Chapter 9: The Disaster of the Ancient City (Part 1)

“Go!”
Li Ran did not kill Bas Rong; there was no need to kill anyone now. The swarm of Void Worms had already approached the ancient city. Those in this ruin, without Li Ran and his group’s speed, had little hope of escaping—even the ancient city itself could not avoid this disaster.
In just a few minutes, Li Ran and his companions obtained most of what they wanted, such as topographic maps and items found in the ruins. They didn’t have time to search carefully; everything came from Bas Rong. As an elder of the Tianling Clan, his possessions were highly valuable. Even though there were only a few items, Li Ran and his group might not have been able to get them by searching on their own.
Before they could even check what those items were, Guo Shier put them into the altar.
The four of them flew away at lightning speed, leaving three white trails in the air as they rushed toward the distance, their speed so fast that the white traces lingered in the sky for a long time.
Bas Rong stared in shock as the four left. It seemed to him that they were the losers, desperately trying to flee, yet it was clearly he who had lost. Why? He stared blankly at the sky, not even noticing the clan members gathering around him, wondering: Why were they leaving in such a hurry?
At that moment, someone shouted, “The Grand Elder is coming!”
Only then did Bas Rong snap out of his daze. He was severely injured, in pain all over his body. With great effort, he got up and said, “Give me… healing talismans! Damn it…”
A person descended from the sky and came to Bas Rong’s side, asking, “Bas Rong, who were those just now?” He had heard the news as soon as he emerged from the underground ruins and rushed over in anger, wearing Starry Armor. Of course, this wasn’t the authentic Starry Armor but a modified version that couldn’t be used in interstellar battles, only in aerial combat. It was considered the most powerful combat gear among the Tianling Clan at the time.
As soon as the Grand Elder arrived, he went straight into the underground ruins. Most of the Tianling Clan members were unaware of this, so no one notified him while Li Ran and his group were wreaking havoc here. Even if they wanted to inform him, it would be difficult to find him, as he had gone deep into the ruins. But he had just finished exploring one ruin, and as soon as he came out, clan members reported what had happened.

Bas Rong didn’t know the Grand Elder was here either, and he couldn’t help but curse inwardly. If he had known this guy was here, why would he have risked his life? The competition among elders was fierce, especially when it came to exploring the ruins. If he could find armor suitable for himself, Bas Rong might even become the Grand Elder. He took a low-grade talisman pill to temporarily control his injuries. Such low-grade talisman pills were treasures among the Tianling clan, and only those at the elder level could use them.

“Grand Elder…”

The Grand Elder said impatiently, “What’s going on? Your armor… it’s shattered? Hiss…” Only then did he notice signs of battle around them, and he was instantly filled with horror. This was terrifying—someone could easily tear apart the royal armor. The intruders must be incredibly powerful.

Bas Rong glanced nervously at the three white streaks in the sky and said, “They’re super experts from the Spellcraft Clan—three of them, and one is an expert from the Blade Clan!”

The Grand Elder asked, “Four people? I… I… damn it!” He cursed in the Tianling clan’s dialect before adding, “Why would they kill our people?” In truth, he understood that in such an ancient Tianling clan ruin, any intruder would lead to fierce conflicts.

Bas Rong gave a bitter smile and said, “We tried to ambush them, but unfortunately… they were too strong. We couldn’t withstand them at all. In fighting them, we couldn’t fully utilize the power of our armor, and many of us died.”

The Grand Elder asked puzzledly, “So where are they?”

Bas Rong shook his head. He wasn’t sure himself either. “They left. They left in a hurry. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling they seem afraid to stay here for long.”

The Grand Elder asked, “Why?”

Bas Rong thought to himself, Who knows why? But he didn’t dare offend the Grand Elder now. If his royal armor had remained intact, he might have held his ground a bit better. But now, he wasn’t even sure if he could keep his title as an elder. With his royal armor destroyed, his strength had dropped significantly. Stammering, he said, “I… I don’t know…”

The Grand Elder couldn’t help but scold, “Useless fool!” The disdain in his eyes made Bas Rong feel mortified.

Bas Rong understood that the Grand Elder no longer saw him as an elder-level figure. He was done for in the Tianling clan. Unless he still had a set of royal armor, he was just an ordinary Tianling clansman. His whole body went weak, his face turned pale, and his lips trembled several times, but in the end, he said nothing.

So many people died, including many experts from our clan and several leaders. After their deaths, their subordinates became completely chaotic. The Grand Elder roared, “Shut up all of you… calm down immediately and assess the losses! I want to know… how many died! Don’t worry, I’ll take responsibility. I’ll avenge them. Even if they’re professionals from the Spellcraft Clan, our Tianling Clan won’t let them off…” With his impassioned speech, he managed to somewhat calm the panic among the clan members.

