When he heard the news, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The accusation... was not baseless, because he had been the perpetrator. But no one else knew!

As a result, the entire Chu Clan became extremely agitated, accusing the Xie Clan of being shameless sore losers.

"How can they slander us like that? How have we been ruthless?"

"Do they really think that everyone is a fool? If we wanted to be ruthless, we would not have let them run after the battle at Yan Jing, why wait till today to take action?"

"They are obviously framing us, however, the Xie Clan is quite unlucky. They had been completely humiliated by us, and now, they lost two Acupoint Charging Stage Eight experts, hahaha."

"Okay, enough. The Chu Clan has been set up by that killer. For now, you are all to watch your mouths, do not go around making careless comments. We know that we are innocent."

Chu Tianyu, the leader of the Chu Clan raised his head in the middle of the crowd. After saying is piece, he left.

Chu Yu shook his head and sighed. He felt that he was slightly brash in his actions this time. He had no idea that the Xie Clan would be so shameless and slander the Chu Clan with such baseless accusations.

Chu Yu felt a tinge of regret. His brash actions had affected the clan negatively.

He would need to be more careful when he executed his plans in the future.

Chu Yu thought to himself.

The distance between Luo Yang and Shu was not far.

With his speed, he could easily reach the city within half an hour, even without going at full speed.

When he received news from the Chu Clan intelligence website that Lin Shimeng had appeared in Han State with her people, he had guessed their motive.

There was a relatively famous ruin in the Han State.

The Ruins of the Pile of Three Stars!

That place was discovered over 100 years ago. Many ancient artefacts were recovered and it had caused a lot of commotion back then.

They had recovered many intricate bronze artefacts then, but no one knew their purpose. They could only cla.s.sify them as ritual items, used for praying.

In actual fact, many of the bronze artefacts recovered were magic tools used by cultivators.

Only when the underworld clans began to a.s.similate into the world did these magic tools, many of them coated with a millennia of dirt and dust, have a chance to be returned to their prior glory.

Many of the magic items recovered them were in the hands of the Liu Clan of Shu.

Having gotten the magic items, the Liu Clan decided to explore the Ruins of the Pile of Three Stars further.

They finally came to the conclusion that this was once the camp of an ancient sect.

This news had got the Liu Clan extremely excited. Such a discovery was a huge opportunity for an underworld clan.

If they could inherit some of the teachings and resources, they could propel the clan to great heights.

Many of the ruins found in recent years were less than 60 million years old... which coincides with the historically cataclysmic event.

The apocalypse had arrived without prior warning, and few cultivators were able to escape the solar system.

Many of those left died without a trace, lost in the rivers of time.

However, there were some who had managed to survive. However, everything on the ground has been sealed and they did not have the ability to unseal it.

They could only carry with them the little resources and teachings that they could salvage and build a new home out of emptiness using their techniques and skills. As a result of this, they had cut themselves off from the rest of the world.

In fact, these were the ancestors of the ancient sects and clans... as well as those of the underworld clans.

At that time, not everyone could run off to other planets to build their own pocket dimension out of nothing. A portion of them stayed on Earth.

The sects that stayed on Earth gradually grew weaker with time, eventually disappearing with the wind altogether.

Their teachings were also buried in time.

These weren’t of interest, the key lay in those large clans and sects that were sealed up!

Countless treasures were sealed up by the cataclysmic event 60 million years ago.

If one was lucky enough to get his hands on such inheritance, in the current spiritual climate, he could find himself as glorious and powerful as those clans billions of years ago.

Those clans were influential and powerful, possessed stunning amounts of inheritance, and had plenty of outstanding members!

Following the reversal of the magnetic field and the recovery of spiritual energy, many of these ancient ruins could once again see the daylight.

This was why the underworld clans decided to return and even though the ancient sects and clans are not in this realm, they continue to send people to walk on this realm.

It was not just to experience things on this realm, it was more to search for these ruins!

The Liu Clan of Shu had obtained a large amount of magic tools shortly after they returned. They had used these tools to quickly become the premier clan in Shu.

Having had a taste of what could be hidden, they swore that they would find the real entrance hidden beneath the Ruins of the Pile of Three Stars.

They had in fact found the entrance many years ago, but were terrified by the disorderly energies.

They felt like a small rowing boat facing the raging waves of the ocean!

Any normal Acupoint Charging Stage Five or Six Martial artist would find it difficult to even approach it, not to mention enter it. If he was not careful, his body would be dismembered and ripped to shreds.

Even higher level martial artists did not stand a good chance of survival if they entered.

The Liu Clan had tried for many years with all their might but to no avail.

That was when they had no choice but to search for allies. Naturally, they could not find weak allies.

The ally they found was the ancient sect Han Xiao, Lin Shimeng’s tutors.

After the ancient sect Han Xiao understood the situation, they roped in another ancient sect - Jiu Xiao.

This time, the expedition team from the two ancient clans and the Liu Clan was relatively grand.

There were seven to eight experts in the Invigorated Meridian Realm!

After all, what the Pile of Three Stars hid from view was a huge secret. If it was ever leaked, it would result in a riot.

Lin Shimeng was indeed faced with trouble, but not from the danger of exploring the ruins, but from the people beside her.

