"Brother Fang, your life-saving grace is unforgettable."

Fang Cheng paid no attention to the pleasantries and walked past the two of them, heading straight to Grey Eagle.

"Since we’ve found the exact location, what’s the method to enter the ruins?"

"The method to enter the ruins? I... I don’t know."

Grey Eagle’s eyes were a bit vacant, and he shook his head blankly.

He seemed not to have fully recovered from the shock of seeing his companion dissolve in the Buddha light earlier.

"Is that so?"

Fang Cheng’s eyelids dropped slightly, his tone carrying a frightening coldness:

"If you can’t even provide that, then keeping you around is of no use."

As he spoke, he interlocked his fingers and clenched them tightly.

A series of cracking sounds like popping beans erupted instantly, the threat was unmistakable.

Grey Eagle’s knees buckled, his face twisted in despair, and he waved his hands rapidly:

"Brother Cheng, I really don’t know how to get in! But don’t worry, I’ll contact our superiors right now; he must have a way to get us in!"

Fang Cheng nodded slightly, indicating for him to proceed.

Grey Eagle, as if pardoned, immediately dragged the backpack in front of him and unzipped it.

He fumbled around hurriedly, finally pulling out a heavy black communication device from the innermost pocket.

He quickly extended the antenna, his thumb swiftly pressing a series of encrypted channel buttons, preparing to contact someone.

However, not a single weak signal bar appeared on the screen.

The speaker of the communicator only emitted a harsh static noise.

Grey Eagle, sweating profusely, slapped the device’s case twice, then tried several backup channels without giving up.

But aside from static, there was still no response.

"Alright, stop wasting your efforts."

Fang Cheng interrupted his futile actions, casting a glance at the piece of junk of a machine:

"The spatial barrier here is weak, high-dimensional energy leakage has severely disrupted the surrounding magnetic field. Ordinary radio waves can’t penetrate this barrier; your signal is completely blocked."

Grey Eagle despondently put down the communication device, his face ashen as if his last bit of spirit had been drained.

Unable to contact the mastermind, they couldn’t obtain the method to enter the ruins.

They risked their lives and went through painstaking efforts to get here, only to be blocked by an invisible wall, left helplessly staring.

It felt as if they had finally, after much hardship, found a treasure mountain of gold and silver.

Only to realize they didn’t have the key to unlock the door, leaving them to sigh forlornly.

Fang Cheng turned his head, once again focusing his gaze on the golden barrier that rippled like water.

The dense fog rolled outside the barrier, never able to cross the threshold.

The layer of aura with terrifying corrosive power seemed like an insurmountable wall of sighs, segregating the present world from that unknown ancient one.

"Since there’s no key to the door..."

Fang Cheng’s eyes sparkled, a flicker of flame faintly visible in his pupils.

He slowly clenched his hands at his side, the joints emitting another dull cracking sound.

Various possibilities rapidly played out in his mind.

Then, he raised his head and made a bold decision.

Perhaps he could try out the newfound ability recently gained, and concurrently test its combat effectiveness.

Fang Cheng took a deep breath of the cold air tinged with the smell of blood.

Then, his Dantian suddenly surged.

The turbulent energy, like a flood bursting from a dam, roared through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Buzz—

Blinding golden flames erupted from beneath his skin, flowing and spreading like boiling magma.

In the blink of an eye, the gold light expanded outward thunderously, with him at the center, forcibly forming a massive six-meter diameter spherical shield.

Mixed Element True Domain, activate.

The extreme heat instantly dispelled the surrounding chill.

The air inside the light shield twisted violently under the high temperature, and the once muddy ground underfoot quickly dried and cracked into fine lines with a "sizzle".

Ma Donghe and Hou Peng were forced back repeatedly by the heat wave, shielding their faces with their arms, and staring in horror at the man who seemed to have turned into the sun.

Fang Cheng didn’t look back, striding directly towards the semi-transparent golden aura barrier.

Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle—

As soon as the two distinct energies made contact, sparks and white smoke erupted densely.

The high-dimensional radiation energy with terrifying corrosiveness, like a swarm of piranhas that smell meat, frantically biting and squeezing the golden halo.

The surface of the Mixed Element True Domain violently rippled, causing circles of furious waves.

Fang Cheng’s gaze remained calm, treating them like a faint breeze blowing against him.

His leg muscles tightened like steel cables, crushing the dried mud under his military boots, resisting the oppressive force that seemed to crush him, and forced his way through the gap in the barrier.

In the instant he passed through the barrier, the sound of wind, the exclamations of Ma Donghe and others, were abruptly cut off.

Silence immediately enveloped the surroundings.

The mountain-shifting and sea-overturning resistance and the golden barrier disappeared abruptly as well.

Fang Cheng leaned slightly forward, then pressed his center of gravity downward, standing firmly.

The light emanating from the Mixed Element True Domain barely illuminated the surrounding scenery.

It felt like a deep, dark passage.

The surroundings were filled with tumbling black mist.

Underfoot was some sort of cold and hard black rock.

The Golden Flame flickered in Fang Cheng’s pupils.

He maintained a steady pace, walking firmly along the passage towards the depth.

Not knowing how long he walked, a faint green phosphorescence gradually emerged from the darkness ahead.

Fang Cheng slowed his pace, clenched his right hand into a fist, and approached slowly.

By the light, he saw the scene before him clearly.

It was a several-meter-high ruinous stone tower.

The tower was covered with marks of weathering and peeling, standing here for countless ages.

The faint green phosphorescence came from some moss growing in the stone cracks.

In front of the stone tower, several incomplete skeletons lay scattered on the ground.

The surfaces of the bones were weathered in a grayish decay, some even fused with the black rock, evidently having died here long ago.

Fang Cheng’s gaze passed over the skeletons, landing on a half-buried stone tablet at the base of the tower.

Several lines of ancient inscriptions were carved on the stone tablet.

Though the script was oddly structured and hasty, Fang Cheng could understand its meaning at a glance.

"The other side is perilous, ten deaths and no life."

"If one wishes to proceed, three bows before the tower to prove sincerity to the path, then the passage can be opened."

Fang Cheng finished reading the inscription, his eyelids drooped slightly, stopping his gaze on those few skeletons for two seconds.

It seemed these unlucky ones who died here were adventurers wanting to enter the relic during their lives.

As for the tower and the tablet, perhaps they were checkpoints left by some mighty being, or an ancient malicious ritual.

Kneel before a skeleton that died long ago or an invisible clay statue?

Fang Cheng smirked slightly, refusing to bend his knees, lifting his right leg instead.

The foot in thick military boots hung in the air, then stepped forcefully onto the ground in front of the stone tablet.

Bang!

A dull sound echoed in the silent passage.

Fang Cheng’s expression remained unchanged, lifting his leg again.

Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive steps, each heavier than the last.

Furious strength poured out from the boot sole, causing the hard black stone ground to tremble slightly, leaving behind three footprints.

"Bow my head? Not a chance. Three stamps on the ground, just for the sound."

Fang Cheng pulled back his right leg, standing still.

He quietly gazed at the stone tower ahead, waiting for changes.

Several seconds passed.

Silence still pervaded, the phosphorescent moss on the tower didn’t even flicker, showing no sign of opening a passage.

"Seems such opportunistic tricks can’t deceive the dead who left this mechanism."

Fang Cheng shook his head.

Then, he slowly spread his fingers, the golden flame from Mixed Element True Domain converging into his palm.

If not recognized, then perhaps smashing this ruinous tower along with the tablet might pave a path.

Just as he prepared to act.

The space right above the stone tablet suddenly twisted violently.

Accompanied by the sound of howling wind, a slowly rotating red vortex tore through the darkness, hovering in mid-air.