**Afternoon, before a mountain range in the Xingwu Empire**
Lin Yun and Prime Minister Dongguo Wuji landed at the site.
Most of the other factions’ teams had already arrived when they got there.
A cave at the base of the mountain range marked the entrance to the ruins.
“Lin Yun!” Mo Qing approached with a smile.
Lin Yun wasn’t surprised by her presence, as they had already communicated via their communication bracelets, and he knew Mo Qing would be joining the ruin exploration.
The Shadow Hall had sent Mo Qing and Bao Gang as their two representatives.
“Senior Sister Mo Qing, our two teams could join forces for this exploration,” Lin Yun said with a smile.
“No problem,” Mo Qing agreed readily.
“Prime Minister, any objections?” Lin Yun turned to Dongguo Wuji.
“None at all. The situation inside is unknown, so having allies is a good thing,” Dongguo Wuji replied.
“I object!” a sharp voice interrupted.
Lin Yun turned to see Bao Gang striding over.
“Junior Sister Mo Qing, I firmly oppose teaming up with others. Any gains would only be diluted,” Bao Gang said loudly.
“Bao Gang, I wasn’t counting on you anyway. After the mess you caused last time, teaming up with someone like you would only bring bad luck. Kindly stay out of our way,” Lin Yun said coldly.
“Lin Yun, you…” Bao Gang’s eye twitched.
“Fine, you three team up then!”
Bao Gang stormed off to the side after throwing out those words.
“Lin Yun, you’ve poached someone from the Shadow Hall, haha,” Dongguo Wuji teased.
“I’m worried Mo Qing would only be dragged down by him,” Lin Yun said.
“I used to think Senior Brother Bao Gang was decent, but now I’m more and more disappointed in him,” Mo Qing shook her head.
Not long after the trio waited, the remaining two teams arrived.
Sixteen Immortals from the eight factions, plus two from the Heavenly God Palace, a total of eighteen, were now all present.
The last to arrive was the Xingwu Empire’s team.
“Hmph, this ruin was discovered in our Xingwu Empire. We should’ve explored it first. You lot got lucky,” the Xingwu Empire’s leader, Old Monster Yuan Qing, said coldly.
“Yuan Qing, that’s not fair. Isn’t your Xingwu Empire also under the Heavenly God Palace’s banner?” a middle-aged man in flowing white robes stepped forward.
Yuan Qing was left speechless, only letting out a cold huff.
The man in white continued, “Everyone, I’m Xin Yu from the Heavenly God Palace. Even if you haven’t met me, you’ve surely heard my name. Since we’re all here, let’s prepare to enter the ruins.”
Xin Yu wasn’t part of any of the eight factions but reported directly to the Heavenly God Palace.
“Very well,” the gathered Immortals nodded, all eager for the ruins.
“As fellow humans, if we encounter trouble inside, I hope we can help each other as much as possible.”
“Let’s go.”
Xin Yu led the way into the cave.
The other Immortals, including Lin Yun, Mo Qing, and Dongguo Wuji, followed closely.
Inside the cave, a massive barrier gate came into view.
Clearly, the ruins were located in a miniature space, which explained why they remained undiscovered for hundreds of thousands of years. Such spaces offered high secrecy.
The Heavenly God Palace itself existed in a similar miniature space, inaccessible without a specific ‘key’.
Why this ruin had now revealed itself was a mystery.
“Let’s go!”
The group rushed into the miniature space.
As the blinding light faded, Lin Yun’s eyes adjusted to a surreal scene.
Ahead floated a massive island in the sky, like a giant meteor in an endless cosmos.
The surrounding area was pitch black, dotted with countless twinkling stars.
“What a peculiar scene,” Lin Yun couldn’t help but marvel.
“Indeed, this place is unique. I wonder how the ruin’s creator found and carved out this space,” Dongguo Wuji said, equally awed.
The group stood on a hundred-metre-wide floating rock, with the massive island ten thousand metres ahead.
A sky bridge, formed by countless floating stones, connected their position to the island.
It was called a sky bridge because below it was an endless black abyss, with no visible bottom, and no one knew where a fall would lead.
To reach the island, they had to cross the ten-thousand-metre-long bridge.
“Everyone, this is the first challenge. Previous explorers couldn’t cross this bridge and had to retreat. They said it can’t be crossed by flying. Let’s cross together,” Xin Yu said.
“Alright,” the seventeen other Immortals nodded.
They charged towards the sky bridge.
Lin Yun had examined it but couldn’t see anything special or dangerous about it.
“Let’s go. I want to see what’s so difficult about this bridge,” Lin Yun said.
With that, Lin Yun, Mo Qing, and Dongguo Wuji headed for the bridge.
*Boom!*
The moment Lin Yun stepped onto the first stone, a sudden oppressive force descended upon him.
The ten-thousand-metre bridge consisted of roughly a thousand floating stones, each about a metre apart. A misstep would send one plummeting into the dark abyss below, with no telling where they’d end up.
Though the sudden pressure was significant, it posed little trouble for Lin Yun.
“Mo Qing, be careful,” Lin Yun said before stepping forward.
As he stepped onto the next stone, the pressure increased.
With each step forward, the oppressive force grew stronger.
The other Immortals advanced steadily in sequence.
The bridge, with its thousand stones, required a thousand steps to reach the floating island on the other side.
After a hundred steps, “This pressure could deter a Third Stage Mahayana realm cultivator,” Lin Yun remarked.
But for him, it was still manageable, and he continued forward steadily…
