"The Initial Land?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Ye Qingyan's mouth fell open, her eyes filled with surprise.
Although she didn't know what the Initial Land was, just hearing the name made her feel that this place was incredibly powerful.
However, after mentioning the Initial Land, Ye Ling shook his head again and said, "But the place I was in was the Nine Heavens Realm, an era before chaos. Logically, the Earth didn't even exist then, so how could that place be here?"
Ye Qingyan guessed, "Could this place be recreated by someone?"
"There is indeed a possibility..." Ye Ling nodded slightly. "But if this place was artificially recreated, then the person who created this valley is either an old man who experienced the era of the Nine Heavens Realm, or he, like me, was taken to that valley by Zhang Xiaoling..."
Of these two guesses, Ye Ling leaned more towards the latter.
Zhang Xiaoling, like Xuan Yu, was a mysterious figure who continuously sought inheritors of the creation legacy to fight against the Remnant Evil Clan. Moreover, in Ye Ling's opinion, Zhang Xiaoling's mysteriousness was even greater than Xuan Yu's!
Currently, Ye Ling's understanding of Zhang Xiaoling was limited to him being the founder of the Hongchen Pavilion and the Dragon Department, constantly pushing the world's development from behind the scenes. Zhang Xiaoling also seemed to have always played the role of a guardian of the universe.
If Zhang Xiaoling had been searching for reliable successors on Earth to fight against extraterrestrial forces, then it was likely that Zhang Xiaoling had found more than just Ye Ling.
After all, Ye Ling, calculated by Earth's time, was born only a little over twenty years ago.
Zhang Xiaoling might have existed since the primordial era. In such a long time, Zhang Xiaoling couldn't have just waited for Ye Ling.
Ye Feng, and even the creator of this valley, were likely among Zhang Xiaoling's protégés.
Realizing this, Ye Ling understood that the monsters existing in this valley might possess power beyond his imagination. He immediately became serious, even secretly setting up a hidden rune restriction around Zhao Fugui, in case those monsters caught him off guard and crushed Zhao Fugui to death.
Zhao Fugui, among the piles of stones, was unaware that he was in immense danger. He was still overturning stones in the rubble, trying to find a way to leave this damned place.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
"This desolate place has nothing at all. Even if I'm not killed by that monster, I'll starve to death here!"
Zhao Fugui grew frustrated with his search and kicked a stone in front of him, cursing loudly.
Under extreme fear and tension, his taut nerves were showing signs of snapping.
"Roar—!"
Just as Zhao Fugui was about to give up, a piercing roar suddenly sounded from deeper within the valley, and a hurricane swept over!
If Zhao Fugui hadn't quickly taken cover behind a large rock, he would have been blown away by this hurricane!
"It's... it's over... that monster is out!" Zhao Fugui, hiding behind the rock with a terrified expression, began to tremble.
Ye Qingyan, hidden in the shadows, couldn't help but show a trace of shock after hearing the piercing roar, exclaiming, "What a terrifying aura! It's likely above mine!"
Ye Ling's gaze sharpened, and he whispered, "They're finally coming out... but there are more than one Supreme-level monsters hidden here. When did Earth start having so many powerful beings?"
While Ye Ling was marveling, a disheveled, black-gas-shrouded humanoid monster rushed out from the depths of the valley at an extremely fast speed towards Zhao Fugui, the surrounding space collapsing due to the monster's movement!
Bang!
The humanoid monster reached the giant rock where Zhao Fugui was hiding in an instant, shattering the rock with one palm and viciously striking at Zhao Fugui, who was hiding behind it, with the other!
Zhao Fugui had already been scared stiff by the monster's explosive aura and was now unable to move, left to face the monster's strike!
"I'm dead!!!"
Zhao Fugui cried out in shock, seemingly foreseeing his fate of being smashed into a meat patty!
However, just as the monster was about to crush Zhao Fugui into pieces, the rune restriction Ye Ling had placed around Zhao Fugui automatically activated, and a barrier rose around Zhao Fugui!
Bang!!!
The humanoid monster was sent flying back by the rune barrier around Zhao Fugui, its massive body disappearing into the white mist in the air.
Before Zhao Fugui could even figure out where the rune barrier around him came from, another humanoid monster, wearing a white cloak and wielding a scythe, silently appeared before him and swung its scythe down fiercely!
Clang!!!
The humanoid monster's scythe instantly shattered, and it was also sent flying back.
Zhao Fugui was stunned!
But it wasn't over yet. The ground where Zhao Fugui stood began to collapse, and a red claw emerged from the earth, grabbing Zhao Fugui's foot and attempting to drag him underground.
