"How long was I in a coma?"
"About two days. There’s no reference to ti here, so I can’t accurately determine it," Yu Ruoyun replied.
Wang Lan struggled to stand up, and CLATTER, a necklace fell from his chest and scattered. The pendant of the necklace opened, revealing a photograph inside.
A little girl in her teens, apparently Bai Ji, was pictured, with a man hugging her from behind. When Wang Lan caught sight of the man, his pupils shrank abruptly.
Yu Ruoyun looked at Wang Lan curiously, pursed her lips, and said, "Don’t you have a girlfriend? When did you start falling for Bai Ji?"
"Huh?" Wang Lan looked up at Yu Ruoyun, confused.
"Cut the act! I noticed before when Speedy Wind and Bai Ji got together, you’ve had unnatural expressions on your face several tis. Now you’ve been staring at Bai Ji’s necklace for so long, waxing nostalgic?"
"I always thought you were a calm and rational woman; I never imagined you’d show an emotional side," Wang Lan said with a slight smile. "And your ability to imagine things is second to none."
"Are you implying that I’m not a woman in your eyes?"
"Hmm! You’re a goddess, a goddess for the masses."
"Humph... Xinyu called you a blockhead and a clueless oaf, but it seems... She doesn’t know you. You’re good at flirting."
"I’m just telling the truth."
"I don’t want to listen to your nonsense. I know what I look like, and my sense of beauty is no different from the average person’s."
"Do you think I’m complinting you? Please, we’re teammates, comrades who’ve fought side-by-side, okay? Do you think I’m so superficial? I’m not soone who only cares about looks.
"The ’mass goddess’ label wasn’t even my idea—it was given by all the students at Modu City’s Star Martial Academy. Not to ntion, the two guys from my dormitory revere you so much that they nearly stand at attention and salute whenever your na cos up, almost ready to sing the national anthem.
"Don’t you know the image you have in the hearts of our classmates? You’re like a goddess in the Moon Palace, so high up and cold that you can only be admired from a distance but never approached. You’re forever strong, wise, and brilliant in martial arts. Yet... you just don’t connect with being a woman."
"Enough, enough... Stop talking," Yu Ruoyun interjected, waving her hand. "If you keep this up, I won’t dare to look in the mirror anymore."
"Why not?"
"I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist worshipping it."
"Heh heh..."
"So why were you staring at the necklace and daydreaming?"
"There’s a photograph inside the necklace," Wang Lan showed Yu Ruoyun the photo he was holding.
"And? I’ve seen it before. It’s just an ordinary photo, must be from Bai Ji’s childhood," Yu Ruoyun comnted.
"But this photo tells why soone wanted to assassinate Bai Ji."
"Oh? Does it have to do with that man?"
"Yeah, that man is Xiao Qing, the one who was arrested by the Tianjian Bureau recently, the one who controlled the entire underworld Soul Bead trade in Modu City. A lot of people dealt with Xiao Qing, and now that he’s caught, many would prefer him dead imdiately.
"Even until his death, he never revealed who was behind him. But the person behind him wanted to eliminate all traces. I didn’t expect that Bai Ji was Xiao Qing’s daughter. So civilian genius who achieved great success simply through hard work... Turns out it’s just a fairy tale."
"Is that so?" Yu Ruoyun seed not to be greatly moved. But then again, they were in a desperate situation with no mood to concern themselves with anything else.
"Are there no Exotic Beasts here?"
"For so reason, Exotic Beasts dare not co close."
Wang Lan felt he had mostly recovered and slowly stood up.
"Have you looked around yet?"
"Not yet. I’ve been looking after you this whole ti. You nearly died seven or eight tis in the past two days. So, how about now? Are you sure you’re okay?"
"I’m fine!" As long as the Song of Life Star Martial Skill did not flicker, that ant he was okay.
"Let’s go, let’s take a look around. What exactly is this Fairy Cloud Sect? For all we know, it might actually be an Immortal Cultivation Sect. If we could find a scripture, treasure, or Golden Core to let us ascend in broad daylight, that would be wonderful."
"Dream on, ascending in broad daylight. I think daydreaming is more like it," Yu Ruoyun teased, standing up and taking a step forward, but suddenly stumbled and nearly fell.
Wang Lan quickly reached out a hand to support her. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, just a bit weak," she replied.
The two supported each other as they walked out of the great hall.
The instant they erged, they were awestruck by the natural landscape.
The solitary peaks that had violently collided were positioned directly east of the great hall, and the hall itself was located at the summit of a mountain. Outside the hall, there were steps that continued down to the mountain base, each step half a ter high.
The surrounding mountains encircled them, the Cloud Sea fluctuated, and the dense jungle spread as far as the eye could see.
Countless flying Exotic Beasts circled in the distant sky, while the jungle echoed intermittently with the roars of beasts.
"Did you carry up these stairs?" Wang Lan asked in surprise.
"What do you think? Otherwise, why would I be weak?" Yu Ruoyun replied, her cheeks blushing lightly again. "If it had just been you, it wouldn’t have been too difficult, but your armor alone must weigh at least thirty-three pounds. Carrying nearly two hundred and twenty pounds of you, I climbed for a full day and night."
"You really had it tough!"
"It was okay."
"Did you find that big bell?"
"Haven’t had the chance to look yet."
