Su Nan left the ancient temple.
Since he was certain there was no danger outside, he didn't need to continue predicting inside the temple.
The journey from the ancient temple to the deep pit was quite far, and continuing to predict here would be a waste of predictive abilities.
Knowing there was no danger, Su Nan quickly made his way and arrived not far from the predicted location of the deep pit in just over ten minutes. It was here that he continued to predict.
"You know, once you enter the deep pit, your soul will be pulled out by an unknown entity. Do you plan to use Celestial Teleportation to reach the bottom directly?"
"Celestial Teleportation will place your avatar instantly at a position 3,000 meters deep in the pit. Unexpectedly, you won't arrive directly at the bottom but instead in a falling process."
"You react swiftly and use Celestial Teleportation again. However, this time you still couldn't reach the bottom. You don't give up and continue to use Celestial Teleportation."
"This time, you finally reach the bottom."
"You see, at the bottom of this deep pit is a huge underground space, surrounded by countless white bones. Each bone is enormous, and what makes your heart shudder is the presence of a gigantic monster crawling here."
"It's a monster that's over a kilometer in length, resembling a giant crocodile. Its whole body seems like stone, yet it emits a faint metallic glow. It has vertical pupils that shine with a dim red light, resembling two giant red lanterns in the darkness."
"Dozens of thick, long chains entwine the monster's limbs, disappearing beneath the white bones. The moment you see this monster, all your strength freezes, making it difficult to exert your full power."
"You don't know that this is an ancient ferocious beast that has existed for countless years. However, with the changes in the world after ancient times, this ferocious beast can no longer unleash its former power."
"Without waiting for your reaction, the terrifying monster slightly opens its mouth, and a strong suction instantly draws your avatar's soul along with your avatar itself into its mouth."
"Your avatar disappears into the monster's mouth, and you lose contact with it."
"An ancient ferocious beast? An alive ancient ferocious beast!"
Su Nan's pupils contracted, and an incredulous expression appeared on his face.
He had heard of ferocious beasts before, but he had never heard that there were still living ferocious beasts in this world. Moreover, he had never heard of a ferocious beast surviving from ancient times until now! Such longevity was truly terrifying.
"If such a terrifying existence exists here, doesn't that mean anyone who enters this deep pit will die?"
Although the prediction had already mentioned that the ferocious beast couldn't fully unleash its past power, judging from its current performance, it was definitely beyond his reach.
"The ferocious beast is obviously trapped in the deep pit. Who could imprison such a being here? And what is their purpose?" Calming down, Su Nan wondered.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided to start predicting again.
In the previous prediction, all his attention was focused on the ferocious beast, and he didn't have a chance to observe the surroundings at the bottom of the pit. This time, he intended to see the environment at the bottom of the pit.
...
"In the third use of Celestial Teleportation, you arrive at the bottom of the pit, knowing that there is an ancient ferocious beast here, and you will soon be attacked."
"Time is limited, and you don't have time to think much. You immediately survey the surroundings."
"You see that the bottom of the pit is much larger than the top, but apart from the thick pile of bones, there is nothing else."
"Just as you are about to continue observing, a tremendous suction force comes, drawing your avatar's soul along with your avatar itself into it."
"Your avatar disappears into the monster's mouth, and you lose contact with it."
"Nothing here? How can this be?" Su Nan frowned.
He had speculated earlier that if Zhou Lingyin was in this ancient city, she might be at the bottom of the pit. Now, there was only a trapped ferocious beast at the bottom, which was unexpected.
"It seems that Zhou Lingyin is in another place."
He looked in the other directions of the ancient city.
At this moment, he was in the center of the ancient city, and with one glance, he saw that there were eight roads leading to his location, forming a "米" character shape.
The path he had taken was from the west.
This meant that the area he was currently exploring was only one-eighth of the ancient city.
According to the prediction, there were twelve temples and thirty-six ancient temples in the ancient city. Along the way, he had only encountered four or five ancient temples, and hadn't even found one temple yet.
Maybe Zhou Lingyin was in one of the ancient temples or one of the temples; that was very likely.
"Anyway, I should explore the ancient city roughly first."
