Martial Peak

About half an hour later, after everyone had restored themselves, Fei Zhi Tu stood up and motioned, “Let’s go.”

Having said that, he began following the underground river in the direction Yang Kai had originally been staring.

As they travelled further, the ancient and desolate aura Yang Kai felt earlier became more and more apparent until even Cai He and the other Saint Kings were able to notice it, causing some excitement to flash across their eyes.

Anything that was capable of exuding such an aura must be extremely ancient. Everyone in this group was an experienced cultivator and had been on many external excursions, so they could determine with great confidence that this place really had an Ancient Ruin!

Despite knowing it was impossible for Fei Zhi Tu to have deceived them, as they approached their destination, everyone couldn’t help feeling excited.

For this time’s mission, rescuing Qian Tong was naturally the priority, but there was no reason they couldn’t obtain some benefits during their exploration of these Ancient Ruins.

The chances of finding treasure were particularly high in ruins like this one where very few, if any, people had previously come.

But a moment later, when a Space Array appeared, everyone couldn’t help feeling surprised.

The desolate aura all of them had been feeling up until now was actually coming from this Space Array, and looking at its appearance, it was clearly somewhat different in design from the Space Arrays in use on Shadowed Star today. Although it shared many of the same characteristics, there were still many subtle differences.

Yang Kai had also seen a number of Space Arrays and had even cultivated the Dao of Space, so he was immediately able to determine that this Space Array was a relic from many millennia ago.

This being the case, it wasn’t a surprise that this Space Array differed from the ones on Shadowed Star; after all, over many years, the Space Arrays on Shadowed Star would have been patched and altered numerous times.

Around the base of this Space Array were several grooves where a number of depleted High-Rank Saint Crystals were inserted. Obviously, these Saint Crystals had been consumed in order to activate it.

Fei Zhi Tu picked up one of the depleted Saint Crystals and examined it for a moment before nodding, “En, that old fogy Qian should have used this Space Array to teleport to the Ancient Ruins. These Saint Crystals were drained recently.”

“Since that’s the case, let’s quickly go in,” Ning Xiang Chen said anxiously.

Fei Zhi Tu shook his head slowly though, “We must certainly enter, but as for what is on the other side of this Space Array, we have no way of knowing. The message sent by that Old Qian is too vague, even us finding this place was in part due to luck. However, since these Ancient Ruins were capable of trapping him, whatever is inside them is definitely quite dangerous. You kids must not act rashly after we enter. Stick close to us at all times so that we can protect you if there is any danger, is that understood?”

Cai He and the others didn’t dare to refute and all quickly nodded.

Seeing these four Saint King Realm juniors act obediently, Fei Zhi Tu nodded in satisfaction. With a big wave of his hand, Fei Zhi Tu inserted a number of High-Rank Saint Crystals into the grooves at the base of the array before using his own Saint Qi to cover everyone and step onto the platform.

In the next moment, the Space Array flashed and the group of eight disappeared.

When the eight people appeared again, they were already in a completely different place.

Immediately after firmly steading themselves, Fei Zhi Tu and the other Origin Realm masters released their Divine Senses to sweep their surroundings vigilantly while they all condensed their Saint Qi in case they needed to take action.

After confirming that there was no danger nearby, Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters relaxed and began to carefully examine their surroundings.

Yang Kai also took the opportunity to observe the area but after a quick scan, he couldn’t help showing a strange look, because he found that after using that Space Array, the place they had arrived at was actually kind of bizarre.

The World Energy aura here seemed quite rich compared to the outside, even higher than the current Dragon Cave Mountain. Moreover, in the sky, there was blue, with white clouds and a sun shining in a seemingly boundless space.

The location his group had arrived at was actually among a large group of buildings that seemed to be the ruins of an ancient Sect.

However, under his Divine Sense’s perception, Yang Kai found no living creatures other than the eight from his group.

“This is the Ancient Ruin?” Ning Xiang Chen and others couldn’t help looking at each other, revealing a trace of suspicion.

“There’s no doubt these are the Ancient Ruins we were looking for,” Fei Zhi Tu replied confidently, seemingly having discovered something and pointing his finger in a certain direction, “Those characters are not the ones we currently use on Shadowed Star and haven’t been widely seen for tens of thousands of years.”

In the direction Fei Zhi Tu was pointing there was a loft. This loft was quite exquisitely constructed and had a plaque hanging from the second floor that had several stylized characters written on it. What these words meant, however, was unknown to anyone present.

In addition, there were some other buildings that also had plaques engraved with unreadable words.

“It’s really an Ancient Ruin, and one that is so well preserved!” Ning Xiang Chen said excitedly, his old face suddenly looking a bit ruddy. The old lady and the Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator also wore inspired looks.

It wasn’t like other Ancient Ruins hadn’t been discovered on Shadowed Star, but none of them were so complete. An intact ruin meant that no one had searched through them for treasures, so anything of value was likely still here. As long as they successfully rescued Qian Tong, there would be a lot of time to explore this place.

Thinking this, the several Origin Returning Realm masters suddenly felt far more enthusiastic.

