Chapter 678: Exploring Ruins, Statues

Previously, in Xia Duo's mind, Boke's image was merely that of an Adventurer who sold fake goods and had some experience exploring ruins, nothing more; yet, while enduring immense pain, he still thought of his foster father, and even overcame the pain to make a plea to Xia Duo.

Even if driven by emotion, this kind of willpower is very shining.

Xia Duo likes subordinates who value relationships the most; if the people of the Territory can love their families, they can naturally love the Territory and love him as their Lord. Xia Duo considers himself not a harsh Lord and believes he is worthy of his people's devotion.

Of course, to put it more darkly, people who value relationships are easier to control.

Facing such a Boke, Xia Duo's tone also became a bit more intimate, "Boke, I will go find Jiabasi. Now tell me, what exactly did you encounter in the ruins?"

Hearing Xia Duo's words, Boke's willpower seemed to receive some kind of support, and even his speech became much more coherent:

"My Lord, it was a Statue. At the time, I might have accidentally triggered something. Father Jiabasi suddenly pushed me away, and he himself completely turned into stone. I—I crawled out of the ruins, but I couldn't crawl out of the cavern outside."

"Does your leg still have sensation now?"

As he spoke, Xia Duo used the back of a knife to tap Boke's ankle. Boke immediately replied, "Yes, but the pain suppresses the Perception; it feels like a single hair brushing past."

"The pain is not occurring in the Petrification area?"

"No, it is on the dividing line!"

Xia Duo looked thoughtful, then stood up.

This was about all he could understand and needed to understand for now. Although Boke's train of thought was still quite clear, Xia Duo did not want to ask any more questions; he signaled Laidun to soothe Boke to sleep.

Afterward, he walked out of the tent alone.

In the interval while waiting for Laidun to soothe Boke to sleep, Xia Duo called for Ximeng again, asked him for some details about bringing Boke back, and then had him assemble the team to prepare to go out.

A moment later, Laidun walked out of the tent, "My Lord, he has fallen asleep."

Xia Duo nodded. Just then, Ximeng's men were also ready, so he said, "Come with me to take a look at that cavern!"

"Yes, my Lord!"

……

When Xia Duo arrived under the large tree above the cavern, Jiefu, the Supervisor of the Territory Development Department, also hurried over. Seeing this, Xia Duo immediately instructed:

"You came just in time. Pay attention: when developing, bypass this area near the cavern."

Xia Duo reached out and drew a circle in the surrounding area; a shifting Projection flew from his fingertips and quickly marked the boundary.

"Yes, Lord of the Territory!"

"Go get busy, you are not needed here!"

"Yes!"

Jiefu came in a hurry and left in a hurry.

Xia Duo then began his Spellcasting Scrying before entering the cavern. Although he had been down into the Demon Nest before, now that ruins had appeared below, it was impossible for Xia Duo to just go down and check blindly based on a few words from Boke and Ximeng.

What the situation was down there, he had to see with his own eyes. Magic gave him the best way to see it with his own eyes without having to go down in person.

As the Spellcasting was completed, Xia Duo felt an extension option appear in his various senses; he knew that was the Perception Field created by the Scrying spell.

Once the Perception Field appeared, it was already in the Demon Nest. Through it, Xia Duo "saw" some scenes of the Demon Nest. Of course, to avoid hurting his nose, he chose to discard the olfactory information.

The Demon Nest was not much different from what he had seen before, except that several Branching tunnels were filled with dirt, and the source of the dirt was that part of the passage leading to the ruins.

Following the passage, Xia Duo moved the Perception Field into the ruins until he "saw" a strange stone Statue with both hands outstretched; he realized he had entered the ruins.

It was very different from what he had expected. The so-called ruins were not a spacious underground architectural space, but a true ruin buried by dirt. Except for the narrow passage dug out by the Jiabasi father and son, almost no other artificial traces could be seen.

Seeing this, Xia Duo no longer wanted to go down into the ruins.

It wasn't because he was worried about danger or anything, but because there was only one passage underground dug out by the Jiabasi father and son, and at the end of the passage was Jiabasi, who had been completely petrified.

There was no road further ahead, but on the "wall" in front, one could vaguely see a stone Statue. The volume of the Statue should be quite large, and only a part of it was currently exposed.

And from this exposed part, the owner of the Statue seemed to be some kind of scaled creature.

Recalling that he had once obtained a mysterious clay tablet here, and the characters on the tablet were somewhat similar to the characters on the 【Nether Scroll】, Xia Duo had a vague guess—

Perhaps the ruins here were left behind by the creature that once created the 【Nether Scroll】.

Now seeing this Statue of a scaled creature, Xia Duo became a bit more confident in his guess. Could this Statue be the legendary creator race, the Sarukh Mage-Serpent!

……

The Perception Field created by the Scrying spell came with Magic Vision, but Xia Duo did not see any stable Magic Aura existing in the surroundings, only the residual aura of the Magic that had been triggered previously, which petrified the Jiabasi father and son.

It seemed to be some kind of hidden trap, or some mysterious unknown Magic Item, or it could even be a phenomenon, a Magic phenomenon caused by an abnormality in the Magic Net.

Which one it was, Xia Duo could not make a judgment for the time being and could only search for information as much as possible first.

Judging from the form in which Jiabasi was petrified, he should have discovered something at the time, quickly turned around and pushed Boke out, and then he himself, including Boke's lower body, was petrified.

As for what Boke said about accidentally triggering something, that should be the self-reproach of someone who survived alone.

And in front of Jiabasi, there was only the "wall" at the very end of the passage that had not yet been dug open. Xia Duo moved the Perception Field over and carefully observed the scaled Statue that had already emerged from the "wall".

If there really was any triggering mechanism, then the most likely one was this scaled Statue.

In other places, Xia Duo really couldn't see anything unusual, but this scaled Statue was not a Magic Item; at least in Xia Duo's Scrying spell, this was not a Magic Item.

The best way now was still to move Jiabasi out, and then find a way to lift his Petrification and ask him directly what happened.

Thinking this way, Xia Duo dispelled the Perception Field, and his senses and perspective returned to the ground. He called out to Ximeng and instructed:

"Send someone down to move Jiabasi out. He has been petrified. Be careful when moving him; don't break him, lest he find trouble with you for missing parts after his Petrification is lifted."

Hearing that Petrification could still be lifted, Ximeng's expression was obviously much more relaxed. He responded loudly and then arranged for his men to start the operation.

However, Xia Duo stopped him again and urged: "Be careful not to touch the very end of the passage."

"Yes!"

……