Prehistoric: The female saint Shiji, brilliant and talented

However, the moment the essence blood touched the Chaos Stone, it was instantly absorbed, while the Chaos Stone remained unresponsive, neither emitting light nor any energy fluctuations.

"What can we do? If we can't use the Chaos Stone to activate the Immortal Iron Rod, the power of the Immortal Iron Rod alone is simply not enough to contend with this stone statue!"

Shi Ji was extremely depressed, her brows furrowed.

He looked at the Chaos Stone in his hand, then at the stone statue with its eyes closed in meditation not far away, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind: "Should I throw the Chaos Stone at that statue? Maybe that will activate the power of the Chaos Stone, or damage the statue?"

Shi Ji stroked her chin and said in a low voice, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes.

But as soon as the thought popped into his head, he quickly shook his head and rejected the impulsive idea.

Putting aside the waste of using a treasure like the Chaos Stone as a weapon, if one were to actually use it to smash the statue, it would likely not only fail to harm the statue in the slightest, but would also thoroughly enrage this mysterious being. Given the strength the statue had just displayed, if it were to become enraged, one would probably not even have a chance to fight back with one's current cultivation level.

Moreover, the stone statue's defensive capabilities are truly terrifying.

The power contained in that giant dark cloud palm was enough to severely injure an Emperor-level expert, yet it failed to even damage the surface of the stone statue. Even if I were to throw the Chaos Stone out, I might not be able to break through its defenses. Instead, this treasure might fall into the hands of others or be destroyed by the stone statue.

"It seems that the only way to deal with the stone statue is to find a way to break through those strange runes on its body!"

Shi Ji squinted and fell into deep thought.

He recalled the faint patterns on the surface of the stone statue when he observed it before. Those patterns were completely different from the natural texture of ordinary rocks. They were more like man-made runes, and they were somewhat similar to the taboo runes recorded in the memory of the Wang family's ancestor.

Shi Ji vaguely felt that her guess might be correct—those runes were not only the source of the statue's power, but also likely its weakness, but breaking through them would be no easy task.

To break the runes, one must first understand their types and functions, and know the energy laws they follow; secondly, one needs to find the flaws in the rune array and determine the key points of attack; finally, one must find a matching method to break them, either by forcibly destroying them with stronger power or by neutralizing them with specific runes.

These three steps are interconnected, and each step is full of unknowns and challenges.

"Perhaps I should first learn the language and rune system of the Stone Golems!"

Shi Ji took a deep breath, a resolute glint in her eyes.

He recalled seeing some fragments of stone golem runes in the memory of the Wang family ancestor when he devoured his soul. Combined with the small stone golem he had picked up before, he might be able to find a breakthrough from it.

Fortunately, Shi Ji possesses the ability to devour souls, allowing her to directly access information from memories.

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mental energy into his mind, carefully sorting through the contents related to the stone figure in the memories of the Wang family ancestor. At the same time, he took out the small stone figure, injected a wisp of spiritual energy into it, and tried to comprehend the rhythm of the stone figure's runes.

The learning process was much easier than Shi Ji had expected.

Although the stone golem runes were ancient and obscure, the logic and energy patterns they contained shared commonalities with the ancient runes he had encountered before.

Following the clues in his memory and combining them with the faint sensations conveyed by the little stone figure, he deduced the structure and meaning of the runes bit by bit, piecing together the scattered information like a jigsaw puzzle.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. During these three days, Shi Ji worked tirelessly, devoting herself entirely to the deduction of runes.

Finally, on the evening of the third day, he successfully deciphered the core information of the runes on the stone statue—these runes were called "sealing runes," and were not used for attack, but were an extremely ancient type of imprisonment runes.

The main purpose of these sealing runes is to target certain special beings or energy entities, using the power of the runes to restrict the target's actions and energy release.

According to the rune information, this immortal tomb site was one of the ancient battlefields where emperors fought in the past. Dozens of emperor-level powerhouses perished here. The resentment and death energy left on the battlefield merged with the energy deep in the earth's veins, giving birth to a special curse power.

The ancestors of the Stone People once suppressed a curse here, but unfortunately they were corrupted by the curse, and a portion of the curse's source condensed within their bodies.

To prevent the curse from spreading, other powerful individuals joined forces to set up this sealing rune, sealing the stone man in this place.

