Chapter 454 Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect
The short and muscular guy Tian Neng tentatively suggested to Ding Hao. “Brother Hao, why don’t take a look over there? But be careful. Both the ancient city and ships are too quiet. It’s a little weird.”
Ding Hao did not speak. Rising like flowing light, he instantly landed on the nearest ancient ship to them.
On the warship, Ding Hao couldn’t help exclaiming.
It was a ship like a warship. It was very vast, about 100 meters long and more than 20 meters wide. It contained four floors, two floors above the deck and two under the deck. From the wrecked outline, one could see the atmosphere of the ship back then. It was made out of unknown material. However, it looked pitch-black and old inscriptions covered the body. The inscriptions automatically absorbed flowing energy between heaven and earth and supported the entire ship floating in midair.
Countless years passed, and the warship was already badly damaged.
Marks of age covered the body. Moss plants either covered or circled around the body. They crawled everywhere along the deck and masts. Thick soil spread on the deck and unknown flowers were in full bloom. The flowers came in various colors, which unexpectedly looked great on the ship. The high sails already lost their shapes, and only fibers remained after the rain and wind, fluttering in the wind.
Ding Hao’s Divine Awareness scanned the entire ship.
Soon, in amazement, he found that probably due to the weird inscriptions everywhere, his Divine Awareness actually could only expand a dozen meters far and was constrained by some mysterious power.
Ding Hao failed to find any living creature on the ship. “It has been too long. I can’t see the old soldiers. There’s no trace of them…”
Flowing light flashed.
People including the short and muscular Tian Neng and the thin monkey-like guy Li Ting finally came.
Five people searched the entire ship very carefully but in vain. Finally, in the cabinet under the deck, they found some broken spears and armors. However, unfortunately, they had decayed so much that only structures of them remained. They could never be used again.
It was such a huge ship. One could imagine how it looked like when it carried at least 500 spirited soldiers on a mission. Judging from the inside structure, one could tell that it must have been equipped with inscription canon, which was definitely a sign of war. With the boom of the canon, warriors fully armed descended from the sky and advanced through cities freely. However, now they looked so beaten.
“Where have the people on the ships gone? Why did they abandon such vast warships?”
Ding Hao vaguely felt kind of bizarre.
He searched about six to seven other warships consecutively and found no living person on any of the ships, not even skeletons. The bodies were kept in a whole and no wreckage could be found, which meant the fleet consisting of hundreds of ships did not suffer war or assault. However, it made things weirder; why would they be abandoned?
The thin monkey-like guy suddenly yelled in surprise. “No, Brother Hao. Someone has been here before…”
Ding Hao was slightly stunned. “How did you know?”
The thin monkey-like guy lifted a patch of soft moss and shined on the dark dirt underneath with the dark and obscure light from the Heavenly Compass. A few silver footprints appeared on the damp soil. “Brother Hao, look here…”
He flaunted it in a proud tone. “This thing Heavenly Compass, it can not only estimate others’ strength, but also hunt and track people. I spent for it. I wanted to find some once-in-a-life-time opportunity with it on Sage Battlefield… Judging from the shapes of the footprints, they must have been left six to eight hours ago.”
Hearing that, Ding Hao nodded.
The black compass in the thin monkey-like guy’s hands turned out to be a rare assistant Precious Weapon.
Ding Hao slightly frowned. Things seemed to get a little complicated. “Go carefully check every ship here. See if they all have the same footprints.”
Getting an opportunity to showcase his skills, the thin monkey-like guy looked very excited and immediately started searching carrying his Heavenly Compass. “Yes, sir.”
Ding Hao stood on the deck and looked down.
A dozen li away in the distance, large city ruins appeared in his sight. It was exactly the shape he had seen before. From the point of view, he saw it more clearly. The ancient city was not so large, covering about larger than 50 square li. It was round and had a towering city wall surrounding itself. Inside the city, roads intersected and towers stood.
For some unknown reasons, Ding Hao always thought the ancient city struck him as a troop station.
When he released Divine Awareness, the conclusion he made was the same with his speculation—In the distant city, the mysterious energy like that on the ships also existed, rejecting Ding Hao’s Divine Awareness…
The thin monkey-like guy walked to him with an alarmed look. “Brother Hao, there are 131 ships in total. I’ve checked all of them and found footprints on all of them… And I’m sure the owners belong to the same group. I guess they’d taken things on those ships before us. And, they also left a few limits on the ships. I accidentally touched them just then!”
Ding Hao made a slight frown. “Limit?”
The thin monkey-like guy quickly added, “Some small formations like a warning device. I guess they already knew we’ve stepped on the ships.”
Who would have searched the ships already?
They were friends or foes?
