Chapter 1711: Can’t Find Their Tracks

The ruins seemed a little weird.

As soon as Shang Xia’s Origin Star Avatar and Chu Jia stepped into the space around it, they felt their cultivation suppressed. They also sensed a faint but persistent feeling of rejection surrounding them, which seemed to intensify as they delved deeper into the ruins.

Overall, the feeling was not too strong. Compared to a Spirit World or even an Azure World, the suppression was far weaker.

"What do you think, could it be that the World’s Will hasn’t dissipated?” Chu Jia couldn't help but ask Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar again.

However, Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar also appeared puzzled. He shook his head. "It's too early to tell. Let's meet up with Song Zhen and the others who arrived earlier and see what they've found."

Chu Jia no longer pushed for an answer. Instead, she followed Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar as they looked for traces left by Song Zhen and the others.

The area covered by the ruins was vast, far exceeding the ruins that Shang Xia had once tracked secretly following Tong Yutang and others. It was even larger than the ruins of the world around the Spirit Faith World.

That also seemed to confirm what Guan Ziqing had revealed earlier about the Spirit Lyric World attempting an ascension to an Essence World.

Initially, they entered at the edge of the world ruins, where although there were many residual formations and broken void, there wasn't much danger.

Some areas covered by the formations might still hold some remnants of the original world, but they were not of great value.

Thus, as they passed through the region, they found that the residual formations had hardly been broken, clearly indicating that the cultivators who first explored the periphery of these world ruins had little interest in what was there.

However, as they ventured deeper, they soon noticed that the residual formations became denser and their rank began to increase. Some were interconnected, along with broken Elysiums, twisted spaces, and so forth, often forming large, dangerous areas where activating a single formation could trigger a mass chain reaction.

In such areas, because the residual formations covered large areas and were hard to break, more items were likely to be preserved.

Also, since those remnant formations were certainly placed in crucial locations of the original world when intact, anything preserved there likely held high value. Those regions should be the focus of those who have arrived.

"The signs of formations being broken here are very chaotic, including obvious signs of forced breaches. The relics covered by the formations are also badly damaged, suggesting that many people tried to break the formations alone," Chu Jia stated her professional opinion as a rank six Formation Grandmaster. .

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar pondered for a moment before asking, "Do you mean there were different people competing to break the formations covering this part of the ruins?"

Chu Jia nodded and said, "Do you think it could be that people from the Essence Du World have already entered the scene?”

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar shook his head and analyzed it seriously. "No! Remember, this area is just the intermediate layer upon first entering the ruins. Besides, the Spirit Tip World isn’t united either."

Chu Jia suddenly realized, "You're right, the signs are messy here, but there are no indication of battle. It seems that although the cultivators breaking the formation here seem to be in cooperation, they restrained themselves and didn’t turn on each other.”

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar looked up at Chu Jia. "Do you think Song Zhen and the others were here?"

Chu Jia shook her head, "No! I'm very familiar with the styles of our institution’s Formation Grandmasters. I can assure you that none of them have been here.”

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar nodded, "Let's go, it seems they have gone deeper into the ruins."

Chu Jia quickly followed and asked, "Wait... Do you mean that after our Stargazers helped to guide them here, they went their separate ways with those from the Spirit Tip World?”

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar nodded. "It's highly likely, and not just our guys. Those from the Spirit Tip World probably also went their separate ways.”

Chu Jia frowned. "If that's the case, it won't be easy to find them. My divine soul is severely restricted here. What about you?"

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar sighed expressionlessly, "Remember, I am merely an avatar. My true body is the one with the truly powerful soul. This ruins isn’t really friendly to outsiders...”

Chu Jia also nodded. "This place seems a bit odd!"

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar looked deeper into the ruins with a profound gaze, then said, "Let's go, let's find Song Zhen and the others first!"

As they made their way deeper in search of Song Zhen and the others, they soon found several teams from the Spirit Tip World with Chu Jia leading the way. She followed the tracks of the destroyed formations to locate them.

Each of those exploration teams was led by at least 1 True Immortal, and they usually consisted of the most elite cultivators the various sects gathered.

At their location, they were deep enough such that finding a region covered with formations wasn’t easy. They had either been destroyed, or any that remained were too powerful to break. When doing so, avoiding the hidden dangers was also challenging.

Even if they found a potentially valuable region, fully exploring it often required days, or even months.

Under Chu Jia's guidance, Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar led her around this for a long time. They found 4 or 5 expedition teams from the Spirit Tip World, but no sign of Song Zhen or the rest.

Naturally, they didn’t show themselves to the cultivators of the Spirit Tip World.

With a hint of worry in her eyes, she mumbled, "I hope nothing has happened to Song Zhen and the others."

Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar pondered out loud, "Have you noticed that the True Immortals leading the teams from the Spirit Tip World aren’t high-level True Immortals?”

"Me? Are you asking me if I haven’t noticed high-level True Immortals? I’m not even a True Immortal, how am I supposed to tell?!” Chu Jia rolled her eyes at him before she continued, “Are you suggesting there are teams led by high-level True Immortals who went deeper into the ruins?”

Chu Jia’s eyes widened as she added, “You don’t think that Song Zhen and the rest also went deeper, do you?”

Raising an eyebrow, Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar replied, "Although Song Zhen has the highest cultivation among them at the level of External Unity, don’t forget they have Youshang, Hai Yuanyuan, and Zhu Nang. That’s another second tier True Immortal and 2 first tier True Immortals. A team of 4 True Immortals is fully capable of contending with high-level True Immortals."

Pausing slightly, Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar continued, "Moreover, Yuanyuan, that impulsive lass is among them. She’s not even the worst among the group! There’s that asshole, Youshang, who loves to stir trouble and is pretty much a harbinger of chaos... Even Song Zhen won’t be able to control them...”

In fact, aside the 4 True Immortals, Xin Lu, a Grand Stargazer also followed them over. There were 2 rank four Formation Grandmasters and at least 10 elite disciples who came for training.

The more she heard, the more worried Chu Jia became. “... I sure hope they haven’t run into any trouble...”

"What worries me is why we've been searching for so long and still haven't come across any marks or traces left by any of them!" Shang Xia’s Origin Star Avatar’s expression remained grave as he mumbled.

Chu Jia's expression suddenly turned serious, but she hesitated slightly before speaking, "Were we looking in the wrong direction from the start? They might have started exploring the ruins from another direction...”

However, Shang Xia's Origin Star Avatar's next words caused a chill to run down Chu Jia’s spine. "I'm more suspicious that someone has been secretly erasing their tracks.”