The Pilgrim's Path

Hong Yuan tapped her axe on the ground: "Agreed. Let's go, Chen Guan. Keep leading the way. I can't wait to see what kind of treasure is hidden in this crappy place that managed to disable the entire military radar system."

Chen Guan didn't say much. He turned around and continued walking into the depths of the blizzard, with the Black Panther closely following behind.

The team crossed the black boundary marker.

The moment they stepped past the line of the boundary marker, the howling of the wind and snow around them seemed to be isolated by some invisible force.

The fierce wind was still blowing and the snowflakes were still dancing, but the deafening roar had vanished.

Accompanying it was a dead silence that made people feel uncomfortable.

"The spatial characteristics have changed."

Yin Chen raised his short staff, its pale blue light becoming somewhat distorted in this place. "The magnetic field here has formed a semi-independent, enclosed domain. Everyone, try to stay close together."

Long Ao looked at the pitch-black night ahead, clenching his fists: "It seems the real journey has just begun."

Chen Guan walked at the very front, the gray energy within his body pulsing more and more evidently.

The Black Wind Civilization.

This ancient legacy related to him was finally about to reveal its true face.

"Why does this place feel like someone hit the mute button?" Hong Yuan shifted her double-edged axe to her other shoulder, looking around: "Even my own breathing sounds too loud to me."

Yin Chen walked in the middle. He lowered his short staff slightly. The pale blue frost shield was still maintained, but its light was noticeably dimmer than before.

An Changqing walked beside Su Yuehe, tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, his vigilant gaze scanning the surrounding darkness.

As the most anxious person in the team, he had to remain absolutely clear-headed right now.

"Yuehe, what changes are there in the magnetic field here?"

Su Yuehe held her tablet. The indicator light on the screen had completely gone out. It had nothing to do with the battery, because even the backup power supply couldn't be activated.

She could only store the tablet in her spatial storage and close her eyes to perceive the surrounding environment.

"The magnetic field is completely sealed. We should be in an independent spatial fold zone now. The wind and snow outside actually can't affect us anymore. We are walking on the true ruins passageway."

Chen Guan walked at the forefront, his pace remaining steady.

The severe cold and dead silence here did not exert any oppressive feeling on him; on the contrary, it gave him a long-lost sense of comfort.

The gray energy within him was like returning to its birthplace, joyfully flowing through his meridians.

The Black Panther followed closely by his feet, its tail swishing leisurely. It had clearly sensed its master's relaxation, and its previously bristling fur had smoothed out considerably.

"The ground beneath us has changed," Chen Guan stopped and said casually.

Everyone immediately stopped and looked down.

Without them knowing when, the thick snow under their feet had disappeared. Now they were stepping on a wide black stone paved road.

The surface of the stone slabs was covered in weathering marks, and some bizarre patterns were faintly visible.

Su Yuehe squatted down and reached out to touch those freezing stone slabs.

Her fingers slowly traced the depressions of the patterns, and her brows gradually furrowed.

Squatting on the ground, Su Yuehe carefully identified the indentations on the stone slabs by the faint blue light emitted from Yin Chen's shield.

"These aren't just weathering marks." She extended a finger, slowly tracing along a winding carved groove.

"Changqing, look here. These connected symbols are very similar to the arrangement of the incomplete coordinates from before."

An Changqing carrying his longsword walked to her side. In order to see those patterns clearly, he bent down slightly: "Can you decipher the specific meaning?"

"It's very difficult. Too much information is missing."

Su Yuehe shook her head and stood up. "But what can be confirmed is that this is a pilgrimage path. The text on the stone slabs carries a strong warning. The general idea is to require visitors to maintain reverence and not deviate half a step from this path."

"Not deviate half a step from the path?"

Hong Yuan carried her double-edged axe on her shoulder, looking down at the stone paved road under her feet which was only about three meters wide, and curled her lips in dissatisfaction: "In such a narrow place, if a real fight breaks out, my axe wouldn't even have room to swing. This rule is way too unreasonable."

Yin Chen stood to the side, holding his short staff steadily, maintaining that ice-blue barrier.

"Hong Yuan, please put away your simple mindset of solving everything with violence."

He said slowly, engaging in his daily retort: "In an unknown ancient ruin, following the master's rules is the first element of survival. If you want to try your luck in the darkness outside the stone path, I definitely won't stop you, but the moment you step out, I will shrink the range of the shield."

"You guy, you'd feel uncomfortable if you don't nitpick for a day, wouldn't you?" Hong Yuan glared, heavily planting her axe onto the stone slab, producing a dull thud.

"If we really run into danger, you'll still have to rely on me to tank in the front. What is there to be smug about for a mage who hides in the back throwing ice cubes?"

"Brute force isn't the only way to solve problems, especially when facing this kind of environment that defies common sense."

Yin Chen replied softly: "I'm just reminding you not to drag everyone down due to recklessness, and get yourself killed in the process."

"Alright, you two."

An Changqing helplessly massaged his forehead, stepping between them to interrupt their daily squabble: "Yuehe just made it very clear. This is a sacrificial passage. Everyone, tighten the formation. Long Ao, you bring up the rear. I'll walk beside Yuehe. Yin Chen, how much longer can the shield last?"

Yin Chen looked down at the frost crystal at the top of his staff: "Because the space here is completely sealed and there's no continuous impact from the wind and snow outside, the rate of spiritual energy drain has slowed down. At the current consumption rate, maintaining it for another four hours won't be a problem. However, I keep feeling like something in this darkness is watching us."

Long Ao walked at the very back of the team, his arms crossed over his chest, his sharp gaze scanning the dense darkness on both sides of the stone path.

"It's not an illusion."

His tone was certain: "The oppressive feeling in the air is increasing. Something is approaching. And there are quite a few of them."

As a man who had obtained a sixth-tier experience card, he was not the 'Prison Dragon' the livestream comments made him out to be.

Chen Guan walked at the forefront of the team, his footsteps still steady, unaffected by Long Ao's words.

The environment here might be oppressive to the others, but to him, the omnipresent aura of gray energy felt as intimate as a wanderer returning home.

The power within his body flowed smoothly through his meridians without him even needing to consciously mobilize it.