Images of the Advance Team

Half... half?

After his reminder, the others looked carefully and, relying on their superhuman eyesight, finally discerned some clues.

Sand is mostly composed of irregular mineral particles, sometimes mixed with fossils of tiny ancient organisms. In general, its shapes are bizarre and almost unpredictable.

However, each grain of sand that Luo Jun picked out had an unusually smooth and even cut surface, as if it had been cut open with an extremely sharp knife.

"Why would this happen?" Ma Lei frowned. "Who would be so bored as to cut the sand grain by grain?"

"It shouldn't have been cut grain by grain!" Zhuge Chi shook his head, looking at the hemispherical crater on the ground. "I guess this crater was formed by some kind of spatial transfer phenomenon. Old Yuan and the others accidentally triggered some kind of mechanism and were teleported away by a powerful force. The teleportation range should be a spherical space, so the sand under their feet was also taken away. The sand that was right at the edge of the teleportation area was cut in half by this spatial force!"

At this point, Zhuge Chi looked at Luo Jun with some surprise.

For most Cultivators, the improvement of Yuan Qi cultivation does not significantly enhance Perception Ability such as vision and hearing, at least not as noticeably as the increase in attributes like strength. Moreover, apart from the Insight Faction, sensory abilities are almost unaffected by the enhancement of Yuan Qi and Gang Qi.

Others, even with the sifted sand right in front of them, would have to look closely to spot the problem. But this night, he was able to pick out the few grains that had been cut open from a large handful of sand. This insight... could he be a member of the Insight Faction? This doesn't quite match our previous assumptions.

"Whether the speculation is correct or not, we can verify it with the Dust of Replication!" Ottos picked up the bottle, sprinkled some out, and adjusted the time to the moment when Old Yuan last contacted the Parami Branch.

Soon, the images from several days earlier obscured the true appearance of the place, and the hemispherical crater on the ground was filled in by the phantom.

Upon seeing these people, everyone looked at Ophelia. "Do you recognize them?" Zhuge Chi asked.

Following Old Yuan, there were about a dozen other Holy See explorers. The group stepped on the illusory shadows in the sand pit, showing no intention of lingering, and soon walked out of the range of the Dust of Projection.

Beside the blonde woman stood an elderly woman in a nun's robe. Though aged, her eyes shone brightly, and her wide robe occasionally revealed sharp angles as she moved... As a clergy member, she probably carried several large crucifixes with her... or so it seemed...

"The Powered Armor is called Jason, Knight Armor is called Flora; these two are Holy Knight. Next to them is Sister Sharna, an experienced Battle Sister; all of them are among those who went missing this time."

As they were talking, a fourth person appeared, dressed in travel gear with pockets all over his body, his head gleaming, and a few strands of long hair on the sides swaying in the wind.

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Had they guessed wrong? Had the disappearance not occurred here?

Following behind him was a blonde woman dressed in magnificent Knight Armor, with a long sword at her waist. She had striking and elegant features and graceful manners.

The leader was a man wearing Powered Armor, carrying a machine gun, nearly three meters tall, and strode with heavy steps.

The group waited there for about twenty minutes before figures appeared within the range of the Dust of Replication.

"It's Old Yuan!" the explorer from Zhendan exclaimed. Luo Jun's eyes trembled slightly, but he restrained the urge to call him "Master."

"It's alright. This at least shows that when the last communication was cut off for more than twenty minutes, Old Yuan and the others were not missing. If we use the Dust of Replication in the direction they left, we will most likely be able to capture the scene of their last disappearance!"

Zhuge Chi suggested, and the others, encouraged by the clues they had found, were about to continue searching in that direction when suddenly, figures reappeared in the Dust of Replication.

The first to peek out was a priest wearing glasses. He looked around, then down at his baggage, and exclaimed with delight, "It's here! The reaction is incredibly strong!"

At this moment, the others followed suit and entered the range of the Dust of Replication.

"Are you sure?" Old Yuan stepped forward. "Let me see it!"

The spectacled priest reached into the package and took out an ancient-looking, rusty Bronze Wine Cup. The Ancient Parami Inscriptions on the goblet shimmered with an unusual light.

"It's really glowing?" Flora exclaimed in surprise. "This has never happened before!"

"This likely means we've found a clue to Amgilla's location," said Sister Sharna Battle Sister. "We can feel a very strong fluctuation... what kind of power is this?"

"Whatever it is, we're very close to our goal." Old Yuan twirled his wine glass. "And right now, we're not even at the point of strongest fluctuation..."

As he spoke, he took the wine glass and tentatively walked forward. As he moved slowly, the inscription on the wine glass flashed faster and faster. When it finally stopped flashing and became constantly lit, the group was standing above the huge sand pit!

"What's the next step?" Jason in his Powered Armor asked in a deep, mechanical voice.

"Since the inscription is lit up, does that mean we have to read this?" Flora asked tentatively.

"Don't rush..." Old Yuan advised, "For things you're unfamiliar with, it's best to research them first and make sure there's no danger before attempting them..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard Ancient Parami Language. Old Yuan turned around in surprise and saw that it was the priest who had previously held the wine vessel.

He seemed to be mesmerized by something, his eyes fixed on the wine vessel in Old Yuan's hand, his expression fervent as he recited the inscription on it!

"Stop!" Old Yuan also realized something was wrong and instinctively tried to stop them, but the inscription on the wine glass wasn't very long, and the priest had already finished reading it. Then, a spherical light shone from the wine glass, instantly enveloping the exploration team. A moment later, the light disappeared, leaving only a regular hemispherical sand pit on the ground.

"They just disappeared like that?" Zhuge Chi exclaimed in surprise. "The inscription on that wine cup is the key!"

"According to the information, that Bronze Wine Cup is the artifact we found before, suspected to be from the lost Amgilla," Ophelia said. "The inscription on it is roughly a thank you to the Primordial God Karruth ... presumably a prayer before the feast."

"So that means to find Old Yuan, we must find the same wine cup and recite the inscription's prayer?" Zhuge Chi analyzed. "But there's only one artifact, and it was already transported away with them. Where are we supposed to find it?"

At that moment, Mu Ning suddenly exclaimed "Hey!" and pointed to the center of the sandpit. "There's something in there!"

Ottos was the first to jump down, dug around a few times, and revealed a Bronze Wine Cup, exactly the same as the one that had teleported Old Yuan and the others away.

"This is..." Ottos reached out to take it, Mu Ning stopped him, saying, "Don't touch it yet. This thing wasn't here before; it appeared suddenly..."

But the warning came too late. As Ottos picked up his wine glass, a beam of light burst forth, enveloping everyone present. Moments later, only an even larger hemispherical sand pit remained, lying forlornly in the center of the Hairub Desert...

(End of this chapter)