Chapter 143: The Ancient Battlefield

"The legendary Thunder City! Is it a dead city?"

Su Ye stepped through the gates of Thunder City, gazing at the sight before him with a sigh. Ever since he had first heard of Thunder City, he had imagined countless scenarios of what it might look like inside. But he never expected it to resemble a ghost town. If not for the rich, concentrated spiritual energy surrounding him, he would have truly believed this city was no different from any ordinary ancient ruin.

"This spiritual energy is coming from up ahead!"

Su Ye noticed that even a single breath of the surrounding air left him feeling invigorated, and the miraculous effects of this energy went far beyond simple refreshment. If he were to sit down immediately and begin absorbing it, combined with the practice of his "Three Thousand Yanhuang Tribulations," he would surely be able to break through his cultivation level step by step.

"No wonder this Thunder City could drive countless martial artists to madness. Such immense spiritual energy is enough to allow any martial artist outside to achieve breakthrough after breakthrough! This is an opportunity one might never encounter in a lifetime."

Su Ye pondered, but he knew he did not have the luxury of time to linger here for cultivation. He had to figure out the layout of the entire city before others arrived.

As he walked slowly forward, he came upon a moat. Bridges spanned the water at regular intervals, appearing solemn and majestic, exuding an ancient and austere atmosphere.

"I’ve seen this before!" Su Ye recognized it instantly. Back at the city gates, he had peered through ten thousand years of time and remembered seeing these very bridges forming. He also recalled seeing a vast army, clad in golden armor, charging across the bridges to clash with a second force.

His heart skipped a beat. Was the area ahead a battlefield?

He crossed the bridge in a stride and looked down into the water. It was still flowing, but the water itself had been permeated by the spiritual energy, becoming a sort of "spirit water." If a martial artist were to drink it, their cultivation would surely soar.

The city appeared dead on the surface, but up close, everything was tied to this incredible spiritual energy. This place was a true treasure trove!

"What is that beneath the water?" Su Ye frowned, noticing a faint, golden glow emanating from the depths. He couldn't tell if it was gold or some other artifact, but it was filled with an alluring charm. He didn't jump in to investigate; he didn't yet know what dangers might lurk beneath the surface.

Right now, he felt like someone who might "lose the watermelon while picking up sesame seeds"—there were simply too many things, and he couldn't take them all. Moreover, as a practitioner of the "Three Thousand Yanhuang Tribulations," he knew that everything before him was not an illusion, but reality.

"Huh? What is this?"

Just as he thought of his cultivation technique, it suddenly stirred, as if guiding him in a specific direction. He looked down the path and saw a rusted, furious blade stuck firmly in the ground.

Su Ye’s nerves tightened. He glanced around, finding no immediate danger. Upon closer inspection, he realized that a severed hand was still gripping the hilt. The hand had weathered away almost to ashes, though it was impossible to tell what had severed it.

"Whose blade was this? It must be a treasure."

As Su Ye approached, the air current from his movement blew against the hand, causing it to crumble into dust. The blade lost its support and clattered to the ground.

*Clink!*

A crisp sound rang out. Su Ye focused and saw that while the blade was heavily rusted and notched, there was a unique ring lying next to it. It must have been on the severed hand, falling only when the remains turned to ash.

"A thunder totem?"

Su Ye gently picked up the ring. Immediately, he felt a resonance within his body—the heavenly thunder within him pulsed twice. He felt no such connection when he gripped the blade. It seemed the ring was the true treasure.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the blade and tucked the ring into his storage conch before continuing forward.

He walked cautiously for some time, realizing that Thunder City was far too vast to explore every corner alone. From high above, his figure appeared minuscule, a lone explorer wandering through the glowing, mysterious city.

As he moved, he noticed that the spiritual energy on the ground had formed strange, flowing currents. The "Three Thousand Yanhuang Tribulations" in his sea of consciousness roared to life. The two lines of the technique, "The subtle essence of Yanhuang, the gate of the mysterious female," seemed to radiate a rosy light, drawing the surrounding spiritual energy into him with a wild, frenzied speed.

The rate of absorption was terrifying, twisting the energy into a vortex that poured into his body like a broken dam. Su Ye’s head buzzed. If any other martial artist were to witness this, they would be struck with utter shock; while others absorbed energy through careful, rhythmic breathing, Su Ye was sweeping it up like a storm. It was horrific.

Fortunately, this wasn't his first time experiencing such a phenomenon. He had managed to adapt to it back at the Taiping Villa on the Taiji platform. His body was filled to the brim with spiritual energy almost instantly. All fatigue and soreness vanished, replaced by an overwhelming sense of power. He knew that if he continued like this, reaching the fourth level of the Qi Gathering Realm would not be far off.

"The battlefield is ahead!"

After absorbing for a while, the mist of spiritual energy cleared, revealing a truly shocking sight: a massive, ancient battlefield frozen in time.

Densely packed soldiers were locked in place, as if dried by the wind. They looked like ceramic statues or terracotta warriors, only far more lifelike. Even the expressions of desperate resolve on their faces were clearly visible. They remained in the midst of their final charge—war banners, spears, horses, and ancient martial techniques all frozen in that single, eternal moment.

Su Ye felt like an outsider, holding his breath as he stared at the dense ranks of soldiers and the vast, ancient war. If this scene were to appear in the modern world, it would surely shake the entire globe.

It was simply too inconceivable!

"Why did they end up like this?"

Su Ye stood there for over half an hour, carefully observing each soldier before daring to step into the battlefield. As he entered, a chilling, ancient intent to kill washed over him, as if he were truly on the front lines, facing death at any moment.

As he walked, he noticed that the soldiers from both sides were all charging toward the same location—the center, and the source of all the spiritual energy. It appeared they had been fighting over something, and during that struggle, some bizarre force had turned them all to stone.

It would have been impossible to find his way in such a chaotic war zone, but Su Ye followed the density of the spiritual energy. Avoiding any contact with the soldiers, he finally reached the center.

In the middle of the ancient battlefield stood a withered tree, ten meters tall. Beside it were two stone statues wearing armor that stood out from the rest. They were clearly the commanders of the two armies. Both were frozen in a gaze, looking up at the tree.

Su Ye followed their gaze and saw a flower bud at the very top of the barren tree. It was shaped like a pair of hands held together, and arcs of lightning danced across it. The trunk itself also pulsed with faint, flickering electricity.

Su Ye gasped. He realized the trunk was hollow; streams of white lightning were rising from deep beneath the earth, traveling up through the center of the tree and feeding directly into the strange flower bud.

The bud was absorbing the lightning at every single moment.

Su Ye’s expression grew grave, his breathing labored. He muttered to himself:

"What on earth is this?"