Chapter 220: Falling Star City
It seemed there was no way to extract more concrete information from Siren.
Su Nan felt a bit disappointed. The only valuable outcome was the confirmation that the other party was definitely not a God. Instead, their actions towards Siren resembled those of a Wizard.
That said, Su Nan didn't care much about it. Siren had already surrendered, and with Deep Sea Naga on its own, it wouldn't be long before it also succumbed to the military might of the Star Alliance.
By then, most of Rainbow Sea's Heart of the Sea would be under Star Alliance control. If the mysterious individual sought a large quantity of the Heart of the Sea, they would inevitably come into conflict with the Star Alliance once more.
Having obtained the information he sought, Su Nan lost the desire to continue the conversation. After offering Aida a few comforting words, he arranged for her return to Rainbow Bay.
The Star Alliance could establish a base in Rainbow Sea, but to truly control the vast waters, they would ultimately need to rely on the Marine Race. In the Star Alliance's future marine development plan, the role of Siren could not be underestimated.
Once Aida had departed, Su Nan flipped his wrist, and a bright pearl appeared in his palm.
The Sun Melt Orb was also the key to locating Falling Star City. According to Fakado, in one month, the day Falling Star City would emerge was fast approaching.
Following past patterns, Falling Star City was expected to exist for three months before disappearing. In other words, he had three months to find the location of Falling Star City.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Nan arrived early at Coral City in Rainbow Sea to wait. When the Sun Melt Orb reacted, he noticed it immediately.
"Southwest direction."
Without hesitation, Su Nan soared into the sky, transforming into a streak of light as he darted off towards the southwest. The distance of over three hundred kilometers was quickly covered during his full-speed flight. Finally, Su Nan halted above a calm expanse of sea.
"Is it here?"
Su Nan took out the Sun Melt Orb and checked it. He confirmed that the location indicated by the key indeed matched this area of the sea.
Just gazing out, the boundless sea appeared completely empty; not a single bird could be seen, let alone Falling Star City.
Su Nan's eyes flickered as he manipulated Energy Particles to form a protective layer around himself. Then, he sank into the water, diving beneath the surface to search the seabed.
About half an hour later, the surface of the sea erupted as Su Nan broke through the water, hovering high in the sky once again, frowning as he surveyed the ocean.
He had already searched an area with a radius of over ten kilometers but still hadn’t found any trace of Falling Star City.
"Unless there’s a problem with Sun Melt Orb's guidance, Falling Star City must be hidden here."
Realizing that searching alone might lead to oversights, Su Nan returned to Coral City and ordered the First Fleet to mobilize, joining forces with Siren to search the area together.
However, to Su Nan's disappointment, after three days of searching, they had practically scoured the seabed but found nothing.
"Master, that sea area is only seventy or eighty kilometers from Azure Eye. My people often fish and hunt Sea Monsters there, and they’ve never seen any cities in hundreds of years."
After consulting Aida, Su Nan received this response.
Though there were no results, he did confirm one critical point: the reason he couldn't locate Falling Star City was not the vastness of the sea but likely due to other factors.
For instance, they might be using an Illusionary Magic Array to conceal their presence.
With this realization, Su Nan was consumed by new worries.
He was not without methods to break an illusion; for example, he could use the spell “Mystic Eye Vision” or a magical item that could see through illusions.
Yet, both methods were too slow. A thorough search of the entire sea area within a ten-kilometer radius would likely take longer than three months.
"Is there a better way?"
As Su Nan pondered, a sudden thought struck him, and he slapped his forehead.
"How could I forget about that!"
He immediately returned to Long Lin and found Amy resting on the top floor of Dragon Bone Tower, bringing her directly to Rainbow Sea.
The poor little guy was dreaming of being surrounded by Ice Condensed Mint, enjoying himself immensely, when he was suddenly awakened by a gust of sea wind. He opened his eyes to find himself being held by Su Nan, with a vast ocean below.
"Meow, Su Nan, why did you bring me here?"
"Amy, I need your help with something."
Su Nan abruptly stopped in mid-air, directly above the sea area that the Sun Melt Orb had locked onto.
He pointed to the shimmering surface of the water below and said, "Can you sense any noticeable energy fluctuations nearby?"
For the Illusionary Magic Array to operate, the generation of energy fluctuations was unavoidable.
He had difficulty sensing the faint energy fluctuations in the vast ocean, but Amy could.
Her ability to sense energy particles was something even formal wizards had to admit they couldn't match.
"Energy fluctuations? What are you looking for, meow?"
"Falling Star City."
"One of the Three Great Wizard Heritages, Falling Star City? Meow, I've heard of that!"
