Chapter 122 - A Special Set of Ruins
After passing through the blue film of light, An Lin and his group all stood transfixed to the spot.
They felt as if they had entered the wrong door and come to the wrong place.
In front of them was an expansive hall, within which were tables, chairs, as well as some intricate artistic sculptures.
The walls and ground were constructed from some sort of white synthetic material, making them smooth and spotlessly clean.
A few strange machines were suspended in the air, emitting a cold metallic light.
Everything here was neat and tidy…
Also, everything was new, as if this was a newly-built home.
The most important thing was, the place was simply far too hypermodern!
Have you seen any other set of ruins housing Gundam figures?
Well, this place fits the bill!
An Lin walked over to the machines and began to examine them carefully.
These machines were all made to assume a humanoid form. There were sharp blades all over its structure, as well as a series of gun barrels and a circular object in the center, resembling a power core.
He could speculate with certainty that these were humanoid Gundams!
An Lin fell into a daze, unsure of how something like this could appear in the cultivating world… It was simply too out of place!
He tried to stow away the humanoid Gundam into his storage ring, but an invisible force field hindered his efforts. Not only could he not move the Gundam, but the invisible force field also prevented him from even being able to touch it directly.
That was quite normal, there had definitely been a lot of cultivators that had previously come here and most likely tried the same thing, so for there to still be so many Gundams left probably ruled out any chance of moving them.
At the end of the hall was a dark corridor, emanating an ominous sense of danger.
“Big Brother An, what should we do now?” Miao Tian asked.
An Lin was a little unsure of how to proceed. They were actually only looking for an excuse so the horned dragon wouldn’t get angry. After all, they had summoned it, even if it was by accident, they couldn’t just tell it that everything was a misunderstanding and send him back, could they?
They only needed to sit in the chairs for a while, then blow on the horn and leave this place. That was the safest way to proceed.
However, this was a set of ruins and there was a potential inheritance within…
Cultivating required not only talent, but also luck and opportunities.
Perhaps it was fate that they all stumbled into these ruins.
However, the horned dragon in the lake did warn them that hazards lurked everywhere within the ruins and these hazards could definitely threaten their lives.
“Alright, this is how we’ll do it. Those who want to explore the ruins can come with me, and those who don’t want to can stay behind and wait here.” An Lin could not guarantee the safety of his team members so he could only let them make a decision for themselves.
Everyone immediately got up and stood by his side, their intentions self-evident.
An Lin was a little surprised. “Aren’t you guys afraid of dying? I have to make it clear, I’m not the Great God An who slew the Dark Night Monarch like you guys think I am, I’m only an ordinary Spirit Nurturing Initial Stage cultivator.”
“I know.” Miao Tian rolled her eyes at him and puckered her lips, seemingly a little unhappy.
Zong Yongyan waved his fan and spoke indifferently. “Of course we fear death, but if we are unable to follow the Dao to immortality, death will remain an inevitable fate. To take a risk now would be to pave the way and give ourselves a greater chance of attaining immortality.”
Everyone nodded silently, clearly very much in agreement with Zong Yongyan’s words.
An Lin didn’t say anything else upon seeing the determination of his team members and immediately made his way toward the dark corridor.
He held a longsword in his right hand and a brick in his left, looking extremely gallant.
Coming to the opening of the tunnel, everything was pitch black inside. Looking into its depth, there seemed to be a Y-shaped crossroad up ahead. Due to the structure of the crossroad, they were unable to see what lay at its end.
There was a metal plaque on the door, with a few indiscernible characters engraved on it.
“This is…”
The normally quiet Sun Shenglian suddenly opened her mouth, a surprised expression surfacing on her face.
“Can you read what this says?” An Lin asked with a glint in his eyes.
Sun Shenglian nodded before slowly reading out the characters on the plaque. “This is the language of the Purple Star State, it says: 88th Purple Star Research Institute, Biological Bloodline Research Center…”
An Lin grimaced slightly. So these so-called ruins were actually a research institute?
What the hell is going on, why can’t I just have a normal adventure?
However, the Purple Star Civilization seemed to be a very technologically-advanced civilization on the Tai Chu Continent, but ultimately fell due to some unknown reason. The information on this plaque at least explained why these ruins were so hypermodern.
Miao Tian immediately let out a cry of surprise upon hearing this. “You mean this is one of the Purple Star Research Institutes from the Purple Star Civilization?”
Sun Shenglian nodded with a solemn expression. Compared to the grim looks on Miao Tian and Sun Shenglian’s faces, everyone else was a little confused.
They were clearly thinking, isn’t this just the ruins of a technologically-advanced civilization? What cause was there for such concern?
“Let me explain,” Sun Shenglian said after taking in everyone’s expressions, “there is a vast expanse of dead land in the northeast region of the Tai Chu Continent, this you all know, right?”
An Lin and the others all nodded, that was once the territory of the Purple Star Civilization.
“I come from the Purple Star State, directly neighboring that expanse of dead land. The Purple Star State was not originally known as the Purple Star State, it was known instead as the Snowy Mist State. As for why its name was changed to the Purple Star State, most people simply believed that this was to commemorate the past civilization, but that is actually not the case.”
An Lin and the others all began to focus their attention, as they knew the crux of the story was coming up.
“The reason why it had been renamed to the Purple Star State was because it received the inheritance of the Purple Star Civilization. No, to put it more accurately… it received the inheritance of the 9th and 26th Purple Star Research Institutes.
“There are only one hundred numbered research institutes in the Purple Star Civilization. The rest of the research institutes are all in that expanse of dead land, and have either been destroyed or are in a dire state.”
Sun Shenglian’s words were extremely alarming to everyone.
The reason why the Purple Star State was able to become the second most powerful state from the weakest state in the Kingdom of the Nine States in a mere thousand years was apparent now.
Just the inheritance from two of the numbered research institutes alone was able to completely transform the fortunes of the Purple Star State.
Then wasn’t the 88th Purple Star Research Institute that they were currently situated in an extraordinary place!?
“It seems… that we do have a very real chance of dying in these ruins!” Luo Ziping spoke numbly.
Risk and reward came hand in hand after all.
Do we still want to go?
Everyone looked at each other.
After hesitating for a while, everyone still unanimously decided to venture in.
An Lin led the team in the dark corridor, taking every step with care in case he activated some sort of booby trap.
“It’s so dark, the hall was so bright but this corridor is so dark in contrast.” Miao Tian grumbled under her breath.
“This is a tried and proven method to create a fearful sense of suspense, it’s an old trick.” Zong Yongyan said lightly.
Xiao Chou offered up a suggestion at this moment. “How about… we switch on a light?”
“Ha?” Everyone looked toward Xiao Chou as if to say: Where’s the light switch? Do you own this corridor?
Immediately after this, they understood what Xiao Chou meant…
Following the sound of a light switch being flicked on, Xiao Chou’s eyes transformed into super searchlights, emitting an extremely bright light!
“Ahhhhhh… I’ve been blinded!”
Everyone was looking at Xiao Chou and were hence immediately blinded by the bright light emanating from his eyes.
“You take the lead!” An Lin roared with his eyes tightly shut.
Never would he have suspected that Xiao Chou’s bright eyes could really be used as f*cking light bulbs, and as super bright searchlights too! Was this a compromised version of the Golden Eyes of the Monkey King?
Thus, the dark corridor brightened considerably.
Everyone continued down the brightly-lit corridor, the prior permeating sense of fear and anxiety immediately decreasing by ten thousand fold!