Chapter 524: Chapter 268: Mysterious Shrine!_1 Carrying Yusheng Liuyin on his back, Chen Mo moved swiftly through the air, faint light emanating from his Illusory Spirit Feather Boots, speeding up their progress. They navigated through the Monster Nest, flying over beautiful seas of flowers and dense forests, following the Compass towards what could potentially be the matrix center. During the flight, the two increasingly sensed strong Energy fluctuations, signifying they were getting closer to their target. Soon, Chen Mo’s superior perception ability tipped him off about what lay ahead. A shrine? As they landed from their rapid flight, they found themselves in a vast and spectacular open area. In the center of the open area stood a massive and majestic shrine, radiating a dazzling light. The shrine was filled with an ancient and mysterious aura, like a portal to an unknown world. Chen Mo gently put down Yusheng Liuyin, and the two of them stood quietly, gazing at the odd shrine. They could feel an extraordinary Energy harbored within the shrine. "There is actually a shrine in such a Monster Nest." Chen Mo and Yusheng Liuyin both tried to perceive the inside of the shrine, but unfortunately, they couldn’t sense anything. It seemed as though some force was blocking the inside of the shrine, making it impossible for them to directly perceive. Seeing this, Chen Mo didn’t mind. He directly commanded his Skeleton Monster to enter. After all, he currently shared his vision with the Skeleton Monster. As the Skeleton Monster entered, Chen Mo was finally able to see clearly into the shrine. The passage inside the shrine had a series of peculiar sculptures, apparently of various Legendary creatures. Moving further in, the Energy seemed to thicken, as if a secret treasure was placed in the center of the shrine. Just an SS level instance, how could it have a shrine with such dense Energy? Chen Mo felt the Energy fluctuations in the shrine were comparable to those of the god-grade beings he had encountered in SSS-level instances. Soon, the Skeleton Monster reached the very center of the shrine. In the very center was a unique room with many peculiar murals carved into its walls. In the middle of the room, a strange sphere floated above a platform. No other living beings were around. Chen Mo immediately had the Skeleton Monster attempt to touch the floating sphere. The moment the Skeleton Monster’s finger touched the surface of the sphere, a powerful surge of Energy immediately erupted from it. Chen Mo felt the atmosphere around him tense up instantly as a mysterious force began to emerge. The light in the shrine became even more dazzling; a colossal pillar of Energy rose from the center of the sphere, like a passageway connecting heaven and earth. Suddenly, the sphere emitted a powerful attractive pull. Chen Mo felt as if the Skeleton Monster’s body was being drawn by an unseen force, flying rapidly towards the sphere. The next moment, Chen Mo lost contact with this Skeleton Monster. It was clear that the Skeleton Monster was either dispersed or pulled into a strange space. There’s something very strange about this shrine. Seeing that there was a problem with the sphere, Chen Mo sent another Skeleton Monster into the shrine. This time, Chen Mo did not have the Skeleton Monster touch the sphere directly but had it examine the surrounding sculptures. He had a feeling that these sculptures of Legendary creatures in the passage might be hiding secrets about the shrine. As the Skeleton Monster once again fearlessly stepped into the shrine, it moved towards the sculptures of Legendary creatures under Chen Mo’s command. As the solitary Skeleton Monster walked through the vast and empty shrine corridor, even the faint CLACKING of its bones echoed loudly in the silent space. The shrine exuded an air of mystique, and the sculptures within were particularly eye-catching. Soon, the first sculpture appeared in the Skeleton Monster’s vision. It was tall and majestic. It was a colossal dragon sculpture perched on a stone platform, its eyes like torches, emanating an intimidating aura. Every scale was intricately carved, as though about to spring to life, and its wings were spread, like shadows in the night. Chen Mo instructed the Skeleton Monster to stare at the dragon sculpture with its glowing eyes, sensing a strong Energy fluctuation. As expected, there’s something wrong with the sculpture! Chen Mo immediately commanded the Skeleton Monster to approach the sculpture. As it quietly neared, carefully avoiding any visible traps within the shrine, a tremor suddenly emanated from within. The ground began to shake, emitting a low, RUMBLING noise. Chen Mo instantly commanded the Skeleton Monster to halt, sensing the approaching danger. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚 The eyes of the dragon sculpture flickered with a frosty red light. The next instant, it seemed to come to life, its jaws snapping open to spew out a surge of raging Flame. The Flame, like the furious breath of a dragon, rapidly spread, shrouding the entire shrine corridor. The spread of the Flame was shockingly fast; as the firelight danced, a wave of suffocating heat filled the shrine. The Flame was a dazzling red, shimmering with blistering light, as if a true Legendary dragon was breathing in fury. Through the Skeleton Monster’s perception, Chen Mo could feel the destructive force contained in the Flame spewed by this strange sculpture. Wherever the Flame went, the air was instantly distorted, surrounding objects began to melt, and even the ground started to crack. The high temperature generated by the Flame ignited the surrounding air, forming a twisted sea of fire. Chen Mo could feel the terrifying Energy emitted by the Flame, as if it could turn everything to ash. However, this shrine was exceedingly bizarre. No matter how much it was damaged, it would return to normal in an instant. While the Flame burned and destroyed, the shrine was constantly and rapidly self-repairing. Witnessing the bizarre Flame, Chen Mo, sharing consciousness with the Skeleton Monster, subconsciously commanded it to move away. But the Skeleton Monster could not escape the engulfing Flame. In the blink of an eye, its bones began to melt, emitting sharp, CRACKLING sounds as if being grilled. The raging Flame pressed down on it, gradually devouring its existence. The Flame roared, and frenzied Energy rampaged inside the shrine, creating a spectacular scene. Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. He realized that this power far exceeded ordinary threats; this Flame carried obliteration-grade Energy! The temperature continued to rise, and the Flame’s power grew even more terrifying. Soon, the Skeleton Monster was burned into nothingness. The obliteration-grade Flame completely overwhelmed the Skeleton Monster’s characteristics, burning it utterly clean. As the burning Flame gradually weakened and eventually subsided, it revealed the dragon sculpture’s true form. The once lifelike giant dragon sculpture had lost its recent brilliance, reverting to an ordinary stone carving. It was as if it hadn’t been the one spewing Flame at all. Although the dragon sculpture had lost its animation, its intricate carvings still seemed lifelike, continuing to exhibit the dragon’s majesty and fearsome aura. Obliteration-grade power instantly destroyed my Skeleton Monster? The danger of this SS level instance is truly no joke. No wonder its death rate isn’t much lower than that of SSS-level instances. Seeing Chen Mo’s surprised expression, Yusheng Liuyin immediately asked, "What’s wrong?" "Nothing much, just a bit troublesome. It’s going to take some effort to figure out what’s going on in this shrine," Chen Mo said, then sent out another Skeleton Monster. This time, he directed the Skeleton Monster towards a peculiar lion sculpture next to the dragon. The Legendary lion sculpture was tall and mighty, standing in the center of the shrine’s passage, radiating an unparalleled, magnificent aura. Its body was sleek, with protruding muscles, every inch of the carving revealing a beautiful balance of power and form. The sculpture’s eyes were so vividly carved that they emitted a fierce and wild light, like the true gaze of a living lion. As the Skeleton Monster approached the lion sculpture, the entire shrine suddenly began to shake strangely again, as if a colossal beast sleeping deep underground had awakened. The ground trembled violently, the walls emitted a RUMBLING sound, and the atmosphere within the shrine grew tense. In the next instant, a red light ignited in the lion sculpture’s eyes, growing increasingly fierce and radiating an intimidating aura that was impossible to ignore. Suddenly, the lion sculpture opened its mighty jaws and let out a deafening ROAR. The sound echoed through every corner of the shrine, sending a shiver down one’s spine. As the ROAR echoed, the air around the lion sculpture began to annihilate, forming a vortex of darkness that quickly expanded, releasing a terrifying power. Chen Mo’s Skeleton Monster had just been caught in this dark vortex, its bones beginning to tear apart. Apparently not satisfied, the lion sculpture suddenly opened its massive maw, spewing out a shockwave of frenzied Energy. This terrifying Energy shockwave swept directly through the shrine, instantly pulverizing everything it touched. The immense impact distorted the air and made the walls tremble violently. The Skeleton Monster, caught and immobilized by the dark vortex, naturally bore the brunt of this terrifying Energy shockwave. Its body was instantly torn apart, turning into a pile of shattered bones and dust. In the face of this equally powerful, obliteration-grade force, it simply couldn’t resist. After the Energy shockwave passed, the lion sculpture, like the dragon sculpture before it, returned to its static state. It still stood tall in the middle of the shrine corridor, as if nothing had happened. Chen Mo’s gaze turned heavy. He now had a much deeper understanding of the danger posed by this shrine. This place was filled with unimaginable power, and every Legendary creature sculpture concealed an infinite threat. What’s going on? Why are the traps in an SS level instance so insane? Could this be a treasure space? Suddenly, a possibility occurred to Chen Mo. He recalled that treasure spaces had been mentioned before. In this world, it was suspected that his parents had been killed because someone had opened a treasure space with a difficulty far exceeding that of the instance they were in. Treasure spaces could appear by chance in any instance. The difficulty of a treasure space wasn’t always directly tied to the original instance’s difficulty. Some treasure spaces might be less difficult than the original instance. Others could be far more difficult. Generally, if they were easier, they would be at most one difficulty level lower. But if they were harder, one might enter an A-Class difficulty instance only to find the treasure space was SSS-level. Usually, one could judge a treasure space’s difficulty by initially sensing the Energy fluctuations within it. But sometimes, the Energy fluctuations weren’t very obvious, making judgment much harder. This strange Monster Nest he was currently in had an eerie, constantly changing Energy. When he first entered, it had been a world of singing birds and fragrant flowers, with minimal Energy fluctuations. But as he delved deeper, he sensed increasingly immense Energy. And now this shrine was absurdly powerful. That’s why he was having these suspicions.