A Hidden Agenda

The winding path to the hidden site twisted and turned. The deeper they went, the more violent the lightning became.

The Lightning-Proof Cloaks they wore, made from special materials, were beginning to fail.

Just as some of them were ready to give up, a forest of stone appeared ahead.

Each stone pillar stood more than ten meters tall and was so thick that three people could barely wrap their arms around it.

A closer look revealed strange beast-face totems carved into every pillar. But so much time had passed that the carvings had weathered almost beyond recognition.

"This stone forest is unusual," Long Ye said. "It's stood for ages amid such a violent Thunderstorm Magnetic Field. These can't be ordinary rocks."

"You have a keen eye, my friend. They're extremely pure iron ore, pure enough to forge ninja tools directly. The lightning strikes these pillars and travels through them into the ground."

Throughout the journey, the leader had been cordial only to Long Ye, answering his questions from time to time.

"I see!"

Long Ye was beginning to understand how this place had been arranged.

The stone forest was like a field of lightning rods, drawing strikes from the sky and turning this place into a Thunder Domain that no one dared approach.

The purpose had to be to conceal the divine object within: the Thunder God's Eye.

It was an effective way to hide it. Countless years had passed before the previous leader of Candle discovered this place's secret by chance.

"I can't go on. The lightning's so strong that the strikes are starting to make me numb. The Lightning-Proof Cloak is about to stop working."

Pakura's expression grew grave.

The leader sounded almost pleased. "We're nowhere near the end. If you divide the route to the hidden site