Specifically, her fiance Qi Heng from the Jiu Xiao sect.

For this expedition, the Jiu Xiao sect had sent four Invigorated Meridian Realm experts, including Qi Heng. As for the Han Xiao ancient sect, they also sent four Invigorated Meridian Realm experts, and Lin Shimeng, who was at the initial stages of Acupoint Charging Stage Eight.

The Liu Clan had sent one Acupoint Charging Stage Ten martial artist and four Acupoint Charging Stage Nine martial artists.

The three factions had agreed to split the resources in the ruins, with the Liu Clan getting 20% of it and the ancient factions getting 40% of the resources each.

Even though it would seem like the Liu Clan was getting the short end of the stick, they did not have any other choice. If they had the ability to explore the ruins themselves, they would have done it a long time ago instead of waiting till today.

The people from Jiu Xiao and Han Xiao took out a high level magic tool each and successfully pa.s.sed through the entrance to the ruins.

However, after they entered the ruins, they were split by a strong magical formation.

Coincidentally, Lin Shimeng and Qi Heng met inside the ruins...

These ruins were rather huge, with many large cavities, yet, what a small world it was!

When Qi Heng saw Lin Shimeng, he could not help but mention Chu Yu, causing an argument to break out immediately.

He was only 18 years old, but he was a genius in every sense of the word!

At 18, he was already in the Invigorated Meridian Realm. Even though he was only at Invigorated Meridian Realm Stage One, but he could be considered a true pride of heaven for attaining such a level at such a young age in the current climate.

Qi Heng was not particularly handsome, but he wasn’t ugly either. He had a doll face and his voice had not been broken. As such it was rather shrill and high pitched.

However, he was definitely not childlike in the way he went about doing things.

"I would like to know, is there’s anything going on between you and Chu Yu?" Qi Heng sat atop a rock, and spoke to Lin Shimeng in a tone that did not hide his jealousy and unhappiness.

"What business is it of yours?" Lin Shimeng replied coldly.

"How is it not my business? Lin Shimeng, you are my fiancee! Don’t I have the right to ask?" Rage flashed across Qi Heng’s eyes as his chest heaved.

Before he had seen Lin Shimeng, he did not feel as jealous.

However, when he saw Lin Shimeng for the first time many years ago, he was immediately attracted to this girl.

From that moment on, he began to collect intel on Lin Shimeng.

Chu Yu’s name appeared many times.

If it wasn’t for fear of Lin Shimeng’s bad temper, he would have probably sent people to kill Chu Yu.

If that was the case, there wouldn’t have been the incident with Xie Tianyu.

"Oh, so what?" Lin Shimeng said flatly, "I have not married you yet."

"You... you are going rogue!" Qi Heng looked at Lin Shimeng, full of rage, whilst scanning his surroundings.

Even though they had managed to gain entry into the ruins, they were trapped by the magical formation and could not gain entry into the nucleus of the ruins.

Even though paths stretched endlessly in all directions, both of them did not dare to wander about. If one was not careful, they could be trapped in a killing formation.

Even an Invigorated Meridian Realm expert would be injured by such a formation.

Qi Heng stood up angrily, looked at Lin Shimeng’s slender body, smooth skin and her beautiful eyes, and laughed.

Lin Shimeng increased her alertness and looked at Qi Heng, "Qi Heng, what are you thinking of doing?" She asked coldly.

"What am I thinking of doing? Get intimate with my own fiancee... I’m sure no one will care?" Qi Heng said as he walked towards Lin Shimeng.

Lin Shimeng retrieved a magical tool and activated it

This was an ancient bronze lamp, and she was only able to gain entry into the ruins because of it.

This magical tool had a strong defensive power, even an Invigorated Meridian Realm expert would find it difficult to break through it.

"Do you think that you are completely safe with this magical tool?" Qi Heng chuckled sinisterly, "How naive!"

As he spoke, Qi Heng drew a bronze dagger from his hand and said flatly, "My magical tool, is of the Xiantian realm..."

As he spoke, he disappeared in a flash, his unbelievable speed making him seem like a phantom.

He raised his bronze dagger and stabbed it at Lin Shimeng.

Hmmmm! [1]

The ancient bronze lamp hummed and shot out a faint beam of light that formed into a shield, shielding her within.

The power in the shield was extremely concentrated and it looked like flowing water.

When Qi Heng’s dagger contracted with the light shield, the shield rippled under the impact.

Lin Shimeng couldn’t help but grunt and retreat a few steps.

"Not bad, this thing is quite useful. But, it can eat my blade again!"

Qi Heng screamed, this time, the blade in his hand screeched. Following that, a holographic blade over a foot long shot out from the bronze dagger.

When the holographic blade impacted the light shield from the ancient bronze lamp, the shield... shattered.

Lin Shimeng’s body shuddered, as if struck by lightning. She retreated a few more steps, her face pale and blood dripping from her lips.

Qi Heng’s doll face smiled sinisterly and said in a high pitched voice, "Now... do you know what an expert is?"

He then stepped towards Lin Shimeng.

Lin Shimeng said coldly, "If you dare to touch me... I will kill myself immediately!"

[1] a humming sound.