Spacetime Anchoring

Before them stretched a boundless ruin composed of countless enormous square stone blocks.

The blocks were arranged in neat rows, like a colossal city instantaneously destroyed by some mighty force. Each stood a thousand zhang tall, its surface covered in dense order runes.

Though shattered, the ruins still exuded a heart-palpitating majesty and ripples of order.

A faint golden halo floated above the ruins, a natural barrier formed from highly condensed power of order that repelled all chaos and disorder. The Order Setter rune on the back of Chu Ming's hand now shone like a star, its summons so intense that it had almost become tangible gravity, dragging him toward the depths of the ruins.

"Be careful," Dao Master Qingwei warned. "It's too quiet here."

Indeed, the Order Ruins were eerily silent. There was no wind, no insect song, not even the sound of laws flowing—only pure, frozen order.

This absolute "orderliness" instead left one deeply uneasy.

The four of them cautiously proceeded along a passage through the ruins.

Towering stone walls rose on either side of the passage, carved with ancient murals.

They depicted the great achievements of the ancient Order Setters as they sorted through the laws of heaven and earth, established rules, and built order.

After walking roughly a hundred li, they came upon a relatively open plaza.

At its center stood a hundred-zhang obelisk fashioned entirely from white jade.

Even more intricate and precise order runes flowed across its surface than those on the surrounding ruins. At its peak floated a slowly rotating golden sphere of light. Within that sphere, a tiny phantom could vaguely be seen sitting cross-legged with its eyes closed—it was the trial ground's guardian spirit.

The instant Chu Ming and the others stepped into the plaza, the phantom within the golden sphere