Chapter 2364: Metal Cage
The hall was around 300 to 400 feet tall, and its area exceeded 1,000 acres.
However, what should've been a flat and smooth bluestone floor was riddled with pits and craters, as well as the remains of countless treasures.
There were also sections of the ground that were charred black, and at the center of the hall was a massive beastly skeleton.
The skeleton was as translucent as jade, and it resembled the skeleton of both a crocodile and a wyrm.
It seemed that someone had engaged in a fierce battle with the massive beast here, but judging from these residual traces, the battle had taken place a very long time ago.
Han Li appraised the beastly skeleton briefly with an intrigued expression, and judging from its residual aura, he was able to immediately identify the skeleton to have belonged to a beast at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage.
The fact that such a fierce battle had been waged against a mere Body Integration Stage beast indicated that its opponents were definitely below the Grand Ascension Stage, but they wouldn't have been too weak, either.
Looking at the remains of the treasures on the ground, Han Li could tell that the giant beast had most likely had around four to five opponents.
After inspecting the area for a while longer, Han Li suddenly cast his gaze toward a wooden shelf in the corner of the hall.
This was a black shelf that was around 20 to 30 feet long, with around a dozen silver platters of different sizes positioned on it in two rows.
However, the platters were all empty, and their contents had clearly already been taken by someone.
Thus, Han Li didn't hesitate any longer as he made his way directly toward the exit on the other side of the hall.
The same azure passageway resumed, and on this occasion, it took Han Li quite a while to finally emerge on the other side.
In doing so, he arrived in a space that was several times bigger than even the hall from before.
There were a few white clouds drifting in the air up above, and the ground was comprised of fine white sand.
At the center of this space stood a triangular monastery-like building.
Han Li took a glance at the building before flipping a hand over to summon the small vial.
The ball of crimson light in the vial didn't display any reaction, and his brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he still made his way toward the gate of the monastery, which was already wide open.
The Three Witch Spirit Saints were standing before a sea of black mist that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
The mist was surging violently as if it were a living creature, occasionally releasing gusts of glacial Yin winds alongside bloodcurdling howls.
The three of them were looking very exhausted, and their auras had diminished even further.
Even the three giant steeds beneath them had already vanished, but they were all looking into the sea of mist with excitement in their eyes.
This was because there was a crimson pavilion situated within the sea of mist.
The pavilion was over 1,000 feet tall with countless crimson runes etched onto its surface, and at the very top were the words "Blood Prison" in two huge silver ancient characters.
"So this is the blood prison; it's a little different from how I envisioned," the elderly man with the Yu surname remarked.
"This is most likely an illusion; let me try and dispel it," the elderly man with the Yu surname replied.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to release an azure wooden badge with a black ghostly head embedded onto it, then made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the badge.
The badge instantly swelled to around the size of a human head, and azure runes began to appear on its surface.
At the same time, the ghostly head also opened its eyes and mouth.
A pillar of azure light erupted out of the ghostly head's mouth before transforming into a massive pillar of azure wind that vanished into the sea of mist in a flash.
In the next instant, a burst of loud rumbling rang out, and all of the nearby mist was swept away by the fierce azure winds, opening up a clear passageway.
The Three Witch Spirit Saints peered carefully into the passageway, upon their expressions all changed slightly.
Beneath the passageway was a giant lake filled with viscous crimson water, and there were countless thumb-sized white maggot-like insects swimming along the lake's surface, sending chills running down the onlooker's spine.
"Is this the true appearance of the blood prison? Could this be an illusion as well?" the elderly man with the Yu surname asked in a stunned manner.
"No illusion could maintain itself in the face of my Azure Astral Winds," the man with the Wu surname replied before opening his mouth to release several balls of energy into the azure wooden badge.
The wind surging out of the ghostly head's mouth immediately became over 10 times as powerful, and one pillar of wind was being released after another.
A short while later, most of the sea of mist had been dispelled, thereby revealing most of the crimson lake.
The three elderly men cast their eyes downward, upon which elated looks appeared in their eyes.
Aside from the countless maggots on the lake's surface, around a dozen black metal cages of different sizes had also been revealed.
The smallest of these cages were only around 10 feet tall, while the largest ones were over 10,000 feet in size.
Their surfaces were riddled with unidentifiable golden runes, and there were countless sharp crimson spikes extending into the cage, presenting a menacing sight to behold.
