Massive broken Stone Pillars carved with dragon motifs and star charts lay half-submerged in the water. Their exquisite reliefs had been worn smooth by the current, covered in dimly glowing algae and shellfish.
The empty plaza before the hall was paved with shattered stone slabs. Faintly luminous aquatic plants grew from the cracks, adding even more desolation and mystery.
Not far away, one could vaguely see the energy scorch marks and architectural damage left behind by the final battle against Great-Eradicator Huanlong.
The charred marks and unnaturally crystallized ground added another heavy footnote to these ruins.
"Up close, this Jianmu is far bigger than I imagined." Phainon raised his head and strained to look up, trying to see the top of the Jianmu where it vanished into the mist high above, but he soon gave up.
It was simply absurdly tall.
Standing on this ruined platform brought them closer to the colossal tree that upheld heaven and earth, making its details all the more staggering.
On closer inspection, the Jianmu's trunk was a deep brown bordering on black, a color that seemed to have endured countless ages, nearly as profound as the backdrop of the cosmos.
Its surface was covered in layer upon layer of thick cracks and ridges, like the scales of a giant dragon or ancient strata of rock. Every line was rough and deeply etched.
In the dark surroundings, a faint glow flowed slowly through the grooves of those patterns, brightening and dimming by turns.
These patterns did not seem to be dead things, either.
If one stared closely, one could see them faintly pulsing at an incredibly slow rhythm, like the long, gradual rise and fall of a sleeping god's chest.
That eerie sensation was utterly different from the giant tree at the Tree Court.
It