The secret of this world was hidden under their nose.

The rumbling came from inside the pyramid as if a ton of stones were rolling inside. Dust and debris began to fall from above when the pyramid finally opened.

The old mechanism was pus.h.i.+ng a series of huge stones out from the side of the pyramid, which had no doors or windows. Each stone weighed more than ten tonnes, had mysterious runes at the bottom that glowed in blue and red, and floated in the air in defiance of gravity. Instruments that looked like lenses began to emerge from the holes left behind by the floating stones.

More vibrations came from other places. The nine small pyramids around the main one were moving too. Instead of opening from the sides, their top popped open. The opening looked like a missile silo, it dilated open like an iris, and heavy crystal lens rose from below.

Praise to the sun and let the light dance.

The lenses began to align their orientations. Then light from one of the small pyramids started to pa.s.s along other pyramids and form a grid. At first, Hao Ren was watching in awe at this ancient technical wonder, but soon, he quickly noticed the strangeness of the light network. With one and a half years of experience as s.p.a.cecraft captain under his belt, he swore that this stuff had something to do with the stars.

His experience came in handy.

He quickly asked the MDT to record the light activity while the lenses adjusted their angles to construct a new refraction path and form several simple geometric patterns. A few minutes later, the light show stopped after completing a cycle. It restarted and did it all over again. There was more to these lenses than meets the eye. If the lenses functioned only to open the hidden mechanisms, their refraction patterns needed not to be complicated.

"It's the coordinates of the starry sky. The first light diagram is the route from a reference star to the parent star. The following patterns are the major star systems viewed from the perspective of the parent star." The MDT a.n.a.lyzed. "These patterns can also be used to correct the deviations caused by star motion, so these coordinates still make sense until today."

"These pyramids contain the record of the old coordinates of the planet Inferno in the Plane of Dreams?" Lily was amazed. "Wow, they already had such an advanced knowledge during the ancient times?"

"Either it was the ancient people who invented this, or the G.o.ddess taught them this," Hao Ren said as he looked up at the ever-changing geometric patterns. "MDT, please send the coordinates to the drone cl.u.s.ter. It is their next task."

Bonia and Gezer had no idea what these light patterns meant, but judging from the expressions on Hao Ren and Vivian's faces, maybe the lights had some sacred meaning. So they bowed their heads and began to pray.

A louder rumble came from the main pyramid. This time, the real pa.s.sage finally opened.

The great pyramid split into half from the middle, and the reliefs on the base began to fall off. It amazed Hao Ren that the whole pyramid was floating in the air!

The gap between the base and the ground was just over an inch high with blue and red magic glows in the gap. There was a powerful anti-gravity mechanism at work, keeping the ma.s.sive ancient structure hovering in the air.

When the rumble stopped, the pyramid had split in half. A dozen-meter appeared. Hao Ren saw lights gradually lit up in a downward-slanting ramp.

The lenses on the pyramids did not stop working, however. The lenses re-adjusted the angles and repeated the star coordinates light show.

Vivian rolled up a gust of wind to blow away the dust before Hao Ren went into the gap. On both sides of the divide, he saw the internal structure. There were heavy moving shafts, gears and hinges, and the magic-light emitting, self-winding mechanism, the hammer, working hard underneath the slates, driving the lenses in coordination with the other pyramids. The ma.s.sive and clumsy machine and ancient magic worked together in a dazzlingly beautiful way.

He walked into the down ramp, the other followed.

"You two wait outside," Vivian stopped Bonia and Gezer. "It could be dangerous down there."

Gezer was recalcitrant. He clenched his holy blade and held his head high. "I'm a warrior. I have to fight, even if it means death!"

Bonia, the little saintess stepped forward and said, "I will go too. The grandma saintesses of the past will blame me if I don't go."

The little girl had no clue why they wanted to go into the pyramid, but she just felt obligated to follow the 'G.o.ddess.'

Hao Ren glanced at them. "I have seen Gezer's combat skill; it's one and half times better than Nangong Sanba's. But this little girl… could she fight at all?"

Bonia wrinkled her nose. "I know magic; the kind of higher magic that only saintess knows. Gezer mightn't be as good as me."

Vivian shot Hao Ren a glance as if she was blaming him. "Are you going to let them follow?"

"Whether we allow them or not, they would sneak down the pyramid by themselves anyway. We couldn't tie the guys up or shut the entrance behind us. Could we?" Hao Ren shook his head. "It's better to let them come with us; at least we could keep an eye on them."

He smiled and continued. "Fortunately, the other tribal warriors are staying back in the village; otherwise it would be like a parade down there. We can't afford to bring so many people in this expedition."

They headed down the ramp into the underground. Nangong Sanba was walking behind the pack, mumbling, "When was I reduced to be just a measurement of combat skill?"

The ramp to the underground was unusually s.p.a.cious, and the walls along the way had a large number of glowing runes, which acted as the tunnel's lighting. Some murals depicted life in the ancient kingdom, s.h.i.+ps, and vehicles that flew above the city, and citizens in robes in the streets. Other than murals, there were also beautiful statues lined on both sides of the tunnel. Human sculptures were only part of these statues as most of them were of animals and plants.

There were signs of damage of varying degrees on the statues and murals despite the underground had the protection of magic power. The condition of these magnificent ancient treasures was in a sorry state.

Vivian walked next to Hao Ren. She had a complicated expression on her face when she looked at the murals and sculptures. Her sense of curiosity was mixed with a subtle, nostalgic memory. This nostalgic feeling was not hers but of the blood crystal that she had absorbed into her body last night.

As they continued downwards, they lost sight of the entrance behind them. There was still light in front, and the air was not turbid. It seemed the lighting and ventilation systems in the underground worked pretty well although the mechanism just started a while ago.

After a long while, they arrived at an open platform.

A vast and magnificent underground 'city' appeared below them.

At the bottom of the ma.s.sive underground cave, there were countless house-like boulders lined up in rows. These boulders had no doors or windows. They were not real houses but a model city. Dark blue and red lights filled the s.p.a.ce and carried a wonderful sense of floating. A circle of colossal stone columns was in the middle of the city with blindingly bright electric light dancing in between the stone columns in a loud sizzling sound.

The underground facility contained tremendous energy.

Hao Ren saw a vast hollow s.p.a.ce in the center of the 'underground city.' He found something familiar around the area; it was the tentacles of the First Born.

The tentacles, still twitching slightly, spread out from the hollow s.p.a.ce and wrapped around the megaliths that were shrouded in electric light.