Chapter 326: Exploring the Ruins

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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***

Since Jin So-myeong departed.

The expressions of those who remained were strangely identical.

“Hah…”

Even though quite a long time flowed, they still could not close their mouths.

A mere Void Refinement stage cultivator declared war blatantly against the Sacred Scale Alliance, who was no different from the hegemon of Dark Heaven Xuan.

It felt as if they had dreamed.

“…….”

How much time had flowed.

One of those who were plunged in shock. Tae-ok, who was standing blankly like a person struck by a bolt from a clear sky, winced and snapped back to his senses.

His complexion turned red and blue, then he gritted his teeth.

He took out a disk engraved with an antique pattern and inserted mid-grade immortal stones, which seemed as if he intended to contact someone.

Right at that time.

“Stop for a moment.”

“Yes?”

The wincing Tae-ok raised his head, and his eyes met with Baek Myo-hwa.

The moment a bluish flame was formed in her pupils, his face loosened blankly.

“Don’t tell me you intend to report what happened just now to the Sacred Scale Alliance?”

“Uh… No. What happened just now must have already been reported by my companions. I was trying to additionally report the characteristics of the dharma treasures or dharmic arts Jin So-myeong possessed.”

“I see. Who are your companions?”

“Nam Shin-je, Un-jeok, Gang Mu-ryeong, Hon-u…”

Tae-ok’s mouth moved without rest.

As if possessed by a ghost, he answered every question exactly as it was. He designated a total of eleven individuals, and among them, two were at the Void Refinement stage.

“Damn it!”

The eleven designated individuals fled in all directions, but could not even take a single step properly.

They were all suppressed in a single gesture of Baek Myo-hwa’s hand, and soon after, their faces turned blank like Tae-ok.

“I ask just in case, are there still members belonging to the Sacred Scale Alliance remaining in the pioneering team?”

“Yes. There are also many whom Tae-ok does not know.”

“Tell me who they are.”

The suppressed individuals designated other individuals, and a similar scene repeated several times.

In the end, forty-two cultivators were bound in a row and stood blankly.

“Seeing this, the Sacred Scale Alliance had already targeted me as prey in the first place.”

Baek Myo-hwa, who smiled coldly, took out a ship made of paper.

After boarding all the members belonging to the Sacred Scale Alliance, she designated a direction and made them fly as far as possible.

“All Golden Rune Fox Clan, board the Cloud-Sea Vessel.”

“Yes!”

The highly tense Golden Rune Fox Clan powerhouses boarded the sailing vessel, and the vessel shrunk to a size smaller than a fist, then was sucked into Baek Myo-hwa’s sleeve.

“You guys…”

Baek Myo-hwa, who slurred the end of her words, stared at the pioneering team.

At the eyes whose thoughts were hard to know, the pioneering team members who were already reduced to half swallowed their dry saliva.

As the situation turned to this point, they could not help but be tense even if they did not do anything wrong.

Under the burdensome silence, how much time had flowed.

Baek Myo-hwa, who contemplated for quite a long time, let out a sigh.

“Since there might be Sacred Scale Alliance spies remaining among you, it will be difficult to continue traveling together.”

“Ah…”

“I am sorry, but I will disband the pioneering team here.”

To think that the result obtained at the end of all sorts of suffering was barely disbandment. It was truly hollow.

But what could they do.

Since this world is the survival of the fittest, the weak had no choice but to follow submissively.

Moreover… they did not even have the leisure to be disappointed.

“In fact, if what happened today spreads, it does not seem it will be good for our Golden Rune Fox Clan. To ensure safety, it would be correct to kill you all, but…”

Around the time the frightened cultivators broke out in cold sweat.

A low voice continued.

“That would be a too harsh treatment. If you swear not to disclose what you experienced in the Ancient Wilderness, including what happened today, I will open a way to live.”

“Understood!”

Without missing even a single person, everyone swore,

and Baek Myo-hwa, who put away her cold expression, took out a sailing vessel made of material transparent like glass.

“It is the Cloud-Curtain Flying Vessel. Although it is slower than the Cloud-Sea Vessel you rode here, its ability to conceal presence is far more outstanding.”

“Ah…”

“If you go back along the path you came by riding this, you will be able to return to the Xuanhuang Realm. Although a little luck will have to follow.”

Baek Myo-hwa, who was silent for a moment, added a word.

“Of course, I have no intention of forcing you. Since I only opened a way to live, do as you please.”

