Chen Changan had the Fang family members wait outside for the others, then entered the underground palace alone.
The underground palace was enormous. As soon as he entered, he found himself in a vast, empty plaza.
The plaza appeared to span several thousand meters, yet it was utterly barren.
At the far end of the plaza were three passageways. Without hesitation, Chen Changan chose one and flew inside.
The passage wasn't especially wide, but it was about five meters high. Every so often, a branch split off from it.
What bothered Chen Changan most was that his perception was blocked inside the underground palace. He couldn't use it to sense the other passageways or figure out where the branches led.
With no other choice, Chen Changan resorted to the clumsiest method: going to investigate each one himself.
"An empty chamber?"
"Or... has it been cleared out?"
Chen Changan explored several branches, only to find that each one ended in an empty chamber. There was nothing inside.
But if they were useless, why build all these empty chambers? Or had there once been something here?
"Damn, why does this feel like a tomb?"
"Has it been looted?"
"Did the Du Family do it?"
No!
Long before the Du Family appeared, the Five Clans—and many others, by the sound of it—had discovered this place.
Had they cleared it out? Or had the first person to find it, ages ago, already emptied it?
With that thought, Chen Changan picked up the pace. He explored more and more branches, finding more and more empty chambers.
Every last one was empty!
It was as if the underground palace had been built with nothing inside from the start, like an elaborate display with no purpose.
"How strange."
Chen Changan furrowed his brow and decided to retrace