The Martial Unity

2912  Ruins Reflecting the Present

While the Martial Sages of the Hive fought against a tremendously powerful Abyssfeeder, the Martial Sages of the Namgung Dynasty had found themselves before a profoundly unique discovery.

STEP

Jinryong Namgung stepped forward as the loosely-clad hanfu enveloping his body swayed in the winds. His domineering, muscular body lent him an air of gravity and weight that seemed to place him at the very center of the world no matter where they were.

An air of control and stability emanated from him.

A soothing presence in the chaotic perils and unknowns of the Beast Domain.

And yet, what they saw in the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain shook them nonetheless.

They stood there gaping as they beheld the depths of the Beast Domain at its core.

What they saw were expansive ancient ruins of a long passed civilization.

Ruins that spanned an entire country in range.

”A Lost City…?” not even Reverend of Reckoning, one of three remaining Transcendent candidates, could control his shock at the sheer gravity of what he was beholding. ”Here…? In the depths of the Beast Domain?”

It was unfathomable.

While Sage Jinryong was hardly knowledgeable about the archaeological discoveries in the domain of Lost Cities, he was absolutely certain that none of the ancient ruins in the Beast Domain were this large.

He had also never heard of any Lost City that was in the depths of the Central Highlands themselves. It was an unfathomable discovery that begged so many questions that even the arrogant Martial Sages of the Namgung Dynasty simply stood there, paralyzed in shock.

The Lost Cityʼs fort walls were decrepit and falling apart.

The foundations of what were once buildings had somehow managed to remain despite centuries and millenia that had surely passed since the extinction of this particular civilization.

Countless questions flashed through them as they studied the stunning view of the entirety of landscape comprised of ruins down in the distance from atop the cliff they stood.

How did human civilization ever even exist in the depths of the Beast Domain, which were so dangerous that even Martial Sages could easily die if they werenʼt careful?

It was so unfathomably mind-bending that not a single one of them could even bring themselves to postulate a possibliity that wasnʼt utterly nonsensical in how it sounded.

”Letʼs go.” The Reverend of Reckoning regained his solid, ordered composure.

His chest puffed, and his chin raised with a visible glint of arrogance in his body language.

”This does not change our mission,” he stated with a measured voice. ”We shall scout and scope the entire area, eliminate all quasi-Transcendent presences, and report this anomaly back to the Solution of Harmonyʼs strategic task force.”

His tone was one of order and certainty.

WHOOSH

The seventeen Martial Sages of the Namgung Dynasty leaped off the cliff as they soared towards the ruins in the depths of the Beast Domain, surging towards it.

STEP

They gracefully landed in the entire region with maximum alertness in their body language, gazing across the entire region with their backs facing each other. They could sense a faint sense of danger in the environment.

They slowly scouted the Lost City with curiosity and caution in equal parts. The Reverend of Reckoning rose into the air as he studied the layout of the entire nation.

It resembled that of a spiderweb. With roads and path passing through and from the very epicenter of the city, and paths running about to an fro. It gave him the impression of meticulous civil planning underlying the entirety of the civilization.

”Ordered,” he remarked with a hint of approval, ”as all things should be.”

His gaze shifted to the epicenter of the Lost City, occupied by a large amount of rubble atop the foundations of what was surely an enormous structure. His eyes sharpened as he spotted something that drew his curiosity.

STEP

With a wave of his hand, he brushed off all the rubble that was surprisingly sturdy.

The entirety of the ruins had undergone a process similar to fossilization, but with the esoteric equivalent of it, allowing the structures to have remained and survived the sheer rigors of the depths of the Beast Domain.

And yet, it was what he found underneath the rubble that intrigued him.

An opening in the ground.

What was once a hidden passage, perhaps.

RUMBLE

He exerted his earth-bending, unclogging the pathway of all the rubble, before sky-walking himself down the pathway as he slowly descended downwards, curious about how normal people traveled up and down such a straight hole with no steps prior to the age of Martial Art, noting the remains of what once appeared to be cables of sort.

18:31

He exerted his earth-bending, unclogging the pathway of all the rubble, before sky-walking himself down the pathway as he slowly descended downwards, curious about how normal people traveled up and down such a straight hole with no steps prior to the age of Martial Art, noting the remains of what once appeared to be cables of sort.

STEP

The passageway once led to the underground facility with more rubble.

Scraps of metal and other junk were completely destroyed beyond all recognition across a remarkably large empty cavity.

Ancient languages were carved across the walls, now fading after a long passage of time and the unconducive, destructive environment of the Beast Domain. He headed deeper and deeper as he grew intrigued by steps descending down even further.

STEP

STEP

STEP

With each step he took down, he felt an eerie sense of peril and danger.

It was not a sensation that he, the strongest among peak Sages, was accustomed to too often these days. In the depths of the underground cavity at the very center of the Lost City, he came across more rubble.

Yet, this time, it was rubble that still retained a semblance of what it used to be. STEP

He froze as he arrived before a strangely familiar object amid all the destruction of time. A large and strangely humanoid mechanical structure with two limbs missing.

Across its entire body was a profoundly intricate array of wires and circuitry that entirely mystified the Martial Sage. At its very top was a rusted and crumbling head-like structure. One that was large enough to fit an entire human within it.

”This…” the Martial Sage murmured. RUMBLE!!!

The world shook as his powerful instincts detected a surge of quasi-Transcendents converging on his position.

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