Chapter 1028: The Ruins Open

At this moment, Feng Xun wished he could die.

He had thought that in the previous duel, the opponent had already displayed his strongest strength, but now he realized that he might not have even used one-fifth of his combat power.

In other words, with only that much power, he had already been thoroughly humiliated. Now, for some unknown reason, the opponent had unleashed his full strength. Needless to say, he was beaten so badly he didn't want to live.

Moreover...

What was this all about? Wasn't it just a sparring match? He had already won... and now he came back to beat him up again. What was going on?

Seeing that the opponent was getting more and more excited, Feng Xun could no longer hold back. He quietly unlocked the seal suppressing his strength, raising his power to the first level of the Saint Domain. But the result was the same as before—no change at all, and he was still brutally beaten.

What made him even more furious was that the opponent didn't seem to notice his increase in strength!

Gritting his teeth, he continued to raise his strength to the second level of the Saint Domain. The opponent still didn't notice... and he was beaten just as badly, his face swollen like a pig's head.

He was a thousand-man commander of the War Master Hall, a peerless genius selected from ten thousand. Crossing levels to fight was easy and enjoyable for him... yet against this guy, even after surpassing him by two major levels, the opponent didn't even notice...

This huge blow nearly drove him crazy.

"Forget it, forget about dignity..."

With a ferocious expression, no longer caring about anything else, Feng Xun gritted his teeth and released all his suppressed strength.

He was originally a peak Saint Domain third-level powerhouse. Now, with his full strength unleashed, his entire aura soared upward, piercing the clouds.

"I'll make you pay..."

With a roar, he clenched his fist and was about to strike at the opponent when he felt his vision go dark—a foot had already kicked him in the face.

Not only was the kick powerful, but it also struck a vital point and flaw in his cultivation. Before his excited shout could even finish, he felt his vision go black and fell heavily to the ground, lying flat on his back!

Only then did he understand a truth: cherish life, stay away from Zhang Xuan!

Although he too was known as a genius, compared to the one before him, he was not even on the same level, falling short by at least a hundred thousand miles.

No wonder direct disciples could qualify to become War Sons, and casually taught students could defeat the War Master Hall's people so thoroughly...

This guy was simply too monstrous!

Having knocked Feng Xun unconscious, Zhang Xuan finally felt the pent-up frustration in his chest swept away. He stretched lazily, refreshed, and walked back toward Luo Ruoxin's courtyard.

Before he could reach it, he saw Mu Shi come out.

"Uncle-Master, Master Luo has already retired for the night. She made it clear that if there's anything, it can wait until tomorrow!"

"Uh!"

Seeing that she didn't intend to see him, Zhang Xuan could only scratch his head and head back to his residence.

The night passed without incident.

At daybreak the next day, everyone gathered in the main hall of the Master Hall. After a night of rest and treatment, Feng Xun's breathing had recovered considerably, but his body was still severely swollen.

"Feng War Master, what happened to you? If you really can't make it, you don't have to go..." President Han, who was leading the group, couldn't help asking when he saw his condition.

He had been fine yesterday—how had he turned into this overnight?

"It's nothing. I just made a mistake in my training yesterday. I've taken some medicine; it won't delay anything..." Feng Xun quickly waved his hand.

Going to challenge a Saint and ending up beaten like this—he would be too embarrassed to admit it!

"Training?" President Han shook his head.

Although he was not a master, he was no fool. Training could never cause such injuries; clearly, he had been beaten up.

But since the other party didn't want to talk about it, he didn't bother to press further. Looking around, he said, "Since everyone is here, let's set off!"

The seal of the ruins was about to open; it was time to go.

Standing on the back of the sacred beast, Zhang Xuan quietly glanced at Luo Ruoxi. Seeing that her expression remained as indifferent as ever, seemingly not blaming him for yesterday's incident, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly approached her.

"Teacher Luo, the ruins are full of dangers. If we travel together, we can look out for each other..."

"Mm!" Luo Ruoxi nodded.

"Great!" Seeing her agreement, Zhang Xuan knew she was not angry and felt relieved.

A few minutes later, the massive Yanlin Mountain appeared before them again.

Everyone landed.

The seal below looked no different from a few days ago. The formation flag Zhang Xuan had inserted still stood quietly within the formation, with dense streams of power surging from all sides, releasing immense energy.

"According to calculations, the seal will open today, but the exact time is uncertain. We just need to wait patiently!"

President Han explained.

For such a powerful seal, being able to deduce the exact day of opening was already impressive; knowing the precise time was nearly impossible.

Understanding the difficulty, everyone was not anxious and waited on the spot. About an hour later, the seal, which had been a white mist, slowly changed, turning red. Then a rainbow-colored passage appeared before them.

