Chapter 932: Initial Foray Into the Great Ruins

Han Li's ears were buzzing erratically, and he felt as if there were countless strange voices ringing out in his head. The entire world was spinning around him as if he were drunk, and not only had he been stripped of all five of his senses, he wasn't even able to formulate any thoughts.

After what seemed like an eternity, his body finally drew to a halt, then came crashing down heavily down onto the cold, hard ground in a very painful landing.

Thankfully, given his immense physical constitution, he didn't suffer any injuries, and the impact allowed him to recover his senses and his consciousness.

He looked around in a daze to discover a dim, yellow landscape, and the ground was riddled with countless yellowish-black rocks of different sizes. There was nothing but barren plains stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and it appeared that he had landed on a boundless desert.

The sky up above was also a strange, yellowish-brown color, as if there was a dense layer of yellow clouds overhead, and occasionally, what appeared to be flashes of white lightning could be seen peeking through the clouds.

There was a churning vortex within the yellow clouds, and it was rapidly fading away. That seemed to have been what he had just fallen out of.

Han Li slowly clambered to his feet before inspecting his surroundings to discover that there was no else in the entire area aside from himself.

Are these the Great Ruins? It doesn't seem much different from outside. I wonder where everyone else is.

Right as he was about to depart, a hint of surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and he began inspecting the surrounding space again.

There were some rather pronounced energy fluctuations in the air, these energy fluctuations were different from both spiritual qi and devilish qi, but it was very similar to starpower.

Perhaps it was due to the nourishment of this starpower, but some white moss-like plant life could be seen growing between the rocks on the ground, so the area wasn't as barren as it had appeared at first glance.

A hint of curiosity flashed through Han Li's eyes, and a thought suddenly occurred to him as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.

All of the nearby starpower instantly converged toward him before surging into his body, and it was quite a large volume of starpower, creating the same effect as cultivating while refining beast cores.

A hint of elation appeared on Han Li's face upon sensing this, and he was even more convinced that he was in the Great Ruins. Only in a secret area like the Great Ruins could there be such abundant starpower, and only in an environment like this could treasures like Heavenly Qilin Crystals and Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds arise naturally.

Even though he wasn't injured, he was feeling a little feeble, and there didn't appear to be any hazards present in the area, so instead of setting off right away, he sat down with his legs crossed to absorb starpower and rest.

Close to half a day flew by in a flash, and by the time he reopened his eyes, he had made a full recovery.

On top of that, a profound acupoint that he had already been chipping away at for a long time was beginning to display signs of opening.

The starpower in this place seemed to be particularly effective for opening new profound acupoints, and he could sense that it was only a matter of time before this one was completely opened.

However, he didn't intend to continue cultivating here, and after looking around briefly, his gaze quickly settled on a certain direction to his right.

The entire surrounding area appeared to be completely the same, but he could see a shadow or two flashing past in that direction. However, they were too far away for him to see them clearly.

The spatial pressure in the Great Ruins was even more overbearing than that of the Extreme Bipolar Mountain Range, and his spiritual sensory range was restricted to only several kilometers, which was even worse than his eyesight.

He didn't know what was in that direction, but at the very least, it appeared to be something different.

With that in mind, he promptly set off, and it didn't take long before the shadows up ahead began to gradually come into focus.

As it turned out, it was a cluster of mountains that were each hundreds of feet tall, and they were connected together to form a winding mountain range that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

These mountains were black and giving off a faint sheen, indicating that they were no ordinary mountains, and the ground had also gradually transitioned from desert to hard rock.

There was much more of the white moss-like plants growing here, making the environment appear less monotonous.

Han Li arrived in front of the black mountain range, then drew to a halt, and instead of immediately entering the mountain range, he released his spiritual sense to scour the nearby area.

Everything in the Great Ruins was completely unknown to him, so he didn't dare to make any reckless moves.

Only after verifying that there were no detectable hazards in the mountain range up ahead did he continue onward, and he walked for half a day without encountering any danger.

However, the nearby mountains were becoming taller and taller, reaching thousands of feet in height, and the gaps between the mountains were also becoming wider and wider.

After walking onward for a while longer, an intrigued look suddenly appeared in Han Li's eyes as he sped up a little, making his way over to a particularly tall mountain.

