The next day both of them parted from the sect and started moving north, using the same road as Wu Guang had traveled a few weeks before, albeit taking a small roundabout path to avoid entering 'Blue Tree City'.

Judging from the map that he had obtained their destination was located a few dozens of miles to the east from 'Boundary Hill City' and could be reached only by following the small road along the hills that started from there. Thankfully this time both Wu Guang and his only companion were both Spirit realm cultivators. So they utilized their strengthened muscles to the full, letting them reach and maintain a constant speed of 50 mph with a very small amount of effort. With such a speed it was no wonder that the path that had taken Wu Guang two days before as they moved in a simple walk pace this time took only three hours.

With another hour spent in locating the small and unused road as well traveling a few dozen miles, they arrived at the boundary of the zone marked as a hunting area slightly before midday. From this moment and onwards both of them would need to stay vigilant and move slowly, as beasts could appear at any time of the following path and so the real part of the expedition started.

The road that they were on was unused but before the cataclysm that ended the war it was one of the most transited on the island, after all, before the beasts were provoked by the appearance of the Demonic Plateau, the hills that formed the Boundary ridge and their surroundings had dozens of small towns, sects, and monasteries. Regretfully because of the beast migration the hills became beasts territory same as the mountains that occupied most of the east part of the island.

As the people living in these places moved towards the south the road slowly became unneeded but even so, the old stone plates that were used to build it were still seen below their feet, albeit mostly hidden by grass and dirt.

The main objective of Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu during this expedition was to hunt, so in place of walking directly to the ruins, they decided to spread out and slowly travel alongside the road. As they simply took the side that was nearest to them, Wu Guang was advancing through the small shrubs that covered the ground before the hill's started while his companion was doing so among the bushes that covered all the south side of the road.

So moving like this each of them had the opportunity to find a beast or two and this was confirmed shortly as just a few moments after separating, Wu Guang heard some disturbance from the opposite side of the road. He did not worry as if any of them encountered danger or a Spirit beast they agreed to call for each other so he simply noted the fact and continued moving.

It took them almost three hours to reach the remains of what before was an inn. From here they could enter the now unnoticeable path towards the ruins that Wu Guang was interested in and as well the ones marked as a possible beast nest. During these hours Wu Guang did not encounter any beast but did find a patch of non-spiritual but still valuable herbs - blue best shades which he quickly gathered before continuing onwards.

As they came out towards the road from their respective sides they did discuss a bit about their findings, from which Wu Guang found out that Yuan Taotu had encountered three of the most common beasts around. Still, the 'Inflating Rat' skin could be sold as it stretched at least thrice its size, so it was at least some gain.

With no more spoils in view, the pair proceeded towards their destination which judging from the map Wu Guang obtained was just three miles from where they stood.

Walking it slowly while paying extreme attention to their surroundings as the scrolls that Wu Guang received mentioned an abundance of poisonous snakes the pair completed half of their path with no incidents. From there the scroll information started to confirm itself as they indeed found a few snakes hid in the undergrowth that now covered the road but thankfully as they were on guard they avoided or attacked them first gathering a dozen or so corpses before the ruins became visible.

The ruins that they could see now were not impressive at all, most probably being the same in the past while the martial school or Sect occupied this place as it was a big but simple courtyard-styled building. Judging from the remains of the external walls, the complex of buildings was a bit smaller than the Blue Tree manor and except the main palace or hall, everything else was reduced to a few stones that demarcated the places where previously buildings stood. Surprisingly the main building still stood and albeit showing that the passage of time left its marks, it still looked habitable.

It was a two-storied palace-like building with originally golden but now brown as they lost their glow roof tiles. The walls were covered with plaster, but because of the lack of maintenance were full of cracks. While the white paint was greyed out or even blackened in some parts.

As the pair entered carefully the remains of what should be the garden or plaza in front of the main building they still had not seen even a single beast which was contradictory to the information that the scrolls provided, after all, judging from the witnesses that the writer had asked, all of the ruins were almost covered by a layer of snakes.

Wu Guang did not want to doubt the information as something that was not confirmed would never be left for reference in any organization and especially a Sect so he concluded that either the snakes were scared or devoured by roaming beasts. Sharing this with Yuan Taotu, he confirmed that the latter still wanted to follow their original plan which was to clear the ruins and occupying the remaining building as a base. Then use it to explore the surrounding area, which for sure would have beasts for them to hunt. After this confirmation the pair simply ignored the lack of snakes or other beasts and walked towards the building, reaching the now rotten wood gate that was meant to serve as the main entrance. Surprisingly even rotten the paired doors still stood and both of them had to use all of their strength to push it open.

Entering the building while each held a torch from their supplies the pair found themselves in a big, at least several hundred feet room. Judging from the platform located on the opposite side of it was used as a reception or official one.

This room was absolutely empty. Still, Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu did not relax until confirming this. Before proceeding towards the platform, they half-closed the entrance door. Reaching the platform, they saw a pair of doors to the sides and decided to continue inside. Although separating was a bit risky, neither of them wanted to spend all the day scouting the building so they decided to do so, agreeing to call for each other if something arouse. These doors were also standing but after touching them both of them crumbled, showing that they were not only untouched for several years. Still, this only confirmed the fact that the main entrance most probably was made not of ordinary wood.

Wu Guang's door led him into a simple passage that had no doors or doorways and simply continued for a hundred steps until reaching the stairs, most probably to the second floor.

"Hmm, this is a bit strange. The building looked square-shaped from the outside and judging from the steps I made the wideness is correct with my observation, but why there is nothing except this passage? Could we have missed a door from the main hall?" asking himself internally Wu Guang still decided to ascend and check the second floor first before trying to solve the mystery of the missing room or rooms.

Thankfully or not the second floor was an extremely normal one with a long corridor that connected both of the stairs and rows of rooms to both sides of it. . So after checking half of the rooms and encountering Yuan Taotu who was doing the same from the opposite direction, Wu Guang analyzed their findings. All of the rooms were empty, confirming the fact that everyone evacuated as the zone became dangerous. Some rooms were bigger and had served as guest or residence ones. As for the few smaller ones, most probably were meant as offices or servant ones.

Finding no traces of beasts and no loot either the pair returned to the main room. Here, Wu Guang explained his thoughts about the missing rooms. Yuan Taotu seemed to acknowledge the strangeness of the missing space and accompanied him to check and even knock the walls. Even more strange was the fact that they did not find anything. In the end, they even circled the building from the exterior. The building was indeed built in a square-like form, so several dozens of feet couldn't be only walls or unused space.

This was indeed strange but as they had to prepare their camp it was left aside for now. They would spend twelve nights here, so Wu Guang considered that the mystery will be solved by them sooner or later.