782: Ancient Ruins Town Yin, Quest Speculation

“Junior Martial Brother, you must stay in this secret room and cultivate with peace of mind. In this spatial ring are the items I have prepared for you; you must make good use of these resources to improve yourself...”

Xiao Yichen urged him once more, and just like last time, he took out a spatial ring and gave it to Lin Yang.

Lin Yang took it and glanced inside; the contents of the spatial ring were much the same as last time.

He looked at Xiao Yichen.

If the course of events remained unchanged, Xiao Yichen would soon leave the secret room, seal it shut, and fight to the death outside against the arriving enemies of the Foreign race, guarding the passageway leading into the secret room.

Sure enough.

After giving the spatial ring to Lin Yang, Xiao Yichen turned to leave the secret room.

Lin Yang's eyes flickered as he began to think quickly.

The Ancient Ruins had pulled him back into this projected world, but the timeline had shifted to the present; perhaps there was some mystery hidden within this.

Because, according to the subsequent progression of events, after Xiao Yichen left this secret room, he would die in the near future.

When that time came, the entire Saint Spirit Sect would also be destroyed and turned into ruins.

In that case, there would be no one left to assign him tasks.

Last time, his task was to rebuild the Saint Spirit Sect.

But this time, once Xiao Yichen left, without any task assigned, wouldn't that mean he would be trapped here forever?

Although the rules of the Ancient Ruins were vague, one point was clear.

There must be a way to complete the task within the Ancient Ruins.

This timeline was somewhat subtle.

“Xiao Yichen telling me to stay in the secret room and cultivate with peace of mind—could this be considered a task assignment?”

Lin Yang's thoughts raced.

But he felt that if that were the case, it would be far too simple.

He began to try divergent thinking.

Last time, his task was to restore the glory of the Saint Spirit Sect.

Furthermore, the original owner of this Junior Martial Brother identity was a disciple of the Saint Spirit Sect.

After leaving the Ancient Ruins last time, he and Yu Qing had speculated that the original Junior Martial Brother might have chosen a different path and did not rebuild the Saint Spirit Sect. Therefore, after he was pulled in, he had to fulfill the wish that the original Junior Martial Brother had not completed.

Therefore, after he rebuilt the Saint Spirit Sect, his task from last time was completed.

Then what about this time?

The timeline he was pulled into was here, and without the task of rebuilding the Saint Spirit Sect, it couldn't be that he was simply supposed to stay in the secret room and cultivate, right?

“Last time, it was to fulfill the uncompleted wish of the original Junior Martial Brother, but the Saint Spirit Sect had already been rebuilt once, and yet he was specifically pulled into this timeline...”

“What would the wish of this Junior Martial Brother identity be this time?”

Lin Yang thought quickly.

The rules of the Ancient Ruins were very peculiar, with no accurate pattern to follow.

Moreover, the projected worlds seemed infinite, and everyone was pulled into different ones.

Therefore, one could not find information or solutions regarding a specific projected world in reality; one had to rely on oneself to figure it out.

Furthermore, it was speculated that the events happening within a projected world could change at any time and were not immutable.

Therefore, even for the same projected world, if different people were pulled in, the methods to escape would be different.

This could be seen from the fact that he and Yu Qing were both pulled into the Saint Spirit Sect last time.

Yu Qing had a different identity from him, and the requirements for completing the task were also different.

So this time, he was pulled in again, but the timeline was different, which meant that the task this time had certainly changed as well.

“Assuming the previous inference was correct, the task in the projected world might be a path the original Junior Martial Brother had not taken, allowing the person pulled in to walk it to make up for regrets. So, what was the original Junior Martial Brother's regret this time?”

Lin Yang felt as if he had vaguely grasped something.

He had already fulfilled the regret of rebuilding the sect for him; logically speaking, there shouldn't be any regrets left this time.

But it was normal for a person's life to have more than one regret.

