Chapter 67 - Chapter 67: Chapter 66: Strange Appearance in the Human World

Chapter 67: Chapter 66: Strange Appearance in the Human World

Translator: 549690339

Originally, the first group to enter the Celestial Palace of Clouds and Waters consisted of over a hundred cultivators.

Most of them were at the Refining Energy phase and Foundation Establishment phase of their cultivation.

Though they assumed the ruins were ordinary, they encountered an unexpected array of oddities within the Celestial Palace of Clouds and Waters. These unwary cultivators suffered significant casualties.

Eventually, less than ten percent of them managed to escape alive.

Among them was a man named Sikong Yi.

This man was only at the final stage of energy refining and appeared completely unremarkable.

Many assumed he survived merely by luck.

Nobody could have guessed that this unassuming Sikong Yi would submit the “Cloud and Water Scroll” after returning to the Ten Thousand Immortals Island and complete the contribution mission of a hundred thousand points.

After receiving his reward, Sikong Yi used the ultra-long-distance array technique to leave the Misthaven Ocean, disappearing from sight.

Sikong Yi was never seen again from then on.

“Search. Information related to oddities and Sect relics,” Li Fan slowly recalled events from his previous life as he commanded the Tianxuan Mirror.

In a flash, hundreds and thousands of pieces of information popped up.

However, most could only see the first few sentences. To access the full information, one had to pay a certain amount of contribution points.

Li Fan was not stingy. He immediately spent 100 contribution points to purchase the highest-rated “Survival Guide to Sect Ruins”.

The author, Qi Yuanzhou, was an independent cultivator.

Having survived countless dangerous Sect Ruins, Qi Yuanzhou naturally had a unique set of strategies. His “Survival Guide to Sect Ruins” was highly valued by many other cultivators and regarded as a guidebook.

The Celestial Palace of Clouds and Waters was perilous and intriguing. Though Li Fan had foreknowledge, he didn’t dare to let down his guard.

He set out to peruse the guide carefully.

The Great Ancient Calamity resulted in the destruction of countless sects, leaving only ruins behind in the world.

Some of these ruins had been explored countless times by cultivators in the past, leaving them completely empty without a trace of value.

However, some, due to their dangerous and vast size, have yet to be fully explored. Even today, many cultivators risk their lives to infiltrate, seeking breakthrough opportunities or techniques.

And then, there were sects that had remained hidden under the protection of arrays and cave mansions. These sects were untouched and fraught with opportunities. As soon as they appeared in the world, cultivators from all around would flock to them.

The experiences recorded in the “Survival Guide to Sect Ruins” were specifically meant for the latter two kinds of ruins.

The guide mentioned that all valuable and worthwhile-to-explore sects in the Immortal Cultivation World could be divided into two categories.

The first kind lacked any oddities.

The other kind had the presence of oddities.

If a ruin had no oddities, there was generally no significant danger as long as one was careful to avoid triggering any array mechanisms.

However, if oddities existed, it required utmost caution.

The so-called oddities referred to the peculiar phenomena observed within the ruins that couldn’t be explained logically.

Oddities seemed to belong to another world and often followed their unique set of rules.

There were varying degrees of oddities.

In the Immortal Cultivation World, the strength of an oddity’s rule was broadly categorized.

Based on the highest cultivation level it could affect, oddities were classified into Energy Refining oddities, Foundation Establishment oddities, Golden Core oddities, and so on.

The cultivator who found themselves within the realm affected by the oddity had to obey its rules if their cultivation level was lower than the designated strength of the oddity or else face inevitable death.

However, if their cultivation was higher than the intensity of oddity, they could perhaps escape the effect of the oddity and survive.

Regardless of how high one’s cultivation may be, it is impossible to alter the oddity.

Even a cultivator at the Unity-Path stage couldn’t change the rule of an Energy Refining stage oddity.

It was also impossible to save a cultivator who had violated the oddity’s rule.

Once a living being entered the area covered by the oddity, it would be triggered.

It required a certain number of deaths or decoding its rules for the cultivators within to be released.

The guide provided an example.

A century and a half ago, a cave mansion abruptly appeared on a nameless island near the mainland in the western part of the Misthaven Ocean.

From the moment it had appeared, a brilliance shone brightly from within, illuminating the sky for hundreds of miles.

Many cultivators were drawn to the magnificent light and explored within.

After investigation, the cultivators discovered that this very mansion was constructed by an ancient Nascent Soul cultivator known as Hongzi Shangren.

The mansion held more than a dozen techniques and countless magic treasures.

Upon discovering this, the cultivators rejoiced and began snatching up the treasures.

It was at this moment that the dreaded incident occurred.

All the cultivators who had claimed a technique or a magic treasure, and who had a smile on their faces out of joy, suddenly had their heads fly off their bodies.

Their smiles were frozen on their faces.

In an instant, more than half of the cultivators in the mansion died.

The remaining cultivators, scared out of their wits, assumed that there were prohibitions placed on the treasures. They left the treasures lying on the floor and fled from the mansion.

When word spread, there were undeterred cultivators who came to inspect.

After they had held the treasures for some time, and nothing seemed to happen, they began to show expressions of derision or glee.

Then, just like before, their heads fell to the ground leaving their bodies behind.

Only a cultivator with a naturally expressionless face survived.

Shaken by the ghastly scene, he casually grabbed one treasure and quickly escaped.

News of the massacre deterred all the covetous cultivators in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, the expressionless cultivator who managed to escape with a treasure naturally caught everyone’s attention.

However, despite interrogation, he claimed not to know how he survived.

A smart man eventually figured out the mystery.

The mansion prohibited laughter.

For whatever reason, anyone who smiled would be beheaded.

Although this sounded absurd, when the clever man confidently walked into the mansion, picked a technique while keeping a straight face, and came out unscathed, all the cultivators believed him.

They followed suit and emptied the mansion of its treasures.

What happened in Hongzi Shangren’s cave mansion was a classic and simple oddity that only contained one rule.

In reality, oddities in sect ruins consisted of multiple combined rules.

Oddities were inherently dangerous. Without understanding its rules, one wrong move could lead to death.

But once the rules of the oddity were known, its risk essentially dropped to zero.

From his multiple surviving experiences in dealing with oddities, Qi Yuanzhou compiled dozens of insights.

Insight One: Always stay calm.

Under the influence of oddities, anything impossible could happen.

Insight Two: Do not act rashly.

Without understanding the oddity’s rules, the swifter you act, the quicker you die..