55: Chapter 55 Awakening, Changes in the Ruins

"Cough, cough!"

Chen Zhuyun coughed violently twice, feeling his head was a mess, and his entire body felt dizzy.

"Is this a Cross-Domain Teleportation Array?" he muttered internally.

After the Teleportation Array activated, he felt his body being constantly stretched and twisted, as if he were turning into the smallest particles, making his internal organs uneasy and giving him the urge to vomit.

"Wait, where is Miss Zhirou?"

Chen Zhuyun snapped back to attention and quickly searched for Ruan Zhirou's whereabouts.

Fortunately, Ruan Zhirou was lying about ten zhang away from him.

However, the woman who had previously been bright and slightly mischievous was terrifyingly pale, completely drained of color, her breathing extremely weak, and her condition very poor.

She was first affected by the struggle between the protective jade talisman and the Lin Family Old Ancestor, then she forcefully used a Destiny Dao Spell to bless Chen Zhuyun, and finally endured the strain of the Cross-Domain Teleportation Array. It was truly injury upon injury upon injury; surviving was already a miracle.

"Why is Miss Zhirou's body so cold?"

Chen Zhuyun picked up the beauty from the ground. While confused, he took out a Healing Medicinal Pill from his Storage Pouch and fed it to Ruan Zhirou.

But since she was currently unconscious, the effects of the Medicinal Pill could not fully manifest.

Chen Zhuyun had a headache, but then inspiration struck. He circulated his Crimson Sun Limitless True Qi, and the scarlet True Qi carefully entered Ruan Zhirou's body to help her refine the Medicinal Pill and stabilize her injuries.

Only half an hour later, when he saw Ruan Zhirou's breathing stabilize and a few touches of redness appear on her pale jade face, did he finally relax.

"Where is this place?"

Chen Zhuyun held Ruan Zhirou in his arms, cautiously surveying the surroundings.

In Ruan Zhirou's words, this place held an Opportunity waiting for them; it was a warning from Heaven's Mandate.

But in Chen Zhuyun's view, no matter how great the Opportunity, one had to be alive to seize and enjoy it.

Fortunately, they were currently on top of an Altar, saw no other creatures, and faced no immediate danger.

This was an Altar entirely carved with blood-red patterns. It lacked the thick, pungent smell of blood; instead, it carried an indescribable clean fragrance that calmed the mind.

There were four sets of steps leading down from the Altar, and Chen Zhuyun was momentarily stumped, unsure which path to take.

"I'll wait until Miss Zhirou wakes up before deciding."

Chen Zhuyun gently put Ruan Zhirou down, then sat cross-legged on the ground. Scarlet True Qi surrounded him, his chest rising and falling, and he surprisingly began to Cultivate with great nonchalance.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of blood-red eyes had been watching him and Ruan Zhirou from the shadows... Time passed slowly, and seven days quietly went by.

During these seven days, while looking after Ruan Zhirou, Chen Zhuyun also gained some understanding of their location.

Besides the Blood Pattern Altar, the surrounding walls were carved with vivid murals depicting the entire process of a Cultivator rising from weakness to prominence.

He saw Demons Descending Upon the World, all beings wailing, and ten thousand spirits plunged into misery. Then, a magnificent figure emerged,

destroying the demonic shadows, purifying the universe, and sitting upon an extremely noble Immortal Throne. Golden Lotuses sprung from the earth, billions of Immortal Lights shone, looking down upon the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.

"If the Martial Dao can reach such heights, I will have no regrets in this life!" Chen Zhuyun exclaimed in awe.

Although he couldn't Cultivate the Immortal Dao, he was still quite knowledgeable about some common sense regarding it.

The dao position—this was the ultimate pursuit of Immortal Dao Cultivators, nearly equivalent to true eternal life and immortality in the world.

Once one ascended the dao position, it meant supreme status, a rank equal to Heaven. Every word and action could influence the Eight Desolations of Heaven and Earth, permanently imprinting one's dao mark within the Four Poles of the Universe.