“If I were the original Junior Martial Brother, having already completed the regret of rebuilding the Saint Spirit Sect, what regret would I have now?”

Lin Yang tried to switch perspectives, putting himself in the shoes of the Junior Martial Brother to think about things.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Yang vaguely had an answer.

Since the regret of rebuilding the Saint Spirit Sect had already been made up for, more regrets should lie with “people.”

Judging from the events experienced during the timeline he was pulled into last time, the people of the Saint Spirit Sect, whether it was the Master or the senior brothers, were all very good to this Junior Martial Brother.

If it were him, he certainly wouldn't want them to die.

But the Master and the other senior brothers seemed to have gone to a certain battlefield long ago and died there.

And because his cultivation was insufficient, he couldn't go to the battlefield to help.

Only Xiao Yichen remained to continue protecting him.

Therefore, from the psychological perspective of the Junior Martial Brother himself, he certainly wouldn't want to see Xiao Yichen die.

He couldn't save the Master and the senior brothers who died on the battlefield.

But Xiao Yichen was right by his side.

And it happened to be this timeline.

Perhaps...

An answer was on the verge of emerging in Lin Yang's heart.

That was, it was very likely that the Junior Martial Brother's wish this time was to save Xiao Yichen!

At the very least, he had to try hard to save him.

He had already experienced the ending where Xiao Yichen died, so he wanted to change this ending to see if it would be different!

With this thought, Lin Yang felt more and more that this possibility was high.

However, if the task this time was to try to save Xiao Yichen, there was one most realistic problem facing him.

That was, his strength was not enough!

The current identity of the Junior Martial Brother only had the cultivation of Dao Above at this timeline, while Xiao Yichen was in the Nie Kong Realm.

The Foreign race enemies who could kill Xiao Yichen must be even stronger than Xiao Yichen.

If he wanted to save someone, the difficulty was too great, and there was perhaps no possibility of completing it.

However, even so, Lin Yang decided to act according to this line of reasoning he had inferred.

Immediately, he called out to Xiao Yichen and said, “Senior Brother, you are leaving me alone in this secret room; is it because the enemy is coming?”

Xiao Yichen seemed slightly stunned upon hearing this, but then said, “Junior Martial Brother, don't think too much; I will handle other matters...”

“Senior Brother, you don't need to hide it from me; the Foreign race enemies are coming, right? You left me here and gave me so many resources; it is obvious that you are not sure if you can handle it, which is why you made these preparations, right?” Lin Yang looked directly at Xiao Yichen.

According to his previous experience, he knew that the original Junior Martial Brother seemed unaware at this stage that the enemy would attack the Saint Spirit Sect.

Of course, it was not ruled out that he knew, but because his strength was insufficient, he could only follow Xiao Yichen's arrangements.

But now, Lin Yang wanted to try his best to persuade Xiao Yichen to stay as well.

Yes, let Xiao Yichen stay in the secret room too, to see if they could avoid this disaster of the sect's destruction.

Judging from the previous experience, he was very safe hiding in the secret room, and the Foreign race enemies did not discover it.

Although Xiao Yichen died outside, the opponent did not enter the secret room after killing him, which indicated that this secret room shouldn't be that easy to expose.

However, it couldn't be ruled out that it was because Xiao Yichen was guarding the outside that the enemies didn't discover it.

But now there was no choice; he could only gamble and try.

Lin Yang didn't think about going out to fight side by side with Xiao Yichen either.

His strength was too low; showing off would only lead to a faster death.

Staying in the secret room might be the only glimmer of hope.

Hearing Lin Yang's words, Xiao Yichen was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, “Junior Martial Brother, trust me, Senior Brother will definitely handle it well!”

“Senior Brother!” Lin Yang began to persuade him, “Stay with me in this secret room; the enemy is too strong, there is no need to face them head-on.”

However, Xiao Yichen smiled, “Junior Martial Brother, there are some things... I must do. Alright, you don't need to say anything more; just stay here with peace of mind!”

