The empty city was destroyed (5)
Xuanzhou is located in the northwest. Although it is not as cold as the northern continent all year round, it is still surrounded by wind and snow for most of the year.
Tianjin happened to be located in the heart of the blizzard.
This desolate city is shrouded in a gray-white snow curtain all year round. Its stone walls are towering and covered with a thick layer of ice, which gleams with a cold light in the wind and snow.
There were no guards or bonfires on the city walls of Tianjin. Only a few flags remained, frozen stiff by the wind and snow, barely maintaining their original appearance, silently telling the story of the city's past glory.
The woodcutters have all gone, and today Tianjin is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with steep cliffs rising straight into the sky, forming a natural barrier.
Its only entrance is a canyon on the east side, where the cold wind howls, making the canyon echo with mournful cries, as if warning those who come here to leave quickly.
But the newcomers did not back down. They gathered together, with the man at the front carrying a lantern and braving the wind and snow to clear a path for the four.
The lantern enveloped a cluster of flames, its warm orange light shining brightly in the dim, snowy wind, swaying only slightly even in the face of the howling storm. An invisible barrier formed around the lantern, enveloping the four people and protecting them from the wind and snow.
"How much further?" Ye Yingying asked.
“We’ll arrive once we pass through this area,” Wu Yue replied, her eyes fixed straight ahead, as if she could see the ancient city hidden in the snow curtain through the swirling snowflakes.
"This place looks rather eerie," Zhao Yuxiao said, shrinking his neck. The wind and snow obscured almost all of his vision, making him feel uneasy walking in such a place.
"Go back if you're scared."
“How could that be? I was just expressing my feelings.” Zhao Yuxiao retorted, looking at Wu Yue with some indignation, but seeing her tense expression, he fell silent for a moment.
The closer they got to Jincheng, the more persistent Wu Yue became. Ye Yingying saw this and then looked away, glancing at Yun Yanqiu carrying a lantern ahead, or more precisely, at the lantern he was carrying.
The lamp was a magical artifact that the Qi family had given to Yun Yanqiu. Before Ye Yingying and the others left Yuancheng, Qi Shuojun treated them to a meal at Zuijinlou. During the meal, Ye Yingying met Qi Shuojun's father, Qi Yuanzhen, the current head of the Qi family.
Qi Yuanzhen was extremely warm towards Yun Yanqiu, seemingly unconcerned that they had disrupted his son's wedding. He even offered them the Dinghan Lamp as a farewell gift when he learned they were going to Xuanzhou.
First he became a guest elder of the Lingyun Alliance, and now even the head of the Qi family treats him with utmost respect.
In Ye Yingying's opinion, if these people wanted to curry favor with a powerful expert, Yun Yanqiu's cultivation level after suppressing his spiritual power was only at the Golden Core stage, so it wasn't worth going to such lengths. If they were after his treasures, Yun Yanqiu's magical artifacts weren't worth all that effort.
After much thought, Ye Yingying suddenly realized that there was a side of Yun Yanqiu that she had never known before, a side that might have existed even before she met Yun Yanqiu.
Ye Yingying was somewhat curious, and a premonition swirled in her mind, reminding her to be extremely cautious about this matter.
Ghost Calculator, Rakshasa Jade, Lingyun Alliance Guest Elder... Ye Yingying vaguely sensed a connection between these things that she didn't quite understand. However, Yun Yanqiu had never brought it up to her, so she worried that probing would displease Yun Yanqiu.
She never imagined that one day she would worry about these things. Ye Yingying quietly raised her eyes and looked at Yun Yanqiu's profile, which was softly illuminated by the warm light, and unconsciously fell into it again.
“Strange…” Wu Yue’s voice suddenly rang out. She stopped and looked around in confusion. “This should be the place.”
The other three also stopped and looked around, but apart from the vast expanse of white snow, there was nothing there.
"Could it be that the snow was so heavy that the city was buried?" Zhao Yuxiao clasped his hands together, analyzing the situation with a serious expression.
"Let's look around the neighborhood."
After Yun Yanqiu spoke, everyone focused on him and began searching for clues in Jincheng. However, with snow falling heavily, they searched and searched but still found nothing.
"Could it be that he was really buried..." Ye Yingying couldn't help but start to doubt as well.
The group fell silent for a moment. If Jincheng was really buried under the snow, were they supposed to dig the ground up?
“Something’s not right.” Wu Yue frowned and said seriously, “Something’s not right.”
"What's wrong?" Zhao Yuxiao asked curiously.
Without a word, Wu Yue took out a divination herb, closed her eyes, and began to divine. After a moment, she opened her eyes, looked at the chaotic signs on it, and said with a serious expression, "We should already be inside the city."
They were all startled. The surrounding area was still covered in heavy snow, and they couldn't even see the city gate. Yet the divination results indicated that they were already in the city. The meaning of this was self-evident.
Zhao Yuxiao asked the three of them with some skepticism, "Is it an array?"
Yun Yanqiu nodded: "It's very likely an illusion array."
Unlike the sword formations in the Profound Realm, the illusion array has no specific key point; those trapped within it often find themselves spinning in place under the influence of illusions. However, this also means that the illusion array's range is not very large, and there must be an exit around the array.
