The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect heard the peak master Yi Deng and supreme elders' words but didn't understand what they meant. But Lin Mu on the other hand had an idea of what they were talking about.
"Seems like the Empire missed this one…" The supreme elder spoke.
"Indeed… looks like it will be the time to inform the sects and the empire after this." The peak master said in a cold tone.
Wu Hei and Lin Mu were now getting a bit anxious about their statements and had a bad feeling.
"What are you talking about elder?" Quan Hong questioned.
"Yes elder, what are these runes?" Fa Lao questioned.
"They are of an olden time, long before I was even born. It was a time of great strife, it was the time when the northern tribes invaded the empire." Peak master Yi Deng answered.
Fa Lao and Quan Hong had not expected to hear something like this. Even Wu Teng was a bit surprised, but not as much as them. He was once part of the vermilion legion and had thus worked at the pear's belt. Because of this, he knew the history of the Continent and what had happened back then.
"They are even older than I am… perhaps older than the entire Tri cauldron peony sect." The supreme elder added.
Hearing this, Yi Deng raised his brows in question. "Supreme elder, you mean… this is one of the original ruins of the Grand northern alliance?"
"I'm afraid, yes. I do not know how this one stayed hidden for so long though…" The supreme elder replied.
Hearing the words Grand northern alliance finally enlightened the two disciples, Quan Hong and Fa Lao. Even Qing Yuan Tiu showed an interested expression.
"It would not have been able to stay hidden for so long unless…" Yi Deng muttered.
~Shing~
"Unless it was hidden intentionally by someone," Fa Lao said before drawing his sword and pointing it towards Wu Hei and Wu Teng.
Quan Hong did the same and entered an offensive stance. Wu Hei was not fazed by this and maintained his composure. Wu Teng though had anger on his face.
"Where do you think you're pointing your swords? Lower them or you'll have no hands to do that." Wu Teng threatened without the fear of the two elders.
"YOU…" Fa Lao was about to pretest when the supreme elder interrupted.
"Stop! It cannot be them or the Wu clan. The Wu clan did not even exist that long ago and only came to power in the recent hundred years." The supreme elder spoke.
Fa Lao and Quan Hong lowered their swords but still felt a bit apprehensive.
"But if it wasn't the Wu clan then it must have been the predecessor, right? Which clan had authority over the Wu Lim city before them?" Quan Hong questioned.
Now, this was a question that interested even Lin Mu and he had wondered about it as well before.
"Before the Wu clan rose up under the influence of Wu Xun, the Zhen Clan was the one who had the city as one of their branches." Yi Deng answered.
'Zhen clan? Does he mean Wu Hei's mother Zhen Sui's clan?' Lin Mu wondered.
"The Zhen clan? But didn't most of them perish over the years? I remember reading that their clan was one of the clans that suffered the worst after the war. Are there even people left from that clan?" Fa Lao questioned.
"Of course there are…" Yi Deng replied.
Wu Teng seemed to be rather surprised by this, as his face showed it all.
"Mother…" He muttered.
"Madam Zhen Sui is the last remaining member of the Zhen clan as far as I know." Yi Deng confirmed.
Fa Lao gripped his sword handle again as he spoke, "but doesn't that mean that it still involves the Wu clan?"
"It is quite unlikely… even Zhen Sui hadn't been born back then. Only the former mayor Zhen Hao and his wife Zhen Mei were left. So if there was any chance, then those two are the only ones who could have been involved in it." The supreme elder explained.
"It cannot be…" Wu Teng muttered in shock.
"There is nothing we could have done. Grandfather and grandmother passed away soon after mother was born and she was raised by the servants of the clan. Even I only found out about these ruins after finding some old documents during my travels in earlier years." Wu Hei explained.
Seeing that the situation could get bad, Lin Mu decided to interrupt.
"I think we should complete what we have come here for, first. The other things can be discussed later." Lin Mu said in a calm tone.
"The boy is correct, we should follow the goal we came here for." The supreme elder agreed.
Fa Lao and Quan Hong nodded their heads to show their agreement as well, and all of them continued onward.
It didn't take them long to reach the tunnels, and they encountered the split there. They didn't have to guess which tunnel to choose as peak master Yi Deng easily scanned the area ahead with his spirit sense and chose the path.
"Supreme elder… it is as they said… there is a blood pool…" Yi Deng confirmed as his hands trembled slightly.
A stern look appeared on the supreme elder's face as he spoke, "I want to take a look with my own two eyes."
They thus chose the second fork in the tunnel and reached the location of the blood pool.
"Careful! There is inflammable gas here that is also toxic." Lin Mu warned.
"Humph!" Peak master Yi Deng harrumphed and waved his hand.
~Weng~
A pale white shield appeared in front of them and blocked the path that was in front of them. Yi Deng then flicked his finger and a small fireball shot forward.
~Zoom~
~BOOM~
The fireball traveled for a short distance before exploding and igniting all of the gas that was spread in the tunnel and in the chamber where the blood pool was located in.