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

This made Lu Yuan frown unconsciously. Why would the statue be carved like this?

Logically speaking, shouldn't a statue depict what the deceased looked like in life?

For example, praising their great achievements for future generations to admire. Did all the predecessors of taboo studies do this?

Unable to figure it out, Lu Yuan continued walking forward.

Then, the first statue came into view.

These statues are embedded on both sides of the road. The first one is a man wearing a rough linen robe, but his face is not carved.

He held a cracked clay tablet in his hands, which was engraved with a large number of complex characters, but the characters seemed to have been simplified and were basically unrecognizable.

Lu Yuan looked around more carefully and found that apart from these statues, there seemed to be nothing else around.

Even if there were some carvings on those statues, they didn't contain any useful information, and the stone walls next to them didn't have any inscriptions of these people's achievements or names.

The second statue depicts a female scholar dressed in a tall priest's robe, somewhat resembling a church robe, yet not quite.

Her hands, exposed outside her sleeves, were sculpted into layers of scales, like the claws of a lizard or dragon, which seemed to be related to some kind of physical alienation.

Her eye sockets had been gouged out into two dark holes; she had neither eyes nor a face.

The third figure is tall and robust, with a huge single eye deliberately carved into its left chest, and its right hand resting on the stone dagger at its waist.

Lu Yuan continued walking along these cold stone carvings, his footsteps echoing repeatedly in the corridor.

He was somewhat bewildered, because along the way he hadn't found anything containing any information, only these statues.

Lu Yuan stopped in front of the fourth statue. It was a child sitting on a stone platform made of dozens of books, making his height the same as the other statues.

He seemed to be holding a book with long legs in his arms, and the book looked very strange.

The fifth statue is of an old man who looks very kind. You probably wouldn't find him if you left him on the side of the road. There's nothing special about him.

Then came the sixth and seventh statues, both of which were incomplete, with only the stone base below the waist remaining. The upper body seemed to have been crushed by some force long ago.

One of the two crushed statues somewhat resembled the City Builder that Lu Yuan had seen in the bronze pillar before, but Lu Yuan wasn't sure.

However, if this is the stronghold of forbidden scholars, then it is not surprising that the city builders left a statue here.

But are there only seven forbidden scholars throughout history?

No way, why are there so few?

Taboo studies are essentially just a supernatural path. Although it is dangerous, in theory, many people should choose such a powerful path.

Or perhaps, those who can come here are all beings who have reached the third rank or higher? Lu Yuan thought to himself, and suddenly it made sense.

Ignoring the stone statues, Lu Yuan arrived at the massive metal door at the very end of the corridor. The door was covered in thick rust, and above it were carved countless intricate and overlapping concentric circles, one after another, making it somewhat dizzying to look at.

There were strange things engraved on both sides of the wall, but they have gradually decayed over time.

Lu Yuan tried to press his hand against the crack in the door and exert all his strength to push it open. However, the door was like a giant rock connected to the mountain, and no matter how hard Lu Yuan tried, it did not budge in the slightest.

Lu Yuan froze on the spot, wondering what he should do next. The door wouldn't open, and there was no explanation for the stone statue. Had he come down here just for sightseeing?

Lu Yuan tried to concentrate and try to activate the gray prompt in front of him, but his field of vision was calm and no familiar characters appeared.

Lu Yuan couldn't tell whether the gray text couldn't get in here, or whether there was simply nothing here worth mentioning.

"well."

Left with no other choice, Lu Yuan had to turn back and return to the first statue of the scholar in the linen robe. He stretched out his fingertip and gently touched the weathered base.

The moment Lu Yuan's finger touched the stone statue, the entire corridor shook, and the underground corridor was instantly illuminated, with the light from countless eternal lamps converging together.

The next moment, several wisps of white mist drifted out of the statue.

These white mists had not yet condensed into human form; they twisted into four constantly writhing gaseous spheres, with blurry facial features and a few blinking blood-red eyeballs on their surfaces.

Only four wisps of white mist drifted out, quickly swirling around Lu Yuan's head.

"Ouch, who's touching my feet? Is it some female student trying to admire my handsome figure?"

"Keep dreaming, Auden! Even taboo studies are almost extinct outside, where would you find female students!"

"Wait, look at this kid! He exudes the aura of a learned scholar!"

"Holy crap, a living person! What a living scholar! What year is it now? What year is it in the Imperial calendar, kid?"

