Lily Anne's heart was heavy. She had noticed that there were a few corpses that had died in an abnormal manner. There were no visible wounds on their bodies. She told Northgate Lie about this, but he didn't seem to care.
"Big Sis An 'er, there are too many strange Battle Techniques in the universe. Some Battle Techniques can leave no scars, but in reality, they target the internal organs of the human body. It's not that there aren't any scars; it's just that you can't see them. That's very normal. All we can say is that there's an expert in front of us," Northgate Gang said.
Lily Anne frowned. Was it that simple?
It wasn't her first day exploring the universe. How could she not tell if she had any scars?
But since Northgate Lie didn't care, there was nothing she could do.
With a hong sound, a tower-like building in the distance collapsed, turning into dust.
Everyone was already used to it. The buildings here were too old and couldn't be preserved at all. Even the words had disappeared.
Northgate Lie casually glanced around. Just as he was about to leave, his pupils suddenly shrank. He saw a stone slab that had yet to completely turn to dust. He didn't know where the stone slab had fallen from, but there were traces of human carvings on it.
His breathing was ragged, and he suddenly rushed forward. Lily Anne and the others saw that Northgate Lie was acting strangely and immediately followed him.
Northgate Lie tore through the void and appeared in front of the stone slab. He stared at the diagram on the stone slab as if he wanted to imprint it into his mind. Behind him, Lily Anne and the others had already arrived. Northgate Lie's eyes flashed, and star energy swept out from the soles of his feet, turning the stone slab into dust.
This action was very discreet, and Lily Anne and the others did not notice it at all. By the time they arrived beside Northgate Lie, all they saw was a pile of dust.
"Brother Lie, what did you see?" someone asked. Everyone stared at Northgate Lie with expectant eyes.
Northgate Lie sighed. "I only saw a picture, but before I could see it clearly, the stone slab turned to dust."
"What pattern?" the others asked impatiently, staring at Northgate Lie.
Northgate Lie thought for a moment and then used his star energy to form a diagram in the air. Rather than calling it a diagram, it would be more accurate to call it a line. Nine circular objects surrounded an unknown object in the center.
Everyone was confused, not understanding what it meant at all.
Northgate Lie was helpless. "It's been a long time, and the patterns and colors have long since disappeared. All that's left are these lines."
Of course, not everyone believed in Northgate Lie. But so what if they didn't? They couldn't force him to answer. Not to mention Northgate Lie's strength, Northgate Taisui was watching from outside.
Lily Anne gave Northgate Lie a serious look, before looking elsewhere.
Everyone stopped thinking about it and looked at other places, trying to find the written records that had not disappeared. Since there were pictures left behind, it meant that not everything had been destroyed.
Northgate Lie put on an act of looking around, but his mind was filled with the image. The image wasn't completely destroyed, and there were still some patterns. He didn't know exactly what they were, but he was certain that nine circular objects surrounded a flower in the center.
He had to tell the Old Ancestor about this pattern after he got out. With the Old Ancestor's knowledge, he might know about it.
Not too far away from Northgate Lie's group, a few people from the Tempest Flowzone were walking together. Their leader was the man with the scorpion tattoo on his face. At this moment, he was different from the rest of the group, and his face was filled with excitement, to the point where he seemed to have forgotten himself. His name was He Zhong, and he was the eldest disciple of the Fire Scorpion Sect.
"Eldest Senior Brother, could this place be related to the place that the sect has been searching for?" A woman walked over and asked in a low voice. She sounded quite excited.
He Zhong glanced at her coldly. "Shut up. How many times have I warned you? You're not allowed to say anything. Only you and I know about this among the disciples. If word gets out, we'll definitely die."
"Yes, Eldest Senior Brother, but I really want to know." The woman hugged He Zhong's shoulders tightly. Her breath smelled like orchids, and her body's fragrance became even more alluring.
He Zhong's breathing quickened, and he glanced at the other disciples. He whispered, "Wait a little longer. Let me confirm it."
"Thank you, Eldest Senior Brother." The woman smiled and hugged He Zhong's shoulders even tighter. He Zhong's arms were completely buried in the waves in front of her.
Outside the centipede's body, powerhouses appeared one after another, all of them vainly trying to enter to search for opportunities. However, they were all stopped by Northgate Taisui. An old freak with a power level in the hundreds of thousands had appeared, and some of the Hunters who thought that they were very strong had their worldviews turned upside down. They sullenly propped up the centipede's body and anxiously stared at the structures within.
Spacecraft after spacecraft charged into the centipede's body, as if there was a huge treasure trove inside.
No one knew whether or not there was anything good inside the centipede's body, but at this moment, Lu Yin and the others were in a very bad mood. Just a moment ago, an Explorer had mysteriously died high up in the sky, right in front of everyone's eyes. He had fallen straight to the ground, and his death was exactly the same as the others who had been scared to death.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then their hairs stood on end. No one knew how that person had died, and this scene was too shocking.
Lu Yin immediately took out the Giant Emperor's third eye and activated his domain. He activated the Sirius Art and stared at his surroundings. He suspected that this was an invisible attack, just like the layer of danger that covered the surface of a sourcebox. Perhaps there was a sourcebox inside the centipede's body, or perhaps the centipede itself was a sourcebox. Everyone was filled with danger.
