The Sacred Ruins

The strand of clear fragrance was very faint, but it was also very real as it drifted into Chu Feng’s nose. The others also sensed it and revealed odd expressions.

"There’s a mutant fruit here!"

They were confident that this was a fruity fragrance. There was an extraordinary fruit ripening here. That was because they could already smell the fragrance from so far away. This went to show how special this fruit was.

That majestic stone platform was still suspended in the air. If one were to consider all the shattered ones, the past era was simply too astonishing!

"There are a total of 48 such platforms. This meant there were 48 quasi-divine beasts to pull them. This lineup is enough to battle through the starry skies. How terrifying! It must be a four-star imperial court."

Li Canghe was shaken and felt his scalp go numb. This was definitely the ruins of an imperial court. Even his breathing became quite irregular.

That was because there were no sects at this level in the world he had come from. Just thinking about it made one ache with envy. He was extremely excited.

The old woman was also breathing heavily and had to try hard to calm herself down. They had discovered a four-star imperial court just from opening a random ruin.

Chu Feng was distracted. Li Canghe’s stories were like a dream to him.

Battle through the starry skies and roaming the cosmos—just how powerful an evolved being must that be? The sects they founded were too astonishing.

Now, he was just a shackled realm entity. He longed to reach these legendary realms but felt quite unfamiliar and farfetched.

To him, that was god—that was immortal!

However, those ancient beings had no such notions. They only believed in evolution. They believed myriad things possessed spirit and could continuously transform.

"The waters on earth are truly deep. This place is too terrifying. This withered world is truly unfathomable." The old woman sighed.

Doubtlessly, if one were to open up all these ruins and find them well-preserved, earth would likely surpass many ancient vital stars.

These were enormous fortunes and unbelievable opportunities.

Merely the fortunes in this ruin, if used well, was enough to induce superior evolution in a life form from an ancient star. The recipient would improve rapidly and surpass the past glory of the mother star.

Once they thought of such a possibility, Li Canghe, the old woman, and those descender scions began to breathe heavily. Their eyes seemed to be burning.

In the end, they glanced at Chu Feng and spoke various words of gratefulness, beseeching him to open this ruin.

Chu Feng laughed coldly inside. These people were previously revealing killing intent and wanted to kill him after he had outlived his usefulness. Some of them were coveting the black substance within his body.

Now, after seeing the ruins of an imperial court, they had become so polite again. How pragmatic!

He smiled despite the dissatisfaction inside. These people wanted to use him, but didn’t he also want to use them?

Many of those in the group were king level-entities, the best kind of cannon fodder to help him probe the path ahead.

Domains weren’t that simple. This was especially so within the imperial court. Even though they were badly damaged and the land itself had almost collapsed, the remaining runes were still lethal.

He needed to deduce them and also required people to test them out. It was the most suitable to let these people step on the mines.

Many people climbed onto the stone platform and gazed at the starry sky, sighing about how strong the imperial court was. It was like a divine court that had once suppressed many starry oceans and commanded many planets.

Even Chu Feng felt somewhat moved. He had also arrived with the help of other people and was thinking about how, back in the day, the evolved beings of this place would enter the cosmos when they went out to wander or visit friends. This felt incredible.

Humanity hadn’t rushed out of the solar system despite the advancements in technology. They had never entered the real ocean of stars. But the ancients from tens of thousands of years ago had long since reached this step. This made him feel quite odd.

Different paths and different civilizations. In the end, they would all return to the same place. All of them would face the deep starry oceans.

Following which, they set out again and headed straight towards the place where the fragrance was coming from. Many of them revealed hopeful expressions.

There were some bewildering mists in this region, and the energy here had become denser. There were some skeletons on the ground, all of which were radiating bizarre energy. It was so frightening that no one dared to approach.

An explosive battle had taken place here in the past. It was a rather terrifying battle in which many evolved beings were torn apart and died without a whole corpse.

"Some of them are at the golden arhat level," said the half-burnt old woman as she stared at the slightly glowing skull on the ground.

