Two minutes earlier.
Zhao Huai'an and Sikong Zhaiyue appeared on the roof of the Sacrificial Temple, at the spot where the Heavenly Fire meteorite had smashed a hole... The two pressed themselves against the tiles, covered by a blanket almost identical in color to them—courtesy of Sikong Zhaiyue.
They thought this way, they would not be discovered.
In fact, the Grand Duke and the Crimson Monarch, who were locked in fierce battle, truly paid no attention to this place.
"Safe?"
Old Zhao looked inside the Sacrificial Temple... Light had also entered through the hole, allowing him to make out part of the scene within. However, he did not see the Red King Armor.
The little old man pondered. "This hole is like a naturally formed tunnel dug by a thief. It bypasses all the mechanisms along the main passage. I estimate it's safe."
"Estimate?" Zhao Huai'an could not help frowning.
"Give an old man some patience." The little old man rolled his eyes. "Isn't this old man here for the first time too?"
Sikong Zhaiyue had mentioned on the way here that it was not that he did not want to approach the Sacrificial Temple, but that he could not. An invisible force existed around the temple, and even he had been powerless against it... This opportunity had only appeared because the empire's Grand Duke had invaded.
"Let's go down and take a look." Zhao Huai'an no longer waited. He was about to throw off the blanket and jump inside.
"Wait." Sikong Zhaiyue was more cautious. He first threw out a grappling hook, catching it on a pillar inside the Sacrificial Temple. "Go down slowly."
Zhao Huai'an slid straight down the rope, not slowly in the slightest.
Sikong Zhaiyue was so anxious that he nearly cried out, but after seeing