“Five thousand years, a full five thousand years…”
Just as Leo’s consciousness was about to be completely obliterated, an ancient and timeless voice entered his ears.
Leo’s heart, which had nearly stopped beating, suddenly thumped twice, and his awareness began to revive.
In the endless darkness of Leo’s mind, a light appeared.
The light quickly dispelled the darkness, and Leo felt himself stop falling and start rising.
Soon, Leo’s body burst out from the depths of the frozen lake, hovering in mid-air.
The frost covering his body had long since melted, and the speed of Spiritual Power circulating within him had more than doubled.
Leo opened his eyes and looked down at the frozen lake, utterly shocked.
He could clearly feel a mysterious force supporting him, allowing him to stand in mid-air.
At the same time, this mysterious force surrounded his body, isolating him from the extreme cold around him.
“I’m… not dead! What is going on!?”
Leo’s heart was filled with an overwhelming sense of joy at having survived a near-death experience.
Only those who have been close to death can truly appreciate how wonderful and miraculous it is to be alive.
This brush with death had greatly enhanced Leo’s state of mind and perception.
Without giving Leo much time to think, the mysterious force began to enter his body.
Leo was deeply moved and immediately sat cross-legged in mid-air, closing his eyes slightly as he entered a state of cultivation.
Perhaps hours passed, or maybe just minutes, but when Leo opened his eyes again, the aura emanating from his body had already reached the mid-level Spirit Sect.
Breaking through from lower-level Spirit Sect to mid-level Spirit Sect had been incredibly easy.
With the advancement in his realm, the range of Leo’s spiritual awareness increased by another third from its original scope.
Leo stood up, a flash of brilliance passing through his eyes.
The powerful and exhilarating feeling spread throughout his body, making him so excited he almost shouted out loud.
He looked at the misty and vast frozen lake and bowed deeply. “I don’t know which senior saved me, but I am deeply grateful!”
Leo knew that surviving and having his cultivation level improved must have been due to the assistance of a powerful being. Otherwise, he would have been long dead in the frozen lake.
His words echoed far and wide but received no response.
However, Leo maintained his bowing posture, patiently waiting.
He didn’t have to wait long. A minute later, the calm surface of the frozen lake suddenly surged with huge waves.
It seemed that some enormous creature was emerging from the depths of the lake.
Leo watched quietly as he waited.
Before long, the waters of the frozen lake began to part, and a massive island emerged from the water.
The entire island was dark green, and at a glance, its area was at least ten thousand square meters.
Accompanying the emergence of the island was an enormous head.
The head had horns resembling those of a deer. When it fully appeared, it was unmistakably a dragon’s head!
In Leo’s astonished gaze, the enormous creature beneath the frozen lake fully revealed itself.
A dragon’s head with a turtle’s body-this was… a Giant Turtle!
“After five thousand years, I never thought there would still be a Cultivator on Earth who could come here.”
The eyes on the dragon’s head opened. The large eyes were ice-blue, as if they contained the entire frozen lake within them.
The Giant Turtle’s gaze fell upon the tiny figure of Leo, making him feel as though everything about him was being seen through.
“No, you are not a true Cultivator in the strictest sense. You only have half of an immortal’s bloodline,” the Giant Turtle spoke again, with a hint of surprise in its voice.
Half of an immortal’s bloodline?
Commonly known as… a half-immortal?
A playful expression appeared on Leo’s face.
Indeed, he wasn’t a true Cultivator. He had only become one because Abel had given him an injection.
He hadn’t expected the Giant Turtle to see through his essence at a glance.
“If it weren’t for your intervention just now, senior, I would have perished in the frozen lake. I cannot repay this life-saving grace enough. Please accept my bow.”
Leo bowed deeply to the Giant Turtle.
“No need for courtesy. Your arrival here is your destiny. I do not truly exist here; what you see is merely a trace of my divine sense.”
A trace of divine sense?
Leo’s worldview was once again refreshed.
He wondered what level of cultivation this Giant Turtle had reached-was it Spirit God or something beyond Spirit God?
From the Giant Turtle’s words, Leo could infer that it must know about the ancient cultivation civilization on Earth.
“Senior, you mentioned five thousand years. I am the first to come here in that time. What happened on Earth five thousand years ago? Why have Cultivators completely disappeared?”
Leo’s question awakened distant memories in the Giant Turtle.
“Ten thousand years ago, Earth was rich in spiritual energy. Not only were there numerous divine beasts, but also many Cultivators.”
“Later on, various cultivation sects emerged. It was a flourishing era of cultivation civilization.”
“At that time, most of Earth was land with only a small portion being water…”
These words made Leo pause for a moment. Currently, it was the opposite-most of Earth was ocean, with land making up only twenty-nine percent of its total area.
Leo couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, today seventy-one percent of Earth is ocean and twenty-nine percent is land. How did it get reversed?”
“The reason lies in a great catastrophe five thousand years ago. It could also be called a Planar Clash.”
“A great catastrophe? Planar Clash?” Hearing these ancient secrets left Leo astonished. “Senior, did beings from another Plane of Existence attack Earth?”
“Yes. Five thousand years ago, on a certain day, the Planar Conduit leading to Earth was breached. Many powerful beings from other Planes of Existence arrived on Earth.”