Entering the water, Chen Nan used Gang Qi to protect himself, forming a water shield around him.

As for the lazy Black Feathered Chicken, it transformed into the size of a chick and landed on Chen Nan's shoulder, both conserving energy and maintaining alertness.

The water in the middle of the river was about ten meters deep, and after Chen Nan landed at the bottom, he discovered seven or eight corpses there, broken in half. They looked like they had just died recently, likely the people who had come down earlier.

The water at the bottom of the river was extremely clear, and one could see dozens of meters away at a glance.

"These people should be the first few who came down," Hua Xian'er said.

Chen Nan pointed ahead and said, "Let's go. Try not to stray too far from those Earth Penetration experts; it'll be safer that way."

The two continued forward.

Zhao Han and the two purple-clad women were just a few meters ahead of them.

Five young masters of the generation were almost walking side by side.

After moving forward for dozens of meters, Chen Nan saw a crack about two meters wide at the bottom of the river. The crack extended for dozens of meters below, winding with curves similar to the water dragon they saw form in the air before.

After observing the surroundings for a while, the five of them jumped into the crack together.

They sank about ten meters down, and Chen Nan's feet touched the ground again. What lay before him was a long stone staircase leading deeper underground. Chen Nan quickly counted the steps—ninety-nine in total.

"There must be some ancient relics down here," Black Feathered Chicken said.

The group continued to descend the stairs; when there were only about ten steps left to the bottom, Chen Nan saw an underground world.

Due to the crack, this area was also flooded with water.

At the end of the staircase was the entrance to a gigantic tomb, surrounded by various stone carvings.

The cultivators who had come down earlier, regardless of their cultivation levels, were all gathered at the entrance of the ancient tomb. Most of them were attacking the tomb door, evidently unable to enter the burial chamber.

In front of the tomb door was a gigantic stone-carved Eight Trigrams diagram.

Although it looked ordinary, it faintly exuded a mysterious aura.

"It's actually an ancient tomb."

Black Feathered Chicken warned, "This isn't an ordinary tomb."

Chen Nan frowned, "What did you see?"

"A Killing Aura!"

Black Feathered Chicken warily stared at the tomb entrance; no matter how much it was asked afterward, it refused to speak.

Looking at the people constantly attacking the tomb door, a middle-aged man in blue clothes said, "Stop wasting your effort. This tomb door is impenetrable; not even all of us combined can break it."

This man was the expert with one foot in the Heavenly Passage Realm, the Quasi-Heavenly Master referred to by Black Feathered Chicken.

"Master, what should we do then?" a cultivator asked.

The man in blue was silent for a moment before saying, "There must be a mechanism to open the door nearby; everyone, start looking."

"Master, do you know whose tomb this is?"

"I'm not sure, but it must be a peerless expert," the man replied.

Hearing this, even Chen Nan raised an eyebrow. To be called a peerless expert by a Quasi-Heavenly Master, this ancient tomb must be extraordinary.

Chen Nan glanced at Black Feathered Chicken and used spiritual power to transmit his voice, "Do you know who the tomb owner is?"

"Didn't that kid just say, a peerless expert," Black Feathered Chicken transmitted back with spiritual power.

Chen Nan was speechless and didn't bother asking further.

Clearly, Black Feathered Chicken didn't know either.

The dozens of people present searched around the tomb entrance for quite a while, but nobody found the mechanism.

At this point, someone pointed to the Eight Trigrams diagram at the tomb entrance and exclaimed, "Everyone, come look, this stone-carved Eight Trigrams can be rotated."

As they spoke, this person began pushing the Eight Trigrams stone carving.

Upon hearing this, a group of people rushed over, but in that moment, a terrifying Xuanhuang Qi gushed out from the Eight Trigrams diagram, instantly shredding over twenty people to pieces, turning them into a rain of blood with no remains left.

Among the twenty-plus cultivators was even an expert of Earth Penetrating Eighth Layer Heaven.

Such a strong force was annihilated in an instant, not even leaving behind any remains, showing how formidable the Xuanhuang Qi emanating from the Eight Trigrams diagram was.

Everyone retreated more than ten meters back, eyeing the Eight Trigrams diagram with vigilance.

The Eight Trigrams diagram slowly rotated back to its previous position, revealing the ancient characters of Qian, Zhen, Kan, Gen, Kun, Xun, Li, Dui on the eight trigram symbols—only by matching the Eight Trigrams positions could one even guess them; otherwise, no one would recognize these ancient scripts.

These characters appeared and disappeared in a flash.

The next moment, the Eight Trigrams diagram returned to its original place, and everything settled back to complete silence, as if nothing had happened. Only the blood soaked ground evidenced what had just transpired.

"This is a formation," Black Feathered Chicken transmitted mentally.

Chen Nan looked at it, "Aren't you very knowledgeable about formations? Do you know how to get inside?"

"Not sure."

Even Black Feathered Chicken was uncertain.

At this moment, the Quasi-Heavenly Master and the surrounding four high-level Earth Penetration experts began discussing plans to break the formation.

However, a moment later, the experts all shook their heads, helpless and without a solution.

"Buzz…"

The space trembled; five major experts joined forces.

Unfortunately, they didn't break the formation but instead set up a barrier, a light shield spanning dozens of meters, trapping everyone within it.

Someone immediately cried out, "What do you mean by this?"

All five masters had stern expressions; the Quasi-Heavenly Cultivation-level man in blue pointed at the people at the forefront and said, "This Eight Trigrams is a formation. You four go and break it."

Clearly, they dared not attempt to break the formation themselves, using their high cultivation to force others to serve as guinea pigs.

"Master, this…"

The people at the forefront knew well that touching the Eight Trigrams diagram was a gamble with death.

Before they could say more, the blue-clad man waved his hand, a violent Inner Strength crushed one of them into a pulp, his voice cold as he spoke, "Go now, or if anyone hesitates, they'll be slaughtered without mercy."

Everyone gasped. These five were too overbearing, relying on their overwhelming power.

"Spare us, Master. I really don't know formations, I beg you…"

Another person begged for mercy, but he hadn't finished when a light blade from the man in blue severed his head, his lifeless body falling to the ground.

Such ruthless methods!

The remaining two didn't dare hesitate, fearfully approaching the Eight Trigrams diagram but didn't dare act.

"Hurry up, or you'll be killed without mercy!" the blue-clad man shouted.

The two were already drenched in cold sweat, trembling as they placed their hands on the stone-carved Eight Trigrams, rotating it counterclockwise purely gambling with their lives.

If lucky, they would activate the tomb door.

If unlucky, they would be smashed to pieces, leaving no remains!

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