Chapter 917: Great Ruins

"Take a seat, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said to Han Li with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Han Li took a glance at Chen Yang's excited expression, then sat down beside Gu Qianxun.

"I've summoned the three of you here today because I would have a huge opportunity to present to you," Chen Yang declared, and Han Li's trio was rather taken aback to hear this.

"To make a long story short, a secret area has appeared deep within the Scalptia Spatial Domain, one that's filled with countless precious treasures. This is an extremely rare opportunity, and City Lord E Kuai has decided to end the Five City Martial Gathering and lead the top sixteen cultivators into this secret area," Chen Yang continued with a smile.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

How had this supposed secret area suddenly popped up out of nowhere?

However, Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing were both quite excited to hear this, and the latter asked, "Is that true, City Lord Chen?"

"As true as true can be," Chen Yang replied with a smile.

"Would you be able to elaborate any further, City Lord Chen?" Han Li asked.

"You only recently arrived in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so you may not be very familiar with this place, Fellow Daoist Li. The Scalptia Spatial Domain is an extremely mysterious place, and even though our Profound City has already been standing for countless years, we've still yet to uncover all of the domain's secrets.

“There are many secrets lurking deep within the Scalptia Spatial Domain, as well as countless precious natural treasures, and all of the most premium resources in our Profound City, including the prizes for this Five City Martial Gathering, like the Heavenly Qilin Crystal and the Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, are all obtained from the domain's depths.

“This secret area is the most significant opportunity to have arisen within the Scalptia Spatial Domain in the past one million years, so this is truly not an opportunity to be passed up on," Chen Yang explained.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was also beginning to grow a little excited.

"This does sound like a splendid opportunity, but I'm assuming that a place that's harboring so many precious natural treasures is also going to be very dangerous, right?" Han Li asked.

"Of course. These secret areas are filled with all types of unknown dangers. However, risk and reward have always come hand in hand, so consider this matter carefully, and if you don't want to go, then I won't force you," Chen Yang replied.

Han Li's trio fell silent upon hearing this, and Chen Yang made no effort to rush them, merely waiting in silence as they weighed up their options.

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li, and he took a glance at Daoist Xie out of his peripheral vision.

Daoist Xie remained standing completely still on the spot in an expressionless manner, but one of his fingers moved ever so slightly.

Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly said, "City Lord Chen, there's something that I want to ask you: does the incident concerning the Puppet City army a few days ago have something to do with this secret area?"

"The people from Puppet City did indeed come for the secret area, and they'll also be sending their own cultivators into it," Chen Yang replied.

Slightly concerned looks appeared on the faces of both Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing upon hearing this.

Profound City and Puppet City were sworn enemies, so conflicts would be sure to break out if cultivators from the two cities were to encounter each other in the secret area, thereby making the secret area an even more dangerous place.

After some brief contemplation, Han Li declared, "I would like to go and take a look at this secret area."

Chen Yang was ecstatic to hear this, and he replied, "Great! What do you say, Fellow Daoist Gu, Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan?"

The hesitant look on Xuanyuan Xing's face faded away as he nodded and replied, "This is too alluring an opportunity for me to pass up."

With both Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing agreeing to go, Gu Qianxun's doubts seemed to have also been erased, and she smiled as she declared, "In that case, I would like to come along as well."

"Alright, with all three of you agreeing to come, our Green Goat City won't lose to any of the other subsidiary cities in terms of overall power. You can go back to rest now. The date of departure still hasn't been decided, so I'll keep you posted," Chen Yang said with a smile.

Han Li's trio nodded in response before standing up to depart, when Chen Yang suddenly continued, "By the way, this is still a confidential matter at this point, so don't tell anyone else."

Han Li's trio immediately gave a collective affirmative response before the three of them departed.

Following their departure, Chen Yang also left his residence to travel to the city lord's manor.

One morning, around half a month later.

At this moment, there were close to twenty people gathering on a white stone plaza in the city lord's manor, and they were split up into the five groups.

The group that was furthest to the left had the most people at five, and they were led by none other than Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing.

"Ziqing, you didn't make it into the final sixteen to begin with, so listen to me and stay in Profound City for your own safety," Zhu Ziyuan said with tightly furrowed brows.

"I don't care! Wherever you go, I go! Besides, City Lord E already agreed to let me come, so it doesn't matter what you say," Zhu Ziqing replied with a smile.

