Chapter 390: The apocalypse behind the door!

Elder Lin recalled the first time he tried to open the iron door, and it took him 24 days in total in order to decipher the runic formation to finally unravel its lock!

However, since he was now familiar with it, at most, it would just take him a few hours to open it again.

But what has his empty eye sockets just witnessed? The lock was opened in an instant by the other party stomping his right foot on it!

Holy-Molly!

Was his interpretation on the lock actually wrong all these time and he opened them using the most difficult way?

But who the heck would let an important iron door this huge, to keep away people from entering, be opened by stomping one's foot on the lock?

That's just ridiculous!

Seeing that Elder Lin's jaw had dropped to the ground as if his lover had come back to life, Duan Li explained, "The key to unlock it is really by just stomping down your right foot on it... It's written there.." he said and pointed to the runic formation.

"Ah?" Elder Lin came over and observed the runic formation once more to scrutinize every detail, but even if he could grow his eyes back and add ten more eyes on his forehead like a spider, he still wouldn't be able to see any jacksh*t at all!

After all, Duan Li had only said that to hide the fact that his Tetra Soul Sense was the one that told him the method!

Otherwise, had it been anyone else that told him the key to unlock the door was actually like that, he wouldn't believe them even if his dong'er was slapped!

The person who made the lock sure is eccentric... Crude but effective..

Who could have guessed?

Clank! Clank!

The sound of mechanism of some sort doing its work echoed in the underground cave as the huge iron door slowly opened.

Boom!

Hissss!

When the door was finally opened wide, the crowd sucked in cold breath feeling nervous. They walked in slowly and prepared themselves for anything that might come their way.

Additionally, the path was dark, and a suffocating sensation seemed to be pressing on everyone's chest to the point that no one talked along the way.

After a short walk, they finally came to the end of the path which was a massive opening like a sinkhole straight to the underworld!

Looking around, they squinted their eyes to try and see the edges as well as the extent of depth of this pit, but it was futile as it was way too dark!

This was despite everyone's sharp eyes as cultivators, and they were still unable to see anything at all which made them even more nervous!

Just how deep is this pit?

"So its really..." Duan Li suddenly said after looking down the hole, his voice grim. Different than everyone else, his Tetra Soul Sense has many uses, and among them was that he could see in the darkness as if it was outside in the sun!

"Eh? You saw something brother? I can't see anything down there.." Wang Dong said as he scratched his head.

Not even a fire torch could let me see what is down there..

Elder Cheng Chao was also surprised. Despite being a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, she was still not able to see what was inside the pit even after using her soul sense, but the other party was able to!

The Jiu Imperial Overseer is truly something else! What a terrifying man!

This also strengthened Elder Lin's positive view on Duan Li. After all, being a Lich, his eyesight sense works differently than the living, and darkness was of no issue to him so he could already see everything.

Huu!

In an instant, Duan Li turned into several after images and executed some light punches which exploded into several bright goublets of fire, lifting the previous darkness to become as bright as day!

Everyone could finally see.

And they were not prepared!

"What... What in the world is that?!" Princess Meixiu and her expedition party gasped at what they saw, and some even fell on their bottom in shock!

It was unlike anything they had ever witnessed nor imagined!

A colossal monster crab with at least 2000 meters in height and width of about 5000 meters..

Now, they know why they can't see the bottom of the pit..

It was because the pit was extremely deep due to the size of the monster in it!

Furthermore, even if one could see it, how would they be able to make anything out of it without being able to witness the entire body?

From where they stood, the monster looked nothing more than a mountain peak!

"Million years old Hermit King, Crastesauros!" Duan Li said, his fists clenched tight.

Elder Lin was surprised to hear that Duan Li know of the name of the monster. This was because even he himself did not know despite the vast amount of knowledge he had accumulated throughout the years!

"I see.. so that is its name.." He nodded.

To think that it was far older than him by such a huge margin!

