Chapter 61
Chapter 61
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Heart-Pounding Great Adventure (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Seoran refused to give up despite the entry ban.
After loitering around the excavation site for a month.
Seoran finally became a temporary excavation assistant.
It was just a title, in truth—she was under intensive surveillance.
Even the archaeologists had no other choice.
Gloomy faces and deep sighs.
Seoran expressed her intent with her entire body.
*I want to see the ancient ruins too,* she seemed to say.
The archaeologists trembled in fear every single day.
They too were proper cultivators of the Western Continent.
During the patrol construction, the ground-flipping miracle Seoran had demonstrated was something unforgettable after a single glance.
The genius who had mastered the terrifying Mountain-Turning Terrain Art could do anything she set her mind to.
Just which was greater between Ryu Seoran's curiosity and her patience?
What if Seoran could no longer hold back?
What if she lifted the surface and the ruins together right then to peek at the ancient site?
Or what if she secretly dug underground and entered the ruins first ahead of everyone else?
Excavating ruins required following many procedures.
First, they surveyed the surface.
The soil covering the ruins was itself a subject of study.
Even roughly buried trash was a trace of history.
Next, they excavated only certain sections first.
They decided how to excavate the entire ancient ruins based on the findings.
Naturally, recording every process was a given.
But what if Seoran flipped the surface over?
First, the soil and artifacts would mix into a total mess.
The order and thickness of the strata, the composition of various soils, the distribution of artifacts—all archaeological data would vanish.
If they couldn't find other ruins from a similar origin, all research related to that era would become impossible.
The terror that one careless act by Seoran might create an eternal gap in human history tormented the archaeologists.
In the end, the excavation leader made a difficult decision.
He granted temporary entry permission to Ryu Seoran.
The plan was to keep her by his side and monitor her personally.
The excavation leader drilled the precautions and rules to follow at the site into Seoran at high speed.
"What is the scope that qualifies as a report target?"
The temporary excavation assistant, Ryu Seoran, answered.
"If even a little dirt is on it, it qualifies!"
"What is the essential process before contacting a target?"
Seoran's answer was immediate.
"I report to the direct supervisor!"
"What if the direct supervisor is absent?"
"I report to the section supervisor!"
"What if even the section supervisor is absent?"
"I do nothing and stay still!"
"What if I receive permission from the supervisor?"
"I still don't touch it!"
*Just look with your eyes at the excavation site.*
He emphasized, emphasized again, that she must never forget.
Seoran nodded confidently.
And a month passed.
Seoran strictly followed the site rules.
The archaeologists had grown somewhat at ease.
And accidents always struck at moments like these.
During test excavation, an archaeologist said.
"Investigator Ryu, your shadow is making it dark, so please step back five or six paces."
"Yes."
Seoran obediently stepped back six paces.
The first misfortune was the archaeologist's carelessness.
In the past, they would have told her not to move a muscle.
Seoran backed up as instructed and stepped on something.
The second misfortune was the height of the ancient structure.
They had only shaved off a bit of the surface, yet the upper part was already exposed.
What Seoran stepped on was the cover of a rooftop ventilation duct.
The third misfortune was Seoran's petite build.
The ventilation duct was no secret passage for thieves.
Anyone but Seoran couldn't have fallen in even if they wanted to.
The fourth misfortune was the characteristic complacency of high-realm cultivators.
Pain, injury, and vigilance were inseparable.
Seoran plummeted down the ventilation duct with a calm face.
The fifth misfortune was the structure of the ventilation duct.
It was a straight passage with no protrusions or branches.
Seoran slid straight through without catching anywhere.
The sixth misfortune was the rule etched in her mind.
Without even a stone pillar, to stop the fall, she would have needed to jam her limbs into the passage walls.
Seoran adhered to the no-damage-to-ruins rule.
The ancient ruins' ventilation duct was truly long.
The smooth duct surface, the gently curving track, Seoran's aerodynamic body produced an uplift effect.
The human bobsled accelerated without limit.
