This was the Divine Corpse Wasteland, the first layer of the Gods' Tomb, the burial ground of gods.
"Stay close to me," Bibi Dong spoke, her eyes flashing with cyan light—the manifestation of the Wind Laws operating at their peak, "The resentments here will interfere with perception. Once separated, it will be difficult to regroup."
She raised her hand and waved, and four cyan wind marks landed on each person: "These are Wind Beacons. With these, I can sense your locations, and you can also sense each other. But remember, if the distance exceeds a hundred li, the beacons will fail. So don't stray too far from me."
Dai Chengfeng unfolded his wind map, carefully comparing it with the surrounding environment: "We're currently on the eastern side of the wasteland, near the entrance. According to the map, walking west about three hundred li will reach the central altar of the wasteland, where there's a teleportation array to the Forest of Divine Fall. But the altar has a guardian—we need to defeat it to activate the teleportation."
"What is the guardian?" Tang Wulin asked.
"I don't know," Dai Chengfeng shook his head, "The memory fragments don't have detailed descriptions, only mentioning it's an 'ancient guardian,' extremely powerful, at least at the first-level god rank. Moreover, due to resentment erosion, it may have already lost its sanity, retaining only combat instincts."
"1st-Class god..." Qian Renxue's expression grew grave. Her current strength was roughly equivalent to peak 2nd-Class god. With the Angelic God Armament, she could barely contend with the weakest first-level gods. But if the opponent was a strong first-level god, that would be dangerous.
"Don't worry," Bibi Dong said calmly, "Although the resentments in the wasteland are dense, they don't affect my Wind Laws much. I can scout ahead. If the guardian is too strong, we can take a detour. The map marks another route, but we need to pass through a 'God-Devouring Insect' nest, which also carries no small risk."
"Of two dangers, choose the lesser," Dai Chengfeng said, "Although the God-Devouring Insects are troublesome, at least there are no god-level individuals among them. As long as we're careful not to be surrounded by the insect tide, we should be able to pass. As for that guardian... if it's a first-level god that has lost its sanity, it's actually more dangerous, because it will pursue intruders relentlessly until death."
"Then let's go through the God-Devouring Insect nest." Qian Renxue made the decision.
No one objected. Under Bibi Dong's leadership, they began advancing westward.
The wasteland was terrifyingly silent, only the sound of wind passing through the jagged strange rocks, emitting wailing sounds like countless gods weeping in low voices. The soil beneath their feet was soft and dry, each step raising gray dust. That dust contained powder from gods' bones, carrying an intense deathly aura.
After walking for an hour, a strange landform appeared ahead—countless massive skeletons piled together, forming raised "bone mountains." Between the bone mountains, dark red mist permeated. That mist seemed alive, slowly writhing, and wherever it passed, even space emitted "sizzling" corrosion sounds.
"Be careful of that red mist," Bibi Dong warned, "That's 'God-Eroding Miasma' formed from corrupted divine blood. It can corrode divine power and also harms the divine soul. Try to go around it. If you can't, use divine power to protect your body and pass through quickly—don't contact it for long periods."
Everyone nodded and carefully bypassed the areas where red mist permeated.
Just then, Tang Wulin suddenly stopped, looking toward a bone mountain on the left: "Something's moving there."
Everyone followed his pointing direction and saw several black shadows slowly writhing on that bone mountain piled from giant dragon skeletons. Looking closely, they were several palm-sized, completely black, multi-legged strange insects. They clung to the giant dragon bones, their mouthparts piercing into the bones, sucking the residual divine power from the marrow.
"God-Devouring Insects," Dai Chengfeng said in a low voice, "It seems we've already approached their nest. These insects are individually weak, but extremely numerous, and can secrete acid that corrodes divine power. Once surrounded by an insect tide, even a first-level god risks falling."
As if to confirm his words, that giant dragon skeleton suddenly shook violently. More God-Devouring Insects drilled out from the gaps in the bones, densely packed, covering the entire bone mountain in the blink of an eye. They discovered Qian Renxue and the others, emitted a sharp screech, then surged forth like a black tide.
"Don't fight head-on, charge through!" Bibi Dong shouted, her hands making a void slash before her. A cyan wind wall rose, temporarily blocking the insect tide.
But there were too many God-Devouring Insects. The wind wall only lasted a few breaths before being breached. More insects surged from all directions, some even drilling out from underground.
"Golden Dragon Tyrant Body!" Tang Wulin shouted, golden dragon scales covering his entire body. He swept his spear horizontally, sending several dozen God-Devouring Insects flying. But those insects' shells were shockingly hard—even struck head-on by the Golden Dragon Spear, they merely tumbled a few times before getting up and continuing their charge.
Qian Renxue spread her six wings, sacred flames rising from her body. Angelic Holy Fire had a restraining effect on such yin-evil creatures, and the God-Devouring Insects clearly shrank back before the flames, not daring to approach too closely. But there were simply too many insects. The flames could only protect a range of several zhang, and countless insects still lurked, eyeing them covetously from further away.
Dai Chengfeng transformed into wind elements, shuttling through the insect swarm. Wherever he passed, wind blades sliced the God-Devouring Insects into pieces. But for every one killed, ten more surged up, seemingly endless.
"At this rate, our divine power will be exhausted!" Qian Renxue said anxiously.
Bibi Dong's eyes focused. She suddenly stopped, her hands forming a complex seal before her chest.
"Wind Laws, Grand Purification Technique."
With her low chant, a cyan halo rapidly expanded outward with her at the center. Wherever the halo passed, the God-Devouring Insects froze in place as if nailed there, then began to disintegrate from within, turning into black dust that dissipated. In just a few breaths, the insect swarm within a hundred zhang was completely cleared.
But Bibi Dong's face also paled somewhat—clearly, this move consumed considerably.
"Move quickly, a more powerful aura is awakening from deep within the nest!" she said urgently.
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