I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Green, leaning against the pipe wall, gasped for breath, looking like he'd just escaped a disaster. He looked at the others, then at Logan.

"If we had been any slower, we would have died here."

Logan ignored Green's chatter and turned to look at Klaus.

"Next, I plan to do this." He spoke quickly, his voice trembling slightly, clearly indicating that his emotions were not as calm as they appeared. "After approaching the Tower of Learning, we must detour, avoiding the rift in the Sea of ​​Knowledge above. Your plan is now common knowledge throughout the Empire. Right now, the crown is wrestling with the Sea of ​​Knowledge; we cannot touch that sea. We can only bypass it from the side—this is our only chance."

He paused, then added.

"Once you're up there, descend directly from the other side of the tower, using the gray fog as cover. We'll throw down ropes, and you can climb down them. After that, it's up to you."

Logan pulled two things from his waist and handed them to Klaus.

Two thumb-sized bronze signal flares, each engraved with a bird symbol indicating a wayfinder.

"Send a signal flare when it's time to retreat. As long as we can see and get there, we'll come to meet you." Logan looked into Klaus's eyes, paused, "But if by then Flesh and Blood have completely spiraled out of control, and Fortress of Seeking the Sky can't fall here, then you'll have to fend for yourselves."

Klaus took the signal flare, put it in his pocket, and nodded. "Understood."

Lu Yuan noticed that he did not hesitate or ask any further questions.

The Sky-Seeking Fortress circled around the upper edge of the gray fog, bypassing the side of the Tower of Learning.

The moment it rounded the rift above the Sea of ​​Knowledge, the inscriptions on the entire Sky-Seeking Fortress vibrated with a teeth-grinding tremor.

A heavy sense of oppression surged up from beneath their feet, and the aura of a vast amount of knowledge and complex, eerie inscriptions continuously overflowed. Even through the inscription protection of the Seeking Void Fortress, everyone felt their heads throbbing.

Green, being particularly sensitive to such things, immediately covered his ears in apparent pain, muttering something in dwarven language. Lu Yuan's translation came in handy at this moment; he heard Green complaining that he shouldn't have come along.

The Blue Knight's scabbard trembled slightly, clearly indicating she wasn't feeling well either. Klaus, on the other hand, remained unfazed; his resistance to this level was far greater than the others. Lu Yuan also showed little reaction; the Sea of ​​Knowledge posed virtually no threat to him.

Several pathfinders piloting the Sky Fortress broke out in a cold sweat simultaneously. Logan's hand, gripping the control stick, veins bulging, desperately maintained the airship's course, preventing it from being swayed by the aura of the Sea of ​​Knowledge.

Suddenly, a burning sensation rose deep within Lu Yuan's left eye. The connection between authority and the rift deepened abruptly, and the aura of the sea of ​​knowledge surged in through this connection. Lu Yuan's mind buzzed, and fragments of text flashed through his vision. These fragments existed for only a moment before dissipating, but that moment was enough for him to understand the state of this rift.

Currently, it seems that someone is maintaining this rift, preventing it from closing.

The energy of the rift is constantly consuming that anchor point, or rather, the person who is keeping the sea of ​​knowledge from being shut down is being constantly consumed and should be unable to hold on much longer.

Lu Yuan also discovered that he had already formed a connection with this sea of ​​knowledge, as if he could take over it at any time.

Lu Yuan clenched his fist and immediately suppressed the thought.

It's not the right time yet; he needs to see the person on the wall first and get the fifth fragment.

The Sky Fortress bypassed the Sea of ​​Knowledge and arrived above the other side of the Tower of Learning.

The old gray fog below hadn't dissipated yet, and the outline of the Tower of Learning was faintly visible, its body emerging from the hazy mist, the spire at the top still intact. Further away, the carnage was spreading slowly towards them, but the gray fog still firmly protected the Tower of Learning.

Logan maneuvered the airship to a slow descent, the gasbags emitting a low groan. The previous ordeal had already caused it considerable damage.

Green opened the hatch to the rear cabin. A cold draft rushed in, carrying with it the damp, bloody smell, instantly dissipating most of the steam that had accumulated in the cabin.

Looking down from the hatch, all that could be seen was swirling gray mist, beneath which the top of the secondary tower of the Tower of Learning could be vaguely seen, its surface pitted and uneven from the erosion of the Sea of ​​Knowledge.

Then, several specially made, thickened ropes dangled from the hatch, their ends disappearing into the gray mist. Green squatted down at the hatch to inspect the ropes, tugged at them a couple of times to make sure they were in good condition, and then nodded to Klaus.

"The rope is fine. The fog below is still about ten meters thick; once we get through, we'll reach the top of the tower." He wiped the sweat from his face, his gray beard sticking to his chin.

"I'm not going down," Green paused. "Having looked around, the patterns on the Bronze City are completely broken, and I doubt the seal below can be repaired. Going down would only cause trouble."

He grinned and waved to the three of them. "Be careful."

