Several days later, after Master Artisan Yu and Master Artisan Long left a number of craftsmen behind in the workshop, they boarded a flying vessel and returned to the Inner Layer.
However, the flying vessel did not return directly to Jade Capital. After entering the Inner Layer, it headed northwest of Binyun Upper Continent.
Master Artisan Long looked down through the dissolved cabin wall. Below lay land scarred by a thousand gullies and ten thousand ravines, immense rifts cutting across the earth, which rose and fell in folded ridges. On the highlands stood a few garrison forts, red flags fluttering above them for identification, each emblazoned with the Mystic Chaos Cicada-Wing Pattern.
After watching for a while, he asked Master Artisan Yu, who sat before him, "Where are we going?"
Master Artisan Yu picked up the porcelain pot on the table and poured each of them a cup of tea. Raising his cup and inhaling its fragrance, he said, "We do not know what this place was called in the past. It is now called the 'Womb Sea.'"
"The Womb Sea?"
Hearing the strange name, Master Artisan Long cast another glance outside. Suddenly, his eyes widened. One mound after another came into view—each had in fact been carved or piled up by human hands. Though severely eroded by wind and time, they could still vaguely be identified as figures of people with their backs arched toward the heavens, heads bowed low, prostrating themselves upon the ground in worship.
He had not thought much of it at first, but once he realized what they were, he looked out again. As the flying vessel advanced, nearly everything within sight was something similar. All of them faced the same direction, creating a deeply shocking sight.
He could not help asking, "What are these