Everyone became increasingly cautious, gradually clearing away the surface rubble of the Library Pavilion and brushing aside every layer of charred soil.
Beneath it lay rows upon rows of collapsed, ancient bookcase foundations.
The stone frames of the bookcases were still intact, faintly revealing their once orderly arrangement.
Yet every manual, jade slip, and scroll that had rested upon them had long since vanished without a trace.
All they could find amid the scorched earth and piled dust was a thin layer of dim gray-white ash.
It was what remained after the pages had been completely burned away.
"..."
Huang Zhongxing remained silent, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly twice as he said nothing.
That was right.
Fifty years ago, the great battle between the Heaven-Stabilizing Sage and the Southern Bright Sage had burned the entire Central Region to ashes. The fact that half a plaque had survived was already a miracle.
Those pages recording the academy's cultivation methods would have been easily set ablaze even by the lingering heat of the heavenly fire.
The Flying Deer Sect disciples' burning hopes shattered completely in that instant, coming to nothing.
Piercing disappointment and despair flooded the entire group like a tide.
"Forget it... the opportunities in this place have run dry. Let's go. We'll try our luck at the next ruin."
In the end, that was all Huang Zhongxing could say to the disciples before him.
The disciples lowered their heads in dejection and silently gathered up the tools they had used to excavate the ruins. The deathly stillness of the wasteland slowly settled over them again, leaving none of the earlier fervor or vitality behind.
Just then, a young female disciple who had always been meticulous and sharp-eyed stopped moving.
Her name was Su Wan.
Years of drifting hardship