Exploring the Mysterious Ruin! 3
After peering at it several times and still not understanding the baffling inscription, Lin snapped another photo of the stele and posted it to the gallery. She figured someone among all these gallery users had to know something.
[That super cryptic inscription from earlier]
However, contrary to Lin's expectations that someone would step up with answers, no one seemed to know anything about it this time either.
This came as quite a fresh shock to Lin. She'd started thinking of the forums as an all-powerful, invincible AI.
'Does that mean this ruin is that impressive…?'
Even if the forums couldn't help this time, she'd tasted their usefulness plenty before. It wasn't that they were incompetent or useless. Which meant this Ancient Ruin Cave was an ancient, mysterious site so old even the forums didn't know about it.
That realization sparked curiosity all over her body again. What could be in an ancient ruin unknown even to the forums? She wanted to scour every corner and uncover at least one more secret ASAP.
Kyua-!
'Hehe, maybe some insane treasure artifact will pop out?'
It looked too worn and crumbling for that, but hey. She had time to kill—what was the harm in trying?
And so Lin rummaged through every nook and cranny of the altar for a good while.
But...
Kyu...
'Ugh... What is this? Nothing here...'
No matter how much she poked around the altar inside and out, nothing treasure-like turned up.
She'd half-expected this, though. The ruin's main purpose seemed to be an altar for rituals, not a treasure vault. Plus, after being abandoned and unmanaged for so long, no part of the structure was intact anyway. And even if there had been treasure, someone would've looted it ages ago.
So the odds of finding anything were way lower than not.
Thud...
'What now...? Should I just give up?'
Wasting more time here would just mean eating more dust for nothing. Lin was starting to think she should cut her losses and head back the way she came.
It sucked, but you had to know when to quit.
And just as she turned to leave...
Strongest Fire Chicken's request was simple: not just the inscription on the altar, but photos of the small stone statues and patterns lined up beside it, all of them.
No big deal, and she'd gotten tons of help from her before anyway. Lin happily obliged.
Strongest Fire Chicken went quiet, as if deep in thought, then cautiously messaged back.
She paused for a moment before continuing.
Even coming from Strongest Fire Chicken, that was hard to believe.
Vague knowledge and confirmation from a trusted source were worlds apart. To Lin, Strongest Fire Chicken was reliable.
But anyway. That raised another question. Okay, an altar for a super high divine being—got it. But who exactly?
She explained the stone statues and patterns were symbols used by yokai tribes and their worshippers back then. So more likely yokai gods or divine beasts than human immortals or Taoist buddhas. You wouldn't mix other gods' symbols in an offering.
Even Lin, who knew zilch about this stuff, had heard of the Three-Legged Crow—the three-legged raven living in the sun. Super famous myth. The bigger the legend, the stronger the entity. If this altar was really for the Three-Legged Crow... that made it insanely valuable!
Lin knew humans were the majority on the forums, but not this skewed. Meant yokai users were rare.
Anyway. Hold up...
She couldn't reveal her full name, but Strongest Fire Chicken was an Avatar/Transformation cultivator living in the massive Cheongnyu Realm.
Avatar/Transformation cultivator! That was beyond Decisive Realm and Primordial Spirit—inner transcendence. In the mortal world, they'd be honored as Avatar Sovereigns, realms away. At that level, she could lead a sect or even rule a small cultivation realm.
And here Lin was, casually chatting with an Avatar Sovereign...! Only possible 'cause she was in this forum community—and as a fresh newbie at that.
Forums forever! Community forever!
Lin suddenly felt like praising the forums' greatness.
As she listened, a thought struck Lin. Sure, yokai god, Golden Crow, Three-Legged Crow—super awesome and epic, got it. But so what? Right now, it was just a crumbled altar full of dust. No treasure whatsoever!
Strongest Fire Chicken explained: even if it looked worthless now, performing rites for a yokai god-level being generated massive merit. And merit was a rare, precious cultivation resource—harder to get than it seemed.
Lin had never considered that.
Receiving something from a divine being! Her heart pounded just hearing it.