A large number of boulders were piled up ahead, algae growing between them. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual.
Xu Tianyao stopped above one of the boulders. After hesitating for a long while, he still reached out his right hand. Ice Empress's Pincers covered his palm as he thrust it directly into a crack in the stone.
With both arms exerting force, he forcibly lifted the boulder, which weighed tens of thousands of pounds, and shoved it aside.
Behind the boulder, a platform completely covered in algae was revealed.
The platform's edges were remarkably neat. Clearly, it had not formed naturally.
Snow Maiden swiftly released a chill as well, freezing the entire mass of algae.
Xu Tianyao struck out with his palm, and the frozen algae, along with years of accumulated mud and sand, all fell away.
As the algae and silt came off, a damaged stone stairway abruptly appeared before the three of them.
They exchanged glances, delight evident in all their eyes, and began clearing their way forward along the stone steps.
Rubble, mud, and aquatic plants were continuously moved aside, and the building hidden at the bottom of the lake gradually revealed its original form.
It looked like an altar, yet also like a palace reduced to nothing but ruins.
Most of the outer stone pillars had broken, blurry patterns remained on the walls, and some areas had completely collapsed. Only the central section retained its rough outline.
Kong Deming landed on the stone steps and wiped away the silt covering the wall. The carvings revealed beneath were exceptionally ancient.
Those patterns were neither Soul Tool core formations of the Sun Moon Empire nor any common script found on the continent today.
"This place has existed for at least tens of thousands of years."
Kong Deming studied