In response to Aiven's inquiry, the towering man-like figure remained silent, without even the slightest change in his facial expression.

He simply maintained that "please" gesture, much like those rigid stone sculptures.

In spiritual perception, he was nothing more than an empty illusion, with no feedback of power, nor any unique spiritual fluctuations of a soul.

Even standing right in front of the three of them, he was still a complete mystery, both literally and in reality...

Aiven took a deep look at the mysterious man's semi-transparent face, signaled to his two companions behind him, and then took the lead, stepping in the direction he was being guided.

The man's illusion walked alongside them, every step and arm swing as precise as if measured with a ruler. Aiven, with his "Data Visualization" skills, was the most vocal about this precision.

Step... step... step...

The three and the shadow walked up the first-level platform along the severely waterworn stone steps.

Crunch... crunch...

The white statues, seemingly carved from marble, suddenly opened their eyes, the stone eyes slowly rotating. A transparent pupil grew from the void in the midst of pure white.

The heads rotated at various angles, casting their cold, rocky gaze onto the three individuals simultaneously.

"Li... living?"

The seemingly ordinary stone statues that had been standing for who knows how long actually "came to life," giving even Milan, the wizard, an eye-opening experience.

In such a ventilated and sufficiently moist place, your facial features have been eroded beyond recognition, haven't they? Even if they were rock golems, they shouldn't be so careless, right? Where's the extraordinary spiritual light? The runes? There must be a power system, right?

At this moment, the broken statues seen in the previous two "Kingdom" and "Foundation" Original Essence Halls resurfaced in his mind. Turns out, those pirates weren't deliberately destroying "cultural relics"; these "relics" really could kill!

Although he was baffled by the principle behind these "living" statues, the world of witchcraft could not be judged by common sense, and he had to attribute everything to some unique magical witchcraft of a certain wizard school.

Crunching...

While they were stunned, the "living" statues stepped down from their stone bases, raising various weapons.

At this time, the man's apparition seemed to see nothing, walking straight into the array of statues, passing through them.

"Shall we fight?" Gary raised the almost serrated longsword in his hand due to being used with excessive force during a previous frenzy, ready to open a path forward.

"Wait!"

Standing in front of this building, Aiven's spiritual intuition had become so clear that it was almost capable of directly conveying information.

He felt...

No longer needed the man's shadow to guide him, he lightly stepped forward.

Something surprising happened for Milan and Gary!

The "living" statues proactively moved their weapons aside, clearing a path for Aiven.

However, when Milan and Gary tried to follow, they were blocked again by the merging ranks of the sculpture warriors. Gary, impatient, raised his sword to attack, but was stopped by Aiven.

"Since the owner of this place doesn't allow it, you two better stay here for now. I'll go in and pay a visit to the owner... sir."

Judging by the behavior of the man's apparition and the "monsters" encountered in the relics along the way, it was clear that someone had deliberately arranged all this. Aiven speculated that the reason why the owner of this place held him in special regard might be due to that inexplicable spiritual intuition in his heart.

Coincidentally, he also wanted to find out what mysterious answer had been attracting him all along!

Left with no choice, Milan and Gary ceased to insist.

The combined total of over two hundred statues in this three-tiered stone cave, each at least at the late-stage apprentice level, would form a tide capable of completely overwhelming the three of them. The situation was indeed somewhat overbearing.

Milan could only say:

"Alright, be careful! By the way, catch this."

Casually, he tossed the bronze key he had been keeping to Aiven, since the direction indicated by divination pointed this way. It might come in handy later.

"Call us if there's danger, boss!"

With a wave, he reassured them.

As Aiven turned, he instinctively touched his waist pouch. Although he sensed no danger, it was still necessary to maintain vigilance and have a backup plan.

Following the path opened by the sculpture warriors, he ascended step by step up the tiered stone cave group, reaching the third and topmost level, and entered the largest stone cave there.

Like obeying some strict rule, all the sculpture warriors stopped outside this cave, allowing Aiven to enter on his own accord.

Shattering sound—

As if breaking through an invisible membrane at the stone cave entrance, Aiven took a gentle breath, feeling as though he had suddenly entered a high-standard, temperature- and humidity-controlled laboratory. Even without a gate, it firmly blocked external moisture and sea winds.

Looking up, he saw that the man's illusion was already there waiting for him.

Not daring to run around recklessly, Aiven followed behind him and continued onward.

Although there were no visible lights here, a soft, unknown glow illuminated every inch of the cave, lacking the dark appearance one would imagine of a cavern.

Apart from this, what Aiven saw along the way was that many things inside the stone cave were relatively well preserved, without many traces of the ravages of time.