This mountain stretched all the way up into the clouds like a heavenly black pillar, and its peak was concealed within the clouds, making it impossible to see the summit.

At the foot of the mountain was a cluster of gray palaces that stretched as far as the eyes could see, but most of them had already collapsed.

Even so, one could get an idea of just how majestic and stunning these palaces would've been from the intricate craftsmanship present in the ruins.

After briefly examining the cluster of palaces, Han Li channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own aura, then carefully stepped inside while releasing his spiritual sense to monitor his surroundings.

After advancing onward for a while, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, then ducked behind a long palace wall before carefully making his way to the end of the wall and peeking forward.

The sound of heavy footsteps rang out up ahead as a yellow puppet that was several dozen feet tall slowly trudged along while occasionally turning its head from side to side, seemingly patrolling the area.

The puppet resembled a giant gibbon, and it was clad in a suit of heavy armor, most of which was missing. The body of the puppet beneath the suit of armor was also riddled with signs of decay, and it was holding a saber that was in a state of disrepair, seemingly having already been patrolling this area for countless years.

Despite the signs of erosion displayed by its armor and saber, they were still giving off a faint, white gleam and traces of starpower fluctuations.

Are those star artifacts?

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li sprang out of his hiding spot and withdrew his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique as he pounced at the giant ape puppet from behind.

The puppet immediately swung around and let loose a low roar while swinging its saber at Han Li's head, but before its attack had a chance to land, its head was decapitated by a flash of white light, and its headless body fell completely still before crashing to the ground.

Han Li drifted down from mid-air before landing beside the puppet.

The fact that the puppet was still able to detect Han Li's attack and react indicated that its powers would've been very formidable during its heyday.

Han Li picked up the puppet's saber to discover that it had been crafted out of a glowing white material, and even though there was severe erosion on display, some faintly flashing runes could still be made out on the blade, and these runes were very similar to the star runes that Mistress Liu Hua had taught him to inscribe.

Aren't Mistress Liu Hua's starpower restrictions supposed to be original creations? Could this be a coincidence?

Han LI then turned his gaze to the suit of armor worn by the puppet, and he quickly caught sight of another star rune, one that was completely identical to one of the star runes taught to him by Mistress Liu Hua, even down to the finest of details.

Han Li couldn't help but be amused upon seeing this. This puppet had clearly existed for far longer than Mistress Liu Hua's star runes had been around, so it seemed that Mistress Liu Hua's star runes weren't an original creation of his own, after all.

Even though the saber was still giving off faint starpower fluctuations, it was already completely unusable, so Han Li tossed it aside before continuing onward, and it didn't take long before he had ventured deep into the cluster of palaces.

The palaces here were relatively more well preserved, but unfortunately, there were no precious treasures to be found, and it seemed that this place had already been completely looted.

After an extensive search, Han Li was only able to find a few pieces of ordinary ore, and he was attacked by many puppets along the way.

He tried to engage with the puppets as little as possible, running away where he could and dismantling the ones that he couldn't avoid. All of the puppets were severely eroded, so they were quite easy to deal with.

After advancing onward for a while longer, Han Li suddenly drew to a halt.

The field of view up ahead had suddenly broadened significantly, and a massive gray structure had appeared up ahead. It appeared to be an altar, and it was surrounded by many other structures like a moon among stars.

The altar had been constructed using a type of crude and massive gray stone blocks that appeared extremely resilient, and in contrast with many of the nearby collapsed structures, the altar was almost perfectly intact.

The doors of the altar were wide open, and its interior was shrouded in darkness, restricting visibility to only several dozen feet. Its entrance resembled a massive mouth capable of devouring all those that entered.

Star runes could be seen etched onto the walls inside the altar, forming a restriction that kept out all spiritual sense.

Han Li's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.

Given how well-preserved this altar and the restrictions inside were, there surely had to be some valuable things inside.

After carefully scouring the surrounding area with his spiritual sense, he failed to detect anything amiss, and he made his way to the entrance of the altar.

Gusts of cold wind blew out of the entrance, and even though they weren't very strong, they struck him with a bone-chilling sensation as they swept over his body.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon sensing this, but he didn't back down as he stepped into the altar.