Chaotic Ruins; Salvaged by the System

"Xuansha Ruin Lord! Today is the day you die!"

A deafening roar echoed through the Ruin of Disorder. The speaker was a giant lizard whose body was covered in dark purple scales.

Its voice carried endless resentment, and the chaotic demonic energy churning around its body transformed into sky-blotting demonic flames, sweeping toward the solitary figure ahead.

Wherever the demonic flames passed, even the light in the void was burned until it twisted and dissipated.

At the end of the path engulfed by the demonic flames, a tall and straight figure stood quietly.

A dark golden profound iron ghost mask covered his face, revealing only a pair of extremely indifferent eyes.

Three ferocious blood-colored patterns were carved onto the mask, faintly gleaming with a terrifying, cold light.

Gu Changyuan watched the incoming demonic flames without the slightest hint of panic on his face, as if what was rushing toward him was not an apocalyptic fire capable of tearing apart an ordinary Chaos powerhouse, but merely a trivial wisp of smoke.

The environment of the Ruin of Disorder was already harsh to the extreme. This was the crevice between the myriad heavens and realms, filled everywhere with darkness so thick it could not be dissolved.

Occasionally, faint rays of light would leak from the chaotic rifts, only to be completely swallowed in the next instant by drifting debris and meteorites from unknown origins.

There were no rules to speak of in this world; space would sometimes twist and sometimes collapse.

The living creatures who were lucky enough to survive here could only use exposed meteorite wreckage as their dwelling caves. The slightest carelessness would cause them to fall into a deeper chaotic abyss, leaving not even their bones behind.

Gu Changyuan's gaze swept over the chaotic giant lizard that was fighting to the death, and the corners of his mouth curled into a mocking arc behind the ghost mask.

A low voice sounded in the dead silence of the ruin space, carrying the coldness accumulated from a thousand years of slaughter:

"A thousand years have passed, and you all are still so oblivious to your own limits."

The moment his words fell, he did not even use any weapon. He simply raised his right hand casually and made a grasping motion in the air.

Boom!

The demonic flames that were powerful enough to burn the heavens and destroy the earth actually solidified in an instant, and then shattered inch by inch like glazed glass, turning into a sky full of light spots and dissipating.

As for the giant lizard that had been clamoring to kill him, it did not even have the time to let out a miserable shriek. Its entire body was like an ant caught by an invisible giant force, and amid the cracking sound of shattering bones, it was directly crushed into a cloud of blood mist.

One move, instant kill.

In the surrounding void, dozens of figures with varying auras had gathered at some unknown time.

Gu Changyuan glanced at them indifferently. That gaze pierced through the profound iron ghost mask, carrying the murderous aura accumulated from a thousand years of slaughter, causing all the spectating creatures to shudder in unison and subconsciously shrink back.

He ignored them, reached his hand into the chaos, and grabbed out of thin air, collecting all the spoils of war from defeating the giant lizard into his bag.

Over the past thousand years, he had long grown accustomed to this kind of life—slaughtering, looting, cultivating, round and round.

There was no alternation of sun and moon in the Ruin of Disorder, and time was blurred here.

"Calculating the time, it should have been about... one thousand and one hundred years."

Gu Changyuan muttered to himself.

It had been so long since he was sucked into this place by that spatial rift.

The Heavenly Human Sect, Heavenly Monster Sect, and Heavenly Demon Sect that he had personally founded—those three small sects that initially only accepted ten founding disciples—should they... still exist today?

Actually, before Gu Changyuan was swept into this hellish place by that sudden spatial rift, he had transmigrated to a cultivation world called the Jiuxiao Realm and awakened a system.

The system's function was very simple: he only needed to create a sect faction and accept disciples to gain cultivation improvements. How much his cultivation improved depended on the talent and cultivation base of the disciples under his faction.

A disciple's talent was divided into eleven levels, from zero to ten. Whatever the talent level was, Gu Changyuan could obtain that corresponding percentage of the disciple's current cultivation base.

In other words, if he accepted a disciple with a talent of ten whose cultivation was at the third level of the Nascent Soul stage, Gu Changyuan would obtain ten tenths—meaning one hundred percent—of the other party's cultivation, which was also the third level of the Nascent Soul stage.