The leading cloud of gas, shrieking sharply, spun rapidly around Lu Yuan's head, its eyes constantly scrutinizing him. One of the clouds, tinged with a faint pink hue, immediately descended, striking the leading cloud and sending it tumbling through the air.

"Oden, you old fool, what are you talking about with the Imperial Calendar? Back then, in your research on that singing dead tree, you killed all the chief researchers of the Silver Empire in the lab. If you hadn't run away quickly, would you even be qualified to be here now?"

The cloud of gas, known as Auden, exclaimed, "How can that be called poisoning? That's called sacrificing oneself for scholarship! How can I progress from a seeker of knowledge to a polymath if I don't study it?"

"Tsk tsk tsk," another wisp of mist clicked its tongue, "You're hung here as a statue just because you used this method to become a polymath, you idiot."

Four plumes of mist collided violently in mid-air, their bubbles bursting at the top of the corridor with a piercing clamor.

Lu Yuan stood on the steps, somewhat bewildered, watching the farce unfold before him.

"The seniors above sent me down to find you, saying that this way I can obtain the exclusive skills and methods for advancement," Lu Yuan said, his voice clearly heard in the narrow corridor.

The noise in mid-air vanished without a trace. At that moment, all eyes turned to Lu Yuan, fixed on him without blinking.

"That senior up there?" A cloud of aged mist, which had been hiding in the back, slowly spoke. "He's still standing up there? Damn, what a dedicated workaholic."

Auden then spoke up: "Aside from his special case, the rest of us will be wiped clean by time the moment we step out of this corridor. Would you be happy if you became an idiot then?"

"Yes, yes, if it weren't for an elder of our forbidden school who reinforced our temple of knowledge, we might not even have been able to preserve this bubble-like state."

The cloud of mist known as Oden descended to the same height as Lu Yuan, and its somewhat blurry face looked rather comical as it swept across Lu Yuan's face.

"Kid, tell me honestly, which branch did you choose outside? Are there any other students choosing forbidden studies now? How long have you been studying forbidden studies? How many forbidden cases have you solved? How many strange sources have you devoured?"

Looking at the blurry face so close to his, Lu Yuan spoke calmly.

"The extraordinary path of becoming a forbidden scholar has probably disappeared; no one chooses it anymore. Of all the people I've met, only I have chosen it. I've been studying forbidden knowledge for about a year now. As for my branch of study, I haven't fully chosen one yet, but I have frequent contact with the sea of ​​knowledge."

Lu Yuan's reply echoed in the corridor, which then fell into a deathly silence.

A few seconds later, the white mist let out a strange cry.

"A year? Are you kidding me? When I first became a polymath, I spent fifteen years in the library devouring moldy ancient books. You became one in a year? And I even poisoned a few people. Oh no, I should say, on my path to becoming a polymath, while researching some forbidden objects, I accidentally affected and killed a few scholars."

"Was the last guy who advanced at this speed one of those monsters behind that door?"

"Yes, apart from those few guys, there shouldn't be anyone else who could do it."

"But has no one outside the field continued to pursue taboo studies? It seems so... sigh..."

Auden circled in the air and suddenly landed next to Lu Yuan's left leg, gently touching his leather armor with his misty tentacles.

"Wait, this cold feeling..."

It brought its face close to Lu Yuan's left leg and took a deep breath of cold air, which made Lu Yuan feel a little disgusted. His senior seemed a bit unreliable.

"Is that something hanging from your leg a drowning person?"

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up, and then he nodded. He hadn't expected that this remnant soul could see the hidden presence parasitizing his left leg at a glance.

"You were able to tell, senior?"

"I told you not to call me 'senior,' call me 'Old Man Auden'!" Auden's voice was extremely excited.

"These Drowned Ones are treasures. They are the purest spiritual remnants left behind by those reckless high-level transcendents who tried to force their way into the Sea of ​​Knowledge and drowned. These things have no independent consciousness, but their spiritual essence is perfectly intact, making them the most perfect containers for spiritual bodies."

The other three plumes of white mist also realized what was happening and excitedly wandered around the corridor.

"A container? A ready-made container? Does that mean we can leave this dark and gloomy place and go see the outside world?"

If my predecessors can really get out, then after I advance to the third rank, the dangers I will face will only increase. I will definitely need a guide who is well-versed in the ancient extraordinary paths.