After saying this, ignoring Lin Yang's dissuasion, he prepared to leave.

“Senior Brother, if you don't stay, I won't stay either!” Lin Yang shouted, about to rush out of the secret room with him.

But, with just a wave of Xiao Yichen's hand, a force restrained his body.

“Junior Martial Brother, do not be willful.”

Xiao Yichen sighed softly and walked out of the secret room.

Accompanied by a slight sound, the secret room was completely sealed.

Lin Yang's body also regained its freedom.

“...”

Lin Yang was suddenly a bit helpless.

The gap in strength was too great, leaving him unable to resist Xiao Yichen's restraint.

In the end, just like last time, he was left alone in the secret room.

“Since persuasion didn't work, I can only find a way to break open the secret room as soon as possible, and then think of other ways.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Yang decided to take a risk and try to break open the secret room directly.

If he continued to cultivate step-by-step, by the time he left the secret room, Xiao Yichen's outcome would probably be no different from last time.

Last time, he hadn't mastered the High-level Spirit Communication Array in advance and could only wait until his cultivation improved before leaving the secret room.

But this time it was different; he still had an impression of the operation of the High-level Spirit Communication Array's diagram. Although his cultivation was insufficient and forcefully setting up the array might be dangerous, it was worth a try.

Lin Yang immediately recalled all the details of the High-level Spirit Communication Array.

He then began to act.

The key to opening the secret room was to use the High-level Spirit Communication Array to activate the mechanism that opened the interior of the secret room.

He followed the steps from when he left the secret room last time and began to set up the High-level Spirit Communication Array.

However, at the moment he started, he hesitated slightly.

Because the cultivation techniques, divine abilities, and even Formation Arrays he had mastered in the Ancient Ruins were forgotten after leaving the Ancient Ruins.

He was considered an anomaly, still being able to remember the Spirit Communication Array after leaving the Ancient Ruins.

Doing this now, he didn't know if it would cause any variables.

Moreover, when he set up the primary Spirit Communication Array in reality, it had attracted that mysterious and terrifying Yin Soul.

Now, although he was in the Ancient Ruins again, he was not sure if he would attract that guy again.

Doing this was indeed quite risky.

Especially since Yu Qing had said before that in a non-dangerous Ancient Ruins world, one could try to delay leaving.

He could completely stay in the secret room now and just wait.

However, after hesitating for only a moment, Lin Yang continued to set up the array.

Because he felt that the task this time was highly likely to be an attempt to save Xiao Yichen.

If he failed, it was very likely he would be completely trapped in the Ancient Ruins or even die here.

Taking a risk was worth it.

After all, even if he happened to guess wrong and the task wasn't to save Xiao Yichen, at worst he could just go back to the secret room and hide.

But if the task was really to save Xiao Yichen, then it would be different.

The benefits outweighed the risks!

It was worth a fight.

Hum, hum, hum!

As the High-level Spirit Communication Array was set up bit by bit by Lin Yang, a cold, chilling power quickly permeated the area.

Lin Yang's movements quickly became sluggish, and his body even began to tremble uncontrollably.

Currently, the identity of the Junior Martial Brother only had the cultivation of Dao Above; forcefully setting up the High-level Spirit Communication Array was extremely difficult.

Lin Yang felt the cold power beginning to invade his body.

This was clearly the backlash of the Yin Soul power summoned by the High-level Spirit Communication Array, which exceeded the limit that his current cultivation could withstand.

Furthermore, Lin Yang vaguely felt the body of that eerie Yin Soul, whose face could not be seen, looking at him from the other side of the endless darkness.

Swish.

Lin Yang only felt an inexplicably terrifying force surging towards him across the endless darkness and even Endless Spacetime.

That Yin Soul had appeared after all.

Moreover, it seemed to be because this time it was summoned through the High-level Spirit Communication Array.

The power that this Yin Soul could release was much stronger.

It was far more terrifying than the feeling it gave Lin Yang in reality.

