Chapter 16: First Entry into the Ancient Ruins

Three days later.

"So this is the Suifeng Ruins?" Standing atop the clouds, Ji Ning gazed down at the vast expanse below. As far as the eye could see, endless clouds and mist shrouded everything, covering a region of billions of miles. The entire Suifeng Ruins had originally been the cave dwelling of that ancient mighty figure, occupying nearly half of the Chaos World—its scale was unimaginable.

"Enter."

Ji Ning plunged directly into the enveloping clouds and mist.

Whoosh.

He felt space shift, and suddenly the ground beneath his feet was soft. His expression changed, and he quickly flew upward.

"Roar~~~" A gaping maw surged up from below, snapping fiercely. Fortunately, Ji Ning flew swiftly and dodged the bite.

"It teleported me directly onto a swamp." Ji Ning flew high into the air and looked down. Below was a vast swamp, and directly beneath him, a beast covered in mud stared up at him, its eyes filled with ferocity. It slowly crawled out, revealing a lizard-like body.

"According to the information on the Suifeng Ruins, no matter where one enters, they are teleported to the swamp. The swamp nurtures countless insect beasts, varying in strength—some as weak as True Gods, and the most monstrous possibly reaching the World God level." Ji Ning looked at the insect beast below, which had already fixed its gaze on him.

It was perfectly normal for a powerful cultivator to raise insect beasts in his cave dwelling.

The ancient mighty figure who built this dwelling had specially created a vast swamp within to raise insect beasts. The ecosystem had become self-sustaining, requiring no further effort from the master; the beasts would kill and devour each other to grow. Thus, though the master had died long ago, the swamp still teemed with terrifying numbers of insect beasts.

These insect beasts were bred to serve as guardians of the dwelling, so they would attack any intruder.

"Roar~~~" The beast, resembling a lizard but with a wider mouth, shot into the air, its hundred-zhang body writhing through the void.

"Die."

A dazzling sword light flashed, cutting through the beast's body.

"Slap." The beast split in two, its life force severed. Blood scattered as it fell into the swamp below, splashing mud.

Moonbright Swordplay—Shadowless Form.

Ji Ning held a Northmoon sword, which shrank from a thousand zhang to three feet.

"The swamp has too many insect beasts. I need to leave quickly." Ji Ning transformed into a black bolt of lightning and sped away into the distance.

...

The outermost area of the Suifeng Cave Dwelling was the swamp. There was no other way; one had to cross it to reach other regions of the ruins. Inside the dwelling, Ji Ning could hardly discern directions, so he simply chose a direction and flew at top speed.

"Hmm?" Ji Ning sensed faint ripples and quietly flew toward them.

Moments later.

Ji Ning saw a scene unfolding in the distance. Amid the swamp was a barren hill, where a two-headed serpent beast over ten li long coiled, raising its heads to stare upward. Above it was a monster with huge scaly wings. Both exuded astonishing auras.

"These two, just in terms of raw power, seem to have reached the threshold of World Gods. But their technique is lacking. Killing them both wouldn't be too hard with a bit of effort." Ji Ning speculated based on the information he had. "They count as two overlords in the swamp."

"Roar~~~" The two-headed serpent roared and surged upward.

The scaly monster dove down, attacking.

The swamp trembled. Fortunately, the cave dwelling had extremely stable spacetime; even World-level combat could not shake it. Outside, such a battle between these two beasts would likely shatter a Chaos World.

"What's that?" Ji Ning noticed a dirty great ship beside the barren hill. On the ship were various treasures—swords, armor, pearls, cloth banners, and other artifacts—all radiating powerful fluctuations.

"So many treasures? And almost all at the Chaos treasure level." Ji Ning rejoiced.

Over the long ages, countless Ancestral Immortals and Ancestral Gods who came to explore had died in the swamp.

The insect beasts could not use the treasures left behind, but powerful ones collected them as trophies.

Ji Ning concealed his aura and twisted the light around him, making himself invisible to the beasts.

"My divine sword, Violetjade, needs vast amounts of quintessence of the five elements to fully recover. I must get my hands on those treasures." Ji Ning made his decision. "I hope they both die from mutual injuries. That would be perfect."

...

"Hiss~~~"

One head of the two-headed serpent was caught by the scaly monster's claws, but the other head twisted and bit down hard on the monster's skull, clamping tight. The scaly monster struggled wildly, its wings flapping frantically, shaking the surrounding swamp.

With a bang, the scaly monster's head shattered. Its aura quickly faded, and its struggling wings drooped.

One of the serpent's heads was mangled, but it raised the other head and let out an excited hiss.

"Roar~~~"

The roar echoed through the heavens and earth.

Then the serpent lowered its head and began devouring the scaly monster's flesh. Insect beasts evolved by killing and eating each other. As it ate, its mangled head gradually began to regenerate.

"Swish."

A figure suddenly approached.

The two-headed serpent was enraged. Its intact head glared at the approaching white-clad figure.

"Whoosh." Its tail lashed out like lightning, striking at the figure.

"Heartsword Heaven and Earth."

Bang.

A sword light flashed. The massive tail grazed past, deflected, but the sword light thrust straight at the serpent's only intact head. The serpent opened its gaping maw in fury, revealing two gleaming fangs with translucent venom at the tips.

"Swish." Venom shot out like a beam of light.

"Pfft." The sword light flickered, easily deflecting the venom.

"Chii!"

The sword light pierced straight through the serpent's head. The massive body trembled, then collapsed limply, shaking the swamp.

Moonbright Swordplay—Blooddrop Form!

"Fortunately, this beast was already severely wounded, with less than thirty percent of its strength left. Otherwise, killing it wouldn't have been so easy." Ji Ning smiled. Killing insect beasts carried a risk: they could summon companions. If they encountered a powerful invader they couldn't defeat, they would roar to call others.

Ji Ning had been quick enough, and the serpent was already gravely injured. This time, he hadn't brought the divine sword Violetjade, as it was his most precious treasure. Losing other treasures in the Suifeng Ruins would be acceptable, but losing Violetjade would be too great a loss.

That sword could drive World Gods and Chaos Immortals mad. If he gathered enough quintessence of the five elements, he could restore Violetjade to its former glory.

"Treasures."

Ji Ning darted toward the distant barren hill. Beside it lay the great ship, covered in treasures—the serpent's accumulated trophies, some from Ancestral Gods and Immortals it had killed, others from other insect beasts.

"Twenty-one Chaos treasures. There might be more inside storage artifacts." Ji Ning's heartforce swept over them clearly. He waved his hand and stored the entire ship away.

"Swish."

A streak of light flew over from afar.

Ji Ning looked up.

"Isn't that the Patrolkeeper? Haha, hand over those treasures, and I'll spare your life." On the great ship stood a golden-robed man, surrounded by a group of Ancestral Gods and Immortals.

"Tiannan, the Ancestral God?" Ji Ning frowned.

Tiannan had over a hundred Ancestral God and Ancestral Immortal servants. Without Violetjade this time, dealing with him would be troublesome.

When exploring ancient ruins, aside from the dangers of the ruins themselves, other cultivators might attack out of greed at any moment.

"Hand over the treasures!" Standing on the treasure ship, Tiannan's face turned cold. "Or die!"

"Tiannan, I don't wish to be your enemy. The Suifeng Ruins are vast; why must we fight to the death?" Ji Ning said.

"Fight to the death? You?" Tiannan finally lost patience. "Kill him."