"It's open!"

Seeing the change, everyone knew the seal was opening, and their eyes lit up.

President Han looked ahead for a moment, then turned to explain to the group: "This is the Rainbow Bridge into the seal. It will only appear for a quarter of an hour. Let's hurry in!"

With that, he stepped forward first.

Everyone followed closely.

Although this rainbow passage was formed by a formation, it was very solid. Walking on it felt no different from walking on the ground, with no discomfort.

Following behind the others, stepping on the rainbow bridge, Zhang Xuan looked around. The blue sky, white clouds, green mountains, and clear waters contrasted with the hot air currents below, giving a feeling of two worlds merging, dreamlike and surreal.

"To be able to create such a solid rainbow bridge out of nothing, the person who arranged this relic is truly terrifying..."

He sighed inwardly.

Using true qi to build a rainbow bridge for people to walk on—he could do that too. But setting up a formation to sustain such a bridge was beyond him.

Not only him, but even a七星 formation master would find it difficult.

It seemed, as he had guessed earlier, that the senior who left this relic was at least of the eight-star level!

No wonder the old dean was so wary, knowing it would be hard to return, and had prepared a cenotaph in advance.

"Eye of Insight!"

As he walked forward, his eyes squinted and looked ahead.

He saw that at the end of the rainbow, a colorful light membrane lay before them. Below, magma churned, and the immense heat seemed ready to erupt at any moment, incinerating anyone.

"The structure of this light membrane... is somewhat similar to the seal in the underground cavern..."

After observing for a while, he frowned.

The light membrane before him had a strange structure, somewhat similar to the seal that sealed the battlefield beyond the realm in the underground cavern, only simpler.

Even so, without opening it, forcing one's way in would be nearly impossible.

Otherwise, it couldn't have kept the entire异灵族 out for tens of thousands of years, allowing only a few small fry to sneak in.

Puzzled, he followed the others and soon arrived before the light membrane.

The others now also saw the scene behind the membrane, their faces turning pale.

"Ahead is magma... Could it be that the so-called relic is inside this lava?"

A renowned teacher asked in confusion, unable to help himself.

Lava is molten rock, extremely hot. Even steel would turn to liquid in it. Although everyone present had saint-level strength, they dared not enter recklessly.

"I have limited information. We can only know the specifics once we go in..." Teacher Wu shook his head.

He didn't know much about the details either.

"Then..."

"Don't overthink it. Since we're here, let's go in and see!"

Seeing everyone hesitant and unsure, Teacher Wu's face turned serious. He stepped forward: "Let me try first. If there's danger, you all don't go in..."

He was the highest-ranked teacher among them and the strongest. If there was danger, he had to lead the way.

Without waiting for a reply, he channeled true qi from his acupoints, enveloping himself, and leaped straight toward the membrane.

Whoosh!

The membrane offered no resistance. With a splash, Teacher Wu sank into it and disappeared from sight.

Then everyone saw his figure inside the membrane, faint and unclear, but they could clearly see him waving, indicating no danger.

"Let's go in!"

President Han followed closely.

Zhang Xuan also followed. As his body touched the membrane, it felt like touching water. The next moment, he appeared above the scorching magma. Waves of heat occasionally assaulted him, making his scalp tingle.

He looked down.

It was a huge volcanic crater, over ten kilometers in diameter. Flames occasionally erupted, threatening to engulf anyone.

"Could it be... the relic is really beneath the magma?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had thought there would be a passage leading them into the relic, but upon arrival, he found nothing but lava around.

If the relic was indeed below, this place was more dangerous than imagined.

Not to mention the scorching heat, the vast area made it impossible to see. One misstep could lead to getting lost, never to return.

"Which way?"

Teacher Wu, who had entered first, also frowned and couldn't help looking at President Han.

The latter was a grandmaster of formations. Perhaps there were invisible formations here that could guide them in.

"Let me see..."

President Han nodded, took out a compass, and walked around the crater. His frown deepened.

"The aura here is stable, no formations. It seems we'll have to find the entrance by groping..."

"Groping?"

Everyone looked at the lava, over ten kilometers in diameter, and twitched their mouths. How could they grope?

Did they really have to dive in?

Even if they could withstand the temperature, their clothes couldn't!

Surely a group of six-star and seven-star renowned teachers and war masters wouldn't strip naked and march in a line...

If so, they would die of shame before even finding the relic!

Realizing this, Zhang Xuan couldn't help glancing at Luo Ruoxi nearby, chin in hand, looking troubled: "If she takes off her clothes, should I... look or not?"

"You... what nonsense are you thinking?"

As he was pondering, at a loss, he heard the girl's gritted-teeth, explosive voice transmission in his ear.