260: Chapter 260: Suddenly Appearing

Outside the Sword Qi Great Wall, deep in the wasteland.

Two figures faced each other from a distance, having stood here for an entire month.

City Lord Li Qingge stood with his hands behind his back, his green robes flapping loudly in the wind.

The hem of his robes was lifted by the wind and then fell, like a weary flag.

His gaze fell upon the grayish-white Teleportation Array in the distance; its runes were dim and motionless, like a sleeping eye.

One month, a full month had already passed.

There was still no one behind him, no attendants.

After all, at his Realm, he didn't need anyone else to wait with him.

For a Cultivator at the Peak of the Body Integration Stage, their state of mind was already like an ancient well, calm and undisturbed.

But today, a faint sense of unease stirred in his heart.

Because the color of the sky above the ruins had changed.

The murky gray color darkened bit by bit, turning from gray to brownish-gray, and from brownish-gray to dark red.

A hundred zhang away, a golden lion lay prone on a giant rock.

The surface of the rock had been polished smooth as a mirror by the wind and sand, reflecting the golden image of the lion.

Its mane fluttered in the wind like flames, each strand of hair like a golden sword, shimmering with a cold light in the twilight.

Clan Leader Shi Tianba's vertical pupils were half-closed, as if he were dozing.

The two Body Integration Stage powerhouses had been waiting here for several days, waiting for their respective juniors to emerge from the ruins.

This was the rule.

When the ruins opened, the Human Race and the Yao Race each sent a hundred prodigies inside, while the great experts of both races waited outside, not interfering with each other.

It had been this way for thousands of years, and nothing had ever gone wrong.

Both sides had a tacit understanding; whoever acted first would break the rules and become a target for everyone.

But today, Clan Leader Shi Tianba felt something was wrong.

It wasn't intuition; it was a warning from deep within his Bloodline.

Within the Bloodline of the Golden Lion Clan was an ancient Legacy that could sense approaching danger.

His blood was heating up, and his mane involuntarily bristled slightly—a reaction that only occurred when facing a powerful enemy.

He opened his eyes, his golden vertical pupils looking toward the distant horizon.

There, the sky above the ruins seemed a bit darker than yesterday.

“City Lord Li Qingge.”

Clan Leader Shi Tianba spoke, his voice low like muffled thunder, causing the surrounding pebbles to vibrate slightly.

“Don't you feel that the aura of the ruins has changed?”

City Lord Li Qingge was also looking at that patch of sky.

His perception was even sharper than Clan Leader Shi Tianba's.

He had long since noticed the anomaly.

The spatial fluctuations inside the ruins had become chaotic, like a pot of boiling porridge bubbling over; the fluctuations were growing stronger, and even the surrounding air began to tremble.

The gravel on the ground hopped gently, as if something were turning over beneath the earth.

“Yes.”

City Lord Li Qingge said.

“Something must have happened inside the ruins.”

Clan Leader Shi Tianba stood up, his massive body rising from the giant rock, his four thick legs supporting a frame like a small mountain.

His golden mane bristled, and Demonic Qi involuntarily leaked out, forming a pale golden halo around his body.

A trace of anxiety flashed in his vertical pupils.

His youngest son, Shi Haokong, was still inside.

That was his most outstanding son, the one with the purest Bloodline, the highest talent, and the most likely to inherit his throne.

“Should we use the heaven-peering mirror to take a look?”

Clan Leader Shi Tianba asked.

His claws scraped the ground, leaving a deep furrow.

City Lord Li Qingge shook his head, his gaze still fixed on the dark red sky.

“No, the Restriction is still there.”

That ten-thousand-year-old Restriction couldn't be shaken even by those at the Body Integration Stage.

Clan Leader Shi Tianba grit his teeth, a flash of frustration in his golden vertical pupils.

Even several Old Emperors of the Yao Race were helpless against that Restriction; he was even less capable.

Time moved inch by inch in their silence, like a slowly crawling snail.

One stick of incense passed.

Two sticks of incense passed.

An hour passed.

The dark red color above the ruins grew thicker, turning from a faint rust color to the color of clotted blood.

City Lord Li Qingge's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

He sensed the spatial fluctuations inside the ruins turning from chaotic to violent, like a pot of boiling porridge about to blow its lid off.

Clan Leader Shi Tianba's mane was completely bristled, like a ball of golden flame.

His Bloodline warning reached its Peak, his blood so hot it felt like it was about to burn.

“Something's wrong!”

Clan Leader Shi Tianba growled low, his four hooves digging into the ground and his body sinking slightly, prepared to leap.

Just as he finished speaking, a crack suddenly exploded across the sky above the ruins.

The rift spanned the entire heavens from east to west, its edges jagged like shattered glass.

Then, a blinding golden light poured out from the rift.

The golden light grew brighter and more intense, finally turning into a massive pillar of light that descended from the heavens, enveloping the Teleportation Array.

Within the pillar of light, countless golden runes circulated, emitting an ancient and majestic aura.

That aura was so heavy that the surrounding air solidified, and even the wind stopped.

Immediately after, over a dozen figures tumbled out of the pillar of light, falling to the ground like dumplings being dropped into water.

They were in various positions, looking extremely disheveled.

Xiao Ran climbed up from the ground and brushed the dust off himself.

He looked around, his gaze sweeping over City Lord Li Qingge in the distance and then over Clan Leader Shi Tianba opposite him.

His mind was a bit dazed.

Just moments ago, they had seen a strange golden light, and then everything went white before they appeared here.

Xiao Ran hadn't expected to actually leave the ruins.

In the next second.

City Lord Li Qingge's figure instantly appeared in front of Xiao Ran.

A Divine Ability of a Body Integration Stage expert—traversing a thousand miles in a single step.

Not a speck of dust touched his green robes, his hair was perfectly in place, but his eyes held a trace of gravity.

His gaze swept over Xiao Ran, then over Li Changsheng, and finally landed on the Teleportation Array.

No one else was coming out.

The runes on the Teleportation Array had all gone dark, like a closed eye.

“Where are the others?”

City Lord Li Qingge asked urgently.

Xiao Ran took a deep breath, cupped his hands, and said, “City Lord, something happened inside the ruins.”

He had prepared his explanation for this scene long ago; every word had been carefully weighed.

City Lord Li Qingge looked at him without speaking.

Xiao Ran recounted his fabricated story one by one.

“Deep within the ruins, there is a Moon Secret Realm. We heard there was a great Opportunity inside.”

“Most of the prodigies from both the Human Race and the Yao Race went in, but several of us didn't make it in time for various reasons.”

“As it turned out, something unknown happened inside the Secret Realm, and a massive wave of monster core self-detonations and Spiritual Power Storms suddenly broke out.”

“When we were being expelled, we only saw the ruins collapsing, filled with flames and lightning. We couldn't see anything clearly.”

“The others... I'm afraid they face a grim fate.”

City Lord Li Qingge's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

He stared into Xiao Ran's eyes, trying to find a flaw.

Xiao Ran's gaze was as calm as water, without a single ripple, like a pool of stagnant water.

City Lord Li Qingge then looked at Li Changsheng, who also nodded with a composed expression.

“City Lord, it is indeed so.”

“I sensed violent spiritual power fluctuations deep within the ruins, and more than once,”

Li Changsheng added.

City Lord Li Qingge fell silent for a moment.

Nothing like this had ever happened before—being kicked out of the ruins halfway.

It seemed a major upheaval had occurred inside, which meant those within were likely in grave danger.