Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Positioned at the city's core, the palace dominated the view, instantly catching the eye from afar with its magnificent stature.

The palace, weathered by time, still stood majestically even after thousands of years.

Lin An stood hesitantly before the stone doors, his uncertainty evident even with Shen Xiuzhe's reassuring presence beside him.

"Are we going into this palace?" Wushuangxue asked from behind.

Though she and Shen Xiuzhe were explorers accustomed to long treks in the wilderness, their understanding of ancient ruins might not match that of Lin An, who had always stayed in Chuxi City.

Explorers typically follow fixed routes in the wilderness, encountering familiar animals and plants along the way.

For off-beaten locations like Mous City, explorers would prepare thoroughly, understanding the entire ancient city before venturing in.

Their decision to visit this place was made en route, so their knowledge of Mous City was limited.

Lin An had come searching for his parents. Did he already know they were inside this palace?

Wushuangxue glanced around, sensing she had overlooked something, yet she couldn't recall what it was.

The arched stone door stood about five meters tall; they even had to crane their necks to see the top.

"How do we open this door?" Ouyang Dong asked while pushing against it with both hands.

The stone door remained unmoved.

Xu Fang looked up at the massive stone door: "This is a door made of stone, probably weighs tons. It's impossible to open it just by pushing."

"Then how do we get in?" Ouyang Dong wondered.

Everyone's gaze turned to Lin An, who, if anyone knew the way in, it would undoubtedly be him.

Lin An stared intently at the door. This was his first visit, but he had prepared for years.

He had memorized every book and piece of information about Mous City available on the market, even repeatedly going through the materials left by his parents.

His understanding of this ancient site was unparalleled. Although Mous City was shrouded in mystery with limited literature available, the information he had gathered was enough to trace his parents.

A faint mist began to gather around them, merging into clear streams of water.

The transparent streams seemed alive, flowing and swirling in mid-air.

Lin An, with a serious expression, controlled the water to wash over the stone door. As the thick dust wrapped in the water flowed down, revealing the true appearance of the door to everyone.

Beneath the dust, the door’s surface was covered in numerous intricate lines, intersecting, running parallel, converging, seemingly chaotic yet hinting at an underlying pattern.

Xu Fang realized, "So, brute force won't open the door. There's a mechanism involved."

These lines must be clues to the mechanism.

Lin An didn’t respond, or perhaps he was too engrossed in studying the lines on the door to hear anyone.

Soon, Lin An moved, walking to one side of the door and crouching down.

The others followed, with Xu Fang craning his neck to see a small hole at the edge of the ground near the door, its purpose unclear.

Lin An, crouched there, activated his ability, channeling water into the hole.

"Although the hole was small in diameter, it was quite deep; Lin An took a while to fill it with water."

"There was an identical hole on the other side of the stone door, and Lin An, following the same procedure, filled it with water as well."

"As the hole on this side filled up, the stone door rumbled and the heavy slabs slowly parted from the center."

"Wondering at the principle behind it, the group watched the stone doors open in amazement, sunlight gradually seeping in with the doors, revealing a corner of the mysterious palace."

"A cloud of dust rose as the stone doors opened, but the group was too captivated by the sight to care about the dust. The moment the doors opened, towering statues surrounded the vast hall. Ten statues, majestic and lifelike, in shades of greenish-gray, stood tall, their gazes fixed on the direction of the opening, as if looking through the annals of time at the newcomers."

"It was as if they were welcoming, yet merely silent observers."

"Inside the palace, three walls were adorned with bases over two meters high, carved with various patterns, upon which stood the stone figures, each different in posture and expression, yet equally imposing, guarding this ancient city forgotten by the world."

"Lin An and the others stood outside the door, looking up at the statues, a sense of indescribable awe enveloping them."

"The thick dust was stirred by the breeze brought in by the opening doors. Normally, Lin An would first clean such an environment with his water abilities, but the central space of the palace, aside from the statues on three sides, was as vast as a playground and would take a long time to clean."

"Despite previously hesitating, Lin An now stepped eagerly through the stone doors, setting aside his usual cleanliness compulsion."

"However, he was still enveloped in a layer of water, unbothered by the dust settling on him."

"The others followed him in, and while they were still marveling at the grandeur and intricacy of the statues, Xu Fang, looking around, suddenly asked, 'Why are these statues inside while that one stands alone outside?'"

"Although sentimental, he had little appreciation for such intricacies, wondering why the builders of the palace placed a statue outside when there was ample space within."

"It seemed so unfair."

"The outdoor statue, weathered and unrecognizable, contrasted with the ten indoor figures, which appeared untouched by time, maintaining their most complete forms."

"Ouyang Dong, observing Xu Fang's disinterested expression, murmured disdainfully that 'a boar can't appreciate fine bran'. These relics were rare, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime sight for them, yet he was indifferent, asking odd questions."

"'It's about status, I guess,' Shen Xiuzhe speculated. 'The outside statue wears armor, clearly a warrior, while those inside, some armed, seem more like city lords, judging by their attire and posture.'"

