Chapter 59: Chapter 56: A Whole New World (Please Follow) _1
The girl’s eyes widened, carefully observing the patterns.
Within a moment, the patterns disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, she threw a stone onto the ground.
"Centred on the stone, within a radius of three feet, is a safe area devoid of Will Power Patterns," she declared.
Lu Yan asked, intrigued, "Can you decipher the Will Power Patterns?"
The girl’s background was far from simple. Even the Liu and Wu families couldn’t grasp these patterns, the exploration was a matter of life and death.
"Did you notice my eyes?" she asked, pointing to her autumn-water-like eyes. "I have trained in some special martial arts. My eyes are particularly sharp. Isn’t it normal that I can see through?"
I don’t buy it!
In his heart, Lu Yan was disdainful, but he said, "Coincidentally, I have also trained in special martial arts. These eyes of mine have X-ray vision."
"X-ray vision?"
She didn’t believe him. Pointing to her chest, she said, "I have a birthmark on my chest. Can you see it? What shape is it?"
Lu Yan scrutinised and replied, "Yes, I can see it. It’s big and round."
"Pah! You debauchee! I knew you were babbling. I don’t have a birthmark on my chest at all."
The girl sneered, then hopped onto the rock’s side. As expected, nothing unusual happened.
"Drip another drop of blood there," she pointed to another spot.
With a flick of Lu Yan’s hand, another drop of blood dropped onto the ground, revealing Will Power Patterns.
The patterns were invisible and undetectable to the naked eye without activation. Strangers who trespassed would be walking into deathtrap; the situation was indeed extremely dangerous.
The girl carefully observed, her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. After a while, she threw another stone and landed near the second stone.
Lu Yan followed suit, leaping onto the spot where the girl had previously landed.
"You’re a cautious one," the girl said, glancing at Lu Yan.
"In this world, for someone of my humble background, society is unfair. If I wasn’t cautious, I would have died long ago," Lu Yan replied with a faint smile.
The girl kept her silence, indicating for Lu Yan to drip another drop of his blood as she continued her observation of the Will Power Patterns.
Meanwhile, Lu Yan looked around.
The landing spot was closer to the sculptures on either side. When he looked at the sculptures, a throbbing pain in his brow hinted at a sense of impending danger.
This wasn’t his spiritual perception, rather, it was relayed from the Dao Book.
This was a warning for danger.
"Is the Dao Book giving a warning because the sculptures have a Will Power Pattern?" Lu Yan wondered.
Previously, the Dao Book didn’t warn him during times of danger. There was no warning earlier when he was at a distance; only when he got closer was there a warning. Most likely, the Dao Book could sense the Will Power Pattern.
"Does the Dao Book have a connection to these ancient ruins?" Lu Yan grew even more suspicious.
Because, within these ruins, the Dao Book was more active, and its sensitivity to Dao Food was more acute.
The Dao Food, on the other hand, mostly originated from these ruins.
Apart from the stone slab from Xiong Fang and the original sphere, whose origins were unknown but were very likely to have come from here.
Now, it could alert about Will Power Patterns.
With its involvement in so many aspects, Lu Yan couldn’t help but be even more curious.
Could it be that the Dao Book originated from here?
Looking at the bigger picture: these ruins existed since ancient times; is the Dao Book related to the ancient times too?
It seemed that he needed to learn more about the history before ancient times whenever he got the chance.
Pushing aside his stray thoughts, Lu Yan directed his attention towards the Dao Food.
Having come this far, he couldn’t leave empty-handed. How can he acquire Dao Food?
Got it!
Lu Yan retreated, broke off some rocks, re-entered the safe zone, and threw one at the Four-sided Copper Block held within the sculpture’s hand.
With a clank, the rock hit the copper block accurately.
But the copper block appeared to be embedded in the sculpture’s hand. The rock hit it but it did not fall.
However, Lu Yan noticed that it had noticeably loosened. He perked up and threw another rock, hitting the copper block a second time. This time, the block visibly loosened even more, trembling as though it was about to fall off.
The Scapegoat Girl found Lu Yan’s actions rather perplexing and asked, "What’s so special about this bronze block?"
"Nothing much, it’s just that I personally enjoy collecting antiques, and since I’ve come across it, I don’t want to miss it."
Lu Yan gave an excuse that he had prepared earlier, which was plausible and reasonable.