The source of the curse remaining within the stone man's body will continue to affect the surrounding space, forming a special life magnetic field. This magnetic field has a fatal suppressive force on cultivators with low cultivation levels. If a cultivator with a cultivation level below the Quasi-Emperor realm enters the magnetic field range, they will be instantly eroded by the power of the curse and perish on the spot.

Shi Ji secretly rejoiced that her current cultivation level had reached the mid-stage of the Emperor Sect, close to the level of a half-step Ancestral Immortal, which was just enough to resist the suppression of the magnetic field, so she was not affected after entering this place.

Even so, he could not easily break the sealing runes on the stone man's body—these runes, after countless years of accumulation, had long since become one with the stone man's body, forming a symbiotic relationship. To break them, he had to deal with the resistance of both the runes and the stone man himself.

Thinking of this, Shi Ji frowned deeply.

The danger of this place far exceeded his expectations.

Once the sealing runes on the stone man are activated, the power that erupts is enough to instantly kill an Emperor-level expert. Even though the stone man has been suppressed for hundreds of millions of years and its power has greatly declined, it still possesses such terrifying strength, which makes Shi Ji feel a sense of unease.

To verify her hypothesis, Shi Ji took out a dagger, cut her fingertip, and squeezed out a drop of blood containing her own essence and spiritual power.

He slowly walked to the stone statue and gently sprinkled his blood on the sealing runes on its surface, hoping to find a flaw in the runes through the sensation of his blood essence, or even break the seal.

The blood dripped onto the rune and was instantly absorbed by it.

Immediately afterwards, all the sealing runes on the surface of the stone statue suddenly lit up, emitting a dazzling golden light. A powerful destructive force surged from the runes, crashing towards the stone statue like a tidal wave—clearly, the runes mistook Shi Ji's blood essence for an intrusion and triggered an automatic defense mechanism.

The stone statue felt the stinging pain coming from its body and let out an extremely angry roar, the sound of which made the entire valley tremble slightly.

It opened its huge mouth and suddenly spat out a ball of pitch-black dark energy. This ball of energy contained a strong curse power, and as soon as it appeared, it instantly enveloped the incoming sealing power.

"Boom!"

After a loud bang, the sealing power and dark energy collided violently within the stone statue, ultimately annihilating each other and dissipating into the air as invisible energy fluctuations.

Seeing this, Shi Ji couldn't help but smile bitterly—the stone man's strength was simply too great. Even in a sealed state, he still possessed such powerful attack and defense capabilities. Her previous thoughts were too naive.

He had originally planned to wait until he recovered to his peak condition, or even broke through to a higher realm, before searching for the stone man and trying to break the seal.

But now it seems that even if he breaks through to the Ancestral Immortal realm, shaking the combination of the sealing runes and the stone golem will be no easy task. "What a troublesome situation!"

Shi Ji sighed helplessly, her heart filled with frustration.

Just then, the stone statue, which had been sitting cross-legged in meditation, suddenly moved.

It slowly stood up, its empty eye sockets flashing with a cold light, staring intently at Shi Ji. Then it walked towards Shi Ji step by step, its speed increasing. With each step, it left a deep footprint on the ground, and the surrounding air seemed to be frozen by the pressure of its aura.

When the stone statue was about a hundred meters away from Shiji, it suddenly stopped, swung its right arm, and a giant fist covered with runes slammed down on Shiji with a whistling sound as it tore through the air.

This guy's movements were incredibly fast; almost in the blink of an eye, his giant fist was already in front of Shi Ji, leaving her with no way to avoid it.

"Shh!"

Shi Ji dared not be negligent in the slightest. Her spiritual power surged wildly as she unleashed her strongest physical technique—the Ninefold Dragon-Elephant Arm.

His right arm instantly swelled to three times its normal size, his skin turned bronze, and phantom images of dragons and elephants appeared on its surface, containing nine times the power of his own body.

Shi Ji swung her right arm with unstoppable momentum, sweeping it towards the giant fist of the stone statue.

"Clang!"

A crisp metallic clang echoed through the valley as Shi Ji's fist collided violently with the giant fist of the stone statue.

The two powerful forces collided, creating an invisible shockwave that spread outwards, blowing rocks off the ground and creating pits of varying depths.

