Mystery of the Ruins

The Astral Wind at the bottom of the Star Shattering Abyss grew increasingly violent, the gray currents acting like countless rotating saw blades, slicing the Space into fragments.

White Night's nine Law halos had shrunk to cling tightly to his divine body. The black and white patterns on the halos' surface rotated rapidly, guiding most of the Astral Wind toward the rock walls on both sides, which had long been eroded by the Astral Wind into bottomless ravines, the exposed rock layers reflecting a metallic cold light.

He stared at the half-buried stone gate ahead. The words "Nine Heavens" on the lintel had been blurred by the Astral Wind, but only the reliefs on either side of the door were still clearly discernible: on the left was the Statue of the Wind Earl with wings spread, and on the right was the Phantom of the War God holding a giant axe. Between the two figures were densely packed Space runes, forming a complex locking array.

"This is the 'Two-Form Locking Space Array,' which requires activating both Wind Law and Space Law simultaneously to open." White Night brushed his fingertip over the runes, and the Heavenly Heart Imprint instantly analyzed the location of the array core.

He took a deep breath. The Nascent Soul in his Dantian simultaneously performed two hand seals. His left hand guided Wind elemental energy into the Wind Earl relief, and his right hand urged Space Law to touch the War God phantom.

"Buzz!"

The two reliefs suddenly lit up. The Statue of the Wind Earl spewed out azure airflow, and the Phantom of the War God raised its giant axe, the trajectory of the axe blade perfectly resonating with the Space runes.

The stone gate let out a dull sound and slowly opened inward, revealing a deep passage. At the end of the passage, a faint golden light shimmered.

The moment the stone gate opened, the Astral Wind on the right side suddenly surged violently, and three dark figures burst through the airflow, charging straight for White Night's back!

The scimitars in the dark figures' hands glowed with purplish-black toxic light, clearly having been tempered with "Deity Transformation Powder"!

This poison could not cause significant damage to a Deity Transformation Realm cultivator, but it could paralyze their Law halo.

"Scum of the Flowing Cloud Sect." White Night didn't turn his head. He flicked his left finger, and three Wind blades accurately struck the concave grooves on the inner side of the scimitars.

With three crisp 'clang' sounds, the dark figures felt a subtle force travel up the handles, and their scimitars nearly flew out of their hands, instantly halting their offensive.

Using this momentary gap, he spun around, and the Space Law in his right hand erupted. The Space around the three dark figures suddenly solidified, as if they were trapped by invisible walls.

This was the Deity Transformation Realm skill "Space Confinement," which, though only lasting for an instant, was enough to decide life and death.

"Wind Rift: Absolute Kill!"

The Iron Sword appeared in his hand without warning. The sword light penetrated the Space barrier, instantly piercing the throat of the dark figure on the left.

Purplish-black blood splattered onto the Law halo, emitting a 'sizzle' of corrosion, yet failed to harm the halo in the slightest.

The other two dark figures were shocked and enraged, desperately pushing their spiritual energy to break the Space Confinement.

White Night's Iron Sword swept across, the flat of the blade heavily striking the Dantian of the dark figure on the right. With a 'crack' sound, the opponent's Law halo instantly shattered, and their Nascent Soul flew out screaming from between their eyebrows, only to be sliced in half by a Wind blade flicked out by White Night.

The sole remaining dark figure was terrified upon seeing this and immediately turned to flee into the Astral Wind.

White Night's eyes turned cold. He crushed an Astral Wind Amulet gifted by Su Mei in his left hand. The talisman paper turned into a yellow light barrier, perfectly encasing the fleeing figure.

"Speak, why are you here?" The Iron Sword pressed against the dark figure's throat, White Night's voice colder than the chilling wind at the bottom of the abyss.

The dark figure trembled all over, stammering, "It... it was Young Master Zhou... He learned that you were coming to the Star Shattering Abyss... and specifically brought us here... to ambush you..."

"Zhou Tong?" White Night recalled the Young Master in brocade robes from Jǐnxiù City, a cold, sharp arc appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Where is he?"

"He's... he's deep inside the Ruins... He said he wanted to find the world gate key before you..."

Before the words finished, the Iron Sword had pierced his heart. White Night pulled out the long sword, letting the corpse be swept away by the Astral Wind. His gaze was calm and unwavering; mercy toward an enemy was cruelty toward oneself, a principle he had understood even before stepping into the Immortal Domain.

He turned and walked into the passage behind the stone gate. The stone walls on both sides of the passage were inlaid with glowing fluorite, illuminating the stone steps beneath his feet.

The stone steps were covered in dried bloodstains. Clearly, many cultivators had entered before, but all had perished here.

After proceeding a hundred zhang deeper, the passage suddenly opened up into a circular hall.