She, who was enveloped in red flames, soared into the sky, then vanished without a trace.

Leaving the pioneering team, no, the cultivators, behind, she departed.

“What do we do now?”

Simultaneously with the question of someone who stood blankly.

Whoooosh…!

The heaven and earth spiritual Qi that poured out like a squall brushed past between them.

The heaven and earth spiritual Qi that was trapped by the array, piled up inside the ruins, leaked out.

In fact, this heaven and earth spiritual Qi was constantly pouring since the moment Jin So-myeong broke the array, but as the situation rapidly changed, they only perceived it now.

“Truly immense. Can spiritual Qi be this dense…?”

“If we cultivate inside there, our dharmic power will accumulate at an immense speed.”

“Heh. Is something like dharmic power important? Imagine the treasures that must be scattered inside there.”

Gulp…

Just when someone was swallowing his dry saliva. a few cultivators possessing outstanding observation power frowned their eyes.

“Look over there. The array is restoring itself.”

“Mmm?”

“Within a single hour, it will be blocked again.”

The array they barely pierced by suffering for three years is blocked again?

Then that was the end.

With their skill, they could not pierce it again. Didn’t the strongest Unity stage Dao Sovereign and Jin So-myeong leave the group.

“I do not know what you are hesitating for. Let’s enter immediately.”

“…You want to enter there? What about when we come out if the array is blocked?”

“Would there not even be a single transmission array in such a giant city? There must be at least one exit. There might also be a tool that can control the array.”

Two Void Refinement stage cultivators who stared intently at each other nodded their heads.

“Good. We cannot give up after coming all the way here.”

Becoming a streak of light, they disappeared into the ruins enveloped in mist.

That was the starting point.

Excluding a few who hesitated until the end, almost all the members entered the ruins.

***

Somewhere in the Ancient Wilderness.

A mountain range whose length alone reached hundreds of li was submerged in shadow.

Because a giant centipede composed of thousands of segments crossed the sky.

Sssss…

Wriggling its densely sprouted legs, it swam the sky.

On top of the head of the centipede larger than a mountain range.

Three men were sitting cross-legged, and all of them had scales sprouted on various places of their skin, including their glabella.

Just when everyone was silently lost in meditation.

Wi-ryeon, who originally possessed an appearance resembling a crocodile, narrowed his glabella.

Staring toward a certain direction beyond the horizon, he raised his eyebrows.

“Ho-oh.”

At the admiration that suddenly flowed out, the gazes of the other two men focused, and Wi-ryeon, who twisted his lips, sneered.

“Kwahaha… Truly preposterous. A brat who is barely a Void Refinement stage trampled on the Sacred Scale Alliance’s face.”

“Did some problem arise?”

“It is not even a problem. Some fool just ran wild without knowing his place.”

Wi-ryeon, who was smirking, delivered the words Jin So-myeong spoke, and the other two men also let out a dry laugh.

“A madman. He has completely lost his mind.”

As the man whose temples had golden scales sprouted was dumbfounded, Wi-ryeon licked his lips.

“Heh, a lively toy has appeared after a long time. It will be worth playing with.”

As he smacked his lips like a predator that discovered prey, the man possessing long black hair frowned his eyes.

“Do you intend to play along with a madman’s nonsense? It is a waste of time.”

“Do not worry. Because I won’t drag it too long. Anyway, since he touched our face, shouldn’t we scold him.”

“Tsk, more than that, what happened to Baek Myo-hwa?”

“I heard she gave up on the ruins and departed elsewhere… but this seems to be a disguise. Since there is no way she would give up an opportunity like the ruins in the Golden Rune Fox Clan’s current situation.”

“That makes sense. Then after we arrive at the ruins first, let’s look at where Baek Myo-hwa went.”

Just when they were continuing their conversation.

The three men who suddenly stopped speaking looked toward a certain direction, and before long, a swarm of countlessly many bats crowded.

“It was boring, but this is good timing.”

From the limbs of Wi-ryeon who stood up as if bouncing, a cracking bone sound echoed, and his skin expanded as if about to tear, then was covered in dark green scales.

In a single blink of an eye, the appearance that at least looked like a human was completely turned around.

Becoming a crocodile possessing bizarrely long legs, he soared into the sky.

“Kwahahahaha!”

Laughing loudly enough that the earth vibrated, he swung his claws,

and the wind that spread in a fan shape rapidly grew in scale, then drew a giant spiral.

Creak!

The wind that started from a light gesture became a vortex that shook heaven and earth.

