They waited a full half an incense stick's worth of time.
Nothing stirred.
No Turbid Qi Great Demon lunged out of the shadows, nor did any destructive beam erupt from a remnant formation of the Immortal Court.
The entire altar stood empty, so clean that it sent chills crawling through them.
At the center of the altar stood only a dark-gold stone stele thirty feet tall.
Its surface was covered in densely packed cracks, some so deep they nearly split the entire stele in two.
The Supreme One Token hovered directly before the stele, radiating a gentle halo. From within the stele came a pulse of exactly the same origin as the token.
One breathed in, the other breathed out, answering each other.
Zhou Xuan strode toward the stele.
"Be careful, Token Master." Old Ancestor Cangwu tightened his grip on his longsword and followed just behind him to one side.
Zhou Xuan waved a hand, signaling that they need not be nervous.
He approached the stele and carefully studied the patterns on it.
At the very center of the stele was a distinct recess. Its shape and dimensions matched the hovering Supreme One Token precisely.
Zhou Xuan raised his right hand, seized the Supreme One Token, and pressed it straight into the recess.
It fitted perfectly.
A crisp click rang out.
The stele jolted violently, and blinding blood-gold light instantly erupted from those bone-deep cracks.
The light shot into the sky, weaving together and rearranging above the altar until it formed an immense three-dimensional projection.
Ji Chen tilted his head back, staring at the projection overhead with ever-widening eyes.
"This... this is a topographical map of Central Province!" Ji Chen exclaimed involuntarily.
Mountains and rivers, the bases of the Seventy-Two Immortal Veins, and the locations of every major Turbid Qi