That was an invincible diamond bone. Even now, despite being badly damaged, it still possessed some of its past qualities.

Currently, there wasn’t a single entity at such a level. Additionally, the current energy environment can’t sustain the appearance of such a creature either.

Finally, after going deeper inside, they saw the place where the fruit fragrance was coming from.

A little tree was rooted among the rubble. Its whole body was a lustrous purple, and on it was growing a single purple apple. It was precisely this fruit that was releasing the fragrance.

Many people revealed odd expressions and wanted to go up to pick it, but all of them were afraid of the domain runes.

This little tree, rooted within the rubble, was as tall as a person and seemed like an apple tree.

"Ah, this apple is indeed extraordinary. It can allow anyone to sever the sixth shackle!" someone said.

All of them were experts, especially those descender scions. Their discerning eyes were immediately able to tell the apple’s level.

With earth’s current state, they would still have to wait a certain period if they wanted to find fruits capable of helping one sever the seventh shackle.

The world underwent rapid evolution after the snowstorm. The mutant fruits rapidly increased in number but didn’t quite see any improvement in quality.

That was why many life forms were able to sever their sixth shackle and overtake the predecessors at the bend.

Chu Feng secretly transmitted his voice, telling the toad that he could pick the fruit.

The toad didn’t say another word before scuttling over with a swoosh. It picked the fruit immediately and bit of half with a chomp.

"You dare?!" someone shouted in anger. Before they could even react, the toad had already made his move and swallowed the fruit. This angered some people.

Even if some people had already severed their sixth shackle, they paid attention to such a fruit because it could help make the people on their side stronger.

"Why do you care?!" The toad shot an arrogant sideways glance at a certain young man.

It kept out stuffing the fruit into its mouth while speaking, filling its mouth with fragrance. This made even Chu Feng feel some heartache. Another divine fruit had been wasted on this toad.

But it was still better than it landing in their pockets. Currently, he still had no intention to lose all decorum with them over a fruit.

Besides, this toad was a divine beast. He might be able to break through and become stronger after eating enough of such fruits.

"That fruit belongs to us. How dare you take it?!" the young man said with a cold voice. His attitude was quite vigorous.

These words made Chu Feng frown as he said immediately, "So, these ruins are all yours? Then we should just go back immediately."

"Feng Hong, do you know how to speak at all? Have you gotten used to being tyrannical at home? Shut up quickly," Li Canghe berated.

Qi Lin also revealed an odd expression and said, "Chu Feng, don’t take this to heart. It’s all because Feng Hong has a brother who wants to break through his sixth shackle but couldn’t find a suitable fruit back then. He was just too anxious."

She was peerlessly charming. With her hair flying in the wind, her watery flowing eyes, and her lustrous white skin, she possessed a beauty that moved one’s heart.

"Mm!" Chu Feng nodded.

It was at this time that the toad began to roll on the ground, crying out loud about how it was about to break through. Of course, it was pretending so that everyone would believe it evolved into a powerful being after eating the fruit. He could beat up more powerful people later on.

Chu Feng felt that this was also good. This way, the toad’s power would seem reasonable.

"Let’s go. We have to continue on. If this place really is the ruins of an imperial court, there should be countless fortunes. There’s no need to be upset over a single fruit," Qi Lin said.

Li Canghe smiled and nodded in approval.

However, a coldness flashed through the depths of his eyes. Chu Feng, with his keen divine instincts, was able to capture it. The toad was a divine beast and was naturally quite extraordinary. It, too, sensed something.

The two noticed that Li Canghe appeared amiable and stood on Chu Feng’s side throughout this journey when, in fact, he didn’t approve of the latter at all. He was only pretending so that he could make use of Chu Feng’s skills in the field of domains.

A mere fruit was already unbearable to those from the Origin Magnetic Immortal Cave. They would definitely exclude Chu Feng and the toad once they encountered a great fortune.

They advanced another five kilometers and approached a secret land. That was because there were domains here that were still active. The veined patterns on the ground lit up and were even ten times more densely packed than the ones near the gate!

