Chen Tianlong and Wu ngting were currently standing inside a grand hall at the highest point of the mountain. The hall was magnificent, with a touch of ancient Greek architecture. It resembled a gigantic pavilion, supported by stone pillars all around. Beneath their feet were slabs of blue stone, and above, great eaves!
However, everything here was made of stone. It seed that this place used to be where the Ancient Sect gathered, practiced martial arts, or held significant events.
But now, everywhere was filled with ruins, with many fallen stone pillars. More than half of the hall’s roof had collapsed.
Yet, even so, it could not hide the grandiosity that was once here!
Standing inside this great hall, the terrain of the Southern District Mountain Range was within a clear view, although not very detailed, the general outline was clearly visible!
Chen Tianlong took out the map and started to determine their position and the direction of their destination by comparing it with the map!
"Wow, wow..."
Seemingly overwheld by the grandeur and magnificence of the hall, Wu ngting couldn’t help but exclaim.
"Haha, yes." Chen Tianlong was observing the terrain, but seeing the beauty laugh out loud, he turned back with a slight smile and said.
Chen Tianlong checked the position on the map and started searching.
The Southern District Mountain Range was vast, especially the upper range, which was boundless. This upper range should be the most prosperous area once, where the Ancient Sect’s disciples cultivated. But overnight, it turned into ruins.
Being able to establish a sect here was indeed a magnificent and admirable thing.
Although Chen Tianlong had decent eyesight, finding an exact location within this upper range wasn’t easy!
Since the map was sketchy, without specific coordinates or landmark buildings, it was rely a topographic map, which added a lot of difficulty for Chen Tianlong.
In a blink, a long ti passed, yet Shi Xiaohong and the others still hadn’t climbed the mountain, as they got lost.
Though not tall, the mountain was vast, and Shi Xiaohong and the gang didn’t know the way well, wandering around cluelessly.
After observing for a while, Wu ngting sighed, realizing that worrying wouldn’t help: "Let’s take a break, have so food?"
"You go ahead, I’ll keep looking, seems like I’m onto sothing!" Chen Tianlong said, "If we wait further, the sun will set. We must make good use of this ti."
"Alright, I’ll join you in searching!" Wu ngting saw that Chen Tianlong wasn’t eating, so she felt guilty eating alone, picked up the map, and continued the search.
With no choice, Chen Tianlong rushed to observe the terrain...
They ca here to see if the Wu Family left anything behind that could help Wu ngting uncover family secrets, like sothing valuable from her parents or hints if they were still alive.
Half an hour later, when Chen Tianlong moved his gaze from the farthest mountains to the nearest ones, he suddenly felt like crying...
Because Chen Tianlong abruptly discovered that the sketchy topography marked on the map precisely matched the terrain right under their feet... This gave Chen Tianlong a feeling of getting what he sought effortlessly!
Where is the way? The way is at your feet!
However, it wasn’t Chen Tianlong’s fault. Generally, when people stand on a mountain top searching for terrain, they start from the furthest visible point, narrowing the range, eventually seeing right before their eyes. By doing so, nothing gets overlooked.
But precisely due to the order, Chen Tianlong wasted half a day. The terrain shown on the map was right beneath his feet, leaving Chen Tianlong at a loss for words...
Seeing Chen Tianlong’s strange and speechless expression, Wu ngting was also a bit puzzled: "Chen Tianlong, what’s wrong?"
"The place indicated on the map is right under our feet..."
Chen Tianlong pointed at the depicted topography on the map and said.
"Right under our feet?" Wu ngting was stunned.
"Exactly, it’s the area atop the mountain!"
Chen Tianlong said, "Earlier, we were dazzled by this grand hall. Actually, if you remove the hall’s columns and the remnants of beams and roof, the blue stone floor beneath matches perfectly with this shape on the map?"
"Oh? Is this the main court of the Wu Family?"
Listening to Chen Tianlong, Wu ngting was shocked looking at the map in her hands. Unbeknownst to her, what Chen Tianlong said was indeed true. If you disregard the columns and ruins inside the hall, the shape of the floor beneath did match the map!
However, upon entering this mountaintop hall, everyone’s first impression was captivated by its grandeur, focusing on its majestic facade, overlooking the blue stone floor.
The shape ford by these blue stones, observed carefully, was irregular because the mountaintop naturally wasn’t regular. So, even though the hall was built regularly, the blue stones were not, covering the mountain top entirely!
And the shape of this area matched the shape on the map!
"So it is... It turned out to be this obvious... yet we overlooked it!" Wu ngting said with a bitter smile.
"I finally understand the saying, the most dangerous place is the safest. Here is a hall, a prominent place, while the marked Wu Family’s court is here on the map!" Chen Tianlong exclaid: "However, anyone coming here would unconsciously focus on this hall..."
"Indeed..."
Wu ngting said: "If you hadn’t reminded , I’d still be searching back and forth... Moreover, I was searching from near to far, yet even so, I ignored this hall beneath my feet and started from the mountain top down, expanding to the surroundings..."
Chen Tianlong nodded: "Since we have confird the location, let’s search for the exact spot with the detailed blueprint."
"Yes, the sky hasn’t completely darkened, we can still search for a while with the sunset’s afterglow." Chen Tianlong said, having a rough direction now.
It beca much easier to start searching again. Even though the map was crudely drawn, it could roughly determine the direction from the diagram...
Chen Tianlong and Wu ngting worked hard together, and soon they determined the approximate location on the map...
"ngting." Chen Tianlong called out to Wu ngting but found Wu ngting lazily sitting on the blue stone not far away, looking bored.
"Chen Tianlong..."
Wu ngting said weakly, possibly due to the fatigue from recent days.
"ngting, the location shown in the blueprint should be around here. Let’s continue searching to see if anything is hidden nearby?" Chen Tianlong said to ngting.
"Chen Tianlong!" Wu ngting suddenly noticed the blue stone on the ground was sowhat peculiar.
"What’s wrong, ngting?" Chen Tianlong was startled.
"Chen Tianlong, it seems there’s sothing strange here..." Wu ngting picked up a stick and tapped twice on it, then pointed to the blue stone beneath her feet.
"You an... there’s sothing here?" Chen Tianlong widened his eyes.
"Seems so!" Wu ngting said with a bitter smile, just following an inexplicable feeling.
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