After saying that, Yun Yanqiu took out four talismans and chanted silently, using his spiritual power to quickly draw runes on the paper.
He then handed three of them to Ye Yingying and the others, and instructed them: "The perception of spiritual power is easily distorted in the illusion array. Attach your divine sense to these spirit-detecting talismans and let them detect for you."
"Remember, the spiritual energy fluctuations at the exit are different from those around it. Find the place with the abnormal spiritual energy, and you will find the exit."
After hearing this, the group turned around and activated their spirit-detecting talismans to observe the surrounding spiritual energy.
The wind howled in her ears, but Ye Yingying focused her mind and used the talisman to continuously sense the silent and invisible spiritual energy in the air. The flow of spiritual energy was regular and steady, without any abnormalities.
She patiently slowed her breathing, scanning every inch of the talisman's path. Suddenly, a rapid fluctuation flashed by, and Ye Yingying's eyes widened abruptly as she concentrated, directing the talisman toward the unusual location.
Strangely, no matter how hard she searched, she could not sense that lightning-fast fluctuation again.
What's going on? Ye Yingying couldn't help but wonder. Just as she was about to bring it up, she heard Zhao Yuxiao exclaim joyfully, "Found it!"
The group all looked at him, only to see Zhao Yuxiao excitedly raise his hand: "There's a large mass of spiritual energy over there that's flowing much slower than the surrounding area!"
“Okay!” Wu Yue immediately walked in the direction he pointed.
"Wait! I also sensed a different fluctuation!" Ye Yingying said hurriedly. "Although it only appeared for a moment, it must be something."
These words silenced the group. A fleeting fluctuation of spiritual energy? They looked at Yun Yanqiu, wanting to hear his judgment.
"The illusion array has only one exit, and once it is formed, the exit remains stable..."
As Yun Yanqiu spoke, she pondered. Although it seemed that the one Zhao Yuxiao sensed was the exit, if that was the case, what would the fluctuations Ye Yingying sensed be? Someone else?
This city of Tianjin was deserted; they hadn't even seen a single living creature on their way here...
“Even if there are other people or beasts, the most urgent thing right now is to get out of the illusion array,” Wu Yue analyzed. “We’re too passive inside the array. Don’t you guys feel that even using spiritual power is a bit difficult right now?”
Wu Yue was right. The lantern that Yun Yanqiu was carrying was no longer as bright as before, and the longer they stayed in this formation, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.
The group decided to put aside the anomaly discovered by Ye Yingying for the time being and leave the illusion array according to the direction pointed out by Zhao Yuxiao.
The wind and snow continued to howl, and the closer they got to the location of that spiritual energy, the fiercer the wind became and the more rampant the blizzard became.
As the lantern's light gradually dimmed, the four of them quickened their pace.
Just as the light was about to dim, they saw a talisman hanging on the stone wall, faintly glowing.
“This is it!” Zhao Yuxiao affirmed. He approached the dark blue wall and withdrew his divine sense from the talisman.
Looking at the towering stone wall before him, Zhao Yuxiao swallowed hard and slowly reached out his hand. The instant his hand touched the wall, it passed right through it!
Zhao Yuxiao turned around in surprise and gestured, and Yun Yanqiu nodded in agreement: "It seems this is the place."
"Then I'll go first!"
Having received Yun Yanqiu's reply, Zhao Yuxiao excitedly crossed the stone wall and then fell silent, which was not what someone had expected.
"He didn't yell or scream over there?" Wu Yue raised an eyebrow, her eyes filled with suspicion.
"The inside and outside of the formation are separated, so it's normal that you can't hear it," Yun Yanqiu explained calmly, and then walked towards the stone wall.
Seeing that Yun Yanqiu had said so, Wu Yue followed suit and passed through the seemingly solid stone wall.
Finally, it was Ye Yingying's turn. She gazed at the vaguely twisted rock and reached out to probe it. The moment her right hand passed through the wall, an unnamed force, like a vortex, drew her body in, pulling her entirely within it.
Ye Yingying stepped onto the rock wall, when a blinding light suddenly forced her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she was not greeted by the ruins of a broken capital city, but by a vibrant and colorful street scene.
The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly, with waves of heat hitting her face, a stark contrast to the icy and snowy landscape she had just witnessed. Ye Yingying stared blankly around, the streets bustling with people, mud-brick houses standing side by side, and vendors in short-sleeved shirts hawking their wares.
The air was filled with the rich aroma of spices. Horses and camels laden with goods strolled leisurely down the street. White-haired old people sat under awnings to cool off, while barefoot children frolicked and played among the crowds, their laughter as clear as bells.
In the distance, a dazzling palace stands majestically at the end of the city's main road, its exterior walls inlaid with colorful glazed tiles that refract a dazzling light under the sun.
Everything was like a dream, an illusion. No, it was clearly an illusion.
Ye Yingying was shocked. Could it be that she was entering and exiting the formation in turn? Was the formation in Jincheng really so intricately linked?
But she had no time to think about it now, because Ye Yingying discovered that she had gotten separated from Yun Yanqiu and the others.
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