Shi Lang was moving the drone closer and closer to the source, when he found many people sitting in a meditative stance but their eyes were open. He managed to confirm that they were only staring in the distance. He could not tell what they were doing. Suddenly, it clicked to him as he mumbled, "They are like the trees."


    The drone moved further and Shi Lang followed through the mapped route slowly, carefully checking for any disturbance. He set the AI installed in the battle suit to take control if he spends more than five minutes in one ce and guide him outside the effective range.


    After traveling for ten hours, Shi Lang found himself standing before a spot that scared the hell out of him. He spotted a few dozen men and women standing on their feet as they looked into the distance. He regained hisposure and stopped the drone from moving any further as he followed the trail.


    When he reached the spot where everyone was gathered he felt chills running down his spine. He could not tell what was happening, utterly clueless, that was the word that Shi Lang used to define himself. No matter how many times he tried to look for an exnation he could not find one.


    Every time he thought he hade up with something the feeling would go cold and the logic will delude him. He boosted all his sensors to the max level to find anything that could be marked as a source but for miles, he could spot nothing. He stood on the ground and patted his feet while thinking about the situation.


    He looked at the faces of the living mannequins around him and thought, "What are they looking at if it is not the source? Thews of time froze them in their ces. Since they are frozen, does that mean their souls are also frozen?"


    He rubbed his chin and suddenly came up with a really daunting idea. He moved closer to one of the people and locked his gaze with them. Shi Lang thought for a bit and re-issued themands to the AI, and took a deep breath as he said, "Lords, Amelia will kill me if I screwed this up."


    He channeled a shred of his soul energy toward the old man before him and tried to get inside his soul sea. However, it was not that easy, he met great resistance from the person, and a voice echoed in his mind, "Who the hell are you?"


    Shi Lang smiled, this was a good news. He replied, "I apologize if I disturbed your cultivation senior. However, I am looking for the secret realm that has no fixed location. Can you tell me where should I go?"


    He did not wish to reveal his real intentions to someone he did not know till a few seconds ago. The old man asked, "I will give you the answer if you can get me out of here."


    Shi Lang thought for a moment, and asked, "Sir, are you not cultivating? How can I get you out of here when I do not even know what is going on here?"


    The old man replied and said, "Well, what can I say, I came here like all the others in search of the fallen Phoenix. However, as we got closer to it, we were frozen in the spot."


    Shi Lang raised his brow and asked, "Frozen?"


    The old man did not let Shi Lang inside his spiritual sea, but he had woken up after the Terran tried to peek inside. This was another reason why Shi Lang did not trust the manpletely. He asked, "Senior, if I am to risk my life, I will need more information."


    The soul of the old man replied, "Fine, you see, this ce is where a phoenix used to live. It used to pick up a disciple every once in a while and teach them the Dao of Time. However, none of the human seeded in it. The Phoenix was not happy, so after a few centuries, she stopped.


    One of the human youngsters gained lot of power through his talent, and he was eager to try his luck. He came to find the Phoenix, but the beast disapproved of him. She saw deceit and arrogance in his heart. The young expert was using some spell to cover himself up.


    A great battle ensued between the two of them. The Phoenix killed the human but the injuries from the battle were so severe that it had no other choice but to reincarnate from the ashes. However, in the end moments, the holy beast decided to cast a spell. Since the human dared to trick her using the age reversal spell, the beast destroyed itself and sacrificed her Dao Laws to enchant the region.


    All those who came to seek her were trapped in the spell of time. We have been here for thousands of years and even lost the sense of time. If you had not connected with me, I would have stayed in this position till the end of the world."


    Shi Lang was shocked by the legend, then he asked, "Sir, you just mentioned that the holy beast sacrificed her Dao Laws in the end. How can I undo that spell? I am not where strong enough to bypass something like that."


    The old man said, "You can go to the source and there you can defeat the soul of the phoenix. It has been ages since the beast''s body ceased existing, it must have weakened and you can easily take it down."


    Shi Lang shook his head and said, "Even if it is a remnant, it is still the soul of a holy beast. Another thing of notice is that I do not know where the source is."


    The old man''s voice echoed in his mind, "The sourceys under the ground. In a cave, that was where the holy beast died and sacrificed the Dao Laws. You can find her there."


    Shi Lang took in a deep breath, this was a big win for him. The Terran took a breath and then he programmed his probes to check the ground. Since there was a hole that led under the surface it must be around here. While searching, the nano probes drilled through the ground with abined effort.


    They used a circr motion to drill through the ground quickly, and after a few hours they stopped and pinged Shi Lang. The snow wasyered and the difference went back to seven thousand years. Shi Lang sucked in a deep breath. Even if this was the world of cultivation, seven thousand years could be considered ancient.


    Now he became even warier of the old man who talked to him. He approached the spot where the drones were drilling and waited for half an hour before it was confirmed that under two hundred kilometer of ice, there was a cavern.


    Shi Lang took out Raksha from his space ring and the sword spirit materialized before him. She said, "You finally decided to bring me out after so many days."


    Shi Lang shrugged his shoulder and said, "I was afraid because of Allure''s presence. Also, did I not rely on you to y those two guys?"


    Raksha snorted and said, "What are we doing in this frozen graveyard?"


    Shi Lang smiled and said, "Under us is a ce where a Phoenix rests. I do not wish to disturb it but if I managed to learn the Dao Laws of Time, we will have less trouble for the war toe."


    Raksha nodded, and then she asked about how deep did the caverny. Shi Lang told her everything and thedy waved her hands into a triangle and cut the ice directly with lightning energy and evaporated the ice to nothing but steam.


    Shi Lang waited for the steam to clear up before he put Raksha back and jumped inside the hole with his arms crossed before his chest. The speed of his fall was super sonic. However, he did not try to slow down, because using spiritual arts to break his fall could look disrespectful to the Holy Beast.


    As he approached the end of the hole, he dug in the two daggers at an angel. The friction caused his speed to slow down and hended on the floor with a dull thud. Shi Lang did not need any source of illumination, night vision was enough for him to navigate through the tunnel.


    The size of this ce was massive, he seemed to be an ant in this massive tunnel. He gulped and just as he took a step forward, an ethereal voice echoed in his mind, "Who dares toe here and disturb me?"


    Shi Lang sensed a pressure like nothing before and quickly bent one of his knee and answered, "Senior, my name is Shi Lang, I havee to the north searching for a ruin."


    He raised his head and his soul shivered in fear. This was not ordinary fear but a primal fear that originated from the core of his being. Just when he was about to say something, the reason for that fear charged at him.