Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Xilun took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart.

What does this mean? In this alien world filled with steampunk and mystical power, why would a Buddhist temple from a previous Eastern civilization appear?

Seeing that they couldn't decipher the writing, the people around them began to discuss the road ahead.

"I heard the fighting is even fiercer up there, so let's not climb the mountain."

Xilun glanced over out of the corner of his eye and noticed several familiar figures among the group.

Those were several players from the Blackthorn Club. Xiren looked around and noticed that their club's strongest player, Kolai, was missing.

It seems that the battle maniac has recklessly climbed to an even higher peak.

Although he understood the name, Xilun still had no clue about the temple's history.

He ignored the hesitant people, picked up his rifle, and walked straight through the mountain gate, continuing upwards.

The higher you go, the stranger the scenery becomes.

Thick clouds began to swirl around our feet, as if lifting the entire mountain peak into the clouds.

The visibility was extremely low all around, giving one the illusion of being in an ancient, alien celestial palace.

This fog was extremely strange; it not only blocked the view but also acted like a thick layer of glue, completely obstructing the spiritual perception of those who were extraordinary.

Xilun immediately closed his eyes and activated the "Far-Eye Listening" talent he had taken from the alien to its fullest extent.

My ears trembled slightly, barely managing to penetrate the clouds and mist to hear the faint sounds coming from above.

It was the clanging of weapons clashing, and the sound of hurried footsteps.

He walked and pondered.

"Puji Temple" sounds like the name of an Eastern Buddhist temple.

If this is indeed a sacred site left behind by a great ancient Buddhist master, then the worshipful postures displayed by those strange creatures seem to have a reasonable explanation. Buddhism emphasizes the equality of all beings and the salvation of all things.

Towering cliffs began to appear all around. Brilliant rays of sunlight flowed across the stone walls, refracting into mesmerizing colors through the mist.

On both sides of the path, there are broken walls and ruins everywhere, with piles of rubble forming mounds. Those once magnificent buildings could not withstand the relentless erosion of time.

Xilun stopped and rummaged through the ruins for a while.

He dug out half of a broken bronze dagger and a cracked wooden amulet from the soil.

He tested these things with his qi and blood, and found that the spirituality within them had been completely lost, making them no different from ordinary broken copper and scrap iron.

He didn't have much time left; he had to find something truly valuable.

Soon, as Xilun passed by a collapsed courtyard wall, he noticed a withered ancient tree.

The tree trunk was completely carbonized, devoid of any sign of life. But Xilun's keen observation made him stop in his tracks.

He squatted down and carefully examined the soil at the tree roots.

Although the tree remains are dead, its robust root system and wood grain indicate that it was an exceptionally precious tree of extremely high quality in its lifetime.

"Is there anything special about the soil in which the precious tree grows?"

After a moment's thought, Xilun, disregarding the filth of the soil, began to dig deep into the tree roots with his hard, iron-like hands.

Amidst the swirling dirt, a faint glimmer of light suddenly stung his eyes.

Xilun was overjoyed. He pinched the soil between his two fingers and pulled out a perfectly round glass bead the size of a pigeon egg from deep within the hard earth.

The surface of the bead shimmers with a warm luster, and golden scriptures seem to flow subtly within.

Just as he grasped the glass bead in his palm, preparing to put it away...

A chillingly deadly intent suddenly erupted from the thick fog behind him without warning!

The murderous intent was cold and vicious, aimed directly at Xilun's fatal weakness in the back of the head.

Siron's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

Relying on the muscle instincts honed through countless life-and-death battles, his waist and abdomen suddenly erupted with terrifying power, and his entire body shifted half a body length to the left as if by teleportation.

"Whoosh—"

A steel spear, gleaming with a sinister blue light, whistled past Xilun's right ear.

The violent energy ripped open the hood of his trench coat and blasted a deep crater in the cliff behind him.

If Xilun hadn't reacted incredibly quickly, the spear would have pierced his skull completely.

Xilun steadied himself, his eyes instantly turning icy.

He slowly turned around, staring intently at the attacker who emerged from the thick fog.

He was a man with a cold expression, wearing an exquisitely crafted silver light armor. His face was thin, and his eyes revealed undisguised cruelty and arrogance.

This is an unfamiliar face; it's clearly not a fighter from a combat sports event.

The man, holding a spear, openly and greedily examined Xilun's hand, which had just grasped the glass bead.

