Blind Box World - SSS-Rank Eye of Truth

A few miles away from Xue Ji’s ship, Laira’s flight began to slow.

Her torn wing had yet to recover completely. Carrying Ethan, Ruo Yan, and two large supply bags over such a long distance caused the wound, which had already closed, to begin aching again. Every time her wings beat downward, the membrane that had not fully healed was stretched taut, occasionally causing a thin line of blood to seep out.

Laira tried to maintain a steady flight rhythm, but even that tiny change could not escape Ethan’s notice.

He looked at her injured wing and said calmly, "Land. There is no need to keep flying."

Laira immediately protested, "I can still fly."

"I know."

Ethan looked at the fresh streak of blood on her wing membrane, his voice growing deeper. "But you are bleeding."

Laira paused slightly. She had intended to say that it was only a minor wound and nowhere near serious enough to justify stopping, but when she turned and saw the solemn look in Ethan’s eyes, she swallowed the words that had already reached her lips.

In the end, Laira could only let out a quiet snort before beginning to descend.

Below them was an area of ruins situated between two rows of low pyramids. Enormous bone structures had collapsed on top of one another, inadvertently forming an open space enclosed on three sides. There were no signs of any recent battle nearby, nor could they see light coming from the core of any puppet.

Ethan did not immediately tell her to land.

A faint light flashed deep within both his pupils.

[Eye of Truth.]

In an instant, the true structure of the area below became clear in Ethan’s vision. Cracks hidden beneath the layer of stone, ventilation passages, lingering traces of energy, and routes that had existed for many years all appeared one after another.

There were no traps.

No creatures were hiding nearby.

There were only a few energy channels that had dried up many years ago.

Ethan withdrew the Eye of Truth and said, "That place is safe."

Laira immediately landed.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Ruo Yan, who was lying in her arms, suddenly stirred. The black-haired girl’s eyelids trembled several times before slowly opening.

The first thing she saw was Laira’s face only inches away from her own.

The two silently stared at each other.

It took Ruo Yan several seconds to realize that Laira was carrying her like a child. Her expression immediately changed, and her voice grew colder.

"Put me down."

Laira calmly asked, "Can you walk on your own?"

"Of course."

"Good."

The moment Laira finished speaking, she released her.

Ruo Yan had not expected her to let go so quickly. As soon as her body touched the ground, her legs, still weak from the effects of the Soul-Bewitching Incense, immediately gave way beneath her.

Ethan, who stood beside her, reached out and supported her by the shoulder.

"Slowly."

Ruo Yan leaned against him to steady herself, then immediately stepped aside as though she had touched something scorching hot. She looked around the unfamiliar ruins, her brows knitting slightly.

"Where are we? Where is Xue Ji’s ship?"

Ethan placed the two supply bags on the ground and replied, "We left."

Ruo Yan looked at him. "Why?"

Laira, standing beside him, immediately sneered. "Because the people aboard the ship turned around and blamed Ethan for not acting sooner right after he saved them."

Ruo Yan fell silent for several seconds.

She turned to Ethan, her gaze somewhat complicated. "You did not explain?"

"What would be the point?"

Ethan inspected the two supply bags as he answered, showing no trace of displeasure. It was as though the criticism aboard the ship was not even worth another thought.

Ruo Yan had wanted to say something else, but in the end, she merely snorted.

"What an irritating group of people."

Laira looked at her in mild surprise. "You are right this time."

Ruo Yan turned to look back at her. "I am always right."

"Do not get carried away."

"I do not need your approval."

The two had only been fully conscious for a short while, yet they had already begun clashing.

Ethan had no intention of stepping in to mediate. He opened the two supply bags that Xue Ji had forced them to accept before they left the ship.

Inside were clean water, dried rations, hemostatic medicine, rope, a crude map, and crystallized meat that had been cut into smaller pieces and tightly wrapped in beast hide. There was also a small wooden box containing several Energy Crystals.

There were not many, but they were enough for the three of them to recover the energy they had consumed.

Ethan looked up at Laira and Ruo Yan. "Argue later. Rest first."

Laira immediately sat down beside him.

Ruo Yan hesitated briefly, but did not object. She raised both hands, and thin, nearly transparent energy threads immediately connected to her three wooden puppets. Under her control, they quickly spread out and formed a triangle around the entrance, their lifeless wooden faces all turning outward.

