"The trick here lies in the special quicksand. Although the ground seems solid, it’s actually just a thin stone shell. To pass over it, the easiest way is to let Veronia and the others construct a hovering passage. Otherwise, a special key is needed to halt the quicksand’s flow."
With preparations complete, Feng Yuan began explaining the trap at the door to everyone. Despite the stone house looking sturdy, underneath it lies the constantly moving special quicksand. Influenced by a unique power, the sand keeps shifting, taking the stone columns inside with it.
Though Feng Yuan wasn’t sure of the purpose of the patterns engraved on the stone columns, he was certain that holding them with Divine Sense wasn’t an option. After all, these suspected array patterns might be in a dynamic balance; forcefully stopping them could break it and cause unpredictable changes.
"But they can’t stay with us indefinitely for research. What if we use a bridging thod?"
One of the archaeologists looked at Feng Yuan and asked. Powerful as the Divine Beasts are, they can’t just keep them stationed here. Getting their aid this ti already took considerable effort.
After so thought, Feng Yuan shook his head and said,
"Probably not. There’s a special gravitational influence on top. A normal floating bridge, even maintained by a Legendary Level Spirit Beast, would struggle. That power might be related to Kastantos’s Rock Peak."
"It’s a pity. If only we knew what the key was, perhaps we could pass safely with it."
Upon hearing Feng Yuan’s words, the expert sighed helplessly. When it cos to powers of ancient civilizations, the capabilities of ordinary Spirit Beasts are limited, especially against their energy disruptions, which ancient civilizations’ powers clearly surpass.
However, if that’s the case, they may need to complete the vault’s investigation quickly. If not, once the Divine Beasts leave, the investigation might have to halt.
"As for the key, it might be traceable, but Agunas’s help is needed. For now, let’s go inside and take a look."
Glancing at Veronia, Feng Yuan smiled and said. Understanding his intention, she imdiately used the Divine Beast intelligence network to contact Agunas, though she was puzzled why Agunas was needed. Was it because of their better relationship?
"For now, we’ll just use Ti Projection temporarily."
Saying this, Feng Yuan drew out an unusually shaped emblem, which surprised Veronia upon seeing the yellow-brown tallic badge, exclaiming,
"Is this the Mountain Pattern? Does this vault have sothing to do with Kastantos?"
"Probably just borrowed Kastantos’s Rock Peak’s power, as the Golden Feather Dynasty and Tianpan Nation are quite far apart in terms of eras."
Shaking his head, Feng Yuan said, though recognizing the continuity in the patterns between this and the fake Starstone, he wasn’t sure of their precise classification.
"Mountain Pattern? What’s the story behind this Mountain Pattern?"
While Feng Yuan didn’t care much, the archaeologist next to him wouldn’t let it slide. Ancient civilizations are different from existing ones, having been partitioned into inaccessible eras. Previously, they could only rely on leftover fragnts to understand that era’s civilization.
Now, having it explained by Divine Beasts from that ti is certainly more reliable than their own guesses. It’s a fact that research on ancient civilizations didn’t start recently. In fact, it dates back to the mid or even early Dynasty Era.
Yet, compared to modern tis, the information lockdown of that era led to missed opportunities for analysis due to mutual secrecy, inhibiting shared insights required for answers.
Still, they left precious research materials for future generations, although these alone couldn’t provide an exact understanding of ancient civilizations.
Veronia glanced at Feng Yuan and thought for a mont before saying,
"I don’t know much about the Mountain Pattern either. After all, it’s decorative. We Mitradites have our sacred patterns, so why bother learning about theirs?"
If it had a functional role, perhaps it would be different, but cultural rituals don’t seem necessary to understand. It serves no purpose for them.
"Just a decorative pattern?"
The archaeologist was montarily surprised, but then Veronia looked at the pattern in Feng Yuan’s hand and said,
"It’s only used for decorations since the Mountain Pattern can’t form a functional route. That’s why it’s rely decorative, and among Kastantos’s patterns, it’s the more visually appealing type."
Upon Veronia’s explanation, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the emblem Feng Yuan held. The patterns on it were indeed beautiful, but how did the Golden Feather Dynasty master the Mountain Pattern? This question puzzled them all. The expert, having thought of sothing, asked again,
"Have you found other carvings with Mountain Patterns in this ruin?"
"No, the architecture here prioritizes practicality over including such pointless decorative designs."
Veronia replied without hesitation. The Mountain Pattern’s decorative nature made it quite distinguishable from other patterns. If she’d seen any before, she’d recognize it instantly, but she hadn’t co across any prior usage of it as decoration.
"Does this an the Mountain Pattern only appeared during the Golden Feather Dynasty? But that’s unlikely. If that’s truly the case, then..."
The archaeology team pondered over the unanswered query but didn’t dwell further. By this ti, Feng Yuan was ready to unlock the vault. Qi Chen watched Feng Yuan with exasperation and said,
"If you had the key, why didn’t you say so earlier?"
"Having the key doesn’t ensure safety. At best, it’s relatively less dangerous. The interconnected chanisms at the entrance might change if they’re disturbed, so I preferred not to risk it."
Rolling his eyes, Feng Yuan replied irritably. The key he held was a fake one projected through Ti Projection by the White Wolf Deity. If this vault had special identification thods, it might cause problems.
However, Feng Yuan wasn’t particularly concerned. Even if the fake key wasn’t discovered, forcefully passing overhead could still trigger changes.
With this in mind, Feng Yuan placed the key before a gemstone eye. A particular force acted upon the emblem, yet Feng Yuan’s worries didn’t materialize. That force didn’t recognize it as fake.
Under Feng Yuan’s Divine Sense, the flowing sands gradually halted, and a special power emitted by the stone columns ford a unique path extending toward the door. This scene didn’t surprise him; he had predicted this outco.
Using just a key isn’t entirely safe. Testing the lit pathway, Feng Yuan confird that advancing required following the illuminated path; otherwise, problems would arise.
"Don’t you need to take back the key?"
Seeing the emblem still hovering in front of the gemstone eye, Veronia halted Feng Yuan, who was requesting Crystal Stone Powder from nearby soldiers, and asked. The other shook his head and said helplessly,
"It can’t be removed. There’s more than one key here, and who knows what they’re thinking."
Though Ti Projection can forcibly extract items from the temporal flow, the related information is absent. Feng Yuan knows there are other keys, but unlike the emblem key, the internal keys look similar, and he doesn’t dare try them at random.
"Multiple keys? Aren’t they worried about losing them?"
Montarily stunned, Veronia remarked with a strange expression, not expecting this vault to be locked with multiple keys, but what’s the point of it? Was it just to prevent the vault from being robbed due to a lost key?
But if unguarded, wouldn’t it have been possible to force entry during the Dynasty Era using sheer manpower?
"No idea, but the internal chanisms are more complex. We’ll probably have to find a way to disable them."
Shaking his head, Feng Yuan responded helplessly. Ideally, preserving the vault without damage would be best, but considering that the archaeology team alone would research here afterward, leaving dangerous elents may risk unforeseen incidents.
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