"Heavens!"

The people drew in a breath of cold air and were quite shocked.

They noticed that they had arrived at an important area. This was an absolute treasured area of the ancient imperial court. Otherwise, why would they deploy such defenses?

Doubtlessly, they would have to search for a fatally weakened area to exploit if they wanted to enter. Otherwise, even a great domain master might not be able to break it.

Back in those years, there was a great battle here. Chu Feng could only hope the war had damaged this area badly, allowing them to find a safe path to go through.

"Everyone, this area is very dangerous. I can’t do this alone. I’ll need the help of some experts," said Chu Feng.

He began to carve runes upon magnetic crystals and then told Li Canghe and the others that there might still be danger even if they could find a seemingly safe road. They would need to perform repeated experiments.

The expressions of some people changed. This indicated that the cannon fodder would need to take the stage soon.

Chu Feng began to deploy domains in the area. He had some people throw out magnetic stones towards some special locations as an experiment. He then stared at the geography of the area, and according to the difference in glowing areas, Chu Feng began to write rapidly on the ground as he calculated.

After a long time, Chu Feng deduced 17 different paths. All of them might be safe, but some of them might also turn out to be paths of no return.

This made things difficult for everyone. No one dared to move forward.

Following which, a number of people from the corporations got unlucky. At the critical moment, Li Canghe ordered them to probe the path ahead. He revealed a cold expression and was no longer his old amiable self.

"Ah..."

Before long, there were miserable cries being transmitted from the front as someone was ground into a bloody mist, dead in both body and spirit.

Pfft!

A beam of light with special corrosive properties flew out in a different direction and pierced right through a person, turning him into a pool of blood.

Moments later, 13 of the 17 paths were determined as paths of death. Only four of them were safe without casualties.

This also meant that 13 people had died.

The dead were all people from the corporations. The higher-ups from the Pre-Qin Research Institute, Deity Biomedicals, the Archaic Alliance, and the Extraterrestrial Research Institute all wore ugly expressions.

None of the descender scions had died because they hadn’t made a single move at all. All of them looked on coldly and calmly.

Li Canghe couldn’t let them walk to their deaths.

Pfft! Pfft!

Before long, two more men died, leaving only paths that were accessible. That was because the two men had successfully walked into a safe area. There were no domains there for the time being.

"Go, you lot lead the way," said Li Canghe. He ordered the corporate agents to walk in the front and began to march formally.

After entering deeper, everyone saw large ruins filled with roof tiles and broken walls. This probably used to be a majestic palace complex.

The roof tiles were all made of metal but they had been destroyed nonetheless.

If this was spread to the outside world, they would definitely sigh in admiration at the architectural wonders.

"Land of inheritance!"

Li Canghe trembled because he had seen the words carved on this land. This made his heart race, filling him with delight and surprise.

"Please don’t be ruined. I hope there really are inheritances inside!" He was actually praying nervously.

The old woman also recognized the words here. According to what she just said to Lin Naoi, this was an extremely high-ranking language containing a mysterious energy.

This place was a land of inheritance. No wonder there were vast domains outside. No one would be able to enter without breaking them.

Before long, they arrived at the center of the ruins. This place was locked in mist.

They could vaguely make out the faintly glowing silhouette of a pagoda. It wasn’t material but formed from energy.

"Oh, heavens. It really does exist!" Li Canghe laughed out loud. His whole body spasmed with excitement.

The old woman was also shocked as she said with a trembling voice, "Born from the ashes and its energy unextinguished. Is this the peerless inheritance? It... it really exists in this world!"

"The imperial inheritance?!"

Some people trembled as their emotions rose and fell. Great tidal waves were raging in their hearts. One had to know that this place was the remains of the imperial court of evolved beings. Their inheritance must be incomparably valuable!

During earth’s most glorious era, the evolved beings from this imperial court had ridden carriages drawn by quasi-divine beasts to roam the stars and cosmos. Just how powerful were they?

Their inheritance would definitely be unimaginable!