Legendary Clan Chief
Chapter 1004 - 987: Mural Stone Path - Human Era Chronology!

Chapter 1004: Chapter 987: Mural Stone Path - Human Era Chronology!

Gazing upon the murals on the stone wall, Xiao Chen’s keen eyes could discern that the exotic beasts, as immense as ancient mountains, were definitely existences akin to the Ancient Ferocious Beasts of the Desolate Wilds.

What horrified him even more was the appearance of the Human Warrior depicted. Merely in terms of his War Body’s physique, the warrior stood tens of thousands of feet tall, a testament to an absolutely terrifying power. Such a War Body had surpassed Xiao Chen’s understanding of the capabilities of the Human War Body.

Even if a Warrior underwent physical tribulations and elevated their Sky-Lifting Battle Body, transforming their own War Body, Xiao Chen, even if he increased his own War Body tenfold, would only reach a height of a thousand feet. Combined with all of his underlying strength, perhaps he could then escape with his life from a Supreme King’s hands.

But a War Body tens of thousands of feet tall utterly shattered the limits of the War Body realm, undergoing a transformation once more, potentially possessing the combat power of a Human Emperor!

Xiao Chen paced forward, heading deeper along the Stone Path. The murals upon the stone walls depicted not just one Ancient Ferocious Beast.

On one mural, there was an incomparably massive true Dragon entangled in battle with a Kunpeng soaring through the nine heavens. Both exotic beasts were exceedingly enormous, with even a single Dragon Claw of the true Dragon dwarfing mountains.

In their clash, they knocked stars from the sky and pierced through the sun and moon, a truly earth-shattering spectacle causing the entire continent to shatter. As the two exotic beasts continued their Conquest, they even broke through the Space Wall Barrier, revealing the pattern of the Star River, before tearing through the invisible barrier and taking their struggle into the boundless Starry Sky.

"Spiritual beings!"

Xiao Chen was astounded. Merely observing the descriptions in a Scroll of Paintings, he felt an indescribable shock. Perhaps, the exotic beasts depicted in the scroll were the very first creatures born between heaven and earth, and they could also be referred to as divine creatures.

The term ’innate spiritual beings of the Desolate Wilds’ did not solely refer to divine creatures, but also included innately transformed Spiritual Wood, mountain gods conjured from the essence of mountains, and spiritual beings birthed from the convergence of the five primordial elements—all lives that originated at the birth of heaven and earth, naturally incredibly powerful, collectively known as spiritual beings.

"What is this?" Just as Xiao Chen looked further down the Stone Path, his pupils suddenly dilated in shock.

There lay a completely uncorrupted human corpse, so lifelike one could even say it appeared to be breathing; it remained free of any rot due to the presence of divinity and yet was devoid of the slightest sign of life.

Xiao Chen examined its clothing and discovered the corpse’s Beast Robe was from an era so ancient that he was unable to identify to which age the robe belonged.

Despite this, the corpse looked as if it had only recently passed away, its expression tranquil and even a hint of a smile on its lips, as if in slumber it had achieved its heart’s deepest desires.

Then, lifting his gaze, Xiao Chen saw several other Human Clan corpses sprawling before him within the range of his sight.

All devoid of the slightest sign of life, and the Beast Robes on these Warriors were not uniform—clearly indicating that they were not from the same era.

However, Xiao Chen noticed they all shared one commonality—they all bore expressions of peace, with smiles on their faces, evidently having had their lives stripped away unknowingly.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Chen couldn’t help but feel a shiver up his spine. The expression of these people before death was consistent with how he had behaved when he was trapped in the illusion.

Becoming a god!

The temptation of the divine beings, indeed, could cause one to lose their mind!

If he had not previously resisted the temptation of becoming a god, he might have ended up like these Dry Corpses, left here for eternity.

Of course, with the protection of the surrounding divine qi, even in death, their bodies did not decay, which could be regarded as a peculiar form of immortality!

The Stone Path was long, stretching to an unseen distance, akin to an Earth Dragon. Xiao Chen walked past these Dry Corpses, moving toward the depths. At this moment, he was increasingly eager to uncover the secrets held within.

These existing Corpses clearly had not successfully passed the trials. He was able to awaken from the illusion because he did not agree to become a god, always remembering that he was of the Human Clan.

These losers, they couldn’t withstand the temptation of that mysterious figure, or the temptation of godhood, and so they vanished like smoke and clouds.

It seems even more interesting now; the owner of the Divine Mansion is clearly a human, yet he uses the desire for godhood to lure warriors inside.

