The two of them walked together along the stone road towards the tower.
There were several teams heading in the same direction on the road. When they first entered the ruins, no one had gained much yet. They kept a distance from each other, but they did not show any hostility. Only occasionally someone turned their head to look at Edgeless on Qin Tiexin's back.
The closer you get to the tower, the higher the density of the buildings. Judging from the remaining layout, this should have been the peripheral area of the Iron Spine Sect. It may have been a place for outer disciples to move around, or it may have been a side hall where debris was piled or for people to rest.
The tower was getting closer and closer. When he got to the bottom of the tower, Qin Tiexin looked up and took a look - the tower was about five feet high and had three floors. The whole tower tilted about a foot to the left. The surface of the wall was covered with fine cracks, extending from the bottom to the top of the tower. However, the main structure was still intact and there was no sign of imminent collapse.
There is no source of spiritual power to supply, and the formations on the tower have long since failed. Half of the wooden door at the entrance on the ground floor has rotted, and the remaining half hangs crookedly on the door shaft, making a creaking sound when the wind blows. There is a cracked wooden plaque hanging at the door, and most of the writing on it has been blurred, but three words can be vaguely made out-"Cultivation Method Pavilion".
The previous teams had already rushed in, and Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan followed them across the threshold. As soon as they entered, they smelled a strong musty smell, mixed with the smell of dust and rotten wood. There were about three rooms on the first floor. There are several rows of wooden shelves standing along the wall, but there is nothing on the shelves. There are many things scattered on the ground - broken bamboo slips, torn animal skins, crushed Jade Slip fragments, which make a crunching sound when stepped on.
The monks who rushed in first were squatting on the ground and rummaging through it. Someone picked up a few larger Jade Slip fragments and tried to piece them together. As soon as they exerted force, the fragments turned into powder and leaked from between their fingers. Someone picked up half a roll of animal skin and unfolded it. There were only a few vague writings on it.
"It's all ruined." Someone cursed in a low voice.
The other monk was unwilling to give in, and turned over for a while, and finally stood up, patted the dust on his hands, and shook his head.
Qin Tiexin did not follow the search. He stood there and scanned the entire first floor - it was indeed empty. Whether it was man-made damage or time erosion, the things in this Cultivation Method pavilion were no longer usable.
"Go upstairs and have a look." Duan Xuan said, and took the lead on the stairs leading to the second floor. The stairs were made of stone, and the steps were covered with thick dust, leaving clear footprints. The situation on the second floor was similar to the first floor. The bookshelves were empty, and debris was scattered on the ground. The only difference was that there was a dead skeleton lying in the corner. The clothes on the body had long since rotted, and only a few scraps of cloth were left attached to the skeleton.
Qin Tiexin did not move the withered bones, and continued upwards with Duan Xuan, ascending to the third floor. The space on the third floor was smaller than the two floors below, but the view was excellent. Most of the surrounding windows were damaged, and only a few still had wooden frames. Looking out through the windows, the outline of the entire ruins was clearly displayed in front of you.
Qin Tiexin stood by the window, his eyes slowly sweeping along the terrain.
Their location is at the edge of the ruins. From here, the distribution of the buildings shows a trend from low to high - there are some low side halls and stone houses on the periphery, and the deeper the buildings are, the denser the buildings are and the specifications are higher. At the end as far as the eye can see, there are several larger buildings in the center of the ruins. The outline of the building. One of them looks like a hall, with half of the top having collapsed, but the base is still intact; the other has a tower-shaped structure, much taller than the tower they are in; and the roof of another building is arc-shaped. Judging from the remaining structure, it seems to be a place used to store special items.
"That side should be the main hall." Qin Tiexin pointed to the half-collapsed hall, "Further back is the inner gate area. The medicine garden and the refining room are generally close to the outer area."
Duan Xuan followed his gaze and nodded. "Go to the middle of the building first."
The two of them did not stay in the tower for long. They came down from the third floor and walked out of the Cultivation Method Pavilion. After walking less than a hundred steps, there was suddenly a dull crash and several angry shouts behind them, and then there was the sound of swords clashing. Qin Tiexin looked back - in the direction of the tower, several figures were fighting in front of the tower. The dust was flying and it was difficult to see who was fighting with whom. Then there was another loud noise, a big hole was opened in the stone wall on the bottom floor of the tower, and rubble rolled to the ground.
The battle didn't last long.
After a chaotic collision and roar, there was a muffled roar - the leaning tower finally could no longer hold on. The three-story wall cracked outwards, gravel and bricks fell like raindrops, and smoke and dust rose several feet high. The tower tilted slowly at first, and then accelerated, and the entire tower exploded. It collapsed and hit the ground with a dull loud noise. Dust surged, debris flew everywhere, and the shock wave spread from the center of the collapse, setting off a wave of dust-filled air that passed over where Qin Tiexin and Duan Xuan were standing.
Duan Xuan squinted his eyes and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves. He waited until the dust dispersed a little before he put down his arms and glanced in the direction of the ruins of the tower. "This fight happened very quickly. I wonder what you found?"
"Let's go." Qin Tiexin didn't make any further comments, turned around and continued walking towards the building complex.
The two walked along the edge of a half-collapsed stone wall for a while, and met several other teams on the road. Neither party said hello, and walked in their own directions dozens of steps apart. After walking for about two sticks of incense, the two came to a larger stone hall. The layout of the stone hall was much wider than the surrounding side halls. The stone door was half open, and three ancient Chinese characters - "Forging Room" were engraved on the lintel.
Duan Xuan squeezed in through the crack of the door, followed closely by Qin Tiexin, who squeezed through the crack of the door sideways.
The interior space of the stone hall is very large, about eight to nine feet square, and it looks like the location of the outer door's weapon refining. There are several collapsed forging furnaces near the wall, and the anvils are crooked on the ground. There are semi-finished weapon blanks and broken iron pieces scattered around, and there are piles of rusted iron slag piled in the corners.
Qin Tiexin stood in the center of the hall and turned on [Spirit Material Sense].
Metal materials within a radius of tens of feet emerged in his perception. There were some scattered ore fragments underground, and the scattered weapon blanks were mostly ordinary iron, with Spiritual Qi missing at all.
There are no valuable spiritual materials or Law Artifact.
"Has this place been searched?" Duan Xuan squatted down and looked at a semi-finished hammer. The surface was so rusted that the original texture could not be seen.
"It's not like that." Qin Tiexin said, "It's more like it was evacuated by our own people before the evacuation. All the valuable Law Artifact should have been taken away."
Duan Xuan stood up and patted the rust on his hands. "Keep moving forward. Time is limited and you can't spend too long in every place."