In the meantime, when Wei Fang was in seclusion, Fang Jiuyi arrived at his destination.
The cloud manor appeared out of thin air in the sky.
Fang Jiuyi, Su Xin Yi, Shen Meng Yao, and Han Shuang come out one after another from the cloud manor.
"Husband, Are you sure this was the right place?" Su Xin Yi blinked her eyes in confusion as she looked around.
The sky was covered in black clouds, just like they remembered, but the state of the earth was very different from what they knew.
The land was barren; there was not even a stalk of grass that grew in it. It was also cracked, just like when there was no rain for a long time. There were also many scorching marks left behind by the lightning strikes.
As far as the eyes could see, there was not a single soul in sight; it was like they were in an abandoned wasteland.
"This-is this really the place where the Kuis lived?" Meng Yao also sounded uncertain. "I remember that it was a lush prairie; even though the lightning would strike from time to time, it would be absorbed by the Kuis, so the prairie would not be damaged."
"Right." Han Shuang nodded. "How can it end up like this?"
"Times change everything." Fang Jiuyi shook his head and sighed. "Just how long did our slumber last? It seems many things were happening after we went into slumber."
Changes always made people sighed, no matter if it was a good or bad change, because it was a sign that time already flies where the past was unrecoverable.
"Let's go see other places." Fang Jiuyi said.
They went around to other places in that world, but what they found was the same.
Everywhere they went, there were only barren places with cracked earth. The only sign of change was the fact that some places had more frequent lightning strikes than others, making the land blacker.
"Even the holy mountain of the Kuis was the same." Fang Jiuyi sighed.
In front of him, there was a towering mountain of unknown height. The peak was not visible as the mountain peak tore through the dense, dark clouds in the sky.
"It seems some disaster struck this place that caused the Kuis to migrate." Su Xin Yi concluded.
"Or annihilated." Shen Meng Yao added. "What a pity. Such a beautiful place became desolate and barren." She shook her head.
"In the past, I would already run around in the prairie and ride a Kui to run around or even sneak into their holy mountain. But now, not even a life is left on this place." Han Shuang shook her head. It was rare for her to be emotional.
"Let's see their lightning temple." Fang Jiuyi suggested before disappearing along with his four wives.
The five of them reappeared above the black clouds, where they could see the holy mountain peak.
The peak of the holy mountain comes out of the black clouds like an immortal residence amid mortal sin.
The lightning arch that danced around it gave it a beautiful sight like a holy glow, but if someone saw it, their legs would become weak because of how frequently lightning flashed around the peak.
The lightning temple was located at the holy mountain peak, so they needed to pass through the flashing lightning that looked like dancing snakes.
If it were someone else, they would have a hard time, but Fang Jiuyi and his wives traverse it with ease. As lightning would parted wherever they went, giving way to them, like someone who saw their superior.
Han Shuang even played with some lightning, making it coil around her like a snake. She even made some explosions and beautiful fireworks using lightning around them, making it like the proceeding of immortals.
Not long after, they finally arrived at the mountain peak. The peak seemed to have been slashed to make it smooth and even. In the center of it, there was a rundown temple with many cracks on its wall and roof; there were also some side buildings that had already crumbled down.
"Just how long is it to make epoch stones crack and crumble like that?" Su Xin Yi mused.
She was the most knowledgeable about the material among them. Even though she was an expert in the realm of alchemy, she also conducted some research on other materials, like material for forging cauldrons or mayerial for building the best alchemy room.
And epoch stones were one of the best materials for building the alchemy room because of how hard they were and how long they could last, thereby naming them epoch stones.
"Just how long does our slumber last, really?" She couldn't help but say that.
"Let's go inside!"
Han Shuang ran to the front of the group as she entered the lightning temple. The other four could only shake their heads as they followed her.
The inside of the lightning temple was no different than what was seen on the outside: cracks that spread like spiderwebs, falling pilars, a falling roof—everything was a mess.
Of course, there was no such thing as a cobweb because there was no sign of life; there was only dust everywhere; even their footsteps were imprinted on the floor because of how thick the dust was on the floor.
"Just what exactly happened?" Fang Jiuyi asked, but it was not directed at anyone, more like asking himself.
"Is it war?" Shen Meng Yao said she was uncertain.
"No, we don't see any trace of a big war when we look around. Usually, there would be mountains of bones if there was a big war." Su Xin Yi answered.
Usually, when war occurs, there are many corpses that are not retrieved from the battlefield, causing many bones to pile up. But there was no trace of it when they looked around before.
"Wait!" Fang Jiuyi suddenly thought of something: "What if it had occurred a long time ago that even the bones had turned to dust already?"
"Righ!" Even the epoch stones were cracked, let alone bones; it was also a possibility.
Before they knew it, they arrived in front of a big altar that was made from stones. There were many symbols and syllables decorating it, making the altar look ancient and mysterious.
On top of it, sand was piled up like a small mountain.
Occasionally, lightning would strike the big altar, making many lightnings dance atop it. The sand that was piled up on top of the big altar was also glistening with light, as lightning would occasionally appear from it.
Han Shuang, who was the most active among the group, took some of the sand from the big altar.
As soon as she wanted to touch the sand, her hand became like a lightning rod; a dense amound of lightning ran from the pile of sand to her hand.
But she didn't even flinch and just curiously looked at the lightning that flowed to her hand while analyzing it.
"This is..."