Chapter 664 — All Things Have Changed
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
The officer beside Pi Yun immediately wore a strange expression and said with considerable helplessness, "Miss Tyr, didn't we agree you wouldn't eat in the unsampled areas? Even though the higher-ups have approved your eating here, at the very least don't interfere with our research..."
Tyr immediately waved her hands. "No trouble at all, no trouble at all—I only tasted a tiny, insignificant little bit. It definitely won't affect your work, right, Pi Yun?"
"As long as you don't eat in front of us—it would be harmful to my apprentices' mental health," Pi Yun glanced at this deep-sea salt fish, then turned back and continued gazing abstractedly at the giant bones and the twitching, writhing biological tissue. "...It really is hard to imagine how on earth they built this..."
"We found the place where this giant stag first appeared, and in the western region of Thorin Fort we discovered enormous rifts and caverns leading deep underground. There appears to be an ancient subterranean complex there, and this monster must have come to the surface from it," the accompanying officer said. "But conditions underground are too complex and dangerous; for now we cannot continue exploring."
Pi Yun mused for a moment, then nodded slightly. "...The nest of the Order of All Things' End is indeed located underground, but it is a place older and more complex than the Fortress of Defiance. You were right not to explore rashly."
As a former member of the Order of All Things' End, he actually knew of the existence of this underground facility—but only that it existed.
That mysterious subterranean complex was an ancient product, perhaps as old as the Fortress of Defiance, yet no one knew its true origin or purpose. The cultists of the Myriad Hells had built a complex "vine network" within it to connect the various regions and control the passages to the surface. Beyond that, they had set countless traps and hidden doors in the underground palace to repel any possible invasion—and all of these, like the magical keys for entering the palace, changed constantly.
That underground facility had likely suffered severe damage after the giant stag ran out of control, but a great many mechanisms and traps surely still remained.
Pi Yun had left the Order of All Things' End far too long ago; the intelligence he possessed was long outdated, and so he did not dare lead anyone to explore that place.
"Report the relevant intelligence. Matters of this sort are not for us to decide."
The accompanying officer lowered his head. "Yes, Master Pi Yun."
...
Jenny raised her head slightly. The wide brim of her sun hat shielded her from the fierce near-noon sunlight, and a breeze lifted strands of her white hair past her ear.
Beneath the bright daylight, the classical, solemn walls and towers of Holy Sunil shone brilliantly before her eyes. Banners fluttered atop the city walls, imposing soldiers stood at their posts, and the old streets, rich in the Ansu manner, stretched away under the sun—lined on both sides by weathered, uneven houses, filled with pedestrians hurrying to and fro.
The city of Xuanque seemed not to have changed much from when she had left it, yet it also seemed to have changed a great deal. A feeling both familiar and strange welled up in her heart, inevitably bringing a complicated look to the eyes of Cecil's chief runesmith.
An accompanying officer came to Jenny's side and stood at attention with a salute. "Master Jenny, will you be reporting directly to the Silver Bastion?"
In Cecil, all senior technical researchers and master artisans bore the title of "Master," and Jenny was among the very first to receive it.
"I'd like to go somewhere first," Jenny said, looking at the officer who bore a knight's insignia and smiling gently. "Please take the others on to the castle ahead of me."
"Yes, Master—I'll arrange your escort at once."