Even if the master of the dao position perished, they could use the dao mark to return in a Heaven-Defying manner at some point in the future.

"Mmm..."

With a soft moan, Ruan Zhirou slowly opened her eyes, and a resolute face came into view.

"Miss Zhirou, are you alright?"

Ruan Zhirou tried to sit up but felt sore all over, as if her body was falling apart.

So, she stretched out both hands, her bright eyes staring straight at Chen Zhuyun: "I'm fine, you... just keep holding me. You're a Martial Artist anyway, and I'm not heavy."

"Alright."

Chen Zhuyun gently picked Ruan Zhirou up and lowered his head to ask, "Since Miss Zhirou is awake, we should leave this place now."

Ruan Zhirou tightened her hands around Chen Zhuyun's neck slightly, her red lips parting: "Wait, show me these murals."

Hearing this, Chen Zhuyun didn't ask further, assuming Ruan Zhirou was interested in the murals and wanted to learn more about the location.

After walking around with Ruan Zhirou for a while, the beauty in his arms furrowed her delicate brows, seemingly having realized something:

"If my guess is correct, this place should be the Jade Blood Heavenly Sect, founded by the legendary Dao Lord Yuxue, who ascended the Blood Qi dao position after the Ancient Zhou Blood Ancestor and partially reformed the Blood Qi orthodoxy."

"Dao Lord Yuxue? What kind of existence is that?" Chen Zhuyun asked, confused.

Ruan Zhirou rolled her eyes at him and patiently explained: "Any great person who can ascend to that position is an Attainer of the Dao, a Achieved Dao Practitioner. Dao Lord is the respectful title used for such existences.

A Golden Core True Monarch merely Cultivates the True Dao and refines a Golden Nature, but they are still far from attaining the Dao."

Saying this, she sighed faintly: "Cultivating Immortality is only for attaining the Dao, only for eternal life. This is the ultimate pursuit of all beings in the world, but even Attainers of the Dao will still die, never achieving true eternal life."

Throughout history, there have been those who ascended the dao position in every era, but none have lasted eternally. It is common for a single dao position to change masters multiple times.

Have you not seen the Xuan Yang Divine Emperor, who once occupied the Sun dao position? For a time, he was boundless, suppressing everything above and below the heavens, yet he was ultimately slain by the Human Emperor outside the heavens, and his Demon Kingdom on earth collapsed, turning into a cup of dust.

"Then how do we get out?" Chen Zhuyun's heart skipped a beat.

Since this involved an Attainer of the Dao, and one from the Blood Qi Path at that, he couldn't imagine how fierce the hidden storm would be.

"Blockhead."

Ruan Zhirou glared at Chen Zhuyun. If others were teleported to a place like this, they would be overjoyed—this was an immense, unimaginable Opportunity.

But Chen Zhuyun, on the other hand, only thought about how to run away and leave.

"Take the path on the right."

Chen Zhuyun gave an awkward smile and, following Ruan Zhirou's words, walked towards the steps on the right.

The words of a Destiny Dao Cultivator were worth listening to.

Thump, thump, thump!

Chen Zhuyun's footsteps echoed in this empty and desolate area, and there was no other sound... Meanwhile, the Jade Blood Heavenly Sect ruin beneath the Lin Family in Liquan Town was being excavated piece by piece by Cultivators rushing in from all directions, and the entire Liquan Town underwent earth-shattering changes.

Centered around the Lin Family Residence, an area spanning five hundred li was dug open by Cultivators using great magical power, revealing the continuous architectural complex of the ancient ruin below.

Who dared to believe, who could believe, that such an ancient ruin was buried beneath Liquan Town?

This action left the Cultivators who had lived in Liquan Town for generations furious but afraid to speak out.

The two great Foundation Establishment Families in the town had been destroyed one after another, and even if they remained, they probably wouldn't dare say much.

Because too many Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators had arrived in Liquan Town, some of them at Foundation Establishment Peak, and even Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators from major Sects had appeared.

