Ancient Ruins

Hao Nhien did not know how much time had passed before his consciousness slowly returned. The first thing he noticed was the chill seeping through his back, followed by the steady sound of water coming from outside. It was not loud, only gentle waves brushing against the side of the boat, distant within a silence so deep that it unconsciously reminded him of days long past.

Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

Everything around him was pitch-black, but it was not the darkness of a desert night. This darkness was deeper and heavier, as though this place had been cut off from sunlight for a very long time.

He did not rush to sit up. Instead, he remained still for a while and slowly checked the condition of his body. The burning sensation in his meridians after Berserk had almost completely disappeared, and the wounds across his shoulder and chest had begun to close. Feeling had returned to his right arm, leaving only a faint lingering numbness deep in the muscles and bones. The spiritual power in his dantian and meridians had mostly recovered and had even become more condensed after being nearly drained dry and then replenished within the Wood-attributed spiritual qi of the Cosmic Ark.

His current level of recovery alone was enough for Hao Nhien to guess that he had been unconscious for quite some time. The last time he used Berserk, it had taken him nearly three days to recover completely. This time, his injuries had been worse, and he had also endured the shock of the spatial rift, yet his body had already stabilized to this extent. Unless something unusual had happened, he had probably been lying here for three days.

In a place without day or night, he could not determine it any more precisely.

Hao Nhien circulated his spiritual power through one full cycle before slowly pushing himself upright. The flow moved smoothly, but he could still sense that his Foundation Establishment layer two cultivation had room to become more condensed. If he wanted to push it another step forward, however, he would need a large amount of spiritual qi.

There were still three supreme-grade crystals in his storage ring, but Hao Nhien had never intended to use them merely to replenish spiritual power or force his cultivation forward. The remaining three were far too precious, and the Cosmic Ark clearly still required an enormous amount of energy for whatever changes awaited it in the future. He would rather progress a little more slowly than waste them before they were truly necessary.

“I still need to find another source of spiritual qi.”

Hao Nhien exhaled softly and looked around.

The Cave Dwelling form that had enclosed him while escaping the spatial rift had disappeared at some point. The Cosmic Ark had now returned to the familiar shape of the ancient boat. The patterns across its hull had all dimmed, and there was no longer any sign of the violent disturbance from before.

The steady sound of water continued outside.

It reminded Hao Nhien of the Thanh Van River, of the days when he and Tieu Lan had drifted downstream before learning about sects, the Western Wastes, the Heavenly Eye Tribe, or the secrets connected to the Firmament. There had been danger even then, but the sky had still been wide, the water still bright, and from time to time they could hear oars and voices from the two banks. At the very least, back then, the road ahead had always felt as though it still existed.

Now, an ancient boat was resting somewhere beneath the Western Wastes, surrounded only by darkness and the sound of water.

Hao Nhien frowned slightly.

“An underground river?”

The possibility was not small. The Sinking Sands had always contained unusual moisture, while the deeper layers of sand constantly shifted. He had already suspected that there might be underground water or damp layers of earth beneath the region. When the spatial rift caused the sand to collapse, the Cosmic Ark could easily have been dragged by an underground flow of sand into a water channel deep beneath the ground.

He closed his eyes and extended his spiritual awareness as far as he could safely control it.

There was no killing intent, no sound of spirit beasts, and no clear fluctuation of spiritual power from any cultivator. Beyond the slow flow of water in the darkness, there was only an ancient aura that was difficult to describe, as though this entire place had been asleep for far too long.

Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

Remaining inside the Cosmic Ark would not help him understand where he was.

The Fire affinity within his body gathered into his left palm. A ball of flame quickly formed, spreading orange-yellow light around him and illuminating the body of the boat.

Only then did Hao Nhien realize that the Cosmic Ark was no longer drifting.

It had stopped beside a stone bank.

He stood and walked to the edge of the boat before looking outside. A black stream flowed silently before him. The water was actually very clear, but with no source of light anywhere around it, it appeared almost completely black from a distance. Whenever the flame in his hand flickered, faint red reflections stretched across the surface before quickly being carried away by the current.

Beside the boat was a small stone dock.

What caught Hao Nhien’s attention was not its size, but how unnaturally flat its surface was. Square blocks of stone had been fitted tightly together, worn smooth by water and time but still retaining their orderly arrangement. There was no rotting mud, no remains of creatures, and almost no moss.

This was clearly not a natural riverbank.

Hao Nhien stepped off the boat.