On both sides of the passageway, the first thing that caught Aiven's attention was the cylindrical ceramic tanks, most of which were taller than a person, neatly arranged in rows, numbering at least a hundred.

Though these devices might be a few centuries old from Aiven's perspective, giving a rather outdated impression, they still evoked a sense of being on the set of a "biological horror" film, causing him to instinctively lighten his step.

However, driven by curiosity, Aiven tiptoed to take a look inside one of the already open tanks, seeing only a dark, dried-up mass, long devoid of any indication of what might have been cultivated inside it.

Only by recalling the resilient vines and roots he encountered earlier, the walking "Frog-men" resembling both frogs and fish, and the large lizard with a bone crown, did Aiven suspect that those bizarre "creatures" unseen in the outside world likely originated from this place.

One person and one shadow continued to move forward, neither too fast nor too slow.

Along the way, there were huge biological specimens, cabinets holding materials (mostly ordinary parchment paper from long ago that had decayed due to prolonged exposure to air), various function rooms, herb storage, and other living and working facilities.

Unlike the luck with ceramic facilities at the start, these areas contained very few well-preserved items, with most succumbing to decay over the long years.

However, it wasn't the time to succumb to curiosity, so Aiven followed closely behind the shadow's footsteps. Finally, upon reaching the end of this stone cave, they met the "owner" of this place.

Hmm, as expected, it was the former owner.

He was a tall man, wearing a wizard robe identical to the shadow's, with a large, open hardback book resting on his thigh, clearly just an ordinary secular book without any witchcraft treatment, as the writings had already blurred beyond recognition.

There seemed to be no disguises or traps, just like an elderly person who had fallen asleep in a recliner reading a book on a lazy afternoon, never to wake again.

From Aiven's perspective, he could clearly see the darkened, mummified face that had turned completely charcoal black, evidence of the person having passed long ago.

Looking up again at the shadow who had led him in, Aiven saw it smile gently as if having completed its final mission and then dissolve completely into particles of light, disappearing without a trace.

From start to finish, not a single word was spoken...

For some reason, despite the lack of resemblance between the two beyond their robes, Aiven had a strong premonition that Mr. Shadow and the man in the chair were one and the same.

Even when seeing the serpentine tail emerging from the wizard's robe of the "owner," it felt the same.

The tail, encased in dark green scales, was unlike the withered human body above; it exuded a chill, metallic sheen, resembling more of a steel column than flesh and blood.

"Is this a Snake-man?"

"No, this must be a powerful wizard who underwent bloodline transformation!"

Aiven's accumulated knowledge was enough for him to make a judgment closest to the truth, and it was likely that the shadow was what this wizard looked like before undergoing the bloodline transformation.

However, the truth holds no significance for both the deceased and the living.

Perhaps because it was so close to the ultimate "goal."

Hiss—

Suddenly, Aiven felt the bronze key in his pocket grow scorching hot, and, taken by surprise, he dropped it to the ground.

Ting—

"You're clearly indicating that your lock is on this 'Snake-man,' right?"

Although the "owner" of these ruins had shown no malice towards him throughout, in this world, one could never lower their guard.

If in a martial arts world of a previous life, upon encountering the remains of a Senior Expert, one would inevitably bow deeply as a sign of sincerity.

However, in this world, such customs are not prevalent. Mm, Aiven carefully retrieved his... sword sheath.

Better safe than sorry.

Upon activating Data Visualization and Spiritual Vision, and using the wealth of practical knowledge from the "Shadow Library," such as "100 Common Evil Curses," "Adventurer's Self-Cultivation," "Wizard's Exploration Guide," "How to Open a Coffin Gracefully," "Wizard Tower Guide Collection," and others, Aiven repeatedly confirmed there were no issues with the "Snake-man."

Using the sword sheath, he gently nudged the only spot on the corpse with Extraordinary Spiritual Light.

Kacha!

A beautifully crafted bronze box fell to the ground, matching perfectly in style and material with the nearby bronze key.

With another look at the "Snake-man," there was no trace of any Extraordinary Spiritual Light left on him.

Evidently, this ancient wizard was not too wealthy, at least not at the time of his death. Since there were no other extraordinary items, Aiven didn't wish to disturb his deep sleep any further.

At least in terms of respecting the dead, Aiven had far more boundaries than most in this world.

After thoroughly checking the box using the comprehensive procedures summarized by generations of Senior Experts in "Wizard's Exploration Guide," Aiven picked up the now cool bronze key and carefully opened the intricate bronze box.

Kacha—

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