Entering the Artifact Ruins

Enveloped in light, Yi Xuan was filled with curiosity about the surrounding light. Before he could examine it carefully, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.

The surrounding area was littered with rocks, and there was no vegetation in sight. Yet, even so, the place still gave off a vibrant feeling, which Yi Xuan very peculiar.

Looking into the distance, one can see a huge mountain peak made of giant rocks standing not far away. The Stone Mountain is like a pillar reaching into the sky, as if supporting this world.

Before coming here, Yi Xuan had heard from Sect Master Cui that the Stone Mountain was the site of the High Antiquity Artifact Sect. Based on previous experience, the closer one got to the Artifact Sect, the more likely one was to obtain better fortuitous opportunity in this secret realm.

However, the Artifact Ruins, as a long-established secret realm in the Southern Frontier, is fundamentally different from other secret realms.

Cultivators can obtain secret manuals, Law Treasure, secret techniques, and even elixirs and spiritual herbs in other secret realms; some can even obtain spirit beasts.

However, one can only obtain various Law Treasure in the Artifact Ruins. But the Law Treasure the Artifact Ruins are completely different from those in other secret realms. After all, the High Antiquity Artifact Sect is an expert in refining artifacts, and the Law Treasure they produce are all of the finest quality.

It is said that many sects have obtained excellent Law Treasure from the Artifact Ruins, thereby enhancing the strength of their top combat forces, giving them the opportunity to expand their territory, and also improving their status in the Southern Frontier.

Of course, the most important thing for cultivators is their own strength. If their own strength is insufficient, relying solely on Law Treasure is not a long-term solution.

The former Puppet Master of the Azure Cloud Sect is the best example. His puppets were even more powerful than top-grade Law Treasure, but when faced with high-level combat power, they were as fragile as blank paper.

According to the sect leader, once you enter this Artifact Ruins, you should get as close as possible to the central Stone Mountain, and search for fortuitous opportunity that may exist within the Artifact Ruins as you approach the Stone Mountain.

One strange thing about this Artifact Ruins is that you can only take out the refined magical Law Artifact. In other words, it's not a case of the more you find, the better. Every time the Artifact Ruins opened in the past, there would be some disciples in the Southern Frontier who weren't quite clear-headed. After entering the Artifact Ruins, they would be driven by greed and keep trying to obtain more Law Artifact, intending to refine them all at once.

But when it came time for the final refining, they realized that there wasn't enough time.

According to previous research, the closing time of the Artifact Ruins is related to the number of magical Law Artifact refined within them. When the number and quality of refined magical Law Artifact in the Artifact Ruins reach a certain threshold, the Artifact Ruins will automatically close.

Many people will not have enough time to refine their magical Law Artifact and will return empty-handed.

If Yi Xuan were an ordinary cultivator, he would definitely have followed Sect Master Cui's guidance and explored the Artifact Ruins.

Unfortunately, Yi Xuan was not only a cultivator, but also a true tech tycoon. During the three days of preparation before his arrival, Yi Xuan did a lot of work.

Yi Xuan didn't move at this moment. Instead, he looked around and saw a stone cave not far behind him. His eyes lit up and he quickly walked in.

The interior of the stone cave wasn't very large, but it was more than enough to meet Yi Xuan's needs.

Yi Xuan then began taking items out of his Storage Bag at his waist, one by one, and placing them around himself.

First came the ten Pangu. Then, Yi Xuan carried things while directing the Pangu to work. Two hours later, the stone cave had been transformed by Yi Xuan into something resembling a scientific research laboratory.

Looking at the results in the cave, Yi Xuan nodded in satisfaction, muttering to himself, "I wonder how they're progressing? Perhaps I should check on their situation before moving on to the next step of the plan!"

Yi Xuan spoke to the air, "Butler!"

"Boss, I'm here!"

The Butler is a personal AI developed by Yi Xuan based on the Primordial Series of AI. This AI is inferior to the Primordial in all aspects, and Yi Xuan did not even inject a blank soul into it.

However, the advantage of the Butler is its portability; it's very convenient to carry and is only the size of a normal laptop.

Unlike the Primordial Series of artificial intelligence, although the main body looks no bigger than a normal desktop computer, the servers supporting it are enormous.

Although Yi Xuan could bring in the Primordial Series' servers by putting them in Storage Bag, simply disassembling and installing them would take more than a day or two.

By then, the Artifact Ruins will be closed, and Yi Xuan may not have had time to install its carrier.

While the Butler's intelligence and computing power are far inferior to those of primitive artificial intelligence, it is already sufficient to meet Yi Xuan's needs at this time.

"Butler, how's the signal? Are we able to establish a connection?"

"Boss! The signal is good, but no connectable signal was detected within the coverage area!"

After listening to the Butler's report, Yi Xuan understood that his previous guess was correct. Although the Artifact Ruins could not compare with the Cultivation Realm in terms of space, it was still a world of its own.

The coverage of the communication network equipment I have is far less than the size of the Artifact Ruins.

However, this was no challenge for Yi Xuan. He simply Yi Xuan to the Butler, "Release all the mechanical birds!"

The large box that had been placed at the entrance of the stone cave to conceal it was slowly opened, followed by a series of 'plop' sounds.

Flocks of birds flew out of the box and into the sky.

Upon closer inspection, although the birds looked like ordinary birds, they had no feathers and even shimmered with a metallic luster under the light.

This is a flapping-wing drone improved by Yi Xuan based on the puppet bird in Puppet Technique, but it has more uses than the puppet bird.

As the drone departed, the signal coverage area on the holographic projection behind Yi Xuan was increasing at a visible rate.

A yellow dot quickly appeared on the screen.

"Boss, one signal source connection has been completed!"

Before Yi Xuan speak, a second yellow dot appeared on the projection.

"Connection of the two signal sources has been completed!"

"Three have been completed..."

"Four..."

"Connection of nine signal sources completed! All signal sources successfully connected!"

These signal sources are the belts that Yi Xuan gave to the other nine disciples when they entered the Artifact Ruins. If those disciples die, the belts will activate their self-destruct mode and explode instantly.

The connection of the nine signal sources allowed Yi Xuan to breathe a sigh of relief, indicating that all nine disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect were still safe so far.

Yi Xuan dared not delay and instructed the Butler to activate the monitoring function for the nine signal sources.

Then a square phantom appeared in the air, projecting a nine-square grid image onto it, showing the current situation of the nine disciples of the Azure Cloud Sect.

Because the belts were worn on their bodies, the video footage that Yi Xuan saw was from a similar perspective to that of the people themselves. From the video, it appeared that the group was moving forward, and their destination was the Stone Mountain in the center of the Artifact Ruins.