Hong, the blood-colored fountain was getting increasingly fiercer. At first, it was merely about as wide as an arm, but soon grew to be as wide as an adult man, and eventually as tall as a well. Finally, it became like a natural geyser, waves of blood soaring to the skies as if it meant to flood the whole world.
Ling Han flew upwards all the way. Underneath him was the quickly rising water level. It was practically hot on his heels. Zi, zi, zi, with its terrifying erosive properties, his shoes began to corrode, followed by his socks. The soles of his feet also became extraordinarily itchy as layer after layer of skin peeled off, as if even his blood and flesh was going to be melted, with only his skeleton left behind.
This was really too scary. Merely a little steam evaporated from the liquid had this level of erosive properties… then if he was really swallowed up by the wave of blood, could he still survive?
One had to know that he was one who was cultivating the Indestructible Heaven Scroll, and his physical body was on par with precious metals of the same level. If it was any other Flower Blossom Tier cultivator in his place, he'd probably be melted down into a puddle of bloody water now.
Ling Han quickly drew Hu Niu into the Black Tower, and continued to fly upwards with all his might.
Could it be that the ground was actually a huge array, and the jade vial was the formation's eye—its heart? Now that he had extracted the formation's eye, the huge array stopped functioning, and whatever was being suppressed inside immediately appeared.
…Then hadn't he caused a huge problem?
Thankfully, everyone who was here had evacuated. Otherwise, the miners who had been here would have been swallowed up by this ocean of blood.
Peng, Ling Han flew up to the skies, and soon reached a spot right above the old mine.
The pillar of blood soared to the skies and reached at least one hundred feet in height before it began to fall back down. Great amounts of bloody water surged forth, and the whole ancient mine had become a lake in a mere instant. As far as the eye could see, it was a stretch of blood red.
Ling Han stood on the banks of the "lake" and held his breath. There was a strong smell of iron coming from this bloody water, as if a great massacre had just occurred. The smell was particularly strong, making even him feel as if he was about to transform into a great monster that wanted to slaughter all in this world.
Was this really blood? If it was, then how many people would have to die to create such an overwhelming amount?
Ling Han could not help but feel his hair stand on ends. He was very clear how colossal the old mine was, but he had no absolutely no estimate of the size of the space sealed beneath the jade vial. But to fill up merely the whole space inside the old mine, perhaps the blood of even ten million might not be enough.
"You guessed wrongly. At most, there is only the blood of about a dozen people," Small Tower piped up.
"How could that be?!" Ling Han immediately exclaimed in shock. If the amount here was only the blood of about a dozen people, then how big would these people have to be? The size of a mountain?
"The higher the ability of a cultivator, the more blood they possess. A little blood would be enough to form a sea by itself, what is there to be so shocked about?" Small Tower countered. "The blood here originates from over a dozen different sources, so at most, it must have come from over a dozen people."
Ling Han was just about to speak when he paused. He saw a flash of white light appear in the lake of blood, which was soon followed by the appearance of a white-colored corpse floating on the waters, causing ripples to appear on the surface. It was a man, and when he had been alive, he had definitely been extremely handsome. At this moment, he was dressed entirely in white, with a wound on his chest that had caused his heart to explode directly in his chest.
Another corpse appeared. This one was a bald man who wore clay yellow clothing. There were actually nine dots marked on his head, and he wore a string of beads on his chest. His attire was extremely strange. He, too, had a hole in his chest, which showed that his heart had burst directly from the wound.
"Is this the so-called ancient monk?" Ling Han had heard of how the ancient monks dressed. They gave up meat and fish and forbade killing of any sort. They were bound by strict monastic commandments.
The third corpse appeared. This one was a girl of unsurpassed beauty. She wore a long red skirt, which merged with the bloody water; it was not possible to distinguish where the skirt ended and the bloody water began.
She did not die from having her heart crushed but there was a bloody hole on her jade-like forehead, which had caused her lamentable death.
This was really a captivating beauty. Anyone who saw her would feel the urge to sigh in pity at her death.
She was soon followed by the fourth corpse.
Ling Han took count. There was a total of twelve corpses. They seemed to have been suppressed underground before, and now, they were all released in one go.
Ling Han was extremely clear how terrifying the erosive abilities this bloody water had. However, though these corpses had been buried for a few centuries, or even a few millenia, they had not rotted at all. Then, how powerful had these people been when they were still alive?
Could Heaven Tier cultivators… be this strong?
Ling Han was unsure. He now only possessed a sliver of the Heaven Tier divine sense, and could only make a rough deduction about those who might have been on the same cultivation level as he had once been. He was not able to obtain a definite answer.
Perhaps, these people might possibly even have been in the Shattering Void Tier.
The problem was, although these people had all died from fatal blows to varying critical points, they shared a common feature, and that was that they had all been struck fatally by fists. They had their heart crushed or head pierced through by a punch as if they were facing an unsurpassed god, their only destiny to die in an instant.
The blood of these twelve ultimate elites combined to form this lake of blood.
"What!?" A shocked expression appeared on Ling Han's face. There actually emerged a silver-colored spider the size of a mountain on the surface of the lake. Every single leg was like a divine spear, the aura exuding from it incredibly terrifying, making him feel as if he was made of fragile porcelain that, with the current barrage of aura, was beginning to crack.
This was no illusion. Ling Han looked down and could feel multiple cracks appearing on his hands. At this moment, beads of blood emerged from these cracks, and there were more and more appearing. They formed a straight line and dripped downwards without end.
Too terrifying; he was merely standing here at such a big distance, and it was enough to make him feel like he was about to collapse!
Heaven Tier cultivators could not reach this level of power, and this world only allowed power up to Shattering Void Tier level; thus, this silver spider definitely had to be of the Shattering Void Tier level.
This giant silver spider merely glanced at Ling Han yet did not have any expression at all. It behaved high and mighty, as if it was an invincible creature.
It did indeed have no need to look at Ling Han in contempt, because both parties were not on the same level at all. Just like how Ling Han would look at a common man—did he need to treat the other with contempt to reflect his superior might?
It was merely a sweeping glance, and Ling Han felt as if his body was about to be crushed. His spirit similarly felt like it was about to burst.
Perhaps Ling Han had to return to the Heaven Tier to be able to stand strong against this kind of aura—and that was merely the aura.
Hong, it was at this moment a gigantic whirlpool appeared in the lake of blood. The waters immediately began to sink, and the speed was gradually increasing. Within a few breaths' time, the waters of the lake of blood had completely disappeared, and these twelve corpses had naturally disappeared with them.
The silver spider stretched its colossal eight legs and shrank in size before becoming a streak of light. With a xiu, it leaped into the mineshaft, and could no longer be seen.
What was up with this old mine?
Ling Han frowned deeply. At the beginning, he had only thought that a Cursed Tool had been buried here, or perhaps it was a great ultimate cultivator that had affected this piece of land. However, though he had indeed obtained a Cursed Tool, twelve corpses that had been extremely mighty in their lifetimes had also appeared. Furthermore, there was also a giant silver spider that he suspected was still alive!
He couldn't even be sure if that was a false image from eons ago or a real creature.
With power to that extent, he naturally had no way to get near it, and thus, of course, no way to study it closely.