As the Lingxu Market team stepped inside the ruins, an ancient and heavy aura enveloped them, as if the dust of time had been stirred up in that instant. The sight before them left them in awe: in the enormous hall, countless luminous crystals were embedded in the walls, illuminating the entire space as bright as day. These crystals were of various shapes, some like blooming flowers, others like galloping horses, radiating a soft and colorful light.

The hall floor was paved with black stone, its surface as smooth as a mirror, reflecting everyone's images. The stone was covered with intricate runes, which shimmered faintly, seemingly telling ancient stories.

"This place is so peculiar; it must hold some hidden secret," Lin Yang murmured, his eyes revealing both wariness and curiosity. The group slowly moved forward through the hall, their footsteps echoing clearly in the spacious room.

Suddenly, a colossal statue appeared ahead. The statue depicted a cultivator in an ancient robe, holding a long sword, his expression majestic, as if guarding these ruins. The statue's base was covered in inscriptions, and experts from the Linghe Merchant Guild, proficient in ancient scripts, stepped forward to carefully decipher them.

"The inscription above states that this ruin was the cultivation ground of an ancient powerful being. It contains many magical treasures, cultivation techniques, and secrets to breaking through realms, but it is also fraught with dangers." After reading it, the expert relayed the information to everyone.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt both excited and nervous. Excited because of the potential for a great opportunity, and nervous because unknown dangers might be just around the corner. Just then, the statue's eyes suddenly lit up with a red light, and a powerful surge of spiritual energy emanated from its body.

"Watch out, it's been activated!" shouted an elder of the Spirit Sword Sect. The statue brandished its longsword, unleashing a powerful sword aura that hurtled towards the group. Where the sword aura passed, the air seemed to be torn apart, producing a piercing sound.

The sword cultivators of the Spirit Sword Sect quickly formed a sword formation, its light gleaming as they attempted to block the sword energy. However, the sword energy was incredibly powerful. Although the sword formation barely managed to withstand the attack, the sword cultivators all felt a tremendous pressure, their bodies trembling slightly.

The disciples of Wanbaoge manipulated their magical artifacts to launch a counterattack against the statue. The "Flaming Dragon Cauldron" spewed forth raging flames, lunging at the statue like a fire dragon; the lightning released by the "Nine Heavens Thunder Pearl" flickered and danced across the statue's body. But the statue seemed unfazed by the flames and lightning; its body only swayed slightly under the attack before it launched another attack.

This time, the statue spat out a beam of spiritual energy from its mouth, which hurtled towards the group like a cannonball. The experts from the Spirit Harmony Merchant Guild cast defensive spells, forming a spiritual energy shield around them. The spiritual energy shield collided with the beam of spiritual energy, emitting a dazzling light, and the powerful energy impact caused cracks to appear in the surrounding walls.

Lin Yang observed the statue's attack patterns from inside the shield and discovered that the runes on the statue would flash in a specific order before each attack. He quickly informed everyone of this discovery and said, "If we input spiritual power in reverse order of the flashing runes, we might be able to disrupt its attacks."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately sprang into action. The disciples of Wanbao Pavilion manipulated their magical artifacts, channeling spiritual energy into the statue in the order Lin Yang had instructed. The experts from Linghe Chamber of Commerce also cast auxiliary spells to enhance the effect of the spiritual energy.

As expected, when spiritual energy was input in a specific order, the runes on the statue flickered erratically, disrupting its attack rhythm. Taking advantage of this, the sword cultivators of the Spirit Sword Sect unleashed their strongest sword techniques, with streaks of sword energy shooting towards the statue like meteors.

Under the combined attack of the crowd, cracks appeared on the statue's body. With a loud bang, the statue collapsed, turning into a pile of rubble.

The group continued deeper into the ruins, passing through halls and arriving at a narrow passage. At intervals along the walls on either side of the passage were recessed niches containing objects that emitted light.

The experts from the Linghe Chamber of Commerce took out their detection magic weapons to examine the items. "These appear to be some low-level magic weapons and spiritual objects, but they may contain crucial clues," one of the experts said.

The group began to examine the items closely, hoping to find clues about the ruins' treasures and secrets. Just then, a deep roar suddenly came from the end of the passage, as if some powerful creature was awakening.

The group immediately became alert, gripping their weapons and magical artifacts tightly, and slowly made their way to the end of the passage. What powerful being awaited them, and what dangers lay ahead?