After the two formed an alliance, their relationship naturally changed from before, and Christian directly shared his speculation, suspecting that the Ant Beings Sacred Altar was hidden somewhere in the academy, in a place akin to a secret realm.
“The locations to focus on are two, the Purple Dew Garden Secret Realm and the Ant Being barrier. We can start searching from these two points. Your superb Enchantment ability is crucial, Sorcerer Ivan,” Christian said gravely.
“It might not be easy to search within the academy,” Ivan furrowed his brows slightly. If it had been that easy, he wouldn’t have needed to form an alliance.
“Don’t worry, I have been operating in the academy for so long, I will definitely create the right opportunity for you. As long as we find the Ant Beings Sacred Altar, we have a chance to turn things around,” Christian said.
Ivan nodded slightly; he knew the other party had reached the critical point of advancing to a Level 2 Sorcerer. Perhaps, finding the Ant Beings Sacred Altar could promote him to a Level 2 Sorcerer, and then he could have the strength to counterbalance the Three Great Families.
His goal was to find the Ant Beings’ secret vault, which did not conflict with the other’s goals. The other party becoming a Level 2 Sorcerer could also benefit the current situation.
“Alright, I’ll do my best when the time comes.”
“Haha, with a Senior Enchanter like you joining, we won’t worry about being unable to find the Ant Beings Sacred Altar.”
The two felt a sense of regret for meeting each other so late. Christian immediately promised to leverage his connections to seek a more precise location of the Night Forest Magic Stone Mine and would help him obtain more cultivation resources in the future.
The Ward family’s underground palace was vast, featuring various arrangements, including a family workshop, testing ground, plantation, and laboratory nursery, among others.
Unfortunately, they were late and didn’t find even a single hair.
When the two were about to finish their exploration, the glazed mirror in Christian’s hand suddenly reacted, causing both of them to express surprise on their faces.
Although their minds were not on exploring, they unexpectedly found something.
“Sorcerer Ivan, it’s up to you.”
“No problem.”
Ivan complied amiably. Ever since he learned the Multi-changing Star Runes Array, opening such protected chambers or secret realms had become his forte. His Five Leaves Spear mission was likely to involve similar kinds of investigation as well.
He stepped forward, placed his hand on the wall of this laboratory, perceived for a moment, then took out his rune brush and elements ink, and began drawing runes lines directly on the wall.
Soon, a simple runes bundle array formed.
Once activated, the runes lines flowed on the wall, making it undulate and revealing a pitch-dark passage that emanated a denser concentration of Shadow Particles.
Seeing his unorthodox approach, Christian secretly praised his choice; his confidence in finding the Ant Beings Sacred Altar increased.
“There might be some trickery; I’ll go in first to see what’s inside, you follow later.”
Christian didn’t hesitate and stepped into the pitch-dark passage. After reaching the dark room, the chamber automatically lit up with a ghastly green light, illuminating the surrounding area.
Ivan also entered the dark room and found that the room was filled with stone platforms, each bearing a coffin. The entire room contained nearly forty coffins, all of which showed signs of petrification.
The stone platforms and coffins were orderly arranged, surrounding a central stele.
“Lucky us, there’s a Twilight Stele here. We can take it back to complete our task,” Christian’s eyes brightened as he recognized the Twilight Stele before him.
This Twilight Stele was only two meters high and one meter wide, emanating an aura that made both feel uneasy.
Runes lines surrounded the stele, extending to the stone platforms around it, linking each platform and making the dark room look like a place of sacrifice. Read the latest on empire
“Can you recognize these runes?”
“They are just simple energy transfer runes, used to guide the power transmission from the stele.”
Hearing his question, Ivan carefully examined the runes lines on the ground and found they were not overly complex.
Christian nodded slightly; he recognized them too and felt more secure having the expertise of Ivan, a master Enchanter, for confirmation.
He lifted the lid of a coffin in front of him, inside lay a sorcerer who had been petrified, from the stone sculpture it was clear this person had suffered serious injuries.
“A person from the Ward family, likely they were sent here to be petrified at the brink of death or even after, could it be that they intended to revive their kin this way?”
“It’s also possible that it was in pursuit of exploring powers from an alien realm and thereby diving into that alien plane.”
Sorcerers are humans too, subject to their own desires, whether seeking power or striving for immortality, and conducting all sorts of bizarre experiments. The scene before them was not surprising.
It was merely a scheme for the Shadow Power that Christian had mentioned.
Both men were cautious, first checking to see if there were any hidden chambers around and any setups, then they lifted the remaining coffins one by one, finding nothing else but the petrified sorcerers; the Ward family hadn’t placed anything else in the coffins.
Their gaze settled on a small Twilight Stele in the middle.
“Sorcerer Ivan, cover me.”
With the dangers of the Twilight Stele still unknown, Christian showed the responsibility of a leader and didn’t delegate the task to Ivan; instead, he decided to personally handle the collection of the Twilight Stele.
This greatly increased Ivan’s favorable impression of him; he returned to the entrance, maintaining the smoothness of their entry and exit, ensuring that they could escape comfortably in the face of unmanageable danger.
When he approached the Twilight Stele, Christian held a shield and a Transfer Sealing scroll in his hands.
Upon touching the Twilight Stele, a dangerous aura burst forth.
The Stele erupted with a strange black gleam, the kind that seemed to devour everything, including light, but was blocked by the shield in Christian’s hands.
After suppressing the black gleam, he seized the moment to uproot the Twilight Stele and enclosed it within the Transfer Sealing scroll.
In that instant, the strange black gleam splashed everywhere, landing on the surrounding lampstands which immediately turned into white stone sculptures, the burning flames included.
Ivan, observing from not far away, was terrified, silently recognizing it as a horrendous power.
“Quite dangerous indeed,” Christian managed to seal the Twilight Stele safely.
“Nice shield.” Ivan, with his discerning eyes, recognized it as a high-level magicalized item, a rare presence in Moon Pincer Peninsula.
“Ha-ha, I put in quite a bit of effort to acquire it, I can’t even remember how many dangers it has shielded me from,” Christian said with a hint of pride, cherishing the shield greatly.
With the Stele safely in hand, the two left the chamber and headed outside the underground palace, planning to visit another of the Three Great Families’ residences to see if they could find another Twilight Stele.
After the two left, the previously silent chamber suddenly echoed with noises, a figure sat up from within a coffin, his petrified state swiftly receding, gradually returning to flesh and blood.
More figures began rising from their coffins.
“Damn it!”
“Kill them!”
As they stared at the pit left from the stolen Stele, the figures sitting in the coffins grimaced with rage, showing a strong inclination to jump up and chase after the grave robbers, but before they could stand, their flesh turned back into stone, leaving lively yet silent faces of anger and silently protesting everything before them.
After a few minutes, the lights around faded and the chamber plunged back into darkness.