However, the monster hidden in the ground suffered the same fate as the previous two. It couldn't resist Ye Ling's rune restriction at all.
The moment the monster grabbed Zhao Fugui's foot, its entire arm was burned to ashes, and a piercing roar echoed from beneath the earth.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Zhao Fugui's face was ashen. He hadn't even figured out what had happened before the battle was over!
Ye Qingyan, hidden in the shadows, witnessed all of this and exclaimed, "The strength of those three monsters is actually above mine. How did they cultivate?"
Ye Qingyan reached the Supreme realm by Ye Ling gathering heavenly treasures from a world and boiling the golden elixirs of countless divine beasts to refine her bones. How could a mere Earth nurture so many Supremes!
Ye Ling said quickly, "These three monsters are merely puppets. Stronger ones are still behind."
"Stronger ones are still behind?" Hearing Ye Ling's words, Ye Qingyan was so surprised she almost lost her voice, not knowing how to describe her feelings.
Just how exaggerated was this valley?
After Zhao Fugui kicked that pebble, it was as if he had stirred up a hornet's nest. The three humanoid monsters began to attack him relentlessly.
If not for Ye Ling's rune restriction around him, he didn't know how many times he would have died!
"Help, help me!!!"
Zhao Fugui squatted down, covering his head, and shouted in terror, not daring to look at the three humanoid monsters surrounding and attacking him.
Seeing Zhao Fugui being attacked frantically by the three monsters, Ye Qingyan asked Ye Ling, "Should we make a move?"
"No need. Those three monsters cannot break through my rune restriction yet. No need to worry about Zhao Fugui for now."
As Ye Ling spoke, he looked towards the deepest part of the valley and whispered, "His aura has appeared. It's over there!"
After the sudden appearance of these three humanoid monsters, Ye Ling detected another exceptionally special aura from the deepest part of the valley.
It was clear that the three monsters attacking Zhao Fugui here were merely puppets controlled by the entity in the deepest part of the valley!
Having detected the aura, Ye Ling did not linger and instantly moved towards the deepest part of the valley.
In the deepest part of this valley, inside a cave.
A man as thin as a skeleton was bound by chains in the center of a pool of ice, and a damaged formation was located around the ice pool.
Ye Ling appeared at the edge of the ice pool and quickly scanned the broken barrier by the pool, murmuring to himself, "It seems that after this barrier broke, his aura leaked out. No wonder I didn't sense this fellow's presence before."
Ye Qingyan also appeared behind Ye Ling. Seeing the emaciated man bound by chains in the pool, she exclaimed, "Why is someone trapped here? Who is he?"
Ye Ling carefully examined the man in the pool and said, "This fellow's peak cultivation should be Supreme, but his power has been sealed off for the most part. Moreover, judging by his appearance, he has been imprisoned for a long time and has become mentally unstable."
"However... what is this fellow's origin? He doesn't have the aura of creation legacy within him... it's truly strange." Ye Ling muttered softly, his brows furrowed slightly.
Due to the existence of the cosmic barrier in the inner universe, if one did not accept the creation legacy, Dao Venerable was basically the end of cultivation, and it was impossible to go any higher.
This imprisoned man, who possessed Supreme cultivation at his peak, had a cultivation far exceeding the limits that the inner universe could bear. He could not have cultivated naturally within the universe.
What shocked Ye Ling even more was that with such a strong peak cultivation, who could have sealed him here, isolating him from the world?
With layers of doubt shrouding Ye Ling's mind, he couldn't quite figure out the situation here for a moment.
While Ye Ling was contemplating, Ye Qingyan also looked at the man in the pool with shock, sighing, "Could he be the owner of this valley? With such great strength? How could he be locked up here?"
"I can't figure it out..."
Just as Ye Ling and Ye Qingyan were investigating the origin of the imprisoned man, the man suddenly erupted and roared at Ye Ling, startling Ye Qingyan!
"Kill!!!"
The man's eyes were bloodshot, and he constantly tugged at the chains binding his hands, trying to break free.
But as soon as he stood up, the chains generated a strong electric current, directly electrocuting the man unconscious!
The cave fell silent again, with only the sounds of the three monsters attacking Zhao Fugui outside the cave echoing in.
Seeing the man electrocuted unconscious, Ye Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That was close... I thought he was about to break free!"
Ye Ling quietly looked at the unconscious man and said, "I want to release him."
"Ah?"
Ye Qingyan froze, looking at Ye Ling with disbelief, as if she had misheard him.
This monster could actually be released?