With the first rays of dawn, Zhou Yuan made his way through the forest, guided by a beam of sunlight weaving its way through the dense trees.
The daylight brought with it an apparent tranquility, yet the air still carried an unseen sense of danger, as if the forest itself was watching him in silence.
Behind him, the celestial pond sparkled, reluctantly left behind after he had exhausted everything he could extract from it in such a short time.
"If there is something like this pond here, there is no doubt that the depths of the forest conceal greater things."
Although he knew that greed was dangerous, his ambition was too great to resist.
After about an hour of continuous walking, his footsteps suddenly halted.
Before his eyes, amidst the mist creeping through the trees, colossal stone ruins rose toward the sky. The sight resembled the emergence of an ancient city from the heart of the Earth, a city condemned to oblivion.
Giant statues surrounded the place like eternal guardians. Each statue bore a different form; some held weapons, while others stood with their arms crossed, yet all their stony eyes were directed toward the entrance, as if waiting for unwanted visitors.
"What is this place…?" he murmured, astonished by the size and grandeur of the ruins. It was not just an ancient site; it appeared that these ruins had once been the center of a powerful civilization thousands of years ago.
He carefully approached, his footsteps barely making a sound on the moss-covered ground. The mist thickened around the ruins, as if the air itself was refusing to reveal the secrets of this place easily.
He stood before one of the nearby statues, trying to study the details. The guard's face was covered by a helmet adorned with unfamiliar symbols and engravings, while the muscles carved in stone displayed the might he had once possessed. The weapon he held seemed capable of smashing mountains.
However, what caught his attention the most was that the statue appeared to be alive. A strange feeling made him think the statue was moving out of the corner of his eye, but whenever he looked directly at it, it remained still.
"Is this just an illusion?"
He slowly extended his hand to touch the stone surface. It was cold as ice, yet it seemed to pulse with hidden energy. He quickly withdrew his hand, deciding to temporarily ignore the guardians.
Zhou Yuan stood before a massive stone gate, its surface engraved with a large relief depicting a majestic battle between humans and strange creatures. At the edges of the relief were symbols resembling ancient sigils he had never seen before.
"Who built these ruins?"
Despite his curiosity, he did not allow himself to dwell on it. The gate was closed and did not seem likely to open easily. But as he approached closer, he felt a faint breeze moving through the cracks.
"The door isn't sealed tight... there might be a mechanism to open it."
He suddenly noticed a small, circular stone next to the door, with a hand-shaped hollow carved into it. He stared at it for a moment, then smiled lightly.
"Of course, a small test for the visitor."
He placed his hand into the hollow. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, as if the ruins awakened from a deep slumber, the ground shook beneath his feet, and the engravings on the door began to glow with a faint blue light.
"This is not normal…" he muttered to himself, trying to contain his tension.
Slowly, the door opened to reveal a long, dark corridor extending inward. With his first step into the ruins, the door slammed shut behind him with a loud noise, making him feel as if he had fallen into a trap.
The faint sound of Zhou Yuan's footsteps echoed as he entered the first chamber, contemplating a place that seemed to breathe the essence of ancient times.
The room was unexpectedly spacious, extending dozens of meters in every direction, its floor paved with uneven stone tiles covered in the dust of ages. The tiles looked worn down by time, yet with every step, there was a hidden sense of life, as if this ancient flooring was more than just cold, lifeless stones.
The walls around him were high and adorned with mysterious engravings. Human figures were carved amidst scenes of fierce battles against non-human creatures. Some engravings depicted men lifting weapons radiating with energy, while others showcased monsters with wings and massive claws, as if belonging to an entirely different world.
On the opposite side, there was a heavy stone door without a handle. It appeared to be sealed with an invisible force. Zhou Yuan approached it cautiously, but soon realized it was not as simple as it seemed. There was no button or hollow indicating a way to open it.
As he stepped forward, he suddenly stopped.
He felt a slight vibration beneath his feet, as if the flooring itself was breathing.
"What is this?"
The floor tiles began to shift slightly, producing a faint creaking sound as if the stones were rearranging themselves beneath him. He stepped back, but soon realized the flooring was not as stable as he had expected.
With that step, what he never anticipated happened. The tiles he was standing on suddenly vanished, revealing beneath his feet a single tile suspended above a dark void with no visible bottom. His heart raced, but he quickly composed himself, maintaining his balance.
"These ruins don't joke. Everything here is designed to trap you, even the floor."
He began to look around, attempting to understand the pattern. The other tiles appeared and disappeared in sequence, yet they seemed to move according to a specific system. He noticed that some remained longer before disappearing, while others appeared only for a few seconds before fading away.
"This isn't random… there's logic behind this movement."
To calm his nerves, he utilized the technique of "Floating Mist Breathing." He took a deep, slow breath, allowing pure energy to flow within him. With that temporary tranquility, he began inspecting the surrounding walls for any clues that might assist him.
He gazed intently at the engravings and saw that some of the carved figures stood on tiles similar to the current flooring. In one of the engravings, a man wielding a massive weapon was standing on a specific tile, while other tiles around him appeared to crumble. He noticed that the tile the man stood on was decorated with a mysterious symbol resembling a small flower with branching ends.
"This symbol… I've seen it before."
He looked at the suspended tiles ahead of him. Among the dozens appearing and disappearing, he spotted one bearing the same symbol.
"So, the symbols aren't just for decoration. They're a map to avoid falling."
Despite his understanding of the pattern, executing it was another matter. The tiles moved rapidly, and choosing the right tile and jumping to it required precise timing. But he was no stranger to danger.
He waited until the tile bearing the symbol appeared again. With perfect timing, he jumped lightly onto it, using his skills in "Hidden Mist Step" to enhance his movement.
As his feet touched the tile, he felt an unexpected stability, as if the flooring welcomed him atop it. He took a deep breath, then looked around once more.
"One done. Now onto the next."
As he stood firmly on the tile, he noticed that the distance to the opposite door required several more jumps. Each tile bore a different symbol, meaning he had to continually decipher the engravings on the walls to identify the correct next tile.
"This is a test of focus and patience. Good thing I'm used to complexities."
He paused for a moment, looking at the walls again. The next engravings depicted a man leaping between tiles adorned with interlocking symbols. He noticed that the sequence followed by the man started from the flower-shaped symbol, then moved to a crescent symbol, and finally to a broken star.
"The symbols provide the correct sequence."
He began to move, step by step. The tiles appeared and disappeared, forcing him to wait for the right moment to jump. With each step, his breaths quickened, not from exhaustion but from complete focus.
At one moment, he jumped toward the second tile but felt a slight disturbance. The tile was vibrating unnaturally.
"A wrong step?!"
He quickly jumped back, returning to the previous tile. He tried to calm his breath and took a moment to think.
"The symbol is correct, but the timing is off. This tile wasn't stable enough."
After several minutes of careful jumps, he finally found himself standing on the last tile before the door. He cautiously reached toward the wall, where there was a small engraving in its center. He pressed it with his fingers, and then the door trembled and began to open slowly, making a deep creaking sound.
He stood there for a moment, looking back at the room behind him. The tiles began to return to their original state as if nothing had happened.
"A simple test, but fun. It seems the inhabitants of these ruins enjoyed watching others struggle."
With a light chuckle, he entered the new corridor that appeared behind the door.
"If the first room is at this level, I can't wait to see what awaits me next."
Zhou Yuan realized that the first room had been more a test of his intelligence and patience than of real strength.
"These kinds of tests suit me. Fighting with raw power is a waste of time. No need for strength if I'm smarter than my opponent."
He smiled subtly and continued on his path with confidence.