"Sir, we've found it! We've found the ruin!"
When his subordinate came to him with the good news, Zhang Hao, the leader of the Zhang Family, jumped to his feet.
"Quick, let's all go at once, issue a communiqué to the city!"
"About that... sir, my partner and I confirmed that the ruin is not high level; it's barely level 1. The Ruin System confirmed it," the man said.
Zhang Hao's eyes widened. "Level 1?" They sparkled, and he brought a hand to his chin for a brief moment before walking toward him. "Call Fenglian and tell him to bring everyone." He smiled cunningly.
A level 1 ruin wouldn't have many rewards, but it wouldn't be difficult to clear either. What's more, if they were very lucky, they might obtain ancient cultivation techniques or even some legacy techniques that would help them rise above these mountains and reach the summit.
Everyone here knew how valuable a low-level ruin was. Although the specters inside a ruin are more powerful than the beasts in those naturally formed dungeons or vast forests, because they have a variety of unconventional attacks that make it difficult for cultivators, it is enough to send a moderately powerful group to clear a level 1 ruin.
Between 5 and 10 cultivators from the Advanced or Prime Body Strengthening realm could clear a level 1 ruin with almost no problems.
So keeping them for themselves was the best option... although surely, in the process, another clan would discover it, but that didn't matter. By then, they would have already cleaned it out.
Zhang Hao himself led the operation.
"Are you sure the entrance is through this cave?" Zhang Hao frowned and looked around the mountain. At a glance, he could see more than eight caves. Were they all entrances? How come no one had discovered it then?
"Clan Leader, we checked all the caves, and we are sure that this is the only entrance to the ruin. If we step inside, we won't be able to leave until we clear it."
Zhang Hao nodded and looked at the speaker. "Are you sure it's level 1?"
"I am, sir. I approached it myself. You can verify it yourself. Just reaching in with your hand is enough for this ruin to give you its information."
Zhang Hao stared at him and nodded. "I hired you because I was told you were a skilled ruin hunter; let me see if that's true."
He snorted and approached. He did exactly as he had been told...
[Mystical Ruin: Queen Mother of Spiders, Level 1.]
That message floated before his eyes, and he smiled slyly.
"Fenglian, lead everyone inside in an orderly fashion. I will lead the way," said the old man, and without waiting for his son to respond, he went inside.
Fenglian, the first elder, immediately began to order everyone around, and in no time, they had crossed the cave.
"Father, this is..." Fenglian approached with his sword in hand and looked at the desolate city.
"What exquisite architecture." Zhang Hao couldn't help but praise what he saw, despite the destruction.
Fenglian, on the other hand, frowned.
"What's wrong?" his father asked. "Don't you like what you see?"
"No..." Fenglian shook his head. "It's not that I don't like it; it's just that a ruined city shouldn't be trampled on by so many people. It's easy for these things to collapse, and in that case, it would be impossible to avoid damage."
"Oh." Hao nodded. "You're right. Choose the eight strongest and let's go. The rest of you stay nearby and wait."
Fenglian nodded and did exactly as he was told. After a few seconds, they began walking through the city as a group.
"Seriously, this is only the third time in my entire life that I've seen ruins, but this ancient architecture is truly exquisite," Hao said once again.
"Haha, Father has always been a fan of architecture, right?"
"Sigh." Hao let out a heavy sigh. "I really would have loved for my little ones to come here. There's nothing better than ruins for sharpening their fangs."
"There's not much we can do, Father. The little ones would face numerous dangers in ruins; we must take care of them so we can cultivate them well."
Hao continued to mutter about it, dissatisfied with that answer.
A good cultivator should sharpen their fangs in battle, right? They should seek adventure and challenges!
'Sigh. It's a pity that only Hutian and Luo'er came out with that mindset.' Hao trampled on some rubble left over from a wall destroyed in battle and stopped.
'That boy thought so too,' Hao thought and looked up. 'Hm?'
"Wasn't there something up there a moment ago?" he asked.
Fenglian and the rest also looked up.
"No?" Fenglian replied, although he also had a feeling that he had seen something floating above...
"Sir, something is strange here," said one of the ten, drawing attention.
He was looking at the ground, the specialist in hunting ruins.
"What's strange?" Hao asked, looking at the rubble.
"There was a fight here not long ago."
"Not long ago?" Hao frowned. "How long ago?"
"...Less than 10 hours."
!
"S-s-sir..." Another one of them spoke, also attracting attention with his stutter.
He didn't need to say anything else, because as soon as everyone turned to look at him, something entered their eyes.
[The Mystical Ruin: Queen Mother of Spiders, has been cleared!]
[A Ruin Conqueror has been born!]
All of their bodies immediately tensed.
"W-what? It has been cleansed!" Hao let out a cry and, without thinking, jumped toward a house that, despite the passage of time, still remained standing.
BOOM!
The roof of the house collapsed with a loud crash, but he had fallen right onto one of the sturdy beams of that ancient building, so he didn't fall.
He didn't care about anything that was happening around him; he looked deep into the ruins, from one side to the other...
Nothing.
"Who's there?!" he shouted.
His loud cry echoed throughout the ruins, reaching those of his clan at the entrances... but no one answered.
He turned toward his subordinates. "What the hell are you standing there for?! Find the one who did this! I have to see for myself who it is!" he roared.
"Y-yes, sir!"
The ruins had been cleaned out right under their noses, and they weren't going to find the culprit?!
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