Inside the Immortal Ruins.
The familiar corridor.
This was already Chen Yu's fourth visit. It felt like coming home.
Crack-
The skeletons on either side slowly rose, without the slightest sense of menace. They tottered as they walked; never mind attacking Chen Yu, even getting them to walk in a straight line would have been a struggle.
And the pouches at their sides were visibly bulging, clearly stuffed with treasures.
But Chen Yu paid the skeletons no attention.
He moved swiftly through the Immortal Ruins.
Thirteen rooms.
This time, items lay in plain sight on every shelf.
Spirit Swords, pills, cultivation manuals, Martial Skills, materials... They all looked extraordinary.
Chen Yu was absolutely certain that any one of these items would fetch at least 100 points if he took it outside!
Things were already like this on his fourth visit.
Wouldn't the fifth send things soaring?
Having confirmed that the drop rate was still stacking like mad, Chen Yu grew even more curious about the glorious sight awaiting him on his next visit.
"The True Yang Technique."
"The Wind-Riding Art."
Chen Yu studied the cultivation manual and Martial Skill before him.
He opened them.
And committed everything to memory.
"A pity. The True Yang Technique is a fire-attribute cultivation method, and I've already cultivated the Flame-Transforming Art, so I have no use for it for now." Chen Yu felt a little regretful. "But this Wind-Riding Art is pretty good. Once mastered, it not only makes your footwork light and graceful, it even lets you ride the wind over short distances."
After memorizing everything, Chen Yu returned both manuals to their original places.
Then he turned around.
And returned to the first corridor.
He tore his robes in a few places to make himself look more disheveled, rubbed against the wall to pick up some dust, and expended his spiritual power to make his aura as erratic as possible.
Only after finishing his preparations did Chen Yu step out of the Immortal Ruins.
When he emerged again, the number of disciples outside had dwindled considerably.
Most of the Emerald Cloud Peak disciples had already entered three times. After completing their assignment, most chose to return to Emerald Cloud Peak. Only a few stayed to watch the excitement, and fewer still decided to enter a fourth or even a fifth time.
Chen Yu immediately attracted quite a few people's attention upon emerging.
Ignoring their gazes,
Chen Yu walked up to Elder Sun.
Before he could speak,
Elder Sun had already looked him up and down, his eyes revealing surprise. "Four visits, and still nothing?"
Though uncommon, there had been cases of people coming back empty-handed after three visits.
But coming back with nothing after four...
So far, he was the only one.
"Elder, I did find treasure in the Immortal Ruins this time, but while I was running out, the skeletons..." Chen Yu wore an embarrassed expression as he spoke.
"Hahaha." Elder Sun couldn't help laughing aloud.
After laughing,
He stroked his beard.
"Such is fate."
"I'd like to go in again." Chen Yu gritted his teeth. "If I can find a valuable treasure, I'll be able to repay your loan."
Hearing this, Elder Sun stopped laughing.
This lad only just took out a loan. He'd better not die in there.
So,
He advised him sternly,
"Entering the Immortal Ruins a fifth time is extremely dangerous. You're still young. You can repay your loan slowly."
"..." Chen Yu fell silent for a moment. "I still want to try."
Elder Sun gave a cold snort.
"Suit yourself!"
The sect had always encouraged disciples to enter the Immortal Ruins multiple times, so naturally he couldn't stop him.
After speaking with Elder Sun, Chen Yu turned and headed toward the Immortal Ruins. Along the way, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd, slender branches bearing ample fruit. But she merely stood among the others, not even greeting him when he passed beside her.
Chen Yu felt nothing. With the Dao Sect's upper beams crooked, its disciples' motives were even harder to fathom.
Though he had chatted and joked with Lü Yanyan several times, addressing each other as Senior Sister and junior brother, Chen Yu wasn't about to grow close to her or consider her a good person merely because of that.
He heard the discussions around him.
"This kid's gone in four times, and he hasn't brought anything out."
"Hahaha, that's what bad luck does to you."
"I went into the Immortal Ruins three times and only brought back one Qi Refining Pill. I thought I was unlucky enough, but apparently someone's even worse off."
"The Immortal Ruins get harder with every visit... Can he make it out alive?"
"Not likely!"
"..."
Listening to their comments, Chen Yu felt like laughing.
He kept walking forward. Just then, a figure suddenly passed beside him, bringing a waft of fragrance.
Chen Yu turned to look.
It was his strange neighbor.
Perhaps sensing Chen Yu looking at her, his strange neighbor also turned and glanced at him. The flustered, uneasy expression on her face was gone, replaced by a coolness that seemed to warn strangers away. There was some disgust in her eyes, along with distaste and disdain.
"Hmph."
"Not knowing your limits!"
With that, she turned her head away haughtily, thrust out her chest, and passed beside Chen Yu without yielding an inch, stepping into the Immortal Ruins...
?
Chen Yu thought he had mistaken her for someone else.
But that delicate face confirmed that she really was his neighbor.
Thinking back to her expression and words just now, he recalled the timid face that had softly stammered, "Y-you... you first," during his first visit to the Immortal Ruins.
...Is she an idiot?
Insulted out of the blue, Chen Yu was a little bewildered.
He shook his head.
And stopped thinking about it.
Forward,
He stepped into the Immortal Ruins.
As a dazzling shimmer swept across his vision,
Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins for the fifth time.
"Time to reap the harvest."
Chen Yu took a deep breath.
High-value treasures had already appeared on the shelves in every room during his fourth visit. So what would happen once the drop rate stacked to its absolute limit?
He followed the familiar corridor forward, and the skeletons on either side awoke once again.
Shaking and trembling,
They moved like elderly people,
With difficulty.
When Chen Yu passed them, two skeletons strained to approach him. Just as they came within about a meter of him, there was a sudden clatter, and one of them fell apart on the spot.
Amid the pile of broken bones, a round, delicately fragrant pill shone.
"..."
I didn't do anything.
Just as he thought this, another clatter suddenly sounded behind him.
Chen Yu hurriedly turned around and saw that the other skeleton had also fallen apart, leaving behind a piece of some unknown material.
"...Well, well, well."
So this was the true worth of stacking the drop rate to its limit?
Chen Yu couldn't be bothered to pick up the items on the floor. He headed straight for the thirteen rooms inside the Immortal Ruins. Since even the skeletons could now drop valuable treasures, surely there would be even more on the shelves in each room.
He searched swiftly.
"Pills, materials, Spirit Swords... Is that all?"
Chen Yu went through all thirteen rooms. There were indeed plenty of valuable treasures, but no cultivation manuals or Martial Skills. Even if he took the items before him, he could only hand them over to the sect.
Just as Chen Yu was starting to feel disappointed,
He suddenly froze!
"Wait."
"Why is there an extra room here?"