Nine Coiled Dragon Pillars stood in the center of the hall. Golden chains wrapped around the pillars, connecting to floating white skeletons. These skeletons wore tattered armor and held rusty long blades, still maintaining the posture of battle from when they were alive.

"These are the remains of warriors from the Nine Heavens Realm." White Night looked at the emblem on the skeletons' chests, which was engraved with the same Wind Mark as the Wind Earl's manuscript. "What are they guarding?"

The moment his voice fell silent, the sound of gears turning suddenly came from the top of the hall. The nine Coiled Dragon Pillars simultaneously lit up with red light, and the skeletons slowly opened their eyes, a faint blue soul fire igniting in their empty sockets!

"Intruders... die!"

Hoarse roars echoed in the hall. The skeletons swung their long blades, and the golden chains rattled deafeningly, twisting and strangling toward White Night.

The blade wind carried the malevolent aura of an ancient battlefield, causing ripples in his Law halo. Although these skeletons only possessed the combat power of the peak Nascent Soul stage, they contained a trace of Law fragments from the Nine Heavens Realm, making them far trickier to deal with than ordinary cultivators.

White Night advanced instead of retreating, his Iron Sword drawing three sword flowers aimed respectively at three of the Coiled Dragon Pillars.

The instant the sword blades collided with the pillars, he suddenly spun to avoid the strangling chains, simultaneously injecting Space Law into his sword move: "Wind Rift Shadow Split!"

Nine afterimages identical to him split from his true body. The Iron Swords in the afterimages' hands were also wrapped in Wind elemental energy, attacking all nine skeletons simultaneously.

The skeletons were drawn to the afterimages, their long blades hacking toward the phantoms, unaware that White Night's true body had used the cover of the afterimages to rush to the altar in the center of the hall.

A Bronze Casket was placed on the altar. The words "Suppressing Evil" were carved on its surface, emitting a faint golden light, clearly the key to suppressing these skeletons.

The moment White Night's fingertip touched the casket, the nine skeletons suddenly let out angry roars. Their soul fire surged several times over, and they actually broke free from the Coiled Dragon Pillars' restraints, transforming into nine blue shadows that lunged forward!

"Perfect timing." White Night opened the Bronze Casket. Inside were three rhombus-shaped golden talismans, the runes on which shared the same origin as the emblems on the skeletons' armor.

He grabbed the talismans and injected spiritual energy into them. The talismans instantly transformed into three golden nets, enveloping the three skeletons rushing at the front.

"Sizzle!"

The golden nets made contact with the skeletons, producing a sound like roasting meat. The faint blue soul fire flickered violently, clearly enduring immense pain.

White Night seized the opportunity to activate his Iron Sword. The sword light penetrated the gaps in the golden nets, accurately striking the skeletons' neck bones and sending their heads flying.

Seeing this, the remaining six skeletons grew even more frenzied. A tangible malevolent aura condensed on their long blades, forming six black blade lights that locked onto both White Night's afterimages and his true body simultaneously.

"It's time to end this." White Night crushed the last golden talisman. The talisman turned into a golden light curtain, temporarily forcing back the skeletons' attack.

He seized this momentary gap, pushing both Wind Law and Space Law to their limits. The Iron Sword drew a perfect arc in the air, and the black and white Laws flowing within the arc formed a small hurricane vortex.

"Chaos: Wind Meteor!"

This was a new move he created after fusing the two Laws. The suction generated by the vortex could not only devour spiritual energy but also tear apart divine souls.

The six skeletons were swept into the vortex. Their faint blue soul fire quickly dimmed as they spun, eventually dissipating into specks of starlight, leaving behind only six humming long blades.

White Night collected the long blades. They were forged from "Star Iron," unique to the Nine Heavens Realm. Although tainted with malevolent aura, they were still rare, high-grade spiritual artifacts.

He turned to look at the altar. Besides the talismans, a roll of beast skin map lay inside the Bronze Casket. The map used cinnabar to mark the structure of the ruins, with the core area labeled as the "boundary gate Hall."

"So that's it." White Night put the map into his system space. The "Blood Shadow Pool" marked on the map's edge caught his attention. A skull was drawn there, clearly indicating an extremely dangerous place, yet it was also marked with the words "Blood Spirit Grass, a sacred medicine for healing."

His divine body had been invaded by the malevolent aura during the previous battle. Though not severely harmed, it needed to be purged promptly.

The Blood Spirit Grass happened to be able to neutralize the malevolent aura, so collecting it while he was here was a good idea.

Following the map's guidance, he passed through the hidden door on the west side of the hall and proceeded along the winding passage.

Red liquid, flowing slowly like blood, began to appear on the stone walls on both sides of the passage. A thick smell of blood filled the air, making one feel nauseous.

