Chapter 789: Heaven’s Foundation Stone

Lin Jin and Tianzun waited a little longer until there was no sound at all outside. Then, they exchanged glances and decided to take a look.

The cave was a dead end with no other exits. Due to the immortal mountain’s unique geological traits, ground digging spells didn’t work here so the only way out was to leave from where they came in.

Being a diligent man, Tianzun cast a spell at the cave’s entrance, consolidating a spirit bird to observe the situation outside in their place. If he noticed any dangers outside, they would then stay in the cave.

Tianzun had a startled expression on his face when he used the bird to survey the situation outside.

“Come, let’s go outside.” Tianzun pulled Lin Jin out. Upon leaving the cave, Lin Jin understood Tianzun’s shock.

The ground was littered with toad carcasses. These creatures were massive and yet their corpses weren’t whole. They were even littered around a hundred-mile radius so one could imagine just how frightening a sight it was.

Lin Jin’s scalp prickled upon seeing it.

The point wasn’t the number of carcasses but the creature that could easily kill all these giant toads in such a short time.

After all, these weren’t normal beasts but Rank 8 immortal beasts. Just one of them could cause a huge commotion in the mainland and be seen as an invincible creature. Yet, they were so easily killed in the immortal mountain.

“It’s the immortal devouring beast,” Tianzun said.

He was only guessing because only the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast could kill Rank 8 creatures with such ease. No one else could do the same.

Didn’t the same thing happen in the past when the immortal devouring beast hunted immortals?

It was done with such ease that they suffered an overwhelming defeat.

Lin Jin found evidence to support Tianzun’s assumption when he saw a scale the size of a grinding plate lying beside a rock toad’s carcass.

The scale piece had five colors, was three fingers thick, and incredibly sturdy. A brief appraisal told Lin Jin that it belonged to the immortal devouring beast. Looks like the immortal devouring beast got hurt when it hunted these rock toads.

Seeing Lin Jin in a daze when he was observing the scale, Tianzun came over to take a closer look.

“What is it?”

Lin Jin said, “The immortal devouring beast is behaving a little strangely.”

Tianzun was confused. No matter how phenomenal he was, he couldn’t judge the immortal devouring beast’s condition just by looking at its scale, but Lin Jin could.

“How strange?” Tianzun asked.

After a thought, Lin Jin said, “It seems to be losing control recently.”

Tianzun was baffled by this. How could the creature lose control? No one could control it in the first place so there was no such thing as losing control. Then, Lin Jin gave an example by saying that a person who supposedly followed rules suddenly stopped following them.

Tianzun immediately understood and his expression subsequently faltered.

This wasn’t right.

The immortal devouring beast’s mission was to kill immortals so it would be problematic if these rules changed. Instead of the creature continuously hunting immortals, Tianzun was afraid that it would start killing the innocent.

Didn’t that just happen with the rock toads?

The beasts on the immortal mountain weren’t immortals so why did the immortal devouring beast kill them?

“Perhaps this has something to do with the signs of the world’s end,” Tianzun speculated.

Lin Jin nodded.

It was quite close to the appraisal result he got. Also, Lin Jin gained additional information on the immortal devouring beast in this latest appraisal.

It was about the creature’s origin.

Previously, Lin Jin had speculated that the immortal devouring beast was only this powerful because it was transformed from a Heaven’s Foundation Stone fragment. The latest appraisal pretty much confirmed his assumption.

The immortal devouring beast was indeed created from a Heaven’s Foundation Stone fragment.

That being the case, it wasn’t only the immortal devouring beast that was losing control but also the Heaven’s Foundation Stone. Along with Tianzun’s divination of the world ending, Lin Jin could now be sure that the Heaven’s Foundation Stone was malfunctioning.

During their journey here, Lin Jin learned from Tianzun that the world supposedly had an incredibly long lifespan. From the initial chaos to the formation of life, and then back to chaos, they considered this one cycle. Each cycle could last about several ten million years or more, and no one could stop the cycle.

Yet, their current cycle shouldn’t be ending soon. According to Tianzun’s calculation, they still had about half a cycle before the universe returned to chaos, and that was about five million years or so. It definitely shouldn’t happen soon.

Hence, the problem must have stemmed from the Heaven’s Foundation Stone.

Lin Jin and Tianzun continued their journey up the mountain, measuring the mountain’s height with their steps. It might take quite some time for them to reach the Heaven’s Foundation Stone, so it was a good thing that Lin Jin and Tianzun weren’t normal mortals. With the help of spells, the journey that required centuries to cover took them only a few days and they reached the top.

They encountered a few more dangerous situations along the way but managed to resolve them all. Once, they were almost discovered by the immortal devouring beast. The latter had been hunting a herd of immortal beasts and both sides were engaged in a violent battle. Witnessing that battle refreshed Lin Jin’s understanding of this world.

The closer they got to the summit, the more horrifying the beasts there were. Some were even close to Rank 9 standard.

Tianzun told Lin Jin that these beasts never existed here in the past. They must have gradually gathered here in the last two thousand years. Tianzun hadn’t meant anything by this piece of information but that gave Lin Jin an idea.

These beasts couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere so they must have entered the immortal mountain through other paths inside the Nine-Heaven Realm. But Lin Jin had met the beasts outside the immortal mountain, and while they may be strong, they were far too weak compared to the ones here.

So these beasts must have changed after entering the immortal mountain.

For instance, the rock toads. Lin Jin had appraised one earlier and it was supposedly a Rank 6 fairy toad that was commonly found in the Nine-Heaven Realm.

Yet, the Rank 6 beast had advanced to Rank 8.

Its combat ability even increased by several levels. These beasts didn’t have anyone to guide them here in the immortal mountains so they must rely on themselves to evolve.

This further proved that the immortal mountain was the main influence in their evolution.

Lin Jin was now considering Xiao Huo’s Rank 9 evolution method. The museum didn’t give him one so Lin Jin hadn’t tried to brainstorm it before. But now, using the insight he accumulated over the years in beast appraising, Lin Jin had a feeling that he found a method to help Xiao Huo evolve.

And this immortal mountain was the key.

Xiao Huo could only evolve up to Rank 9 here in the immortal mountain. In other words, nowhere else in the world would do because only the immortal mountain produced Rank 9 beasts.

No one told Lin Jin about this. He deduced it on his own.

Although his theory hadn’t been verified, he was eighty percent sure of it. To think the problem that had been troubling him for more than a year suddenly showed signs of resolution.

And this wasn’t a guide provided by the museum but one Lin Jin came up with on his own.

On their way up, Lin Jin noticed many other plants and animals on the mountain. The beasts who lived here must have built an entire ecosystem and food chain on their own.

For Xiao Huo to evolve, he must get used to the habitat here and become the top predator of the immortal mountain’s food chain.

Just like the immortal devouring beast.

“Lin Jin, look. That’s the Heaven’s Foundation Stone.” Tianzun’s voice interrupted Lin Jin’s thoughts. Lin Jin looked up to see a large black rectangular stone that seemed to link up the sky and earth. It was sitting on the pinnacle of the immortal mountain.

No doubt, this black rectangular stone was the Heaven’s Foundation Stone.