Chapter 2001: Chapter 2002: New Questions
Not a trap?
Feng Yuan was taken aback. Although Cotton wasn’t his spirit beast, he could barely guess the general idea from its gestures. This was interesting; if it wasn’t a trap, the place must certainly be an important location.
As for the matter of the vines, Feng Yuan had a vague feeling; perhaps it was just a coincidence? If his guess was correct, it was hard to say if soone had already gone inside.
Despite these thoughts, Feng Yuan didn’t directly voice them. After all, this matter seed trivial to him. Speaking up might influence Dou Yanlan and the others to practice the knowledge they had learned.
After a while, Dou Yanlan glanced at Feng Yuan and said to Qi Chen,
“Let’s go down to investigate. Cotton, recall your doppelganger. If it can safely return here, the danger shouldn’t be at the entrance.”
At this mont, Dou Yanlan seed to understand why, despite having summarized a lot of experience related to ancient ruins, exploring them was still an extrely dangerous activity. Was the academy reminding them to balance the pros and cons?
Perhaps that’s correct. After all, this Earth Maze was initially aid at outstanding third and fourth-year students. For them, there’s no need to remind them to be careful at every turn, because excessive caution would an missing out on many opportunities.
This Earth Maze was likely the final test. If one couldn’t balance the pros and cons, their future achievents would probably be limited. However, having all this in front of junior students could be troubleso.
During their period, to ensure safety, they would basically stay cautious unless the benefits were particularly astounding. But does this place truly hold such amazing benefits?
Dou Yanlan decided to explore not out of reckless adventure, but primarily because, with the help of Cotton’s spirit cat doppelganger, she had ruled out the possibility of dangerous traps near the entrance. Although there was still a very low risk, not taking any risks at all, even during their period, would an missing out on many things.
Feng Yuan did not oppose Dou Yanlan’s decision. No matter what was there, he wasn’t afraid. Besides, with him around, nothing major would happen. After all, the spirit beasts here varied greatly in strength, and even with the academy’s safety asures, not being cautious would pose risks.
This was also why many students beca more cautious. Previously, with the academy’s protection, they could seemingly analyze various dangers calmly. But once that protection was gone, many couldn’t avoid being affected.
Even Dou Yanlan was like that. If Feng Yuan weren’t present, Dou Yanlan might not have attempted an investigation but would have turned and left because she couldn’t guarantee that place wouldn’t produce formidable foes they couldn’t handle.
The group did not linger at the entrance. After making a decision, they headed towards the stairs. Compared to the passage, the stairway leading down was much narrower. Ah Mu even had to adjust his size to keep up with the group.
Losing Ah Mu’s combat power in such an environnt made Qi Chen a bit nervous, but fortunately, the Hao Chun Bird on his shoulder provided a sense of security. At that mont, he fully understood why most beast tars had at least one smaller beast.
Feng Yuan, however, was unconcerned as he followed at the back of the group. Despite being separated from Xiao Ji by Qi Chen and the others, he remained calm, for if any enemy dared to ambush him, it would be their misfortune.
However, their worries didn’t materialize. Until they reached the end of the stairs, nothing special happened.
“Hmm, it’s quite similar to the upper area.”
Surveying the cavern, Feng Yuan muttered. At the end of the stairs was a spacious cavern, appearing as if naturally ford, unlike the previously man-made passageways.
In contrast to Feng Yuan’s ease, Qi Chen and Dou Yanlan felt tense. Such wide-open spaces were typically ant for powerful spirit beasts to engage in free combat.
Otherwise, like the earlier passageway, the Xuan Turtle, while not unable to force its way through, would easily collapse the passageway due to its power if it fought inside.
To allow these mighty spirit beasts to fight freely, the academy usually placed them in more spacious areas. This beca a small thod to identify if formidable foes might appear.
However, this ti Dou Yanlan and the others only frightened themselves. As they advanced, they encountered no enemies. Instead, glowing green crystal stone pillars gradually appeared around them.
It was unclear what material these crystal stone pillars were made of. They were entirely transparent yet emitted a faint glow. Although they looked like standing stone pillars, the surface was not smooth, and upon closer inspection, they seed more like a pile of rocks stacked together.
If it weren’t for the seamless surface, one might suspect the academy had stacked glowing jade stones into these pillars.
Qi Chen frowned slightly and hesitantly said to Dou Yanlan,
“Yanlan, I feel like I’ve seen this before sowhere?”
“Indeed, but perhaps it’s sothing we’ve studied rather than seen?”
Rubbing her chin, Dou Yanlan examined the crystal stone pillars. Compared to Qi Chen, she vaguely felt that this familiarity stemd from their previous studies, and she was sure she had never seen these in person.
What is it?
Recollecting, Dou Yanlan exclaid in surprise,
“Energy stone pillars! No, crystalline energy pillars… Where did the academy get these from?”
Qi Chen looked at the crystal stone pillars in astonishnt. He hadn’t expected them to be such a special thing. Achieving crystallization ant there must be a very powerful energy source nearby, right?
“It seems to be life-type energy, I see…”
Raising her gaze to the cave ceiling, Dou Yanlan’s eyes seed to want to penetrate the thick rock layers. Though she didn’t know where the academy had obtained such a vast amount of life-type energy, its appearance seed to suggest a connection to the secrets of the Earth Maze.
Feng Yuan, examining the crystal stone pillars, said,
“Curious, what is the academy’s purpose in investing so much in this? Could it be that the Earth Maze originally belonged to so ancient ruins?”
For so reason, Feng Yuan had an inexplicable sense of foreboding. If it were sothing else, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the conditions for the formation of crystalline energy pillars were singular: there had to be a powerful, single-attribute energy source nearby, continuously releasing energy.
However, anything capable of this was undeniably a rare treasure. Maomu Academy wouldn’t waste it for a seldom-used Earth Maze, would they?
Could this treasure have existed here before the Earth Maze was constructed?
But that didn’t make sense. If so, why hadn’t Maomu Academy taken it away? Feng Yuan absolutely didn’t believe they lacked the capability to locate it.
While Feng Yuan was puzzled, Tamur floated over, circling him and said,
“Perhaps that thing cannot be moved.”
“Hmm, do you know what it is?”
Surprised, Feng Yuan glanced at Tamur, noticing signs of it turning into sothing of a mystic. Especially now, Tamur didn’t explain after speaking, rely flicking its tail and floating away, which only reinforced Feng Yuan’s impression of Tamur as mystical.
But he quickly stopped dwelling on it, as Qi Chen and the others were equally puzzled. Yet Qi Chen was more straightforward; he glanced at Dou Yanlan and said,
“Yanlan, since we can’t figure out why these crystal stone pillars appear here, why don’t we continue moving forward? The academy should be aware of this place. There might even be academy people stationed here, so should we… keep going?”
Even Qi Chen didn’t believe that the academy was truly unaware of this place. Otherwise, how to explain the stairs? Since the academy knows, it’s obviously impossible for such an important area to lack dedicated oversight.
Precisely because of this, Qi Chen considered going ahead and exploring. Standing still for analysis wouldn’t necessarily yield the truth.
Surprised, Dou Yanlan looked at Qi Chen, nodded with a smile, and said,
“That’s right, since we’re curious, personally uncovering the truth might be the best approach.”
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