103: Chapter 103 Searching for Ruins

One day later.

By this time, the group had already ventured deep into the southern part of Wantai Forest.

"Sir Wizard, it should be right here."

Eden pointed toward the distant mountains, speaking with a respectful expression.

As a knight who had participated in the Demon Descent back then, Nie Ning's Earth Control ability alone had left him utterly shocked.

In comparison, although Ivy could control ice, she was completely outmatched in terms of scale; thus, showing proper respect was only right.

Nie Ning did not reply, instead closing his eyes to sense the elemental differences in the air.

Although the Blood Flame Knights Association was a knight-based power, larger organizations typically invited Wizards to set up defensive arrays, and the Blood Flame Knights Association even possessed Wizards of its own.

Therefore, as long as he could sense the locations of elemental strength and weakness, he could basically determine if the ruins were in this place.

Seeing this, the others tactfully stopped talking, none of them daring to disturb Nie Ning.

After all, he was the strongest among them; whether they could find the ruins this time likely depended on him.

In Nie Ning's perception, the surrounding elements were distributed very evenly.

"Strange."

Nie Ning opened his eyes, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

There were no areas with particularly dense elements nearby, but there was one spot where elements were almost entirely absent.

Normally, without external factors, the distribution of elements wouldn't vary so drastically.

Let alone a situation where elements were this scarce; it was as if the elements there were being isolated by some kind of power.

"Sir, is something strange?"

Dasleen walked up behind Nie Ning, looking around curiously.

"There is a place where elements are missing. Do any of you know what kind of arrays the Blood Flame Knights Association used to set up here?"

Nie Ning turned to look at the four of them and asked.

The group pondered for a moment before Auston stepped forward.

"Too much time has passed, and we've found very little useful information. We only know that Wizards rarely came to places like this."

Hearing this, Nie Ning did not press further.

Although the situation was unclear, it didn't have much of an impact on him.

If there really was a magic-isolating array here, he still had Combat Qi to use.

As a knight-based power, he didn't believe the Blood Flame Knights Association would create a formation that sealed both Combat Qi and magic.

Even if his Combat Qi were sealed, it wouldn't be a big deal; at the very least, he still had his Strange Beast Body to enhance his strength. Ordinary Great Knights couldn't dream of dealing significant damage to him.

"Then we'll search the area with elemental anomalies first. If we can't find anything, we'll think of other ways."

As Nie Ning spoke, he waved his hand and summoned two three-meter-tall Earth Spirit Puppets.

Because his proficiency wasn't high, the strength of these Earth Spirit Puppets wasn't particularly great.

At most, they had the combat power of a High-Tier Knight, capable of holding off a Great Knight for a moment, but that was more or less sufficient.

Seeing this, envy flickered in the eyes of the other four.

Setting aside the actual strength of the Earth Spirit Puppets, just looking at them felt impressive.

Unfortunately, except for Ivy, the others had no talent for Wizardry and might never even reach the level of a High-Tier Knight in their entire lives.

...

With the help of the Earth Spirit Puppets, the group's progress became much smoother, no different from a spring outing.

Even if they occasionally encountered some strange beasts, they quickly became the group's meal.

Along the way, Nie Ning felt quite emotional.

If he had possessed this level of strength when fighting the Lar Phantom Water Beast, two Earth Spirit Puppets probably would have been enough, and there would have been no need to waste the usage count of the coffin nail.

"Sir, look, what is this?"

Eden pointed at a protruding stone on the ground.

Nie Ning and the others looked over; although the stone was hard to identify, its surface was smooth and its edges were sharp, making it highly unlikely to be a product of nature.

And since they were already deep inside Wantai Forest, almost no one else would appear here, let alone live in such a place.

"It seems we haven't searched the wrong place. The Blood Flame Knights Association is likely right here!"

Dasleen's expression was slightly excited.

Although Eden and Auston were more composed, excitement also showed in their eyes.

After all, not everyone had the talent of Nie Ning or Ivy; for most people, advancing was an uncertain matter.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many High-Tier Knights in the city while Great Knights were few and far between.

It was simply because the difficulty of promotion was too high; even for talented individuals like them, the chance of ascending to Great Knight was less than thirty percent.

Furthermore, the success rate would drop even lower after a failed attempt, so they desperately needed something that could increase their chances of success.

Nie Ning looked ahead. Perhaps due to the lack of elements, the surrounding trees and weeds were stunted, as if malnourished.

...

The group walked forward for several hundred meters.

After checking around, Nie Ning finally confirmed that the elemental concentration was lowest right here.

However, it wasn't a magic-forbidden zone; it just made recovering magic power more difficult. Nie Ning breathed a sigh of relief at this.

Even though his strength was great, he couldn't help being lazy; who doesn't want to one-shot everything when clearing a dungeon?

"Step back a little."

Nie Ning said to the four of them.

Ivy and the others curiously took a few steps back.

They saw Nie Ning place his hand on the ground, and instantly, as the soil churned, a one-meter-wide tunnel appeared leading straight down.

"Wizards really are convenient."

Seeing this scene, Ivy couldn't help but waver; perhaps she could also try to walk the path of a Wizard.

After all, this was too cool and convenient; a wave of the hand could save so much time.

No wonder everyone wanted to become a Wizard; who could resist this?

"If you're interested, there's still a Meditation Technique left by Ms. Audrey in the Wizard Tower. I can give it to you when we get back."

Nie Ning stood up and said with a smile.

Although Audrey had taken most of the spellbooks, she had left behind some Witch Apprentice-level spells and Meditation Techniques.

Wizards had a lot to learn, and she had left the low-tier spells just to make it easier for Nie Ning to study the concepts within them.

Of course, the main reason was that they weren't valuable—at least not to Audrey.

"I think I'll pass. I don't know how much time it would take to become a Wizard like you."

Ivy shook her head, declining Nie Ning's kindness.

The greatest taboo in cultivation was being half-hearted; perhaps only when she could no longer progress on the path of a Knight would she choose to try becoming a Wizard.

Hearing this, Nie Ning did not insist, instead looking at the hole he had made.

The tunnel was roughly sixty meters deep, and then he sensed hard stone below.

With his Earth Control ability, the further the distance, the worse his control became; going any deeper would require a massive amount of magic power.

"I'll go down first and call you in a bit."

After saying this, without waiting for the four to answer, Nie Ning jumped directly into the pit.

As his body fell, Nie Ning soon sensed the stone below.

He used his hands to grab the earth walls to slow his descent, and in a moment, he was standing on the hard stone.

Nie Ning touched the stone on the ground.

It was smooth and level; clearly, the ruins should be down here.

Moreover, it didn't look like ordinary stone; conventional earth manipulation actually couldn't budge it at all.

...