The sound of his boots touching stone echoed lightly, then traveled far into the space ahead. The returning echoes came from a considerable distance, proving that the area was much larger than what the firelight could currently reveal.

He raised the ball of flame higher.

A stone courtyard gradually emerged from the darkness.

Dark gray-black slabs stretched ahead, most still resting in their original positions. Fine cracks left by the passing years appeared in several places, but no weeds grew within them and no mud had accumulated. With no desert wind blowing through and no creatures moving here regularly, that could partly explain why the place had been preserved so well. Even so, the layer of dust was so thin that Hao Nhien still found it strange.

Either these ruins were not as ancient as they appeared.

Or some kind of preservation restriction had once existed here, even if it had now weakened or stopped functioning.

He did not rush to a conclusion.

The flame rose a little higher, and a massive wall gradually emerged from the darkness ahead.

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Hao Nhien stopped.

The wall was so tall that the light in his hand could not reach its top. It stood within the underground space like a man-made cliff, its surface dark and heavy with the weight of time. Faint runic lines still remained across it. Most had lost their glow, but their shapes had not completely disappeared.

At the center of the wall stood a stone gate more than three zhang tall.

The patterns across its two doors had been eroded by nearly half, but Hao Nhien could still tell that they were completely different from the formation patterns he had seen in Thanh Van Sect or Tieu Dao Sect. The carved lines were simpler and straighter, without so many overlapping layers, yet the longer he looked, the more they seemed to belong to an entirely different system.

He moved closer.

At the very center of the gate remained a faded symbol: a large circle surrounding several intersecting straight lines. Hao Nhien studied it for a while but could not recognize its meaning.

“Ancient ruins…”

His voice sounded very small within the underground space.

Hao Nhien reached out and touched the gate.

Coldness immediately passed through his palm. It was not an aggressive chill, only the cold of a material that had remained buried deep underground for far too long.

He circulated his spiritual power and pushed.

The gate did not move.

Hao Nhien applied more force. The spiritual power of Foundation Establishment layer two surged into his arm, and the stone beneath his feet trembled slightly, but the two doors remained fixed in place as though they were part of the wall itself.

He withdrew his hand instead of wasting more strength.

He brought the flame in his palm closer to the gate and carefully examined every section.

The gate was not made entirely of stone. Within the dark gray material were strands of dark crystalline substance resembling metal fused into the stone, forming an extremely solid structure. Most of the surface remained intact, but near the lower right side of the gate was an area that had clearly suffered much heavier erosion from moisture. The black crystalline strands there had cracked apart, leaving small pits in the surface and a deep fracture running inward.

It was the only weakness he could find.

Hao Nhien summoned the broad-bladed sword from his storage ring.

Spiritual power flowed into his right arm. The tip of the heavy sword aimed directly at the corroded section and drove forward.

A dull impact sounded.

The sword tip penetrated less than half a handspan.

Hao Nhien was not surprised. Even in its weakened state, this material was still far harder than ordinary stone.

He pulled the sword free, changed the angle, and struck the same fracture again.

After several repeated blows, the crack finally spread wider. A small section of the gate broke away, revealing that the material within had decayed and separated into layers.

“It can be broken.”

Hao Nhien continued widening the same area, relying on patience rather than brute force. After some time, an opening large enough for half a person finally appeared in the gate.

The moment the final layer of material fell away, a current of air poured out from within.

Hao Nhien stopped at once.

Spiritual qi.

Not merely present, but extremely dense.

Warm, heavy spiritual qi flowed through the opening, making his meridians react almost instinctively. The spiritual power that had already mostly recovered began circulating faster, as though his entire dantian had suddenly been fed by a fresh stream of water.

Hao Nhien’s expression changed.

This density did not resemble spiritual qi that had simply been trapped inside a sealed space for a long period. If it were only residual spiritual qi, it could not have remained this concentrated after so many unknown years.

There could be a spiritual vein, a spirit-gathering formation, or some other source of energy inside that had not yet been exhausted.

That made this place both an opportunity and a reason for even greater caution.

Hao Nhien extended his spiritual awareness through the opening.

There was no sign of life.

No spirit beast could be detected.

Nor was there any clear offensive fluctuation.

But his spiritual awareness could not probe too deeply. The darkness beyond still felt like a vast space that had yet to reveal itself.

He widened the opening a little more until there was enough room for him to turn sideways and pass through.

Before entering, Hao Nhien looked back at the Cosmic Ark resting beside the stone dock.

