The Prodigal Son

Before long, Ning Huang returned to their side.

"There were indeed two similar altars, but they were both destroyed."

Ninghuang's investigation confirmed their suspicions.

But this discovery also threw them into disarray.

The ancestors of the Wind Clan actually worshipped the hot spring?

Surely they weren't worshipping that strange snake?

Or perhaps, the hot spring is where the so-called gods are buried?

Did that monstrous snake absorb the divine power of the gods to become like that?

At this moment, Qin Yu couldn't help but start to let his mind wander again.

Unfortunately, even Ning Huang couldn't withstand the temperature at the bottom of the hot spring, so they were unable to explore the bottom of the hot spring.

Qin Yu shook his head: "Let's look around some more and see if we can find any other clues!"

After thinking for a moment, the group nodded slightly.

That's all we can do now.

After that, they searched around the altar.

They also discovered some murals carved on the columns.

However, most of the paintings were so badly eroded that they were unrecognizable.

Some of them were still legible, but the content was very abstract, and they didn't understand what those images were trying to express. They could only think that if they could find more clear carvings or written records, they might be able to understand what those images meant.

After that, they went to check the other two altars.

Just as Ning Huang had said, the two altars were also severely damaged and almost completely buried by weeds and vines.

The three altars form an almost equilateral triangle, surrounding the hot spring in the very center.

At the second sacrifice, they discovered a carved painting depicting an object resembling a nine-dragon pendant.

It was a person kneeling on the ground, with both hands raised above their head, and between their hands was a hollowed-out circular object.

However, this thing is rather abstract overall. It can only be said that it is somewhat similar to the real Nine Dragon Pendant. Qin Yu is not sure if this is the Nine Dragon Pendant.

When they examined the third altar, they finally made another discovery.

"Come quick!"

Hearing Qi Dachui's call, the group all gathered around.

"Look!"

Qi Dachui pointed excitedly at the half of the stone tablet in front of him.

The group gathered around the stone tablet and examined it closely.

This half of the stone tablet has been here for who knows how many years. Many parts of it have been severely eroded, making the inscriptions completely illegible.

However, a small portion of the characters can still be completely deciphered.

"Why are you all standing so close?"

Nan Que'er looked amusedly at the few people who had squeezed her to the side, "Do you guys recognize the words on this?"

Hearing Nan Que'er's words, the group couldn't help but chuckle.

Yes!

They don't recognize the words on it, so what are they looking at?

"Okay, okay, you come here!"

Qin Yu stepped back from the stone tablet. "Quickly take a look at what's recorded on it. Is there anything about Xu Heng?"

"Um!"

Nan Que'er nodded and leaned closer to examine the words carefully.

As she looked at it, Nan Que'er's eyelids suddenly twitched.

But she quickly concealed the surprise in her eyes and continued to examine the text.

A moment later, Nan Que'er looked up at the group of people who were staring at her expectantly and smiled, "The divine pool mentioned above should be the hot spring we just saw."

"The Divine Pool?"

The group watched Nan Que'er with great interest, waiting for her to continue.

"right!"

Nan Que'er nodded gently: "The written record here is incomplete, but based on the existing content, we can roughly infer that this divine pool was formed from the divine power of the gods, a gift from the gods to the ancestors of the Wind Clan. Drinking the water from the divine pool can bring blessings or divine power from the gods..."

Hearing Nan Que'er's words, the group couldn't help but be surprised.

They naturally didn't believe in this so-called divine pool or anything like that.

They've drunk the water from there before, but they haven't gained any divine power!

However, one thing is certain: there must be something strange beneath that hot spring.

"Is there anything else?"

Qin Yu pressed for more information.

"there is none left."

Nan Que'er gently shook her head, "This is just what I deduced from these incomplete texts. As for whether it is true or not, I don't know."

Is that so?

Qin Yu was slightly disappointed, but then waved his hand, "Never mind, if it's not there, it's not there! We'll go somewhere else later..."

"The fog has lifted!"

Before Qin Yu could finish speaking, Xu Wan's surprised voice suddenly rang in his ears.

Upon hearing Xu Wan's voice, the group instinctively looked up at the sky.

Only then did they realize that while they were busy searching for clues, the fog that had enveloped them had largely dissipated.

Without the fog obscuring their view, they were finally able to see the long-lost sky.

Without saying a word, Ning Huang moved and leaped onto a large tree. He then quickly moved among the branches and reached the top of the tree in the blink of an eye.

The group realized what was happening and quickly followed suit, climbing the tree.

When they reached the top of the tree and looked around, they realized they were in an enormous sinkhole.

The sinkhole is very large, and their location should be slightly to the left of the center of the sinkhole.

The surrounding cliffs seemed not far from them, but they all knew that if they were to actually walk to the edge, it would probably take quite a while.

The sinkhole is almost completely covered by vegetation. Looking around, apart from the altar right next to them, there is almost no trace of human habitation in the entire sinkhole. Only the hot spring that is still steaming is particularly conspicuous.

From the bottom of the sinkhole to the top, it is at least over a hundred feet long.

Looking at the scene before him, Qin Yu was deeply shocked.

They stood atop the tree for a long time before finally returning to the ground.

"Let's hurry up and search again while there's no fog; maybe we can find something."

Although he was already hungry, Qin Yu didn't care about that.

There are plenty of animals here, and you can eat anytime, but the view is rarely this good.

I expect it will get foggy again around 5 p.m.

"good!"

The group agreed and immediately began searching the surrounding area.

Before long, they discovered traces of human activity.

It was a cluster of house ruins hidden in a dense forest.

Like the altar, this place is almost completely covered by low vegetation such as weeds and shrubs. The only indication that someone once lived here is the stone foundation around the perimeter.

They tried searching, but found nothing.

After that, they discovered many more similar places.

But again, nothing was gained.

On the contrary, during the exploration, they discovered many wild fruits and even some precious medicinal herbs, and even encountered a python basking in the sun along the way.

Unfortunately, there were no rare and precious herbs here that Qin Yu had imagined, herbs that could instantly boost his power.

This made Qin Yu even less skeptical of the so-called gods!

Without even rare and precious materials, where would gods come from?

When the fog reappeared, they knew it was time to leave.

This place is too big; they can only get a general view and cannot search every inch of land carefully.

If we wanted to search every single one of them, we'd probably have to send in several thousand people to search slowly.

After dividing the scales of the strange snake into several pieces, they used vines to make some simple tools and set off with their spoils and some precious medicinal herbs...