462: Demon-Suppressing Ancient Ruins

A month and a half flew by in an instant.

When the warship exited the teleportation passage, a magnificent and ancient giant city suddenly appeared amidst the Chaos mist—Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins!

The city was entirely black, its walls soared into the clouds, and its surface was covered with profound Seal divine patterns. Each pattern flowed with a terrifying aura that suppressed all ages.

In a distant era, a powerful being used the entire city as a formation eye to Seal a Chaos Demon God.

After countless eons, that Demon God had long since perished, but its remains merged with the ancient city, becoming part of the Ancient Ruins, giving the city an unsettling, ominous pressure.

"We've arrived. This is the core area north of the Southern Abyss—Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins!" Ji Qianling said.

On the warship, everyone gazed into the distance, their expressions solemn.

The Eternal Ruins are vast and boundless. Apart from the central Eternal Dao Realm, the remaining regions are divided into the Four Abysses: East, South, West, and North.

And the Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins, where they were currently located, was one of the famous million Chaos ancient cities north of the Southern Abyss. Its profound heritage was enough to rank among the top thousand in the Southern Abyss!

This ancient city was vast, comparable to a Mystic Yellow Dao Territory. Its first City Lord was a Human Race Dao Ancestor who emerged from the Eternal Dao Realm. He once suppressed a Chaos Demon God with his own power and established this city to protect Human Race Cultivators.

Even after countless epochs, Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins remained on good terms with the Human Race, becoming one of the Human Race's important allies in the Chaos Sea.

Outside the teleportation formation, the Chaos halo of the teleportation formation had not yet dissipated when over a dozen figures already stood in the air.

The Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family, who was leading, wore a dark python robe, and the bronze ancient mirror hanging at his waist gleamed with the faint light of accumulated years.

This Half-Ancestor expert stood with his hands behind his back, a golden pattern shaped like a Demon Suppressing Divine Pagoda on his forehead glowed faintly, and the Chaos Qi flowing around him pressed fine cracks into the surrounding space.

"Old fellow, not dead yet?" Ji Qianling leapt out before the warship even stopped, his snow-white beard and hair fluttering in the Chaos wind.

"You old chess addict..." The Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family's throat rumbled, his voice as hoarse as the wind-eroded rocks of the Chaos Sea. "We agreed to fight again after 100,000 years. This game..."

He suddenly raised his sleeve and swept it across the Void Realm, and Chaos Qi condensed into a chessboard. "You owe me 129,600 moves!"

Ji Qianling laughed, shaking down the ice from the eaves. "After the Tianyang Competition, shall we play another match?"

The Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family gently stroked the golden pattern and smiled, "Of course!"

The two old friends exchanged a smile. A million years of time felt as thin as a cicada's wing in that moment.

When the Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family turned to lead the way, a string of bronze chariots flew from his sleeve, growing into eighteen Chaos battle chariots as they met the wind.

Where the wheels rolled, the ancient city streets automatically parted to reveal a starlight avenue, exposing the winding spiritual light of the ancestral pulse underground.

"Please."

The Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family stepped onto the chariot's shaft, his fingertips sketching the Zheng Family emblem in the Void Realm. Ji Qianling unceremoniously leapt onto the main chariot, the robes of the two Half-Ancestors intertwining in the Chaos wind like two ancient trees growing side by side.

When the war chariot started, Xu Qing's face showed some curiosity.

"Curious, aren't you? These two are sworn brothers! On Tianyang Pass back then, they were assigned to the same army and have had nearly 20,000 epochs of friendship!" a Half-Ancestor from the Human Race Holy Temple explained.

"So that's how it is!" Xu Qing nodded, then asked, "Brother, how long will we be staying in Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins?"

"One month!" The Half-Ancestor explained, "There are still some Human Race forces north of the Southern Abyss. These forces will all participate in the Tianyang Competition. We will travel together on this journey, and we can look out for each other on the way."

"The north of the Southern Abyss is still alright; we have many Human Race forces here. But further south, some ancient cities don't have much goodwill towards our Human Race."

