The two of them walked and talked within this Desolate Ancient Era Ruin.
Just as they were speaking, Da Xing the Mad Monk suddenly halted, his expression instantly shifting drastically, becoming heavy and serious. He shouted, "Wait! Something's wrong!"
Hmm?
Gu Qingfeng was startled. He looked up and down, scanning all directions, but didn't find anything amiss. "I say, Da Xing, can you stop being so damn jumpy? I don't see anything wrong."
Da Xing the Mad Monk didn't respond. His face grew increasingly grave.
Seeing the situation, Gu Qingfeng guessed there was an eighty or ninety percent chance something truly was wrong. He immediately activated his Divine Sense to probe the surroundings.
Typically, upon entering a mysterious, unknown place, any cultivator would release their Divine Sense to envelop the area. Although this consumed mental energy and could become exhausting over time, using Divine Sense to cover one's surroundings served as a precaution. It allowed one to know immediately if any danger arose nearby.
Moreover, this was a Desolate Ancient Era Ruin—a place as mysterious and unknown as they came.
In such a place, no other cultivator, not even Da Xing the Mad Monk, dared to let their guard down. They kept their Divine Sense extended, constantly covering the surroundings.
Gu Qingfeng was the sole exception.
In his youth, he might have maintained his Divine Sense around the clock, even while resting. But later, as his cultivation and power increased, he rarely extended his Divine Sense anymore. Especially after the Present Era began, his spirit had remained in a weakened state, so he wouldn't waste mental energy on releasing his Divine Sense.
Now, feeling something was off, he had no choice but to activate his Divine Sense to investigate. This investigation proved crucial, as he soon sensed the anomaly too.
The enormous vortex that had been slowly rotating in the sky suddenly accelerated. The endless Wasteland began to tremble faintly, boiling like water. It felt as if the entire Ruin was undergoing a transformation.
"What's going on?" Gu Qingfeng asked. "Could this Desolate Ancient Ruin be merging with another ruin?"
"Probably...?" Da Xing the Mad Monk couldn't figure out the situation immediately.
Just then, BOOM!
A deafening roar echoed. Instantly, the entire Desolate Ancient Ruin trembled violently, like an earthquake, sending sand from the Wasteland flying into the sky.
Immediately after, with a BANG!
A bizarre radiance shot up from the Wasteland into the heavens.
This scene felt familiar. Not long ago, Gu Qingfeng had experienced something similar in another Desolate Ancient Ruin. Back then, there had also been a loud noise, the ruin had trembled violently, and a radiance had shot skyward. That radiance was none other than another Desolate Ancient Ruin. It was within that newly manifested ruin that he had encountered and fused with the Blood Taotie.
"Could it be another Desolate Ancient Ruin manifesting?"
"Hard to say!"
Although Da Xing the Mad Monk's past life belonged to the Desolate Ancient Era, that past life's memories hadn't awakened. He didn't know too much about Desolate Ancient Ruins.
Of course, he wasn't completely ignorant. After all, he'd been jumping around inside the Primordial Black Hole for so long, he'd picked up a thing or two. He knew most Desolate Ancient Ruins had already manifested within the black hole, but there were also some special ruins that hadn't. Some were still hidden within the black hole, while others were concealed within other ruins.
"Let's go! Let's check it out."
Gu Qingfeng was about to fly over to investigate when, before he could move, BOOM!
Another deafening roar, followed by a BANG, and another pillar of light shot into the sky.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight pillars of light erupted consecutively.
What was going on now? Could so many Desolate Ancient Ruins be emerging all at once?
Was it over?
No!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
One pillar of light after another appeared in quick succession. In just this short while, over a dozen pillars of light had emerged.
If each pillar of light represented a small Desolate Ancient Ruin, wasn't this far too many? And all manifesting at once?
He didn't know.
Gu Qingfeng didn't hesitate. He glanced up, picked the nearest pillar of light, and flew toward it.
He leaped up, strode through the void, his feet covering vast distances with each step, his body flashing and flickering like a ghostly shadow.
"Damn it, kid! Can't you wait for this old monk!"
Da Xing the Mad Monk possessed the ability of instantaneous movement, and covering great distances with a single step wasn't difficult for him. But this wasn't the Great Desolate; it was a Desolate Ancient Ruin. Within the ruin, there were no spatial laws or spatial order—not even a damn spatial structure. Da Xing the Mad Monk didn't dare to teleport recklessly. If something went wrong, who knew where he might end up? He had no choice but to grit his teeth and fly.
Fortunately, his flying speed wasn't slow. By the time Da Xing the Mad Monk caught up, Gu Qingfeng had long since arrived near the pillar of light.
It was more than a pillar of light; it was a vortex.
Yes!
A vortex—specifically, a turbulent flow vortex.
Gu Qingfeng clearly remembered that when the small ruin where the Blood Taotie had manifested appeared, it had been the same situation. It seemed that beneath this vortex lay another small ruin.
With a whoosh, he directly leaped into it.
"Kid Gu! You damn..." Seeing Gu Qingfeng charge in without even a word, Da Xing the Mad Monk was utterly exasperated. He wasn't upset that Gu Qingfeng hadn't notified him; it was that this damn place was a mysterious, bizarre, and perilous Desolate Ancient Ruin! This thing had suddenly popped up, and they had no idea what was inside. To jump down without a word was just too reckless.
Da Xing the Mad Monk had intended to investigate first, but after Gu Qingfeng jumped, he felt flustered and impatient. Losing the patience to probe further, he gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and shouted, "Kid Gu, oh Kid Gu! If this old monk dies here, it'll be because you killed me!"
With those words, Da Xing the Mad Monk activated his Immovable Golden Body and, imitating Gu Qingfeng, leaped into the vortex.
As Gu Qingfeng had guessed, inside this turbulent flow vortex was indeed a small ruin.
The ruin was no different from other Desolate Ancient Ruins. It similarly lacked spatial connections and any laws or order. In the sky, only a single turbulent flow vortex rotated slowly.
The difference was:
This small Desolate Ancient Ruin wasn't an endless Wasteland, but rather a field of ruins.
At this moment, Gu Qingfeng stood amidst the ruins, his ordinarily plain face filled with shock, his dark eyes brimming with astonishment.
If it were merely a field of ruins, it wouldn't have shocked Gu Qingfeng to this extent.
The truth was that this endless expanse of ruins was covered, everywhere, with Flying Swords.
As far as the eye could see, Flying Swords were everywhere. These swords littered the ground like weeds—innumerable, countless.
To be honest, in all his long life, this was the first time Gu Qingfeng had ever seen so many Flying Swords. There were simply too many—so many they dazzled the eyes, so many they inspired awe, so many they even sent a chilling numbness crawling over his scalp.