My SSS-Rank Skill and System is too OP in Modern Cultivation world-Chapter 144: A World Re‑entered, a Mission Completed
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Yang Li stood, chest rising like bellows, gaze fixed on the orb that had re‑emerged, now freed of vines but dimmed. "Its final defense," he murmured. "The Ruin Core is stable again."
He climbed the dais. This time no vine resisted. Fingers circled the orb. Glyphs rotated, then calmed—a silent pledge of transfer. Brightness pulsed once, then settled into a steady glow under his palm.
The hall's ceiling groaned as the orb's new linkage triggered realm‑collapse. Yang Li stepped down and addressed them: "Everyone the core claimed. This ruin will be closed. Find footing, center your chi. Evacuation begins in thirty breaths."
Stonework lit with circuitry‑like veins of light. Air pressure shifted. Nima propped Kent against Lumo's furry flank. "Big brother, You good?"
He grinned through grit teeth. "Roasted on one side, flash‑frozen on the other, yeah, just need a few minutes of rest."
Outside the shattered cage ring, Fatty Li waddled over, eyes wide. Auri was beside him with awe. Then, Veins of light brightened to blinding white. Dust rose in zero‑gravity motes. Space itself folded like paper.
"Hold tight!" Yang Li barked. The orb flared and the ruin imploded into luminous shards. There was no warning, no final groan of stone, no trumpet of victory. Only light.
An expanding sphere of white swallowed Kent's vision, devoured the broken hall, erased every shard of bark and every glyph‑scored flagstone. Sound collapsed to a single, high chime. Heat and cold vanished together; even gravity seemed to forget its job.
"So this is what a ruin‑shutdown feels like," Nima thought in the floating hush. Meanwhile Kent Hope the Void Domain doesn't puke fifty beasts into bureaucratic headquarters.
Instinct had him clutch Nima's elbow with his left hand, the Hellfire arm, still warm while his right, rimed in frost scars, gripped Lumo's shaggy fur. Around them he sensed presences: Yang Li a little ahead, spiritual energy coiled tight; Auri fluttering in slow‑motion near Kent's ear; Raka's silhouette blurring like an ink stain; the unlucky Fatty Li whirling in a chip‑crumb constellation.
Then the light snapped off.
They fell the height of a small step and landed on springy grass. Real grass. A chilly mountain breeze replaced the ruin's stifling dust. Birdsong, distant members' voices from camp murmured in the air, the faint bark of a dog mundane sounds poured in, so startlingly normal that Kent's ears rang.
They stood at the base of a stone archway that had once housed the ruin's dimensional gate. Now it was nothing but an empty granite frame sealed with unlit glyph‑mortared bricks. Around it sprawled the half‑collapsed courtyard of an abandoned shrine, a quarantine buffer zone the government had cleared weeks earlier. Tents, supply crates, and medical stations dotted the slope beyond; watchers in forest‑green flak robes jolted upright as the survivors appeared.
The group that had fought so hard minutes ago now resembled a bedraggled army of refugees: robes shredded, armor dented, spiritual energy flickering like spent candles. Even Yang Li, ironclad nexus elder, swung the Core Orb in one tired fist as if it weighed a tonne.
For one heartbeat the campsite was silent, the outside‑personnel gaping. Then the watchers erupted: medics rushed forward, stretcher crews sprinted, recorders unholstered data‑slates.
Nima released Kent's sleeve and sagged onto a fallen column. "We… we actually made it." She tried to sound triumphant but yawned halfway through. Auri crash‑landed in her lap, equally spent.
Kent's own knees trembled. He drew a slow breath, letting clean air soothe lungs scorched by Hell‑Frost backlash.
A floating interface bloomed across his vision.
[Ding! System Mission: Clear the Azure Forest Ruin.
Two options were given on the mental interface:
Option One: wander off until the ruin is cleared.
Reward: 10 drops of blood.
Option Two: Find the core of the ruin and clear it.
Reward: Unknown.]
[Ding! Mission complete: Clear the Azure Forest Ruin.
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Option One: wander off until the ruin is cleared.
Reward: 10 drops of blood.
Status: Completed.]
Below the header two tabs he had glimpsed on the first day re‑appeared, greyed out now except for tick marks:
[Calculating reward…
Primary reward: 10 drops of True Phoenix Blood (auto‑stored in system Inventory)]
Kent blinked. A shiver of giddy dread chased exhaustion from his marrow. "True… True Phoenix… Blood?" That stuff topped legendary auctions, a mythic elixir rumoured to resurrect flesh or ignite extinct bloodlines. One drop could buy a city block; ten was insane.
