The three of them continued onward. They passed what might have been a general store, a rice shop where only formless, rotting fibers remained, a salt shop where not even a blade of grass grew, and an apothecary with overturned medicine cabinets and its contents in disarray.

After a short while, they reached what seemed to be the town’s central crossroads.

In the center was an abandoned well. Cheng Zongyang peered into it. There was still water inside, but it was covered with fallen leaves, and the area around the well’s mouth was piled high with dead branches and withered foliage.

Next to the well stood an old tree. Its branches were bare, save for a few remaining leaves reaching toward the sky as if protesting the town’s decay.

Reaching a corner on the northern side of town, they saw a dilapidated temple.

The temple’s roof had collapsed, leaving only a few crumbling walls. A statue—whether of a god or a person, it was impossible to tell—had fallen to the ground and shattered, its clay fragments scattered everywhere.

In this desolate, deserted town, time seemed to stand still. Its former prosperity was now a fleeting cloud, leaving only desolation and silence.

The decay they had witnessed along the way seemed to tell the story of a bygone era, of a civilization’s decline.

And this small mountain town had become a testament to history, forever preserved in this desolate valley.

"Steward Luo, have this town thoroughly searched. See if you can find any useful information."

As he spoke, Cheng Zongyang stared at Luo Dingran. The meaning in his eyes was unspoken but clear.

Cheng Zongyang had never imagined that the script in this Wilderness World would be identical to the writing on the stone slate he had obtained from the Huangfu Family’s Treasure Cave in the outside world!

He had to figure out if there was a connection between them.

’Otherwise, how could two different worlds be linked by something as fundamental as writing!’

Luo Dingran understood the meaning behind Cheng Zongyang’s words and nodded. "I’ll send a dozen or so men over to clear the area. We’ll spare no effort in our search!"

Cheng Zongyang decided to stay, while Luo Dingran went back to arrange for manpower.

As for Li Kai, he continued exploring new areas.

Cheng Zongyang wandered around the area by himself, mainly looking for places like bookstores.

But he had no idea how many years this place had endured. Aside from the characters left on wood and stone, anything that could rot had basically disintegrated.

Even a strip of cloth left on a table would turn to dust with a single breath.

The bolts of fabric in the clothier shops crumbled to powder at the slightest touch, to say nothing of the books in some of the stores.

Luo Dingran was quick. He returned with fifteen men, carrying some Geomagnetic Stones and other tools.

At that moment, Cheng Zongyang was on a street on the south side of town, where he had found a rather secluded bookstore.

Seeing it was covered in cobwebs, he could only find a usable wooden stick to clear them all away.

The moment he stepped inside, all sorts of insects seemed to be startled, scurrying everywhere in such numbers that it made Cheng Zongyang’s skin crawl.

He shooed some of them away and looked at the books on the shelves, which had long since decayed into dust. It was a great pity.

Still, he continued his search, hoping to find some stone carvings, wood carvings, or items made of animal hide.

’Even though I can’t read the words, it’s still worth a try.’

In the end, his brief search yielded nothing. With a sense of helplessness, he had no choice but to walk out.

He happened to run right into Luo Dingran, who was walking toward him.

"My lord, I’ve brought fifteen men. We can start clearing the buildings one by one at any time. We can even dig three feet underground if necessary."

Cheng Zongyang looked at the houses along the street. They were long since decayed, and some had already collapsed, so clearing them out wouldn’t be an issue. He nodded and said:

"Try not to cause too much damage. And have the men be careful while they work. There are plenty of snakes and bugs. Although the Soul Slaves can’t be poisoned, it’s best to avoid them."

Luo Dingran nodded. "Understood. I know what to do. Did you find anything, my lord?"

Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "No. In the only bookstore here, all the books have completely rotted away. Besides, we don’t recognize the script here, so we wouldn’t know how to identify anything even if we found it."

Luo Dingran said, "Could they be appraised? Or maybe we can ask the hut to try and translate them?"

He hadn’t tried that. After a moment’s thought, he said, "I’ll go back and give it a try. What do you think about developing this place into our own town?"

Luo Dingran looked at their surroundings and gave a wry smile. "My lord, these houses would collapse with the slightest push."

Cheng Zongyang laughed heartily. "I was just kidding. Not to mention whether we have enough manpower, just rebuilding the place would be too time-consuming. But since there’s a town here, there should be other towns or even a County Town within a hundred li. Let’s take it slow. I feel like we’re not far from finding a County Town."

Luo Dingran felt a wave of relief. He had been genuinely afraid that Cheng Zongyang would actually order them to rebuild it.

Although this location was better than Snow Moon Peak, their territory at Snow Moon Peak was already taking shape. Plus, it was by the sea. Once they bought a Dragon Bone Ship, it would be extremely convenient to gather resources from the ocean.

Of course, once they had more Soul Slaves in the future, developing a small town might be possible.

But that was a matter for the future. Right now, their Points were nowhere near enough.

Perhaps once they had a Dragon Bone Ship, it would be possible to earn Points by hunting Exotic Beasts in the sea.

The ocean’s resources were so abundant!

He had been eyeing them with envy for a long time.

Leaving matters here for Luo Dingran to handle, Cheng Zongyang took a Geomagnetic Stone and went to the temple alone.

’Cultivators, Sects... according to the hut’s prompts, this world should be devoid of people. But I haven’t seen a single skeleton in this whole town. Was this world really a world of cultivation in the past?’

At the temple entrance, Cheng Zongyang looked at the statue that had fallen and shattered on the ground, then walked inside. He took out the Geomagnetic Stone and stunned all the surrounding snakes and bugs first.

Next, he righted the main body of the statue, then gathered the scattered fragments from the ground one by one. After mixing some mud and water, he began to piece the fragments back onto the statue.

His goal was to see whether the original townspeople had worshipped ghosts, mortals, or imaginary gods and immortals.

The reassembly took him over an hour. After all, it hadn’t broken into too many pieces.

When Cheng Zongyang saw the face of the statue he had pieced together, he was startled. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It had the appearance of a refined gentleman. Although statues are generally sculpted to be kind-faced or handsome, the fact that it was modeled after a human indicated that the town’s original inhabitants worshipped a person, not a spirit or monster. It also suggested that humans were the dominant race here, not some other species.

He searched around and, under a layer of fallen leaves and dirt next to the temple, found its plaque.

It too was rotted beyond recognition. After cleaning it off, he could only faintly make out two large characters. But they were still unfamiliar to him.

After some thought, he decided to leave it inside the temple for his men to deal with during the main cleanup.

Although he was quite pleased to have found a town, there was little information to be gained so far, and he hadn’t seen anything of significant value yet. He would have to let his men gather everything during the cleanup before it could be appraised.

He didn’t linger any longer and teleported back to the marketplace hut.

He retrieved the stone slate from the third floor of the Preservation Warehouse and said aloud in the hut:

"Hut, can you translate the content on this stone slate?"

But after waiting for a long while, the hut gave no response.

Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang knew it couldn’t be translated. ’Or perhaps it doesn’t offer that function?’

He returned the stone slate to the third floor and left the Wilderness World.

’Since it can’t be translated, I’ll have to keep searching for clues among the Huangfu Family’s treasures! I don’t know where the Huangfu Family got this slate, but there should be some clues left behind.’

’I’m just not sure if the Huangfu Family ever managed to translate it. But without a key, it would be almost impossible to correctly translate these tadpole-like characters.’

Reappearing in the mountain cave, Cheng Zongyang exited and built a bonfire by the stream, preparing to set up a temporary camp to wait for the Mole Beast.

Once the fire was going, Cheng Zongyang took out some Exotic Beast Flesh from the Preservation Warehouse in the Wilderness World. He marinated it for half an hour, then set it by the fire to roast.

Sitting to the side, he tossed a Qi Essence Pill into his mouth and began to read the Health Cultivation Skill from the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor.

After all this time, there was still no progress recorded for the Celestial Human Health Cultivation Skill, and he didn’t know why.

But for now, he was just looking at it in his spare time.