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

Lu Yuan suddenly remembered something that had been weighing on his mind.

"Huh? You asked."

"The temple of knowledge I entered," Lu Yuan carefully chose his words, "other temples of knowledge are all incredibly vast. Why is our temple of forbidden studies so small? And why are you hiding underground? Even if forbidden studies have declined, shouldn't the temple of knowledge still be at least this small?"

Oden remained silent for two breaths.

"It's not that we wanted to hide underground." When he spoke again, the nonchalant tone had softened considerably. "It's that our temple of knowledge was wiped out by something."

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks.

"The Temple of Knowledge has been wiped out?" He frowned. "Isn't that something from another world? The real world shouldn't be able to get in, right? You can only get in using consciousness or something."

"Yes, that's right." Oden's voice was somewhat low, "But they still managed to find the temple of knowledge of our forbidden sciences."

"We couldn't hold them off. Many people died in that battle."

"A lot of people?"

"Yes, many," Oden continued, "and there was more than one Forbidden being involved in that battle. The leader was probably beyond the realm of Forbidden beings."

Lu Yuan frowned.

If it's not taboo, then what is it?

Immortal?

He suddenly remembered something Oden had mentioned before, and then asked, "So how did you guys survive?"

"They're hung on the statues, of course," Oden said, scoffing. "Those who get hung on statues are all those who have broken through to the fourth tier. You're down there, do you see that bronze door?"

"I saw it."

"Behind the door are the true predecessors of our forbidden studies," Auden's tone became complex. "Those who broke through to the fifth or sixth rank are all behind that door. We fourth-rank cultivators can only hang on the outside. But it's alright, it's still a kind of living. That statue has undergone special treatment; theoretically, we can live for tens of thousands of years."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and then asked another question.

"Does that mean there are similar statues in other temples of knowledge?"

"Impossible," Oden replied quickly.

"Don't let its simple appearance fool you," he continued.

"That was done by one of our juniors. He's reached the fifth or sixth tier, though I don't even know if he actually reached the sixth tier. He's simply a genius; he reinforced all the structures underground. Let me tell you, that guy's talent is absolutely phenomenal."

The old man paused for a moment.

"What a pity."

"What's a pity?"

"It's a pity he overstepped his bounds," Oden sighed. "He provoked the wrong people. And it's a pity we old guys couldn't protect him. We were just too weak."

"No, that's not right." He paused, "It should be said that the guy was courting death. The thing he provoked was far too powerful."

Lu Yuan connected these things in his mind, but before he could think about them in detail, he heard Auden say "Huh?"

"You know what," the old man said, his spirits seemingly lifted again, "this city...it feels kind of familiar to me."

"Friendly?" Lu Yuan was a little puzzled.

"Oh, right, don't let the current state of Bronze City fool you," Auden added. "I'm quite familiar with some of the techniques and auras emanating from this city. If I'm not mistaken, it should also be the work of a junior member of our Forbidden Studies lineage."

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks.

It was indeed created by a descendant of the forbidden school of thought. That person called himself the City Builder, but his actual name is unknown.

The inscriptions on the bronze pillars had already told him that the city's builders had followed the path of taboo studies.

Of the seven statues in the corridor, one of them somewhat resembles...

But did Oden not recognize him? Or did he mistake him for someone else?

Lu Yuan added, "I saw some images he left behind inside the bronze pillar. He told me that something was sealed beneath the bronze city, along with some methods to control it. At the time, he also referred to himself as a senior scholar of forbidden studies."

"And I think I saw him among those seven statues below. The one that was damaged."

Oden was slightly taken aback when he heard this, then shook his head.

"impossible."

"The predecessor in that statue is someone who existed even earlier than me. He's a true predecessor in the real sense; you can call him your patriarch." Oden's tone was unusually solemn.

"Our statue didn't contain his consciousness at all. It was simply created to commemorate him. If it weren't for the rule against placing statues without consciousness behind the bronze door, his statue probably wouldn't be in the corridor, but behind the bronze door."

"Oh." Lu Yuan nodded.

You might have misread it. After all, it was just a blurry outline.

"Ah, times have changed," Oden sighed. "These walls are disappearing too. The traces he left behind will probably be lost to this world as well."

The city walls are indeed gone.

The bronze city walls, completely corroded by flesh and blood, were now utterly rotten. With the flesh and blood gone, there was absolutely no protection between the inner and outer city.

I don't know what kind of structure they'll follow in rebuilding it.

"Alright," Oden yawned, "I'm going to stop talking to you now, I'm going to sleep a little longer."

"Didn't you just wake up?"

"Why distinguish between just waking up and sleeping?" Oden said matter-of-factly, turned over, and fell completely still.

Lu Yuan stood still, smiled helplessly, and continued walking forward.

The halls of forbidden studies have actually been wiped out. According to Auden's account, those who carried out the purge were probably immortal beings?

Oh dear, that's dangerous.

You need to be careful.

In the branch, another person's condition caught Lu Yuan's attention.

Margaret.

This strange, fourth-tier extraordinary being has been unusually quiet lately.

She used to spend all her time in the pharmacy, never leaving the house. But these past few times, she's always been at the forefront as the main force, and Lu Yuan has finally witnessed what a battle maniac really is.

But for her path, this was an enormous burden. Her path, by its very nature, had the element of going berserk.

A while ago, she soaked in a bath called "Hope's Golden Light" and felt much better.

After Kerek and Hope merged together, the golden light stopped emanating outwards.

She seemed alright a few days ago, but these past two days, she seems to have become quiet again.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuan hurried to the branch office.

Upon arriving at the branch, Margaret, as usual, stayed beside Hope.

But on the ground in front of her were several leaves of hope and a small section of the root of hope.

No, where did she get it from?