The Black Fragment Draws Three Beasts

"Why have you all been staring at this fragment? What exactly is inside?"

Holding the black fragment, Li Zhexian walked into the woods from the low slope.

After he had taken a dozen or so steps, the fragment left his palm on its own and floated ahead of him, its pointed end aimed deeper into the woods.

Li Zhexian took out his storage bag and held it beneath the fragment, ready to let it drop in on its own.

The fragment did not fall into the storage bag. Instead, it swept up two bottles of healing medicine and continued floating forward.

"You can even choose things for yourself?"

Ahead stood a stone wall covered in vines.

When the fragment approached it, a patch of black light lit up on the wall.

The vines on the wall began to draw back to either side, revealing a stone door only half a person's height.

There was no writing on the door. A piece was missing from its center, exactly the same size as the black fragment.

Li Zhexian reached out and placed the fragment in the gap.

A black line traveled around the seams of the door, and the light on it dimmed again.

"Entrance to an ancient ruin detected. It cannot be opened at present."

"It brought me here just to let me know this door can't be opened?"

"The fragment is drawing its target."

"Put it more simply."

"There is something inside."

Li Zhexian took the black fragment out of the gap and held it in his palm again. Then he raised his head and looked east.

A ruin he could not enter for the time being.

He had no intention of wasting time standing there.

"Then I'll go look for Soul Beasts first."

The system soon answered.

Three hundred paces to the east, there were three Hundred-Year Soul Beasts in total, and their attacks were stronger than the Ironback Ape's.

Li Zhexian took down the Azure Lotus Sword, held its scabbard horizontally in his hand, and walked east.

"This time, it's finally the right place."

The bushes suddenly burst apart.

A giant black-furred bear emerged and struck down with its paw.

Li Zhexian raised the scabbard to block the paw, but the enormous force sent him flying. His back slammed into the stone wall beside the door.

The shield had lost 3,180 points.

A patch of blue light lay beside the muddy ground.

As Li Zhexian rolled over to pick it up, a long green tail swept out of the grass to his right.

The tail wrapped around his waist and dragged him more than ten paces.

A sharp-beaked Soul Beast dropped from the treetops. Its talons scraped past Li Zhexian's shoulder and plunged heavily into the ground.

After the three Soul Beasts' attacks had landed in succession, white and blue lights appeared at his feet.

"Don't fight over it. Whoever lands the heavier attack gets the reward."

The three Soul Beasts did not understand him.

The giant black-furred bear opened its mouth and lunged to bite him, the long-tailed Soul Beast lashed its tail down from the side, and the sharp-beaked Soul Beast pounced on the black fragment in his hand.

The three Soul Beasts crashed into one another.

Branches snapped, and dirt flew in all directions.

Li Zhexian used the opportunity to pick up the blue light.

When the blue light faded, a healing pill appeared in his palm.

The giant black-furred bear charged at him again.

Li Zhexian turned aside, but the bear's body still grazed his shoulder.

The shield lost 2,700 points.

A patch of purple light was already glowing in a nearby pile of rubble.

Li Zhexian swallowed the healing pill and lunged for the purple light.

The long-tailed Soul Beast struck his leg, sending him tumbling through the air. He almost failed to grab the light.

"System, why is it purple now?"

"Attacks came from more than two sources. Reward quality has improved."

"You should have told me that sooner. I could have taken fewer attacks."

Li Zhexian reached out and grabbed the purple light.

The Wind Walking Step Method turned into a warm current that flowed into both his legs.

He took one step forward, and his body appeared ten zhang away.

The giant black-furred bear's attack missed.

The long-tailed Soul Beast charged past from the side and took a paw strike squarely on the back from the giant bear.

The sharp-beaked Soul Beast dropped from a tree and seized the long-tailed Soul Beast with its talons.

The three Soul Beasts rolled into the grass, crushing many bushes beneath them.

"You're fighting pretty well."

Li Zhexian turned around and returned to the stone door.

