CHAPTER 769: CHAPTER 769: THE MYSTERIOUS CASTLE

The air turned colder, and the ground felt damp.

Ahead of him stood a large, broken castle. Even though parts of it were falling apart, it still looked grand and mysterious.

Thick vines covered the walls, and torn flags fluttered weakly in the cold breeze. A strange smell hung in the air—a mix of wet stone, mold, and something faintly metallic.

As he passed through the open gates, something made him pause.

Noah took a final glance at the ever-so-real statues and entered the castle through the open front gates.

Inside, the halls were quiet and dark. Most of the rooms were empty—just broken furniture, old walls, and dust that hadn’t been disturbed in years. But two rooms stood out.

The first was a dungeon.

Noah pushed the heavy door open. The smell hit him first—mold, wet stone, and old blood. The walls were made of dark bricks, covered in moss.

From the ceiling hung chains, many of them still holding skeletons. The bones were dry and thin.

Pieces of torn clothing still clung to them, and streaks of what looked like dried red paint covered the metal.

But Noah quickly realized—it wasn’t paint.

It was blood.

Old blood, dried and stained deep into the stone and metal. The floor was even worse. A wide, dark patch stretched across it, like many people had bled here, all in the same place.

Noah stood still for a moment, his eyes cold.

"This place... Something terrible happened here," he whispered.

He didn’t know what kind of people had been kept here, or why—but he knew this wasn’t a normal prison. It felt like something darker. Something used for sacrifices.

Then he found the second room.

It was a round chamber with a large stone container in the center. Inside it, there were traces of dried blood. Noah followed the lines on the floor that led back to the dungeon, like paths made to carry the blood straight into this room.

He stared at the container for a long moment, deep in thought.

"Whoever did this... they planned it carefully."

The energy in the room had faded with time, but Noah could still feel it.

After one last look, he took a deep breath and left the room. He took back the soul sense and looked at the waterfall before him one last time before turning around to leave the same way he came.

Appearing before the Array, Noah crouched down and placed his hand on it, trying to sense how much damage had been done to it and if it was reversible.

Noah crouched down beside the stone platform. His fingers brushed across the carved runes, now dulled with time. Even broken, the ancient array still gave off faint traces of spiritual energy—like a candle struggling to stay lit in a storm.

He closed his eyes and pressed his palm against the stone.

A gentle pulse of qi flowed from his hand into the array. The runes trembled faintly, flickering as if surprised to feel power again after so many years. Slowly, Noah began guiding his energy through the damaged lines, repairing the channels one by one.

Cracks sealed.

Broken circuits reconnected.

Moss and dirt peeled away under invisible force, revealing more of the hidden design.

Sweat beaded on Noah’s forehead as the repair went on. It wasn’t hard for him—he had mastered far more complex arrays in the past—but this one demanded careful control. It was old, intricate, and deeply tied to ancient laws of space.

After half an hour, the array hummed softly beneath his hand.

It wasn’t fully restored. But it was awake now—alive enough to function. Just barely.

Noah narrowed his eyes and channeled a sliver of his soul power into the core.

He wasn’t trying to activate it yet—just trace its teleportation point on the other side.

The moment he traced the destination of the array, a vision flashed in his mind.

Then the vision zoomed in.

His expression shifted.

Eyes wide, he pulled his hand back.

"No way..."

He vanished.

In a blink, Noah reappeared on the far edge of the island, his robes rustling in the wind.

Without stopping, he walked straight into one of the tents.

Inside, Wuhan was sleeping calmly to recover his lost energy. The tent was dim, lit only by the faint morning light filtering through the fabric.

Noah stepped closer and placed a hand on the emperor’s shoulder and shook him.

"Wake up."

Wuhan groaned. "What—what time is it—"

"No time. Get up. This is important."

The edge in Noah’s voice made the man sit up straight. He knew Noah, and he knew that he was not someone who would get like this unless things were really serious.

"What happened?" With a blink of an eye, all of his laziness vanished and his expression turned serious.

Noah didn’t waste time. "I found something on the island—an old teleportation array. Tier 8."

Wuhan’s eyes went wide. "A working Tier 8 array? Here?!"

"Not fully working, but close. I repaired enough of it to read its connections." Noah paused, then added, "Come with me and see for yourself."

The two of them stepped out of the tent and left for the same place Noah found the array at.

Wuhan followed Noah’s instruction and sat down beside the stone platform and placed his hand on it.

It’s not just connected to one place. It’s part of a spatial web."

Wuhan blinked. "A... what?"

"A network," Noah said. "A web of teleportation passages spread across the entire world."

As Noah’s voice drummed in his ears, Wuhan saw it... the projection of the entire continent, only a vague outline that was formed through the joining of several spatial points.

Wuhan’s mind raced. "That’s..."

He spoke with a trace of panic and uncertainty, but then Noah nodded and finished his words for him, "The Feng Empire. Just like the others on there as well."

A heavy silence followed.

"...And another," Noah continued, "connects to the Elven Empire."

Wuhan froze.

His eyes went distant. Then slowly he let out a long breath, but his shoulders remained tense.

"Do you also think it was them who made this?" Wuhan asked deeply, "Is this how they came and went away without us noticing anything?"