The Owner of This Ruin Was an Idiot!

After Taishu Yun, Taishu Jing, and the others left the artifact-refining room, cultivators soon arrived. Seeing that the room had been picked clean, they ground their teeth in fury.

"It must have been that guy from the herb garden earlier. Come on, he can't have gone far. Catch him!"

A large group rushed out of the artifact-refining room in pursuit, never realizing they were heading entirely in the wrong direction.

Elsewhere.

A young woman and an old man casually shattered several puppets. Looking at the passage ahead, they saw it packed wall to wall with puppets, filling the entire corridor as though blocking others from entering.

"Miss, the owner of this ruin may have been a mighty expert," Uncle Lin said to Jing Yu.

"Indeed. Even Father Emperor and the others do not possess such methods. If he truly was a mighty expert, then there must surely be a Heart of Law here. If Father obtains a Heart of Law, he will definitely be able to break through his current bottleneck. When that happens, the Liu Family will no longer dare to act so recklessly."

Jing Yu murmured.

"Alas, it seems Miss still has not let go of what happened back then," Uncle Lin sighed.

"Enough, Uncle Lin. Perhaps the owner of this ruin is right beyond here. Let's kill our way in." Jing Yu made a grasping motion through the air, and a blue longsword appeared in her hand. At once, a sharp edge burst from her body, piercing the air.

This aura resembled Taishu Jing's Arrow Momentum, but it was far too immature, on an entirely different level.

"Miss's Sword Intent has grown stronger again." Uncle Lin laughed and followed Jing Yu as she charged into the passage.

Meanwhile, after Liu Ruying entered the ruin, he had been waiting for news from the Relic Incarnation. Yet half a day had passed, and the Relic Incarnation had not paid him any attention at all, leaving him deeply anxious.

"Young Master, perhaps you must find the ruin owner's location before you can meet the Relic Incarnation," Steward Mu said, unable to hold back as he watched Liu Ruying leap about in agitation.

"That's right! Steward Mu, you make sense. Maybe the Relic Incarnation is the owner of this ruin. Hahahaha, Steward Mu, you're quite clever. Not bad."

Liu Ruying's mood immediately improved, and he spoke to Steward Mu.

"Uh, Young Master, we should hurry onward."

Steward Mu reminded him. He was truly speechless at Liu Ruying. After entering the ruin, he had done nothing but stand there like an idiot, waiting for the Relic Incarnation to come find him. How could there be anyone this stupid in the world? No brain at all!

"Let's go." Liu Ruying eagerly led Steward Mu deeper into the ruin.

Bang!

With a hard kick, Taishu Jing forced open a door and swaggered inside. He sniffed with his nose and caught a medicinal scent, mixed with a trace of fragrance.

This was a room similar to the artifact-refining room. A huge furnace stood in the middle, while two rows of shelves lined the sides. Many bottles and jars sat upon them, presumably containing something.

Pop!

Taishu Jing pulled out a stopper and tipped the bottle into his palm. Several tiny pills rolled out, releasing a medicinal fragrance much like that of precious herbs.

"Brother, could these be the so-called pills?"

Taishu Jing showed the pills in his hand to Taishu Yun. Taishu Yun examined them and nodded. "They should be. There's no mistake."

"Then all of these must be pills too."

Taishu Jing looked at the shelves on both sides, all filled with the same small bottles. They probably all contained pills. Never mind what kind they were—he would collect them first.

"Jing, there are words written on the shelves. They should be the names of the pills," Taishu Yun said, pointing at the writing on the shelves.

"Spirit Replenishing Pill? What a tacky name. It sounds awful." Taishu Jing curled his lip.

Taishu Yun picked up an ancient book covered in dust from a table nearby. After brushing off the dust, he opened it and found that it recorded the effects of various pills, with descriptions for every kind.

"Jing, put away all these pills. There's an ancient book here that records their uses." Taishu Yun waved the book in his hand.

"What a waste of heaven's gifts. Perfectly good precious herbs, yet they just had to refine them into pills. Keeping them in their original flavor is the true path of this world. They didn't even understand that. I'd say the owner of this ruin was an idiot too."

Taishu Jing looked at the pills. They must have used up many precious herbs. If they had not been refined into pills, they would all have been precious herbs—enough for him to gnaw on for a long time. The thought made his heart ache.