Ethan took out a piece of crystallized meat and handed it to Laira.

"Eat."

Laira accepted it but continued looking at him. "What about you?"

"I will use a crystal."

Ethan took a small crystal from the wooden box and placed it in his left palm, which was covered by the Primordial Armor.

The Decomposition ability immediately activated.

The energy within the crystal was separated and slowly flowed into his Heavenly Gate. Ethan had no intention of advancing right now. He only wanted to replenish the energy he had consumed during the battle and through his repeated use of the Eye of Truth.

Ever since leaving the ship, Ethan had continued sensing the resonance coming from the Sunfire Divine Seal on Laira’s body.

The purple glow ahead was no longer very far away.

However, he had no intention of charging straight toward an unknown opportunity while none of the three had fully recovered.

After everything he had experienced, Ethan understood one thing more clearly than ever.

Opportunities could appear again.

But a person only had one life.

Roughly two hours later, all three of them looked considerably better than before.

Laira finished the crystallized meat and inspected her wing again. The blood on the wing membrane had dried, but the torn section still had not fully recovered. For the time being, it would be difficult for her to fly at high speed as she had before.

Ruo Yan was also fully awake. She sat between her three puppets, her hands continuously manipulating the energy threads as she repaired several joints that had been damaged in the previous battle.

Ethan took out the crude map and spread it across a relatively flat piece of bone.

The map only recorded the regions Xue Ji’s people had previously explored. Most of the remaining terrain was still blank. However, by combining it with the direction of the resonance from the Sunfire Divine Seal, Ethan could still determine the purple glow’s approximate location.

He traced a line across the map with his finger.

Ruo Yan glanced at it and said, "If we go straight ahead, we will have to cross an area filled with puppet gates."

Ethan nodded. "That is why we are not going straight."

He moved his finger and traced a longer route around the area.

Ruo Yan frowned. "Following this route will cost us at least another half day."

"But we will encounter fewer puppets."

"Killing puppets earns points."

Ethan raised his head and looked at her, his voice remaining perfectly calm. "Points are not as important as our lives."

Ruo Yan paused.

She had previously assumed Ethan would do everything possible to maintain the top position on the rankings. After all, the name Bone Wraith Serpent still occupied first place, while all the actual points belonged to Ethan.

Yet the man before her did not look blinded by the rankings at all.

Ethan pointed toward the blank area behind the purple glow. "We do not know what lies beyond that gate. Preserving our strength before entering is more important than earning a few thousand extra points."

Laira nodded without needing to think. "I agree."

Ruo Yan crossed her arms over her chest. Although her expression still showed a hint of reluctance, she did not continue objecting.

"I have no objections either."

Ethan folded the map away. "Then let us go."

The three quickly left the shelter.

No one mentioned what had happened aboard Xue Ji’s ship again. However, from the moment they sat around the map together and decided on their next route, the distance that had once existed between the three seemed to narrow a little further.

Ahead of them, amid the inverted world and the endless pyramids of bone, the purple glow continued shining in silence.

And the thing hidden deep within it had also begun to awaken.

The route Ethan chose was longer than expected.

The three had to circle around two regions filled with enormous bone pillars, then follow the edge of a ravine so deep that its bottom could not be seen. Above their heads, the inverted ocean continued moving slowly.

Occasionally, enormous black shadows swam through the green water. Whenever that happened, the light falling upon the ground dimmed for several seconds, causing the entire world to grow colder.

Laira did not fly again.

She folded her wings and walked close beside Ethan. Whenever the terrain ahead became rough or covered in too much rubble, Ethan automatically slowed down without saying anything.

Ruo Yan followed behind them with her three puppets.

Since leaving their resting place, they had only encountered two patrol groups of puppets.

The first group consisted of six wooden puppets wielding sabers, all of them only around the Black Iron rank. The moment they discovered the three, they immediately spread out into a battle formation.

Ruo Yan controlled two of her puppets to block the front while the final one circled around the side to cut off the enemy’s retreat.

Laira did not need to act.

Ethan merely observed for several seconds before calmly reminding her, "The one on the left has its core beneath its ribs. The two at the back share the same energy source. Cut the cable buried underground."

