Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

In this oppressive and anxious wait, on the morning of the fourth day, the starlight at the entrance to the fissure suddenly intensified and then began to fluctuate violently!

"They're out! Someone's coming out!"

Someone shouted, and everyone instantly perked up, countless eyes turning to the crack.

With a flicker of light and shadow, several rather disheveled figures staggered out of the starlight and landed on the ground. Each of them had tattered clothes, weak breaths, and marks from smoke, fire, and frost, clearly indicating that they had been through a fierce battle.

The one leading them was Jin Hao. His left sleeve was torn, revealing a deep wound that exposed bone and gleamed with an eerie starlight. His face was pale, but his eyes remained sharp.

Behind him followed two formation masters and a pill refiner from the Qingyun Alliance, all injured but out of danger.

Further behind were two female cultivators from the Xuanbing Pavilion, their faces pale, one of whom had a charred burn mark on her shoulder.

The fat appraiser from the treasure pavilion was unharmed, but he was terrified and pale, clutching a bulging storage bag tightly.

Of the six people who went in from small and medium-sized sects and independent cultivators, only four came out, all of them injured and still looking shaken.

Not a single person from the Blazing Sun Sect or the Heavenly Sword Sect came out.

"Elder Jin!" Shi Tie rushed forward, supporting the swaying Jin Hao. He channeled his powerful earth-elemental spiritual energy into him, stabilizing his injuries. "How are you? What's the situation inside? Where are the others?"

Huoyun Daoist and Jian Wuhen also flashed to the front in an instant, their eyes fixed on Jin Hao, especially the empty entrance behind him, their faces extremely ugly.

Jin Hao suppressed his churning blood and nodded to Shi Tie to indicate that he was alright. Then he turned to the others and said in a deep voice, "The situation inside the ruins is far more complex than expected. We ventured about three hundred miles in and encountered multiple restrictions and guardian puppets, suffering heavy losses."

"Fellow Daoists Chen and Li from the Lieyang Sect, fellow Daoists Zhao and Qian from the Tianjian Sect, as well as fellow Daoist Wang from the Qingmu Sect and the rogue cultivator Heisha, unfortunately perished among them."

"What?!" Daoist Huoyun's eyes widened, and a scorching, violent aura erupted from him. "Jin Hao! Explain yourself! How did my sect's two elders perish? Was it your Qingyun Alliance that secretly orchestrated this?!"

Jian Wuhen's sword aura soared to the sky, his eyes like knives, as he locked onto Jin Hao: "Where are my Heavenly Sword Sect disciples? Where are their corpses?!"

The atmosphere instantly became tense, with disciples of the Blazing Sun Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect glaring angrily, and the sound of weapons being drawn echoing everywhere.

Jin Hao remained fearless, meeting the two men's murderous gazes coldly, and said, "Elder Huoyun, Sect Master Wuhen, please accept my condolences. Fellow Daoists Chen and Li triggered the 'Sparkling Wildfire Formation' in the passageway, causing a chain of explosions, and their bodies were never recovered."

"Fellow Daoists Zhao and Qian were attacked by the suddenly awakened 'Starfall Guardians' while exploring the side hall and died fighting valiantly. Fellow Daoist Wang of the 'Green Wood Sect' and the rogue cultivator 'Black Fiend' also died from various traps and mechanisms."

"The ruins are fraught with danger; life and death are left to fate, as clearly stated before entering. Our Qingyun Alliance also suffered two casualties and one serious injury. Could it be that we ourselves were responsible?"

His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable chilling authority. Several Qingyun Alliance disciples behind him also revealed their wounds, proving that what he said was true.

The female cultivators from Xuanbing Pavilion and the surviving rogue cultivators nodded in agreement, confirming what Jin Hao had said.

Huoyun Daoren and Jian Wuhen's chests heaved violently, yet they could not refute it. The danger of the ruins was foreseen, and casualties were inevitable.

