"…We'll go to the murals as soon as the night passes.", Zhang Baichi commanded with a serious expression.
He did not understand why Yu Hao and Lu Zheng would say that the murals couldn't be comprehended when the depictions were so clear.
There was either something wrong with the murals or there was something wrong with the people looking at those murals. There might even be something wrong with him.
The system hadn't warned him about anything, but it could easily tell him that the writing was the ancient language of True Dragons.
For now, Zhang Baichi sent Yu Hao and Lu Zheng off; The night had only just begun and their whole group was still in danger. With Lu Zheng's experience, his input on how to survive during the night was vital.
Zhang Baichi himself also got busy and helped out where he could, but his mind was still on the murals and not on really on the task at hand.
Later, they ate and talked, where Zhang Baichi informed everyone that they would go to the Dragon Pillar the next morning.
No one was sure what his plan there was since they didn't know about the conversation between Zhang Baichi, Yu Hao, and Lu Zheng, but they still readily agreed.
Since it was peaceful so close to the Dragon Pillar, their group didn't need to worry about Demonbeasts too much.
During the night, most people decided to cultivate. The Spiritual Qi in the Mystic Realm was much more dense compared to the outside world, thus cultivating here would yield twice the result for half the effort.
Unfortunately, this did not apply to Zhang Baichi. Spiritual Qi was useless to him, who cultivated with the Qi from beyond the Heavens.
The Mystic Realm was a separate space within the world, one that has been opened by an ancient powerhouse by manipulating the laws of the world to create this whole space.
Because of that, not only was the Spiritual Qi useless to Zhang Baichi, but he could also barely even draw in the Qi from beyond the Heavens.
It was as if there was an additional wall between him and the world beyond the Heavens, making it much, much harder to reach the Qi from beyond the Heavens in the first place.
A few hours later Zhang Baichi sighed deeply. He had refuelled his Qi reserves and recovered from the injuries he received during his fight with the Mutated Cloudwolf.
However, his expression wasn't good, but looked somewhat anxious. 'I need to be careful in here. While others get twice the reward for half the effort, it's the other way around for me. Just refilling my Qi reserves already takes hours, much less training inside here…'
He quiet went through the options available to him in his head while preparing his place to sleep for the night. Though, the only idea he could come up with was relying on medicinal Pills, which would mean using the Points the system gave him, something that he'd rather avoid doing.
This new discovery weighed heavy on his mind, but he eventually fell asleep, anyways.
Night passed and the sun lit up in the sky, signalling that morning had come.
As with the dimming during the night, it only took a minute for the surroundings to light up brightly from total darkness.
Many people were only woken up by the sudden bright light and everyone quickly organized themselves.
Just half an hour after sunrise, everyone was ready to go, and Zhang Baichi led the group to the Dragon Peak.
They passed the rock formations in the surroundings without issue, and Zhang Baichi told everyone too keep an eye out for any crevasses or caves in case he had missed any when he looked for them before.
The Dragon Peak still stood proudly in the centre of the Beastwilds Mystic Realm with its peak piercing far past the clouds.
Zhang Baichi saw the murals and the writing carved into the foot of the pillar again. He inspected all of it from afar but couldn't see anything different from the day before.
"Everyone, take a look around and see if you can find any clue within the murals or writings.", he gave a quick shout to the whole group, then took Lu Zheng and Yu Hao with him.
The four murals painted next to the centre one with the altar, ball of light and massive dragon above was still the same as before, with no difference whatsoever.
Lu Zheng and Yu Hao remained silent for a while, inspecting the murals, and writing before turning to Zhang Baichi with perplexed faces.
"You really can't interpret anything from them?", Zhang Baichi questioned.
Lu Zheng shook his head thoughtfully. "There's nothing here but ruined murals and scarred writing. Brother Zhang, what is it that you want us to do here?"
Zhang Baichi was shocked and checked the murals again. How were any of the murals ruined? How was any of the writing scarred?
