Proud Sword Soaring Clouds

"Those Magical Beasts are all Puppet Magical Beasts!" Ling Xiao said casually, his hand finally pressing all the way in.

With a swift motion, a door slid open silently before Ling Xiao’s eyes, revealing a dark aperture. It hadn’t made a single sound!

Seeing this, Song Mingyue felt the hairs on her body stand on end. A pure, cold sensation made her shiver involuntarily.

"W-What is this?"

Shangguan Yutong came over as well. Her eyesight wasn’t completely useless; she could vaguely make out the door that had appeared on the pillar.

"We’ll know once we go in and take a look." Ling Xiao appeared perfectly calm, but in truth, he had no idea what to expect. He had been guessing all along. ’Everything about these Ancient Ruins feels bizarre, from the winding, endless streetlights at the start, to the sudden collapse of the road revealing an abyss-like depth, and then those strange, peculiar rooms, each seemingly holding a treasure.’

’Then there was the hall piled high with Gold and Crystal Cores... which was ultimately buried by a mountain of boulders. Just imagine, if someone weaker or too greedy had gone through all that, their life would have likely ended right there. And if they somehow survived that, well, a thousand high-level Puppet Magical Beasts were waiting for them below. It’s something no one could have anticipated. Then again, the person who designed this place probably never imagined that such a powerful team would arrive here all at once either!’

’If it had only been a few experts like Sword Emperors or from the Sword Sect, they would have been dead and buried by now!’ At this thought, Ling Xiao couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. The person who designed this place was uncommonly vicious!

’It seems this place was never meant for future generations!’

’It’s not like the ruins my sister, Ling Su, discovered. That place was purely a site for research and cultivation for the people of the Ancient Era. Even if it had traps, they were designed back then to prevent intruders, not to target people hundreds or thousands of years later.’

Therefore, Ling Xiao had guessed back then that this place wasn’t some Ancient Ruins at all! Instead, it was a site created in the Ancient Era by some powerful individual or family for a specific, special purpose. They had never intended to open it to posterity. The fact that they would rather bury the Golden Statues under boulders than let anyone take them away revealed the owner’s intentions.

Coupled with the thousands of Puppet Magical Beasts here, a sudden guess formed in Ling Xiao’s mind. ’Could this be a place a family from the Ancient Era used for experiments? If there were only one or two Puppet Magical Beasts, it could be explained as a powerful expert using them to guard the place. But with so many... there’s only one explanation: someone intended to do something with this horde of beasts!’

’In the end, some sort of accident must have occurred before they could act. They hastily sealed this place, set up countless traps, and then everyone vanished. That would also explain why we haven’t seen a single human skeleton. This can’t be a tomb.’

And Ling Xiao’s goal was to find the place that controlled all the traps and Magical Beasts!

Ling Xiao’s original studies had been exceptionally diverse. While he wasn’t a grandmaster of mechanisms, he was at least proficient. Furthermore, after reaching Golden Core Great Success, he could see in the dark as if it were day. Ling Xiao had discovered a strange, hidden mark. If not for his incredible eyesight, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it even if the place were brightly lit! The underground space was over twenty meters high, and the ceiling was covered in complex patterns. Without looking closely, it was impossible to find the hidden mark that seemed to point the way!

While they were fleeing, Ling Xiao had steeled himself and followed this guide, which led him all the way here. It seemed his gamble had paid off!

The three of them entered the pillar, and the door, which seemed to be made of metal, slid silently shut. At the same time, a soft light lit up above their heads. Then, with a soft CLICK, the floor beneath their feet began to descend. The two women were a little nervous, not knowing what awaited them.

Not much time passed—perhaps a dozen seconds—before the space carrying them came to a halt. The door before them opened, and a blinding light suddenly flooded their vision. The abrupt brightness almost made the three of them, who had grown accustomed to the dark, shut their eyes. A golden film instantly covered Ling Xiao’s eyes, from which two tangible beams of light shot out. For an instant, the brilliant light before them seemed to dim.

By the time Song Mingyue and Shangguan Yutong had adjusted to the brightness, they were shocked to discover they were in another underground hall! The difference was that, compared to the one above, this square hall was only about twenty-odd meters long, making it seem much smaller.

Moreover, right in the center stood a very thick pillar—the very one that had brought the three of them down. The hall was only five or six meters high, and huge crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling at regular intervals. They emitted a brilliant, piercing light, so bright that every single strand of a person’s hair was clearly visible. It was impossible to know what kind of Crystal Cores could have powered them for so many years, or if they had only lit up when the space inside the pillar was activated.