Chapter 223: Entering the Ruins (I)

According to official government hierarchy, the Night Watchers were half a rank lower than the military. After all, they were subordinate to the Inspectorate to begin with. When it came down to it, the provincial inspector general of Silver Moon was their direct supervisor. He was ranked the same as the commander-in-chief of the local military.

As for Hou Xiaochen, he could be viewed on par with Hu Dingfang. The latter was just one of the commanders of the three armies, which meant that Hao Lianchuan was indeed half a rank lower than him.

Hu Dingfang’s hectoring put odd expressions on people’s faces. Hao Lianchuan was their superior at the end of the day, so some found the rebuke inappropriate. Not to mention, Hao Lianchuan was a Solar and a decent guy. There are quite a few who were put out with the fact that their supervisor was being publicly reprimanded—even if the person issuing the lecture was here to help them!

Hou Xiaochen wanted to say a few words, but Hu Dingfang preempted him in a mild tone. “What are all of you looking at? Hao Lianchuan and I have a personal grudge that has nothing to do with you. Or does someone want to take over his faults for him?”

“......”

Silence.

A personal grudge? Night Watchers looked curiously at each other. What grudge could these two share?

“Hu Dingfang.” Hao Lianchuan was equally at a loss for words. “What kind of grudge do I possibly have with you? Just be frank if you have me in your sights!”

Hu Dingfang ignored him, whereas Hou Xiaochen broke out in laughter.

“Hmm... you do have a bit of one... Just a tiny one. Alright, don’t ruin the pleasant atmosphere now.”

He left with large strides, leaving behind a Hao Lianchuan deep in thought.

Do we really share a grudge? But I don’t remember anything!

He truly couldn’t recall any run-ins with the man.

A tiny one?

No wonder the guy wouldn’t give him the time of day when they bumped into each other before.

So we really have one? How come I don’t know about it?

Baffled, Hao Lianchuan slowed his steps and whispered to Manager Yu when Director Hou and Hu Dingfang were deep in murmured conversation. “Secretary Yu, do you know anything about this?”

His memory wasn’t offering any clues. If the director knew, then the manager should know as well.

Manager Yu flicked him a glance and couldn’t be bothered to respond. Hao Lianchuan was growing irritated.

The hell! So you won’t tell me, what’s with that expression?

But after thinking it over, he caught up to the manager and muttered, “I’ll tell you a secret, the director doesn’t like spicy food! He always waits for you to leave before secretly throwing it out!”

“......” Manager Yu looked at him for a while. Director Hou also looked at Hao Lianchuan, but simply lowered his voice, “Don’t be too out of line when it comes to Hao Lianchuan. We’re on the same side here and you can wait to leave the ruins first before beating him...”

Hu Dingfang inclined his head in understanding.

“It has to do with his wife,” Manager Yu finally said. “Think on it yourself!”

Has to do with his wife?

Hao Lianchuan thought carefully.

I know his wife Chen Yuhua, she’s pretty. We chatted for a while a few years back. She’s a decently strong martial master. Yuan Shuo was collaborating with the Night Watchers then, so I sought her out a few times...

A few times? So it’s because of this? Surely not!

Hu Dingfang shouldn’t be this petty and we only talked for a while. It’s not like we did anything. Can it be because of Yuan Shuo?

Enlightenment dawned on Hao Lianchuan.

Was it because Yuan Shuo was injured three years ago? His wife thinks it’s my fault, so she sent Hu Dingfang against me?

That was very possible!

But... it was Director Hou who sent Yuan Shuo into the ruins, not me.

Hao Lianchuan suddenly looked at Hu Dingfang in a new, derisive light.

You coward who only picks on easy targets. You don’t dare cause trouble for the director, so you come for me instead. I understand now! So this is the case.

The deputy director was more put out with this fellow than ever.

Coward!

But his wife really was very pretty.

What a pity that she’s matched with this stony-faced commander.

On the other hand, it was due to his wife’s pillow talk that he treated Hao Lianchuan in this manner. That meant his wife was no kind soul either.

Hah! Nothing good comes out of Yuan Shuo’s discipline!

Hao Lianchuan snuck another glance at a Li Hao keeping such a low profile inside the crowd that he’d almost disappeared.

The kid plays a pitiful soul who keeps his head down and is oh-so-innocent... he’s nothing good either! He’s just like his teacher—they almost fade out of view when they’re not strong enough, but when they are?

They’re the height of arrogance!

......

As Hao Lianchuan’s mind churned with gossip, the Night Watchers walked out of their campground. The perimeter was very quiet and divided into several factions. Red Moon, Celestial, Yama, and the Sword Sect were the four main organizations. An additional forty members from small organizations or independent supernaturals rounded out the gathering. They weren’t too strong, but neither were they too weak. Darkmoons formed their bulk; there were roughly a dozen Sunflares as well.

