Gu Yuan stepped out of the small alley, gazing at the empty pavilion with a flash of sharp light in his eyes. He turned away from the street and headed towards the direction of the ruins.
Leaving Tian'an City, the blood in his body began to boil, and his body instantly soared into the air, leaving behind trails of sonic booms. He made no attempt to hide his presence, flying towards the ruins.
Ten minutes later, Gu Yuan saw a large crowd gathered ahead. He lowered his altitude, slowly landing on the ground, and observed people gathered in small groups, discussing intensely, their gazes occasionally fixed on a place emitting a strange glow, their expressions filled with madness and greed.
Gu Yuan scanned his surroundings and found a secluded corner, quietly waiting for the ruins to open.
However, in secret, Gu Yuan's divine soul power sensed several scrutinizing gazes fixed upon him.
A barely perceptible smile touched Gu Yuan's lips. The prey had taken the bait.
The moment he arrived, he had sensed many presences distinct from humans. Roughly counting, there were about a dozen. It seemed they were alien races from another world, though he didn't know which ones.
Time trickled by as Gu Yuan waited.
Finally, with a deafening roar, Gu Yuan opened his eyes and looked ahead. The area that had been continuously emitting light suddenly revealed a vortex, incessantly drawing in the surrounding heaven and earth energy, absorbing the surrounding brilliance, and tracing wondrous trajectories that were quite beautiful.
Sensing the power contained within, Gu Yuan's eyes held a trace of anticipation. This body-tempering sect, capable of suppressing a realm, and surviving the Thousand Mile Thunder Sea, was a testament to the Zhen Tian Sect's strength.
Boom!
With a sound that reverberated for a hundred miles, the vortex composed of countless rays of light suddenly expanded a hundredfold, becoming a hundred-meter-high vortex. The central area revealed the scene behind it: a majestic immortal aura, brimming with life, exuding an irresistible temptation.
Everyone exchanged glances. They all knew there were treasures within, but who knew if there were any restrictions or formations? If there were, it could be a deadly matter. They were all old foxes, and none were willing to be the first to step forward.
Gu Yuan also waited quietly. If no one else went in, why should he be the first to venture? After all, the limit of this world was the perfection of Gu Yuan's current realm. Once Gu Yuan chose to break through to a higher realm, he would immediately be teleported to a higher-level world, all the way to the final Starry Sky Ancient Path!
The standoff lasted for about a minute before someone finally succumbed to temptation. Their body transformed into a blue spiritual light and instantly surged towards the center of the massive vortex.
No one obstructed them. Since someone was willing to be the first to test the waters, why not?
Hundreds of eyes watched the blue spiritual light streak directly into the vortex. Unbeknownst to them, many more eyes were watching from the shadows.
Thump!
Like a water droplet falling into a lake, the luminous screen on the surface of the vortex rippled like lake water as the blue spiritual light entered. The blue spiritual light entered the ruins without any obstruction.
Seeing this, the crowd erupted. Countless spiritual lights soared into the sky, all charging towards the massive vortex.
Gu Yuan also stirred the vast blood energy within his body. Innumerable lightning bolts appeared within his body in the Zhen Xiang space. Amidst the faint electrical sparks, his body instantly pierced the air and shot towards the giant vortex.
This astonished the people around Gu Yuan. They hadn't expected such a powerful figure to be beside them. The speed they could unleash indicated immense strength. Several people immediately recalled Gu Yuan's appearance, lest they encounter this expert later and unknowingly court death.
Gu Yuan instantly surpassed a large portion of the crowd and plunged directly into the massive vortex.
He felt his vision go black, then rapidly change, finally resolving into a lush, green scene.
Gu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling the rich heaven and earth energy within the environment. The "Swallowing Heaven Devouring Earth" destiny activated, and the pores on his body opened, greedily absorbing the abundant energy that roamed freely in the world. Upon entering his body, it was continuously purified by several forces before being absorbed by his blood energy.
Surveying his surroundings, he realized he had arrived in a forest area. He closed his eyes, and his divine soul power spread out like countless tendrils, frantically probing the environment.