"Lin An nodded in agreement; indeed, this was the case. He even knew the names and stories of several of these figures."

"But that wasn't important now. Lin An's crimson eyes scanned the surroundings, from the arched corridors on both sides to the bases under the statues' feet, and finally the ground at the center of the hall."

"He inspected each area meticulously, as if searching for something."

“Brother An, why did pouring water into the holes beside the stone door open it?” Udo stepped closer, voicing the curiosity that had been on her mind since she had witnessed the event.

Glancing at Udo's curious face, Lin An lowered his gaze from his surroundings and handed her the leash he was holding.

Udo naturally accepted the leash; she often led Xiao Fu, so she didn't think much of it.

“Please take care of it,” Lin An smiled at Udo, his refined features momentarily startling her, despite her familiarity with his appearance.

Entrusting Xiao Fu to Udo, Lin An stepped back and approached the stone door, “Those two holes were vessels for holding blood during sacrifices.”

The people of Mous City, though they revered their own strength, also made offerings of human and animal blood to the heavens.

The containers at the bottom weren’t completely sealed, allowing the liquid inside to gradually decrease, and when it was completely drained, the stone door would close again.

However, there were corresponding containers on both sides of the stone door, so there was no worry about being trapped inside; pouring clear water had the same effect.

Lin An’s speech was still not very fluent, so he explained everything to the group as simply as possible.

His crisp, pleasant voice sounded especially ethereal in the vast hall; despite his lack of fluency, it didn’t hinder his companions from understanding.

Grandmother Wu always felt like she was forgetting something, but she couldn’t quite remember, her eyes wandering around with a hint of confusion.

What exactly had she forgotten?

After Lin An finished explaining how the stone door worked, he slowly walked towards the base of the statues.

Standing there, Lin An seemed particularly small compared to the two-meter-high base of the statue.

The bases, made of solid gray-green stone, were adorned with a multitude of carvings: animals, flowers, humans, insects...

Each stone featured carvings of a single type; animals surrounded a central flame, flowers encircled a tree, and humans formed a ring around a snake.

Lin An observed these carvings intently, his hand gently tracing the contours of the stone, his earnest demeanor making the others reluctant to disturb him.

Xiao Fu tilted its head, watching its master’s figure, wanting to approach but hindered by the leash around its neck.

“Be good, Xiao Fu, Brother An is busy. We’ll go over after he’s done,” Udo gently stroked the dog’s head.

The others couldn’t discern anything from the carvings and didn’t know what Lin An was searching for, so they decided to leave it to him and waited in the hall for him to discover something.

Udo noticed her grandmother’s furrowed brow and couldn’t help asking, “Grandma, what’s wrong?”

Grandmother Wu glanced at her granddaughter, pondering, "I feel like I've forgotten something. What was it? Right, I remember now, weren't we accompanying Lin An to find his parents? But there's nothing in this palace, no people at all."

Indeed, they had come to find Lin An's parents, but now there was no one, nor any bodies, in the palace.

Shen Xiuzhe even recalled that since entering the ancient city of Mous, apart from a few skeletons dating back decades or even a century, they hadn’t found any trace of the explorers who went missing fifteen years ago.

Even after entering the palace, they hadn’t seen any signs of those people.

Yet Lin An had headed here with a clear goal in mind, seemingly certain that what he was looking for was in this palace.

So, was Lin An hiding something from them?

Lin An, clearly hearing Grandmother Wu’s words, didn’t turn around; instead, his hands moved faster, tapping and searching.

Lin An now stood under the base closest to the wall, while they were scattered around the center of the hall, almost twenty meters apart.

Shen Xiuzhe squinted at the busy figure, his sense of foreboding growing stronger.

“Actually, I could, I could go... by myself.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“To, to Mous City.”

“How will you go there alone?”

“By walking, walking there.”

He remembered Lin An saying in Muling City, and even a few times afterwards, that he didn’t want to burden the others and intended to go to Mous City alone. He thought he had persuaded Lin An to abandon this idea, but now it seemed Lin An had just buried it in his heart.

Shen Xiuzhe strode towards Lin An, his brows furrowed, his aura intensifying with his displeasure, confusing those around him.

What’s gotten into the boss?

Lin An, without turning around, felt the approaching presence and the growing tension behind him.

His hands grew slightly frantic, yet moved faster.

“Click.”

"A barely noticeable sound emanated from beneath his hands."

"In the next second, under everyone's watchful eyes, the ground beneath Lin An vanished, and he plummeted down."

"Shen Xiuzhe, only a few meters from Lin An, saw the ground tiles disappear. His pupils constricted, and he dashed forward, embracing Lin An just as he fell."

"The last thing the others saw was a dark figure selflessly diving over and Lin An's startled profile as he turned his head."

"Boss!"

"Lin An!"

"Woof!"

"By the time they reached the spot, both had vanished, and the ground had returned to normal. Had they not witnessed it themselves, they wouldn’t have been able to locate the once-disappeared, now-reappeared tiles."