Zhu Ziyuan had always been absolutely obedient to E Kuai, so he could only heave a resigned sigh upon hearing this.

The group to their right consisted of a trio of White Rock City cultivators, led by Fang Chan.

The loss that he had suffered to Gu Qianxun didn't seem to have affected him at all, and at this moment, he was still tearing chunks of flesh off from a thick and greasy beast bone with a joyous smile on his face.

In contrast, the group of Profound End City cultivators next to them were in far lower spirits. Their leader, Feng Wuchen, was standing in silence with a dark look on his face, and he refused to converse with anyone, only taking the occasional glance at the Green Goat City cultivators to their right.

After half a month of recuperation, he had mostly recovered from his injuries, and he had also grown a new arm, which was wrapped in bandages like Duan Tong's.

Right next to them were the Green Goat City trio, while the Excess Passage City trio were situated the furthest to the right.

"The fact that the city lord's manor gathered all of us here indicates that we're most likely going to be setting off today, but I still don't know exactly where we're going. Have you received any information, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked.

"Prematurely ending the Five City Martial Gathering is already a very strange occurrence, and a temporary alliance between Profound City and Puppet City is an even stranger one. Both cities have been very tight-lipped about all of this, so I haven't received any information, either," Gu Qianxun replied as her brows furrowed slightly.

Profound City and Puppet City had been sworn enemies for countless years, so it was near unimaginable for the two to work together for a common cause.

"The fact that the two cities are willing to set their differences aside and join forces most likely means that we're going somewhere extremely dangerous indeed," Xuanyuan Xing mused in a concerned manner.

"Didn't City Lord Chen say that you're free to back out if you don't want to go?" Gu Qianxun jibed with an amused smile.

"He did, but he's also made it clear that this is perhaps one of the biggest opportunities to have ever arisen in the history of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so how could I let it slip through my fingers? I wouldn't be feeling so conflicted if the potential reward wasn't so tantalizing," Xuanyuan Xing sighed with a wry smile.

Han Li didn't really care much about all of that. Instead, he was much more interested in finding a way to remove the Black Tribulation Centipede in his body, as well as to find out more information about Shi Chuankong and Violet Spirit.

With the Five City Martial Gathering coming to a premature end, he was unable to fulfill his agreement with Mistress Liu Hua, and once he left Profound City, it was going to be very difficult to find out more information about Shi Chuankong.

Right as these thoughts were running through his mind, the sound of footsteps rang out near the plaza, heralding the arrival of a group of around a dozen figures, led by none other than E Kuai.

Behind him were Mistress Liu Hua and the other four city lords, and there were five or six more people further behind them, the two of which that stood out the most to Han Li were Daoist Xie and the black-robed man, who were standing behind Chen Yang and Mistress Liu Hua, respectively.

As he swept his gaze over the other four figures, one more person caught his attention.

It was a figure standing beside the black-robed man. The lower half of his face was concealed behind a black cloth, and his entire body was clad in a suit of bone armor, leaving only his purple eyes exposed.

On top of that, he had a head of extremely distinctive curly, silver hair, and with those two features alone, Han Li was able to identify him as none other than Shi Chuankong!

Han Li was ecstatic to see him, and he was just about to communicate with Shi Chuankong through voice transmission when he spotted Chen Yang shaking his head at him, warning him not to make any rash moves.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he turned his gaze back to Shi Chuankong to discover that his face was completely devoid of emotion, and he was staring blankly forward without any deviation, clearly indicating that he wasn't in a normal state of mind.

Gu Qianxun quickly noticed the look on his face, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just suddenly thought of an old acquaintance of mine," Han Li replied with a smile, following which his expression returned to normal.

Gu Qianxun cast a skeptical gaze toward Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, but she didn't notice anything amiss.

After arriving on the elevated platform in front of the plaza, E Kuai swept his gaze over everyone present as he declared, "I'm sure all of you have already been informed of the emergence of the Great Ruins. That is the reason why the Five City Martial Gathering has been canceled, and we have decided to work with Puppet City to venture into these ruins together. The fact that all of you are standing here today means that you have all agreed to come as well."

A variety of different expressions appeared on everyone's faces upon hearing this, ranging from elation to concern, and Han Li asked through voice transmission, "What are these Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Gu?"