More than a few days passed before he saw Xue Lan again, during which time they finished exploring the city.

  She’d remained holed up in the small bunker, researching the primordial runes they’d found. The bunkers had been better sealed against the elements that the houses had been, and many of the papers within were still intact. She spent her time pouring over them, teasing out the meaning behind a number of the runes she hadn’t recognized.

  Meanwhile, they’d found three more bunkers around the city, identical to the first. Yu Chen shuddered to think of the amount of spiritual energy the place consumed every day. The small energy well he’d used in the mountains was less than a pittance in comparison.

  He wondered how the people who built the city had discovered such a rich source of energy.

  Or perhaps it had something to do with the river. After all, the yellow river churned forth from the heart of the world itself, its waters rich and thick with spiritual energy. It had run across this riverbed for untold eons. Who knew how much of that energy had infused into the earth beneath them in all that time?

  Yu Chen had no idea, but he’d collected some of the soil, sure he’d find some use for the rich spiritual soil one day. They also returned to the mines during this time, showing Yan Ziqi what they had found.

  “These are veins of Profound Iron!” Yan Ziqi said, his voice filled with astonishment. “And look, those darker ones over there…” he paused, gathering his thoughts. “I think that’s some form of Adamant, I don’t even recognize it!”

  He turned to look at the others, before speaking again. “Do you know how far you have to dig to find these elements? Yu Chen, these are deep earth metals!”

  Yu Chen looked at Sun Yuan, but the other boy shrugged. He didn’t know either.

  “That’s a good thing, right?” He asked, his voice slightly hesitant.

  “Good?” Yan Ziqi said, rolling his eyes, “Golden Core cultivators would fight and die for a fraction of what’s in this mine. There’s enough metal here to outfit a fleet of spiritual vessels.”

  Yu Chen nodded. That at least he could understand. “Let’s gather as much as we can,” he said, looking around. “Then we’ll find Xue Lan and see if she’s found anything.”

  At least something would come out of this disastrous trip. They lacked the tools to extract the ore from the walls, at least, not in any timely manner, but there was still more than enough laying around in the tunnels for them to pick up.

  Once they’d cleared the first, they’d explored the others as well, going through the handful of mines that were scattered across the area. They’d gathered a sizable amount by the time they had finished, including a few chunks of some rare metals he’d never seen before.

  Yu Chen made his way to one of the bunkers once they’d finished, intent on meeting up with Xue Lan.

  “I think I’ve got it!” She greeted him as they entered, motioning Yu Chen over to look at the stack of ancient papers she stood over. “You were right! They used these machines to power the entire city.”

  She marveled at the large object humming in the center of the room.

  “They gather energy from beneath the river and send it towards the spire. It’s like that array disk I gave you before, it forms the heart of a giant formation!” A hint of madness in her eye, “The scripts are connected,” Xue Lan words were moving faster as she spoke, “All of the scripts across the entire city are tied together, I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  Yan Ziqi let out a low whistle at her words, but Yu Chen frowned. She didn’t look like she’d gotten much sleep.

  “I know.” She said, giving the other boy a serious look. “The scale of it beggars belief, at least in its intricacy.”

  She shook her head. “The elder showed me the large-scale formation at the sect once. I thought it was impressive, but it was nothing next to this.”

  Yu Chen frowned. He didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Will we be able to get into the spire?” He asked doubtfully.

  She gave him a mischievous smile, a bit of her old self showing through. “That’s the easy part actually. There were some runes scrawled on one of the notes. I have a feeling they’ll get us through the shield. Whoever was here had access within.”

  Yu Chen nodded. “Let’s go find out."

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  They stood before the spire thrusting out of the center of the city.

  “Something there.” Serbo au Serbo muttered, his voice low as he stared upwards.

  Yu Chen followed his gaze. The spire stretched out above them, dizzyingly high, but he didn’t see whatever it was the barbarian did.

  “A trick of the light?” He suggested, his lips tugging down in a slight frown.

  Serbo au Serbo snorted. “Light not move.”

  The barbarian had him there. There was neither sky nor sun within this sunken place and its light was unchanging. Everything was illuminated by a soft glow that came from all around them and never so much as flickered.

  Yu Chen’s frown deepened.

  “Be prepared,” he said as he shook his shoulders, loosening them up, “we don’t know what might be waiting inside.”

  One of Xue Lan’s hands fell to the sword she now carried as she stepped forward, approaching the shimmering shield that surrounded the spire.

  She held something out, a piece of paper that she’d scrawled some runes across, forming an intricate pattern. A soft glow erupted the paper as she channeled her qi. The shield before her was suddenly shoved back, billowing around the edges of a field that repulsed it.

  “Hurry up, she said, waving towards them.

  Yu Chen looked around, nodding towards the others before stepping forward, entering the shield. Yan Ziqi cracked his knuckles, while Sun Yuan’s sabre appeared with a twist of his wrist. He lifted it, settling it on his shoulder as swaggered in, looking around suspiciously. Serbo au Serbo brought up the rear, his bow still hidden for now, but never more than a heartbeat away.

