Leng Jin Yu stepped closer to the statue of the woman. She seemed young. If she wasn't an immortal, then she couldn't even be thirty years old. If he had to guess, he'd probably say that she was only a bit older than twenty.
She had a lovely face sporting big eyes and a cute smile and with the way half her hair fell in front of her shoulders and slightly curled, she seemed like a playful maiden. In contrast to that, the way she held the fan in her hands was quite elegant, belying the impression she gave off at first glance.
Disregarding her beauty there didn't seem to be anything remarkable about her.
Leng Jin Yu turned to the statue of the man next. Comparing him to the woman he seemed a little older, maybe nearing thirty years of age. His physique was bigger although he still gave off a feeling of elegance. It was an unrestrained one though.
Leng Jin Yu stared at the face. He was sure that he had never seen it before but the way the man was standing there seemed a little familiar. Or it wasn't exactly the way he stood with his hands resting on his drawn sword but rather the way he carried himself while doing so.
Who did this statue remind him of? He had the vague feeling that this was an important clue, something he needed to know. Well, there weren't that many possibilities. Either it was someone he had seen in his life before his ascension such as a fellow disciple of his previous sect or someone from the Nine Heavens.
He immediately excluded the people from the Yun Zou Sect and Hei Dian Sect from his thoughts. After all, he had come here a few years ago. Never mind that he had spent most of his time inside, not interacting with other people much, if he did have to do with someone, then it was mostly for a longer amount of time like with his new master. Thus, he would definitely remember if there had been a similar person.
As for the years before his ascension … It hadn't actually been that long ago. But his early years were so forgetting someone wouldn't be strange.
He tried to recall his fellow sect members and the ones from other sects he had known. He even thought about those from the sects that stood opposed to them but he still came up with nothing.
So was this person … really from the Nine Heavens?
Leng Jin Yu looked at that unfamiliar face again. It actually made sense, too. He obviously didn't know this face so he couldn't have seen exactly this person. Maybe this situation was similar to the one of the crown prince: Someone who had descended for his trial. He would look different but might still carry some of his previous mannerisms. After all, it was still the same soul in that body. It was to be expected to have some similarities.
So, the person he was looking for should be a trueborn god. There weren't that many that he knew. Thinking about anyone he had spent more time with there was only Lan Ling but he had nothing in common with the man depicted by the statue.
Then those he hadn't really known that well … There were only those he had gotten to know because of the matter with the crown prince. Namely … the Fate's Scribe and … the God of War.
Leng Jin Yu's gaze traveled downward to the sword in the man's hands. Could it be … Was this the reincarnation of the God of War? Was this a trace he had left behind on his trial? So it turned out that the realm that had opened during the crown prince's trial might have been created by his uncle.
In that case, it wouldn't be difficult at all to open the realm from the outside. After all, the gods would remember their trials when they woke up in the Nine Heavens again. Well, it was highly unlikely that the God of War would tell the dragon king the method though. After all, this concerned the life of his nephew and he certainly wasn't as blinded by his emotions as the dragon king was.
Leng Jin Yu sighed. Well, for now, this was only his conjecture anyway. He couldn't be sure. But anyway, this didn't answer the question just where the core of the realm was. It should be tied to one of the statues but … He couldn't sense it?
Leng Jin Yu circled both of them again but still came up empty-handed. There didn't seem to be any clue at all.
He frowned. Normally, finding the core shouldn't be so difficult. Never mind that most experts that created realms also hoped to find a suitable person to leave their heritage to there just wasn't any way to completely conceal the core in the first place.
But maybe it was different in this case because of the ice spiritual vein? After all, a spiritual vein would give off a lot of spiritual energy. That might be able to conceal most of the true core of a realm if it consisted of another and maybe even the opposed element.
But even then he should still be able to perceive it if he stood directly in front and searched for it. After all, a core would be made up of spiritual energy. As long as he could perceive the corresponding element he could find it. But now there was nothing of the like. He only felt the spiritual energy that surrounded the whole realm. There was nothing special about this place.
Leng Jin Yu had a sudden sense of crisis. He had believed that there wouldn't be any problem in wresting the control over the secret realm from the previous master considering that he was probably long dead but that still required him to find the core first! And if he didn't gain control of the realm, then forget about going to ask the God of War about whether or not he was the one who had created this realm, he wouldn't be able to get out at all!
Leng Jin Yu closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He had always thought of keeping Jing Yi here to make sure the dragon king couldn't make trouble. Now he himself had no chance to get out. Heaven really had to like playing jokes on people.