“Skin of a God-Ancient!” Wang Lin muttered, his face darkening as his gaze fixed upon the hide armor clinging to the skeletal remains.

An inexplicable sorrow washed over him at the sight of the leathery garment.

He studied it closely. It was indeed a cuirass fashioned by Yi Xiu from the skin of a God-Ancient. Though its star-rank remained unknown, the sight of it stirred memories of his own esteemed self.

“Does Brother Xu recognize this relic?” Li Yuan inquired, his voice hushed.

Wang Lin shook his head, replying in an even tone, “I know it not, but it bears a resemblance to an item once owned by one I knew.”

Li Yuan pressed no further. His gaze shifted towards the gnarled tree beside the bones, his eyes gleaming with arcane calculations. After a moment, he performed a series of hand seals and, with a precise gesture, unleashed an enchantment. Eighteen plum blossoms of shimmering light materialized and flew towards the tree.

As each landed, the space around the tree rippled and distorted, sending countless waves through the air. Even the skeleton beneath the boughs seemed to bend and twist in concert with the ethereal tides.

Finally, a sound like shattering glass echoed through the air. In an instant, everything before them dissolved.

The tree vanished, the bones disappeared. In their place, a teleportation array radiating a soft, ethereal glow appeared before Wang Lin and Li Yuan.

“This is the third technique of the Eight Purities of Immortal Binding, centered upon illusion. The bones we saw were not truly present,” Li Yuan explained, his voice somber as he regarded the array.

“Bones used as bait to lure the unwary to their doom, slain by the shifting enchantments… I wonder how many have perished here over the years,” Wang Lin mused, nodding. He, too, had discerned the truth; such bones could not have remained intact for so long otherwise.

“A killing enchantment… It seems that hide armor must be a most enticing immortal treasure!” A chilling glint shone in Li Yuan’s eyes.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then said slowly, “I wonder, was this enchantment truly left by an immortal, or is it merely a trap laid by someone after, for nefarious purposes?”

Li Yuan mirrored Wang Lin’s contemplative mood. He had considered the same question. Now, he responded, “Regardless, I can say with certainty that this binding has never been broken before. I observed it for some time and found no trace of previous disruption or reassembly. Furthermore, the enchantment is ancient, aligning somewhat with the timeline.”

“Perhaps the enchantment has changed over the eons, causing some of its inner light to bleed outwards, revealing glimpses of what lies within at the ‘eyes’ of the binding,” Wang Lin offered, his gaze piercing.

Li Yuan pondered the idea, then nodded. “There is some truth to your words, Brother Xu. However, we cannot rule out that someone deliberately set this trap to kill and steal.”

Wang Lin and Li Yuan, both shrewd and keenly intelligent, explored the mystery together, soon arriving at conclusions closely resembling the truth.

Just then, the teleportation array, recently revealed, faltered. As if long deprived of light, its sudden exposure to the outside world, to the stray energies and immortal essence, caused it to buckle.

Along the array’s edges, countless tiny vortexes spun, harbingers of collapse. Phantasms escaped from these swirls: fragmented images of ancient architecture and decaying corpses.

Wang Lin and Li Yuan noticed this at almost the same instant, their eyes narrowing.

“It seems your deduction was correct, Brother Xu! Shall we venture inside and see what awaits us?” Li Yuan proposed.

Wang Lin was about to reply when a powerful divine sense erupted in the distance, spreading with brutal force. This divine sense was so potent that it seemed to contain entire divine arts within it.

As it swept outwards, the storm clouds in the sky parted as if in fear, allowing it to traverse the fragmented continent unimpeded.

Li Yuan’s face paled. As the divine sense washed over him, he struggled to breathe; the palpable pressure bore down upon him like a mountain.

His immortal power surged uncontrollably, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The divine sense, which had initially merely scanned the area, recoiled and locked its attention upon them.

Wang Lin gasped, the divine sense stirring a strange familiarity within him. Without hesitation, he moved with sudden speed, heading towards the teleportation array.

Li Yuan, pale and shaken, followed closely behind.

They were already near the array. Closing the remaining distance with tremendous speed, they were on the verge of reaching it when the divine sense surged again, even more frantically. In an instant, the heavens within a hundred paces turned crimson.

Threads of red mist swirled into being, twisting into vengeful spectres that rushed towards Wang Lin with piercing shrieks.

“A restriction!” Wang Lin shouted, grabbing Li Yuan by the collar and charging towards the array.

Li Yuan, no less perceptive than Wang Lin, understood the meaning instantly. If they both cast spells, it would hinder their speed. In this critical moment, Wang Lin would focus on speed, while he would handle the offensive.

Letting Wang Lin pull him, Li Yuan unhesitatingly performed a series of hand seals. Numerous restrictions appeared in his hands; as soon as they materialized, each divided into eighteen identical copies. In the blink of an eye, a vast array of restrictive spells filled the air.

The enchantments held back the red mists and their spectral forms. Wang Lin, without looking back, grabbed Li Yuan and strode to the edge of the array, prepared to step inside.

At that moment, a cold snort echoed from the gathering divine sense, and a chilling voice reverberated.

“Blood Binding of Coagulation!”

As the words rang out, the area within a hundred paces seemed to be squeezed by the very heavens themselves, rapidly solidifying. It felt as if everything within that space was being forcibly crushed.

Wang Lin was only a step away from the array, but that step now felt as if it was burdened by a mountain. His descent slowed to a crawl.

Even his body seemed to be compressed by an unimaginable force, threatening to freeze him in place. Li Yuan suffered the same fate.

The power was immense, akin to celestial wrath. It felt like a colossal, invisible hand descending from the sky, scooping up the hundred-pace radius and constricting its fingers, seeking to utterly crush everything within.

Wang Lin’s face was ashen. Cold sweat streamed down his brow. He couldn’t even raise his hand to summon a treasure. In the distance, he dimly glimpsed a beam of red light rapidly approaching. Within that light, a crimson figure was swiftly materializing.

That figure exuded a boundless hatred, one that could span star systems. The killing intent within it was unimaginable…