Both of them were thrown backward by the force of the impact. Shi Ji took five or six steps back before regaining her balance. She felt an intense pain in her right arm, as if her bones were about to crack.

He was secretly amazed: the stone man's power was indeed too great. Under normal circumstances, he would never be a match for the stone statue.

However, judging from the collision just now, the stone statue's power has obviously not fully recovered. It can only exert 30% of its peak strength at most, which is why it is fighting me to a standstill.

This made Shi Ji breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"How can this kid's physical body be so strong? He was actually able to withstand a punch with 30% of my power!"

The stone statue was also somewhat surprised, a hint of doubt flashing in its empty eye sockets. It clearly hadn't expected that this seemingly ordinary human cultivator would have such a terrifying level of physical strength.

Shi Ji stretched her aching right arm and replied with a cold laugh, "Your strength isn't weak either, but it's not enough to keep me here!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Shi Ji launched an attack.

He moved with incredible speed and agility, circling behind the statue like a ghost. He then clenched his left fist and slammed it hard into the statue's back.

The stone statue reacted extremely quickly, swinging its left arm backward to block Shi Ji's attack, while simultaneously sweeping its left leg horizontally towards Shi Ji's waist.

The two instantly engaged in a fierce battle, each punch landing with deadly force.

They clashed repeatedly, their attacks frequently clashing, the sounds of metal colliding and energy explosions echoing through the valley.

With her agile movements and exquisite techniques, Shi Ji constantly sought out the stone statue's weaknesses; while the stone statue, relying on its powerful physique and the enhancement of runes, used brute force to overcome skill, each attack carrying a devastating force.

However, despite being able to fight the stone statue for hundreds of rounds, Shi Ji was never able to inflict any real damage on it.

The runes on the stone statue were too strange. Whenever Shi Ji's attack was about to hit a vital point, the runes would automatically light up and emit a special energy. This energy could cleverly deflect the attack and even reflect some of the damage, which had a clear restraining effect on Shi Ji's power, preventing Shi Ji from fully releasing her advantages.

If Shi Ji hadn't cultivated the Nine Revolutions Overlord Qi, making her physical strength far surpass that of other cultivators of the same level, and her recovery ability extremely strong, she probably wouldn't have been able to withstand it and would have been severely injured by the stone statue's attack.

Even so, he had already developed many small wounds on his body, and a trace of blood had seeped from the corner of his mouth.

The battle between the two grew increasingly fierce, with each strike extremely brutal. The surrounding rocks were shattered, and the ground was riddled with craters. The entire valley seemed on the verge of being destroyed by their fight.

"Kid, you do have some skill, but that's where it ends!"

"Today I will surely kill you to avenge my imprisonment!"

The stone statue was completely enraged and let out a deafening roar.

Then, it quickly formed hand seals, and the sealing runes inside its body lit up again. A palm-sized golden rune shot out from its forehead and hovered in mid-air.

The aura emanating from this rune was extremely terrifying, causing the surrounding space to distort and creating a suffocating sense of oppression.

"What kind of rune is this? It has such powerful force!"

Shi Ji was filled with astonishment. He had never seen such runes before, and there was no related information in either the memories of the Wang family's ancestor or in ancient records.

However, judging from the energy fluctuations emitted by the rune, it seems to share the same origin as the previous sealing rune, and is likely also a sealing rune, only more powerful and with a more unique function.

Without time to think, Shi Ji quickly activated the knowledge of the stone statue runes she had obtained from the memories of the Wang family's ancestor. At the same time, she mobilized the spiritual power and mental power within her body, imitating the hand seals of the stone statue, and condensed a rune that was similar to the stone statue's runes but darker in color.

This rune is a defensive rune that he deduced based on the Stone Golem rune. Although its power may not be as great as the Stone Statue rune, it may be able to provide some protection.

Shi Ji took a deep breath, poured all her spiritual power into the runes, and then raised her hand and hurled the runes toward the golden runes on the stone statue.

The black rune that Shi Ji threw flew out and collided precisely with the golden rune on the stone statue in mid-air.

The two runes clashed fiercely for a while, and finally the sealing rune shattered the rune that Shi Ji had unleashed, then hurtled towards Shi Ji with a deafening roar. (End of Chapter)