315: Chapter 313 The Craftsman's Silence

The speck of light dropped from Shen Nian's fingertips lingered in the faint glow of the Core of Tiangong for about three breaths before slowly dimming, like a drop of ink falling into water—diffusing, fading, and finally being completely absorbed.

He withdrew his hand, his gaze never leaving that center point.

The fine patterns on the surrounding walls also seemed to dim for a fraction of a second, like some extremely deep and light resonance bending as it swept past.

Lu Qing stood a few paces behind him. She saw him lower his eyelashes as he withdrew his hand, and instead of immediately asking questions, she simply waited quietly.

The radiance of The Artisan hovered above the crystal core, as if also gazing at that outline map, looking at the closed arc and the unmarked center point.

It remained silent longer than the past few times, so long that the warm light in the space dimmed by a few shades.

"Disciple has some things to discuss with Senior."

Shen Nian's voice was very soft, and he did not turn his head, as if afraid of disturbing something that was slowly settling.

The Artisan finally spoke, its voice still steady, yet slightly lighter than usual: "Speak."

Shen Nian removed his hand from the crystal core, turned to face the ball of light, and asked, "When the Tiangong Clan was building the Heart of Tiangong, did they notice any anomalies in the direction of the center point?"

Not energy fluctuations, nor spatial anomalies, but simply a feeling—as if something had been there, but had already been completely cleaned up."

The Artisan was silent for a moment: "We do indeed have similar records.

In the earliest construction archives of the Heart of Tiangong, there is a batch of extremely scattered notes mentioning the airflow direction toward the center point, stating that the Chaos energy there was heavier and more sluggish than the surroundings, as if pressed down by something.

But that batch of notes appeared only twice and was never mentioned again."

"Was it forgotten?"

The Artisan did not answer immediately.

The radiance slowly rotated, as if inspecting a dim boundary, and then spoke: "It doesn't look like it was forgotten.

It looks more like it was deliberately shelved."

Shen Nian nodded slightly, took out the recording talisman from his embrace, and added the wall's location and arc direction into the outline map's data: "Disciple and Lu Qing discovered a wall deep within Heluo, which lies on the same arc as the previous six markers, further confirming the rationality of that center point's location.

Disciple wishes to go take a look at that location."

The radiance of The Artisan fluttered slightly: "Are you sure?

That region left behind no records, no markers, as if it had been clipped right off the map."

"Disciple is not sure whether there are still substantial things in that region, nor whether it still maintains its form from back then."

Shen Nian raised his head: "But Disciple believes that if a certain structure truly existed at that center point, even if it has already vanished, it will surely leave some traces around it, much like a heavy object pressing down on a stone for a long time, leaving a shallow imprint even after it is removed."

The Artisan did not respond immediately.

The radiance hovered quietly beside the crystal core, as if recalling matters far too distant in the past, or perhaps re-examining every piece of record Shen Nian had brought back these past few days.

"This seat cannot open a direct passage for you to that place," The Artisan finally said. "The location of that region is not within the coverage range of the Heart of Tiangong.

If you wish to go, you can only proceed on foot starting from the northeastern edge of Heluo."

"Disciple understands."

The radiance of The Artisan brightened slightly, as if it still had words to say, but ultimately did not voice them, instead turning to say: "This seat will mark an outer path for you that gets as close to that region as possible.

But for the parts further inward, this seat cannot confirm whether they are safe.

You must judge for yourself where to stop."

Shen Nian bowed deeply toward the direction of The Artisan.

That very night, he sat alone in a corner of the core space, spreading out the recorded outline map before him.

The fine patterns on the wall appeared and vanished in the warm light, resembling branches submerged at the bottom of water; no matter which section his gaze touched, he could not see its full picture.

Not far away, Lu Qing spread out her newly completed rubbings and line drawings—the cross-sections and archway traces brought back from Heluo were being cross-referenced and pieced together page by page, attempting to restore a certain dispersed form.

"Senior, Disciple has just finished a set of cross-checks." She looked up at Shen Nian, "The fracture surfaces of those scattered structures in Heluo have a certain correspondence with the direction of the wall's arc.

Where the fracture surface is deeper, the curvature of the arc is also slightly larger, like marks left by the same force in different positions."

Shen Nian's gaze shifted away from the outline map toward Lu Qing: "If your deduction holds true, a certain structure might indeed have existed in that region, except that the way it vanished was extremely thorough, as if completely stripped of its original coordinates."

"The more thorough it is, the more it proves that it was once important."

She lowered her gaze to look at the lines on the rubbings: "If it weren't important, no one would spend such great effort to completely erase it, leaving not even a trace behind."

Shen Nian did not answer.

Outside the core space in the night, the patterns on the walls of the Heart of Tiangong were still slowly flowing, like countless slender rivers flowing silently within their respective riverbeds.

Shen Nian put away the outline map and walked out of the core space.

He traversed a few passageways and arrived before the wall at the edge of the Heart of Tiangong where he had once placed that grass.

That grass was still there.

The stem was thicker than before, with a few more leaves, and the edges slightly curled, as if a wind had gently flowed around it.

It lived in the cold, dry air of Guixu, like a stray dewdrop, finding its own path flowing to the ground in a place where no one irrigated it.

Shen Nian squatted down before it, watched for a moment, and then spoke softly.

"Disciple will walk a bit further tomorrow.

If there is truly only an empty clearing left at the end, at least Disciple can confirm that it is indeed empty."

The leaves of that grass swayed slightly in the dimness, as if responding to his sentence, pausing for a moment at a certain corner before continuing onward.