After a while, Gu Yuan's eyes opened in surprise, and he darted forward. The powerful airflow left deep marks on the grass on the ground.
A minute later, Gu Yuan looked at a giant python warily watching him.
This was a small lake below a waterfall, and by the lake grew a strange flower. The flower had seven leaves, and its blood-red petals were as vibrant as flames.
This was a spiritual medicine of great use for the physique: the Nine-Leaf Blood Refining Flower. The one before him, with seven leaves, was already seven hundred years old. When it grew to nine leaves, its medicinal power would double, making it extremely useful for strengthening the body. Even for Gu Yuan, who was now in the Refining Aperture realm, it was incredibly precious.
Gu Yuan sensed that the Nine-Leaf Blood Refining Flower was constantly absorbing energy from the heaven and earth, forming small vortices around it.
However, there was a small problem. Gu Yuan's gaze fell upon a giant python whose body was exposed from the lake. Its black scales shimmered with a cold light under the rays of the small sun above, radiating an extraordinary defense. Its head was almost as large as a small house.
With only half its body exposed above the lake's surface, it was already tens of meters high, looking down at Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan's tiny body was even smaller than a few of the python's scales, creating a stark contrast.
Sensing the killing intent emanating from the giant python, Gu Yuan chuckled. The aura emanating from this python was at most equivalent to Gu Yuan's Blood Qi realm. The current Gu Yuan could defeat a creature of this realm with one hand, regardless of its race.
A smile curved Gu Yuan's lips. The boundless blood energy within his body began to erupt, accompanied by countless lightning strikes. His body slowly rose into the air, his eyes meeting the giant python's indifferent serpentine pupils.
The giant python immediately opened its monstrous maw, exuding a foul odor that made Gu Yuan frown.
"Noisy!"
Gu Yuan snorted coldly.
He threw a punch. Countless lightning bolts, mixed with a massive amount of blood energy, formed a divine and lifelike crimson dragon. In the eyes of the somewhat bewildered python, it instantly blasted into the python's monstrous mouth.
Bang!
Flesh and blood splattered, instantly staining the surrounding hundred meters. The giant python's head, which had been baring its fangs, disappeared, leaving only its body, which continued to spew blood.
Gu Yuan's blood energy transformed into a large hand, which grabbed the giant python's corpse and dragged it ashore.
He snapped his fingers, and a trace of power from the Crimson Spirit Divine Fire of the Li Xiang space was divided and ignited on his fingertip as a trace of crimson-gold flame.
With a flick of his finger, it landed on the corpse, which was tens of meters long and several meters in diameter.
Crackling sounds of igniting oil and fat filled the air. The crimson-gold flame illuminated Gu Yuan's face. He controlled the flame, burning away the impurities in the corpse, leaving only pure flesh and blood essence, which was a great tonic for him in cultivating the blood energy martial path.
Gu Yuan put the fist-sized blood and flesh essence into his storage ring. He took out a jade box and approached the Nine-Leaf Blood Refining Flower. Although it only had seven leaves, Gu Yuan didn't have that much time to wait, so he uprooted it.
Looking at the seven green leaves, Gu Yuan sighed. Seven leaves were seven leaves, but at least it was useful to him.
He carefully placed it in the jade box and then once again spread his divine soul, starting to search for anything useful to him.
Gu Yuan kept the range of his divine soul's probe within five hundred meters. This way, he wouldn't miss too much and wouldn't alert too many people.
After all, discreetly amassing wealth was the most important thing. He would collect everything he could find first, and then go and snatch the opportunities of others. Gu Yuan could only apologize to those who had entered with him.
...
In a region similar to where Gu Yuan was exploring, three somewhat peculiar burly men were cautiously walking through the forest, each holding a monstrous axe.
Niu Lin walked carefully, his large, bell-like eyes constantly scanning the surroundings to prevent any creature from ambushing them. However, his face clearly showed his frustration as he asked the burly man leading the way, "Captain, how long do we have to pretend? Are there any other tribes here? It's just the three of us. Human heads are really uncomfortable. I don't know how humans can stand wearing such heads every day."
