Lan had been staying in Xue Wei's home world for more than ten thousand years, and he had also witnessed the decline of the four divine beast clans.
As he looked around the temple-like palace in front of him, he could not help but frown.
He knew that the four divine beast clans were the Azure Dragon Clan, the Vermilion Bird Clan, the White Tiger Clan, and the Black Turtle Clan.
The Black Turtle Clan had always been very mysterious and withdrawn. They resided within a mountain range, on a continent that was hard to approach, and they did not try to get involved in mundane affairs.
He had encountered them very few times throughout his years as the Sovereign of the world, but he did not know what connection they had with the Ghost Realm.
Looking around, although the other three divine beast clans were also portrayed, they did not even add up to half as many patterns and designs as the ones depicting the Black Turtle Clan.
"This is quite intriguing."
Lan could not help but mutter to himself as he slowly stroked a piece of the wall in front of him. The material was soft to the touch, shimmering slightly in the dim light, but it was clearly abandoned for many years and was not kept well maintained.
Xue Wei also felt perplexed. He understood that this was something that even Lan had no knowledge of previously, but there was no doubt that it was connected to him.
He was the son of the Holy Maiden, and he had the bloodline of the Black Turtle within his body, although it was still not activated.
Even so, he could feel the power coursing through his veins, and felt a strange excitement as he looked around.
Lan was also sensing a special power within these forgotten buildings. Unlike Xue Wei's uncertainty, he knew that the trait of the energy that he could sense belonged to the element of faith, and it had baptized the whole forgotten city with its might.
From the look of the buildings, they had been abandoned for many years, most likely even more than the years Lan had spent waiting to be reunited with Mo Lian, but the energy of faith was still lingering behind, showing how powerful and frightening the amount of faith had been when it was still in use.
Such an amount of faith was only possible if the whole realm had worshipped the ones living here, and they had to be sincere in their belief.
Lan and Xue Wei were not walking together. Although they understood the severity of splitting up, they were willing to take the risk as they each had their own goals now that they had arrived.
Xue Wei wished to find a connection to his bloodline, while Lan was contemplating if there was some sort of token which had gathered all the power of faith, and he would gladly take it away to absorb it for himself.
The power was long lost, and it did not have an owner, so even if Lan did not consume it, it would merely dissipate throughout the passing of time, so he did not feel any mental resistance to take away such potent power.
Xue Wei stepped through the open gate that let one enter the forgotten city. The gates had been left open, but there were no signs of struggle or battle.
The buildings were not taken care of, but due to the quality of the materials used, it was also able to withstand most of the time that had passed, and only a few of them seemed to be unstable.
Although it was a palace, it resembled a small city more than anything. Streets were leading to different parts of the palace, and from his estimation, there seemed to be hundreds of buildings within the palace walls.
He did not spend much time admiring the beautiful scenery or the overgrown gardens. Instead, he walked steadily towards the very center of the forgotten city.
Here, he found a big pagoda that was towering into the sky. Where all the other buildings within the palace were made from the beautiful pearl-like material, this pagoda was built with some sort of black stone.
Even the white pearl-like material would display a certain degree of lack of care, but this black pagoda was full of an overwhelming aura, and there was not even the slightest spec of dust on the walls that shone with a black lustre.
The doors to the pagoda were closed. They were made from a very heavy kind of iron, and it had been adorned with two great black tortoises that seemed to judge anyone who went close.
Xue Wei looked at those two life-like tortoises, but he seemed to feel that what was needed to enter the pagoda was the bloodline of the Black Turtle.
He had no logical reason for this assumption, it was merely a thought that suddenly appeared in his mind, and he stepped forward to put his hand on the gates.
If he would have been required to use brute force to open the doors, he was not likely to succeed, but if he could enter with the help of his bloodline, then he wished to give it a try.
As his hand touched the door, a sharp gleam of light lit up the whole palace. The light came from the very top of the pagoda, and it gently fell on the palace as a protective layer.
Xue Wei was stunned upon witnessing this, but he did not have much time to consider the meaning, as he felt a suction force acting against his body, and everything went black.
He felt as if the world was spinning, and he lost connection to all his senses, but shortly after, he was able to adjust himself and look around.