He also noticed a faint italic footnote:
[Fruit‑price escalation confirmed: 100 000 000 SP each – "You should seek alternative advancement paths."]
Kent almost groaned aloud but restrained himself; medics were hovering around everywhere.
Yang Li stepped forward, Core Orb tucked beneath one arm, and addressed the ranks of watchers in an even baritone. "Ruin is cleared. We collected the Ruin core. Dark alliance failed their mission." Then he reeled off a list of casualty codes, injuries, artifact salvage tallies.
The supervising officer an elderly woman with a steely bun holding a tablet in her hands, saluted him, then eyed Kent and Nima's ragtag crew. "Are you okay? Tell me what treasure you collected inside the ruins? I need to record it."
Kent replied, "Old lady I am injured. I can't talk much. I already told everything to Nexus Yang Li. Me and my little sister like to leave. We need a rest."
Yang Li's mouth twitched while listening to Kent, then he thinks "This kid doesn't want to record his treasure. He helped me a lot. Without him I wouldn't be able to secure the Ruin core. In the worst situation I might have been on death bed. His little sister is my future disciple…I will give him face this time. Then say's out loud, "His contribution will be recorded by me personally. He is the biggest contributor of this expedition."
The officer scribbled. "Then tell me your Name. I need to record that you made it alive."
Kent straightened, tried to look halfway formal despite scorched sleeves. "Kent—uh, Kent from metro city, provisional tier-3 Watcher trainee." Felt silly in front of hardened operatives, but Yang Li nodded as if to cement it.
A pair of medics attempted to usher him toward a stretcher; he waved them off. "Save it for the broken limbs, folks, I just need a cold drink and a bath."
Nima snorted but hid a worried glance at the frost‑veined arm he kept tucked behind.
Yang Li finished his report, then turned to Kent and Nima privately. "Official debriefing will follow, but for now rest. A transport convoy leaves in one hour." He hesitated, rare vulnerability crossing his stern features then placed a calloused hand on Kent's shoulder. "Well fought, kid. I hope you'll remember your promise, and put some good words for me." (He meant Kent saying good things to Nima about him and the benefits of becoming his disciple.) Without waiting for a reply, he strode off, orb humming faintly.
Fatty Li waddled after him shouting, "Grandpa Yang! Wait up! I need to talk to you. I want to live in the metro city." Their conversation continued.
Auri was sleeping inside Kent's hood, burbling "chip‑chip" snores.
Kent snagged a water bottle from supply crates, guzzled half. Every swallow felt like pouring rain on a foundry. He flexed each hand: the Hellfire side tingled; the Frost side numb. "I need to heal first," he admitted.
But curiosity overrode pain. He opened his system inventory → Rewards. A crystalline vial glowed: True Phoenix Blood (10 drops). Each drop flickered gold‑scarlet, emitting a faint bird‑song when he tapped the glass.
"System, what's the usage of this?" Kent asked.
[Ding! System Notifications: Bestow upon avian or fire‑affinity entity to awaken dormant phoenix lineage.
Secondary: Temper the user meridians.]
He immediately thought of Auri's diluted phenix bloodline. This could be beneficial to Auri.
They were still in the campsite, which wasn't a place for sacred rituals. "First return to the city, then find a hotel, after that shower and food. Then I will think about using these ten drops of blood on Auri." Kent murmured to himself.
He dismissed the system interface, then confronted his little sister. "Nima, what are you doing?"
Nima had commandeered a supply crate as a makeshift throne, ankles swinging. When Kent approached asking the question, she lifted chin. "I am resting like a princess. Big brother, because of your burned clothes you look like a homeless beggar."
"You too," he countered, flicking a charred hem of her tunic. "We look like we escaped a barbecue."
She scowled but fatigue softened it. "So… my underlings beasts? Are they safe?"
Kent crouched so no one else overheard and activated a tiny slit‑portal in the air, just large enough for the nose of her favourite horned rabbit to poke through and sniff. Nima's eyes widened, fury replaced by awe.
"They're fine," he whispered. "But listen, we can't let these fifty magical animals into the world. It's not a not smart move. My super secret pocket‑land ability. They'll roam acres of fields inside there, supervised by some, uh, caretaker sprite…"