Bas Rong smirked to himself, thinking, “If you had seen those people’s skills, I believe… you wouldn’t even be able to compare to me!”

None of the Tianling Clan members knew that disaster was already upon them, and the revenge the Grand Elder spoke of was utterly impossible to achieve.

Three white streaks in the sky gradually faded away. About twenty minutes later, a faint sound came from afar—a slight crackling noise. The first to notice it was the Grand Elder, whose Starry Armor was the most advanced. He leaped up and flew into the air, staring into the distance. The mist formed by the Void Worms was rapidly approaching the ancient ruins city. Through the detection devices of his Starry Armor, he clearly saw countless worms gathering together.

“What the hell is that?” the Grand Elder muttered in confusion. But soon, he witnessed a shocking scene. As the swarm approached the ground, the ground collapsed as if it had been instantly moved away, leaving nothing behind. His pupils constricted slightly, and an idea flashed through his mind. He rushed back down from the air and landed beside Bas Rong. Due to his speed, his feet hit the ground with a loud thud, sending up a cloud of dust. He asked urgently, “Those people… did you say they left in a hurry?”

Bas Rong nodded. “Yes, they seemed to have some urgent matter and left in a great hurry. They didn’t even say for us to leave… I don’t quite understand…” He saw the Grand Elder’s face turn pale, then watched as he activated his Starry Armor. The last words he heard were, “Inform everyone… evacuate!” After that, he flew rapidly outside the city.

All the Tianling Clan members in the city square were stunned. What was going on? Were they supposed to abandon this ancient ruin?

Immediately afterward, it was seen that the armed members of the royal family in the city fled outside. This was a warning and order issued by the Grand Elder through the armed forces. The Grand Elder wouldn’t feel pain if ordinary people died, but he would be deeply distressed if skilled warriors with weapons perished. Therefore, while fleeing, he gave orders to those with weapons—there would be no chance left if they delayed. As for whether they could escape, he had no time to worry about; the only thing that mattered was that he could escape himself.

Chaos erupted once again in the city. The people of the Tianling clan were not fools. Seeing their skilled warriors flee outside, the ordinary people realized that danger was approaching. Though they didn’t know what the danger was, it didn’t stop them from making judgments. No one would ignore danger, especially in this so-called most dangerous ruin. Immediately, some people drove various flying vehicles to escape, while remaining spacecraft rose from the ground.

By this time, the Void Worms had arrived at the ancient ruins.

The Void Worms were elusive, their origin unknown to anyone. Each one was about a foot long, sometimes shrinking to the size of a fist and other times expanding to that length. When shrunk to fist size, they resembled flattened beetles, with countless thin threads emerging from their sides—these threads could be one or two meters long and were actually extremely thin spatial rifts. When expanded, their entire bodies appeared illusory, as if they didn’t exist at all, with only countless swirling threads visible.

A group of Void Worms could occupy several thousand cubic meters, so anything that fell into them would instantly disappear—whether it was rocks or soil on the ground, they vanished in an instant. As for buildings, no matter how sturdy they were, they couldn’t withstand even a second.

In the blink of an eye, the Void Worms rushed into the ancient city. Even more terrifying was that they suddenly dispersed and frantically descended toward the ground. Those of the Tianling clan who hadn’t yet managed to escape let out terrified screams as they clearly saw their kin disappearing rapidly. When a Void Worm swooped down with a howl, any substance nearby was instantly annihilated. That was still considered fortunate; if a Void Worm flew past a person, a large chunk of their body would suddenly vanish, and the remaining part, before dying completely, would emit agonizing screams.

The scene was utterly terrifying. Every living person was desperately trying to flee, but unfortunately, they lacked both speed and defensive capabilities. The entire ancient city was gradually disappearing, along with the surviving members of the Tianling clan.

Bashrong looked despairingly at the buildings and crowds disappearing around him before suddenly sighing, “Damn it, there are even more terrifying things out there. No wonder they had to flee…” He watched helplessly as a Void Worm descended from the sky and said, “It’s a shame… damn it…” Before he could finish, he was turned to nothingness by the Void Worm.

The Void Worm swept through everything, causing the entire ancient city to vanish at an astonishing speed. The speed was so great that the Tianlingclan members riding in flying cars and spaceships were filled with terror. They let out various screams, with some shouting, “What is this… what kind of worm is this, so monstrous…?”

Many Tianlingclan members on the flying cars attacked the approaching Void Worms, but they soon realized that any attack was useless. Whether it was a physical attack or an attack with energy weapons, anything that got close to the Void Worm instantly turned to nothingness, as if hitting into empty space. What was even more terrifying was that when they threw a punch, not only did it fail to hit anything, but the fist itself also disappeared. This horrifying sight drove everyone to despair.