Chapter 781: Ancient Map
After leaving the solarium, Sage went to the other site hed found on that ancient map. The last time he was here, a terrible roar had knocked his dragonfly out of the sky and sent it tumbling to the ground. At that time, he stood no chance against the beast and fled as quickly as possible. This time, the Red Comet circled around the location while he glanced down from above. Sure enough, a powerful soundwave rippled through the sky and caused the Red Comet to shake.
Unfortunately, for the beast, this shake wasnt even able to alter the course of the Red Comet let alone make it crash to the ground. Even so, the canoe shaped leaf tilted and aimed toward the ground. It shot downwards into a rapid dive, coming to a stop just a dozen feet from the ground. Sage leapt off and Red Comet disappeared into the Universe Ring. He landed lightly and ran towards the beast that was the source of his prior misery and this newest attack against him.
It was the same monster that he had fled from in terror in the past, a black furred tiger the size of a dumptruck. It was an impressively large beast, and a close call in the past. The tiger roared once again and a vicious glint flashed in its eyes when it saw him coming towards it. It dashed towards him and lifted its front paw, but at that instant, Sage flooded the area with law power and it froze with fright. A jade aura sprang up around Sages body and a portion of it shot out from his wrist as he passed by the paralyzed tiger. Blood shot into the air and it let out a pained noise.
The pagodas were the only stone structure. The ground they were built on was a gigantic stone octagon, one that was covered with array symbols which formed an immense formation. Even more surprising were that the eight pagodas were part of the formation and their destruction had led to the failure of the Formation Array. From the scale of things, Sage recognized that this must have been the sect protecting formation of the Violent Sun Sect. With this observation he spent even more time collecting as much evidence as possible in the hopes of recreating the array. There was no telling how powerful this ancient array might have been, but the great scope and unique materials meant that its construction was certainly a great undertaking. Such an expenditure would certainly have a great result, right?
While he was still undecided on whether or not he wanted to slice the whole thing up and send the whole sect's ruin into the Inner World, he found a hole in the ground at the center of all the pagodas. The hole turned out to be a huge circular stairway, but the stones had been shattered and destroyed in such a way that the area was almost evenly flattened. It was only after he had examined and recorded the whole formation that he realized that spot in the center was not a part of the array and he started to remove the tightly fitted stone debris. It definitely seemed that someone closed this place up on purpose and it was only after he cleared half of the mess that he discovered a probable reason.
Using a jade energy blade he sliced a large rock in half. Then it rose up out of the ground towards him, like there was something behind it giving it a push. Sage hopped back, blinking his eyes and activating Foresight to prepare for danger. What he saw surprised him and he walked forward nonchalantly. There was nothing behind the stone but a heavy gust of wind. Once he compromised the strength of the stone it was naturally pushed aside by the air pressure from behind it. Sage felt like he was standing in front of a wind tunnel, the air escaping from this small hole was quite impressive. Back in the Soul Taming Abode hed spent most of his time recording old maps so he didnt really find much information about this ancient sect. From what he knew of the Cultivator world, they built their settlements upon precious resources. When those resources dried up, they moved away. Given the remoteness of this location, there was also the possibility that this sect was destroyed by its enemies and the resource was not precious enough for anyone else to care. This certainly wasnt an uncommon occurrence in the cultivating world as there were many things that most considered trash, but to some were treasures. It was just like the poison miasma from Icefire Valley, others struggled desperately to survive it, but it was a holy ground for Seething Purple Cobras and helped them reach tier 6.
After testing to be sure there was nothing wrong with the powerful wind blowing out, Sage kept his Foresight active and pushed through the forceful wind to descend the staircase.