Entering the Secret Realm Ruins

Cang Xuan Star System.

A once-uninhabited planet, Canghai Star.

The formerly desolate and remote Canghai Star had suddenly become incredibly lively over the past few days.

Large numbers of spacecraft and warships flying in from every corner of the Eternal Empire were guided by docking signals into the Interstellar Port temporarily established in the airspace around Canghai Star.

From afar, the space surrounding Canghai Star looked like an ocean of steel.

"Bzz~"

A dark-blue triangular spacecraft slowly descended and docked at Canghai Star's temporary port.

Whoosh~~

The hatch opened, and Qi Yuan, clad in an ice-blue Force Battle Suit with a Black Battle Saber on his back, flew straight out.

"Hm? A Universe Level lord!"

The instant Qi Yuan appeared, a fifth-rank Star Traveller soldier responsible for receiving arrivals immediately turned solemn and hurried forward.

"My lord, I am a member of the Sixth Army of the Eternal Empire's Thirteenth Legion, assigned to reception duty here. May I ask if you are entering the Secret Realm ruins?"

"There are reception personnel too?"

Qi Yuan nodded faintly. "That's right. I'm planning to head to the Secret Realm ruins."

"Honored lord, please understand. By order of my superiors, you need to present identification." The Star Traveller soldier spoke with utmost respect.

"Mm."

Qi Yuan said nothing more and directly showed the soldier a special medal he had received after joining the Virtual Universe Company's external division.

The Star Traveller soldier skillfully scanned the medal with the optical computer on his wristguard. Only after confirming the information did he respectfully clear Qi Yuan to pass.

"My lord, verification passed. Entrance No. 314 is the closest to this location. You may fly there directly."

"Alright, thanks."

Qi Yuan nodded, then shot into the sky in an instant.

Because the Secret Realm ruins had only recently fallen from a spatial layer, the space inside was extremely unstable. Thus, no spacecraft or warships were permitted to enter.

To get in, one could only fly from temporary forward bases such as the one on Canghai Star.

After his figure vanished from sight, the reception soldier who had spoken with him scratched his head in flattered disbelief.

"A great Universe Level figure actually thanked me?"

"Whoosh~"

The instant he broke through Canghai Star's thin atmosphere, an incomparably spectacular sight entered Qi Yuan's view.

The starry sky, once dark as silk, seemed to have been torn apart by some unfathomable power. Enormous spiderweb-like cracks filled the space, with nearly liquid silver light flowing through each one.

Through the gaps between the cracks, massive fragments of land could vaguely be seen drifting about.

He could even see floating land masses occasionally approaching the silver-glowing spatial cracks, only to be instantly torn apart and swallowed by them!

"Whoosh~"

Qi Yuan continuously accelerated, quickly reaching speeds of over a hundred times the speed of sound.

After nearly an hour of flight, he finally passed through a "safe passage" surrounded by several enormous spatial cracks and successfully entered an entirely new region!

Dark emptiness stretched everywhere. Within that void, countless shattered continents lay scattered about.

Some of these broken continents were only a few hundred kilometers across, while others were large enough to rival a massive star!

Such shattered continents densely filled the entire visible starry expanse, so numerous they were nearly impossible to count.

The "void zones" between each continent were also filled with vast amounts of meteors and dust fragments.

From afar, the continents connected together somewhat resembled enormous crushed biscuits.

"So this is the interior of the Secret Realm ruins?"

Qi Yuan flew through the air at high speed, his mind fully focused as he remained alert for any danger that might arise.

According to the information he had received from Bu Chen, the dangers in these Secret Realm ruins mainly came from two sources.

First, he had to watch out for new spatial cracks that could appear at any moment due to the unstable space.

Second, he had to guard against members from the other major organizations.

After all, while the major organizations were acting together, if they truly encountered a treasure they desired, who would care about anyone's identity? It would already be good enough if they didn't beat your brains out!

Qi Yuan continued advancing toward the depths of the Secret Realm ruins.

Three days later, he finally arrived at the nearest fragment of a continent.

This continent was roughly ten thousand kilometers long and wide, with an area even greater than the largest continent on Earth in his previous life.

However, the entire continent looked incredibly barren. The ground was dark brown everywhere, and aside from mountains, rocks, and wasteland, there was no trace of life.

Qi Yuan swept across the continent at high speed.

Yet let alone treasures, he did not even see a single blade of grass.

"I entered about three days later than the first batch of teams. Even if there were treasures here, the people ahead would have already cleaned them out."

"If I want to gain anything, I'll have to speed up and rush ahead of the main force!"

Having figured this out, Qi Yuan stopped wasting time on the outskirts and charged straight toward the depths of the Secret Realm ruins.

After breaking through to the Universe Level, Qi Yuan's travel speed was astonishing.

The teams that had entered ahead included a great many Star Travellers, and they also had to divide their attention to exploration. Naturally, Qi Yuan soon caught up to them.

In the blink of an eye, it was already Qi Yuan's eighth day inside the Secret Realm ruins.

By then, he had passed most of the Star Traveller main force and reached a relatively forward position.

Above a gigantic continent spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

"I've been ahead of the Star Traveller main force for several days now, so why haven't I found anything at all? Those veteran Universe Level experts in front are cleaning this place out far too thoroughly!"

As Qi Yuan flew at high speed, the high-precision detector he carried continuously scanned the area below.

Below him lay a vast mountain range, as barren and lifeless as ever.

A thousand rocks and ten thousand ravines spread before his eyes, yet not the slightest sign of life could be seen.

He had originally thought this trip would end in another fruitless search.

Then suddenly—

Whether it was an illusion or not, Qi Yuan abruptly felt as though someone was watching him.

"Hm?"

He secretly grew vigilant and immediately gripped the Soul Extinguishing Saber on his back.

"Someone is spying on me from the shadows?"

He slowly descended, using jagged rocks to conceal himself.

At the same time, his gaze carefully swept over the dark-brown ravines around him.

"Hm, no one? Even the detector isn't showing any signs of life."

"Eh?"

Suddenly, as if sensing something, he immediately looked toward a small valley diagonally across from him.

Near the bottom of one side of the valley wall, concealed behind several huge boulders, a pitch-black cave entrance could faintly be seen.

The instant Qi Yuan looked over, a pair of organs resembling "eyes" within that dark cave met his gaze!

"Whoosh~"

Having been discovered, the owner of those "eyes" seemed to start like a frightened rabbit, instantly turning into a golden afterimage and darting into the cave behind it.