Chapter 2236 — Right Beneath Our Feet

But to be snuffed out just like that, without warning—it always leaves one feeling that something is deeply amiss.

And the most terrifying part of all was that Qing Bo did not even know who the enemy had been! Did he truly not know, or did he simply not wish to say?

At this thought, Wei Zhao frowned slightly. Even if the Ancient Feng Family was relatively weak and the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect was relatively strong, one could not claim that the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect was capable of wiping out an ancient sect.

Never mind the ancient stratum—even in the hidden stratum, those hidden great clans wishing to suppress a single hidden Han Family found it nigh impossible. And yet an entire ancient sect had been exterminated?

What kind of power could possibly have brought that about? And more to the point, just how immense must the value of that treasure be, to drive men to annihilate an entire sect?

"This place... just from its outward appearance alone, you can tell how glorious it once was. I never imagined it would be reduced to ashes like this," Sun Jingyan said with a sigh.

"Didn't the Great Fire Lion say as much? Sects rise and fall in turn—that is simply the way of the world. There is nothing to lament," Wei Zhao consoled her.

Sun Jingyan nodded, and the two of them walked together through the sect's great gate. What met their eyes was ruin of every kind—houses, dwellings, palaces, all of them shattered and strewn about in utter disarray. Yet it did not quite look like the natural decay of neglect; after all, this sect had only been exterminated a little over a decade ago. How old was Qing Bo? How old was Sun Jingyan?

To fall into such ruin, it would have to have gone unrepaired for a hundred years at least.

But neither did it look like the destruction wrought by battle between two sides. Rather, it looked more like deliberate vandalism!

Yes—deliberate vandalism! Thinking back on all the devastation they had seen along the way up, Wei Zhao suddenly understood.

Qing Bo's sect had been exterminated on account of that treasure, but that treasure had been hidden away by that monstrous old lunatic of the Heaven Rank. So this band of robbers who came to wipe out the sect—naturally, in their search for that treasure, they would not leave a single corner untouched, ransacking every last spot. That the interior had been wrecked to such a degree was only to be expected!

They had not found what they sought, and smashing the buildings to rubble here would have suited their mood well enough.

At this moment, Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan were standing inside a great hall at the very summit of the mountain. The hall was majestic in bearing, carrying a touch of ancient Greek architectural style. It resembled an enormous pavilion, supported all around by stone columns, with slabs of bluestone paving underfoot and a vast eaves roof overhead.

Yet everything here was wrought of stone. Presumably, this had once been the place where this ancient sect gathered, drilled its martial arts, or held its grand ceremonies. But now there were broken walls and crumbling ruins everywhere, many of the stone columns toppled, and more than half of the hall's roof had caved in.

Even so, none of it could conceal the magnificent grandeur this place had once possessed!

Standing within this great hall, the terrain of the upper vein of the Ulonghot Mountains could be taken in at a single glance. Though one could not make out the fine details, the general contours could still be seen quite clearly.

Wei Zhao brought out the maps, giving one to Sun Jingyan and keeping one for himself. Comparing them against the landmarks on the map, they began to determine their current position and the direction of their destination.

Sun Jingyan had scanned and printed several copies of the map, so she and Wei Zhao each had one in hand.

"Oink, oink..." As if sensing the majesty and splendor of the great hall, the Heavenly Thunder Pig could not help but cry out.

"Quiet." Wei Zhao was busy studying the terrain; even if the Heavenly Thunder Pig was excited, he paid it no mind. "Go play by yourself somewhere else..."

"Oink, oink..." The Heavenly Thunder Pig sounded rather aggrieved.

Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan each took one side, comparing the landmarks on the map and beginning their search. The Ulonghot Mountains were vast, and the upper vein in particular stretched boundlessly. Presumably, this upper vein had once been the most flourishing region of the Ulonghot Mountains—these rolling green hills were where the disciples of this ancient sect had cultivated. Only, overnight, it had been reduced to ruins.

To be able to establish a sect here was indeed a great and enviable undertaking.

Although Wei Zhao's eyesight was rather keen, and Sun Jingyan had browsed the terrain of the Ulonghot Mountains online as well, pinpointing the exact location within this upper vein was still no easy task.

The map was drawn very crudely, with no specific coordinates or landmark structures—nothing but a terrain map. This made the search considerably more difficult for Wei Zhao.

In the blink of an eye, the sun had nearly set. Sun Jingyan sighed. It seemed that no matter how anxious she was, it was of no use. "Let's rest a while. Have something to eat?"

"You eat. I'll keep looking—I think I'm getting somewhere!" Wei Zhao said. "The sun will set if we wait any longer. I need to make good use of this time."

"All right then. I'll keep searching with you!" Seeing that Wei Zhao would not eat, Sun Jingyan felt embarrassed to eat alone, so she picked up her map and continued the search.

"I'm not eating because I can cultivate, but if you don't eat, won't you starve?" Wei Zhao looked at Sun Jingyan with a bitter smile. "You don't need to worry about me!"

"How could I do that? You're doing this to help me—how could I have the nerve to eat?" Sun Jingyan insisted.

Wei Zhao had no choice but to press on with surveying the terrain as quickly as he could...

Half an hour later, as Wei Zhao's gaze traveled from the farthest mountains to the nearest, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to weep...

For Wei Zhao abruptly realized that the rough terrain marked on the map matched exactly the terrain of the summit beneath their feet... It gave him the feeling of having searched everywhere in vain only to stumble upon it without any effort at all!

Where, then, was the road? The road was right beneath their feet!

Still, Wei Zhao could hardly be blamed. When an ordinary person stands atop a mountain searching for terrain features, they invariably begin from the farthest point their eyes can reach and work their way inward, narrowing the scope until at last they look to what lies before them—from far to near, so as not to overlook anything.

Yet precisely because of this order of things, Wei Zhao had wasted half a day for nothing. And the result... the terrain marked on the map was right beneath his feet. Wei Zhao did not know what to say.

Seeing Wei Zhao's strange expression, as though he wanted to speak but held back, Sun Jingyan found it rather odd. "Wei Zhao, what's wrong?"

"The place marked on this map is right beneath our feet..." Wei Zhao pointed at the terrain drawn on the map and said.

"Right beneath our feet?" Sun Jingyan was taken aback.

"That's right—this very stretch at the summit!" Wei Zhao said. "Earlier, this great hall before us bewitched our eyes. In truth, if you set aside the hall's columns and its collapsed roof and crumbling walls, and look only at the bluestone floor tiles beneath our feet—don't they match this shape exactly?" (To be continued) RQ

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