"Your Excellency, as an undead Elder Lich, I could tell if something is alive, but for some unknown reason, this monster is neither alive nor dead!" Elder Lin continued.

"I tried using my power to bring it to life when I first saw it because I thought it was dead, but it was as if trying to reanimate a stone! My powers didn't even seem to have any sorts of influence on it at all!" He explained.

It would be a different story if he could not do it because he wasn't strong enough, but there was just no reaction to the monster when he tried reanimating it!

This was why he said the monster was like a stone. After all, how could one reanimate a stone when it was not dead in the first place? It's an inanimate object!

However, clearly the thing was not an inanimate mountain, but a true abomination!

Thus, why did he not sense any reaction at all?

"You tried to reanimate it?" Duan Li turned to look at Elder Lin, his voice frosty.

Even though the other party was wearing a mask, Elder Lin felt a cold stare behind it that was as freezing as the blizzard itself, cold enough to immediately shatter his spine!

"If you did succeed, you would've died by my hands." Duan Li said before turning his attention back to the monster down the pit.

"I.. I apologize.." Elder Lin felt a murderous intention leaked out from Duan Li for a second there, and he didn't know the reason why, but it was unlike anything he ever felt before!

It was as if the statement made by the Imperial Overseer in front of him was like the edict from the Heavens itself!

'If the Heavens are willing, thus the sun shall not shine. If the Heavens forbid, not even hell will sprout the tiniest of ember!'

Calming himself down, Duan Li thought for a moment about what the Lich had told him before he was able to make sense of the situation.

Since the other party had already tried to reanimate it and failed, it could only mean one thing..

Its not yet the time!

He then explained, "If my conjecture is right, then this crab is alive but it is currently hibernating. Only when the time is right, preordained by fate will it rise from its slumber!"

"Fate?" Elder Cheng Chao and the rest that heard this was confused.

Hibernating is a term used for animals sleeping their way into the next season. This however, does not mean that they will continue to hibernate if disturbed in one way or another!

But, Duan Li made it seem like that was the case for this monster!

"Let me demonstrate and see if I am right." Duan Li decided to give it a try.

Going into a stance, Duan Li's eyes glinted as his aura reached to its peak! He appeared like a blazing phoenix in the sky!

Nine Fists Shattering Meteor!

BOOMMMM!!

The resulting impact exploded blindingly like the sun, and sounded like an earthquake as well as producing strong gales that made the crowd cover their eyes while their clothes flapping along the wind furiously!

However, when compared to the scale of the giant monster, this explosion was but like the drop of water in a lake, producing slight ripples instead of a tsunami!

When the dust settled, they could see that the shell of the colossal crab was not even damaged the slightest!

Even Duan Li was surprised by this. Granted that he did not go full strength on his attack just now, but he had expected for the monster to be damaged a bit!

After all, that previous attack from him could decimate a small mountain with ease!

"So it cannot be harmed too.." he said to himself.

Calculating his current prowess, he should be around half as powerful as his future self right now as he cultivated all three of his dantian, and from this, his attack should be strong enough to graze the giant crab at least!

Was something protecting it?

"Unbelievable..." the crowd watched with a horrified expression.

Shen Murong, Wei Wang, Wei Shang and Fei Longwei were much better though as they've already witnessed Duan Li's memories. Only Wang Dong, as he only just recently joined them was shocked to his core by what he had just saw!

"I-If... If this thing wakes up.. then all life.. would be doomed!" Zhang Liao suddenly said, his face pale. Lu Bu was also the same.

"That's the purpose of their existence... to bring the ends of time, and there are nine of them altogether!" Duan Li replied.

"N-Nine...!" their expression became even more awful upon hearing this.

This was especially so for Elder Lin.

"Y-Your Excellency, please wait for a moment! If that is truly the case, the One Emperor would have long destroyed it himself!"

Frowning, Duan Li asked, "The One Emperor? Who is that?"

...