“You mean a ruin?”

“Mm.” After nodding, Bai Ziting glanced at Tian You. He was only holding Hua Zhaoxue’s hand, nothing more. Only then did she continue, “Just like Sister Zhaoxue guessed, we’re not from the Shengwu Empire. We came to Barbarian City because of information we got from Sister Li Rui. He should explain the details to you himself.”

After saying that, Bai Ziting looked at Li Yuanqian. The two exchanged a nod, then her little hand came down hard on the blue-haired boy’s head.

“Wake up, you pervert!”

Startled awake by that smack, the blue-haired boy jerked up from Li Yuanqian’s lap on pure reflex. His temper flared at once, and he roared at Bai Ziting, “You crazy woman, what the hell is wrong with you again?! Do you know that could scare someone to death?!”

Seeing him blow up like that, the lively spark returned to Bai Ziting’s eyes. She puffed out her lips toward Hua Zhaoxue and said, “Pervert Rui, take a look. There are a few more people in the carriage now. Acting like that is pretty ungentlemanly, you know~”

Li Rui’s expression froze. He instinctively looked toward Hua Zhaoxue. Li Yuanqian and Bai Ziting were both rare beauties too, one sweet and lively, the other calm as still water. But compared to them, Hua Zhaoxue’s delicate face and gentle temperament were even more to a man’s taste.

Sitting beside Li Rui, Li Yuanqian saw the dazed look on his face. Her brows knit ever so slightly. She smacked him on the head, then lightly turned her face away and ignored him.

That interruption finally snapped Li Rui back to himself. He gave an awkward laugh. “Hehe, sorry. It’s just... this big sister is really a little too pretty... I couldn’t help it...”

Hearing the compliment, Hua Zhaoxue showed a reserved smile and gave a slight nod in response. Tian You saw that her emotions had already settled. Holding her hand like this didn’t seem appropriate anymore, so he was about to let go. But just as he started to release her, Hua Zhaoxue’s small hand instinctively tightened around his.

That little movement brought a trace of surprise to Tian You’s eyes. As for the girl herself, her face flushed red. She still wore that restrained smile, but her gaze shifted away slightly, not daring to look at him...

Their tiny exchange made Li Rui feel even more awkward. That kind of gesture was obviously something only people with a very close relationship would do. Yet he had just been staring blankly at the girl right in front of the guy... That really was pretty rude...

“Ahem, who are these two?” Li Rui asked Bai Ziting.

“Hehe, this handsome little big brother who’s way cooler than you is called Tian You. And this pretty big sister sitting beside him...” Bai Ziting deliberately dragged out her tone. Li Rui was already getting annoyed by her suspense and hurriedly asked, “And?”

“Her name is Hua Zhaoxue~ Hehe, she’s a Dance Weaver!”

“...”

Li Rui felt a little dizzy. The presence of a Dance Weaver could forcibly raise a team’s combat strength by an entire level... And he had actually run into someone like that?!

“Oh, come on. Sister Zhaoxue already agreed to team up with us. Hurry up and explain the whole thing to Sister Zhaoxue first!”

“Oh... oh...”

Li Rui steadied himself. The dazed look in his eyes gradually turned serious, and he spoke to Hua Zhaoxue with a solemn expression.

“Miss Zhaoxue, have you ever heard of the Buried Sands Ruins?”

“The Buried Sands Ruins?” Hua Zhaoxue softly repeated those four words, but there was no impression of that place at all in her mind.

Seeing the confusion on her face, Li Rui roughly understood and began to explain. “Once Qi Energy breaks through to the eighth tier, a person surpasses mortal limits and can formally come into contact with elemental consciousness. I’m sure Miss Zhaoxue already knows that.”

Hua Zhaoxue froze slightly at his words, then nodded. She understood the concept of an Eighth-Tier Prayer Cultivator even better than Li Rui did. She was a Dance Weaver. Whether it was support or communicating with the elements, both required a certain startup and buffer period. But once one broke through to the eighth tier, one could directly communicate with the source consciousness of the elements. The boost that gave to Dance Weavers and Mystic Weavers went without saying. So Eighth-Tier Prayer Cultivators had basically already transcended mortal limits.

But even though Eighth-Tier Prayer Cultivators were incomparably powerful, people who had cultivated to that level were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns across the entire Qisheng Continent. Even in the vast Shengwu Empire, only the Empress Sovereign had reached that level.

“As for the Buried Sands Ruins, it’s said to be the tomb of an Eighth-Tier War Prayer from the Qizhan Empire!” As he said this, reverence appeared on Li Rui’s face.

Hua Zhaoxue paused as well after hearing that, then said in disbelief, “No, that doesn’t make sense. Going by what you said, you want me to team up with you and explore this ruin. But what does an Eighth-Tier Prayer Cultivator represent? Even if they weren’t the ruler of a nation, they’d still be someone of immense prestige in the entire country. How could the Qizhan Empire possibly not take someone like that seriously?”

“Right. Once someone becomes an Eighth-Tier Prayer Cultivator, they gain enormous influence in the empire, even across the whole continent. But there are exceptions.” As Li Rui spoke to Hua Zhaoxue, he seemed to sink into memory. “What Battle Seers worship isn’t the elements, but a certain weapon or object. After reaching the eighth tier, the weapon they worship truly gains a soul of its own. But... what this Eighth-Tier War Prayer worshipped was her own husband...”