"Hey, take a closer look again. Everything here is in top condition. The murals are complete, as is the writing.", Zhang Baichi looked at them with a confused, but dead serious expression.
Both Lu Zheng and Yu Hao looked back at him with the same confusion and Yu Hao carefully glanced behind Zhang Baichi. "They're ruined. Totally ruined. The colours are faded, the murals themselves broken apart and the stone is cracked all around. How is that 'complete' in any sense?"
"…You really only see ruins? How can that be.", Zhang Baichi stared at the two of them and at the murals, dumbfounded.
He was really seeing what others couldn't? Was it an illusion? Or something else? 'System, what the f*ck is going on?'
[Ding! No abnormalities can be detected.]
'Nothing? No illusion, weird magic spell, otherworldly power, anything? You're sure?', Zhang Baichi walked closer to the murals, walking up and down along the stone wall.
[Ding! There is no error. The murals in front of the Host are perfectly fine. There is no abnormality.]
"It's really perfectly fine...?", Zhang Baichi muttered to himself.
Lu Zheng and Yu Hao glanced at each other, both seeing the concern in each other's eyes, as well as a hint of excitement. Did Zhang Baichi really see something in those murals that they couldn't?
Wouldn't that make him the first person to ever understand something about this Mystic Realm? What kind of heaven-shaking treasures would they be able to find, then?!
"Brother Zhang, what do those murals look like to you? Can you really see something in them?", Yu Hao curiously asked.
"Yeah, tell us. If there really is something about the murals, we might be the first people to ever find a clue about the true origins of this Mystic Realm. We could be the first people to ever obtain a real inheritance from here!", Lu Zheng added, just as excited as Yu Hao.
Zhang Baichi looked at them for a while. The system already told him that everything was fine, so he might as well share his findings.
He stood in the middle of the wall and pointed at the centre mural with the altar and massive dragon, explaining what was depicted there.
He went on to explain the murals on the left and right as well, mentioning as many details as possible.
Lu Zheng and Yu Hao were excited, but that changed to shock soon. Zhang Baichi's descriptions were accurate and so detailed that they could even somewhat imagine the murals before their eyes.
Soon after, all three of them were lost in thought. Zhang Baichi had explained everything in great detail and all of them were sure that there had to be some clue hidden in the murals.
"I think the solution lies with the altar. Like you said, it's most likely an offering to receive the blessing of the dragons. That should be the true inheritance of this place.", Yu Hao figured.
Lu Zheng agreed, but was just as clueless about where to start.
Zhang Baichi looked at them, and then up the Dragon Peak. "Hey, Lu Zheng. What you said about that blessing from hundreds of years ago… Are you sure there was no bloodrain around the Dragon Peak?"
"Yeah, that's what the legend says. Why?", Lu Zheng looked confused.
His eyes followed Zhang Baichi's finger, which was pointed at the sky, and he frowned. Zhang Baichi stood there and spoke. "What if… What if there's like a platform up there? At the peak, far above the clouds."
"…The Mystic Realm is a separate space, so it can't be endlessly high, remember?", Lu Zheng argued.
Zhang Baichi spoke up again. "Even if it was as high as it is wide, we should be able to see the peak, right? Why would it be taller than it is wide?"
"That would be weird, indeed…", Yu Hao muttered. He strained his eyes and stared into the sky, but he could also not see anything close to the peak. "But remember that we don't know how big this Mystic Realm is, exactly."
"Yeah, with the sea surrounding the island, it's impossible to tell how vast the Mystic Realm really is.", Lu Zheng agreed.
"Then let's just climb up there.", Zhang Baichi said. "We'll find out once we reach the peak, anyways."
"You're crazy. How do you want to climb the flat mountainside? And that aside, can you even climb dozens of miles up a mountain?" Lu Zheng and Yu Hao were sceptical.
"Do you have a better idea?", Zhang Baichi countered. "If not, then let's think of a way to climb up there."