Snowboarding down the mountain, Long Hua gradually comes to a stop at the grounds of the tattered city.
"…"
Towards the scenery in front of him, Long Hua raises an eye, prior to removing his snowboard.
Beast-like footprints are present throughout the snow, and judging by the amount, the owners of these footprints are definitely on the high side.
"Hmm."
Observing the nearby buildings' surfaces, and seeing blade-like scars present, a subtle frown appears on Long Hua's face.
Spreading his divine senses, he sees the same scars present throughout the other buildings that are situated further away, and—
"Uh?"
Seeing a white figure—which vaguely resembles the pale white weapon spirit from the second excavation, Long Hua blinks his eyes with a hint of astonishment.
(I left that thing as only a head, and yet…)
Seeing more than one of these white figures roaming about—hunting down any weapon spirits that they come across, Long Hua raises a light sigh, while also looking forward to encountering the main body again; assuming that the act of devouring it would allow him to gain greater mastery over the metal element.
"…"
Coming to a smooth stop, Lin Yu Heng is the second person to arrive at the mountain's base, and taking in the view through his divine senses, he asks—
"Senior, is that…?"
Seeing exactly what Long Hua had seen, Lin Yu Heng looks to the former with uncertainty, to which, Long Hua replies—
"As a lifeform, this thing is definitely on the stubborn side. It seems to have evolved again, and it's gotten to the point of being able to replicate itself."
Just as Long Hua is saying this—
"How do I-!"
"…!"
Qing Ming Yang rolls to a stop, whereas Yao Ying comes to a rough stop that causes her to fall onto the snow.
"…"
Following their arrival, Tian Cheng is next, and she comes to an elegant stop—right beside Long Hua.
Filling the others in on their observations—
"A weapon spirit capable of replicating itself?"
Blinking his eyes, Qing Ming Yang is just as astonished by this discovery, as he brushes the snow off his clothes.
Recalling Hui Sang's ability during her Weapon Spirit True Body state, Long Hua remarks—
"I've encountered a weapon spirit capable of turning portions of her armor into puppets, this is probably a similar ability. Question now is, where is the main body?"
Saying this, Long Hua pauses for a brief instance, and adds—
"Actually, screw it. That doesn't matter. Let's just get the stupid mechanism activated, and start harvesting those materials."
Kicking a bit of snow into the air out of curiosity, Yao Ying asks—
"Where do we find this mechanism?"
Despite the range of her divine senses, Yao Ying still has a difficult time covering even a quarter of this tattered city within her field of vision.
Similarly, Qing Ming Yang and Lin Yu Heng encountered the same issue.
"…"
Opening her storage pouch, Tian Cheng releases the drones into the air.
"For now, let's just get to a higher vantage point."
Replying as such, Long Hua takes one step forward, and—
*Guuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!* turning around and staring upwards—in the direction that they had come from, Long Hua figured that Yu Ji and Li must have done what it is that they had told him about.
...…
Standing a mile away from the ancient city's northern gateway, all the weapon spirits turned back in the direction that they had come from.
"…"
"…"
Not a single person said a word as they stood there—completely frozen in place, while taking in the sceneries of a settling dust cloud.
"Holy…"
Just as the dust clouds flatten out, Chen Lan draws in a deep breath of air, as he looks to see what remains of the city through a pair of binoculars.
...…
Live footage from the drones—shows all the structures within the city walls having collapsed.
[Was this supposed to happen?]
[Was this also done by the IMLs?]
[Why would they choose to blow up the city after everyone had left?]
[I'm scared… What if this happens in a Grounded City?]
Comments of dread and confusion flood the official chat box.
...…
Standing together at the top of Mount Changqiu, Yu Ji and Li stare off into the direction of the destroyed capital.
"Farewell, Yu Ling Empire."
"With this, we've really left everything behind."
Raising their heads toward the skies, Yu Ji and Li—through Wen Qing's eyes, sees numerous souls being pulled into the clouds by the laws of the Leng Bing Realm.
All these souls belong to the weapon spirits that had bound themselves to the magic array that was situated beneath the capital.
As for why this magic array had been constructed, the most likely reason that can be thought of—is that the battle against the Ling Yuan family's practitioners, had demanded the denizens of this empire to create something of this nature, to grant themselves an advantage.
Yu Ling Empire had been one of the earliest civilizations to exist in the Leng Bing Realm. Weapon spirits during this world's earliest periods weren't as developed as they are now, nor were most of them capable of awakening themselves to a Relic; hence, they can only choose to grant themselves a form of immortality through crafts of this nature—when the time of battle arrived.
From a long-term perspective, a magic array that keeps their souls imprisoned here is definitely a curse—for it prevents these weapon spirits from being reborn into a new vessel, and becoming a part of the current Leng Bing Realm.
However, what were the individuals of the old world supposed to do during their present instance—where the lives that they had during that instance meant everything to them?
Their enemies were monsters capable of defeating them in a one to five battle. If they didn't have a way to anchor themselves into this world through crafts of this nature, they would have been wiped out sooner.
As the color of gold fades from their deep blue eyes, Li says—
"Let's leave."
"Un."
Nodding to this, Yu Ji takes Li's hand, as they begin to climb down the spiraling staircase.