Ancient Ruins

In the darkness, a thunderous howling wind poured into his ears. Ling Li could clearly feel the terrifying black tornado drawing ever closer. The immense force of the gale made his hands ache as if they were being torn apart, while the sand and stones swept up by the wind scraped against the energy barrier like Death's scythe, constantly closing in on Ling Li's neck.

Even though he cultivated Dou Qi, before the violent power of nature, he still seemed as insignificant as an ant.

Is this the sorrow of the weak? Can I only let fate toy with me so ruthlessly? This feeling of having no control over my own life is truly disgusting...

Ling Li's heart once again filled with an endless yearning for strength...

No one knew how long the darkness and gale lasted. Then, Ling Li suddenly frowned. For a brief instant, he seemed to sense a blazing red light erupting around him, while the rattling friction against his back, like beans being poured out, came to a halt.

When he opened his eyes, the surroundings remained pitch-black, but Ling Li, who had long grown used to darkness, was not greatly affected. Instead, this deathly still darkness gave him an inexplicable sense of security.

He carefully untied the rope around his waist and rose from Little Doctor Fairy. Perhaps because they had spent so much time together, Ling Li had unknowingly developed feelings for this experience-farming tool that he should not have had.

After thinking for a moment, Ling Li took out a Second-grade Healing Pill from the System Space and fed it into Little Doctor Fairy's mouth.

After getting up and looking around, Ling Li discovered that the scenery around him was no longer the desolate plain, but an enormous circular plaza!

"Damn, no way! Could this be that Ancient Ruins?!" Ling Li stared at everything around him in astonishment.

Ling Li admitted that the reason he had come to the Black Corner Region was for these ruins. There had been an element of gambling involved, but he had never expected his luck to be this good!

It had been the same with the cliff cave last time, and now it was the same with the Ancient Ruins. Having been used to an unlucky life in his previous world, Ling Li found it all somewhat unreal.

The plaza was entirely made from an unknown black material. It felt somewhat like stone and somewhat like metal. What surprised Ling Li was that this material seemed capable of devouring everything—light was apparently only one of the things it consumed. Here, the flow of Dou Qi within his body was as slow as a crawling turtle, and even his soul perception had been compressed to an extremely small range.

"Hiss."

Ling Li raised Dark Night in his hand and slashed at the ground. The seemingly sturdy floor was easily cut open, leaving behind a fairly long slash mark.

Ling Li frowned. This material only looked hard; it was not suitable for making a scabbard. Its only function was probably to suppress Dou Qi and Soul Power.

He slashed twice more, then lightly flicked Dark Night upward. A small piece of the black material was pried up. Before Ling Li could take it in hand and carefully inspect what it was, the black material actually began to liquefy. It rapidly flowed down from Dark Night, slowly seeped into the gap Ling Li had cut open, and then solidified once more.

Unconvinced, Ling Li tried several more times. Without exception, whenever even a small piece separated from the material, it automatically liquefied. Even if he stored it in the System Space, it would still liquefy after being taken out again, then return to the hole like a magnet and repair it until it was perfectly smooth.

"Whatever, liquefy then. What kind of material is this? It's so bizarre." Ling Li stored a palm-sized piece of black material in the System Space and clicked his tongue in amazement.

The plaza was not particularly large, with a diameter of only around ten kilometers. Its shape resembled an ancient Roman colosseum. Around it stood "stone pillars" and tiered platforms like spectator stands. Straight ahead was a temple structure that exuded an ancient, desolate aura, while behind Ling Li stood another massive gate. At the center of the gate was a twisted black vortex, which seemed to be the entrance to these ruins.

Carrying Little Doctor Fairy on his back, Ling Li slowly walked toward the temple.

Ten kilometers was not especially far. Even with his Dou Qi suppressed and Little Doctor Fairy, who weighed less than a hundred jin, on his back, it was no drain on Ling Li's stamina. His physical strength was nearly at one hundred thousand jin.

There were no mechanisms or traps in the plaza. Ling Li felt that the danger of these ruins lay in how vision and perception had both been compressed to a pitiful degree. This unknown itself was a danger. Anyone weaker would probably become trapped to death in this not-so-large plaza.

Twenty minutes later, Ling Li stood at the entrance of the temple. Before him were two enormous passageways.

Above each entrance stood a statue. Above the left entrance was a medicinal cauldron, while above the right entrance was an emblem formed by crossed blades and swords.

The meaning of these two statues was not difficult to understand. The left entrance should be related to alchemists, while the right entrance should be related to martial strength.

Ling Li first carefully searched outside both doors. There were no traces of anyone having entered either passage before. Of course, it would be strange if this bizarre black material could leave any traces behind.

A line of words was written on the wall between the two passages: "Humans are always greedy, but there is only one chance. What will you choose?"

Without a second thought, Ling Li headed straight for the passage on the right. The identity of an alchemist was indeed tempting, but he did not possess fire and wood attributes. He was destined to never become an alchemist, so wasn't the choice obvious?

The moment one of Ling Li's feet stepped into the passage on the right, an enormous suction force came from within. Ling Li was directly sucked inside, while Little Doctor Fairy on his back was bounced away.

After Ling Li entered the passage, it seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism. The black material on the surrounding walls began to writhe rapidly, forming a wall at the entrance he had just entered through. The walls around him also rapidly thickened, eventually forming a passage that could only accommodate Ling Li alone. Strange runes glowing with black light emerged on the walls, forming a profound formation.

Ling Li frowned and swung his blade backward at the wall. Yet this time, what had happened before did not occur. The moment Dark Night touched the strange runes on the black material, all the force behind it was dissipated. Then a force rebounded, knocking Dark Night away.

"So only one person can enter?" Ling Li said helplessly as he looked at the passage, which was less than two meters wide.

After hesitating for a moment, Ling Li held Dark Night in a reverse grip to avoid striking the black walls around him when attacking, then slowly moved deeper into the passage.

In a narrow passage, the advantages of short melee weapons would be fully displayed. Even a weapon like Dark Night, which was not particularly long, would be severely restricted. If danger arose and Ling Li's blade struck one of the black walls, the consequences would be unimaginable.

No one knew how long he walked through the passage. The journey remained calm, without the various mechanisms and traps Ling Li had imagined, but he did not lower his guard.

Half an hour later, Ling Li looked at the small depression at the end of the passage. Inside it, dark-red blood continuously boiled and churned.

"This is a Blood Pool?!"