Lan Tian pushed open the door spilling warm light and stepped inside.
The space beyond was larger than he had expected.
It was a circular stone chamber about twenty paces across. Its domed ceiling rose to a rounded peak, where a fist-sized, warm-toned Guiding Stone gave off a soft, steady glow that filled the chamber with light and warmth.
The air was dry and still, carrying the mineral scent of ages past. There was no trace of mold or decay, as though the chamber had remained unchanged since the day it was built.
A circular altar stood at the center of the chamber.
Built from a smooth white stone, the altar stood about three feet high and measured roughly five paces across. Its surface had been polished to a mirror finish and held a subtle sheen beneath the warm light.
Intricate formation patterns covered the altar. Their paths and structure shared the same roots as the designs he had seen in the murals. Fine, orderly lines converged from the rim toward the center, like roots drawing nutrients from the soil and carrying them to a tree's trunk.
At the center of the formation was a fist-sized recess holding a dark crystal. Its surface had lost all luster, leaving it with the dull gray look of an empty husk.
Lan Tian crouched beside the altar to examine the crystal, then probed it with the perception of his Blue Silver God Domain.
The life energy it had once contained was completely exhausted. Nothing remained inside but an empty crystal lattice and faint traces of what had been there.
It was likely a remnant left behind when a Life-type Soul Master condensed a Life Core here in ancient times. Once the core was removed, the crystal had lost its energy and slowly become