Following the cobblestone path outside the main hall, Wang Lan turned to arrive at the back of the hall. However, behind the hall was a continuous expanse of ruins.
The ruins had been desolate for who knows how many years. Judging from the scale, the Fairy Cloud Sect was once incredibly splendid and prosperous. Evidence of battle was visible everywhere, likely the result of annihilation and war. Clearly, the Fairy Cloud Sect had been destroyed in this manner.
"Wang Lan, look!" Following Yu Ruoyun’s direction, Wang Lan indeed found scattered white bones among the ruins.
Wang Lan leapt towards the bones in a few bounds. The bones had severely weathered, crumbling into dust at the slightest touch.
Returning to Yu Ruoyun’s side, he said, "These dry bones must be several thousand years old. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so severely weathered. The Fairy Cloud Sect must have suffered a catastrophe, the entire sect destroyed."
"But if that’s the case, why does the main hall remain intact? And why don’t the Exotic Beasts dare to approach?"
"It might have sothing to do with that big bell. Did you hear the bell ringing again after that?"
"I heard it twice, ten chis each ti. Maybe the bell rings once every day. But the strange thing is, I can’t tell where the sound of the bell cos from. After arriving at the Fairy Cloud Sect, the bell sounds seed to co from everywhere."
"Let’s look around. Be careful!"
Wang Lan supported Yu Ruoyun as they circled the Fairy Cloud Sect. Apart from the main hall, the entire sect lay in ruins.
"Strange..."
"DONG—" Suddenly, a bell chid, resounding right next to Wang Lan’s ear. Wang Lan hastily looked around. But the bell sounded omnipresent; no matter where Wang Lan turned, the chiming was clear.
"DONG—" Birds in the distance flew away in terror, and even the intermittent roars of beasts fell silent.
Suddenly, Wang Lan gazed up at the sky, transfixed.
The sky seed to ripple, spreading outwards.
"Ruoyun, we... might... be inside that big bell," speculated Wang Lan.
"What? Why can’t I see it."
"This big bell covers the entire Fairy Cloud Sect, and it’s transparent. That’s why we are inside the bell, and when it rings, it seems as if the sound cos from all directions."
Yu Ruoyun, imitating Wang Lan’s action, looked up and after a while nodded in agreent. "That’s the only explanation."
"Ruoyun, have you ever thought, why is the entire Fairy Cloud Sect in ruins, all the buildings collapsed, yet only that main hall remains unscathed?"
"Maybe... the hall is made of more durable materials?" Yu Ruoyun said, then laughed at her own idea. "I’m just spouting nonsense. Logically, the materials of the main hall should be the sa as the other buildings."
"I guess... that main hall must’ve been sothing the Fairy Cloud Sect desperately preserved. But with the sect destroyed, why keep the main hall?" Wang Lan’s eyes suddenly brightened.
"Legacy!"
"It must be. Let’s go back to the main hall to search. They say that one who survives a great disaster is destined for good luck. We’ve been unfortunate enough to be sent to this haunting place; it’d be a sha not to find any fortuitous encounters to make up for this experience."
"Why would you think that?"
"What?"
"That facing danger ans there must be fortuitous encounters?"
"Don’t the protagonists in TV dramas always do this? They’re thrown off a cliff by soone, find a peerless divine weapon, and return to the martial world to slay all their enemies. Their Star palace gets destroyed, but then they encounter a Star Martial legend, rebuild their Star palace and return to the peak."
Yu Ruoyun looked at Wang Lan with a gradually weird expression, mixed with deep pity.
"You really are naïve and romantic."
"It’s called not forgetting one’s original aspiration."
Although they were bantering, it was rely to comfort each other’s tense emotions. As for whether there were treasures or legacies inside the main hall... There probably were.
Wang Lan had analyzed it before. All other buildings had collapsed, so it made no sense for the main hall to be undamaged. Furthermore, the invisible big bell enveloping the Fairy Cloud Sect was clearly protecting sothing.
What the bell protected certainly wasn’t the expanse of ruins. Thus, it could only be the main hall.
Yet, the inside of the main hall was in disarray. Even the spots where chairs had once been arranged were now just piles of dust. If not for the marks of the chairs, Wang Lan might have thought the main hall had always been empty.
The central staircase of the main hall had collapsed, and even the statue that was originally enshrined had turned into rubble on the ground. The only thing of note was that pile of stone debris.
Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun approached the rubble of the enshrined statue together. The stones were brittle, easily crushed to pieces.
While sorting through the rubble, Wang Lan suddenly hesitated as he observed a piece of irregularly shaped stone in his hand.
"Ruoyun, the color of this stone seems off. It doesn’t look like a naturally ford stone—it seems more like... concrete?"
"Instructor Wang, please be rational. Concrete has only been around for less than seven hundred years."
"CRACK—" Wang Lan gently pinched, and the concrete crumbled.
A brilliant blue Soul Bead appeared in the palm of Wang Lan’s hand.
Wang Lan raised his eyebrows, looking at Yu Ruoyun. Though he didn’t speak, his aning was clear. Now, what do you have to say?
Yu Ruoyun was utterly dumbfounded.
Had he really guessed right?
Suddenly, Yu Ruoyun quickly sifted through the rubble and unearthed a piece of stone resembling concrete. With a light pinch, the stone shattered, revealing a fiery red, top-quality Soul Bead in the palm of Yu Ruoyun’s hand.
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