Chapter 992: Bronze Citadel
“Pop!” Li Qiye, who had sunk into the bronze ocean, finally reached the bottom. The moment he made contact, it gave off a unique sense of mind — free from anxiety.
Looking up, one would see a flashing brilliance of a bronze shade on the far horizon. It seemed that the vast bronze ocean was over there.
Looking all around would result in finding a certain citadel. It was gigantic and enough to house millions of people.
Pavilions were packed together with floating temples. The roads were wide and capable of holding ten carriages side to side.
But on a careful look, one would find that many of the buildings inside this city had collapsed. This was not due to the erosion of time but an external force. It appeared that something had happened here; perhaps a war or a natural disaster…
What was even more shocking was that the entire citadel was built with divine bronze.
All the close buildings, wide roads, and majestic walls were made from bronze without exception. This was a world of bronze. It seemed that there was nothing here outside of bronze, not even a pebble!
This bronze citadel was very quiet, giving off a melancholic atmosphere. This sensation was accentuated from the passing of time within these buried bronze structures.
If an outsider could see this now, they would be jolted from astonishment. This was because the city looked exactly the same as the strange images that appeared above the Godwar Mountain a few days ago.
The only difference was that the city ahead was completely quiet. There were no busy pedestrians or the prosperity accompanied by the hustle and bustle of the main streets. All the bronze inhabitants inside the strange images could not be found here.
Li Qiye slowly walked inside this vast citadel. This was not his first time here, so he knew all the ins and outs.
Outside of Li Qiye, there was no other living creature here, making it seem like a city of the dead.
This place was full of mysteries. No one knew where it came from or what it was. The creator of this bronze city was unknown as well…
“An incredible piece of work. Even gods and emperors wouldn’t be able to create this masterpiece!” Li Qiye said with feelings while walking along the silent paths.
In this world, it would be difficult to find someone who knew about the existence of this city. However, in the distant past, many Immortal Emperors had searched for this city, especially during the Ancient Ming Era. Numerous Ancient Ming emperors tried to trace back to this city and had spent tremendous efforts.
This was because of the secret hidden in this city, a secret everyone wanted to know. Even Li Qiye, as the Dark Crow, thirsted for this ultimate secret.
Eventually, he made it to the highest point. There was a bronze palace in this place — grand and towering.
It seemed to be the dwelling of gods or the rulers of this location!
A sacred air permeated this palace. Although millions of years had passed and many parts in this palace had become tarnished with rust, it still gave off a holy and untouchable air!
“Clankkk—” Li Qiye slowly pushed the heavy bronze gate open to enter.
It was enormous and had many supporting pillars. Each of them had a different engraving that included flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, a war between deities, and a scene of millions of worshipers…
There was no divine throne at the end of the palace as one would come to expect. There was only a big bronze tablet. It had stood strong for countless years. The vicissitudes of time couldn’t affect it at all.
Li Qiye walked up to this tablet. It emitted a faint bronze shimmer, but this light was not what attracted his attention. All of his focus was on the text carved on the tablet.
There were more than ten thousand words. Each word seemed to have their own sentience and was floating on the tablet like swimming fish.
The words were ancient to the point that no one could recognize which era they belonged to.
“Finally coming back to life.” Li Qiye murmured while staring at these ancient words: “This day is long overdue. How many people and emperors had been waiting for such a day?”
The words continued to move without any pattern. Their chaotic nature would leave readers completely confused.
Li Qiye gently rubbed it and smiled: “The legendary bronze runes… how many in this world know of your existence? Not to mention the nine worlds, perhaps there are only a few in that place that can recognize you, let alone being able to read with mastery!”
These archaic words dated back to before the Desolate Era. It was prevalent during the mythical Legendary Era! Not to mention the current nine worlds, few people could read this text even back in the ancient times.
Coincidentally, Li Qiye was one of the people who knew this language. He had spent many years with great effort to learn these words. He traveled to many places along his journey of learning — the blue sky above and the underworld below!
“Omm—” Space suddenly trembled. As Li Qiye moved the words, the tablet exuded an even more dazzling bronze light.
At the same time, the others words became more lively just like carps in a pond that were being fed. Eventually, he finished arranging all of these words into a complete inscription. This caused the palace to light up and emit waves of sad hymns.
The sad hymns would make listeners drown in grief. It painted the image that long ago, a supreme existence had fallen. His billions of citizens were attending his funeral.
This funeral music would put one’s heart at ease and seemed to be retelling the majestic feats of this supreme existence.
“Om—” The firm tablet turned into a bronze door. It was simple without any decorations, but this did not take away from its stately appearance. Others couldn’t help but look at it with reverence.
“Clank—” Li Qiye opened the door and entered without any hesitation.
A boundless starry sky appeared before him. He could only see the vast space above that contained rivers of stars. It was a beautiful celestial scene in the middle of the night.
However, what stupefied others was that there was a gigantic bronze statue lying among the stars! Anyone would be shocked to see this bronze man.
It was difficult to describe its enormous size with mere words! If this statue was lying down on the southern Barren Earth, then it would occupy more than half of the land!
It quietly lied in this space with its eyes closed as if it had fallen into an eternal slumber. Or perhaps it could have been buried here after death.
No one knew how it was created or if it was once a bronze man with life.
“Endless life yet it still disappeared within the river of time.” Li Qiye murmured while looking at the statue among the stars.
After analyzing the statue, he finally climbed on top of it. He found himself to be walking on top of a vast land of bronze. It was hard to discern this place visually since the bronze shimmer was quite distracting. People would find themselves to be insignificant while traveling on this vast land.
The statue had both of his hands placed on his stomach. It was a very peaceful sleeping pose.
After walking for a very long time, Li Qiye finally reached the stomach, or where the two hands were together. At this place, he found that the hands were holding a bronze box.
The chest was already quite large, but compared to the bronze statue embracing it, it appeared to be incredibly tiny, like a speck of dust!
This bronze box was playing music. One could even feel that it was jumping around, as if it was not a box but a living being.
“Tens of millions of years of waiting, the time is finally right.” Li Qiye felt the rhythm of the box and smiled.
This box was the item coveted by the Ancient Ming and their emperors. However, because time was not on their side, they couldn’t retrieve it successfully, not even the peerless Immortal Emperor Tian Tu! 1
1. I wonder if Tian Tu is comparable to Hong Tian or Jiao Heng.