Blades Flashing, Swords Clashing

Time was short, and Huo Hai had no desire to linger here. He stopped studying the things on the ground and looked around instead. He lit a torch he had prepared and set it into a recess in the wall.

It was called a torch, but it was no ordinary one. Powered by a Spirit Stone, it gave off a faint, flame-like glow. They were underground, after all, where air circulated slowly. Huo Hai had no intention of making trouble for himself.

The Spirit Stone torch illuminated the surroundings. As Huo Hai looked around, he saw that this was indeed a great hall, just as those people had described. They had entered through the door, rather than breaking in through a window as he had. When it came to the finer points, they had beaten him hands down. Still, it hardly mattered. Getting inside was enough.

"This must be the part of the Spirit Formation they destroyed." Huo Hai approached the entrance and examined the damaged door. A simple Spirit Formation had once stood nearby. It had not been particularly strong.

Its sole purpose had been to keep out anyone below the Spirit Bone Realm. After the Spirit Bone Realm members of that group entered, they had destroyed the formation from within. That was why Huo Hai had been able to get through the window so easily.

Otherwise, a window would never have been so easy to break. The method for making Mystic Fox Scent had been found alongside the Mysterious Shadow Art. Both had been on a table in the center of the hall.

Huo Hai surveyed the hall: traces of battle all around, and bones on the floor that had lain there for who knew how many years. He reached the same conclusion as those people. This place