"Jing, stop complaining."

Taishu Yun smiled and shook his head. At some point, Taishu Jing had developed a fondness for gnawing on precious herbs like snacks, yet he did not like eating Fierce Beast Meat. It was rather strange.

After emptying the room of every last pill, the two brothers continued onward with Little Fire toward the next location.

The next place they reached was a study. There were two bookshelves in the study, both filled with books on formations.

"Brother, do you think this person had a scar on his brain? Artifact refining, pill refining, and formations—who did he think he was, learning a bit of everything? No matter which of those three paths it was, it required immense effort to cultivate. Yet this guy tried to tackle them all at once. He probably thought he had too much free time. But in the end, he still kicked the bucket. Speechless."

Thinking of everything they had encountered, Taishu Jing immediately concluded that the owner of this ruin was a complete idiot.

"Uh, Jing, you can't put it that way. Perhaps this senior had lofty ambitions and wanted to advance side by side on all paths, only to fall upon this road in the end," Taishu Yun guessed.

"But he still died. Old White, we can't be like this person. No matter how useful pill refining, artifact refining, and formations are, we won't learn them. Cultivation is exhausting enough already, right, Little White?"

Awoo!

Little White, curled around Taishu Jing's neck, gave a soft cry in agreement.

Taishu Yun's face darkened. One moment it was Old White, the next it was Little White—which one was it? He really wanted to ask.

Taking a deep breath, Taishu Yun said to him, "I'm not interested in formations either. We possess the Divine Eye, so formations and restrictions are no different from empty air to us. Still, it would not hurt to learn a little. Bring them all back to the family. Perhaps a few formation geniuses will emerge from the family."

"That, I agree with." Taishu Jing nodded.

Then the two packed away every book in the room, leaving behind not a single one.

At this time, battles were unfolding throughout other parts of the ruin, all over precious herbs, weapons, and pills.

It turned out that identical rooms existed elsewhere as well. Taishu Yun and Taishu Jing simply did not know about them. Their route differed from those of the other cultivators, so they had not encountered them—or rather, they had missed them.

There were many cultivators, and they all gathered together, going wherever the crowds were. None dared venture alone into the remote areas, fearing traps.

Several hours later.

People gradually arrived at the center of the ruin, the largest place within it.

The place was extremely spacious, like a great hall. A high platform stood in the center, and upon it sat a throne. A skeleton rested on the throne, its bones crystalline like jade, without the slightest trace of decay.

On a stone table before the throne lay four objects: a booklet, a glowing orb, a golden page, and a Stone Key that looked utterly unremarkable.

A flight of stairs led up to the throne, with seven times seven—forty-nine—steps in total. As long as one climbed those forty-nine steps, one could obtain the four items.

Yet at this moment, no one climbed those stairs, making the scene seem rather strange.

"Young Master, those four items should be the ruin owner's most precious treasures," Steward Mu said to Liu Ruying.

"If that's the case, then let the Relic Incarnation give me all four treasures. I don't want anything else. What do you think?"

Seeing Liu Ruying still fixated on that supposed Relic Incarnation, Steward Mu rubbed his forehead, speechless beyond measure. Things had already reached this point, yet he was still thinking about some damn Relic Incarnation. It was obvious he had been played, wasn't it?

"Young Master, as long as you're happy." Steward Mu felt exhausted. This child's brain must have been damaged from being dropped when he was little.

"Ahem, honored Senior, Liu Ruying has arrived. Please answer this junior's request and bestow these four treasures upon me. Many thanks, Senior."

Liu Ruying cleared his throat and shouted toward the throne.

The moment he spoke, everyone looked at him as if he were an idiot. Could he not see the skeleton up there? It was already like that, yet he still called it Senior. Was he fooling himself? How pitiful.

"Pfft, I really wonder who that little fellow's accomplice is. Otherwise, I would definitely praise him properly," Jing Yu said with a hand over her mouth, laughing.

"Hahaha, if the people from the Cang Royal Mansion saw him making such a fool of himself, their faces would probably turn green with rage," Uncle Lin said with a laugh, shaking his head.

Taishu Yun and Taishu Jing had just entered with Little Fire when they witnessed this bizarre scene. They had not expected this person to still not have realized it. What had he grown up eating to be so stupid?