"Hey, Xiao Yan, what are you thinking about?" Tang Huo'er, standing beside Valley Master Tang Zhen, asked curiously when she noticed Xiao Yan standing still with his expression constantly shifting.
"Nothing much. I was just thinking that it truly lives up to being a Heaven-tier Dou Skill—even Dou Zuns go crazy for it." Xiao Yan shook his head lightly and smiled.
Nalan Yanran, seeing Xiao Yan's expression, roughly understood what he was truly thinking…
"Master, Xiao Yan's situation doesn't look very good. One could say he's surrounded by enemies, and there are even several old fellows at Six-Star Dou Zun hiding among them," Xiao Huiying observed the distinct lineups below.
"With Burning Flame Valley protecting Xiao Yan Zi, it's all just talk. There won't be a real fight. The ancient ruins are about to open, and no one wants to deplete their Dou Qi beforehand. After all, the ruins are full of dangers—losing even a bit of Dou Qi or getting injured could mean missing out on opportunities."
"Besides, the major powers now know that the kid carries Yao Lao's soul, so he's not easy to deal with."
Xiao Jietian wasn't worried about Xiao Yan. That kid could erupt with terrifying power at any moment. Now that he possessed four different strange fires, if he really formed a destructive Fire Lotus, not everyone present would necessarily survive.
"That's true. In Master's words, Xiao Yan is a pure 'Old Six'," Xiao Huiying recalled Xiao Jietian's past assessments of everyone's personalities. When he had evaluated Xiao Yan, one of the key points was that he was an 'Old Six' with an endless stream of trump cards.
"Then let them fight. Anyway, we don't need the Heaven-tier Dou Skill. We just need to obtain the Origin Fruit for Zi Yan." Xiao Huiying held Xiao Jietian's hand while watching the crowd below. With the opening of these ruins, at least two-thirds—or even more—of the people on the ground might be buried inside forever.
Bang!
Suddenly, many spatial folds in the void began to ripple.
Then, under the gaze of countless people, that section of space continuously twisted and distorted.
Bang!
The twisted space suddenly solidified. With a crisp bang, the distorted space shattered like fragile glass, breaking into countless tiny spatial fragments with a series of pa sounds.
"The ruins have opened! First come, first served! Charge!"
The moment the spatial seal exploded, countless figures around the Bone Sea immediately turned crimson-eyed. Low, greedy roars escaped their throats as they charged toward the center of the Bone Sea like a swarm of locusts.
However, those who charged forward were mostly the weaker ones. The major powers and stronger individuals noticed something amiss with the opened space and quickly retreated a significant distance.
The exploding spatial seal fragments suddenly paused, then—with a loud boom—a powerful spatial force so violent that even Dou Zun powerhouses felt terror swept out in all directions like a storm.
Those who had charged the fastest bore the brunt of it. In the blink of an eye, they were swallowed by the storm. Agonizing screams echoed one after another above the Bone Sea.
Some stronger individuals further back finally realized something was wrong. The human tide that had been rushing forward immediately turned around in panic and fled. For a time, the area outside the Bone Sea descended into utter chaos.
From high above the clouds, Xiao Jietian watched the scene unfold. The skeletal peaks near the space were directly leveled by the spatial force. For a moment, blood mist and dust from shattered bones flew together between heaven and earth, obscuring the sky.
Under Xiao Jietian's gaze, a massive hall nearly a thousand zhang in size—almost like a small mountain peak—slowly emerged from the void. It finally settled gently onto the surrounding bones, standing proudly as if between heaven and earth.
"Is this the Dou Sheng ruins? The spatial power is incredibly dense," Xiao Huiying narrowed her eyes at the giant hall emerging from the space not far away.
One had to admit that while Half-Saint and Dou Sheng differed by only one character, their strength was truly worlds apart. Just the mastery of spatial power alone was enough to reflect the vast gap between the two realms.
"Dou Sheng… you'll reach it soon." Xiao Jietian stroked Xiao Huiying's head. Inside the ancient ruins, there was also an ancient forest made of medicinal herbs. Perhaps they could gather the necessary ingredients there.
At that time, both Medusa and Xiao Huiying would be able to quickly break through to Dou Sheng, giving Boundless Heaven Hall top-tier combat power. Coupled with their status as magical beasts and the Nine Heavens Star Formation, even if the Hall of Souls Vice-Hall Master came, they could directly kill him.
"Mmm-hmm~" Xiao Huiying nodded obediently at Xiao Jietian's words.
…
Approximately ten minutes later.
The grand hall began to tremble slightly. The tightly closed stone door let out a rumbling sound and slowly rose, gradually revealing a dark and gloomy passage within.
Even with the strength of a Dou Zun, one could not see the end of the entire passage. It looked like an incomparably huge, man-eating maw that had waited for millions of years—appearing incredibly eerie.
"The gate has opened! Treasures, my brothers, I'm coming for you! You're all mine!"
Seeing the gate open, a Wind-attribute Dou Zong-level powerhouse finally couldn't hold back. His eyes turned crimson as he unleashed his proud speed and rushed toward the passage, plunging into the dark tunnel with a burst of wild laughter.
Seeing someone take the lead, the dense human tide immediately stirred. One by one, they activated Dou Qi wings or trod on air, rushing toward the passage as if their lives depended on it—seemingly afraid that the treasures inside would be snatched by others.
However, those from the major powers remained completely still. How could ruins left behind by a Dou Sheng be so easy to enter? That would be too undignified.
Powerful and ruthless forces like the Tianming Sect and the Nine Serene Earth Nether Python Clan even planned to capture a group of people to explore the path if no one else went in.
Soon after these people rushed into the passage, the dark tunnel suddenly turned crimson. The hard floor slowly cracked open, and then everyone saw scorching crimson magma erupting from within.
At the same time, along the four walls of the spacious passage, streams of alluring blue fire pillars also suddenly erupted.
Many people were caught off guard by the sudden fire pillars. They were instantly consumed by the high temperature within the flames, turning into ash and falling into the magma.
Seeing this scene, those who were about to rush in immediately stopped and tried to retreat. But in the current situation, how could they retreat just because they wanted to? The entire area in front of the grand hall was packed with people; almost the entire giant hall was obscured by the flow of bodies.
Those in front wanted to retreat, while those behind desperately tried to squeeze forward. This led to the people in front being directly pushed into the passage by the surging crowd behind them.