Even if the Lin Family Old Ancestor hadn't been refined into a Blood Pill, with his Foundation Establishment Peak cultivation, he would still have had to obediently give up the territory.

A strong Dragon does not suppress a local snake, but when there are countless strong Dragons, the local snake can only be trampled to death.

Around the periphery of these architectural complexes, buildings of varying sizes and degrees of splendor were erected.

In the central area, a building a hundred zhang tall was erected, displaying the three glittering golden words: Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

Cultivators came and went in an endless stream. After all, exploring the ruin involved risking one's life. Not only did they have to face the dangers within the ruin, but also threats from other Cultivators, so preparing more Medicinal Pills and Talismanic Incantations was definitely the right thing to do.

But in the past few days, many strange incidents had occurred in Liquan Town. Cultivator corpses, sucked dry into mummies, were frequently discovered in the wilderness. Their terrifying appearance gave people a chilling feeling.

"I fear it is a method of the Blood Qi Path, not caused by the Jade Blood Heavenly Sect's Spells, but rather a technique passed down by the Ancient Zhou Blood Ancestor."

A Foundation Establishment Elder looked at the shriveled Cultivator corpse before him—its blood sucked dry, pupils bulging, and expression terrified—and voiced his speculation.

His name was Guan Tongwei. He hailed from Yunqi Commandery, east of Liyuan Commandery, and was an Elder of a Purple Mansion Major Sect, with a Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation. He had lived for over four sixty-year cycle and had consumed Longevity Spirit Medicine, thus he had not yet reached the stage of Qi and blood decline.

"After all, this Sect was established by a mighty Dao Lord. Even if this isn't the main Sect location, a single branch is incomparable to a Golden Core Upper Sect."

The speaker was a Foundation Establishment Peak Great Cultivator named Li Qi, who also came from a Purple Mansion Faction belonging to Guangchang Commandery, south of Liyuan Commandery.

Besides these two, dozens of other Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators were present, their Aura powerful, compressing the Void Realm until it seemed frozen. They were either Late Foundation Establishment Stage or Foundation Establishment Peak.

"Oh, right, have you noticed those obsidian statues?" Guan Tongwei, the first to speak, suddenly asked, having thought of something.

The Divine Sense of the Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators collided, and in an instant, they thought of many things.

"This is bad! This might be a trap!" A Foundation Establishment Peak Great Cultivator's body shook, his magical power surging within him, and he hurriedly rushed towards the ancient ruin.

The remaining Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators reacted one after another, transforming into rainbow light and flying towards the ancient ruin.

Their descendants were still inside the ruin exploring.

"Ahhh..."

By the time they reacted and rushed near the ancient ruin, a thick smell of blood permeated the air, and screams echoing across the sky were incessant.

A shocking scene appeared before the eyes of the many Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators: the obsidian statues had come alive, brandishing weapons and frantically slaughtering the Cultivators who had entered the ruin. Severed limbs flew everywhere, and blood flowed like a river!

"Damn it!"

A Late Foundation Establishment Stage Great Cultivator, who Cultivated Li Fire and had a fiery temper, angrily took action. A thousand-zhang Fire Dragon spanned the sky, enveloping an obsidian statue with an Aura capable of incinerating all things.

Boom!

The Fire Dragon dissipated. The obsidian statue was melted significantly, but the Aura it emitted was still powerful. It grinned at the Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator who had attacked, raised the spiked club in its hand, and smashed a Peak Qi Refining Cultivator attempting to flee into a mist of blood.

"What?!" The Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator was shocked internally. He immediately summoned his Life-Bound Magical Artifact and actively charged toward the obsidian statue.

The remaining Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators had no intention of standing by. They all pulled out their Magical Artifacts, and as their magical power surged, streams of Spells struck, covering the group of obsidian statues that were slaughtering ordinary Cultivators.

Instantly, fierce battles erupted throughout the ruin. magical power crisscrossed, and countless blood lights flashed.