Most of the cages' doors were already wide open, with only a few that were still seamless and unopened, and within each of those unopened cages was a corpse in different poses.
These beings had clearly perished countless years ago, and all of them had vastly differing bone structures, but their residual auras still struck the Three Witch Spirit Saints with a sense of apprehension.
"These must be the enemies sealed here by Daoist Tian Ding. As expected, all of them were extremely powerful; we'll have to examine these bodies carefully to see which one belongs to Master Tian Wu," the final elderly man said with excitement in his eyes.
"Master Tian Wu was a practitioner of Witch Dao cultivation arts, so his remains are definitely different from the others; we'll be able to easily identify it once we get a little closer," the elderly man with the Wu surname replied.
"The other bodies all belonged to extremely powerful beings as well, so they're definitely carrying formidable treasures; we can't just leave them," the elderly man with the Yu surname said with a hint of greed and urgency in his eyes.
"Of course. However, our main objective is Master Tian Wu, so let's obtain his inheritance first before we think about anything else," the elderly man with the Wu surname decided.
The other two elderly men felt this to be a reasonable suggestion, and they each released several protective treasures before flying directly toward the black metal cage that was closest to them.
This crimson lake was extremely unsettling, so the three of them naturally didn't dare to take any chances.
Much to their surprise and elation, the lake remained completely calm and placid even as they reached the metal cage.
The body in the cage was far more petite than that of a normal person, and after carefully examining it with their spiritual sense, all of them shook their heads before flying toward another metal cage.
The second corpse wasn't the one they were searching for, either, and before they knew it, they had reached the center of the entire lake, arriving at the fourth metal cage.
In contrast with the previous three, this metal cage was one of the largest on the entire lake, standing at 5,000 to 6,000 feet tall.
Aside from the sharp spikes extending inward, there was also an extremely long crimson chain that was bound countless times around the body inside.
The chain itself was in rather bad condition; not only was its surface riddled with rust, there were even some cracks that were visible, and it seemed that the body had struggled violently for some time prior to its passing.
The corpse in the cage belonged to a horse-human hybrid creature, and every single one of its bones was of a translucent green color with faint traces of golden light flowing through them.
The upper body of this creature was completely identical to that of a normal human except it was extremely massive, while its lower body was close to 1,000 feet in length, and the four giant hooves of the corpse were the only parts where some silver fur remained.
"There's no mistaking it; this is Senior Tian Wu's body!" the elderly man with the Yu surname immediately concluded upon sensing the fearsome aura emanating from the body.
"This is indeed a Witch Dao aura. As expected of Master Tian Wu to have retained such a powerful aura this many years after his death," the final elderly man also chimed in in an excited manner.
In contrast, the elderly man with the Wu surname was looking on with slightly furrowed brows. "Where is Master Tian Wu's inheritance?"
His words acted as a reminder to his two companions, and only then did they discover that there seemed to be nothing else in the cage aside from the giant corpse.
All of a sudden, one of the elderly men's eyes lit up, and he suddenly pointed toward a certain part of the giant body. "What's that?"
The other two hurriedly directed their attention to the same spot, upon which they discovered that there was a black shadow embedded onto one of the corpse's massive ribs.
Upon closer inspection, this seemed to be a black jade slip.
"These are definitely the remains of Master Tian Wu, so let's break open this cage first," the elderly man with the Yu surname suggested.
His two companions naturally had no objections, and thus, the treasures they had summoned were sent flying directly toward the metal cage with tremendous force.
A resounding boom rang out, and scintillating golden light erupted from the metal cage, while the cage itself only tremored slightly before the light faded, and everything returned to normal.
The elderly man with the Wu surname focused his gaze onto the cage, upon which his expression immediately darkened slightly.
Not a single trace had been left on the surface of the cage.
"Let me have another go," the elderly man with the Yu surname said as a fierce look appeared in his eyes, and he made a grabbing motion to summon a short crimson sword with countless spirit insect images etched onto its surface.
There was also a pristine white thumb-sized crystal embedded into the hilt of the sword, and he gripped onto the sword before suddenly slicing off several fingers from his other hand.
He then began to chant something while pointing toward a certain patch of space, and the severed fingers immediately disintegrated into bursts of blood mist that flowed into the short sword.