When Dox was being reprimanded by the Black Earl, Vay quietly turned over all the soil underground.
But the passage of the underground aqueduct did not emerge; all around were still earthen walls.
"It appears to have accumulated for too long, completely blocked up," Kaier said.
"No problem, as long as Vay is here, just keep gnawing... cough, keep digging up the dirt, sooner or later we’ll dig up a path." The speaker was Dox, who had just climbed up from the ground, covered in dust.
However, Vay didn’t listen to his old friend’s words but instead turned to Angel, wanting to hear Angel’s opinion first.
Angel did not speak immediately but stood in place, waiting for something.
A moment later, a small, ghostly blue flower emerged from Angel’s shadow. With the gentle blowing of the wind, the flower swayed lightly, and across the rhythm of its shaking, a stream of information that only Angel could decode came forth.
No one knew what that flower was, but seeing Angel fixated on the flower, seemingly engaged in some sort of spiritual communication, they dared not disturb him.
After a while, Angel spoke to Vay: "No need to keep digging; the underground aqueduct here has completely collapsed."
Angel had previously dispatched Earl Mi to investigate underground, hundreds of meters of aqueduct all blocked up; under these circumstances, there was no longer a need to excavate to find a path.
"Alright." Vay nodded and withdrew the magic power he had released.
Dox, on the other hand, looked puzzled: "Even if the underground aqueduct has collapsed, it doesn’t matter, right? There are always places that haven’t collapsed; we should first dig to a position that hasn’t collapsed and then say more?"
When Dox finished speaking, the Black Earl snorted, seemingly mocking.
Angel calmly explained: "Do you know why this place is called The Garden Labyrinth?"
Dox scratched his head; regarding this, he hadn’t really researched it.
"Many years ago, when the ruins here weren’t too dilapidated, the ground was filled with luxurious but broken statues, white and gold fountain pools, and brilliant flowers of gem-like beauty, so the surface came to be called the ’garden.’
"But the underground aqueduct here was a vast three-dimensional maze, not only multi-layered but full of countless passages, so complicated that to traverse every spot took months."
"Due to the sharply contrasted styles of the surface and underground, this place came to be known as The Garden Labyrinth. The name persists to this day, though the garden no longer exists, and the maze has also collapsed..."
Angel sighed; time corrodes all things, and it’s unknown whether the destination has also been made incomplete by the passage of time?
Having heard Angel’s explanation, Dox came to understand. Since the underground aqueduct is a maze so huge and complex even Wizards would find it troublesome, even if a passage is cleared using the Power of Earth, it won’t matter much.
At this point, the stone slab on Vay opened its mouth: "Kid, is the target location really within the maze?"
Ignoring the Black Earl’s deliberate pose with the title, Angel nodded, "Yes."
The Black Earl was silent for a moment: "No wonder it hasn’t been found all these years. The underground maze is so vast, never fully traversed by anyone; even if someone did complete it, if they don’t find the corresponding door, it’s completely useless."
The underground maze’s "doors" are plentiful, with rooms big and small; in a way, the underground maze is also a kind of subterranean city.
Thus, even if some "doors" can’t be opened, those exhausted from exploring the maze would likely not be bothered to find a way to open them.
The Black Earl currently thinks the target location is some inconspicuous "door," but actually, the target is a wall, which is more misleading. The exploring Wizards, upon seeing a wall, would first think they took the wrong path and would go back to try again, without thinking that the wall might hide a "secret."
Dox: "What were the creators of The Garden Labyrinth thinking, turning the underground aqueduct into a maze? So, what should we do now?"
Dox complained a bit, looking at Angel with inquiry.
Angel: "I don’t know why it was made into a maze, but I know there are many official institutions from back then within the maze, such as prisons."
Angel’s impression of Naraku City’s Hanging Jail Stairway is quite profound. Moreover, the entrance to the underground aqueduct Angel is currently seeking is all pinpointed using the Hanging Jail Stairway because the underground maze is too complex, and the only landmark building Angel can find is the Hanging Jail Stairway.
After pausing, Angel continued: "Since the underground aqueduct here is blocked, let’s switch to another."
Angel surveyed the surroundings, finally focusing on the southeast direction of the bell tower; he remembered there was a patch of open ground once a pool there, with an underground aqueduct inside, which wasn’t far from the Hanging Jail Stairway.
Having determined the direction, everyone immediately set off.
They didn’t use any vehicles, instead quickly moving across the ruins of buildings, shadows sweeping the skyline.
Soon, they neared the open ground; "nearly" because the ground was filled with vibrant blood-red flowers swaying on thorn bushes, exhaling a faint red mist.
From afar, that piece of ground was already completely shrouded by red mist.
"Is this Blood Bramble? It’s actually bloomed, and so many flowers?" Dox looked in surprise at the scene before him.
Blood Bramble is a catch-all term for bloodthirsty vine-type plant magical creatures, generally aggressive and blood-eating. They rarely bloom unless there’s an overabundance of energy.
So many blood-red flowers now on this open ground is something even Dox was seeing for the first time.
"It’s likely that many have died by its hands. Underneath, who knows how many bones are piled up?" Dox sighed.
The Black Earl rarely spoke: "In recent millennia, ordinary people have increasingly come here to explore, but no matter what, this was once the Extraordinary City; encountering anything extraordinary, those ordinary people would be the first to suffer. It’s normal for such a Blood Bramble to grow to this level."
Gazing at the distant spreading red mist, Vay asked softly: "Shall we still go over and investigate now then?"
"Why not investigate? This Blood Bramble isn’t hard to deal with." Dox rubbed his hands, apparently eager to get started.
Angel, however, said: "No need to investigate; underneath the Blood Bramble, tangle of vines thrives, certainly causing the underground aqueduct to collapse—it’s similar to the previous entrance."
Dox: "If the underground aqueducts collapse this easily, can we really enter and find the destination?"
Angel: "The underground aqueduct is a three-dimensional maze; the shallow layers are mundane constructions, eroded by time naturally, but deeper below belong to the realm of the extraordinary. There, even if collapses occur, they are rare."
"If that’s the case, then let’s directly find the destination and just dig down, shall we?" Vay said.
After Vay finished speaking, the group fell silent.
Vay also didn’t know what was wrong with what he said, bewildered, turning his head with a face full of innocence.
"Earlier, I just thought you were ignorant; now I see you’re genuinely foolish. If you could just dig directly, why not dig to the target location? What’s the need for a key?" Black Earl: "Also, where unnecessary, you should stop speaking now. Speaking thoughtlessly just brings ridicule."