Through the Wormhole
Before him was still an expanse of reddish-yellow desert, utterly devoid of life. Even with Zhang Nian's perception, he couldn't detect anything strange about the space. Judging by the marker on the map, he should have found the right place...
But what he saw now was worlds apart from the scene depicted on the old parchment. The landscape in the drawing was like a fairyland, while the place he stood was like hell, desolate and ruined as far as the eye could see.
"I shouldn't have gotten the location wrong. Could that steward have lied to me?"
At the thought, Zhang Nian shook his head. If the other man had truly lied, he wouldn't have escaped Zhang Nian's perception. That meant the problem lay here.
The terrain around him also differed considerably from the drawing. After sensing around for a while and finding nothing, Zhang Nian began to feel unsettled. Was he really going to give up just like that?
He'd gone to all that trouble, and this was it?
A gale whipped up the yellow sand, and his vision blurred for a moment. Then a faint flag appeared on the reddish-yellow ground. Zhang Nian's eyes narrowed. He flashed over to the spot and swept his hand, raising clouds of sand. Only then did he notice the clue.
"Black-White Town must no longer exist..."
It made sense. An extraordinary phenomenon in the heavens and earth was bound to indicate something unusual, especially one so conspicuous. Surely people with ulterior motives would come looking...
"No wonder there are no signs of anyone having lived here. Black-White Town was destroyed long ago..."
But on second thought, Zhang Nian felt the logic didn't add up. If those who came searching for treasure had found it, there'd have been no need