Ancient trees that grew for tens of thousands of years were uprooted and flew away, and the swarm of bats that dyed the sky black was also swept up in the typhoon.

They could not even flap their wings properly in the rough wind. Without a chance to resist, they were sucked into the vortex.

The typhoon that was devastating the surroundings soon converged into a single point, and a thick bloody smell came from the thing that turned like a dark red bead.

The moment Wi-ryeon gaped his mouth. The lump where countlessly many bats were gathered was sucked into his mouth.

“Mmm.”

As if savoring the flavor of a high-end cuisine, Wi-ryeon, who closed his eyes firmly, smacked his lips.

Whether he was not satisfied even after swallowing the countlessly many bats, he flicked his blood-soaked tongue and felt regretful.

“Jin So-myeong. How much must I torture you to break you… I hope you hold out for a long time.”

***

Meanwhile.

What Jin So-myeong, who shattered the array and entered the ruins, felt first was the smell of books.

Should he say it felt like entering a library filled with books. A thick ink fragrance was deeply embedded in the entire city.

‘I do not see any books in particular… peculiar.’

While looking around the city enveloped in mist, he spread his Divine Sense as wide as possible, but it had no effect.

‘Is it because of this mist.’

It was a mist black as shadow, and whether it possessed some special effect, it interfered with the expansion of his Divine Sense.

Even though he possessed an Unity stage-grade Divine Sense, he could only scan a radius of 1 km.

The Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye was also identical.

Even with the divine ability that pierced and saw the possibilities of all things, he could not completely see through the mist.

‘A peculiar mist.’

He tried to blow it away by causing wind, but it did not scatter easily.

‘It will take some trouble to search… Still, the heaven and earth spiritual Qi in the air is extremely dense. It is a perfect place to cultivate.’

It was easily twice as dense as the Secret Realm of the Mind’s spiritual vein, which was at the very end of the 7th-rank mid-grade.

Even if he roughly sat down anywhere and accumulated his dharmic power, he would be able to achieve a considerable achievement.

While satisfied, he was puzzled.

This was a spiritual vein sealed off for an incredibly long time, but compared to that, the concentration of heaven and earth spiritual Qi was low.

Why was it?

As he contemplated for a moment, a reason enough to snap his eyes open came to mind.

‘It means something in the city absorbed the heaven and earth spiritual Qi.’

Since it was to the point of absorbing vast heaven and earth spiritual Qi, it would be an extremely precious treasure… what would it be?

‘Could it be an Integration spiritual object?’

The moment his thoughts reached here, his mouth went dry.

The goal drew close enough to be caught in his hand.

Now that he reached the Void Refinement stage 8th layer, the most important thing was to obtain the Integration spiritual object.

The rest could be resolved somehow if he only had time.

‘Where should I go?’

He scanned the surroundings rapidly, but first, the ground of the city was composed of sand, and no treasure was visible in particular.

The most special thing in the vicinity was indeed the pavilions of dozens-of-stories-high scale.

A structure whose vertical length was longer than its horizontal length.

It looked like a wooden pagoda commonly seen when going to a temple, and just by looking, it seemed something would come out only if he entered inside there.

Although he wanted to enter immediately and scan what was inside, all the buildings were enveloped in a translucent barrier.

After contemplating for a moment, he drew his sword.

Clang!

Although he flew a slash by putting in quite his full strength, the barrier enveloping the building did not break. A very minute crack appearing was all.

‘Quite hard… it will break only if I pound it for at least two or three hours.’

Although it was not solid like the array installed outside the city, it was also not weak enough to break easily.

It was troublesome.

If he tried to search these buildings one by one, he would not be able to scan the entire city even if hundreds of years passed.

What should he do to search efficiently…

While tapping his scabbard and contemplating, he pushed the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye to its utmost limit.

And he poured trillions of the Supreme Great Ability to amplify his senses.

50 billion, 70 billion, 90 billion…

The moment he consumed a considerable amount of the Supreme Great Ability.

Along with a headache as if his glabella was throbbing, the inside of the building covered by the barrier was vaguely felt.

‘The buildings in this surrounding are all duds.’

Although he could not know precisely what was inside, judging by the energy flowing inside, he could know at least that there was no precious spiritual object.

A chuckle came out on its own.

Since he became able to find out whether there was a treasure inside without the trouble of breaking the array, it was natural.

‘Good. First, let’s go to the center of the city.’

Usually the most precious thing is in the center, so he intended to explore the ruins starting from there.