Lin Yang subconsciously wanted to destroy the Spirit Communication Array that had not yet been fully set up, to prevent the arrival of that Yin Soul.

Leaving the secret room might be important, but what was more important was staying alive!

There was still some time before the Foreign race enemies destroyed the Saint Spirit Sect.

He could think of other ways.

But he had to stop the arrival of this Yin Soul right now.

But, at the very moment Lin Yang was about to destroy the Spirit Communication Array, an invisible force surged from all directions and suppressed the Yin Soul.

This force seemed to come from between heaven and earth, and it precisely locked onto the Yin Soul's power, pushing it back into the Spirit Communication Array bit by bit.

“What... is this situation?” Lin Yang's hand paused, very astonished.

Last time in reality, it was the power of that piece of cloth that suppressed this eerie Yin Soul.

This time, however, it seemed as if the power of the Ancient Ruins had intervened directly.

“The power of the Ancient Ruins targets the Yin Soul? But that's not right; this force didn't suppress the other cold, chilling powers summoned through the Spirit Communication Array, it only targeted the power of this mysterious Yin Soul.”

Lin Yang was very confused.

He couldn't quite figure out the situation.

In short, everything was very strange.

Why would the power of the Ancient Ruins target this mysterious Yin Soul?

Was it specifically helping him?

Or was there another reason?

Lin Yang did not know.

Suddenly.

The originally bright secret room suddenly turned pitch black.

Bursts of cold wind blew from nowhere, making Lin Yang shudder.

In the darkness, a blurred shadow appeared in the secret room.

It seemed only inches away from Lin Yang.

Lin Yang could even feel the cold air emanating from this shadow brushing across his skin.

Yin Soul!

It was that mysterious Yin Soul that had appeared directly in the secret room, and it was standing right in front of him!

Lin Yang's breath stagnated, his whole body stiffened, and he felt his blood turn cold at this moment.

“Heh...”

A soft laugh seemed to ring in Lin Yang's ears, making his hair stand on end and almost suffocating him.

“Could it be that the power of the Ancient Ruins also cannot suppress this Yin Soul?” Lin Yang was horrified in his heart.

He felt the cold, chilling eyes of the Yin Soul staring at him, making his whole body feel cold.

It seemed like a long time had passed, and it also seemed like only a fleeting moment.

The cold, chilling gaze disappeared.

Lin Yang's body inexplicably relaxed, but that cold, chilling power still permeated the surroundings.

The secret room remained pitch black.

The shadow was still standing in place, one step away from him.

However, inexplicably, Lin Yang felt that this shadow was actually very far away from him.

The two seemed to not be in the same space at all.

Lin Yang even had an illusion that this shadow was not only separated from him by a vast space but also separated by time.

This was an indescribable feeling.

Whoosh... Whoosh...

Before Lin Yang could have more feelings.

The secret room suddenly started to flicker between light and dark again.

It was as if two forces were fighting over something.

Clearly, this was the power of the Ancient Ruins confronting this terrifying Yin Soul.

The two seemed to be evenly matched.

Lin Yang really wanted to take the opportunity to destroy the Spirit Communication Array, but now there was no chance for him to act.

He was already unable to move.

He could only watch the power of the Ancient Ruins and the Yin Soul fight like a bystander.

At the same time, he secretly prayed in his heart that the power of the Ancient Ruins would win.

He didn't know how much more time had passed.

The light in the secret room began to stabilize, the darkness gradually dissipated, and the cold, chilling power slowly weakened.

The power of the Ancient Ruins ultimately gained the upper hand.

Pushing the Yin Soul's power back into the Spirit Communication Array bit by bit.

That blurred shadow also slowly dissipated.

The temperature in the secret room finally rose back up.

Lin Yang also regained control of his body again.

Then, almost without hesitation, he dismantled the Spirit Communication Array.

He dared not continue to complete the final steps.

However, the moment he looked up, he found that the secret room had already been opened at some unknown time.