If there were two disciples with a talent of ten and both were at the Nascent Soul stage, then Gu Changyuan's cultivation would be the sum of the two Nascent Soul cultivation bases.

The more disciples there were, the more it stacked.

At the same time, the system would randomly reward cultivation techniques, weapons, spiritual treasures, and other resources to help the host and the sect develop.

Relying on the system, he successively founded the Heavenly Human Sect, Heavenly Monster Sect, and Heavenly Demon Sect within fifty years. He accepted ten founding disciples for each sect and left after staying at each place for ten years.

During this period, he continuously transported supplies to the various sects through the cave dwellings provided by the system, and searched for geniuses scattered all over to send to the respective sects.

In the end, before he even had time to see the subsequent development of the three sects, he was dragged into the Ruin of Disorder by an inexplicable force. Even the system lost contact and went completely silent.

At that time, his cultivation was only at the Void Refinement Realm.

Gu Changyuan shook his head, throwing away these distracting thoughts.

Having struggled in the Ruin of Disorder for a thousand years, he was used to seeing life, death, and destruction, and no longer dared to hope for too much.

The most urgent task was to find a way to leave this place.

Through a thousand years of slaughter, he had long figured out some of the underlying laws of the Ruin of Disorder.

Especially in the last hundred years, following spatial fluctuations, he had found several abnormal nodes that were suspected to be "exits."

Gu Changyuan moved his body and swept toward the nearest node.

But just as he arrived at the node, a sudden change occurred.

Without any warning, an extremely terrifying suction force violently surged from all directions, instantly enveloping him firmly.

This was not an attack launched by any living creature, but the "pulse" of the entire chaotic space—a spatial tremor that occurred in the Ruin of Disorder at regular intervals.

Gu Changyuan had experienced this many times and had easily broken free every time.

But this time was different.

The suction force was ridiculously strong, to the point that even Gu Changyuan felt a bit unable to break free.

His expression hardened, and the power that had been dormant in his body for a thousand years erupted with a bang.

But even so, the suction force did not weaken in the slightest.

Instead, it grew stronger and stronger.

He formed hand seals, and nine illusory longswords appeared in front of him.

Different runes were carved on each sword—this was the "Nine Tribulations Sword Array" he had comprehended from an ancient ruin in his nine hundredth year in the Ruin of Disorder. When executed with full power, it could cleave stars.

The sword array rotated, and sword qi crisscrossed, attempting to tear apart this suction force.

However, at the source of the suction, a pitch-black rift was rapidly expanding.

Eerie purple-black lightning flashed at the edges of the rift, and a heart-palpitating pulling force emanated from within.

"Something's wrong... This isn't a normal spatial tremor!"

Gu Changyuan suddenly reacted and wanted to pull back and retreat.

But it was too late.

Gu Changyuan only felt his body lighten, and he was wrapped up by an invisible force, violently dragged into that rapidly expanding spatial rift.

A dizzying sensation of the world spinning hit him.

In his ears was the howling of spatial turbulence, and before his eyes were bizarre, colorful lines.

Gu Changyuan gritted his teeth to stay awake. Silver-white light protected his body as he struggled to maintain his balance in the turbulence.

He didn't know how long had passed—in a spatial channel, the sense of time was completely distorted.

Finally, a speck of light appeared ahead. Exhausting his last bit of strength, Gu Changyuan charged toward that light.

"Boom—!!"

He smashed through some kind of barrier and suddenly appeared above a forest.

Gu Changyuan panted heavily. He raised his head, wanting to see the surrounding environment clearly, but was completely stunned.

Fresh spiritual energy surged into his lungs—not the murky, berserk energy of the Ruins of Disorder, but the pure, gentle, and vibrant spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

"Where am I..."

Gu Changyuan slowly stood up, his dark robes fluttering lightly in the wind.

Meeting his eyes was a blue sky, clear as if freshly washed, with white clouds drifting leisurely across it.

In the distance, verdant mountain ranges overlapped, and lush green trees blotted out the sky.

Vitality.

This was the absolute rarest thing in the Ruins of Disorder.

Just as Gu Changyuan's heart trembled with profound shock and confusion, a voice from a thousand years ago—a voice so familiar it made his eyes sting with emotion—suddenly exploded within his mind: