CHAPTER 504: CHAPTER 348: EXPLORATION IN THE GIANT PIT, MYSTERIOUS VOICES REAPPEAR!

The purple-black light pillar shot straight into the sky, as if threatening to pierce a huge hole through it.

Xu Xin looked up.

Because he was only a hundred or so meters away from the light pillar, he couldn’t see its height at all.

He only felt that this laser-like pillar must be extremely tall, breaking through the attenuation of the atmosphere and potentially shooting into space without any problem.

Is this... the energy of the Transmission Array?

XU Xin and Ji Chaoyang didn’t act immediately. Both stood at the edge of the five-meter-deep crater, observing everything inside it.

The light pillar had stabilized, and now it didn’t seem to wobble at all, appearing as solid and steady as a physical column reaching up to the heavens.

The light pillar was very stable, and after watching it for dozens of seconds, it hadn’t changed at all.

Around the pillar, the stone statues remained motionless, prostrating in worship towards the light.

The purple-black light evenly bathed their stone bodies, tinting them a subtle purple, creating a truly eerie scene.

"Seems like it’s stabilized now, right?" Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang exchanged glances and relaxed a bit.

However, they still had reservations about the pit full of statues.

Jumping in, if these statues came to life, they would be surrounded and attacked like a swarm.

Meanwhile, people worldwide were seeing this pillar of light.

In area 188’s regional channel, as the snow peak slowly sank beneath the ground, many had already observed it and begun discussing this sudden anomaly in the middle of the night.

"Why is the snow peak east of my treehouse getting shorter?!"

"The snow peak is getting shorter? What are you talking about?"

"Nonsense, how could it be getting shorter."

"I saw it too! A snow peak far to my north is really sinking! I thought it was an illusion at first, but now it’s half as tall as before! And at the top, there seems to be... some purple light?"

"Huh? The snow peak is sinking? Where, where?!"

"Is something finally going to happen?"

"How do you all see it in the middle of the night?"

"I ate a blue-level red berry, planning to check the surroundings tonight, but didn’t expect the snow peak to be sinking!"

"I saw it too! That snow peak must be less than a hundred kilometers from my treehouse! Oh my, it’s almost completely sunk now!"

"Can peaks actually sink?! Oh god, could it collapse?!"

"No way, my treehouse is right next to the snow peak! If it collapses, I’ll be done for!"

"Could the problem with the snow peak be caused by the explorer bigshots? Only they’ve climbed the peak, so maybe we shouldn’t worry too much."

"Hmm?? What’s going on?!"

"Whoa! Whoa?!"

"Light!!!"

In the world channel, everyone was thrown into chaos.

"What’s this, what is this?!"

"Oh my, why did a purple-black light suddenly appear?! How can there be such a colored light?!"

"Whoa, this pillar of light... reaching way too high, right?"

"Did it break through the clouds into outer space?"

"Why does it feel kind of cool...?"

"In our area 188! This location is definitely in our area 188! It’s way too close to me!"

"Could it be something orchestrated by the bigshots of area 188? Then it’s fine, just praise the area 188 bigshots and be done with it."

"It’s so late at night, I don’t dare to sleep—what’s going on exactly?"

"Ha? Sleeping so early? Can you sleep at your age?"

"Isn’t there a bigshot to explain this? Could another event be happening?"

"This light pillar is far from us... doesn’t seem related to our area."

The whole world was thrown into chaos by this remarkable anomaly, with everyone fixated on the heavenly purple-black beam of light and waiting for someone to explain.

Fearing they’d disturb Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang, no explorers sent private messages, but the [Explorer] group chat was lively.

Wen Guixin: "What’s happening?! Did Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang cause this?"

Qin Yunlong: "Is this light pillar the result after activating the great array? I read in the regional channel about a sinking snow mountain—is it the mountain near you guys?"

Qi Xuefei: "Yes, exactly, Xu Xin and the three others climbed the snow mountain, and the whole peak has sunk underground with the light pillar shooting from there."

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Whoa, the snow mountain sank? Is it that extreme?! Once Wang Lei succeeds, we’ll have to experience this too—thinking about it is pretty thrilling!"

Li Wenxi: "Ugh, Keke has been fretfully crying endlessly—in my arms, or she’d be jumping after Xu Xin. I’m so worried; there must be danger there, but I dare not call or hinder them... Xu Xin, if you see this, be cautious!"

Before this, she also sent Xu Xin a private message about Keke’s condition.

Keke’s been crying?

Xu Xin’s brows furrowed slightly; Keke’s anxious cries could only mean one thing.

There’s danger, and sensing it from a thousand meters away means it’s not insignificant.

Li Wenxi knew Keke’s ability too; she didn’t dare disturb with calls, only messaging and posting in the group, hoping Xu Xin would see it.

Yet, from their side, it seemed nothing was threatening them.

The statues in the crater were still silently crouched, countless snowflakes settling on them and piling thinly.

Surprisingly, although snowflakes gathered on the statues, those landing on the ground melted and evaporated instantly, leaving no traces.

The crater floor seemed quite warm, preventing snow accumulation.

Considering how the Teleportation Array Pattern glows hot enough to burn hands, the underlying principle is somewhat understandable.

It’s certainly convenient.

Otherwise, I’m afraid it won’t be long before the entire pit gets covered by a thick layer of snow, and these stone statues buried in the snow are like assassins who could strike at any moment...

Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang observed the situation inside the pit while reporting their safety to the explorers.

Seeing them speak up, the others felt temporarily reassured.

"Should we go in and take a look?" Ji Chaoyang asked, looking at the violet-black light column in the center of the pit.

"...Let’s go in," Xu Xin nodded slowly. "We don’t know what this light column is or how to use it, so we must go in to investigate."

"A five-meter-deep pit, with a group of stone statues inside, that’s quite dangerous. Moreover, your panda seems to sense danger from quite a distance away," Ji Chaoyang said, frowning.

He reminded Xu Xin while pondering how they could safely enter to explore.

Indeed, Keke’s reaction was making Xu Xin somewhat nervous too.

But...

If not now, should we wait for the daytime?

Judging by the menacing appearance of these statues attacking outward during the day, the danger level might be much higher than now.

A five-meter-deep pit, huh...

They all had grappling hooks, so climbing back up wouldn’t be much of a problem. But if something happened in the middle of the pit...

"...There’s a way."

Xu Xin thought of a good method. He swiped open his watch and opened the random augmentation page.

"I haven’t chosen my historical augmentation for today. I’ll choose jumping power augmentation. With it, I can easily leap to a height of twenty to thirty meters and jump forward dozens of meters, making it much safer. I’ll explore below while you stay above to monitor the movement of the surrounding statues and alert me immediately if anything happens!"

"Jumping power augmentation, huh..." Ji Chaoyang thought for a moment, then slowly nodded, "Alright, let’s do it. I’ll keep an eye on things for you."

Xu Xin nodded in agreement and wasted no further time, immediately choosing the jumping power augmentation.

Feeling the strength in his legs, he moved to the edge of the pit and leaped lightly, effortlessly jumping into the five-meter-deep pit, landing steadily yet gracefully.

In the sky, snowflakes kept falling, covering all the statues lying on the ground in white.

Cautiously, Xu Xin made his way through the group of stone statues toward the nearly solidified light column at the center.

As he passed by the cold iron door they had excavated, which might now be open, he glanced at it but didn’t touch it, continuing forward.

The closer he got to the center, the higher the surrounding temperature rose.

Standing by the pterosaur statue, what had been minus twenty degrees at night was now a very normal twenty degrees above zero.

The two massive heads of the underground pterosaurs were bowing towards the light column, with the violet-black light illuminating their faces.

"Hmm... this pterosaur statue..." Xu Xin’s eyes twitched slightly, his heart tightening.

The posture of the pterosaur statue had undergone subtle changes since the snow mountain subsided.

Now, the statue’s wings were slightly spread, and the degree to which its claws were open had also changed slightly, with its massive head almost touching the ground.

During this time, this pterosaur statue had definitely moved!

Xu Xin swallowed hard.

The threat Keke sensed was probably these statues.

After passing the pterosaur statue, Xu Xin quietly advanced step by step toward the center’s violet-black light column.

The light column was emitted upwards from the triangular pattern.

From a distance, it wasn’t apparent, but upon getting closer, Xu Xin realized that the cross-section of the entire light column was at least several square meters, very robust.

Once close, Xu Xin felt a warmth enveloping him.

Although the light column was bright, it wasn’t dazzling; instead, it was warm, giving him an urge to step into it.

He reached out, tentatively touching the light column with his fingertip.

The temperature was pleasant, like freshly drawn bathwater.

Initially, he thought that a light column capable of piercing the atmosphere would have a temperature similar to that of a laser, extremely high, but the current sensation proved him wrong.

Is it possible that stepping into it is required?

Like a violet-black vortex, might this violet-black light column also require entry?

He hesitantly immersed his entire hand into it, encountering no issues, feeling rather comfortable instead.

No longer hesitating, Xu Xin stepped fully into the light column.

In an instant, his body was enveloped in the violet-black light.

However, unlike the violet-black vortex that swallowed people instantly, causing everything to spin, his feet remained on the ground, standing on the triangular Teleportation Array Pattern.

This violet-black light didn’t have the earlier effect on his mind; instead, it made his body feel unusually comfortable.

But, the violet-black light obstructed his vision, preventing him from seeing outside.

At this moment, a prompt sounded in his ear.

[You have entered the Teleportation Array Eye. Would you like to fully activate the Teleportation Array?]

Whoa!

So, this is the eye of the Teleportation Array?

It turns out the Teleportation Array hadn’t been fully activated yet.

"Activate," Xu Xin responded promptly, having no reason to refuse.

Immediately, he felt a slight tremor beneath his feet.

Looking down, he saw purple patterns spread out again, only much faster than on the peak of Xue Feng!

Within seconds, the entire violet-black pattern occupied the entire floor of the deep pit.

Suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ear.

[Congratulations to Jungle District 188 for being the first to activate the Snow Mountain Transmission Array!]

The mysterious voice appeared again!