A few possibilities ran through Ding Hao’s mind.
He shook his head and gently caressed the beaten body, observing the inscriptions on it. It was the first time that Ding Hao ran into inscriptions blocking his Divine Awareness. He wanted to decipher the power within them. Otherwise, he would be suppressed by them just like a blinded man, which upset Ding Hao a little.
Saber Master voiced his sigh. “Forget about it. They’re all ancient times inscriptions… I haven’t seen such primitive inscriptions for a long time. In the outside world, they have been lost. Millions of years has passed; the Divine Law and five-element tide all changed. These primitive inscriptions already lost their original effect in the outside world. Only in Sage Battlefield, a strange space where ancient times Divine Law still exists, these inscriptions still release incredible power.”
Sword Master also said emotionally, “Yes. They’re inscriptions already left behind by time. There’s no point in their existing.”
Ding Hao nodded silently.
It turned out to be so.
Were those lines which seemed to be primitive paintings by cavemen on the vehicles the origin of inscription?
He felt a little curious and observed them for a while, remembering some of the paints.
After a while…
Having no important discoveries in the group of lost ships, Ding Hao decided to check the ancient city in the distance. “Let’s go to the ancient city!” He had a strong hunch that in the seemingly dead city, he would meet some old friends.
The five people, including Tian Neng and Li Ting, could only closely followed Ding Hao.
They also sensed some dangerous existence.
The six people rode on wind and went really fast. In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the ancient city.
Just at that time—
Swish! Swish! Swish!
With ear-piercing sound, a few flowing lights rose to the sky and transformed into three young men in blood-red swordsman clothing, blocking before Ding Hao and his companions. The leader had high cheekbones and squinted out of habit. Wearing an alerted look, he shouted overwhelmingly. “Stop right there. Who are you…?”
Tian Neng gasped in shock and whispered by Ding Hao’s ears. “Brother Hao, they’re sword practitioners of Sword Province. Before entering Sage Battlefield, I’ve seen the guy with high cheekbones. He’s Ai Qing, a disciple of Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect in Sword Province.”
Sword practitioners of Sword Province?
Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect?
Then, he was also a Human Tribe disciple from Northern Region entering Sage Battlefield?
Ding Hao slightly faltered, but Li Ting read their faces and hurriedly marched forward, reporting his sect and name loudly. Sword practitioners of Sword Province were well-known in the entire Northern Region, therefore his companions from Wind Province all paid their respect.
Ai Qing’s gaze swept the six people and fell on Ding Hao. “Oh, you’re also Northern Region disciples on a trial…” Bright light flashed across Ai Qing’s slightly squinted eyes. One could not tell what he was thinking. After quite a while, his face relaxed and he said, “We’ve taken the ancient city as the temporary campsite of Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect. You, find another place.”
Ding Hao was careful and instantly caught the subcontext in Ai Qing’s words.
The temporary campsite of Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect?
That meant all of the people from Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect had gathered?
It should not be. Through the space breach to Sage Battlefield, their landing sites were all random. All of the 76 disciples from Snow Province were completely separated. The people from Wind Province including Li Ting landed at the same place just because of good luck. Therefore, why had Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect people gathered in such a short period?
There were two possibilities.
One was that Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect, the super sect, had possessed some method that made sure their disciples landed on the same spot.
The two was after Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect disciples had been transmitted randomly, they again gathered in some particular way.
However, it was irrelevant to him. Seeing the unfriendly faces of the people including Ai Qing, Ding Hao nodded. He did not want any conflict with them and was about to turn around to leave. However, at that moment, he looked down and spot the silver ring on his middle finger. A trace of very dim light flashed across it and quickly disappeared. If Ding Hao did not notice the weirdness of the ring, he must have thought he started to see things.
“The ring flashed? It means Swordsmanship-seeking Sect disciples are near me. Who are they?”
Ding Hao was shocked. He suppressed his excitement and calmly analyzed. When he was on those warships, the ring did not flash; however, now, it flashed with silver light, which meant… There must have been Swordsmanship-seeking Sect disciples in the ancient troop station. No, he could not leave now. He needed to check inside the ancient city.
Those Heaven-Splitting Swordsmanship Sect sword practitioners put on faces that said no strangers allowed. On their faces, there was alertness all over them. Could it be that they were conducting some dirty tricks inside the ancient city?
Could it be that the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect disciples were in their hands?
Why did they catch them?
In an instant, numerous thoughts flashed across Ding Hao’s mind.
He silently took out a piece of Heaven-Earth Blood Bone from his Storage Ring and handed it over with a smile, saying, “Senior Brother, I wonder if you can help us a bit. The sun is setting, and the nights on the Sage Battlefield are too scary. Can we stay for one night in the city? We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”