There are a total of four gates, which allow access into the ancient city.
Mounted above these gateways are black signboards, but the words carved onto them have become too faint to be read.
The roads that extend from these four gates, all of them lead to an imperial palace, which is situated in the very heart of the ancient city.
The many glazed-tiled buildings that are positioned on the sides of these roads—in the distant past, from when the city had been active, they were all most likely business establishments.
The reason to believe this to be the case—is the presence of damaged signboards, which are either barely hanging above these buildings' doorways, or have fallen onto the grounds nearby.
Turning to the imperial palace, the feature that stands out the most, it will have to be the colossal black tree that is growing out from beneath the earth.
The tree's crown is made up of numerous blue leaves, these same leaves are stated to contain traces of Spirit Extracts.
Judging by how damaged the grounds of the area—near the tree's base are, the tree itself probably wasn't a part of the palace's initial design plans; but is instead, something that just naturally grew upwards from beneath the earth.
Overgrown plants spread rampantly from the areas near the tree's base, and as they spread further along, they latch themselves onto the surface of the palace's other buildings.
From the looks of it, this section of the palace had most likely been a garden—during its emperor's reign.
Throughout the palace's grounds, and even the streets of the ancient city, damaged articles of aged clothing can be seen here and there in abundance. However, strangely, there is not a single piece of human remains in sight.
To the far-right of the black tree, situated in the palace's center is the audience hall.
Using the audience hall as the true center of the ancient city—beyond the northern gate is a colossal mountain.
The entirety of the mountain is covered in snow, and wrapping around its body like a giant serpent—is a spiraling set of stairs, which lead all the way to the top.
As the wind is blowing against the mountain from the southern direction, the quantity of snow that falls towards the city isn't high.
"This is…?"
Compared to the other weapon spirits, who only found the sight awe inspiring, Li has a different set of thoughts regarding this city and the mountain that is beyond the city's northern gates.
(Yu Ling Empire's capital?)
As Yu Ji's left eye turns gold, Wen Qing remarks—
"Is that…? Mount Changqiu?"
According to Wen Qing's memories of Yu Ling Empire's capital and Mount Changqiu, these two locales should be over a week's worth of walking distance between one another.
And yet, here they are—currently so close to each other that it wouldn't even take an entire day to make a roundtrip.
"…"
Using his divine senses, Long Hua sees a spiderweb patterned crack centered around the mountain's base.
Towards this sight, he thought—
(Did someone use the power of their cultivation base—to throw this entire mountain over to this city? Those cracks, they seem to have been formed from when the mountain's base had smashed itself onto the lands… The fact that it didn't land onto the city itself, did a person, or maybe a group manage to halt its fall?)
Just as Long Hua is thinking of this, the agents of NPI and the Moon Guards take the first steps forward.
Among these individuals, Long Hua recognizes Zhui Yun, Ning Qiu Heng, and Xun Yu, who hadn't bothered to replace her damaged mask.
"Testing, testing."
Holding a megaphone in her right hand, Hong Xuan, who is dressed in standard Moon Guard attire, points to a black line that had been drawn out ahead of time, prior to stating—
"As soon as we run pass that line, the ballistae on the city walls will be fired at us. As for how you go about getting into the city… Well, let your skills do to talking, shall we?"
Having said this, Hong Xuan is the first to dash towards the black line, and is followed by the Moon Guards behind her.
"After them!"
Not lagging behind, the NPI group chases after them with Zhui Yun, Ning Qiu Heng, and Lan Shan at the forefront.
"Move it!"
At Qiu Lin's command, the Dainsfield group follows.
In Qiu Lin's opinion, capturing Li and killing Yu Ji can wait until they get into the city.
The ballistae aren't unlimited in numbers, and with so many cannon fodders around them to draw the shooters' attention, there can be no better opportunity than right now to rush into the city—this the common thought that those currently present have on their minds.
And possessing the same line of logic as the common masses, Shao Tianming shouts—
"Charge!"
Affected by the mood, the other weapon spirits join the charge.
"…"
"…"
Towards these weapon spirits' approach, the lamellar armored ghosts are quick to respond, as they take aim with the ballistae, and—
*Boom!!!* as soon as one of the arrows land, a sound that is completely unlike an arrow—but more like a cannon ball goes off!
"Ah?"
"This…?"
"What?"
Unaware of the ballistae's arrows being capable of exploding ahead of time, several individuals halt their footsteps in astonishment.
This pause in movement can only be thought of as suicidal, for—
*Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!* these individuals are blown apart in the next instance.
"…"
Glancing behind her, Zhui Yun laughs on the inside—having expected this to happen.
As NPI and the Moon Guards have already experienced a portion of this ruin together, they are keenly aware of anything that could go wrong in this segment of the excavation.