He seemed unconcerned that his attack had failed; instead, he shouted in a condescending and stern tone:

"What did you just dig out of the ground?!"

The man had clearly seen Xilun's actions and was certain that he had discovered some extraordinary opportunity. Although he couldn't see exactly what it was, his greed had completely clouded his judgment.

Xilun tucked the glass bead into his pocket and slowly twisted his wrist, producing a sickening cracking sound.

He stared coldly at the other person, his voice seemingly drifting from the deepest hell:

"What's it to you?"

Upon hearing this, the man, enraged, laughed coldly. He twirled his spear, the tip pointing directly at Xilun's heart, and sneered:

"Looks like you've found something good. Hand it over right now, or it won't look so good when I beat you to a pulp and you're begging for mercy on your knees."

Xilun stood there quietly, watching the man spout nonsense.

The contempt and arrogance in his eyes were as if he were looking at a rotting corpse.

The man keenly caught the disdain in Xilen's eyes, his brows furrowed deeply, and his handsome face became somewhat distorted with anger:

"Do you think you're really that great just because you won a few matches in those muddy puddles and got a junior knight spot?"

"That's ridiculous! You have no idea that there are many people in this world who, from birth, don't need to participate in your kind of monkey-juggling challenges!"

Xilun knew in his heart that this person must be a core member of a prominent family with a deep foundation.

They possess resources unimaginable to ordinary people and look down on those extraordinary ordinary people who have to struggle and fight their way up the social ladder.

This malicious arrogance was something Xiren had already seen enough of back in the South.

He couldn't be bothered to say another word. Reasoning had never been his style.

"boom!"

The bluestone ground beneath Xilun's feet was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

His massive body, like a raging beast, charged directly at the man wielding the spear with an aura of crushing everything in its path.

Without using the big gun, Xilun clenched his right fist.

The giant whale's blood and energy gathered wildly at its fist, and with a fierce and domineering roar that tore through the air, it smashed straight forward without any fancy moves!

The man had been sneering, but the moment Xilun's fist came hurtling towards him, his contempt turned into utter shock.

The terrifying aura that pressed down on us was like a collapsing steel mountain!

"you--"

He only had time to utter half a syllable of surprise before he immediately realized that the commoner in front of him was no ordinary person.

He could no longer care about maintaining his elegance, and desperately twisted his waist, taking a dangerous step back to avoid it.

In the instant of their exchange, Xiren also sensed his opponent's true strength. The reaction speed and explosive power this person displayed had clearly reached an extreme level, even comparable to Ross, the genius of the Ocelli family!

Logically speaking, someone with Rose's exceptional talent and abundant resources would be extremely rare to reach his peak at this age.

The person in front of me is probably just as talented, and may even have enjoyed an even more terrifying accumulation of resources.

But so what? In the face of extreme violence, all foundations are a joke!

"boom!"

Although Xilun's punch was dodged by his opponent who created distance, the force of the punch directly struck the spear the man was using to block.

A violent, monstrous force poured forth like a tsunami.

The man let out a muffled groan as his tiger's mouth split open instantly, and he was thrown backward by the terrifying force.

To Xiren's amazement, the spear that had withstood his full-force blow only bent violently and did not break on the spot.

"A fine weapon." A hint of admiration flashed in Xilun's eyes.

With his current superhuman strength, comparable to that of a second-tier warrior, he can easily crush many alloy weapons with his bare hands. This spear clearly contains extremely rare metals.

The man crashed heavily into a broken wall behind him, shattering the stone into pieces.

He felt a sweet taste in his throat, then spat out a mouthful of blood, his face turning deathly pale.

Only at this moment was his arrogant pride completely shattered, replaced by deep fear.

He swallowed the blood in his mouth, and looking at Xilen who was closing in, he quickly lowered his voice, his tone softening slightly:

"Wait! Don't misunderstand! I acknowledge your abilities. In fact, we can join forces and explore this together..."

However, just as he finished speaking, seemingly about to negotiate...

Suddenly, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and with a strange flick of his wrist, the spear, like a viper spitting its tongue, pierced straight for Xilun's throat at an extremely tricky and vicious angle!

This was an extremely insidious and deadly strike!

Faced with this sudden and deadly counterattack, Xilun's face remained completely calm.

He seemed to have seen through the other party's tricks long ago.

The next moment, Xilun's thick arm reached out like a phantom.

"Snapped!"

The large, black hand, wrapped in metal fascia, was like an iron clamp, precisely and firmly gripping the underside of the thrusting spear.

No matter how frantically the man tried to circulate his qi and blood, the spear remained motionless in Xilun's hand, as if it had taken root.

In the man's desperate and horrified gaze, Xiren stomped his left foot on the ground, his right leg creating a sharp, whistling sound as he delivered a powerful, sweeping kick that landed precisely and brutally on the man's throat.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of the neck bone shattering was particularly jarring in the deathly silence of the ruins.

The man's head was twisted at an extremely bizarre angle behind him, his eyes bulging out, and his life was instantly extinguished.

Xilun released his foot, looking at the limp corpse on the ground with a cold, indifferent gaze.

He stood quietly in place for a moment.

Soon, a familiar throbbing sensation came from between Xilun's brows.

A jet-black bloodstain materialized out of thin air, like a greedy blood-sucking demon, and instantly pounced on the man's corpse.

Within seconds, the blood seal drained the lifeblood of this expert from the extreme realm.

The plump flesh rapidly withered and shriveled, eventually turning into a horrifying skeleton of skin and bones.

The color of the bloodstain became even deeper and more solid.

Xilun crouched down and quickly searched through the skeleton.

He shook his head in disappointment and stood up.

"Poor wretch."

In order to travel light for the trials, the scions of these powerful families carried nothing but life-saving medicines and weapons, and no other valuables.

Xilun showed no hesitation, simply picking up the exceptional spear.

He found a sturdy vine rope in the ruins and tied the spear and the silver knife he had previously captured firmly to his back.

It would be a shame to lose such good stuff. These high-grade materials could definitely fetch a good price once they're sold, or they could be used to reforge our own weapons.

Having done all this, Xilun, carrying his large gun, stepped over the ruins and continued his journey into the depths of the misty mountains.

As we continued climbing towards the summit, the surrounding white fog was so thick it resembled milk that couldn't be dissolved.

Xilun dared not be careless in the slightest, fearing that he would wander aimlessly through this twisted ruin like a headless fly and miss the real core opportunity.

He pushed his "Far-Aware Listening" talent to its limit, the nerve synapses in his ears almost bursting as he greedily captured every unusual fluctuation in the air.

Suddenly, a faint sound pierced through the thick smog and entered Xilun's ears.

Xilun stopped, his brow furrowed. The voice was extremely faint, yet it lingered on and on.

It was a recitation with a unique rhythm.

He closed his eyes, held his breath, and focused all his attention on capturing and analyzing the sound.

As I focused my mind intensely, the voice gradually became clearer in my mind.

It really was the sound of chanting!

Moreover, what made Xilun's heart pound was that the chanting was actually in Chinese!

However, this pronunciation is vastly different from the Mandarin he spoke in his previous life in the 21st century.

The syllables are ancient and obscure, with a heavy nasal tone and peculiar pauses, making them sound more like some ancient dialect or refined language.

Xilun could only vaguely make out a few words such as "empty," "form," and "nothingness," and could not connect them into sentences or understand their deeper meaning.

But he did not hesitate. He immediately changed direction and strode forward, following the ancient and mysterious chanting.

As he got closer to the source of the sound, the surrounding scenery became increasingly breathtaking.

The thick fog gradually dissipated, revealing a wide white jade avenue beneath our feet.

On both sides of the avenue, Xilun witnessed an incredibly unbelievable scene.

A large number of strange creatures exuding a terrifying aura are gathering from the dense forests in all directions.

A giant python, over ten meters long with scales as hard as black iron, glided gently along the ground; a magnificent white horse, three meters tall at the shoulder and without a single blemish on its body, strode with elegant steps; there was also a white-browed tiger with piercing eyes and a body as large as a small mountain, a lone wolf with silver fur, and a golden monkey with arms that reached past its knees.

These overlord-level mutants, who could wreak havoc on the outside world, had all restrained their ferocity at this moment.

They walked in an orderly fashion on the white jade avenue, which was truly miraculous.

Siren cautiously mingled on the edge of these alien species and continued forward.

He discovered that these aliens seemed to completely ignore his presence, focusing all their attention on what was in front of them.

As Xilun crossed another dilapidated white jade archway, his view suddenly opened up.

Before him stood an extremely magnificent ancient palace.

Although the roof of the main hall is damaged and the walls are covered with cracks from the passage of time, its solemn and majestic aura, which suppresses all heavens, still makes people want to bow down and worship.

At this moment, dozens of figures had already taken up residence inside the spacious interior of the main hall.