Days passed into months, and the Path of Legend was still lively. Aborigines of the lesser galaxies were searching for fortuitous opportunities. Some were killed by hidden dangers, and some ended up turning slaves of the aborigines of the middle galaxies.
Still, some natives of the lesser galaxies were able to resist with their luck and the opportunities they had claimed in their respective galaxies.
However, in the past months, the people of the lesser galaxies who were resisting and remained hidden discovered something unusual. The arrogant people of the middle galaxies seemed to be gathering in a certain region of the Path of Legend, and they were hunting down the Path of Legend creatures and capturing them alive.
But these hunts weren't limited to just those mindless creatures; the people of the middle galaxies seemed to have gone crazy, and they were capturing anyone and anything that didn't belong to the middle galaxies. What confused people of the lesser galaxies and those from the middle galaxies who weren't privy to core information, like the important members of the middle galaxies, were those heirs who weren't hunting for legendary keys or vestiges anymore.
In fact, they seemed completely oblivious to them despite their initial advance and hunting anything related to the legendary keys. Instead, they seemed to be on guard against something, a terrible enemy, maybe?
Furthermore, even Dark Beings were involved in this mess as they seemed to be helping those living beings they considered livestock, which greatly surprised those people of the lesser galaxies' alive and dead factions who joined their respective organizations from the middle galaxies.
At this moment, in a clear, open field without any trees or mountains, a massive encirclement of powerful quasi-legend rank guards and a light dome covered the central area, which was clearly not natural and manmade.
Within this light dome was actually a massive underground tunnel, which was also not natural and was recently created.
This tunnel bore through the land around a hundred meters deep before it opened into a vast underground cavern, probably ten miles wide. The ground was filled with glowing dark runes.
But the shocking thing about this place was that hundreds if not thousands, of beasts and humanoids alike lay above those runes. They seemed to be in some kind of hibernate state, as all of them were lying there without any movements. Their eyes were closed, and only their faint breathing and heartbeats were proof of their being alive.
It was indeed a strange yet chilling scene. Eight people were looking at this scene from one of the chambers carved in this underground cavern hall.
"How much more do we need before we can start the ritual?" A fair elf with runic marking around her forehead asked coldly as she sat around a table.
A handsome man with long gray hair and totem markings covering half of his face, the most eye-catching feature being the third eyeball on his forehead, calmly replied after the totem-like markings on his face shimmered darkly, "There are 2500 sacrificial points in this ritual formation, and we only managed to gather 1948, so there are 552 left. But I don't think we'll gather them any time soon since quasi-legends aren't common rank pills even in the path of legend. If we need to complete this task, we have to venture into those dangerous regions!"
"Just what are the higher-ups thinking? Instead of searching for the legendary keys, we are gathering livestock like lowly hunters! Even if they no longer want the ascension permits, it doesn't mean we don't want the legendary vestiges of the path of legend." A snake humanoid with scaled skin slammed his claw on the stone table in anger, making it tremble, "We all know the legendary vestiges of the path of legend are unique from the legendary vestige in the legendary plains, and whoever creates a soul totem will be a guaranteed Legendary King!
"But somehow, the Legendary Key of Aquarius in my possession suddenly vanished, and just when I was about to locate the location of the darn trial! Not only me but the four of you have encountered the same thing.
"However, instead of searching for those missing keys, we were given the order to create this giant cage and this ritual array with all of our resources. We even have to rob those lowly mortals and then gather livestock and even make a temporary truce with that rotten undead. Are you fucking kidding me!?"
The more he spoke, the angrier he got. His snake eyes were almost spitting venom. He looked at everyone with disbelief and wanted to know if he was the only one who cared about all this and thought this way.
The others' expressions also darkened after hearing the snake man's indignant speech, especially the four specific people, including the elf and the male from the witch race, when they heard about the legendary keys having vanished in the thin air.
They were also the victims of the same phenomena, and they almost went on a rampage and vomited blood when that uncanny event happened. However, before they could start turning every stone in the path of legend, they suddenly received a message through their soul totem sigils, which were actually a very powerful secret technique of a legendary king. It couldn't be used just because one wished for it; it was almost on the law ability level, and the cost for using it wasn't something to scoff at.
That also showed the gravity of the situation. After hearing those messages, these remaining heirs of the legendary kings were thoroughly shocked, and thereafter, they reached this point. They were just following instructions. But most of them were unhappy because they weren't told what this was all about, and they'd been working on this unknown project for almost three months instead of searching for the legendary keys.
However, despite their indignation and unwillingness, they didn't dare disobey the orders of legendary kings. Heirs or not, no one could disobey a legendary king in the legendary plains. They were like literal gods in the natives' eyes.
The heated discussion among these eight continued when suddenly, their eyes went wide, and they were shocked—not just them, but everyone else in the entire Path of Legend who wasn't an aborigine of the Path of Legend.
At this moment, an ethereal voice filled with majestic authority and exempt emotion rang like thunderclaps in the heads of all the participants in the Path of Legend.
"Travelers of Legend, all the Twelve Legendary Keys of Zodiac have been used!
"The Legendary Master Key of Zodiac has been surfaced!
"The Path of Legend will be closed indefinitely until the bearer of Legendary Master Key of Zodiac uses the Legendary Master Key or perish!
"All the Travelers of Legend will now be sent out in the Legendary Plains!
"The Path of Legend bid the Travelers of Legend farewell and good luck to the… Seeker of Zodiac!"