Upon hearing that he was searching for Falling Star City, Amy immediately perked up, scrambling onto Su Nan's shoulder and beginning to sense the surrounding energy fluctuations.
"Meow, there's none around here."
Su Nan nodded and started to fly slowly around the sea area, moving from the outer circle to the inner circle, ensuring that no area went unchecked.
After more than ten minutes, Amy suddenly cried out.
"It's here, under the sea, meow!"
Su Nan's spirit surged as he deployed an energy shield that enveloped Amy before diving into the depths of the ocean.
"I sensed energy fluctuations a little deeper down," Amy said clearly.
Su Nan immediately took out a gemstone and launched it, transforming it into a basketball-sized, orange-red ball of light that hovered just above his head.
【Light Spell】
This lowest-level Zero Ring Spell, cast by a formal wizard, had its effects greatly enhanced, illuminating the surrounding area for hundreds of meters as bright as day.
After diving over three hundred meters, Amy finally spoke, pointing ahead and stating, "It's right here, meow."
Su Nan maneuvered the orange-red ball of light closer, the bright illumination revealing the dark seabed in detail. However, aside from some rocks, there was nothing else to be found.
"It's so strange," meowed Amy, "I definitely sensed an Energy Particle Fluctuation."
She pressed her two fleshy paws to the sides of her head, looking utterly puzzled.
"It's likely being obscured by an Illusion."
Su Nan immediately cast 【Mystic Eye Vision】.
This Third Circle Spell allowed him to perceive magical auras. While it wasn't as effective as 【True Sight】 for piercing through Illusions directly, it could sometimes help locate obscured objects containing Energy Particle Fluctuations.
As a wisp of deep blue light flickered in Su Nan's eyes, a hazy door quickly materialized in his vision.
"Found it!" A delighted smile spread across Su Nan's face.
The door before him stood two meters tall and one meter wide, just large enough for two people to pass through side by side.
If he had to rely solely on 【Mystic Eye Vision】, discovering such a small door in the vast sea of Darkness would have taken forever.
Without hesitation, a silvery liquid metal surged from Su Nan's body, swiftly forming a two-meter-long cone with a sharp, glinting tip. Then, it shot forth like a cannonball, striking the doorway not far away!
In the silent world of the Deep Sea, a visible shockwave rippled outward from the point of impact.
The sea shuddered, and the ground directly struck by the shockwave instantly sank, creating a massive crater five or six meters deep and over a hundred meters in diameter.
Rocks surrounding the area shattered and disintegrated in an instant, turning the water murky.
In just a moment, the sea within several hundred meters seemed to have been struck by a violent explosion. It took a long time for the area to gradually calm.
Su Nan and Amy had already vanished.
The instant the silver cone pierced the doorway, Su Nan and Amy slipped through, arriving in the space beyond.
Before them lay a jade-white city.
The city rested serenely atop a massive, inverted cone-shaped black mountain, rotating slowly in a clockwise direction. At the city's center, a towering spiral pagoda rose imposingly, like a sharp needle piercing the sky, surveying the entire city.
In Mystic Eye Vision's perception, tens of thousands of glittering Enchanted Runes cascaded like water droplets pouring from the top of the Spiral Tower, automatically converging and arranging themselves into seven long, radiant, colorful ribbons that intertwined and enveloped the entire city.
"Is this Falling Star City? It's so magnificent, meow!" Amy exclaimed, her eyes wide as she stared at the city before her.
Su Nan’s own eyes were filled with wonder.
Just by appearance alone, Falling Star City far surpassed the Tower of Stars and Black Forest.
It even bore a slight resemblance to Floating City.
However, Su Nan knew well that such similarities were only superficial; the real Floating City was nowhere near this small.
Regardless, they had finally found Falling Star City!
Suppressing the excitement and joy swelling in his heart, Su Nan took flight and entered the jade-white city.
Every building was constructed from jade-white stone, exuding extraordinary aesthetic appeal.
Casually, Su Nan broke off a piece of stone from a roadside flowerbed. Upon careful examination, he discovered that these stones were actually White Jade Stone.
"A city built entirely of White Jade Stone..."
Su Nan couldn't help but inhale sharply.
Aside from the term "wasteful," he was at a loss for how to describe it.
Even when constructing Wizard Tower, only specific areas like the Spell Cultivation Room and Laboratory used White Jade Stone for construction.
Yet in Falling Star City, many of the buildings appeared to be residential, and utilizing such precious White Jade Stone for this purpose was nothing short of extravagantly wasteful!
"This much White Jade Stone could build a Large Wizard Tower."
