The Dao Ancestors had set up restrictions, and some True Monarchs prepared to test them.
The first to charge forward was a True Monarch with peak True Spirit Realm cultivation. Although he was far from comparable to the top-ranked True Monarchs on the True Monarch Rankings, within the entire quasi-Dao Realm, he could still rank among the top one million.
Reaching the top million was already considered very powerful, given that the number of True Monarchs in the quasi-Dao Realm numbered in the hundred millions.
A True Monarch of this caliber was, without a doubt, a one-in-a-million expert and was certainly not weak.
Boom! The True Monarch attempted to break into the ruins but, no matter how many times he crashed into the restriction, he could not break through. Even after unleashing powerful attack techniques, the restriction remained unaffected—not even a ripple formed.
Seeing this, the majority of the True Monarchs despaired.
They believed that since their strength was inferior to that of the first True Monarch, they had no chance of entering the ruins either.
At that moment, a ranked True Monarch on the True Monarch Rankings casually broke through the restriction and entered the ruins.
However, when other True Monarchs tried to follow him through, the restriction instantly flung them back out.
“Maybe if we hide other True Monarchs inside an internal space, we can bring them in,” one True Monarch suddenly suggested.It was a reasonable idea. After all, many True Monarchs carried lifeforms with them, and those lifeforms hadn’t been expelled from the restriction. So, some top-tier True Monarchs decided to try this, carrying weaker ones with them into the ruins.
But soon, they were shocked to discover that these hidden True Monarchs couldn’t leave the internal spaces inside the ruins. If they forced their way out, the restriction would still eject them immediately.
It was impossible to cheat the restriction. As a result, the True Monarchs had no choice but to confront the barrier head-on and find their way through honestly.
Ye Tian had initially wanted to take the True Monarch Sundragon with him, but now that the trick didn’t work, he had no choice but to part ways with him and enter the ruins alone.
…
Inside the ruins.
The sky was gray and dim. There was no sun, no moon, and no stars. However, for the True Monarchs, darkness posed no challenge—whether it was bright or pitch-black, it was the same as daylight to their eyes.
Ye Tian stepped onto the ground of the ruin’s space and frowned slightly.
“A dead, lifeless atmosphere… not a trace of vitality!” He thought to himself.
From what he could see, this ruin space didn’t seem capable of nurturing any cultivation resources. The harsh environment was utterly unsuitable for the growth or development of such things.
However, since this was a ruin, the real rewards wouldn’t come from natural resources. The true treasures would be found in the remnants of the sect—if one could obtain an inheritance here, it would be more valuable than any resource.
Swish!
One by one, the True Monarchs wasted no time and rushed toward a distant cluster of ruin buildings.
Just as they were about to reach the complex, several True Monarchs suddenly fell from the sky like dumplings, crashing into the ground and making direct contact with the earth.
Of course, these True Monarchs were not hurt by the impact, but their landing was undeniably embarrassing.
“What’s going on?”
“Strange. We are True Monarchs—how could we fall like that?”
“It must be an Anti-Flight Formation. This place was likely the site of a sect or an outpost, and flying is forbidden here.”
“Our top-tier forces across the Chaos have similar formations. Otherwise, if Heavenly Monarchs or Dao Ancestors flew around recklessly, it’d be complete chaos.”
“But this Anti-Flight Formation seems different from the one used by our War God Tower…”
“It’s probably a variant of an anti-flight formation. With so many formations in the Chaos, how could they all be the same?”
…
Under the influence of the anti-flight formation, the True Monarchs could only walk through the ruins, significantly slowing their progress.
Ye Tian also discovered that within this ruins area, space travel was impossible. Even time-space shifting techniques could only function as speed-based divine abilities, rendering them far less effective.
The architectural complex was massive and had an eerie style. It consisted of semi-circular buildings of varying sizes, scattered across the land like stars. Each structure was encased in a formation. However, many of the buildings were severely damaged, with some reduced entirely to ruins.
Ye Tian approached one of the ruins and carefully examined it, only to discover that the materials used to construct it were extraordinary.
“A rare metal—this could even be used to forge a Supreme Treasure!” Ye Tian judged.
In the universe, Supreme Treasures were as trivial as toys to True Monarchs, but for lower-level cultivators, they were priceless. Even with an abundance of materials suitable for crafting Supreme Treasures, it would be absurd to use them to build ordinary structures. Yet, here lay countless such buildings. If these materials were used to forge Supreme Treasures, they could produce billions of them.
“What a wealthy faction!” Ye Tian muttered to himself.
Although these materials held little value to him, he still collected them. Even if he couldn’t use them, the Human Race would be eager to have them. The more they had, the better, without any complaints.
The ruined structure spanned several dozen miles. Ye Tian enveloped the entire area with his spiritual sense and thoroughly investigated it. Eventually, he found some useful items.
There were dozens of incomplete texts, several fragments of Chaos Supreme Treasures, some everyday objects, and a small amount of other resources.
This space was quite miraculous. Even after endless ages, the objects inside hadn’t turned to dust, indicating that this place could resist the ravages of time.
Upon inspecting the texts, Ye Tian discovered that they were quite ordinary—mainly documentation on resources and a few basic secret techniques, though most were incomplete and not of great value.
However, Ye Tian did glean some information from these texts.
It turned out that this place had once been the headquarters of a sect called the Sky Ape Sect. This information was recorded in a manual intended for new disciples.
Interestingly, the script used in these texts was different from the common language of the Chaos realm. If the language hadn’t aligned with the principles of the Great Dao, Ye Tian wouldn’t have been able to decipher it at all.
“How strange, truly strange!” Ye Tian furrowed his brow deeply.
A sect of this size and strength… How could its ruins end up in the quasi-Dao Realm? The quasi-Dao Realm had been formed through the fusion of two ordinary universes. Ordinary universes couldn’t even accommodate experts above the level of Heavenly Monarchs, let alone anything stronger. At most, one might find the remnants of weak sects, with their most powerful members being Divine Generals at best.
Moreover, Ye Tian already had a thorough understanding of the two merged universes. It was impossible for the Sky Ape Sect to have originated from either of them.
In addition, the traces left here were far too ancient. This sect had to be from an unimaginably old era, making its sudden appearance in the quasi-Dao Realm all the more baffling.
“Could the Dao Ancestors have transported this entire space from somewhere in the Chaos and fused it into the quasi-Dao Realm?” Ye Tian speculated.
But such a theory didn’t seem reasonable. There was no reason for the Dao Ancestors to go through so much trouble.
“Forget it, I should just focus on finding treasures!”
Ye Tian stopped pondering the mystery and continued searching the ruins for valuable items and ancient inheritances.