"Before, there was a golden light and a rosy light in this ancient city. If treasures appeared, there should be traces."
Su Nan decided to explore the ancient city first, completing the task of exploring the ancient temples as much as possible before deciding on the next step.
Of course, before that, he needed to release the Grand Princess and have her help in killing the sacrificial demon.
"Is this the ancient city?"
The Grand Princess had just left the Universe Ring and immediately observed her surroundings.
"Yes," Su Nan nodded.
"You actually really made it in here!" The Grand Princess looked at Su Nan with an expression of disbelief.
Su Nan was only at the Profound level, and in this Divine Ruins place, he should have had a hard time even taking a single step, let alone entering the core of the Divine Ruins. It was even more unlikely for him to enter this ancient city, a place where even King-level experts found it difficult to enter.
At this moment, the Grand Princess also noticed the deep pit not far away, her expression filled with curiosity.
Su Nan said, "There's an ancient ferocious beast alive in that pit."
Upon hearing this, the Grand Princess was stunned, and her expression changed slightly. "An ancient ferocious beast? How is that possible? How can there be a living ancient ferocious beast in this world?"
Even for a top King-level expert like her, hearing about a living ferocious beast was enough to send shivers down her spine.
If she didn't know that Su Nan had an avatar and could investigate the situation below, she would never believe it.
Su Nan then explained the current situation before taking out the censer.
The rest was straightforward.
With the help of the Grand Princess, Su Nan entered the censer and killed the sacrificial demon, just like yesterday.
Although this time he absorbed a considerable amount of the sacrificial demon's soul power, the increase was not significant, and it was much less compared to the first time.
However, after the sacrificial demon was resurrected, its strength dropped further, falling out of the King-level and reaching only the level of a peak Profound expert.
As the sacrificial demon's strength decreased, Su Nan's control over the censer also increased.
Now, he could actively activate the censer and summon the space condensed by the censer.
"Continuing like
this, perhaps I only need to kill the sacrificial demon a few more times, at most two times, to complete the refinement of this censer."
Su Nan's eyes revealed anticipation.
The censer was only a vessel for incense and fire, and it needed to be placed in a place with strong incense and fire to function. Currently, it was of no use to Su Nan.
But once the censer was successfully refined, he would gain access to the "Divine Wishing Spirit Condensation Technique," which would allow him to understand his own Divine Wishing Spirit.
Su Nan released his avatar and looked at the Grand Princess. "This ancient city is very dangerous. I need to explore the situation here first."
Saying that, he pretended to control the avatar to move forward while actually focusing on the prediction on the panel.
"You know that in this ancient city, there are numerous ancient temples and shrines, and you want to obtain the divine imprints from these ancient temples and shrines to enhance your own divine imprints."
"Your main body follows behind the avatar, controlling it as it heads southwest."
"One minute later, you haven't discovered anything."
"Two minutes later, you haven't encountered any danger."
"Three minutes later, you come across a massive shrine."
"The first prediction ends. Do you want to continue?"
"Continue!"
Next, as in the previous exploration.
Because of his identity as a "Successor," Su Nan could freely enter the ancient temples and shrines within the city. Unfortunately, the divine imprints in these ancient temples and shrines were all gone!
From the time he entered the ancient city until now, only the first temple he entered had divine imprints remaining. It was hard to say whether he was lucky or unlucky.
Su Nan was puzzled and couldn't figure out what was going on.
It wasn't until the fifth prediction that he got a hint.
"You don't know, but another Successor once entered here and took away most of the divine imprints here."
"Another Successor?"
"Could it be that the Emperor of the Xuanhuang Dynasty took them?"
In an instant, Su Nan thought of a possibility.
In this era, only he had condensed divine imprints; it was impossible for anyone else to take them.
Before him, only the Xuanhuang Dynasty practiced the Incense and Fire Divine Path.
"I remember, when I first learned about the Incense and Fire Divine Path, the prediction mentioned that the Xuanhuang Emperor's Incense and Fire Divine Path was incomplete and was obtained from a forbidden place."
"It seems that this forbidden place should be the Divine Ruins."
Su Nan suddenly understood what was happening.
Fortunately, the prediction also mentioned that most of the divine imprints had been taken, which meant that there should still be a small number of divine imprints.
