By the time they returned to the courtyard above, everyone except Fang Qianyuan was drenched in sweat, their hearts still pounding with fright.
Although the deity statue had become seemingly ordinary once removed from the altar table, Fang Qianyuan did not dare let his guard down. He quickly had someone find a large piece of thick cloth, wrapped it up, and placed it inside a heavy metal box.
The box had also been found in the underground hall. Its size and shape were a perfect fit; it must have originally been used to hold the statue.
Once that was done, Fang Qianyuan asked the members of the city's aristocratic clans present, "Has any of you seen this thing before, or heard anything about it?"
They all replied, "We know nothing about it."
Their expressions did not seem feigned, but Fang Qianyuan had no way to judge for the moment. He could only say, "Very well. Don't spread word of this. Leave some people here to seal this place off. The rest of you may disperse for now."
Everyone acknowledged his orders and carried them out.
"Junior Brother Fang, there seems to be something strange about this thing. You'd best avoid getting too close," Wu Longjie advised. "Even though you've boxed it up, I can still vaguely sense its presence. Getting too close makes me dizzy and sick to my stomach."
"Me too!" Lu Feiyang said hurriedly.
"Is that so?" Fang Qianyuan, however, had already adapted to it and no longer felt anything unusual.
He was neither looking directly at the deity statue nor touching it.
Still, Fang Qianyuan took Wu Longjie and Lu Feiyang's words seriously. He also had the faint sense that, even inside the box, it continued to emit a strange rhythmic pulse.
It might be an extraordinary