Klaus walked to the hatch and glanced down. The gray fog churned, obscuring everything except for a few ropes hanging straight down to the ground, swaying slightly in the wind.

He glanced back at Lu Yuan and the Blue Knight.

The Blue Knight had already secured her sword sheath to her back, and silk threads were wrapped around her wrists several times, ready to strike at any moment. Lu Yuan stood beside her, the burning sensation deep within his left eye still lingering.

"Let's go." Klaus gripped the rope tightly, rolled over, and stepped out of the hatch.

Klaus's figure flashed in the gray mist and then disappeared.

Without hesitation, the Blue Knight put one arm around Lu Yuan's waist and grabbed the rope with the other. Before Lu Yuan could speak, he pulled him over the hatch of the Sky Seeker Fortress.

The wind whistled past his ears, and the gray mist, carrying a damp, fishy smell, smeared Lu Yuan's face, making it impossible for him to see anything.

The rope slid rapidly down the Blue Knight's hand. The Blue Knight controlled the speed, and Lu Yuan felt his body falling downwards, with only the whistling wind and the hissing steam coming from the Sky-Seeking Fortress in his ears.

A few breaths later, Lu Yuan felt a jolt in his body.

The Blue Knight released his grip, and the two landed steadily on the ground.

The top of the main tower of the Pagoda of Learned Scholars.

The gray fog had not yet dissipated, and the hazy mist surged in from all directions, making it impossible to see anything beyond ten steps.

The stone bricks underfoot had been eroded considerably, their surfaces pitted and uneven, with cracks appearing in some places. Dark red veins extended from the cracks, meandering and spiraling along the stone surface.

In the distance, the sound of flesh writhing could be heard, and something was constantly approaching in this direction; the layer of gray mist was already struggling to hold on.

Klaus was standing a few steps away, his green light shimmering faintly in the gray mist.

He looked around and, after confirming there was no threat, breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Before Lu Yuan could even regain his footing, a muffled thud suddenly came from above.

It is a crown made of flesh and blood.

The fleshy crown hanging above the Tower of Learning seemed to have sensed the movement at the top of the tower.

A cloudy eye on the crown suddenly turned, and a golden ray of light shot out from the depths of its pupil, piercing through the gray mist and heading straight for the top of the tower.

The light did not fall on Lu Yuan and his group, but instead rushed towards the Sky-Seeking Fortress in the sky.

The air-seeking fortress seemed to have been prepared. Before the light even hit it, the inscriptions on it suddenly flashed, and a large number of inscription patterns lit up on the outer shell of the airbag, forming an impenetrable light curtain around it.

The golden rays of light collided with the light screen, were refracted, and scattered to both sides, landing on the churning flesh and blood in the distance, exploding into two crimson fragments.

Then, the rope snapped. Green had cut it from the hatch.

If the rope is left hanging below the fortress, it will be difficult for the fortress to escape once it gets entangled by the surging flesh and blood.

The rope end swayed in the air before falling into the gray fog.

At the same time, the aura of the Sky Fortress suddenly disappeared, the airship rapidly ascended, and quickly vanished into the clouds. In the blink of an eye, even the faint light of the inscriptions could not be seen.

The crown's eyeball missed again.

Golden rays of light swept haphazardly across the sky, pausing briefly at the spot where the rope had broken before shifting elsewhere.

Clearly, the Flesh and Blood Crown knew it couldn't get in at this moment. The thick gray fog still tightly surrounded the Tower of Learning, preventing it from even considering intrusion.

Lu Yuan stood beside the Blue Knight, his feet on the stone bricks at the top of the Tower of Learning, surrounded by swirling gray mist.

Before Lu Yuan could speak, an ancient and familiar aura suddenly spread over him, landing deep in his consciousness, carrying an irresistible force that tried to pull him away.

But at this moment, Lu Yuan's consciousness had already connected with the rift in the Sea of ​​Knowledge.

He could sense that if he refused, he could escape the call of the person on the wall.

But Lu Yuan did not refuse.

With his tacit agreement, everything suddenly went black. The thick fog near the Tower of Learning, the Blue Knight, and Klaus all vanished, and Lu Yuan's consciousness was forcibly dragged away.

When Lu Yuan came to his senses, he was already standing on a boundless wasteland.

A faint sun hung in the sky, its dim yellow light enveloping the entire plain.

At the edge of the plain, there were several traces of flesh and blood, dark red flesh and blood stuck to the yellow soil, already dried out beyond recognition.

Clearly, this must have been flesh and blood brought in by the person on the wall using some means, but judging from its appearance, it was already dead.

This is the domain of the person on the wall. But compared to before, this domain seems to have more vitality, and Lu Yuan can't say for sure if it's just his imagination.

Immediately afterwards, a gigantic head emerged from the fog.

When I saw the human head on the wall of the Tower of Learning, the head was still sealed, but at least its surface was intact.

However, the head formed from gray mist was in extremely poor condition. It was covered with dense fine lines that stretched from the forehead to the chin, and in some places, it had even cracked open, revealing a dim light inside.