The portal was made up of two massive dragon bones, their heads facing each other. Their bones had long been corroded and riddled with holes, yet they still stood firm.
At first sight of the portal, a vast dragon might swept over him. Long Chen's heart raced wildly—this must be a Dragon Emperor-level existence.
Long Chen swept his divine sense over the dragon's head and found that the dragon crystal had disappeared. Clearly, someone had taken the dragon crystal, but judging by the wound, it seemed it had been taken right after the dragon died, not later.
"After countless years of death, the Dragon Crystal was dug up, yet it still exudes such a powerful aura. It seems this must be a Dragon Emperor-level existence." Long Chen couldn't help but feel shocked; he could basically determine their ranks.
However, after years of erosion, the dragon bones had become severely weathered, all made of honeycomb eyes, and the dragon patterns had long since disappeared. Just by their aura, it was impossible to tell which branch they belonged to.
"No matter what, how can a dragon's corpse be used as a gateway by others?" Long Chen prepared to push the portal over, but after a few pushes, he found that the two dragon corpses seemed to be supported by some force, unable to topple them.
"Hmm?"
Long Chen was stunned. Looking closely, he was shocked to find that inside the dragon bone, there was an ancient vine-like object like a nail, firmly holding the skeleton in place.
"Boom!"
Long Chen pushed hard, and the skeletons collapsed with a crash, scattering to dust and pulverizing. In the spot where they had stood, a huge arched ancient vine appeared.
When he saw the ancient vine, Long Chen was shocked. It turned out it was the key to the skeleton standing firm until now.
Long Chen couldn't imagine what kind of ancient vine could endure through the ages. After all, even the bones of Dragon Emperor-level beings had already weathered, yet this ancient vine remained intact.
The ancient vine was enormous, several zhang thick, with both ends deep into the earth. As Long Chen approached, he found dragon-scale patterns growing on the vine, exuding an extremely strange aura. Long Chen had never seen such a creature before.
"Boom!"
Long Chen slammed his fist onto the ancient vine with a loud crash. The vine trembled slightly, startling him. The force of his punch was enough to shatter a mountain, yet the vine remained completely unharmed.
Long Chen grabbed the ancient vine with both hands and pulled it up, but it didn't budge an inch. Shocked, Long Chen immediately summoned his eight-star battle body.
"Rumble... At
that moment, the ground exploded, and the ancient vine slowly lifted off the ground. The vine sank deep into the ground, and Long Chen had been pulling it out for a long time.
"Boom!"
Finally, the ancient vine was pulled out of the soil, but to Long Chen's surprise, it was completely bare, without any roots.
"Did you pull it out by mistake?"
Long Chen went to the other end to pull it out, but when the vine was completely pulled out, it was still a bare stalk with no roots at all.
"Senior, help me take a look. What is this thing?" Long Chen was stunned; he had to disturb the Qiankun Cauldron, which was meditating.
After the Qiankun Cauldron helped Long Chen last time, his source power was exhausted. After refining pills with Huo Ling'er for a while, he needed to rest for a while.
"This is not an object of the Nine Heavens or Ten Earths." The Qiankun Cauldron pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Isn't it something from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths?" Long Chen was stunned.
"Put it into the chaotic space and see if you can bring it to life. You don't need to make it too big, just cut a section." Qiankun Cauldron said.
Long Chen nodded, wielding the Dragonbone Evil Moon and began slashing. What shocked him was that the strange ancient vine was exceptionally tough. The indestructible Dragonbone Evil Moon actually took more than a dozen strikes to completely cut it off.
Long Chen sent a piece of ancient vine, over ten zhang long, into the chaotic space, dug a pit, and buried it with earth. After the time it takes to burn an incense stick without any movement, just as Long Chen thought it was hopeless, the life energy in the chaotic space suddenly trembled violently, then surged into the vine at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"There's a chance!"
Upon seeing this, Long Chen and the Qiankun Cauldron cried out in surprise.
"This ancient vine does not belong to the Nine Heavens or Ten Earths, so even with the sharpness of the Dragonbone Evil Moon, it would be very difficult to cut it apart.
Moreover, it was unafraid of the passage of time. Clearly, the laws of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths had extremely little binding force on it, sometimes even none.
Although I don't know what this thing is actually for, I have a feeling it will definitely come in hand in the future. Take good care of it. "The Qiankun Cauldron said.
Long Chen nodded and sent the remaining ancient vines into the Star Space to keep for later use. He had a premonition that for these vines to grow, they would consume too much energy. If all of them were moved into the Chaos Space, it would severely affect the growth of the Taiyin Tree, the Fusang Ancient Tree, and those rare herbs.
Even with a mysterious ancient vine, Long Chen didn't know how to nurture it. But he wasn't worried. The Golden Lion Clan had so many lions; if he killed them, he wouldn't lack fertilizer.
However, based on past experience, the more life force it absorbs, the more it can store, so it's not a loss.
Moreover, Long Chen wanted to know what the mysterious ancient vine looked like, and he was also greatly interested in things from beyond the heavens.
A withered vine has endured through the ages, yet even the Dragon Bone Evil Moon struggled so hard to cut it. At its peak, who knows how strong it would be, whether it would blossom and bear fruit, or if it could be used as medicine. For a moment, countless thoughts flooded Long Chen's mind.
"Heh heh, putting everything else aside, just getting this ancient vine alone means it wasn't in vain." Long Chen chuckled.
Long Chen dug a pit and gave the dragon bones a simple burial, then slowly moved forward. He then saw piles of corpses, among which were demon beasts and giants.
They were stacked together, forming towering mountains. Around the mountains were some huge weapons, but these weapons had long since decayed and were unusable. Yet, even though they had decayed, they still exuded a terrifying aura.
Long Chen noticed that the heads of these skeletons were all bowing in the same direction, which was very strange. His heart stirred, and he walked along the direction the bones were bowing.
After walking for a while, the piles of bones along the way grew more and more dense, the black mist grew thicker. Long Chen felt immense pressure, but he could barely bear it, so he kept moving forward.
As he walked, Long Chen suddenly noticed that these bones were showing signs of pressure, and was slightly startled—they still retained the power of his bloodline.
Long Chen quickly walked to a pile of bones. He saw that beneath the pile of bones, a blood-red totem was flowing, a blood-red groove stretching all the way into the depths of darkness.
Long Chen's heart raced wildly. This discovery made his hair stand on end. He felt he might have uncovered an extraordinary secret. Gripping the Dragon Bone Evil Moon tightly, Long Chen slowly walked deeper into the darkness.