Kui Min and Yi Ju kept close to him, as did Tan Xin. In any case, they all felt that they would be safer together, and if they combined efforts, they might also be able to figure out more. In this way, the little hole in front of Yun Bei Fen was getting even bigger, but still, nothing could be seen. The four of them furrowed their brows, but considering how unreasonable Yang Wu Huang had been before, they didn’t say anything.

On the other hand, the six martial brothers were slowly investigating the smooth surface in the middle. Ran Wu and Nian Tao who had the lowest level had retreated to the edge and were slowly trying to find some clues from there. At the same time, Yang Wu Huang, Di Huan Bo, and Ao Jing had stuck their heads together, while Yuan Lei stood between them and Yun Bei Fen’s group to make sure that he would be able to reach the younger disciples if something happened.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t just do nothing and thus he focused on trying to find out more about the material below them. He used his spiritual energy to chip off a little of the material at the top and then looked it over, realizing that this seemed to be some kind of stone.

He furrowed his brows, not quite sure what to make of this. Touching the surface, this was something that a lot of time had probably been put into. Otherwise, it would never be this smooth. On the other hand, this was far away from the other spots that they had found, and he couldn’t find any obvious reason for it. Although … looking at this, he had a faint feeling of familiarity. This stone … he couldn’t quite place it, but he felt as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Not sure how to figure this out, Yuan Lei just started to chip away at the top a little more, trying to see if there was something he could gain from the inside. Unfortunately, there was just more stone beneath this stone.

He stopped and straightened up, his expression pensive. A round top and then leading further down. He tried to figure out just what kind of shape this was, and could only come up with some kind of platform. But what could that be used for? The first thing that would come to mind was some kind of array but there weren’t any lines engraved in this. And he also couldn’t feel anything from this that indicated that an array was created somewhere inside. So, that shouldn’t be it.

Thinking of arrays though, he felt that there had to be some kind of reason. So far, nothing that they had found had ever been without cause. They might not be able to figure it out, but there was definitely something there. A map of the Teng Yong Sect, the symbol of the Jian Chu Sect, an array to transport people, and a spirit gathering array, as well as an empty city. Where was the common denominator between all this? He tried to figure it out but he just couldn’t come up with anything. It felt somewhat disjointed as if all of this didn’t have anything to do with each other at all.

This kind of platform, maybe it could have been a part of that city but if it was just a platform, then that didn’t make much sense. And also, it was much too far away. On the other hand, there also wasn’t an array so it shouldn’t be linked to the one that Yang Wu Huang’s group had found the other day. Then, there also didn’t seem to be anything that tied this to the spirit gathering array. In short, he had no idea what this thing might be about. But he refused to believe that there was no deeper meaning to this.

Yuan Lei didn’t quite know what to do. He wished that there had been somebody he was able to discuss this with. Whether it was Mei Chao Bing or Song Mu, Liu Bao Ru, or even Gongsun Chen, he had always been able to bring up his doubts and have a calm discussion about it. But now, there were only Yang Wu Huang and the two following him, or the two junior martial brothers that were at least somewhat neutral, but their experiences also weren’t that deep so Yuan Lei really wasn’t sure what he would be able to get out of having this kind of discussion with them. Just looking at how they were currently squinting at the edge of this place, he figured that there probably wouldn’t be much to gain.

He sighed, and then squatted down again, trying a different approach. This time, he used his spiritual energy to drill down. The hole that he created wasn’t big, but it was enough to figure out whether there was anything different a few feet below the ground. The stone on top cracked a little, but Yuan Lei just took a step back as a safety measure and then continued. He didn’t know if it would make any kind of difference but this was the best thing he could try for now.

Soon enough, he had reached a depth where his spiritual energy was a little more difficult to control without damaging too much of the stone. But he was afraid that if he made a bigger hole, it would be difficult to cover up. And not covering it up … well, while that was an option, he didn’t think it was a good one. After all, if the demonic practitioners came to check on this place, it would immediately be discovered that they knew about this and might have found out something. That would only set them back again.

Thus, Yuan Lei focused even more and drilled further down. As a result, his energy suddenly shot straight down, having hit empty air.