“Finding Old Qian is our first priority, as for these ruins, it won’t be too late to explore them after!” Fei Zhi Tu understood his priorities and swiftly issued this order, to which everyone else nodded in agreement.

After all, he was the one with the greatest strength here and Ning Xiang Chen and the other Origin Realm cultivators had close friendships with him, so naturally, none of them would try to argue at this point.

Immediately, Fei Zhi Tu began looking around for marks left by Qian Tong. Fortunately, Qian Tong had acted cautiously and after entering these Ancient Ruins he had left markers along the path he travelled, otherwise Fei Zhi Tu wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for him.

After a short time, Fei Zhi Tu found the right direction and began leading the way.

Everyone followed after him, but glancing at the buildings around them they couldn’t help letting out some sighs. If they weren’t in a rush to rescue Qian Tong, they would have all gone to search through these buildings.

With so many intact structures around, finding something valuable was all but guaranteed.

But now, they could only try to ignore this urge to explore.

Unexpectedly, after about a stick of incense worth of time, the group of eight remained perfectly safe, as if there was no danger in this Ancient Ruin at all; however, this only made everyone’s expression grow more dignified.

Suddenly, a strange medicinal fragrance reached the tip of everyone’s nose, and all eight of them couldn’t help turning their heads in a certain direction as a sense of comfort and enlightenment washed over them.

“This is…” Ning Xiang Chen’s eyes widened as he pointed forward, “The medicinal fragrance is coming from there!”

Fei Zhi Tu’s expression also brightened and he accelerated the group’s pace. Only a valuable treasure would be able to produce such a rich medicinal fragrance, so naturally, he wanted to see what the source was.

Soon after, the group of eight arrived in front of a flower bed where a number of exotic flowers and grasses. Although most of these had substantial effects, only the half metre tall purple grass stalk in the very centre of the garden which stood straight like a sword was worthy of their attention.

The fragrance everyone smelled before was being exuded by this purple grass.

“Sword Soul Grass! And it’s purple!” Ning Xiang Chen exclaimed, staring hotly at this purple grass. Not just him though, even Fei Zhi Tu couldn’t hide his excitement.

Sword Soul Grass was the primary ingredient in the Sword Soul Pill, which was the most suitable auxiliary pill for cultivators who cultivated swordsmanship. Consuming a Sword Soul Pill would increase a cultivator’s ability to grasp and control the Dao of Swords and allow them to display greater strength when using sword type Divine Abilities.

The Sword Soul Grass itself was an Origin Grade Mid-Rank spirit herb, so even taking all of Shadowed Star into consideration, it was incredibly rare. When mature, a Sword Soul Grass would have a pale blue colour, but as its medicinal age increased, its colour would also slowly deepen.

At present, this Sword Soul Grass that had turned purple must have a medicinal age exceeding ten thousand years, a rare and precious treasure.

If one were to use this Sword Soul Grass to refine a pill and then let a cultivator who cultivated the Dao of Swords consume it, the benefits that cultivator obtained would be difficult to estimate.

This spirit grass was of incredible value! What’s more, it was incredibly useful for the Origin Returning Realm masters here, including Fei Zhi Tu.

Although no one here took the Dao of Swords as their primary cultivation path, all of them had more or less dabbled in it and mastered some Martial Skills or Divine Abilities related to swords. As a result, all of them naturally coveted this Sword Soul Grass greatly. Even if none of them could really use it, selling it would result in massive profits.

“Brother Fei…” Ning Xiang Chen turned his head to look at Fei Zhi Tu. Although this treasure was incredibly precious, it wasn’t enough to destroy the friendship between these people. On top of that, they had just entered this Ancient Ruin and had already found such a thing, so if they continued searching, wouldn’t they be able to find even more good things?

As such, Ning Xiang Chen’s first response was to ask Fei Zhi Tu’s opinion on how to deal with this Sword Soul Grass. While they couldn’t go and explore the surrounding buildings for treasures for fear of complications, if a treasure were to appear right in front of them there was no reason to simply ignore it.

“If several friends are willing to trust this Fei, I will collect this Sword Soul Grass for now and after we exit, everyone can discuss how to assign it,” Fei Zhi Tu declared.

“I have no objections,” The old lady immediately expressed her support.

“We trust City Lord Fei, I have no objections!” The Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator also nodded in agreement, and the remaining Ning Xiang Chen naturally wasn’t going to disagree.

Seeing that everyone had reached an agreement, Fei Zhi Tu quickly took out a small jade shovel and walked over to the Sword Soul Grass, seemingly intent on digging it up completely.

“Brother Yang, why do you look so serious?” Cai He suddenly approached Yang Kai and asked with concern after accidentally having noticed Yang Kai’s deeply furrowed brow.

Yang Kai turned a deaf ear to his question as he frowned even deeper, but in the next instant a look of understanding flashed across his face and he quickly shouted, “No, this isn’t a Sword Soul Grass, City Lord Fei, stop!”

Cai He was taken aback by his sudden shout and quickly looked over towards Fei Zhi Tu, but Yang Kai’s words came out a moment too late as the jade shovel in Fei Zhi Tu’s hand had already dug into the soil of the flower bed.