The Ancient Gods' Whisper

Gu Jianlin heard this and his voice deepened slightly: "Go on."

Unexpectedly, the Joker, who had lost self-awareness, began trembling in terror at that moment.

In fact, throughout Gu Jianlin's earlier life, he had always believed the soul was merely a product of imagination. It wasn't until he became an Ascender that he confirmed its existence—it was like the aggregation of the psyche, the manifestation of consciousness.

As the individual life advanced, the soul would also grow increasingly powerful.

At this moment, the Joker's overwhelming fear clearly demonstrated that the past incident had left an immense psychological shadow on him. Such terror had been etched deep into his soul, remaining unforgettable even after death.

His soul resembled a flickering candle flame, wavering on the verge of extinguishment.

"To scare someone with a psychological disorder into this state?"

Even Gu Jianlin felt slightly puzzled. He tried shaking the Soul Comforting Bell, producing a resonant, clear chime.

The Soul Comforting Bell had an exceptionally strong influence in controlling and soothing enslaved souls.

The Joker's soul gradually calmed down, radiating streams of thought.

"That was in the winter six months ago. One of the three giants of the Ether Association, known as the Supreme Rhein, ordered the initial exploration of the Qilin Immortal Palace. The reason stemmed from fishermen along the East Sea coast, who inadvertently hauled up relics from the super ancient era—a fragment of a shattered meteorite, inscribed with ancient texts, concealing secrets of eternal life."

"After assessment, the fragment was identified as belonging to the lost Ancient God Clan, the Qilin Clan. Contrary to Hua Country's traditional depictions, the so-called Qilin was not an auspicious beast but an exceedingly ferocious and terrifying creature. Its nature was cruel, and wherever it went, it claimed lives, wielding the power of the world's dark side, bringing calamity and misfortune."

"It was a symbol of destruction, its existence purposefully tied to plunder. In ancient times, legends claimed those who worshipped It were granted boundless life force and thus achieved true eternal life."

Gu Jianlin was startled. This ability sounded strangely similar to the Divine Path.

Or perhaps, an upgraded version of Divine!

No wonder Qilin had once urged him to choose the Divine Path; there might be a profound connection between the two.

After all, the so-called inheritance path was humanity's process of emulating the gods.

"Thus, the Association launched continuous surveillance of the East Sea territory. Over half a month, they observed a massive tomb concealed within another dimension. Due to the instability of space-time, fragments occasionally descended into the real world, leading to a dramatic increase in Ascenders in the region over the past few years."

"However, pinpointing the entrance to the Qilin Immortal Palace remained a challenge until we uncovered historical evidence of a battle between Qilin Venerable and Candle Dragon Venerable. We then conducted extensive underwater relic retrieval, at last discovering ancient texts left behind by Xu Fu during his eastern expedition, which fueled the hope of delving deeper into Qilin Immortal Palace."

"But just one week after the ancient relics surfaced, one of our frontline archaeologists suddenly fled, taking with him the ancient text, Xu Fu's Record. It was an extremely crucial document, possibly even a map of the Qilin Immortal Palace."

"Later, based on our investigation, the fleeing archaeologist had chosen the Alchemist path. Due to the uncontrollable side effects of the drugs he worked with, he had transformed into a Fallen, which led him to steal Xu Fu's Record in a desperate attempt to enter Qilin Immortal Palace seeking a cure."

Gu Jianlin suddenly understood. He had a good idea of who the defector carrying the text was.

Most likely, it was the old man who awoke him in the Ancient Tomb.

No wonder he was so desperate—besides being a Fallen, he was also a fugitive.

"Then Gu Ci'an arrived. He was a true elite, a Sixth Rank Heavenly Master, the pinnacle of Superdimensional Level. Beyond his rank, he was a top-tier Super Ancient Scholar, possessing extensive knowledge of the Ancient God Clan and excelling at profiling."

"He had participated in the second exploration of Tutankhamun's Tomb, the excavation of Atlantis ruins, investigated the spacetime fissures at Kunlun Hell Gate, and even encountered the fragmented legend of Buzhou Mountain. He had firsthand experience battling ancestor-level Ancient Gods."

"With Gu Ci'an joining the project team, he swiftly pieced together the corresponding truths based on fragmented historical materials. In the original plan, the Qilin Immortal Palace wasn't overly dangerous because the legendary Qilin Venerable was sealed in the tomb chamber, lacking interference from external factors. There was almost no possibility of resurrection."

"Although Its spiritual domain left behind after death continued to erode the spacetime in the area, the maximum effect was merely causing the relic, sleeping in another world, to occasionally manifest in our dimension."

"We quickly organized the dive exploration, which proceeded very smoothly. We uncovered a wealth of precious extraordinary resources as well as countless invaluable documents. Furthermore, we confirmed that the Qilin Immortal Palace consisted of three layers: one at the seabed, one at sea level, and the tomb chamber where Qilin Venerable rested—above the clouds!"

Gu Jianlin listened silently, realizing his father truly was a super elite.

So far, the Qilin Immortal Palace excavation project seemed to be progressing well without any major issues.

But he had a faint feeling this was merely the ominous calm before the storm.

"We returned to shore with those invaluable resources, a dive team of sixteen—all top-tier elites—without a single casualty. It was an enormous success."