High above a massive valley that stretched tens of thousands of miles across, Yang Kai and Yang Yan hovered in the air, gazing down at the churning, abnormally thick waves of yin-cold energy below. Both furrowed their brows.
Even without plunging into it, Yang Kai could tell that this yin-cold energy would not be easy to resist. Every so often, the faint sound of howling wind drifted up from below—eerie, like the wailing of ghosts—and it sent a chill down one's spine.
"Are you sure it's here?" Yang Kai observed for a moment, then turned his head toward Yang Yan.
"I am. I don't know the exact location, but when I pieced these two fragment maps together, the path they point to leads right here." Yang Yan looked left and right at the two tattered map fragments in her hands, her tone firm.
"That could be troublesome," Yang Kai muttered, frowning.
The reason he had brought Yang Yan along on this trip was precisely because of these two fragment maps. One had always been in Yang Yan's possession—he had never asked where she got it—and the other was the one that had appeared at the Tianyun City auction. He had obtained it after killing a Quehe Sect disciple named Meng Hongliang in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.
Pieced together, the two fragments still didn't yield a precise clue, but they did reveal something.
Map fragments that were obviously ancient like these always concealed some secret. Once the location they pointed to was found, the rewards could be immense. With Dragon Cave Mountain's finances running dry and Yang Kai forbidding Yang Yan from auctioning off any more Artifacts, she had seized the opportunity of the trip to the Liuli Gate to come along and search for the spot indicated on the maps—hoping she might get incredibly lucky and solve their current predicament.
After finishing their inspection of the Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass that the Stone Puppet had consumed, the two had set off immediately toward this place. It had taken them a full ten days to finally arrive above this enormous valley. One could call it a valley because at its edges, there were indeed connected mountain ranges forming a ring around the area. But a valley this vast, spanning such an enormous territory—this was the first time Yang Kai had ever seen anything like it.
At first glance, it looked as though some powerful expert had hammered the earth downward by sheer force, causing it to sink in. The yin-cold energy radiating from within was deeply unsettling. If the outskirts alone were like this, one could only imagine what horrors lurked inside.
"Do you have any idea what this place is?" Yang Kai asked again. If it were just him alone, he wouldn't fear anything. But with Yang Yan beside him, even though her self-preservation abilities were exceptional, he would have no way to split off and rescue her if they encountered real danger.
"No idea. The Dark Star is enormous—how could I possibly know every place? But judging by the fact that there's not a soul within a million miles, it doesn't seem like a good place." Yang Yan shook her head.
Yang Kai felt quite helpless. Whether it was a good or bad place was plain enough to see at a glance—there was no need for Yang Yan to point it out.
Finding anyone to ask about the situation was out of the question anyway. They hadn't seen a trace of human habitation since passing through a small town five or six days ago.
"Well, we're already here, so let's go in and have a look. Whether we can find the exact spot the maps point to is uncertain. I just don't want to have wasted these two fragments." Yang Yan, seeing Yang Kai's hesitant expression, couldn't help urging him on.
Yang Kai glanced at her, then deliberated before nodding. "Fine! But you stay close to me. Don't stray more than ten feet away."
"I know, I know!" Yang Yan stuck out her tongue and drew her black robe tighter around herself.
Without further hesitation, the two descended into the valley.
The moment they entered, the dense yin-cold energy surged toward them from every direction, making Yang Yan shudder involuntarily. But in the next instant, scorching fire-element sacred energy erupted from within her body, dispersing the cold and restoring her to normal.
Yang Kai, naturally, paid no mind to the yin-cold energy. His physical body was more than strong enough to withstand such an assault.
Looking around, the landscape was desolate and barren. There were hardly any trees to be seen, and the occasional clumps of grass that grew here all radiated yin-cold energy, their blackened forms ugly to behold. At their ears, the howling wind—like the shrieks of ghosts and wolves—grew ever louder. Gale-force gusts swept in from the distance, passing over their bodies and strangely carrying a chill that seemed to strike directly at the soul, impossible to guard against.
"Let's go," Yang Kai called out, leading Yang Yan forward into the depths. Along the way, aside from the thoroughly uncomfortable environment and the occasional violent gust of wind, they encountered no dangers whatsoever. This surprised Yang Kai considerably, but he was happy enough with it.
A day later, the two had penetrated three thousand miles deep into the valley. Now they stood before a set of collapsed ruins, somewhat dazed.
There had once been some kind of structure here, but at some unknown point in the past it had crumbled. The merciless passage of time had reduced it to mere remnants, and the howling wind had worn smooth every edge and corner, turning each broken stone into a surface as polished as a mirror.
"Oh!" Yang Yan suddenly seemed to notice something. She darted forward a few steps, rushed to the ruins, and began circling around a particular spot.