"This is... 'Blood Marrow Stone,' the associated mineral vein of the Blood Shadow Pool." White Night touched the red liquid seeping from the stone wall. The Heavenly Heart Imprint informed him that this mineral contained pure life energy, and if refined into a pill, it could instantly restore thirty percent of a Deity Transformation Realm cultivator's spiritual energy.

He took out a jade box and carefully collected dozens of pieces of Blood Marrow Stone. This was an excellent life-saving resource.

Deep at the end of the passage, a blood-colored lake appeared before him. The water churned like molten magma. On a stone platform in the center of the lake grew three dark-red spirit herbs. Liquid dripping from their leaves hit the lake surface, stirring up golden ripples—these were the Blood Spirit Grass.

But White Night's gaze was fixed on the lake water, where countless distorted black shadows could vaguely be seen swimming. When the shadows hit the surface, they stirred up gray toxic mist. The mist landed on the rocks along the shore, corroding holes into the hard stone.

"Blood Shadow Beasts." He recalled the records in the "Qingxuan Continent Chronicle of Anomalies." This type of demonic beast feeds on cultivators' essence blood, lives in groups, and possesses extreme toxicity, forcing even Middle Stage Deity Transformation cultivators to keep a wide distance.

The Blood Spirit Grass on the stone platform was ripe now, making it the best time for harvesting.

White Night did not rashly enter the water. Instead, he took out a long blade he had seized from one of the skeletons, injected a trace of Wind Law into it, and then fiercely hurled it toward the center of the lake.

With a 'plop,' the long blade plunged into the soil beneath the stone platform, and the blood-colored lake instantly boiled!

Countless black shadows leaped out of the water, revealing translucent fangs, and frantically pounced on the long blade, quickly gnawing the entire Star Iron long blade into powder.

Taking advantage of the Blood Shadow Beasts being distracted, White Night used Shrinking the Ground into an Inch, instantly crossing tens of zhang and landing on the stone platform.

He pulled out his Iron Sword with a backhand sweep. The sword energy cut the three Blood Spirit Grass stalks off at the root and stored them in the jade box.

Just then, the largest Blood Shadow Beast reacted, letting out a sharp screech and leading the pack to rush toward the stone platform!

This Blood Shadow Beast was three zhang long, its fangs glowing with a purplish-black luster. It was clearly the Beast King, its strength having reached the peak of the Early Stage Deity Transformation.

"Seeking death." White Night's eyes narrowed. He crushed a piece of Blood Marrow Stone in his left hand, and pure life energy instantly surged into his meridians, replenishing most of the spiritual energy he had just consumed.

He spun to avoid the Beast King's pounce, his Iron Sword wrapped in black and white Laws, and backhanded a slash toward the Beast King's neck.

"Pfft!"

The blade sliced through the translucent flesh. Black blood sprayed out, landing on the stone platform with a sizzling sound.

The Beast King roared angrily in pain, whipping its tail like a steel whip toward White Night, the venomous barb at the tip flickering with faint light.

White Night tapped his toe, his figure drifting back like a falling leaf, while simultaneously condensing Space Law on his fingertip and flicking a Space rift toward the Beast King's wound.

Although the rift was tiny, it precisely sliced into the Beast King's body, shattering its inner core.

The Beast King let out a mournful howl, and its massive body slowly sank into the lake. Seeing this, the other Blood Shadow Beasts scattered and fled, daring not to approach the stone platform again.

White Night looked at the blood-colored lake, which had returned to calm. He purified the poison from his Iron Sword and turned to leave.

This trip to the Blood Shadow Pool had been fruitful. Not only did he obtain the healing Blood Spirit Grass, but he also figured out the habits of the Blood Shadow Beasts. More importantly, he sensed a faint aura of the world gate key within the Blood Marrow Stone, confirming that his direction was correct.

Continuing deeper along the passage, the light ahead grew brighter, and the fluctuations of Space Law in the air became increasingly intense.

White Night knew that the boundary gate Hall was ahead, and what awaited him there might be entities more dangerous than the Blood Shadow Beasts and the skeletons, such as Zhou Tong, who was also searching for the world gate key, and the true guardians of the ruins.

He tightened his grip on the Iron Sword. His nine Law halos accelerated their rotation again. A trace of blood-red malevolent aura began to mix with the black and white patterns—an alien energy absorbed after slaying the Blood Shadow Beasts. Under the conversion of the Heavenly Heart Imprint, this energy actually made his Wind Law slightly corrosive, enhancing its power beyond its previous level.

The outline of the boundary gate Hall had emerged ahead. The words "boundary gate" above the hall entrance emitted a dazzling golden light, forming a stark contrast with the darkness of the Star Shattering Abyss.

White Night's steps did not falter in the slightest as he walked toward the great hall, which symbolized a new journey. Every step he took left a faint sword mark on the ground...