However, since the loss happened to them, and at a time when they were clearly at odds with the Qingyun Alliance, it was inevitable that the Alliance would be suspicious, but they couldn't find any fault with them.

"Did you gain anything?" Fairy Ling Shuang's cool voice broke the deadlock; she was more concerned with practical matters.

Jin Hao nodded and took out a jade slip sealed with a special restriction from his pocket, as well as several badly damaged jade fragments that still emitted a faint starlight and half of a stone tablet engraved with strange runes.

"Deep within the ruins, there are powerful restrictions that cannot be broken without the power of a Golden Core cultivator, which is why we were unable to reach the core. However, we discovered some fragmented murals and inscriptions in the outer ruins. These have been recorded on a jade slip, and the originals are here." He handed the jade slip and the fragments to Han Lin, who had come to greet him.

Han Lin took the jade slip, his consciousness sinking into it. His expression changed slightly, and he carefully examined the fragments of inscriptions. After a long while, he bowed to Shen Mo and said, "Sect Leader, please take a look."

Shen Mo had stood quietly to the side the whole time, only now slowly stepping forward. He first looked at the gleaming wound on Jin Hao's arm: "How is the injury?"

"It's a minor injury, with some residual star power, which is a bit troublesome, but nothing serious. Senior Sister Mu has already taken care of it," Jin Hao said respectfully.

Shen Mo nodded before accepting the jade slip and fragment from Han Lin.

All eyes instantly turned to him, holding their breath and waiting for his judgment.

Huoyun Daoist and Jian Wuhen also temporarily suppressed their anger, staring intently at the object in Shen Mo's hand. It might contain crucial clues about this ancient relic, about the power of the stars!

Shen Mo first picked up the half of the stone tablet. The stone tablet was made of an unknown material, neither gold nor jade, and it felt cold and unusually heavy to the touch.

The fracture was jagged, and the surface was covered with a thick layer of dark green material similar to rust, but the uncovered parts revealed a deep, ethereal blue that seemed to contain the starry sky.

The inscription is not one of the popular styles today; the strokes are twisted like star trails, ancient and vigorous, exuding a timeless aura.

He stared intently at the text, and even with his extensive knowledge of Qingyun Sect's ancient books, he could only barely make out a few seemingly correct characters. He guessed and fumbled, but they were roughly related to "fall," "seal," "ruler," and "galaxy."

He put down the stone tablet and picked up the fragments of the mural. The fragments were larger and showed that they were originally painted on some kind of hard stone wall.

The colors have long since faded and peeled away, but the remaining lines and color blocks can still outline some blurry scenes: a vast and boundless starry sky, with stars falling like rain.

A magnificent city, shining brightly under the starry sky, with unique architectural styles and towering towers, as if constructed from the stars themselves.

There was also a blurry figure, seemingly standing atop the city, holding a long, hazy, star-like object, pointing it towards the sky...

The last fragment depicts the collapse of a colossal city, the dimming of the stars, and the figure wielding the weapon seemingly vanishing along with it, leaving only a streak of light piercing the heavens and the trajectory of the weapon falling to the earth...

Shen Mo's gaze was fixed on the object held in the blurry figure's hand.

The object's shape... long and narrow, slightly curved, with what appeared to be markings at the top... Although the mural was damaged and details were missing, its overall outline and unique charm remained...

His heart skipped a beat. An indescribable chill crept up his spine.

No...impossible! Absolutely impossible!

He forced himself to remain calm and picked up the jade slip containing the image. He then immersed his consciousness into it.

The images recorded in the jade slip were clearer, showing the real-time scene that Jin Hao and the others had captured with their divine sense during their exploration. The images were shaky, showing them struggling to move forward in a huge ruin made of some kind of luminous stone.

Scattered all around are huge, broken walls and ruins carved with star patterns.

On a relatively intact, massive stone wall, they discovered relatively clear murals, as well as numerous inscriptions carved nearby.