At that time, the first group to enter the ruins of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace consisted of over a hundred cultivators, most of whom were in the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation stages.
They thought it was just an ordinary ruin, but to their surprise, the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace was filled with anomalies. Under this unexpected turn of events, the casualties were severe.
In the end, less than one-tenth of them managed to survive.
Among them was a person named Sikong Yi.
This person only had a cultivation level of late Qi Condensation stage and seemed quite ordinary.
Everyone thought he had merely survived by luck.
No one expected that it was this inconspicuous Sikong Yi who, upon returning to the Ten Thousand Immortals Island, submitted the “Cloud Water Map” and received the reward of a whopping one hundred thousand contribution points.
After receiving the reward, Sikong Yi used a long-distance teleportation array and disappeared from sight of everyone in the Cong Yun Sea.
Since then, Sikong Yi never appeared again.
“Search for information related to ‘anomalies’ and ‘sect ruins’,” Li Fan recalled memories from his previous life and spoke to the Tianxuan Mirror.
In an instant, hundreds and thousands of pieces of information emerged.
However, the majority of them displayed only the initial few sentences. To obtain complete information, one had to spend a certain amount of contribution points.
Li Fan didn’t hesitate and immediately spent 100 contribution points to purchase the most popular guide, “Survival Guide for Sect Ruins.”
The author of this guide was named Qi Yuanzhou, a wandering cultivator.
He had been exploring various ruins for many years and had reached the Golden Core stage before joining the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Being able to consistently survive perilous sect ruins, Qi Yuanzhou naturally had exceptional qualities.
The “Survival Guide for Sect Ruins” he wrote was highly praised and regarded as a must-read by many cultivators.
The ruins of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace were treacherous and dangerous. Although Li Fan had prior knowledge, he didn’t dare to be careless.
He carefully read the guide.
In ancient times, when the great calamity arrived, countless sects were destroyed, leaving only remnants and ruins.
Some of these ruins had already been explored countless times by cultivators over the years, and they were left clean, devoid of anything valuable.
Others remained unexplored due to the extreme danger and vastness of the ruins. Even now, many cultivators venture in annually, seeking either techniques or breakthrough opportunities.
Then, there were those sects that had remained hidden from the world, shielded by arrays and subworlds. These were untouched virgin lands and were considered treasure troves. Once revealed, they would undoubtedly attract nearby cultivators.
The experiences outlined in the “Survival Guide for Sect Ruins” were tailored for these latter two categories.
The guide mentioned that in today’s cultivation world, all valuable and worthy-to-explore sects could be divided into two main types.
One was those without anomalies.
The other was with anomalies.
For those without anomalies, as long as one was cautious and watchful of array formations, there generally wouldn’t be any particularly huge danger.
However, if there were anomalies, extreme caution was required.
The term “anomalies” referred to the various bizarre phenomena within the ruins that couldn’t be measured by common sense.
These peculiarities seemed to not belong to this world and often had their own unique set of rules.
These anomaly rules also varied in strength.
In the world of cultivation, it was conventionally agreed to classify the intensity of these anomalies.
According to the highest realm of cultivators they could affect, they were categorized into Qi Condensation level anomalies, Foundation Establishment level anomalies, and Golden Core level anomalies, among others.
Cultivators within the range of the anomalies rules had to follow these rules if their cultivation level was lower than the rule’s strength.
If they violated these rules, death was inevitable.
If their cultivation level was higher than the strength of the anomalies rule, they might be unaffected by the anomaly and escape death.
However high your cultivation level is, you cannot change the nature of the phenomena.
Even strong individuals in the Nascent Soul stage cannot alter the anomalies of the Qi Condensation level.
It is even more difficult to save a cultivator who violates the anomaly rules within.
Once living beings enter the range of the anomalies, the rules will be triggered.
Only when the death toll reaches a certain number or the anomalies are unraveled can the cultivators inside be able to leave.
The guide provided an example.
150 years ago, an unnamed island near the western part of the Cong Yun Sea suddenly had a cave appear.
Since its appearance, rays of light would radiate from it, illuminating the sky for hundreds of miles.
Many cultivators were attracted by the treasure light and entered to explore.
After a careful search, the cultivators discovered that this cave was built by a Nascent Soul stage solitary cultivator from ancient times, Senior Hongzhi, before his death.
The cave contained over a dozen cultivation techniques and countless magical treasures.
Filled with joy, these cultivators started to seize the treasures.
At this moment, a horrifying event occurred.
All the cultivators who had smiled due to obtaining a technique or magical treasure suddenly had their heads fly off for unknown reasons.
Their smiles were frozen in place.
In an instant, more than half of the cultivators present died.
The remaining cultivators were also frightened, thinking that there might be restrictions on the techniques or magical treasures.
Fearing to disturb the treasure scattered all over the ground, they fled the cave.
After the news spread, some cultivators who didn’t believe in superstitions came to test the anomaly.
After holding the treasures for a while without triggering any restrictions, they also revealed disdainful or joyful smiles.
Immediately after, their bodies were dismembered, and their heads fell to the ground.
Only a naturally poker-faced cultivator survived the catastrophe.
However, even he was frightened by this terrifying scene and hastily grabbed a magical treasure and fled.
The news of another group perishing shocked all the covetous cultivators nearby.
The naturally poker-faced cultivator who survived and obtained the cave’s treasures drew everyone’s attention.
However, no matter how they questioned him, the poker-faced cultivator claimed not to know how he survived.
Later, a clever young man, after pondering for a long time, revealed the anomaly.
In this cave, it was forbidden to smile.
Regardless of the reason, if one smiled, their head would be severed.
Although this incident sounded absurd, after the clever young man calmly walked into the cave and took out a technique with a calm and unharmed face, all the cultivators believed it.
So, they followed suit and took out all the treasures from the cave.
…
The incident in Senior Hongzhi’s cave was the most typical and simplest form of the anomalies, containing only one rule.
In reality, the anomalies within those sect ruins often comprised multiple compounded rules.
These anomalies were incredibly dangerous. Without understanding their rules, a slight mistake could lead to death.
However, once the rules of the anomalies were understood, the risk posed by the anomalies became almost negligible.
Based on his personal experiences of surviving multiple times from the anomalies, Qi Yuanzhou summarized dozens of pieces of advice.
First: Maintain calmness at all times.
Under the anomalies, unbelievable events could happen.
Second: Don’t act recklessly.
In the absence of understanding the rules of the anomalies, the faster you acted, the faster you died.