booktalesy Chapter 1014 You've Finally Arrived
Chapter 1014 You've Finally Arrived
The Bone Tower no longer emits fluorescent blue mist.
Lin Qiye stood before the tower's base, gazing up at the once towering, spiraling structure that had seemed to reach for the heavens. Most of the tower's bone-like openings had closed, with only a few remaining, opening and closing extremely slowly, as if breathing unconsciously in a deep sleep. The dense clusters of fluorescent blue crystals on the tower's surface were peeling away in patches, accumulating around the base and forming a ring of grayish-white powder.
Upon closer inspection, the mystery and oppressive atmosphere of this bone tower dissipate considerably, revealing its most essential form—a colossal structure built from the bones of some ancient creature, weathered and eroded over countless years, its surface riddled with fine cracks and holes. Those cracks and holes once flowed with a fluorescent blue light; now only the grayish-white bone itself remains, gleaming with a pale, lifeless sheen in the sunlight filtering through the clouds.
Lin Qiye did not immediately enter the tower. Instead, he walked around the base of the tower, carefully observing every line, every hole, and every piece of flaking crystal fragment on its surface. His steps were unhurried, his gaze focused and calm, as if he were inspecting a newly acquired weapon, confirming that every detail was intact.
After walking around, he confirmed a few things.
First, all energy circuits within this bone tower have been severed. The fluorescent blue harmonics that once made the crystal clusters on the tower's surface glow originated from the core of the altar and the remnant will of the drop of blood from the candle. With the self-destruction of the altar and the collapse of the inheritance space, the energy circuits lost their driving source, rapidly cooled and decayed, and have now completely ceased functioning.
Secondly, there is indeed a living being inside the tower. That extremely faint aura is hidden somewhere in the middle of the tower. The nature of the aura is neither that of an ancient beast nor a strange beast, but rather a humanoid being with fluctuations of primordial energy. The fluctuations are extremely faint; if he hadn't just merged with the Candle's inheritance, significantly enhancing his perception, it would have been almost impossible for him to detect its presence at such a distance.
Third, that person—or rather, that being—was in a state of near death. Their breath was intermittent, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
Lin Qiye found an entrance on the south side of the tower base.
The entrance was originally a vertical crack in the tower, sealed by a translucent bone membrane. Now, the bone membrane had dried and cracked, creating a gap large enough for a person to squeeze through sideways. He crawled through the gap and entered the bone tower.
The interior of the bone tower was much larger than he had imagined.
From the outside, the bone tower appears to be about twenty zhang in diameter, but once inside, the actual interior space seems at least three times its external diameter—this is not an illusion, but a spatial array. The creators of this bone tower embedded extremely precise arrays of spatial runes into its walls, significantly expanding the internal space. This spatial expansion technology also exists in the arena, but to achieve this level and maintain stability requires at least a Grandmaster-level array master.
There are no floors inside the tower; the entire interior space is a huge hollow cavity, extending from the bottom to the top. The inner walls of the cavity are densely covered with countless horizontal and vertical bone beams, like a giant scaffold constructed of bones. These bone beams are covered with fine, fluorescent blue crystal clusters—most of the clusters have dimmed, but a few still retain an extremely faint glow, like solitary lamps about to go out in the dim tower space.
Some of the structures resembled the remnants of a building, but were completely covered by crystal clusters and bone growths, leaving only faint outlines of broken walls and ruins. Among the remains were stones, wood, metal fragments, and even a few pieces of pottery that looked like household utensils—these things were clearly not naturally formed inside the ancient beast, but rather were artificially constructed and transported in.
Lin Qiye's gaze lingered on the wreckage for a moment, and a conjecture arose in his mind.
This bone tower, before the bloodline of the Candle fell here, was likely an existing structure—a sacrificial tower or mausoleum of some ancient civilization. After the Candle's bloodline fell into this area, the powerful energy radiation assimilated and transformed the tower, making it what it is now. And beneath the original foundation of this tower lies the ancient beast that was attracted by the power of the Candle.
He didn't delve into this speculation, but instead climbed up a spiral bone beam on the inside of the tower wall.
The surface of the bone beam was covered with a layer of fine bony protrusions, providing moderate friction and making climbing relatively easy. As he ascended, he sensed the direction and distance of the faint aura. The aura was located approximately several tens of feet above his head, a height that should correspond to the upper-middle section of the bone tower, the core node of the spatial array embedded within the tower wall.
After climbing for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Lin Qiye stopped on a horizontal beam.
This is where the aura is located.
The end of the crossbeam connects to a cave-like space recessed into the tower wall. The entrance to the cave is about three feet wide and no more than five feet high. The edge of the entrance is covered with a thick layer of dried, fluorescent blue crystal clusters, like a ring of withered vines. A complex aura, mixed with the smells of blood, herbs, and fluctuations of primal energy, emanates from inside the cave.
Lin Qiye bent down and crawled into the cave.
The cave was not large, about three zhang in diameter and only a little over one person's height. The walls and ceiling were covered with a translucent bone-like membrane, on which were embedded several clusters of fluorescent blue crystals that had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible, emitting an extremely faint light that barely illuminated the small space.
In the center of the cave, a thick layer of dry grass and animal hides covered the ground, resembling a makeshift bed. A person lay on the bed.
Calling it a "human" might not be entirely accurate—the body was almost unrecognizable as a human.
Judging from his skeletal outline and remaining facial features, he should be male—his limbs were curled at an unnatural angle. The tibias and fibulas in his legs were clearly broken, the fractures poorly healed, and the bones grew together crookedly, causing his legs to be in a twisted, bent position. His left arm was completely gone below the elbow, the cut covered with a layer of grayish-white callus, as if it had been forcibly severed by something and then roughly hemostatically treated with the energy of the Bone Tower. His right arm was intact, but the skin was covered with dense clusters of embedded crystals that had grown out from under the skin, like a layer of fluorescent blue scales covering his entire forearm.
His face is the most unsettling.
His face was so thin it was practically skin and bones, his cheekbones and brow bones protruding high, his eye sockets sunken like two black holes. His skin was a waxy yellow, clinging tightly to his bones like a layer of dried parchment. His lips were cracked and shrunken, revealing yellowed teeth and gums that had shrunk to a thin layer. His sparse, gray hair, reaching his shoulders, lay scattered on the dry straw, as withered as a clump of weeds.
But his eyes were open.
Those eyes were cloudy and dim, the pupils unfocused, as if they had lost their ability to focus. But the moment Lin Qiye entered the cave, the eyeballs of those eyes moved extremely slowly, turning their gaze toward the cave entrance.
He saw Lin Qiye.
Then, his dry, shriveled lips twitched with extreme difficulty, as if he were using the last bit of strength in his body.
No sound came out.
But Lin Qiye understood his lip movements.
"You...finally...have come..."