"And with the Tianyang Competition approaching, it's hard to say if someone might not be able to resist..."

The Half-Ancestor didn't finish his sentence, but Xu Qing understood.

No wonder a Dao Ancestor was personally overseeing this trip. He probably intended to guard against the people of those ancient cities, in addition to dealing with the Chaos Sea's exotic beasts.

Just as he was thinking, the aura of the Dao Ancestor behind him disappeared, likely going to meet the Zheng Family's Dao Ancestor.

"Enter the city!"

The warship slowly entered the ancient city's boundaries. With the Old Ancestor of the Zheng Family leading the way, the warship faced no obstacles.

Xu Qing also witnessed the vastness of this ancient city.

Inside the ancient city, the streets were wide, and the buildings were ancient and heavy, exuding the vicissitudes of time. A faint Chaos Qi permeated the air, yet it was tamed by some invisible force, becoming docile and controllable.

In the distance, a majestic black tall pagoda stood like a sky-supporting pillar in the center of the city. Thick Law chains wrapped around the pagoda's body, and the other end of the chains delved deep underground, seemingly suppressing something.

That was—the Demon Suppressing Divine Pagoda!

Legend has it that deep beneath the pagoda was the burial ground of that Chaos Demon God, and also the source of power for the entire ancient city!

And at the top of the pagoda, Xu Qing felt the aura of a Dao Ancestor, clearly the first City Lord of Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins.

Unlike the Heaven-Human Ancient City, which was purely dominated by the Human Race, Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins, as an ancient city in the Chaos Sea, gathered beings from the myriad Chaos Races.

Walking on the ancient city streets, one could see various Chaos Races with different forms everywhere.

There were Chaos Shadow Race members whose bodies were condensed from black mist, appearing illusory and real as they walked, their bodies entwined with shadow Laws that devoured light.

There were members of the Celestial Imperial Race with six wings on their backs and golden flames in their eyes. As their wings flapped, sparks of starlight scattered, scorching the Void Realm. There were even Chaos Stone Spirits, massive as mountains, whose entire bodies were composed of Chaos crystals, causing the ground to tremble with every step they took... These beings were powerful; the weakest were at the Dao Lord level, Dao Monarch experts were not uncommon, and occasionally, one could even feel the terrifying aura of Immortal Giants faintly appearing in the city.

As for Immortal Overlords, no matter which race they belonged to, they were considered high-ranking figures, possessing their own majesty and prestige.

"Boom—"

Suddenly, a roar came from afar. An Immortal Overlord of the Nine-Headed Demonic Flood Dragon Race stepped through the air, his eighteen vertical pupils scanning sharply. Wherever he passed, all beings retreated.

On the other side, a Human Race Dao Monarch had a calm expression, passing him by. The auras of the two collided, causing the Void Realm to twist, yet they tacitly reined in their respective powers.

This was the rule of Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins—the strong were respected, but unprovoked slaughter was forbidden.

After all, this was an ancient city overseen by a Dao Ancestor. If anyone dared to break the rules, even a Half-Ancestor would not escape the calamity of being suppressed!

From Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins, one could infer that the Southern Abyss's strength was not weak. It was not that a thousand Dao Monarchs could not be gathered, but given a choice, who would be willing to send Dao Monarchs from their own Family?

As it has evolved, only the Tianyang Competition can now silence the gossip from below.

Demon Suppressing Ancient Ruins is divided into the Outer City, Inner City, and Ruins City.

Within the Ruins City, there are only the Zheng Family and its subordinate vassal races. The Outer City allows any beings to trade and reside. As for the Inner City, if one does not have residency qualifications, a certain amount of dao crystal must be paid annually.

The Zheng Family had already arranged residences for the Human Race and extended a warm welcome.

And Xu Qing also understood that the Zheng Family was actually a chess piece arranged by the Human Race Holy Temple in the Southern Abyss a long time ago.

Of course, such secrets were only known to the Grand Elders of the Humanity Palace.