The Secret of the Ruins

Chapter 5: The Secret of the Ruins. After claiming the treasures from the precious chest, Mu Chen and the others did not let their joy go to their heads. They knew full well that the Mysterious Ruins were steeped in strangeness, and many secrets surely remained for them to uncover. While carefully studying the runes on the stone platform, Mu Chen discovered some unusual markings. They were concealed within the patterns of the runes and could easily be overlooked without close scrutiny. He gently traced the markings with his fingers, trying to decipher their meaning. "Look, there are even older symbols beneath these runes. They seem to tell a different story," Mu Chen said with a frown. Luo Li and their companions gathered around, their eyes filled with confusion as they examined the indistinct symbols. "I've never seen these symbols before. They don't look like ordinary spiritual power runes," said a companion who had studied runes extensively. Mu Chen channeled his spiritual power, sending a thread of it into the symbols. In an instant, the ancient symbols gave off a faint glow, projecting a series of images onto the walls of the ruins. The images revealed a scene shrouded in darkness, where a group of mysterious figures in black robes were performing some kind of ritual. They stood around an enormous vortex of dark spiritual power, murmuring incantations, and the dark power radiating from the vortex seemed poised to devour everything. "Are these... the forces of darkness?" Luo Li asked in astonishment. As the images continued to unfold, they saw the mysterious black-robed figures place several objects into the vortex of dark spiritual power. After absorbing the objects, the vortex blazed with light, and then a beam of dark light shot into the sky and streaked into the distance. The