Su Nan resolved that after exploring Falling Star City, he would dismantle all the buildings to reclaim the White Jade Stone and save it for upgrading the Wizard Tower in the future.
After navigating the streets and alleys, Su Nan and Amy quickly arrived at the spiral-shaped tower at the heart of the city.
Curiously, Amy moved closer and reached out a paw to touch the colorful ribbons formed by the Enchanted Runes, but her paw passed right through.
"Meow, it's so cool!" she exclaimed, thoroughly enjoying herself.
"Stop playing; let’s get down to business first."
Su Nan picked up Amy and hoisted her back onto his shoulder, then strode toward the gate of the tall tower.
As he approached the gate, the seven colorful light bands reacted instantly. Dozens of blindingly bright Enchanted Runes detached from them, plummeting down at high speed like shooting stars, aiming directly for Su Nan's head.
Su Nan's eyebrows furrowed, but he remained calm and manipulated the Liquid Metal to meet the incoming Runes.
The two collided mid-air, and at the moment of impact, both the Enchanted Runes and the Liquid Metal were annihilated, vanishing completely.
After blocking all of the Enchanted Runes, the volume of Liquid Metal had shrunk by nearly three-fifths.
"Annihilation-type Runes, huh?" Su Nan's eyes flickered with intrigue.
Seeing more Enchanted Runes detaching from the colorful light bands and descending, he didn't hesitate. He controlled the Liquid Metal to block the Runes, and with Amy on his shoulder, he swiftly rushed through the gate.
As he stepped through the doorway, the Enchanted Runes paused momentarily, then wobbled and floated back, reintegrating into the colorful light bands, continuing their silent, flowing movement as if nothing had happened.
The danger had passed, but Su Nan didn’t relax at all.
Initially, he thought that since they had passed through the city without any resistance, the energy of Falling Star City must be insufficient, and its defensive measures were ineffective. However, it now seemed that the defenses were still active, albeit limited to this Spiral Tower.
He might encounter further attacks on the path ahead.
Beyond the gate stretched a long, spiraling staircase, winding upward as if it had no end.
Su Nan heightened his guard and stepped onto the staircase, beginning his ascent.
The surroundings fell silent, punctuated only by the soft echoes of Su Nan's footsteps.
The air was somewhat cold, and combined with the oppressive silence, it made Amy feel a bit scared, prompting her to cling tighter to Su Nan's neck.
After walking for an indeterminate length of time, Su Nan stopped and looked upward.
The spiraling staircase still seemed endless.
"How long is this staircase? We've been walking for ages, meow!" Amy’s big eyes were filled with confusion.
Su Nan narrowed his eyes and chuckled softly, "The staircase isn't long; it's just that someone doesn’t want us to reach the top."
The instant the words fell, a surging liquid metal erupted from Su Nan, crashing against everything in all directions like a torrent.
Crack!
A sound akin to something shattering echoed through the void.
Amy blinked, momentarily disoriented. The spiral staircase remained, but it no longer seemed endless. Looking up, he could finally see the ceiling at its end.
"Meow?"
Su Nan did not explain but simply smiled and continued walking upward.
After stepping onto the final First Order step, they arrived in an enormous, luxurious hall reminiscent of a palace.
Visually, it spanned at least four or five square kilometers.
The hall was vast and empty, save for two waist-high stone pillars standing at its farthest point. Something appeared to rest upon them, but it was obscured by a shimmering halo, making it difficult to discern.
"It must be treasure, meow!"
Amy leaped down, eager to rush towards the stone pillars, but Su Nan swiftly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back.
"I know you can teleport, but don’t go running around recklessly in a place like this."
Su Nan flicked Amy’s forehead, a look of annoyance on his face, then waved towards the area in front of the pillars.
Rubbing his forehead, Amy widened his eyes in surprise. It was then he noticed a puddle of mud not far from the pillars.
Wait!
How could there be mud in such a magnificent hall?
Under Amy's bewildered gaze, a round object slowly emerged from the mud, initially the size of a pot lid. It then expanded rapidly until, when fully revealed, it was nearly half the size of a basketball court.
It was an enormous monster.
Its skin was a peculiar pinkish-blue, adorned with dark cyan patterns. Four small eyes lined up vertically, and dozens of black tentacles sprouted from its body. The color difference made the tentacles appear as if they had been haphazardly attached, giving them a bizarre and comical look.
However, its terrifying size was enough to erase any smiles from their faces.
"S-squid?" Amy stammered.
In terms of appearance, the creature before them did resemble a squid, but a normal squid would not have four eyes, let alone dozens of tentacles.
Sure! Please provide the xianxia text you would like me to correct and refine.
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