"Seventh Bro, it's too scary. Let's go." The monkey was apprehensive, as he was also afraid.
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed as he looked around.
The others began to form groups and walk together as if they were familiar with each other. They also looked around nervously.
No one spoke, and it was as if there was an invisible blade hanging over everyone's heads.
At this moment, a miserable howl woke everyone up, and they all looked into the distance. They saw a white wave sweeping towards them. Lu Yin's expression changed, and a chill ran down his spine. This was not a white wave; it was clearly an endless wave of white parasites that were wriggling towards the group.
Everyone hurriedly retreated, and countless attacks landed on the wave of parasites. However, only a small portion of the attacks were effective, and most of the attacks were negated.
These parasites had astonishing defenses.
"Only Explorers' attacks are effective. Everyone else, retreat immediately!" someone shouted.
Many of the cultivators who had yet to become Explorers paled, and they all retreated.
Lu Yin probed with his Skybeast Claw and tore apart a parasite. He was shocked to find that this parasite had no internal organs, and it was just a disgusting, milky white mass of fat.
"Seventh Bro, let's retreat! There's too many of them! Look at the sky!" the monkey shouted.
Lu Yin looked up and saw that many powerhouses were attacking the wave of parasites in the sky, but many of them jumped down and crashed into them. Some fell into the wave of parasites and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The area in front of them was filled with white parasites that turned the ground white.
Lu Yin continuously retreated. He could kill the parasites, but there were too many of them. Increasing his attack range meant that his attack power would decrease, and it would also consume more energy. He was not so selfless as to help others.
Many spatial cracks appeared in the void, and many people tried to push the parasites into them. Even so, the endless wave of parasites continued to exist, and it did not seem to have decreased in number.
Someone shouted, and several Explorers joined forces to tear open a giant spatial crack that descended into the wave of parasites. Many of the parasites were immediately sucked into the spatial crack and disappeared.
When the crowd saw that this method was effective, they immediately followed suit, and the number of parasites visibly decreased.
The situation seemed to be improving, but the monkey's next words pushed Lu Yin's mood to rock bottom. "How many parasites are there in a creature's body?
Hundreds of millions, and it's impossible to count them all. To a centipede, these parasites are just parasites. Seventh Bro, how many do you think there are? "
Lu Yin's scalp went numb as he imagined hundreds of millions of parasites swarming towards him. No matter how many spatial cracks there were, they would not be able to devour all of them.
The most he had seen so far were a few hundred thousand parasites, and if that number increased by a hundred times, he would lose all desire to fight.
The most worrisome thing was that with so many parasites appearing, the buildings would be affected and destroyed. Even if there was anything left inside, it would be destroyed by the parasites.
Many people already had thoughts of leaving.
Lu Yin retreated again and again while attacking from time to time. Although his attacks were not many, they were effective, and they were much stronger than those of the Explorers. Every time he attacked, he was able to eliminate a portion of the parasites.
Suddenly, a phantom appeared in the distance and pierced through the void. It streaked across the sky, and an Explorer fell straight into the wave of parasites.
Lu Yin's pupils shrank when he saw that it was a pike. A phantom pike had pierced through the Explorer and killed him. So that was how it was. Those people who had been scared to death had all been killed by the pike's attack.
The pike was a phantom, and ordinary people could not see it. Lu Yin relied on his Sirius Art, his domain, and his lockbreaking tool to just barely see it.
Although the phantom pike's killing was horrifying, Lu Yin relaxed. At the very least, he knew what had caused those people's deaths. Humans were naturally afraid of the unknown, and if he could not find the cause of their deaths, he would not have dared to enter.
But where had the phantom pike come from?
A new problem had arisen, and there was definitely no one alive inside. Could it be these parasites?
Lu Yin retreated as he stared into the distance. Not long after, another phantom pike appeared and streaked across the sky before disappearing.
Lu Yin's eyes flashed. This time, the phantom pike did not attack anyone. Could it be that the direction was random?
In order to prove his conjecture, Lu Yin increased the intensity of his attacks and coordinated with many other powerhouses to tear open spatial tears. The wave of parasites decreased at a visible rate, and they were no longer as overwhelming as they had been at the start.
Everyone was barely able to stop the wave from advancing.
Another phantom pike shot out, but this time, it brushed past an Explorer's shoulder. That Explorer did not sense anything and continued to attack the wave of parasites.
After that, another pike shot out from time to time in different directions, but only one of them was aimed at a person. Fortunately, Lu Yin had secretly pushed away the person who was about to be hit, or else there would have been another strange corpse on the ground.
He was now certain that these phantom pikes were not attacking anyone, but rather were shooting out randomly. Where was the source?
These were all phantom pikes. Could it be that there was an exceptional pike among them?
When he thought of this, Lu Yin's heart grew fervent, and he hoped to obtain it.
Some people stayed behind to resist the wave of parasites, wanting to explore further, while others left.
The mercenary group that Lu Yin had encountered earlier was one of them.
"Captain, you're still the wisest one. There are so many parasites that we can't kill them all, and who knows how many more are inside? We made the right choice in retreating," someone flattered.
Someone else immediately agreed.