The leading burly man impatiently turned his head, looking at the complaining Niu Lin, and said gruffly, "We need to hide quietly and then amaze everyone! It's just transforming into a human head. How uncomfortable can it be? Even if it's uncomfortable, you have to bear it!"
After sternly scolding Niu Lin, this person was none other than their awe-inspiring Captain Niu Da. Niu Sen.
"Oh..." Niu Lin shrunk his neck, abandoning the thought of returning to his original form. He couldn't help it; Niu Sen was stronger than him.
"Bear with it. We'll be out of this forest soon. I can already smell fresh human scent. We'll be able to enjoy the pure power of humans soon. Keep up with me, there's meat to eat. Hurry, Niu Mu!"
He fiercely scolded the burly man walking at the back of the group. The burly man named Niu Mu gave a simple chuckle and quickly followed Niu Sen's pace.
...
Rustle, rustle.
Several alluringly beautiful women with graceful figures emerged from the bushes as tall as a person. A hint of panic was evident on their faces, and they kept glancing behind them, as if something was chasing them.
One woman anxiously spoke to the woman who was clearly their leader.
"Sister, what do we do now? That black tiger has been pestering us, why is it always chasing us? And this tiger is very strong; even the combined efforts of us sisters are a bit inferior to it."
The leader was silent for a moment. A trace of worry creased her beautiful face. She hadn't expected that a ruin randomly assigned to their region would send them straight before that tiger. Especially since their charm had no effect on this foolish tiger; its mind was solely focused on fighting, with no other emotions.
This rendered their primary combat method useless. Their combined efforts were no match for the tiger, and they had been fleeing until now.
Damn it!
Alas.
She sighed slightly and said to the other women, "Sisters, don't panic. That foolish tiger is temporarily confused by my fox scent and won't be able to find our traces for now. We need to escape from this tiger's vicinity as quickly as possible. For now, we can only avoid it."
The other women, hearing this, had no better options and could only nod, agreeing to this plan.
The woman waved her hand, and a white mist flashed. A gentle breeze blew, and the women had already vanished from their original spot.
After an unknown amount of time, a giant, striped tiger tens of meters long appeared where the women had been. Its powerful physique, due to the intense air pressure generated by its rapid movement, pressed the bushes as tall as a person to the ground.
The striped tiger twitched its nose, smelling the faint, peculiar fragrance in the air. It let out a roar, startling a flock of birds.
It angrily slammed its two tiger paws onto the ground, instantly creating two large pits.
With a roar, demonic energy condensed behind it, forming a pair of black wings. With a flap of its wings, it instantly disappeared from its original spot.
All that remained were countless swirling air currents that swept through the surrounding vegetation.
...
In a grassland, a tall and straight young man was stroking the back of a green ox beside him. He turned to the ox and said, "Brother Niu, do you think I can really obtain the inheritance of this ruin?"
"Of course. When has your Brother Niu ever lied to you? Believe in your Brother Niu, believe in Brother Niu, and you'll achieve eternal life, understand?"
The green ox spoke human words, its murky ox eyes glancing at the heroic young man beside it.
It sighed inwardly. It hadn't expected to descend into this world and have its cultivation method malfunction, its strength sealed, turning it into a powerful physical old ox. It didn't know why, but this young man had taken it home and made it his ox. After observing for some time, it realized this young man was actually the favored child of destiny in this world.
This made it settle down and quietly follow the young man. Its sealed strength had been repaired and unlocked, and it had also benefited from eating many good things alongside the young man, deeply understanding the advantages of luck.
It had personally witnessed the young man picking up inheritances outside, which made the ox envious. It recalled the years it had spent accumulating strength from the leftover resources of other geniuses, and a wave of sadness washed over it.
Thus, it watched as the young man embarked on the path of cultivation. It found a suitable time to reveal itself as an intelligent and powerful ox. Since the young man had found it himself and they had spent several years together, he had not become wary of it.
This was also quite good. Following the favored child of destiny, picking up small inheritances, reaching the peak of the world, and then leaving. After all, it was accustomed to a peaceful life.
"Alright, Xiao Ye, don't overthink it. Follow Brother Niu, and Brother Niu will take you to the place of inheritance."
The young man also smiled brightly: "Okay, Brother Niu!"