Chapter 6

The stone pillar lit up, but the light membrane did not appear. Esk circled the stone pillar several times, but nothing unusual happened, which left him extremely disappointed. He sighed deeply, took off the crystals he had just installed, and the stone pillar dimmed again.

Ang watched from a distance. When he saw Esk's efforts come to nothing, Ang glanced down at his wrist, where the light membrane had transformed into a leather accessory. Was the leather accessory needed to open the teleportation portal?

Seeing Esk take off the crystals and the stone pillar dim again, Ang knew that the key to his return home might lie in those crystals.

The crystals, when taken off, had shrunk by a circle. Esk blew on them with a pained expression and put them back into his bag.

Returning the same way, as he passed by Ang, Esk shrugged and said with a bitter smile, "It failed, still couldn't open it. Perhaps we need to learn your survival methods in advance."

My survival methods? Growing vegetables? Ang tilted his head and followed along.

Seeing that Ang was still following, Esk chuckled, "Why are you still following? Planning to go back to the underground city with me? Well, it's not bad. The wilderness is too dangerous. If I come back again, I might not see you. If you want to follow, just follow."

Ang tilted his head. He felt that Esk might have misunderstood. Go to the underground city? Does the underground city have blue crystals?

As they approached the den, they saw a zombie crouched in front of Ang's den, howling.

When the little zombie woke up and found Ang gone, it didn't go out anymore. It just stayed outside the den, howling. Perhaps it thought that if it howled loud enough, Ang would appear.

Sure enough, after howling for a while, Ang appeared. The little zombie jumped up excitedly, howling and running towards Ang, refusing to leave.

So, Esk continued walking, and Ang continued following, but now with a little tail, the little zombie following closely behind.

One skeleton and one bone horse, one skeleton and one zombie, a strange combination. They walked up the hill, all the way to the top. On the other side was an endless wasteland, flat and desolate, stretching to the horizon.

Walking in one direction from morning to evening, just as the Resting Wind was about to blow, a 'trench' suddenly appeared in the seemingly flat ground ahead.

It was like a crack in the earth, sunken down. Seeing the 'trench,' Esk's face lit up, and he said excitedly, "I thought we wouldn't make it and would have to spend the night outside. Hurry up, we've reached the underground city."

As they entered the 'trench,' the wind on the wasteland gradually increased, but it was blocked by the edges, making the wind inside the 'trench' much weaker, providing a wind-blocking effect similar to a den.

Ang looked up and felt the fierce wind howling overhead, the cold sensation more intense than in the den. Guiding that cold aura here should be more efficient than in the den.

Esk looked back at Ang and said, "Walk faster, be careful the evil wind doesn't blow you away."

After giving the warning, Esk's habit of talking to himself kicked in again. He muttered, "This used to be a big river. The water flowed here, hit the lava geology, and seeped underground, cutting out a vast underground space. Our underground city is built in that space. Thanks to these underground spaces, otherwise, we would have been blown away by the evil wind long ago."

Esk kept mumbling, not expecting a response. As he said, walking in the wilderness all day, there was no one to talk to, which had formed his habit of talking to anything.

He used to talk to his bone horse, and now talking to a skeleton wasn't strange. He had a feeling that this little skeleton, Ang, could understand him, at least more than his bone horse.

Ang listened silently, observing the surroundings. Perhaps because the Resting Wind was blocked outside, the environment in the trench was much better. There were even shrubs in the corners, and moss grew on the shaded side of the rocks. Insects could be seen moving around from time to time.

In the shrubs ahead, a stone caught Ang's attention. Invisible black smoke wrapped around the stone. As Ang looked over, the smoke moved and slowly formed a human face.

"That's Blackface, a wraith, the pet of the old lich Felin. Blackface, this is a little friend I brought back, don't scare them." Esk introduced, then turned to the wraith and said a few words.

The face formed by the smoke had two hollow eyes, which lingered on Ang and the little zombie for a moment before dissolving back into smoke and wrapping around the stone.

Continuing down, there was a crack on the side of the trench bottom, about ten meters wide and four to five meters high, the entrance to the underground city.

At the entrance, a person holding an exquisite staff was looking around.

This was a very thin 'person,' with skin outside the clothing having no luster, wrinkled, and muscles like they had lost water, with no elasticity. The eye sockets were sunken, and the cheekbones were high, like a mummy.

Indeed, it was a mummy. Seeing this 'person,' Esk called out from a distance, "Hey, Felin, what are you doing here? Not waiting for me, are you? That's too much."

It was the owner of the wraith, the old lich Felin.

Felin smiled slightly, showing a very friendly smile, and said, "Blackface saw you return, so I came to take a look. How was it? Any success?"

The old lich asked very subtly, but Esk knew what he meant, just not wanting to put too much pressure on him.

Esk forced a smile and shook his head, "No, they also lack food and are unwilling to sell."

Felin nodded with some disappointment, "That's normal. Places to grow food are getting fewer, and no one has enough. Selling to us would mean they starve. Don't take it to heart; it's not your fault."

Esk chuckled, "Since we can't buy food, I went to the Sea of the Departed, but the portal still wouldn't open. The magic crystals shrank by a circle."

Felin didn't seem to care, but was somewhat disappointed, "Still can't open it? That's normal. It's been a thousand years, and we don't know what the Resting Palace is like. I hope the Emperor is at peace. The magic crystals shrinking is fine. We can't eat them if we can't buy food. Don't worry about it. You must be tired, go back and rest."

Felin's comforting words made Esk's eyes well up. He sniffed and, after passing by Felin, managed to smile, "I met a quiet skeleton in the Sea of the Departed. It followed me back on its own. Ha ha, I suspect it can understand me, like it has intelligence."

Esk's words made Felin look over, casually glancing at Ang. When his gaze fell on Ang's wrist, he suddenly trembled, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Esk had already walked into the entrance and didn't see Felin's reaction. If he hadn't gone in, he would have been shocked to see the usually calm old lich in such a state.

Felin was excited for a while before looking at Ang with hopeful eyes and asking, "You, are you the new Guardian, sir?"