354: Star trails?

As Su Han's fingertips touched the stone wall, the flowing runes suddenly exploded like fireflies scattered by the wind.

He instinctively shielded Bi Yao behind him, only to see countless light points condense into a vortex above their heads, illuminating the entire ceiling of the hall like a flowing Milky Way.

"Look there!"

Bi Yao's voice trembled.

To their right, the previously smooth stone wall was dripping downwards like melting wax, revealing the uneven rock layers behind it.

Su Han noticed something embedded between the rock layers—it was some kind of metal object, its surface covered in moss and cracks, yet it emitted a faint blue glow under the illumination of the rune light.

When Su Han reached out to touch the metal, the entire stone wall suddenly vibrated with a sound like a giant beast's low roar.

Fine carvings appeared on the metal surface; these symbols were completely different from the runes they had seen in the hall, more like the bone patterns of some creature.

Bi Yao suddenly covered her temples, staggering back two steps: "Su Han... I hear... someone speaking."

Su Han quickly supported her, only to realize his own temples were also throbbing.

The voices were not from outside, but echoed directly in their minds, like the murmuring of some ancient language.

He suppressed the dizziness, carefully distinguishing the syllables, and suddenly, at a certain moment, understood their meaning—"The key is at the intersection of the star orbits."

"Star orbits?"

Su Han looked up at the dome; the flowing light points had now converged into a complex star map.

He suddenly remembered the 'Star Orbit Lock' recorded in ancient texts, which legends said some ancient relics would hide the key's location within the trajectory of the stars.

But the star map at this moment was clearly not a real celestial phenomenon; the positions of the stars did not match any known constellations.

Bi Yao suddenly pointed to a certain position on the star map: "Look, doesn't the arrangement of these stars resemble the forest we just passed through?"

Su Han focused his gaze and indeed found that the positions of the seven main stars were surprisingly similar to the layout of the forest outside the hall.

Even more strangely, the position of one of the stars was directly opposite the bush where they found the stone.

"Is this some kind of mapping?"

Su Han frowned in thought, "Perhaps we need to use that stone as a key to find the corresponding position on the star map?"

Before he finished speaking, the stone in his hand suddenly became hot, and the same patterns as the star map appeared on its surface.

When Su Han raised the stone towards the star map, a beam of light suddenly shot out from the top of the stone, outlining complex lines in the void.

The light beam finally stopped at a point on the edge of the star map; there was originally nothing there, but as the light beam shone on it, a phantom image of a miniature stone tower gradually appeared.

Su Han noticed a gap at the top of the stone tower, its shape perfectly matching the stone in their hands.

"It seems we need to go there."

He gripped the stone tightly and turned to look at the melting stone wall.

By now, the stone wall had melted into a gap taller than a person, revealing the stone steps extending downwards behind it.

On both sides of the stone steps, every few steps, there were bronze lampstands with flames burning in a strange, eerie green color.

Su Han was the first to step onto the stone steps, but he heard the sound of stone rubbing behind him.

Turning back, he saw the melting stone wall slowly restoring itself, sealing off the path they had come from.

"It seems we can only continue forward."

Bi Yao took a deep breath and untied the Silver Bell from her hair, fastening it to her waist.

Su Han noticed the trembling of her fingertips but did not point it out, merely placing his outer garment over her shoulders.

The stone steps extended downwards for about a hundred steps, ending at a large door carved from a single piece of obsidian, its surface covered in spiral-shaped bas-reliefs.