Soft and steady footsteps drifted out as alone figure walked up the massive staircase leading to the temple. She stopped at the top of the stairs and took in the view before her, which was awe-inspiring even for someone as cold hearted as her.
"So, this is where everyone is hiding?" She muttered softly.
Twin dragon statues, a mile tall and incredibly lifelike in detail guarded each side of the front entrance. It was truly as if they would spring to life at any moment. Massive pillars dozens of yards wide lined the outside of the temple, supporting the overarching roof that hung high above. Despite the passage of time, not a single mark of damage or spot of dirt could be seen on the temple, as if it stood removed from time itself.
Beyond the archway ahead was hazy, as if a soft mist filled the entrance. The girls gaze shifted from the awe-inspiring temple and statues to the ground between her and the temple entrance.
The marble-like floor of the temple base was pristine as well, but was currently marred by puddles of dried blood. Hundreds of human corpses lates strewn about the temple floor, most of them mutilated beyond recognition.
Many had limbs torn off and chunks bit out of their bodies, as if a ravenous pack of beasts had killed and feasted on the corpses.
"Fucking Monster Race," Amber Bloodrose clicked her tongue in displeasure as she identified who had caused such a scene. "They feast on their victims yet waste so much of their blood. Blood that would be more than useful for cultivation. They truly are moronic savages," she chastised, her words indicating that she was not displeased with the carnage before her, but the wasted blood that had already dried and become useless.
As a Forbidden pathway cultivator, cultivator blood, both normal and essence was useful in improving her cultivation or some other aspect of her power. The sight of so much dried blood before her made her lament such waste.
Her gaze continued to linger on the corpses as she inspected them. There were a few corpses that belonged to powerful youths of the Honorable Alliance, four in total.
"For such powerful Honorable Alliance members to have died, that Vargul must have already entered. It seems I took too much time getting here. I suppose I'll speed up a bit, or else there will be nothing left for me before long," she mused as she shot forward and entered the misty temple entrance.
The mist offered no resistance at all as Amber sped through it, although it did slick her skin with a refreshing dew. She quickly sped through the entrance and appeared on the other side of the mist, stopping in her tracks as she took in the sight before her.
A sprawling world came into view, much larger than what she thought she would run into. She seemed to have arrived at the top of a tall cliff, giving her a clear view of the land down below.
The temple was about one hundred miles wide and twenty miles deep, and yet the world before her was much larger than that. Clearly the interior of the temple was some kind of spatial realm that expanded space to be larger than the temple's interior dimensions.
The world before her appeared to be several hundred miles wide and deep. The temple roof above was not visible, and instead it appeared as though the natural sky rested high above. Clouds drifted in the sky, and the sun shone down on land before her, illuminating it with a warm, golden glow. At the very edges of the land were the temple walls, which were visible unlike the roof above, and lined the entire land before her. The walls stretched up into the sky at which point they gradually vanished, as if becoming the sky itself.
Her gaze shifted from the sky above to the land before her again, taking in the extreme scenery. Vertical cliffs miles high popped up at random locations, while sprawling chasms so deep that only darkness could be seen meandered next to them. Lush forests and flowered plains sprung up in various locations, as well as barren deserts and icy snowfields. It was incredibly odd to see so many different ecosystems existing next to each other, which was clearly accomplished through unnatural means.
Within all these different ecosystems were man-made structures. Temples, pagodas, monoliths, staircases descending into the depths beneath the earth, and other various structures were visible as well, making the view before her all the more unique.
However, Amber's gaze lingered on these things only briefly, and instead focused on something at the very opposite end of the land before her. The opposite end was hundreds of miles away, and resting there was a singular thing that made all the other objects within seem trivial.
A massive dragon corpse rested at the end of the temple realm, dozens of miles long. All that remained of the corpse was its bones, but even then it still contained a regal presence, as if any living creature was not worthy of appearing before its dead body.
A powerful aura emanated from the ancient dragon corpse despite the passage of time, a testament to its once formidable might when it was alive.
"A pure-blooded dragon!" Amber exclaimed, shocked to see something like this. The dragons of the world were not pure-blooded anymore, and as a result were much smaller than the dragons of ancient legend. However, the dragon corpse before her was massive beyond compare, and clearly belonged to a pure-blooded dragon, who were said to be some of the most powerful creatures in existence.
When it came to physical body might, no other beast could compare, making dragons the king of physical might. It was said that a single swipe from a pure-blooded dragon could destroy a world. Amber had obviously dismissed such a thing as an exaggerated myth, but the corpse before her made her reconsider the ancient myths.
After inspecting the corpse for some time from the vast distance she stood from it, a desire to obtain the ancient dragon corpse washed through her. If she could obtain even just a part of it, it could be sold for incalculable wealth.
Amber's Qi flared as she took flight, but her body was quickly pressed down to the earth. A frown appeared on her face as she realized there was a flight restriction in the temple realm, which would force her to proceed on foot going forward. She quickly identified the source of the flight restricting power, which was the dragon's aura. It was as if even in death, the dragon was too proud to allow others to fly in its presence.
"Tch, how annoying," she grumbled as she realized her journey would have to be on foot.
Her gaze shifted back towards the land below her, and a distant explosion suddenly came into view, followed by several more explosions. A battle between Honorable Alliance youths and some Forbidden Alliance youths seemed to be raging on.
Amber's eyes locked onto the battlefield like that of a hawk while she licked her lips as if savoring a tasty meal. Her footsteps continued once again as she slowly made her way towards the battlefield, her bloodthirsty smile growing larger by the second.
