Published at 5th of December 2025 7:37 am

Chapter 1888: The Abandoned Ruins

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Lin Wan’er held onto Bai Ling’er tightly, following without hesitation.

Su Xiaowan stared at the Light Gate, as if she could see the monstrous creatures lurking behind it. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and mustered her courage: "I’m not afraid! Charge!" Then she plunged headfirst into the Light Gate.

As the three figures disappeared, the cave returned to silence. Only the ancient rune stone wall still emitted a faint glow, with the Light Gate at its center rippling like water, seemingly eternal. At the entrance, the dark purple vines sensed that there were no longer any living auras inside, and their surface energy dimmed slightly, as if sinking into silence, quietly waiting for the next intruder or the day its energy would run out. Outside the cave, deep within the phantom mushroom forest, unsettling rustling and cracking sounds could be heard, suggesting new dangers brewing.

The moment they passed through the Light Gate, it wasn’t the expected disorienting whirl, but a peculiar sensation of stretching and compressing, as if their bodies were being stretched infinitely and then instantly compacted into a single point. In front of them was no longer a chaos of colors but a vast, nearly solidified darkness, accompanied by the faint sound of glass shattering in their ears.

This sensation lasted but a brief moment.

The next second, Luo Qingchen felt the ground vanish beneath his feet, and his body plummeted downward!

"Ah!" Su Xiaowan’s scream followed immediately.

Luo Qingchen reacted swiftly, even in this unexpected weightless state, he instinctively reached out to grab the also falling Lin Wan’er and Su Xiaowan. The Chaotic Power surged from his body; though still thin, it managed to form a buffering cyclone around them, slowing their descent.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The three of them successively crashed onto the hard and cold ground. Despite the buffer from the Chaotic Power, the impact still caused their blood and energy to surge violently.

"Cough cough... my butt... hurt again..." Su Xiaowan grimaced as she rubbed her rear, feeling this fall was harsher than the last.

Luo Qingchen couldn’t check his injuries; he quickly got up and warily scanned his surroundings.

They appeared to be in a vast, endless... ruin.

Above them, there was no sky, only a silent, seemingly solidified dark gray void, with no sun, moon, or stars, just some distant, faint starlike fragments floating slowly in the void, emitting weak, cold light.

Underfoot were large, fractured stone slabs, made of a peculiar material neither metal nor stone, covered in thick dust, engraved with ancient runes similar to those on the cave’s stone walls, though most were broken and dilapidated. Scattered around were toppled giant pillars, collapsed temple remnants, and broken arch bridges... Everything seemed ancient, decrepit, and desolate.

The air was thin and cold, permeated with a scent of long-sealed dust and a... chaotic energy fluctuation. The energy here was far denser than in the previous mushroom forest, similar in nature to the Star Force of the Star Dome Illusion Realm, but like shattered glass, full of discordant conflicts and violent vibes, even causing a faint prickling sensation in their meridians when inhaled.

"What... is this place?" Lin Wan’er held Bai Ling’er as she stood, her delicate brows furrowed as she surveyed the lifeless ruin. Bai Ling’er remained asleep, but Lin Wan’er sensed that the chaotic energy here was no good for her, even faintly interfering with the Moonlight Orchid’s potency in her body.

"Feels even more unsettling than that dark palace and eerie mushroom forest..." Su Xiaowan shivered as she glanced around, "So dead, not even a blade of grass; what if there are ghosts?"

Luo Qingchen said nothing, he gingerly spread his Divine Sense, probing the environment. The space here appeared highly unstable, with gravity fluctuating erratically. The glowing fragments of "star" in the distance emitted an unsettling radiation.

"Let’s find a place to settle first, check on Ling’er, then decide our next move," Luo Qingchen said gravely. He felt his injuries recovering more slowly under these chaotic energies, even subtly showing signs of erosion. It was urgent to find a relatively safe and stable location.

The three cautiously traversed the ruins, where many of the stone slabs were cracked, a single misstep could send them plummeting into deep black fissures below. The chaotic energies in the air felt like invisible blades, constantly scraping at their protective energies.

After about an hour of careful wandering, they found a somewhat sheltered corner behind relatively intact crumbling walls. This seemed to be the remnants of an ancient altar, with scattered fragments of broken ritual vessels on the ground, of unknown material, cold to the touch.

Lin Wan’er immediately set Bai Ling’er down to check her condition. Sure enough, the leaf on Bai Ling’er’s forehead seemed dimmer, and her face lost the slight flush it had. The Moonlight Orchid’s efficacy was slowly being neutralized by the chaotic energies here.

"This won’t do, the energy here is harmful to Ling’er," Lin Wan’er said anxiously, "We must find a place with pure energy or that can shield against this chaotic energy immediately."

Luo Qingchen frowned deeply. He tried channeling the Chaotic Power and found that while it could slowly absorb and refine the chaotic energies here, the efficiency was extremely low, and the conflict during refining caused a faint pain in his meridians. The energies of this place were more troublesome than he had imagined.

"Don’t rush," Luo Qingchen tried to keep his voice steady, "I’ll restore some strength first, then explore further. This vast ruin might hold something useful."

He sat cross-legged, took out a Moonlight Orchid, not applying it externally but swallowing it directly, beginning to fully operate the Chaos Technique, refining its potency, while attempting to channel the chaotic star energy around him to temper himself. This was an extremely risky move, a slight misstep could backfire disastrously, but it was the fastest way to regain strength at present. The Chaotic Power claimed to encompass all, perhaps it could find a sliver of vitality in this shattered sea of energy.

Lin Wan’er stood guard over Luo Qingchen and Bai Ling’er, vigilantly monitoring their surroundings. Su Xiaowan, unable to stay still, began rummaging through the nearby ruins.

"Hey, Wan’er Sis, look, what’s this?" Shortly afterward, Su Xiaowan ran back holding a palm-sized, black, turtle shell-shaped metal fragment, "There are patterns on this too, like those on the ground, but smaller. Do you think it was a shield used by people who lived here before? It’s too small, though?"

Lin Wan’er took it, feeling its heavy weight, indeed the runes on it matched the style of the ruin, but it was too incomplete to discern its use. She shook her head, "I don’t know, perhaps just a fragment of some artifact."

Su Xiaowan pouted with disappointment, casually stuffing the "little turtle shell" into her Storage Bag, grumbling, "So stingy, not even a decent treasure..."

Just then, Luo Qingchen suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in them!

"Something’s coming!"

Almost as his words faded, a deep, metal-grating noise echoed from the shadows within the nearby ruins.

Lin Wan’er and Su Xiaowan immediately tensed, gripping their weapons tightly.

Squeak... Creak...

The sound grew nearer and nearer. Emerging from the ruins were several grotesque, humanoid Mechanical Bodies, cobbled together from broken metal and rock, with joints sparking with unstable electricity!

These Mechanical Bodies stood approximately ten feet tall, bodies battered and broken, some even missing arms or legs, relying on a bizarre balance to move at a slow pace.

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