The three Soul Beasts rose from the ground one after another, all six eyes fixed on the black fragment in his palm.

The giant black-furred bear shattered the ground beneath its feet and charged first.

The long-tailed Soul Beast circled around from behind, while the sharp-beaked Soul Beast dived from the treetops.

Li Zhexian used Wind Walking Step to dodge the giant bear's fist, then passed by the long-tailed Soul Beast and stepped onto the sharp-beaked Soul Beast's back.

The three Soul Beasts collided again.

The number on the shield dropped repeatedly, and purple light fell to the ground as well.

Li Zhexian had only just put the purple light into his storage bag when the giant bear's fist arrived in front of him.

He slid away close to the ground, his body crashing through a thick tree trunk.

The shield lost 7,300 points.

"Brother Bear, that attack counts as yours."

The giant bear raised its foot and stomped down.

Li Zhexian darted past the bear's foot, seized the long-tailed Soul Beast's tail with both hands, and swung it at the giant bear.

The giant bear swatted the long-tailed Soul Beast aside.

The long-tailed Soul Beast crashed into the sharp-beaked Soul Beast, its four claws gouging several long furrows into the ground.

The three Soul Beasts fell into chaos again.

Li Zhexian took down the Drunken Immortal Wine Pot and opened it, letting the wine mist spread along the ground.

As soon as the giant black-furred bear charged into the wine mist, its steps became unsteady.

Its body could no longer stop.

It crashed straight through a large tree.

Li Zhexian retreated to the stone door, raised his hand, and slapped its surface a few times.

"Brother Bear, charge into this spot."

The giant bear raised its head and looked at Li Zhexian. It lowered itself on all fours, the black fur on its body standing on end.

The system gave a prompt: the giant bear was gathering strength.

Li Zhexian glanced at the stone door behind him, and a plan took shape.

"That's more like it."

He put away the Azure Lotus Sword and planted one foot on the edge of the stone door.

When the giant bear charged, Li Zhexian immediately activated Wind Walking Step and moved aside, keeping close to the door.

The giant bear slammed into the stone door.

Cracks appeared in the door.

The black fragment also flew out of Li Zhexian's palm and entered the gap in the door again.

The stone door fell backward, and clouds of dust billowed out from behind it.

A flight of stone steps leading downward appeared beyond the doorway.

All three Soul Beasts stopped outside the door. Not one of them came any closer.

From below the stone steps came the sound of chains dragging across the ground.

Clatter.

Clatter.

Li Zhexian put his storage bag away, and much of the ease left his face.

"Is there a person inside?"

"No signs of life detected."

"Then what's dragging the chains?"

"Unable to determine."

Li Zhexian looked back at the three Soul Beasts.

The sharp-beaked Soul Beast let out a low cry, then turned and entered the grass.

The long-tailed Soul Beast also began to retreat.

The giant black-furred bear took one last look at the stone steps, then crashed through the undergrowth and disappeared into the woods.

"They ran away quickly."

Li Zhexian hung the Drunken Immortal Wine Pot back at his waist, then set one foot on the first stone step.

The stone steps continued downward.

Soon, there were no other sounds around him, only Li Zhexian's own footsteps.

When he reached the seventh step, a patch of green light lit up on the wall.

The green light illuminated a design carved into the stone wall.

The design depicted an Azure Lotus Sword, with a wine pot carved beneath its blade.

The wine pot looked exactly like the Drunken Immortal Wine Pot hanging at Li Zhexian's waist.

Li Zhexian stopped on the stone steps, his fingers gripping the black fragment tightly.

"Even those Soul Beasts were fighting over this fragment."

He looked at the Azure Lotus Sword and the wine pot on the stone wall and began to consider where these ruins had come from.

Something that could make Hundred-Year Soul Beasts fight over it could not be an ordinary treasure.

But there was a more troublesome matter.

The thing dragging the chains below the stone steps still had not appeared before him.