97: Chapter 97 Sect Ruins

The endless sea of sand, yellow dust flying; in this barren land, one could actually see architectural ruins. If not for seeing it with one's own eyes, perhaps no one would believe what lay before them.

These ruins covered an extremely vast area, so large that the eye could not see the end at a glance. One could imagine how grand and magnificent it must have been, stretching on and on.

But now, most of it was submerged in yellow sand, leaving only dilapidated ruins. The buildings exposed outside were only about the height of one or two people.

Ning Yuan raised his hand to shield himself from the yellow sand blown up by the strong wind. He squinted his eyes at the distant buildings, ripples of emotion rising in his heart. Perhaps there was a way to leave the sea of sand ahead.

But now, he could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive; he had to go and take a look no matter what.

He then set Tao Yao down from his back, looked back at The women, and said, "Let's go take a look!"

After The women exchanged glances, they all nodded in agreement with Ning Yuan's idea. After all, in this uninhabited Spirit-Severing Sand Sea where Qi was severed, the appearance of a group of buildings was a strange occurrence, to say the least.

Subsequently, Ning Yuan and the others quickly approached the buildings. After entering the outskirts, everyone moved forward even more cautiously, fearing that some danger might suddenly emerge.

But the result surprised everyone; they encountered nothing along the way, as if it were just an ordinary set of buildings. However, the more it was like this, the weirder it felt.

"I heard that the appearance of the Spirit-Severing Sand Sea is related to a certain Sect. Could it be this one?"

After walking for a distance, Tao Yao suddenly spoke up. In her view, this was the ruins of that Sect; otherwise, who would build such a massive complex in this sea of sand?

Hearing this, Ning Yuan and the others were confused. None of them were from the Southern Province, so they really didn't understand these things. They only knew of the sand sea's existence and nothing else.

Ning Yuan raised an eyebrow. To think there was such a story. He then asked:

"Tell me more!"

"I don't know much either, I only..."

Next, Tao Yao told everyone everything she knew. After listening, there was no useful information at all; it was just suspicion now, without any substantial evidence.

"Let's look around some more!"

After saying that, Ning Yuan spoke no more and continued walking toward the inner part of the buildings, observing if there were any traces of a Sect.

Sect buildings follow patterns. To see if this was a Sect, a careful look would make it easy to draw a conclusion.

In the time that followed, they indeed found some traces of a Sect. From the architectural layout, it was similar to the Ming Dao Sword Sect where Ning Yuan had been before. It seemed this power had been extremely prosperous at the time.

After a long while, everyone arrived before a main hall. According to the layout, this was the core area and the most important central hall of a power.

This was one of the better-preserved buildings here, and it wasn't completely submerged by wind and sand. The yellow sand was only about calf-deep.

After exploring all the way, they hadn't encountered any danger so far, so everyone's courage grew. They directly worked together to push open the hall doors, which were over ten feet high.

Boom!

As a low sound rang out, the hall doors slowly opened. Then, turbid air rushed out, and the scene inside the hall was presented before everyone.

Inside the spacious hall, a main seat was placed directly opposite the entrance, with four secondary seats arranged around it in an arc, drawing one's attention immediately upon entering.

Besides that, through the passage of time, the hall exuded an ancient aura. There were also several collapsed areas, such as the floor and pillars, all covered in a thick layer of dust.

Ning Yuan and the others stepped inside the hall, looking up and around to observe everything within.

"Everyone, look around!"

Just as he finished speaking, Ning Yuan took the lead and walked to one side, watching everything around him, striving to find a way out of the sand sea.

Seeing this, The women had no choice but to disperse and search for those clues that might or might not exist, holding onto a pitiful glimmer of hope in their hearts that they might actually find something.

Ning Yuan observed carefully in the hall, not missing any detail, and kept tapping and knocking, trying to find hidden secret rooms or the like.

But the result was nothing; not even a single hair was found, let alone any clues.

"Is it really impossible to get out..."

Ning Yuan's heart was no longer as firm as it had been half a year ago. He was filled with confusion, not knowing whether to keep going or just wait for death here.

He didn't fear death; after all, he was someone who had died once already, so dying again was nothing. He was just unwilling.

It was rare to have a chance to live again, yet now he was to die here in such a muddled way. How could he be reconciled? But even if he wasn't, the road seemed to have truly reached its end... In such an environment, human strength eventually reaches its limit!

In front of Nangong Xi and the others, he still had to feign composure, encouraging and comforting them, making them believe they could definitely get out.

But who would counsel him, who would encourage him, who would... Sigh!

This moment for Ning Yuan was perhaps his most desperate since coming to this world, and the moment he most needed someone's care and guidance.

"Are you thinking of giving up?"

A sudden voice startled Ning Yuan. He immediately suppressed all his sorrow deep in his heart and looked around, finding that Nangong Xi and the others had surrounded him at some point.

"No, how could I possibly give up!" Ning Yuan smiled somewhat forcedly, but the emotions in his eyes still betrayed him unconsciously. The women saw everything.

"Ning Yuan, you've changed. You've actually learned to lie. Are you going to abandon us in the future too?"

Mu Qingyao said fiercely. Everyone had seen all that Ning Yuan had done over the past half year. If they put themselves in his shoes, perhaps the person who needed encouragement and care the most was actually him.

Hearing this, Ning Yuan's breath hitched, and he couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. "Should I say I overestimated myself, or underestimated you all?"

"Did no one tell you that your acting is terrible? Also, a woman's intuition isn't weak at all!"

Tao Yao spoke bluntly. Regarding Ning Yuan, she had to admit she admired him. In such a situation, he could still pretend so well, but people always have moments of oversight; it wasn't actually hard to notice.

"Ning Yuan, this isn't like you. Where's that shameless energy you had before?"

"Master, don't lose heart! We'll surely find a way!"

"You weren't like this when I first met you. Back then, you had a look of fearlessness!"

"..."

Next, Nangong Xi and the others also began to chime in one after another, comforting and counseling Ning Yuan. As for the content, it was hard to judge, but he felt a warmth in his heart and felt much better.

Finally, Mu Qingyao took Ning Yuan's hand and said mysteriously, "Seeing that you're unhappy, I've prepared a gift for you. Here, it's this!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Mu Qingyao took out an egg-sized stone ball and placed it in Ning Yuan's palm.

"Ding! The host has obtained the damaged grotto-heaven magic treasure 'Five Elements Realm'. After the hundredfold reward, the host has obtained the 'Five Elements Universe Realm'!"