Ruo Yan did not ask how he could see it.

Her fingers moved slightly. The energy threads immediately trembled, transmitting her command to one of the wooden puppets. It lowered its body, slammed a hand against the stone floor, then ripped out a copper-colored cable buried deep beneath the surface.

The moment the cable was severed, the two enemy puppets immediately stopped moving.

Ruo Yan’s three puppets charged forward at the same time.

The battle ended in less than a minute.

Ruo Yan looked at the pile of broken wood on the ground, then glanced at Ethan. "You can even see an energy source buried underground?"

Ethan crouched down, retrieved the crystal from the core of one puppet, and answered naturally, "It was a guess."

Ruo Yan sneered. "Do you think I am stupid?"

Ethan still did not raise his head. "I never said that."

Ruo Yan was just about to continue questioning him when Laira spoke.

"If you should not know something, then do not ask."

Ruo Yan turned to look at her. "I was asking him, not you."

"But I can answer for him."

"What gives you the right?"

"Because I want to."

The two stared at each other again, neither willing to back down.

Ethan picked up the final crystal and continued walking, having absolutely no intention of waiting for them to settle the matter. In the end, Laira and Ruo Yan could only temporarily end their argument and quickly catch up.

The second group of puppets was even weaker.

They resembled small wooden spiders. There were more than twenty of them, but the energy cores in the center of their bodies were extremely fragile.

Laira only needed to wave her hand once.

A thin wave of red fire swept close to the ground, precisely burning through every joint in their legs without causing any loud explosions.

More than twenty wooden spiders collapsed at the same time.

The Bone Wraith Serpent’s score immediately increased by several hundred points.

Ethan merely glanced at the notification before ignoring it.

Throughout the rest of their journey, he did not see another person. There were no unfamiliar races, no point-hunting groups, nor did any of the enormous monsters that had once shaken the entire world appear.

That silence should have brought relief.

But the closer they drew to the purple glow, the heavier the surrounding air felt to Ethan.

It was not pressure coming from a powerful creature.

The sensation was more like the entire area was gradually being separated from the rest of the world.

The surrounding sounds grew fainter.

The wind also disappeared.

Even the green light from the inverted ocean overhead became covered by a faint layer of purple.

Laira suddenly stopped and placed a hand over her chest.

The Sunfire Divine Seal was trembling.

The red patterns on the seal lit up in rhythmic pulses, like a second heart beating beneath her skin.

Laira whispered, "Very close."

Ethan immediately asked, "What can you sense?"

Laira closed her eyes for several seconds, trying to distinguish the sensation transmitted by the Sunfire Divine Seal.

"There is fire."

She frowned immediately after speaking, then corrected herself. "No. It is not only fire. There is also something extremely fast and sharp, like thousands of blades tearing through the air at the same time."

Ruo Yan immediately became vigilant. "Is it dangerous?"

Laira opened her eyes and slowly shook her head. "I do not know."

That answer alone was enough to make Ruo Yan tighten her grip on the energy threads in her hands.

Anything whose level of danger even Laira could not determine could not possibly be simple.

The three continued walking for roughly another hour.

After crossing a slope covered in white bones, the endless pyramids ahead of them suddenly disappeared.

In their place was a circular plaza hundreds of meters wide. The entire ground was paved with black stone, so smooth that not a single crack or trace of age could be seen.

Twelve metal pillars more than thirty meters tall stood around the plaza. Each pillar was composed of countless concentric rings, resembling components of an enormous machine that had ceased operating long ago.

At the very center of the plaza, a gate floated in midair.

It had no frame.

No stone pillars.

Nor did it possess any patterns.

The gate was merely an oval surface of water nearly ten meters tall, standing upright in the air. Its surface was as still as a mirror, but what it reflected was not the plaza behind them.

On the other side was a gray sky.

Enormous rocks floated in midair.

And countless inverted stairways connected to one another in completely chaotic directions.

Faint purple light continuously spilled out from the surface of the water.

The moment Laira stepped into the plaza, she stopped.

The Sunfire Divine Seal on her chest suddenly grew hot. A spark of red fire unconsciously escaped her body, but before it could ignite, it was drawn into the gate by tiny arcs of purple lightning.

Laira’s expression changed slightly.

She stared at the watery surface before her and declared, "This is it."