Not long after they set off, several figures suddenly darted out from the group, rushing toward the collapsed buildings on either side of the path. At the same time, quite a few people sensed that something within those ruined structures was emitting fluctuations of energy.
Hai Wangu waved his hand, signaling everyone to stop and wait quietly.
The ones who had rushed out were warriors of the Hai family. After all, this was their territory, and even though the foreign warriors had noticed the anomaly, none of them had moved first. If there was something to be gained, letting the Hai family get the first taste was fine. And if there were dangers, the Hai family could test the waters first. That was what everyone was thinking.
After a short while, the Hai family warriors quickly returned from both sides. The two from the left came back with dejected expressions, slowly shaking their heads at Hai Wangu — clearly they had found nothing.
The ones from the right, however, wore faces brimming with excitement. They handed something that appeared to be made of an ancient material to Hai Wangu.
Every pair of eyes latched onto the object like leeches.
Hai Wangu took it, carefully wiped away the dust, and sent out his Divine Sense to inspect it. His eyebrows rose, and he nodded. "Mm, it's an Artifact, but it's so old that most of its spiritual energy has been lost. Right now it's probably only at mysterious grade, lower tier. What a shame — in its prime, this would have been at least a spirit grade, upper-tier Artifact!"
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look disappointed.
This time he was telling the honest truth, because all eyes had been focused on that Artifact, and with so many probing with their Divine Sense, it would have been impossible for him to lie.
Still, finding an Artifact not long after setting out was an auspicious start, and it filled everyone with anticipation for the rest of the expedition.
"I'll hold on to this Artifact for now," Hai Wangu said. "When we return, I'll have an artificer restore it. Perhaps some of its spiritual energy can be recovered, and its grade improved." As he spoke, he slipped the Artifact into his Cosmos Bag.
He had stipulated from the beginning that anything found would be in his custody, with the spoils to be divided among everyone upon their return. Besides, it had been found by his Hai family's warriors, so naturally no one objected.
With something to show for their efforts, everyone searched with even greater focus.
To expand their search area, Hai Wangu also divided everyone into three small teams, each led by one of his Hai family's Transcendence Realm powerhouses and heading in a different direction deeper into the ruins.
Yang Kai continued to follow behind Hai Wangu. Once the group split up, fewer than twenty people remained in their team. Besides Hai Wangu and Yang Kai — the only other Transcendence Realm cultivator — the rest were all Shenyou Realm warriors.
In the collapsed buildings lining the road, the group kept finding things that caught their eye. Most were Artifacts, though occasionally they came upon cultivation manuals or martial technique scrolls. However, because so much time had passed and these texts had not been preserved well, they crumbled to dust the moment they were touched, drawing sighs of regret from everyone.
There were also some pills, but for the same reason — the medicinal properties had long since dissipated, leaving behind nothing but residue that was no longer usable.
After half a day, the group had only collected a handful of incomplete Artifacts that had lost most of their spiritual energy. This left them somewhat dissatisfied; the haul fell far short of their expectations.
Yang Kai had been trailing behind the group the entire time, neither drawing attention to himself nor deliberately hiding his abilities. He simply showed the level of competence expected of a seventh-level Shenyou Realm warrior, which meant he attracted no attention or suspicion.
Among the dozen or so Artifacts found so far, he had contributed to a few of them, but he wasn't interested in any of what they'd discovered.
What mildly puzzled him was that this ancient ruin should have belonged to a major sect from ages past. A sect of that caliber should have had layers upon layers of restrictions inside. Judging from the barrier on the perimeter that kept the seawater at bay, those restrictions should still be functional, yet up until now, the group hadn't encountered any danger at all.
That made him all the more wary.
As they walked, a thin, gaunt man suddenly sidled up to him. Yang Kai's brow furrowed, and he glanced casually at the man, only to find him grinning widely — silently and eerily.
"Something you need?" Yang Kai asked.
"Young man, you're quite the sharp one!" The man glanced toward Hai Wangu at the front of the group, and once he confirmed the old man wasn't paying attention, he lowered his voice.
"Am I?" Yang Kai suddenly found this amusing. The man was another foreign warrior following Hai Wangu, with cultivation at the peak of the Shenyou Realm. He looked young, probably only in his thirties, with a pair of narrow, slanted eyes that resembled a viper's — perpetually radiating a shrewd, sinister quality.
His unprovoked approach left Yang Kai puzzled, wondering what kind of scheme the man had in mind.
"You can tell!" The gaunt man gave a slight nod. "You may not say much, but those eyes of yours are sharp. That's a sign of a clever man. Trying to hide your real strength so you can make one big score?"
"Not at all. You're overthinking it." Yang Kai shook his head slowly.
"Don't be modest — everyone's thinking the same thing." The gaunt man chuckled in a low voice. "That old man's stashing everything in his own Cosmos Bag. Who knows what he's planning? When we get back to the surface, he might not give us a thing, or maybe just a pittance. This is the Seven-Family Alliance's territory — in the end, they call the shots!"
"They eat the meat; I'm happy with the broth." Yang Kai chuckled. "I don't ask for much."
"You don't look like the kind of man who's easily satisfied!" The gaunt man curled his lip, lowering his voice even further. "So? Interested in teaming up with me?"
"Teaming up to do what?"
The gaunt man gave him a look that said *are you an idiot?* "There doesn't seem to be any danger here. Why not split off from the group and search on our own? Whatever we find is ours — no reason to trail behind them, is there?"
"Oh? Not a bad idea!" Yang Kai's eyes lit up, wearing an expression of genuine interest.
"You think so too?" The gaunt man saw that Yang Kai was tempted and quickly pressed his advantage. "The two of us work together. If we find something good, we split it fifty-fifty — fair and square. I'm a man who always plays fair!"