Chapter 8: The Ruins of the Star Sect

The so-called Tanyuan Pill is a special Earth-grade medicinal pill.

It has only one effect: to help leverage the power of heaven and earth!

The positioning of this pill is rather awkward; because it is involved in breaking through to the Grandmaster realm, its value is extremely high.

However, the pill itself cannot help one comprehend Artistic Conception; it can only assist in leveraging the power of heaven and earth, yet obtaining it is no easy task.

In truth, while leveraging the power of heaven and earth is also a threshold, for a talented martial artist who can even comprehend Artistic Conception, this final step is of little consequence and would at most cost two or three years of time!

For an ordinary sixth-tier martial artist, two or three years is truly not a long time.

Yet for Chen Fan, it was entirely different!

He had not even spent three years cultivating up to this point, so naturally, he could not be willing to be stuck at this stage for so long!

"The Tanyuan Pill is extremely rare. Daqian has no alchemist capable of refining such a pill. If I want to obtain a Tanyuan Pill, I must either wait for high-specification auctions across various regions or personally venture into some special secret realms or ruins to search for it..."

No one in Daqian could refine the Tanyuan Pill, but the secret realms and ruins controlled by Daqian did produce them; otherwise, Chen Fan could not have obtained information regarding the Tanyuan Pill!

The difference between a secret realm and a ruin is that the former resides in another special independent space, while the latter still exists within this world.

With Chen Fan's current clearance level, he was thoroughly familiar with all the secret realms and ruins controlled or understood by the Daqian Martial Academy.

There were a total of five secret realms and ruins that had once produced the Tanyuan Pill.

Two secret realms and three ruins!

"The two secret realms—one is located in the Western Wasteland, tens of thousands of miles away from Daqian, and can hardly be considered a secret realm under Daqian's control, as we merely know its location... The other secret realm is jointly controlled with another secluded sect, accessible only once every five years, and two years remain until the next opening..."

Secret realms belong to independent spaces, and the conditions for entry are extremely strict!

The secret realm in the Western Wasteland seemed to have no time limit, but it could hardly be considered under Daqian's control!

The Western Wasteland is vast and harbors places like the Myriad Demon Ridge, making it quite dangerous and far too distant.

The only suitable options were the remaining three ruins.

Among the three ruins, two were excavated in ages past; countless years had passed, and very few people had entered them in recent times, leaving their treasures completely mined out.

As for the third one, it was a ruin left behind by a faction Chen Fan had actually heard of.

"The ruins of the Star Sect..."

Indeed, this Star Sect was none other than that Star Sect.

...

As a powerful sect comparable to the Spirit God Dao Sect, the Star Sect was naturally formidable.

The total number of disciples exceeded one million, and experts were as numerous as trees.

Even after its destruction, it left behind a massive amount of treasure.

The treasures within the Star Sect's treasury were either divided among the surviving disciples or jointly partitioned by the Daqian imperial family and other major sects!

These constituted the lion's share!

Outside the treasury, the Star Sect still left behind many legacies.

This ruin of the Star Sect was a massive subterranean palace, which had also served as a place for the Star Sect to temper its disciples!

Following the destruction of the Star Sect, its territory was partitioned. Because this subterranean palace happened to lie within Daqian's borders, it was occupied by Daqian!

The area of this subterranean palace was quite vast, intricate, and divided into five levels, each larger in area than Feiling County!

Within it were also numerous perilous and fatal zones, along with various mechanisms and traps. For non-Star Sect disciples, the further down one went, the more dangerous it became; by the fourth and fifth levels, even Grandmasters could face the peril of perishing!

This ruin was a semi-public one. Disciples of the Martial Academy and certain special factions of Daqian could apply for entry by spending Merit Points, but external martial artists had to use special channels or pay a heavy price to gain access!

Yet martial artists still flocked to it like ducks to water. Over the decades, people had frequently obtained treasures from within.

Even in recent years, there were still those who managed to unearth treasures!

That great bandit Yuan Kuanglin had once entered the Star Subterranean Palace and acquired treasures left behind by the Star Sect.

It was just that too many people had obtained treasures from the Star Sect; Yuan Kuanglin's strength was mediocre, so naturally, he attracted no special attention!

When Yuan Kuanglin was originally listed as a target for a Martial Academy mission, it was not because he had visited the Star Sect ruins and reaped rewards, but simply because he was a major bandit...

Therefore, even after his death, no one truly dug deep to unearth the treasures or legacy he had obtained, leaving them to fall into Chen Fan's possession!

Of course, the treasures in the subterranean palace were limited. With no replenishment, as time passed, the remaining treasures naturally grew fewer and fewer.

Over the years, the number of martial artists coming to the Star Sect ruins to try their luck had gradually decreased!

The Tanyuan Pill did indeed originate from the Star Sect ruins!

Naturally, this kind of medicinal pill was rather special, so only half-step Grandmasters, during critical periods, would be willing to waste time making the trip to obtain a Tanyuan Pill.

"The Star Sect ruins are merely two or three counties away from Qinghe County, a distance of only two or three thousand miles. Without riding a flying spirit beast, it won't take me long to arrive if I travel at full speed. The crucial issue is that decades have passed since the destruction of the Star Sect, and the treasures in the ruins should have been almost entirely picked clean. Even if some hidden areas remain undiscovered, what makes me think I'll be the one to find them?"

Chen Fan considered his luck to be not too bad.

However, he still harbored no great confidence in making any discoveries.

As for the remaining two ruins, they belonged to even more ancient times with higher levels of danger, and there was likewise no guarantee of reaping any rewards!

Although all five locations offered a chance to obtain the Tanyuan Pill, none could guarantee success, so Chen Fan naturally could not make a hasty decision.

As he furrowed his brow in thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Speaking of secret realms and ruins, I seem to have a better choice!"

At this moment, what came to his mind was the Yuanshang Secret Realm.

The Yuanshang Secret Realm was located right within Qinghe County, very close by. Only he knew its location, and he could enter at any time using his token!

Moreover, this was not his first visit; he was thoroughly familiar with the risks inside and understood them well.

There were also many treasures within, which could be exchanged freely.

"However, the Yuanshang Secret Realm has existed for an unknown length of time. I'm afraid very few medicinal pills within it could survive until the present day..."

It was normal for some martial arts techniques and secret methods to be preserved, but for things like medicinal pills, surviving for thousands or tens of thousands of years was simply too difficult.

Of course, regardless of whether any remained, Chen Fan naturally had to make a trip first. Although he had only recently broken through to the sixth tier, he was confident that passing the sixth-tier assessment would not be difficult!

After all, he had already comprehended two types of Artistic Conception, and his Lightning Artistic Conception in particular was nearing perfection.

Furthermore, thinking of the Star Sect, he had more thoughts in mind. Xing Ling had not taught Chen Fan any Star Sect techniques other than the *Star Body Refining Art*. According to it, this was because its memory was fragmented, lacking most memories regarding martial skills.

Though its memories of martial skills were missing, did it possess memories detailing the layout of the Star Sect ruins?

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.

...

For this trip, he did not go to the Beast Taming Pavilion to select a mount, choosing instead to leave the Martial Academy alone.

Having reached the sixth tier, his stamina was virtually limitless, and with his comprehension of Lightning Artistic Conception, his speed surpassed that of most mounts.

Chen Fan did not accept any missions either.

The Baiyun Taoist Temple had already become history, and without a native faction backing him, the trouble involved in completing missions corresponding to his strength would increase manifold!

"I heard that some disciples of the Qingming Martial Academy have affiliated factions supporting them across various regions of Qinghe County, allowing them to complete missions without even lifting a finger—they merely accept them and instruct their local factions to finish the job..."

Chen Fan shook his head.

In truth, this was not necessarily simple. To cultivate a faction capable of assisting someone of Chen Fan's current strength would at least require something on the scale of the Baiyun Taoist Temple, and nurturing such a faction would consume an unknown amount of resources and time!

That was simply trading ordinary resources for Merit Points.

"Once my strength increases through idle progression, better opportunities and channels will naturally present themselves. There is simply no need to waste time and resources cultivating some local faction."