Although the girl was somewhat skeptical, she didn’t know what specific use the bronze chunk had, so she didn’t ask any more questions and continued observing the Will Power Pattern.
Lu Yan hurled several stones in succession, finally knocking the bronze block from the statue’s hand and onto the ground.
Swish!
Lu Yan threw another stone. It rebounded off the statue, hit the bronze block, and rolled towards Lu Yan before stopping about one meter away.
Lu Yan re-employed his trick, repeatedly throwing stones.
After throwing a dozen or so stones, the bronze block finally rolled into a safe area.
Lu Yan grabbed the bronze block, examined it carefully. It looked very similar to the two bronze blocks he had obtained before, with antique patterns on its surface. However, this one is slightly larger in size.
At present, it wasn’t time to let the Dao Book devour it. Lu Yan hid the bronze block on his person, then communicated with the Dao Book, observing the other statues and the altar.
Unfortunately, the Dao Book had no further reaction.
Some of the statues and altars had similar bronze antiques or primitive stone chips on them, but they didn’t whet the Dao Book’s ’appetite’.
Then, with the girl leading the way, half an hour later, as they approached an altar, Lu Yan threw a stone at a triangular copper block on the altar.
He still wanted to take it and examine it closely.
Soon, Lu Yan used the same method to grasp the triangular copper block and examined it closely.
Despite the triangular copper block looking very similar to the Four-sided Copper Block with its green-copper color and antique engravings, Lu Yan’s attempt to communicate with the Dao Book yielded no response.
"Is it because of energy?"
Lu Yan speculated.
Having held the Dao Book for so long, Lu Yan had long presupposed that whether the Dao Book was absorbing food or Dao Food, it was all because of its energy.
Regular food and Martial Food contain energy.
Martial Food is more efficient because it contains a better, or you could say, a higher level of energy.
The absorption of Dao Food is mostly because the Dao Food contains a certain kind of energy. This energy is much higher grade than that contained in Martial Food, especially suitable for the Dao Book.
"So, in this relic site, the reason why the Dao Book reacts to some items is that they still contain that energy, while other similar items have no reaction. Could it be that the energy has been lost over the long years?"
Lu Yan continued his speculation.
Of course, there was another possibility that they never contained energy in the first place.
Lu Yan was a little disappointed, but he still put on a show and stored the triangular copper block away, not making any further moves afterwards.
After another half an hour, they had traversed the cave, arrived at the deeper part, and found a sloping passage leading down.
They tested with blood, and found no traces of Will Power Patterns. Hence, the two followed the passage downwards.
The passage was steep and long. By the time they reached the end, they estimated they were over a hundred meters underground.
Upon reaching the end of the passage, their view widened to reveal a vast expanse of ancient buildings.
The altars, steles, pillars, statues...
They were several times larger than those above.
This was a subterranean space.
Beneath the mountain, there existed another world.
Especially a statue at the deepest part caught their eyes.
This statue, standing at least fifty meters tall, was majestic and magnificent. It could be seen from a great distance.
The other statues, compared to it, were like children paying their respects.
It was a peculiar statue with a bull’s head, human body, and a pair of large wings on its back, its body was covered in scales.
It was a strange creature that Lu Yan had never seen or heard about before.
Was it an Immortal God imagined by the ancients or did such a being exist in the past?
"This area seems to be more dangerous than the cave above."
Lu Yan thought to himself.
Just by observing this area, he felt a slight pain in his eyebrows as the Dao Book issued an extremely strong warning.
Lu Yan squeezed out a drop of blood and flung it forward; the ground immediately showed numerous dense Will Power Patterns, which seemed even more complex and eerie compared to those above. They moved as if they were alive, like numerous tiny snakes coiled together, giving anyone who glanced at them goosebumps.
The Scapegoat girl observed carefully, her eyebrows knitted together, and her beautiful face filled with seriousness.
"Before the earthquake, people often entered this forbidden area without hearing about any dangers. Could it be that the relics exposed on the surface have been worn down by time, erasing the Will Power Patterns?"
Lu Yan thought, believing it to be highly likely.
The buildings here, hidden within the mountains or deep underground, had not been exposed to the elements, thus preserving the Will Power Patterns.
The area being explored by the two feudal lords was the same.
While the girl was observing the Will Power Patterns, Lu Yan turned his gaze towards the statues, altars, and steles, anticipation flashing in his eyes.
As the Dao Book had a strong reaction of hunger.
There was plenty of Dao Food here.
