start. It was you people who betrayed your word and ran for your lives the moment danger appeared! You're worse than pigs and dogs!"

Even now, Cao Rengui was still happily serving as Qian Youyou's lapdog, angrily denouncing his own countrymen.

Lin Feng merely patted Zheng Xuance on the shoulder and told him to calm down a little.

"Xuance, do you know what my old friends call me?"

"Huh?" Zheng Xuance was completely baffled. He thought, Senior Brother Lin, why aren't you stopping these people from destroying the sealing formation, and instead blocking me just to ask such strange questions?

"You don't know? They call me the Old Yin God. Because I never hesitate to scheme against people."

As he said this, the corners of Lin Feng's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile that was impossible to read.

Crack.

Just as Qian Youyou was collecting the spiritual treasures all over the floor with shining eyes, the altar suddenly began to shake violently, and even the giant statue more than thirty feet tall at the center of the altar swayed as though it might topple at any moment.

Layers of stone shell peeled away from the statue and fell.

"What is going on?"

Qian Youyou, not understanding what was happening, asked Master Guo.

But Master Guo did not know either.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng seized the chance to call Wang Jisheng and Luo Qiankun back.

The four of them gripped their jade talismans and kept well clear.

"Master Lin, what happened? Was that an earthquake? Then shouldn't we run?"

Wang Jisheng was the most afraid of death and immediately urged them to leave.

But Lin Feng sat down with great interest, preparing to enjoy the show.

"Quick! Get out, now!"

Qian Youyou instinctively hugged the spiritual treasures and was about to leave, but at that very moment the gates of the underground palace slammed shut with a thunderous boom, and the entire place instantly became a sealed chamber.

Roar.

At the same time, a bone-chilling roar came from behind them. Qian Youyou stiffened all over on instinct, slowly turning around, only to discover that the giant statue, which had just been on the verge of collapse, had now come to life.