798 Stone Spirit Civilization! (1/2)

Something must have happened here… Wang Baole didn't act rashly and instead scanned his surroundings carefully first. He unleashed his locust's cultivation and allowed its False Immortal realm power to sweep across the terrain. After ensuring that the area was safe, he turned his eyes towards the ruins around him.

He had no knowledge of the culture of this civilization and hence was unable to assess the period the bodies were from based on the clothes they were wearing. There was a strange power within this galaxy that was working against his Divine Sense. It appeared to be able to freeze time, preserving the bodies the way they appeared right before their deaths. The clothes and accessories on the bodies fell under this strange power's influence as well, showing no signs of degradation or decomposition.

Wang Baole couldn't imagine the power that was required to achieve something like that. He couldn't tell if it originated from a cultivator or if it was a strange power that existed inherently in this galaxy.

Logically speaking, even though this galaxy may be located in a rather distant and deserted location, someone should have come across it during its long years of existence. But if they had… it doesn't make sense that the bodies and ruins would still remain untouched. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and remained on guard, setting his greed aside and not immediately conducting an inspection of the bodies and ruins floating around him. He was concerned that some unknown danger that was beyond the compass' detection remained hidden in their midst.

With a wave of his hand, he sent more than ten thousand puppets out into the area, maneuvering them and scattering them across the wide expanse of space. Through their eyes, he performed a detailed investigation of the area. He pulled less than a dozen wisps of his Divine Sense out from the avatar form that he was dwelling in and injected them into some puppets so that he could see with clearer eyes through them.

More than ten thousand puppets surrounded his Dharmic Battleship and spread outwards. They sped past the sea of bodies, granting Wang Baole an increasingly widened range of vision. Half an hour later, as the puppets reached a considerable distance away from Wang Baole, the latter's eyes suddenly flashed.

Amidst the sea of countless corpses and ruins were some bodies that were dressed in a distinctively different fashion. These corpses weren't congregated in a single area but spread across multiple locations. Wang Baole perceived as many as seven to eight spots from his current range of vision.

Maybe the bodies that were originally here hide some kind of unknown danger? Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and assessed the situation. He was reluctant to just turn tail and leave. Therefore, he pulled out another batch of puppets, which sped past the sea of bodies and headed for the four planets.

He intended to use his puppets to find out if there was anything strange about the planets. Based on what he was able to find out, he would determine whether to continue searching the area.

With a plan in place, Wang Baole continued releasing puppets. A group of these puppets arrived at one planet just as the number of released puppets reached thirty thousand. The planet was completely black and resembled an enormous meteoroid from afar. When the puppets landed on the planet, they too saw nothing but black all around them.

There was no plant life and no source of water. There were only mountain ranges snaking across the planet's surface and their numerous mountain peaks. The planet was deathly silent. The arrival of Wang Baole's puppets had broken that silence. However, nothing alive came to greet them.

Wang Baole decided to wait instead of instructing his puppets to start a search of the planet. After his remaining puppets had landed on the other three planets, he finally initiated a simultaneous search of all four planets. Wang Baole's eyes grew wider as the search unfolded. Then, he wrestled control over one puppet and turned its eyes towards a black bamboo shoot growing on a small hill on one of the planets!

The bamboo was made out of stone despite looking like a plant. Its leaves were also made of stone. Adding to the bizarre discovery was the sight of liquid emerging from the bamboo's skin and slowly dripping down the shoot.

There was no scent to the bamboo and no presence of spirit energy. Regardless, Wang Baole felt as if he had been struck by lightning by the discovery. His heart started pumping rapidly.

A Stone Bamboo!

Wang Baole could barely believe his eyes. He had read about it in the Divine Eye civilization's literature. Its name might sound ordinary, but its worth was immense. Stone Bamboo had gone extinct in the Divine Eye civilization. To get a hold of it, one had to get it from other civilizations and pay an absurd sum for it.

Stone Bamboo was a key component in building and upgrading Dharmic Battleships. It was extremely rare, and demand for it vastly exceeded supply. As a result, even a bit of Stone Bamboo the length of one's finger could spark an intense fight to the death. As for the Stone Bamboo that currently stood before Wang Baole… while bringing it back wouldn't spark an outright war between two greater sects, it would definitely create chaos and madness amongst some armies.