The prediction continued, and it seemed that his luck had improved. When exploring the thirteenth ancient temple, he finally encountered one with remaining divine imprints.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed because the trial in this temple was even stronger than the first one, reaching the level of a mid-stage King. He ultimately failed.
The prediction continued.
By the sixteenth prediction, something troubling happened.
"You continue to control your avatar to move forward. Suddenly, four figures appear in your line of sight. You instantly recognize them as Bai Shui Yao Wang (White Water Demon King) and three other Demon Kings."
"The four Demon Kings look disheveled and dejected, clearly paying a heavy price to enter the ancient city."
"The four Demon Kings know you're here and head straight towards you, launching a full-scale attack to kill you."
"You realize that you're no match for the four Demon Kings and immediately use Celestial Teleportation to escape."
"Bai Shui Yao Wang will arrive in half an hour!"
Su Nan's expression hardened. Even dealing with Bai Shui Yao Wang alone was currently beyond his capabilities, let alone facing all four Demon Kings together.
"Half an hour is not urgent."
Half an hour would be enough for him to explore the entire ancient city two or three times.
If he could find Zhou Lingyin, what did it matter if the four Demon Kings were coming?
Time passed quickly in the prediction.
In reality, only five or six minutes had passed, but in the prediction, Su Nan and his avatar had explored the entire ancient city!
Thirty-six ancient temples, twelve shrines, and only six of them had divine imprints.
Among them, only one temple was passable for him, and he obtained only a second-grade divine imprint.
"I can only get one divine imprint. Does that mean I can only complete one task today?" Su Nan's face darkened.
Among the three character's tasks, aside from "Find Zhou Lingyin," "Explore the Divine Ruins," and "Escape from the Divine Ruins," the newly refreshed tasks were either to hunt Demon Kings or to obtain divine imprints.
If the four Demon Kings were separate, he could strategize, but with all four together, he had no chance.
He even tried to lure the four Demon Kings into the shrines and temples in the prediction, but none of them took the bait.
In this way, it was impossible to kill the Demon Kings.
But that wasn't the main problem.
What troubled him the most was that he had explored the entire ancient city, yet he hadn't found Zhou Lingyin, nor had he found the Demon Emperor's coffin!
"This shouldn't be the case. I've combed through the entire ancient city, and if Zhou Lingyin is here, I should have found her."
"Could it be that Zhou Lingyin is not in this ancient city?"
The Divine Ruins were vast, and he had come directly to the deepest part of the Divine Ruins. If everything was just his assumption and Zhou Lingyin wasn't in the deepest part of the Divine Ruins, then he had wasted his efforts.
Su Nan looked at the Grand Princess and asked, "Your Highness, when you were chasing the Demon Emperor's coffin into the Divine Ruins, do you know where the coffin ended up?"
The Grand Princess shook her head. "The coffin definitely entered the deepest part of the Divine Ruins, but no one knows exactly where."
"No one knows?" Su Nan sighed inwardly.
The Divine Ruins were vast, and without a specific location, finding someone here was incredibly challenging.
"Before, as my affinity with the Incense and Fire Divine Path deepened, there was a golden light in this ancient city. Where did that golden light come from?" He thought of another question.
He hadn't found Zhou Lingyin, the Demon Emperor's coffin, or even the location of the golden light that appeared when he first arrived.
This was starting to seem abnormal.
"Something doesn't add up. I must have overlooked something!" Su Nan murmured.
Suddenly, he looked at the massive abyss-like pit not far away, recalling his previous speculations and coming up with a possibility:
"Could the problem be with that ferocious beast?"
"Each time my avatar was sucked into its mouth, I only lost contact with it, but it didn't die. Could there be an independent space inside the ferocious beast's belly?"
Su Nan's eyes lit up with a bold idea.
This possibility couldn't be ruled out. After all, it was an ancient ferocious beast with unimaginable abilities.
"Whether it's true or not, I need to find a way to enter the ferocious beast's body and see for myself."
Su Nan entertained a daring thought.
This part of the story is progressing too slowly, and I'll try to wrap it up in the next two or three chapters, restoring the usual two updates.
(End of this chapter)