Out of the fourteen small organizations that’d originally been present, some had run off after yesterday’s battles. Most stayed, but left their weaker members behind. Multiple Solars were attending the excavation and even characters like Violet Moon were entering the ruins. The supernaturals of small organizations were also afraid of death. It was bold enough that they left approximately forty of their members behind.

When totaled with the Night Watchers, there were nearly two hundred people for the expedition team.

The assembly swiftly stirred to motion when they saw Hou Xiaochen and the others walk out. They didn’t catch up to the Night Watchers, instead following behind them.

A large crowd of people made decent time under the hazy sky. After roughly twenty minutes, Hou Xiaochen stopped in front of a cliff face. Perplexed, people looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. Hou Xiaochen pointed at the rock in front of them, “The entrance is here!”

A handful of supernatural ripples manifested to probe the cliff face, but didn’t find anything.

“It’s hard to discover!” said the Night Watcher director. “If it wasn’t for Yuan Shuo leading us here in the first place, we wouldn’t know that this location hides an ancient ruin.”

“How did Yuan Shuo find it?” someone asked in the crowd.

“We don’t know, he didn’t say.” Hou Xiaochen was calmly collected. “My agreement with him was that he would explore thirty ruins for me. I didn’t ask about anything else. I don’t know how he found this place, just that he almost died in the excavation three years ago. Since you are all here, I’m sure you know a thing or two.”

“Does Yuan Shuo breaking through to Summoner have something to do with this set of ruins?” someone asked.

At the same time, various glances were cast at the Red Moon delegation. Some eyed them very oddly indeed. They’d plainly received yesterday’s news and were familiar with the scarlet shadows and blood pearls. Given how many from Red Moon were here, did this mean that some had brought their blood pearls?

No one desired to take action if they lacked origin weapons, but everyone knew that the Revolution King must have one, as did possibly Hao Lianchuan. When it came to Celestial, no one knew if they carried one since Half Mountain wasn’t here. And since Hong Yitang could establish the Sword Sect and raise a few supernaturals, who knew if he had an origin weapon?

Since this was the case, perhaps these people might have other ideas in mind.

Violet Moon had clearly received the same news and looked around her with a frosty glare. Headquarters had sent word last night for her to be careful. Reinforcements would soon arrive, but she needed to keep a low profile after the expedition. The central region had suffered attacks and some strongholds had been entirely uprooted.

Their losses were heavy! Multiple Solars disappeared after one night and even some Sunflares had vanished.

“Do all of you want to die?” she snapped upon seeing people stare at her delegation. “Either Yuan Shuo released that information or someone wants to fish in troubled waters. If this was the case, Red Moon would’ve had a Summoner of Spirit a long time ago!”

No one responded. It was up to them if they believed or not.

“Violet Moon, there’s no point in discussing this now,” Hou Xiaochen laughed. “I would like to remind everyone of one thing before we set off. Cooperate when you can inside. It’s not that I am worried about you turning on the Night Watchers, but that we truly wish to explore the ruins. If we don’t take full advantage of this chance, it will be tough to say if the ruins belong to the central region or Silver Moon after this.”

The group silently turned over his words. He made sense. Would this place still be theirs after the central region sent their people?

“I won’t say anything else!” Hou Xiaochen sent a ray of mysterious power at the cliff face. Hao Lianchuan followed with a ray of fire energy. Other supernaturals mimicked their actions in short order.

Li Hao didn’t pay attention at first, but he blinked when everyone’s energy was present and became lost in a daze.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, dark...

Each of the eight energies seemed to occupy their own positioning. Upon closer inspection, this bore similarities to something—the eight trigrams!

So it seemed that eight energies were required to access the ruins. The key point was that their layout echoed the eight trigrams.

The eight trigrams?

Li Hao suddenly thought of the diagram over Silver City. Did these ruins have something to do with Silver City? His teacher had mentioned the tiny turtle pictograph on the main doors to the ancient city. Ever since the professor learned about the eight families, he felt that the two might be related. There was a line in the folk song that sang of "the big turtle kept by the Wangs”.

Other than this, Yuan Shuo didn’t have any supplemental evidence to prove that there was a link to the right families. But why did the method to access the ruins seem so similar to the eight trigrams?

Li Hao found it regretful that his teacher wasn’t present. Yuan Shuo hadn’t mentioned this part before, so the young man would have loved to ask how his teacher found the place and discovered how to open it.

Perhaps there really is a connection...

Li Hao tightened his grip around the little sword by his waist. If there was, the sword might be pivotal.

The cliff face seemed to come under an influence as the eight energies were infused into the rock. After a while, the stone morphed into something similar to a mirror—it was becoming translucent!

Some supernaturals gasped with awe and astonishment.

“The ancient civilization was amazing!” someone sighed. The technologies of the past were beyond incredible. Many modern marvels came from exploring ancient ruins, and even martial dao had much to do with the ancient civilization.