With a thought, the boat transformed into a faint streak of light and returned to the depths of his Sea of Consciousness. The familiar sensation returned at once, easing his mind slightly.

He drew the Tieu Dao Sword in place of the heavy sword. His experience of using it as a foothold during Berserk had given Hao Nhien a new sense of how to control the sword with spiritual awareness, as well as how it might be used for ranged attacks. If he truly needed those abilities now, he could attempt them again.

His left hand held the ball of flame.

Hao Nhien turned sideways and stepped through the opening.

Beyond it was a long corridor.

The black stone floor was flatter and more polished than the area outside. Dark wooden doors lined both sides of the corridor, most still retaining their original shape despite slight decay along the lower edges. A very thin layer of dust covered the floor, but there were no footprints, spirit beast droppings, or cobwebs.

Hao Nhien stood still for a moment before moving forward.

The silence did not frighten him, but the deeper he went, the stranger the place felt. If this place had truly been buried beneath the Western Wastes for such a long time, its state of preservation was difficult to explain through isolation alone.

He stopped before the first room on the left and used the tip of the Tieu Dao Sword to push the door open.

The hinge gave a faint dry creak.

Inside was a small room containing a wooden table, two chairs, a ceramic jar, and a low bookshelf. Most of the objects had lost their original color, but they were still arranged in relatively orderly positions. A beast hide spread across the floor was covered only by a thin layer of dust, with no sign that anything had gnawed at it.

Hao Nhien did not step farther inside.

He examined the room briefly before moving to the one opposite.

The layout was similar, though this room had a gray jade tea tray on the table with three small cups resting on it. Everything was arranged so neatly that it was difficult to imagine this place had ever experienced any chaotic event.

He continued farther down the corridor.

Some rooms contained racks for light armor, others held long tables that appeared to have been used for records, while still others contained only chairs and small cabinets. After inspecting five or six rooms, Hao Nhien gradually formed an idea of what this area had once been used for.

It may once have been the outer reception area of a much larger structure, a place where guards rested, stewards worked, or guests waited before being permitted to go farther inside.

He stopped checking every room.

Just as Hao Nhien was about to continue, his gaze fell on a stone lamp fixed to the wall.

The wick had long since dried.

He brought the ball of flame closer, mainly wanting to see whether the material inside would still react.

The moment the flame touched the wick, a small golden light flared to life.

Hao Nhien paused.

Before he could do anything else, a faint line of light traveled through the pattern beneath the lamp and disappeared into the stone wall. A second lamp several zhang away lit up. Then a third.

The light continued spreading along the corridor, one ancient lamp after another illuminating as though a system that had slept for countless years had finally received its first signal.

Hao Nhien remained still and watched.

No offensive formation activated.

No spiritual pressure descended.

There was only light.

This had clearly once been part of the ruins’ utility or lighting restrictions, and even after so many years, a portion of the structure still retained enough power to function.

When the entire corridor lit up, the details that had previously remained hidden in darkness finally became clear.

The black stone slabs beneath his feet reflected the soft golden light. The doorframes on both sides were carved with patterns of flames, clouds, circles, and ancient characters Hao Nhien had never seen before. Nothing moved, but the simple fact that the lighting system could still transmit power on its own was enough to prove that this place had once been anything but ordinary.

Hao Nhien continued deeper inside.

As he approached the end of the corridor, the rooms on either side gradually became fewer. In their place, more complex runes and patterns appeared across the walls. Some had faded completely, while others still retained their outlines despite having lost all spiritual radiance.

At the end of the corridor stood a large wooden door, dark red and almost black. At its center was the carving of a spiraling flame.

Hao Nhien stood before it and checked once more with his spiritual awareness. There was no obvious reaction.

He placed one hand on the door.

It opened more easily than expected. There was no sound of a lock breaking or mechanism turning. The two wooden doors simply swung slowly apart, revealing a vast space beyond.

This was no longer a corridor or waiting area.

It was a grand hall.

The lamps near the entrance lit one after another through the system he had just activated, but the light spread only partway before stopping. The deeper section of the hall remained submerged in darkness.

Hao Nhien did not step inside at once.

His gaze stopped at the edge of the illuminated area.

Across the stone floor ahead, a dark red line stretched into the darkness, like a mark that had remained there for a very long time.

Hao Nhien tightened his grip slightly on the Tieu Dao Sword.

Only now did he truly feel that he had stepped into the heart of the ancient ruins.