  Xue Lan waited until they’d all passed before running forward and approaching the metallic door. She did something and it slid back, revealing a yawning opening before them.

  Yu Chen was the first to enter, peering around the entrance hall of the spire. It was a large circular room, with many branching paths. A long desk blocked off the middle of the room, reminiscent of the mission hall he used to visit.

  “What is this place?” Sun Yuan asked, looking around curiously.

  “Spread out and look around.” Yu Chen replied.

  It didn’t take them long to figure out there was nothing of interest within the foyer. They’d checked the rooms behind the desk, but they were empty, with nothing of note. The branching pathways led nowhere. The only other thing worth mentioning were the remains of the plants, long since dead and desiccated, scattered around in what had no doubt been a very aesthetical experience at one time.

  “What now?” Sun Yuan asked, squatting down with a disgusted impression. “There’s nothing here.”

  “Serbo did say he saw something moving when we were standing outside,” Yu Chen said, “Our answer might be somewhere up above.”

  “How do we get up there?” Sun Yuan asked with a frown. “There aren’t any stairs down here.”

  “We use those.” Xue Lan said, pointing towards some slabs of stone at the back of the room, directly opposite of the door they’d walked in through.

  “What are those?” Yu Chen asked, walking closer to them. “How are they supposed to carry us up?”

  “I’ve looked them over,” She insisted. “They are covered with formations. The runes tell a story if you know how to read them. Lift, Repulsion, Balance, Control, Suspension, Direction.” She frowned, leaning closer. “I’ve never seen this one!”

  “It looks like they’ve spliced two runes together.” She mumbled to herself.

  “Weight-Mitigation,” she said slowly, testing the word. “Fascinating. It must make the stones easier to move.”

  Yu Chen couldn’t help but be impressed with how fast she rattled the runes off. Only a couple of days had passed, but it seemed as though she’d quickly taken to this newer, or older, runic alphabet she’d acquired.

  He looked upwards, seeing some holes in the ceiling above.

  “These can take us to the higher floors?” Yan Ziqi asked, leaning down next to the young girl. Realization flashed through his eyes. “Ahh, you simply need to,”

  “Yes.” Xue Lan said, cutting him off. She pushed her palm against one of the stones, a faint sparkle appearing as she injected it with a small amount of qi. To Yu Chen’s surprise, the block responded, grumbling slightly before lifting up by the tiniest of margins.

  There was a moment of stunned silence as the group processed it.

  “Now that,” Sun Yuan said, a faint hint of awe in voice. “Is cool.”

  Yu Chen couldn’t help but agree. He looked around, before clearing his throat.

  “Come on then,” he said, lightly leaping onto the stone. “Let's get this over with.”

  The others joined him, jumping up and crowding onto the small stone. Xue Lan knelt down, injecting the stone with her qi and lifting them into the air. Yu Chen had a moment of disorientation as they rose up, feeling as though the world had dropped out beneath him, though his feet were still flat on the ground.

  The others were similarly shocked, but the novelty soon wore away. The stone locked into place as they arrived at the second floor, hovering in a field generated by the band of formations encircling the ground around it.

  Yu Chen frowned, casting a glance towards the ceiling. Unfortunately, there were no more holes. It looked as though they would have to find another way up the spire If they wanted to advance any higher.

  This floor was far less open than the foyer below. There was only one hallway snaking across the floor in a long, winding, path. They’d enter the rooms that appeared on the left and right, but they were invariably disappointed. They appeared to be bedrooms mostly, or the occasional office space. Entirely mundane.

  Yu Chen was struck by the oddity of it all as they continued. What had happened to all of the people who’d once lived here? How had an entire city simply disappeared, just like that? What was the cause?

  He didn’t know, and he didn’t like not knowing.

  A deep sense of foreboding had built up during their time in the abandoned city, although they’d managed to shove it away, distracting themselves with other things. But it was impossible to ignore here, so close to the heart of things.

  Yu Chen froze as he heard a noise coming from a nearby corner, almost like a whisper. He snapped his head around, but there was nothing to see, the corner as empty as it was a moment ago.

  The skin on the back of his arms stood up as his senses became hyper alert, vigilant to the slightest of changes.

  They’d only walked a little further before another sound, this time from his left, brought Yu Chen to a halt once more.

  “Did any of you hear that?” He asked, his voice filling with tension.

  “Yes.” Yan Ziqi confirmed, nodding his head.

  “Something strange.” Serbo said, a gleam in his eyes as he stared around. “Not natural.”

  Yu Chen gritted his teeth, looking at the others, but he saw no answers there. There was nothing for it but to continue pressing on.

  He pretended not to hear it the next time the voice came, whispering at the edge of his hearing in a tone so soft he truly believed he might have imagined it.