286: Border Rumors, Nantianmen

Even if it was a clue provided by an ordinary person, Chen Tianming might not have believed it.

Not to mention the reward worth tens of thousands of Spirit Stones.

However, this matter still caused quite a stir.

In just one day, the entrance to the base Chen Tianming set up in the Small World had already welcomed a large number of people who came to join the ancient ruins expedition.

A vast and mighty crowd, numbering over ten thousand!

Chen Tianming did not shortchange them; with a grand wave of his hand, he dispatched hundreds of people to gather information.

Once the information was verified as useful, all the Spirit Stones were distributed as promised.

At this moment, these more than ten thousand people had already waited at the foot of Tianling Peak for nearly three days.

Another several thousand people arrived successively within these three days.

Money makes one confident!

This also showed that the Three Great Sects had indeed hoarded a considerable amount of Spirit Stones plundered from various places.

However, in the end, Chen Tianming got all the benefits.

After another three days, Chen Tianming finally managed to find the general direction of the ancient ruins amidst the countless clues.

This was thanks to the system.

At some point, the system came with a small skill.

This allowed Chen Tianming to obtain the information on a piece of paper simply by infusing it with spiritual energy, and then quickly organize it in his mind.

After finding the general direction, Chen Tianming immediately led a carpet search.

A team of nearly twenty thousand people spread out, with each person separated by a hundred meters.

With Chen Tianming, a cultivator who had long broken through the mortal realm, present, no matter if it was a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, it was like walking on flat ground before the crowd.

The further they went, the more people in the team couldn't hold on.

Slowly, the team of nearly twenty thousand people dwindled to ten thousand.

However, Chen Tianming also distributed one thousand Spirit Stones to those who couldn't hold on and left, as per the agreement.

Those who received the reward immediately beamed with joy and excitement.

However, this also made it easier for subsequent people to give up.

When the number of people dropped to less than ten thousand, Chen Tianming once again issued an order: from this point forward, for every extra day they persisted, Chen Tianming would give an additional five hundred Spirit Stones!

Upon hearing this command, many people gritted their teeth, determined to persevere for two more days.

The original one thousand Spirit Stones directly doubled to two thousand.

But as this continued, after another eight days, Chen Tianming still had no gains.

At the current rate of Spirit Stone consumption, even with Chen Tianming backed by the Three Great Sects' millennia of hoarding, his current stock was already less than two-thirds of what it was before.

In at most another month, all the Spirit Stones Chen Tianming had would be completely used up.

Thinking of this, Chen Tianming decided to lead some people to scout the path ahead first.

With a casual flick of his hand, dark clouds descended from the sky.

Like steps, they guided hundreds of people carrying spiritual power into mid-air.

As for the remaining people, Chen Tianming could only instruct them to search in place for two days; if they found nothing, they were to be directly disbanded.

Chen Tianming reduced the number of personnel; although the search area was not as large as before, the speed was much faster.

Within two days, Chen Tianming saw a continuous mountain range ahead.

The mountain range was hidden in the mist, and the mist turned the sun purple, looking very strange.

It was also at this moment that some cultivators on the cloud were stunned by the sight before them, shouting in great fear.

“This is! South Heaven Gate! South Heaven Gate!”

With the shouts of these few people, other cultivators also could not hide the fear in their hearts.

“What! The legendary South Heaven Gate?”

“Isn't it only in legends? Why is there really a mountain!”

For countless ages, the people of the Small World were separated, but that doesn't mean the people in the Small World didn't resist.

Countless predecessors in history tried their best to explore outwards, with the Small World as the center.

Thus, history left behind one beautiful myth after another.

But for Shen Dong, the Small World was part of the original Xuanhuan World.

It was cut off and drifted in this endless void.

Even if people in the Small World continuously explored outwards during these endless ages, they would eventually touch the boundary of this severed world.

Evidently, the legendary and terrifying South Heaven Gate was probably the boundary of the Small World in ancient times.

Although the people around him were terrified, Chen Tianming's single sentence calmed them down.

“Those who come with me, as long as you survive, I will give you ten times your current Spirit Stones!”

Chen Tianming’s words immediately silenced the scene.

Some bolder individuals had no choice but to patiently sit on the clouds, forcing themselves into meditation, entering a cultivation state.

Finally, Chen Tianming led his people to the South Heaven Gate.

And he finally realized that throughout these endless ages, the reason people in the Small World could survive was due to selfless dedication.

On the South Heaven Gate, beneath the pitch-black clouds, shadows covered the ground.

Within the ancient giant trees, hundreds of feet tall, countless dark evil spirits were hidden.

The people Chen Tianming brought with him, upon even slight contact, would be possessed by the evil spirits.

They would then transform into ghost-like beings, their spiritual energy only knowing how to burst forth without restraint.

Their bodies would shrivel, turning into skeletal frames, covered in blue spiritual flames, rushing madly towards the people.

Fortunately, some of these cultivators reacted quickly and acted decisively.

With one strike, they cleaved the shattered bones in half.

A black shadow immediately flew out from the skeleton, merging into the myriad sky-high trees of the South Heaven Gate.

Everyone thought this attack was just a coincidence.

But unexpectedly, one stone stirred up a thousand waves.

Countless dark evil spirits, as if insane, pressed towards the crowd.

Everyone panicked and started running around wildly.

In a blink of an eye, dozens more people were possessed by evil spirits and began slaughtering their compatriots.

Under the sudden change in circumstances, a few cultivators accidentally bumped into Chen Tianming.

At this moment, they realized that throughout the entire Small World, only Chen Tianming was the strongest in this era.

Asking anyone else for help was not as good as asking him!

So, a few cultivators, trembling, knelt before Chen Tianming.

“We don’t want our Spirit Stones anymore, Great Immortal! Please save us!”

“Please make a move!”

Chen Tianming did not just watch these cultivators being corrupted by evil spirits.

He was merely observing what these never-before-seen, ghost-like creatures truly were.

At this point, nearly a hundred of his subordinates had been lost.

Chen Tianming finally made his move.

With a casual wave of his hand, endless Yang Thunder immediately burst forth from his palm!

These naturally Yang-attributed divine thunders were all taken by Chen Tianming from Lei Li.

The lightning, imbued with endless Yang energy, instantly tore through the sky.

Like a light spear bursting with thousands of sharp blades, it pierced through the evil spirits while directly breaking open the dark clouds in the sky!

At this moment, the sky finally brightened.

All the surviving cultivators quickly gathered around Shen Dong.

For a time, various spiritual light and magical artifacts filled the sky.

A scholar, with a brush suspended in his palm, said with some astonishment from behind Chen Tianming,

“Look quickly! What are those!”