Xiao Chen speculated that the mysterious person must have been cultivating divine power, yet he was a true member of the human race. This clearly held secrets unknown to him. The fact that a human could cultivate divinity was definitely a breakthrough in his understanding.

And observing the surrounding murals, Xiao Chen discovered that, although the humans depicted in them were different, without exception, they all had incredibly strong physiques, capable of fighting exotic beasts with bare hands.

When he entered this mysterious space, his Combat Qi was sealed, and his spirit power was restricted; he could only rely on his physique for war.

But three years prior, the test set by the mysterious person for him was to ascend to the Ninth Layer Tower realm. Now it seems the mysterious person might have intentionally misled him. If for the sake of the inheritance he had neglected the cultivation of his War Body and solely focused on cultivating Combat Qi, he probably wouldn’t have been able to enter this place today.

Everything in this space was a test of physique. The three-year agreement initially mentioned only raising his cultivation of Combat Qi to the ninth legendary realm, without a word about cultivating the body. This was definitely a huge pitfall set for himself!

Continuing forward, the murals stamped on the stone walls reemerged, but this time they depicted the growth experience of the child seen earlier. Without exception, the child who was saved from the mouth of the exotic beast by the Human Clan’s Strongest started on his path of Martial Arts.

He cultivated his physique for war, fighting beasts, and his War Body, initially barely a zhang in height, gradually grew. His strength kept surging, and his War Body kept increasing.

When he reached a hundred zhang, he fought with an exotic beast, the four-winged tiger that flew through the heavens, that towered three hundred zhang in height. When he grew to a thousand zhang, he battled with the Flying Dragon, sweeping it directly off the Earth with his mighty power.

When his War Body reached three thousand zhang, he battled a Dark Phoenix in the land of Netherworld. Eventually, he exploded the Dark Phoenix, which had a bloodline of the Phoenix, with his bare hands.

At five thousand zhang, he bathed in the blood of a Jiao Long in the sea, finally skinning and deboning the Jiao Long, drinking its blood in great gulps and using it to temper his War Body!

When the War Body reached ten thousand zhang, even Ancient Ferocious Beasts from the era of the Desolate Ancient Forest began to appear. These beasts were extraordinarily terrifying: the Nine-Headed Netherworld Snake, the Ghastly Spirit Chariot, the Nine-Colored Ming Bird—legendary creatures said to be capable of challenging divine beasts in battle.

On both sides of the stone walls, the engravings on one scroll after another showed extremely horrifying scenes: War Bodies ten thousand zhang tall, strong enough to tear the Sky Vault and shatter mountains and rivers, continuously battling with exotic beasts in the Desolate Ancient Forest and the deepest realms of hollow worlds, honing their Martial Arts.

There were even battles with different clans in between, but each was swiftly concluded by bursting the adversaries, whether they were Demon Clan, Saint Clan, or any other race.

"Battled to death with the Heavenly Saint Ancestor of the Saint Clan next to the Huai River Marsh, it was the third epoch plus thirty-two thousand years in the Desolate Wilds calendar."

Xiao Chen stood before a massive engraved scroll, discerning the writing inscribed below it, which proved difficult as the script was exceedingly ancient.

The Desolate Wilds calendar was the chronological system of the human race. However, the human race has occupied the Wilderness for far longer than what memory can reach. Even if measured in epochs, it has already been tens of thousands of epochs, with precise recollection long since lost.

And an epoch is one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years. Tens of thousands of such epochs amount to a terrifying stretch of time.

The vicissitudes of time can grind everything to dust. Therefore, besides the Ancestral Court’s oldest familial records, which continue to use the Desolate Wilds calendar, the vast majority of the Human War Tribe rarely employs such chronology anymore.

The first year of the human’s calendar is when the ancient Human Emperor established his rule in the Human Realm—the exordium of the epochs. This means the birth era of this mysterious person came tens of thousands of years after the ancient Human Emperor.

In the early epochs of the human calendar, the world was not so tranquil. The spirit beings had just faded away, and ancient ferocious beasts wreaked havoc upon the Earth. Natural and man-made disasters were incessant, and the chaos in the Human Realm continued for dozens of epochs before gradually subsiding.

Furthermore, during the lengthy years of human propagation, not all was smooth sailing. Although they now occupy the entire divine land of the Human Realm, there have been times throughout history when they were attacked by the Hundred Clans, forced to retreat to a corner and live in seclusion within the Desolate Wilds.