As she spoke, she glimpsed something on the wall, illuminated by the faint light of the mark.

With a “whoosh” sound, over ten flames suddenly lit up beside Feng Miaojun, all emitting bright white light wrapped in ethereal blue.

These were soul fires.

With a mere thought, the soul fires flew in all directions, illuminating the entire stone chamber as bright as day.

Ordinary humans couldn’t use such techniques. The Prince of Yan instinctively glanced at her, only to see her pupils suddenly constrict, and surprise spread across her face. He couldn’t help but look around as well.

Thus, both of them saw the graffiti on the stone walls, densely packed, occupying almost every corner of the six walls.

The Prince of Yan let out a low “Hmm?” sound. “Is this… the Celestial Demon’s handwriting?”

Zhao Yun had infiltrated Yingshui City multiple times and entered this stone platform, yet he had never reported these markings on the walls. They didn’t exist in the physical world.

These were traces written by people in dreams, and naturally would only remain in dreams.

After waking, the grand dream leaves no trace.

Each line was etched with a sharp tool, penetrating half an inch into the stone. Yet when Feng Miaojun had pierced the stone wall with her Star Sky Awl earlier, it remained undamaged. Leaving marks here was itself an extraordinary feat.

The identity of who left these marks was becoming obvious.

But they had no time to consider this, their eyes fixed unblinkingly on the markings because there were two languages inscribed:

Divine runes and the Celestial Demon language.

On five of the walls, each divine rune was invariably followed by a line of Celestial Demon script.

Feng Miaojun was entranced for a long moment before unconsciously murmuring, “The Celestial Demon was analyzing the seal here.” If the seal was considered the problem, the Celestial Demon script beside the divine runes would be its annotations, and these dense etchings on the wall were…

The process of calculation and deciphering!

She stared without blinking, with no attention to spare for the Prince of Yan.

Conversely, the Prince of Yan was in the same state.

The language of the divine was difficult for mortals to understand. Despite years of effort, she, Yun Ya, and Yu Haizhen had only deciphered tiny fragments of the seal, with complete success still far away.

She had almost given up, believing the turtle seal would remain unsolvable for the next century, and had prepared to live and die alongside Yun Ya.

Yet here on this wall remained all of the Celestial Demon’s annotations about the seal!

They couldn’t understand the divine runes, but they could understand the Celestial Demon language.

One by one, complex and profound patterns were decoded into Celestial Demon script, with clear proof processes, from complex to simple, from incorrect to correct… Feng Miaojun watched, mesmerized, unable to even move her eyeballs.

She and the Prince of Yan’s attention had been completely captured by the runes on the wall, utterly unable to notice anything else.

Even though the Prince of Yan’s purpose in entering this place was to find the Celestial Demon and inquire about immortality, even though he was filled with anxiety, after seeing the derivations on the wall, those objectives were temporarily set aside.

With their level of cultivation, they naturally understood the significance of the divine runes:

They explained the causality of all things.

They contained the supreme Dao.

They pointed to the ultimate truth of the universe.

They stood almost at the peak of cultivators in this realm, yet couldn’t find a fulcrum to advance even one step further. And the annotations etched on the stone walls were their only means to glimpse the ultimate principles of heaven and earth beyond their level.

How could they not be immersed, how could they not cherish this?

This was a temptation no cultivator could resist.

So the stone chamber fell silent for a time. The Prince of Yan’s anger and Feng Miaojun’s vigilance both disappeared, and their minds were left with only four words:

Seeking with utmost diligence.

These markings were especially significant to Feng Miaojun. They were the Celestial Demon’s homework in deciphering the seal. Clearly, after being imprisoned here, the Celestial Demon had tirelessly sought ways to break the seal.

To break it, one must first be able to decipher it. But the seal consisted of countless lines, and the Celestial Demon had to analyze each one thoroughly. This had also been her and Yun Ya’s research approach for many years.

Witnessing these deductions, she had only one feeling:

Sudden enlightenment.

The previously complex, difficult, and obscure aspects of studying the turtle seal suddenly became clear and coherent under the annotations of the Celestial Demon language on the wall, transforming into one decipherable enchantment after another.

It was like a great river breaking through a blockage, flowing forward without hindrance.

The divine seal was difficult to understand because it expressed the most complex principles of the world through the simplest runic lines. This was called the great Dao at its simplest, but beings of this realm lacked sufficient understanding to perceive it.

But the Celestial Demon’s writings had reversed this process, and Feng Miaojun could finally understand.

Understanding gave her the right to comprehend, ponder, and even… break the seal.

This stone chamber, the size of a basketball court, was her treasure trove!

Not only could she not move a step, but she also didn’t want to avert her gaze for even a moment.

Lady Xu awoke with a scream, startled.

The last image in her mind was of herself being thrown dozens of zhang high into the air. The crossbeams above the hall were interlaced like paths in a field, and the four walls were covered with complex patterns and decorations, magnificent yet dilapidated.

Then, she suddenly fell!

Falling from such a height would surely result in a gruesome death.

So Lady Xu awoke screaming, fists clenched, cold sweat dripping from her forehead. From beside her came a series of low calls: “Mother, Mother!”

She looked down to see her son, his clear black and white eyes gazing at her with concern. From nearby came Peng Bai’s gentle comfort: “It’s alright, don’t be afraid, it was just a nightmare.”

Lady Xu, breathing heavily and trembling slightly, looked around to find herself lying safely in bed. The room was small with sparse furnishings. In the corner, an overturned basin rack remained unattended, and a thick layer of dust covered the floor.

Peng Bai embraced her with his good arm, softly comforting her: “It’s good that you’re awake, we’re all here.”

She then remembered that her family of four had fallen into the Prince of Yan’s hands and been brought to this abandoned capital. She couldn’t recall the later events clearly, only knowing that in her dream, she had somehow been trapped in a bottle, and the world outside appeared distorted.

Lady Xu stroked her son’s forehead, hesitantly saying: “I, I saw in my dream…”

Before she could finish, the door creaked open, and a woman in black entered. Lady Xu swallowed the rest of her words.

She had just seen An’an in her dream.

But instinct told her it was best not to mention this.

The woman in black was gaunt and expressionless. Though her skin was frighteningly pale, her features weren’t unattractive. Her gaze swept over the family before she asked in a firm voice: “What’s the matter?”

She too had heard Lady Xu’s scream.

Lady Xu met her gaze and couldn’t help but shudder. The way the other woman looked at her was as if she were looking at a dead person, quite chilling. She stammered softly: “I, I had a nightmare.”

This woman was with the Prince of Yan, and the fearsome Prince treated her with great respect, so she must also be a formidable character, right?