Ruins

Before long, the relevant description appeared before his eyes.

[Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent: Every focused practice session, every earnest repetition, every gritted-teeth effort to persevere yields gains. After you fall asleep, energy is automatically consumed to activate the dream space. Each point of energy lasts ten minutes, and the space automatically closes when you wake. Current energy: 50]

???

!!!

"Wait, my talent can do this too?!"

One wood spiritual energy crystal likewise provided fifty points of energy. Those fifty points could last five hundred minutes, or more than eight hours.

Tang Zhixue was overjoyed. He had been troubled by having to go out exploring, gather supplies, and grow special plants during the day, leaving him without enough time to practice martial arts. He had never expected his Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent talent to gain such an incredible effect.

He hurriedly lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. Who wouldn't want to try this new effect?

But after lying there for ten minutes or so, he still couldn't sleep. He opened his eyes and stared straight at the roof. "I didn't sleep well last night, so why can't I fall asleep?!"

He felt helpless, but he could only get up. Lying there doing nothing wasn't a solution.

Still, the talent's new ability delighted Tang Zhixue. Now his nights wouldn't go to waste either.

Last night, without Plant Vitality to restore his energy, Tang Zhixue had relied on the chat channel to pass the time.

"Whoosh~"

Pushing open the wooden door, Tang Zhixue headed toward the woods to the east with his iron axe.

At present, he lacked a way to replenish the soil's fertility quickly for those mutated plants. Even reciting the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra wouldn't work, so Tang Zhixue had no intention of continuing to force them to mature.

And without tools, he couldn't plant on a large scale either.

But when he reached the edge of the white mist, Tang Zhixue didn't continue forward. Instead, he began reciting in a low voice.

"Heaven and earth in their natural order, let foul energies disperse. Within the cavern's mysterious void, the great origin shines..."

The words of the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra slowly flowed from Tang Zhixue's mouth. When he finished the final word, a glimmer of golden light flashed.

"Sizzle~"

The surrounding white mist rapidly retreated as if it had encountered its natural enemy, though it only cleared a distance of a little over a meter.

"Half a meter? That's enough..."

Though the effect was worlds apart from what it had been at the shelter, it was adequate for exploring outside.

He briefly mentioned his discovery in the chat channel, then walked through the woods while reciting the divine mantra.

Limited by his recitation speed, Tang Zhixue progressed through the woods much more slowly than yesterday.

Yet he had only walked a dozen or so meters when he noticed something unusual.

The plants shrouded in the white mist had undergone bizarre changes.

For instance, what had originally been a green weed was now dark red, and many sharp, vicious-looking notches had appeared along the edges of its leaves.

"Hiss... Good thing I have the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra."

Looking at those strange plants, Tang Zhixue felt deeply fortunate.

If he hadn't learned the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra, who knew what changes he would undergo after staying in the white mist for too long?

With a thought, Tang Zhixue once again reminded everyone through the chat channel to truly master the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra before exploring their surroundings.

But even the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra could only disperse the silent white mist. It had no effect whatsoever on those strange plants.

Digging up one of the strange plants with his iron axe, Tang Zhixue cautiously extended his left index finger to touch it.

"No reaction?"

Tang Zhixue frowned. "Why isn't there any reaction?"

Yesterday, he had only needed to touch plants like this to obtain their information, but today that seemed to have stopped working.

"Is it a problem with me? Or with the silent white mist?"

But he soon ruled himself out as the cause.

Before coming out to explore, he had used Plant Vitality to grow, accelerate the growth of, and mutate those plants, and he had obtained information on all of them.

"Can I not get information on things in the white mist? Can I only see information within the shelter's boundaries?"

After thinking for a while, Tang Zhixue still couldn't reach a conclusion, so he could only set the matter aside for now.

Standing up, Tang Zhixue continued walking through the woods while reciting the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra.

He had three objectives for this outing.

First, to explore the outside world and determine the surrounding terrain and the state of its various resources.

Second, to cut down trees on his way back to obtain materials for upgrading the shelter, as well as firewood. Of course, freshly cut wood would need to be dried in the sun before it could serve as firewood.

Third, and most importantly, to find edible wild beasts! White melons could only serve as a temporary food source. He would definitely need to find new sources of food later.

"Rustle~ Rustle~"

Tang Zhixue stepped over plants of all sorts of strange shapes, cautiously surveying his surroundings.

Soon, he stopped before a huge rock.

"Was this rock here yesterday?"

Tang Zhixue looked at the huge rock before him in puzzlement.

At first glance, it was roughly three or four meters tall, but only a little over a meter wide.

Rather than a huge rock, Tang Zhixue thought it looked more like a stone stele.

It was simply much rougher than an ordinary, smooth stone stele.

Walking up beside the huge rock, Tang Zhixue recited the divine mantra again, dispersing the nearby white mist.

Then he carefully walked around to the other side of the rock.

"Blazing... Fire... Sect?"

Three characters Tang Zhixue didn't recognize were carved into the other side of the huge rock, yet he understood their meaning at a glance.

Murmuring those three characters, Tang Zhixue suddenly thought of the Blazing Tiger Fist he practiced. Comparing the two, their first character was the same.

"Are the two connected?"

Tang Zhixue suddenly grew a little curious. Rapidly reciting the mantra, he walked around the area.

Before long, a stretch of ruins shrouded in white mist appeared before his eyes.

Because of the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra's effect, only a small portion of the ruins was currently exposed outside the white mist.

Tang Zhixue stood outside the ruins, frowning. "Judging by the materials in these ruins, the original building seems to have been built with stone and wood. It doesn't look like a building from modern society."

Could it really be from another world?

He suddenly recalled the earlier discussion in the chat channel. He hadn't expected evidence supporting their conjecture to appear so soon.

Tang Zhixue couldn't help murmuring, "I hope the Blue Star World can provide more help."

Far too many people had died. After just one night, only a little over two hundred remained.

After steadying his emotions, Tang Zhixue stepped toward the ruins.

Of course, he didn't stop reciting the divine mantra.

Rather than clearing the ruins directly, Tang Zhixue recited the Pure Heaven and Earth Divine Mantra along their edge. He wanted to see exactly how large these ruins were and whether there were any others nearby.

Logically speaking, a so-called sect couldn't have had only one building.