The High Priest glanced back at him. “If you don’t believe me, I can have Bai Luan take you back immediately.”
Feng Jiuyuan grinned mischievously upon hearing this. “Sure, you can send me and Huang Quan back together, and I’ll go.”
“What does it have to do with Quan Quan?” Nangong Min looked at him displeased.
Feng Jiuyuan glanced at him with a smile, then turned to the High Priest. “It’s just reasonable doubt, High Priest, no need to be angry.”
“I won’t get angry with ignorant people.”
Feng “Ignorant” Jiuyuan: “…”
Wasn’t this the serene and composed High Priest? Wasn’t he supposed to be above petty arguments?
“Whether it’s here or not, we’ll know once we follow the High Priest,” Mirror said, kicking Feng Jiuyuan with his foot. “Stop messing around, you’re annoying.”
Feng Jiuyuan clicked his tongue and said nothing more.
The High Priest recalled Bai Luan and led the group forward.
Nangong Min followed beside the High Priest, curious as they continued forward. “High Priest, since we’re still walking forward, why not ride Bai Luan over?”
Using Bai Luan would be faster, wouldn’t it?
“The site is in this area,” the High Priest said calmly. “But the entrance moves. If we ride Bai Luan forward, we might miss it.”
Upon hearing this explanation, Nangong Min understood. “I see.”
“This whole thing is strange,” Mirror said. “There are many beasts on this wasteland, and many people come here to capture and sell them. But no one has ever seen a site here before. Now suddenly there’s a site. It’s strange no matter how you look at it.”
Others didn’t say it, but Mirror’s words echoed their doubts.
“The location where the site appears is not something we can decide,” the High Priest’s voice was indifferent. “Especially for a site where the entrance moves.”
Mirror nodded after hearing this and didn’t speak further.
…
The wasteland was extremely hot, and there were many beasts. Although most of them retreated upon sensing the pressure deliberately released by the High Priest, there were always one or two who thought they could challenge fate and came forward seeking death.
“Boom!”
A native armored beast of the wasteland was knocked flying and crashed heavily tens of meters away.
Lin Xu looked at the beast, hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ll go retrieve the beast core of that armored beast.”
The armored beast that was knocked away was a tenth-level mystical beast. Lin Xu’s own beast was also a mystical beast, so he wanted to take the beast core to let his own beast absorb it.
The High Priest remained silent. Nangong Qingyue, aside from speaking when necessary over the past half month, didn’t utter a word otherwise.
Feng Jiuyuan and Mirror were not interested in such matters, and Nangong Min and Huang Quan didn’t comment either.
As the group watched Lin Xu run towards the armored beast, struggling to get up, Lin Xu subconsciously took two steps back when he saw it still moving. After confirming that the beast couldn’t get up, Lin Xu approached again.
Just as Lin Xu was about to extract the beast core, the scenery ahead suddenly distorted, as if space itself was being twisted at that moment.
Almost instantaneously with the distortion of space, Huang Quan grabbed Nangong Min, her eyes cold as she stared ahead.
The High Priest spoke, “Lin Xu, come back.”
With the spatial distortion came an extremely powerful surge of force. Lin Xu immediately looked towards it, and as he saw the distortion spreading rapidly, his face changed color. He abandoned the idea of retrieving the beast core and sprinted back at top speed.
The High Priest raised his hand to form a seal and said, “Stand behind me.”
Feng Jiuyuan didn’t hesitate and moved to stand behind him.
The others didn’t bother to comment on him and also moved to stand behind.
“Whoosh!”
Just as the barrier was erected, the distortion spread over, but this distortion was peculiar.
Normally, the force of spatial distortion would be lethal, but this distortion, though powerful, did not harm them. It seemed to tear open a path when encountering people, placing them within a already distorted and changed space.
The distortion spread quickly, passing in an instant. When they looked up again, the scene before them had completely changed.
Where was the wasteland now?
Before their eyes lay a city.
A very dilapidated city.
With crumbling walls, ruins strewn with swords and blades.
Despite its ruinous state, the scale of the buildings indicated that this city had once been grand and magnificent.
“Is this the site?” Feng Jiuyuan looked at the scene before him, his previously careless smile fading away.
The High Priest stared at the city before them, his expression becoming serious. “This isn’t on the outskirts.”
Upon hearing this, Mirror and the others were surprised, looking at the High Priest and asking, “What do you mean?”
The High Priest explained, “I’ve been to the outskirts before, and it didn’t look like this. We’ve entered directly into the inner area.”
Feng Jiuyuan asked, “Since the High Priest has never been to the inner area, how does he know this is the inner area?”
The High Priest glanced at him and then pulled out half of a map, tossing it to Feng Jiuyuan.
The map was torn and yellowed, but faintly visible on it were several locations. At the edge of the tear, there was half of a city wall inscribed with the character “洛” (luò).
Behind the character “洛”, there was a trace of the tear.
“I obtained this from a strange person,” the High Priest said expressionlessly. “It was torn during a scuffle. I’m not familiar with this place. He seemed to have been here for a long time. He took off with the other half and I couldn’t catch up.”
“Are there others here?” Lin Xu was shocked. “Wouldn’t that be very dangerous?”
Feng Jiuyuan, who had initially hidden his careless demeanor, heard Lin Xu’s words and revealed his previous smirk, mocking, “You make it sound like it wouldn’t be dangerous if there were no people here.”
Lin Xu didn’t look pleased with this retort, but due to Feng Jiuyuan’s status, he didn’t dare to argue back and could only silently endure.
Mirror looked at the city in front of him and said, “Since we’re here, regardless of the danger, I want to go in and take a look.”
“If we knew it was dangerous before coming, we wouldn’t shrink back just because of a little danger,” Feng Jiuyuan said, then strode forward.
“Wait a moment,” Huangquan called out as Feng Jiuyuan started walking ahead.
Feng Jiuyuan turned to look at her, smiling, “Huangquan, don’t you want me to go?”
This time, Huangquan didn’t argue with him and simply said, “Since we came together, I’ll remind you all. This city is very dangerous. Once you step inside, you might not be able to leave.”
Feng Jiuyuan smirked, “Isn’t there still the High Priest?”
“He can only protect himself.” Huangquan looked at the city ahead, observing the dense deathly aura swirling above it. “This is a dead city.”
Lin Xu commented, “With it being this ruined, of course it’s a dead city.”
Huangquan glanced at him, “A dead city isn’t determined by whether it’s in ruins or not. It means that once the city is breached, everyone inside dies. Whether defenders or invaders, they all perish in this city. Understand?”
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