309: Chapter 307 The Secret of the Heavenly Core

When Shen Nian returned to the Heart of Tiangong, the Disciples had already been busy in that core space for several days.

Lu Qing sat not far from the giant crystal core, with a roll of pattern diagrams she had rubbed from the edge of Heluo spread out before her, sketching something on it with a fine brush.

Lin Yuan squatted in the corner, repeatedly drawing the melodic structure he had heard on that flight of stairs on the ground with his finger, as if trying to piece it back together completely.

Shen Nian did not interrupt them, but instead bypassed the crowd and walked straight toward the quietly floating light deep within the core space.

The Artisan glowed slightly as he approached it.

"You have recorded all three ruins."

The Artisan's voice carried a hint of an imperceptible pause, "The ring, the nest, the staircase. Your Disciples are also making their own records."

Shen Nian nodded, took out three recording talismans from his bosom, and placed them neatly on the platform beside the crystal core.

His voice was very soft when he spoke: "But this Disciple feels that these may only be the marks exposed on the surface of the fissure. The real fissure itself might still be in a deeper place."

"A fissure?"

The Artisan's light fluctuated slightly.

"When observing these three ruins, this Disciple discovered some commonalities. They all have a fracture—either their form was interrupted by some kind of force, their internal energy stagnated, or the sound was erased at a certain point."

Shen Nian raised his hand, condensing the Sixteen-Color Power into a schematic diagram that floated before The Artisan.

In that diagram, the three ruins were marked as three points.

Their positions were scattered in different directions of the Land of Origin, but after Shen Nian connected them with a dotted line, the three points vaguely formed an arc—like the edge of a giant circle.

"This Disciple connected their coordinates and found that they are roughly on the same circle. The center of the circle is near the Heart of Tiangong. If they are structures radiating outward from the same center point, then this center point should be the Heart of Tiangong itself."

The Artisan's light suddenly brightened, as if some forgotten memory had been touched for a transient moment.

Then it dimmed again: "We have never arranged these ruins in this way. In the historical records of the Tiangong Clan, they were only scattered and marked everywhere, like isolated events."

"That might be because you forgot under what state you created them."

Shen Nian's voice was very soft, yet it carried a calmness: "Perhaps this Disciple needs to see a more complete star map to judge whether the direction of that arc truly points to the Heart of Tiangong."

The Artisan was silent for a moment.

Then it slowly moved a certain distance toward the direction of the crystal core.

That beam of light paused for a moment on the side of the Core of Tiangong, as if confirming something.

Then, it spoke: "Within the Core of Tiangong, there is another layer of authority. We have never opened it to any outsiders."

Shen Nian's hand paused slightly, but he did not urge.

The Artisan continued: "That is a complete star map, recording the full picture of the Land of Origin before the Creator left. We preserved it, but have never viewed it completely. Because in our perception, an area on that star map has always been obscured, as if deliberately blurred by some force."

"Obscured?"

Shen Nian's gaze fell upon that giant transparent crystal core: "Can this Disciple take a look at that star map?"

The Artisan was silent for a very long time.

"You may."

The light slowly approached the crystal core, and then its outline became more solid, as if trying its best to mobilize a certain ability: "But this seat wants to remind you of one thing—the Tiangong Clan has attempted to investigate the obscured area on that star map several times, and every time it failed. We cannot even distinguish what that area is, whether it is a physical entity or empty nothingness."

"This Disciple understands."

The Artisan's light embedded into the surface layer of the crystal core, like a drop of water merging into the surface of water.

The circulating light spots inside the crystal core began to accelerate their rotation, and then slowly rearranged themselves, as if turning the pages of a book that had been closed for a long time.

A giant three-dimensional star map slowly unfolded above the core space.

Shen Nian looked up.

That was a star map he had never seen before.

It was far more complex than any star map of the Investigation Department, as if spreading out the time layers of the entire Land of Origin together, with each ray of light representing a flowing vein.

The edge of the star map was Chaos, and within the Chaos were countless dense light spots, marking the structures that the Tiangong Clan had once created.

Those light spots were densely packed, like stardust scattered across the night sky, almost covering the entire observable area.

And in the position slightly to the left of the center of the star map, there was an irregular dark area—like a blot of ink dripped onto a canvas, obscuring the lines beneath.

That dark area had no boundaries, no texture, and no recognizable structural features at all.

It was simply—blank.

It was as if someone had cut out a piece of that map, leaving only an outline.

Shen Nian's gaze fell upon that dark area.

Its shape was not very regular, but it was roughly elliptical, and its area was several times larger than the Heart of Tiangong itself.

At the edge of the dark area, some extremely faint filaments of light could be vaguely seen swimming, as if those covered veins were still struggling to extend outward.

"This is that obscured area."

The Artisan's voice carried a rare heaviness: "The Tiangong Clan has tried various ways to penetrate it—energy scanning, willpower inquiry, and creation resonance. But every time, those forces would be absorbed at the edge of the dark area, as if completely swallowed by something."

Shen Nian stood beneath the star map for a long time, his gaze not leaving that dark area.

He noticed that the distance between the three ruins he had marked earlier—the ring, the nest, the staircase—and the edge of that dark area was almost equal, as if they had once been distributed around that area.

If that dark area truly corresponded to a physical location, those ruins would look like some kind of framework built around it.

"Can this Disciple go and take a look at the location of that dark area?"

The Artisan's light dimmed slightly: "This seat does not suggest you do so. The Tiangong Clan knows nothing about it—we don't know what it is, why it exists, or whether its edges are safe."

"But if the Tiangong Clan laid out those ruins with that dark area as the center back then, it must have some kind of significance to the Tiangong Clan."

Shen Nian raised his hand, pointing to an extremely faint filament of light at the edge of the dark area in the star map: "It's just that you have forgotten."

The Artisan did not reply immediately.

It floated beside the crystal core, as if also looking at those extremely faint light filaments, silent for a long time.

"This seat needs time to consider."

The Artisan finally spoke, its light jumping slightly: "Before that, you can continue to consult earlier records about those ruins in the Core of Tiangong. Perhaps back when the Creator had not yet left, they were recorded."

Shen Nian nodded, not urging.

He sat cross-legged beside the crystal core, placed his hand on the surface of the crystal core, and continued to explore deeper into the Core of Tiangong, searching for those scattered records regarding the ancient structures of the Land of Origin.

Above him, the obscured area in that star map still floated quietly, like a question that had been silent for countless years, waiting for someone to touch its edge with a light enough fingertip.