Chapter 224: Entering the Ruins (II)

Chapter 224: Entering the Ruins (II)

Despite being a newcomer, the supernatural world was also related to the ancient civilization. There was more, particularly in terms of technology, that stemmed from the past. The cars that ran on the roads and the helicopter from last night were all inventions from history.

That Skystar Dynasty had progressed from an agricultural society to its current mix of half sophisticated technology and half supernatural society was all due to the ancient civilization.

The Veteris Institute of Silver City was established for the ancients and Yuan Shuo had originally taught there.

It was said that the dynasty was able to conquer the world thanks to the ancient civilization. The imperial family had possibly excavated a massive ruin back in the day and obtained a large sum of sophisticated items from the rubble. City-level annihilation weapons might have also come from there.

These discoveries made the unification of the lands possible. Otherwise, with the level of development of society in the past, conquering a province meant nothing as one might lose it in another few days. The key thing was, the liege lord might not even know that he’d lost part of his territory.

Not only did the supernaturals gasp with awe, so did Li Hao sigh with appreciation. There was another land behind the cliff face! Did this mean that Rift Canyon had existed since the ancient times? The entrance shouldn’t be in the cliff face otherwise. If it’d existed for so long, then the city truly had been buried, right? It couldn’t have been constructed underground to begin with, right?

If it had, the ancients were truly remarkable!

Undulations speed across the cliff face like water ripples as it slowly returned to calm. Hou Xiaochen glanced at it and spoke again, “You can enter now. The entrance will be accessible for half an hour. You can go in together or go in one by one. After it closes, the earliest it can be opened again is midnight tonight. It can be opened at midnight for the next three days, but after that, you’ll have to wait a month. However, if you have to wait a month... you likely won’t make it out alive!”

The assembly jerked with shock.

“Has someone among the Night Watchers lived inside for a month before?” The Revolution King frowned.

“No.” Hou Xiaochen shook his head. “There’s enormous danger inside. It’s already a great feat to make it out alive within the first three days, to say nothing of a month. We explored only the outer city before—the city beneath us is divided into the inner and outer city. There’s nothing valuable in the outer city, it’s all held in the inner city.

“Therefore, we hope that everyone works together on this joint expedition and makes it to the inner city!” The man smiled. “That will be all for now. You know better than me if you’re familiar with what I speak of. It’s not like you haven’t sent people inside before. What’s the point in asking all these questions?”

Would the great organizations enter without any sort of preparation beforehand? The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Absolutely not!

There were plenty of Night Watchers in the agency and not all of them were loyal. There were double agents among them who’d long shared intelligence of the explorations.

No one among the crowd said anything, while Hong Yitang explained, “I really don’t know much. Please don’t misunderstand, Director Hou.”

The director smiled without a word. Is that so? It is if you say so.

As the water ripples stilled, the various organizations stared fixedly at the entrance. Do they go together or separately? Was there danger inside? They turned their gazes to the eager members of the small organizations.

“You go in first!” Violet Moon suddenly commanded coolly.

The small organizations hesitated at the directive. Some were apprehensive while others were excited. They knew that they were being used as scouts. At the same time, they were already here. Were they afraid of anything? Those still on the scene were either unafraid of death or hoping to strike it rich. It might be more dangerous to be the first inside, but it also meant they may have greater gains. Although the Night Watchers had already conducted a few explorations, that didn’t mean anything.

A couple of figures shot forward without requiring a second exhortation from Violet Moon. They smashed into the rippling cliff wall and vanished like a drop of water into a liquid surface. The figures vanished from sight.

Some powerhouses among the crowd utilized special powers to scan the stone surface with shining eyes, but they quickly frowned. They couldn’t see anything. Just as their intelligence reports told them, one lost contact with the outside world after entering the ruins. Only a wall separated them, but they were unable to probe what was happening inside.

Manager Yu was about to stop the animal when Hou Xiaochen shook his head.

“Let it go inside,” he chuckled. “I hear that it’s Yuan Shuo’s dog.”

“Yuan Shuo...” The manager looked around with furrowed brows. “Is he still nearby?”

Being a martial master, it was easy for Yuan Shuo to hide himself if he wished to.

“It’s hard to say. Whatever Yuan Shuo does is normal. Who knows where he’s holing up to recover, or perhaps he’s not in hiding at all,” Hou Xiaochen continued chuckling. “Let’s go, the entrance has been sealed off. Let’s come back for a look tomorrow night. I wonder if anyone will rush here today. Our neighbors might arrive if they’re fast enough—I don’t think we’ll see anyone from the central region yet.”

The central region was so far away that some more time was needed. However, there were other provinces near Silver Moon. The various larger organizations might redeploy their powerhouses on an ad hoc basis, more neighboring Night Watchers might present themselves. Who knew?

Manager Yu helped him back to camp. “Will battle break out as soon as they’re all inside?” she asked softly.

“It shouldn’t, they’ll want to get a handle on the situation first. They’re all supernaturals—while impulsive, they’re not idiots. If they start killing as soon as they’re inside, who knows if anyone will make it out alive?”

......

At the same time, above the cliffs of Rift Canyon.

A figure appeared with a soft cough, its complexion pale. It looked at Hou Xiaochen in the distance and at the newly sealed off cliff face. A faint smile spread across its face.

“It’s up to you now!” The figure looked to the horizon. There would be powerhouses here soon. It walked away from the scene and was soon greeted by a person stepping out from a boulder.

Yuan Shuo coughed and looked at the newcomer with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Master!” The newcomer appeared very young and delicate, but wore a sturdy combat outfit and a braided ponytail. She half grumbled, “I came with Dingfang last night, but I dropped out of the helicopter first. I knew you would still be here!”

“Hmm?” Yuan Shuo frowned.

“Junior brother is here, would you leave ahead of time without watching him enter the ruins or seeing if Hou Xiaochen handed him over?” Chen Yuhua complained. “You’re deeply injured, but you’re still lingering in these surroundings. I knew that you’d relax only after personally seeing junior brother enter the ruins. As I thought, I found you here!”

“What are you doing, waiting for me?” Yuan Shuo frowned and left with large strides.

“Master, are your injuries bad?” Chen Yuhua quickly caught up to the professor. “Everyone’s looking for you, come back to White Moon City with me. The army barracks are the safest. No matter how bold they are, they won’t dare attack the army! The Tiger Wings’ campsite is perfect for you to rest and recover in...”

“Piss off!” Yuan Shuo snapped impatiently.

“Master!” Chen Yuhua protested in hurt tones.

“Who’s your master?” Yuan Shuo denounced cold as he talked. “When I accepted you, I wanted to have you inherit my legacy. You’re my final disciple on the path of martial dao, Li Hao was meant to be the heir to my knowledge! The Five Styles, the Breathing Method of the Five Styles! Which one didn’t I pass on to you? My thoughts were that you’d strengthen my Five Styles discipline if you could cross over to Dominator.

“But you decided to go to White Moon City. I don’t care if you decided to join the army or Night Watchers, but you taught my breathing method to Hu Dingfang!” Yuan Shuo snarled with fury. “I would’ve slapped you to death with one palm strike if this had been twenty years ago! This is a betrayal of your master! Would Hu Dingfang have his accomplishments of today with that potential? You good-for-nothing!”