Starforce Warriors-Chapter 982:Temple of Wisdom

He was standing in front of a graveyard. Densely packed black tombstones stretched out like a dark forest, covering an area of several tens of thousands of square meters. At least ten thousand beings had been buried here.

Each tombstone bore a name, and only a name. From those names, it was clear that those buried below were Reapers. By now, it was almost certain, this place was once a temple of the Reapers.

They had guarded this place but in the end, it had still fallen. No, more accurately, it seemed the temple itself had not actually fallen.

The structures within the iron fences had not suffered heavy destruction. There were few signs of battle inside the main hall, and the corpses of the fallen Reaper warriors remained intact, which clearly indicated that the enemy had never breached the temple’s interior.

As for the enemy? Li Xiaofei could now be fairly sure it was those strange, varied monsters he had encountered before. They had appeared and vanished without warning.

Even the Reapers, formidable as they were, would have been overwhelmed by such swarms. And judging by how those monsters’ bodies had quickly dissolved into blood and seeped into the ground, it seemed even the Reapers could not devour their remains to use as evolution material.

In that sense, just like Void Beasts, these monsters were natural enemies of the Reapers. However, Li Xiaofei found no further clues within this temple. There were five additional palaces in total, each smaller in scale than the main hall.

One of the buildings appeared to have been used for daily living. Another was clearly designed for cultivation training and combat practice. There were also armories, food storage facilities, and a temple for prayer. All of them stood in a state of ruin and desolation.

No other valuable discoveries were made. There wasn’t a single living soul within the entire temple complex. Li Xiaofei conducted a thorough investigation but found nothing else of note.

The only item of value was a map inside the residential palace. It marked several routes and locations. Unfortunately, the map was incomplete. More importantly, it did not include the location of the Evolution Temple.

Li Xiaofei managed to locate the current temple’s position on the map. It was labeled as the Temple of Endurance. The marking was casual and unremarkable. It was likely just a small outpost.

The text was written in the ancient script of the Reapers, which Li Xiaofei could not fully decipher, since it differed significantly from the simplified modern version. After trying his best to interpret it, Li Xiaofei eventually decided to keep the beast-hide map for himself.

What he regretted most was the complete absence of scrolls or written records in the Temple of Endurance. He conducted another careful search. Eventually, he even discovered a hidden entrance to a basement.

Inside, he found various supplies, rotted meat, barrels of still-sealed drinking water, and a wide array of weapons, medicines, and suits of armor. But aside from these, there was nothing else of real value.

Li Xiaofei became certain that the Temple of Endurance had been abandoned by the Reapers who came after. He took a short rest before leaving. He had to make haste. The Evolution Temple still had to be found.

For the next ten days, Li Xiaofei and the undead bone dragon roamed across the desolate black wasteland, slaying countless monstrous creatures along the way.

During this time, they encountered two more Temples of Endurance. Much like the first one, even though they were protected by strange iron-barred formations, they no longer housed any living beings—only graveyards remained. Not even a scrap of written documentation could be found, and there were no maps.

Li Xiaofei held the map he had obtained early on and continued his search across the black, devastated wasteland. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t encountered any intelligent life.

The number of wasteland monsters that had fallen beneath his blades, spears, and swords had already reached the billions. The relentless battles had begun to wear him down. Yet the rewards were substantial.

While Li Xiaofei’s cultivation realm had not seen a significant breakthrough, his combat strength had increased dozens of times over.

“Up ahead is the first Temple of Wisdom.” Studying the map, Li Xiaofei’s face lit up with anticipation.

The previously discovered Temples of Endurance had clearly been minor shrines with little value. But this Temple of Wisdom was marked much more prominently on the map. It was clearly a higher-grade outpost. Perhaps it would contain something new. Li Xiaofei quickened his pace.

***

Half a day later.

After cutting his way through a herd of firehorn ram monsters, he finally laid eyes on the Temple of Wisdom, situated on an island at the center of a magma lake. It was massive.

It was at least dozens of times larger than the Temples of Endurance he had seen before. A sprawling palace complex covered the entire island, which had a diameter of several dozen kilometers.

From a distance, the dense cluster of buildings looked like a city built atop the island. A massive bridge, stretching tens of thousands of meters, connected the island to the mainland.

Li Xiaofei, riding atop the undead bone dragon, stepped onto the bridge. The black stone structure had supporting pillars driven straight into the bubbling, boiling magma. A thousand such pillars formed a series of arches, holding up a bridge surface twenty meters wide.

It was a feat of engineering worthy of being called a miracle of construction. Yet when viewed from the sky, it seemed as small and thin as a black thread. Moreover, signs of battle were visible along the bridge’s surface.

The weathered white bones of Reaper corpses lay scattered across the bridge. Some were resting flat on their backs across the stone surface. Some clung to the railings, as if they had died mid-retreat. Some were broken. Others remained intact.

All sorts of postures and forms could be seen but there were no traces of the enemy’s bodies. This sight gave Li Xiaofei a deeply unsettling feeling. The fact that the Reapers who had died on the bridge were left unburied likely meant that there were no living beings left within the temple complex ahead.

Before long, he crossed the bridge completely. Li Xiaofei arrived at the foot of the palace complex’s outer walls. The towering hundred-meter-high walls stood like a majestic mountain range. A vast, ancient energy still radiated from the stone, far more powerful than the corroded steel fences of the Temples of Endurance, making them utterly impossible to scale.

One of the gates stood open. Li Xiaofei stepped through. The ancient stone palaces within were built in dense layers according to the terrain. The architectural style was fantastical and surreal. It felt like the remnants of a kingdom out of a dream.

But it was silent. A silence as profound as death. A thin mist lingered over the streets. No sign of life was in sight. It was as if the whole city lay in slumber, still caught in the early hours of dawn.

“This is a full-fledged city,” Li Xiaofei murmured. “But it seems to have been abandoned. There’s no trace of living energy at all.”

He walked through the silent streets, glancing at the storefronts lining either side. One could imagine that this place had once been bustling with life. It could have easily housed tens of thousands of inhabitants. But now, it was an empty husk. Thankfully, there weren’t many Reaper corpses within the city itself.

"Let’s split up and search," said Li Xiaofei.

The undead bone dragon, Ao Ying, gave a low growl in response and darted off toward the surrounding clusters of buildings.

Li Xiaofei, meanwhile, set his sights on the central and largest temple structure. It was a towering behemoth, several hundred meters tall. Square and symmetrical, it stood atop a wide stone platform.

It crouched in the heart of the palace complex like a great beast, overlooking the entire city. If anything of value still remained here, it would surely be inside that central temple.

Moments later, Li Xiaofei arrived at the base of the stone steps leading up to the massive hall. He opened his palm. Thousands of specks of glimmering light burst forth and swept outward around the central temple.

This was one of the newest applications of the Heart of Guardianship that Li Xiaofei had developed during his recent battles. By releasing the fragmentary blades, he could use them like drones to survey the surroundings.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Whether for long-range assault or for reconnaissance, it was an exceptional technique.

Soon, every detail surrounding the great hall was transmitted into Li Xiaofei’s mind. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He ascended the stone steps. Eventually, he reached the main entrance of the temple. A small plaza, roughly ten mu in area, lay in front of the gate. The pale white stone tiles beneath his feet were smooth and even.

At the center of the plaza stood a statue in the shape of an open book. Aside from that, there was nothing else. Li Xiaofei paused in front of the book-shaped statue to observe it for a moment. When he found nothing unusual, he stepped into the temple.

Whoosh.

A single fireball suddenly shot toward him from the shadows. Its flames burned a strange, emerald green, glowing with an eerie light.