The slide that began from the surface led straight to the ruins' lowest level.
The bullet-like descent ended quickly.
The ventilation duct spat Seoran out below.
At the expected landing point was an ancient teleportation array.
This was the seventh misfortune.
The teleportation array flashed, and Seoran's figure vanished.
If even one of the seven misfortunes had been absent, this absurd incident wouldn't have happened.
But that's how the world worked.
In fancy terms, it was the Swiss cheese model.
Thus, Seoran departed for an unknown world.
It was the adventure she had longed for.
*****
Seoran appeared in another place.
And immediately plunged downward.
Her kinetic energy hadn't vanished during teleportation.
Seoran crashed into the teleportation array beneath her feet.
It was a fall that began from the surface.
Immense potential energy converted to kinetic energy, and Seoran hadn't even used a proper landing technique.
Superhero landing—and the landing point shattered.
The ancient teleportation array ceased functioning.
Seoran knew what a teleportation array was.
It was a means of travel used before the Primordial Era.
She had learned about it while hanging out with the archaeologists.
The Primordial Era referred to the oldest era verifiable through records at present.
Roughly 40,000 years ago.
No one knew about times further back.
Teleportation arrays were unknown artifacts even in the Primordial Era.
Even 40,000 years ago, their operating principles remained unexplained.
Naturally, they were lost technology even now.
There was no way to repair the broken teleportation array.
Looking at the shattered teleportation array, Seoran said.
"This is bad..."
It was a massive accident visible only to those who knew.
Teleportation arrays existed in pairs, one on each end.
If one broke, the other became useless.
The academic consensus was that a complete pair of intact teleportation arrays was essential to unravel their principles.
With one dropkick, Seoran had turned a brilliant legacy of ancient civilization into a pile of rubble.
She had also eliminated any chance of recovering the lost technology.
It was vandalism that even Qin Shi Huang would admire.
Seoran moved away to survey the disaster she had wrought.
On the stone floor etched with complex teleportation patterns were Seoran's dainty handprints and footprints.
Her back grew damp with cold sweat.
The silent culprit fled the crime scene.
Seoran, using her spectral vision technique, pierced the pitch-black darkness.
She walked a single path and found the exit.
Light seeped through a crack; Seoran pushed the wall.
The stone wall rotated, revealing a vast space.
A massive palace entirely of stone came into view.
Towering trees packed the spaces between buildings.
This seemed to be ancient ruins too.
Unlike the underground ruins where Seoran had stepped on the teleportation array, this place was in the middle of a jungle with a visible sky.
Seeing the lush greenery of untouched nature, she let out a sigh.
It was a remote wilderness untouched by human feet.
All Seoran had was the clothes on her back.
She had left her other artifacts at the lodging because they were cumbersome.
In short, without a flying treasure, she had to walk to civilization.
Seoran climbed a nearby tree to survey the surroundings.
The palace was on slightly sloped ground.
She wondered why they had built a palace in such an odd spot instead of flat land.
After a moment's thought, Seoran chose a direction.
Toward rising elevation.
She planned to climb high and scout around.
Seoran began walking, leaving markers behind.
So that later, when archaeologists visited the ruins, they could follow these traces back.
Hasty stone signposts sprouted like bamboo shoots.
Monkey cries were noisy.
*****
She kept heading in the same direction.
Seoran grew sick of this vast forest.
From high up, all she saw were trees everywhere.
It felt like being tossed into a green ocean.
Once, monkey yokai had charged at her.
So she fed them a few improved stone bombs.
Half the mad monkey family became fertilizer, the other half fled in panic.
Ten days had passed since accidentally stepping on the teleportation array.
The moment the fertilizer-made monkeys hit triple digits.
Seoran finally spotted traces of humans.
Though they were somewhat old traces.
A lower-body-less corpse greeted Seoran.
Feeling something off, Seoran examined the skeleton closely with her spectral vision technique.
And realized one fact.
The corpse had been a Decisive Blade Investigator in life.