The ruins lay to the northeast. Each member of the group released a flying demonic beast and mounted it, then they sped off together.
After several days, they reached an oasis. Against the endless yellow sand, its lush greenery was an extraordinarily beautiful sight.
Shou Liangcheng said, “A hundred years ago, this place was full of sand scorpions. Their inner cores, pincers, and legs all had useful properties, so people often came to catch them. It seems most have been wiped out now. You might still occasionally see younger ones, but the older specimens have probably gone extinct.”
The others listened without saying much.
They understood that Shou Liangcheng was speaking of the past, a century ago.
Presumably, his friend had come here to hunt sand scorpions and stumbled upon the ruins by accident.
But the oasis was not very large. One glance was enough to see its boundaries, and there was not the slightest sign of any ruins.
After making that remark, Shou Liangcheng patted the head of his flying beast and instructed it to descend.
The others followed. Xu Ziqing surveyed the surroundings. The oasis was brimming with greenery and dense wood qi, looking no different from any other flourishing woodland.
He could not locate the ruins either.
Xu Ziqing turned to Yun Lie, who shook his head slightly.
After landing, Shou Liangcheng wasted no words. He walked straight toward a lake shaded by trees in the oasis.
The lake was small, measuring nearly a zhang across. Round as a pearl, it held water so clear and inviting that one almost wanted to drink it.
Behind the lake stood a small grove of tightly clustered, low fruit trees, also arranged in a rounded shape.
The grove and lake mirrored each other, like a pair of fine jade disks.
A man in a plum-red robe asked, “Is this where the ruins are?”
Xu Ziqing and the others also looked toward Shou Liangcheng, waiting for an answer.
Shou Liangcheng smiled. “We’ve arrived a little early. Once night falls, you’ll understand.”
Everyone settled onto the grass and meditated as they waited.
The sky gradually darkened. Shou Liangcheng remained perfectly calm, apparently untroubled.
One or two of the others grew impatient, but several sat in peace. Their states of mind were clearly more settled.
Xu Ziqing opened his eyes and activated his cultivation art, using wood qi to investigate the surrounding plants.
Among those present, only he possessed a legendary wood cultivation method, giving him this advantage.
Sure enough, he detected an anomaly in the plants that the others had failed to notice.
Much of their wood qi seemed to have vanished. It had not been absorbed by anything. Instead, it appeared to have dissipated into nothing.
That was truly strange.
How exactly would these ruins reveal themselves?
After more than four hours of waiting, midnight finally arrived.
The night grew even blacker. Suddenly the stars seemed to crowd more densely across the sky, while the moonlight dimmed.
An ancient, vast consciousness erupted from the lake bottom, instantly stirring the surface. Strangely, although the spiritual energy within the oasis suddenly increased severalfold, none of it spilled into the surrounding desert.
Without warning, the scenery transformed before their eyes!
In a single blink, the oasis became a wasteland.
And within that wasteland, an enormous ancient city appeared from nowhere!
Majestic and imposing, it exuded a mighty will that seemed ready to crush the cultivators’ spirits. Yet after a single breath, that pressure flowed away like water.
Then the ancient city’s gates swung wide.
Shou Liangcheng exclaimed in delight, “This is the place!”
With those words, he immediately stepped inside.
The others exchanged looks but did not hesitate to follow.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie walked hand in hand at the rear.
Neither completely trusted their new companions and had no intention of exposing their backs to them. The six ahead had divided into two groups and were likewise somewhat wary of the pair.
Such caution was only natural, and there was no reason to take offense.
As Xu Ziqing approached the ancient gate, a powerful suction suddenly drew him inward. Before he could resist, he was pulled inside.
He tightened his grip on Yun Lie’s hand. As everything went black, he could only feel relieved that he had not lost his senior brother and been separated from him.
A blink later, Xu Ziqing’s feet touched solid ground. Yun Lie landed beside him at the same time.
Ahead, Shou Liangcheng and the others were all present. Nothing unexpected had happened to them either.
Then everyone took in their surroundings and was startled.
Beyond the city gates lay not the city itself, but a vast ceremonial hall.
It was exactly the hall shown in the images Shou Liangcheng had described, down to the smallest detail.
That discovery reassured the group.
Shou Liangcheng had indeed told them the truth.
Xu Ziqing saw countless holes in the ceiling of the great hall. Some were densely clustered, others widely separated, forming a pattern like a sky filled with stars. Countless beams of starlight shone through, falling in sequence upon the floor and gathering within a pool.
Starlight glittered inside it. Faint, icy gleams flickered among the grains, while powerful metal qi crisscrossed the pool, so sharp it seemed capable of cutting a person’s face.
Without a doubt, this was Star Sand!
The other cultivators had also noticed it. But Yun Lie stood beside Xu Ziqing, his sword qi giving off a biting chill. As metal qi rose from the pool, it was immediately drawn into his body. He appeared like a single man capable of guarding an entire pass. Moreover, they had agreed beforehand that the Star Sand belonged to Shou Liangcheng. Instead of trying to collect it, they turned toward the branching passages.
Just then, the passages changed.
One cultivator cried out, “There were only three passages before! Now there are eight. Am I seeing things?”
Another said, “That’s what I saw too. What about the rest of you?”
Everyone confirmed the same thing.
After collecting themselves, the Nascent Soul cultivators realized that the number of passages had changed to match the number of visitors. There were as many paths as people.
The treasures they sought were probably hidden within.
But each person could enter only one passage. Whether each held a different treasure or the entire place was a trial in which only one person would claim the final prize depended on the temperament of the ruins’ original owner. In any event, those who entered first might have the best chance of obtaining something valuable.
No one said anything further except Shou Liangcheng. “If any of you see my friend, please bring him back. He has six fingers on his left hand, so he’ll be easy to recognize. If you can fulfill this wish for me, I will reward you generously.”
It was a small request, and everyone agreed.
Then they stepped forward, chose separate passages, and entered them without looking back.
Naturally, no one waited for Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie.
Xu Ziqing was in no hurry to enter a passage. After all, his main purpose on this journey was to find Myriad-Star Divine Water.
Looking at the brilliant starlight all around him, he could not help feeling hopeful.
Yun Lie said, “We can go down and investigate.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “I was thinking the same.”
Yun Lie cultivated the metal attribute, and his immortal-demonic physique was extraordinarily robust. He had no fear of the sharp streams of metal qi. He released his sword intent and quickly carved out a protected space around them. Then he stepped into the pool and extended his hand to his junior brother.
Xu Ziqing took his hand and leapt forward, entering the domain protected by Yun Lie’s sword intent.
This was for Xu Ziqing’s sake. He could have released his own true essence to resist the metal qi, but metal restrained wood. He would have consumed several times more true essence than usual. It was better to rely on his senior brother and preserve his strength, especially in case an unexpected danger arose later.
Standing in the pool, Xu Ziqing kept his heels off the bottom, almost supported in Yun Lie’s arms.
He spread his spiritual sense through the pool. At once he perceived grains of many sizes, glittering like stars, some bright and dazzling, others flickering faintly.
The Star Sand belonged to Shou Liangcheng. The two of them wanted only the divine water.
Although Shou Liangcheng had already entered his passage, Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie had no intention of taking what belonged to him.
Yun Lie’s spiritual sense was even more powerful than Xu Ziqing’s. Together, they searched the pool rapidly.
The starlight made it extremely difficult for their spiritual sense to penetrate, but they persisted until they had explored virtually every inch of the pool.
Before long, the two spoke almost simultaneously.
“Senior Brother, I found it.”
“Three steps to the left.”
The grains of Star Sand varied greatly in size. The largest were about as big as a thumb joint, giving off an astonishing aura. If they were not mistaken, these were supreme-grade Star Sand. Slightly smaller grains, the size of a fingernail, were high-grade. The yellow-bean-sized grains were middle-grade, while the green-bean-sized ones were low-grade. Smaller grains were too fine to be ranked at all.
A rough count suggested dozens of supreme-grade grains, hundreds of high-grade ones, still more middle-grade ones, and innumerable low-grade and unranked grains. Together they represented an enormous fortune. Even if someone could not use the sand personally, it could be exchanged for countless resources.
But the two men’s eyes were fixed on the hazy film of moisture coating the supreme-grade grains.
Yun Lie moved slightly, bringing Xu Ziqing with him to one of the finest grains. A huge black-gold hand appeared before him and lifted it out of the pool.
The instant it rose, the moisture slid off and began falling toward the floor.
Yun Lie reacted with a thought. A small purple gourd flew out and swiftly caught the falling liquid.
There were five whole drops.
Xu Ziqing asked, “Senior Brother, is it…?”
Yun Lie nodded. “It is indeed Myriad-Star Divine Water.”
Xu Ziqing relaxed. He conjured a large green hand and reached for another supreme-grade grain.
So heavy!
The Star Sand weighed as much as a massive boulder. Merely lifting it required a surprising amount of true essence.
Fortunately, Xu Ziqing was strong. He added a little more true essence and managed it.
The purple gourd moved again, collecting the divine water from the second grain.
They repeated the process together. In a matter of breaths, they had gathered all the Myriad-Star Divine Water coating the supreme-grade Star Sand.
Next they examined the high-grade sand. More than half its grains also bore divine water, though in smaller amounts, generally only around two drops apiece. They collected it in the same way. Only a minority of the middle-grade grains held any water, and each yielded at most one drop. The low-grade sand held even less. Often several hundred grains together produced barely a single drop.
It took a little more than an hour to gather all the Myriad-Star Divine Water in the pool.
At last, the purple gourd was more than half full.
The gourd felt rather heavy in his hand. Xu Ziqing put it away and felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart.
Now that he had all five kinds of divine water, he could finally look forward to opening the initial form of his Minor Cosmos.
The relief stirred something within his state of mind, and he faintly sensed another small advancement.