Chapter 1411: Three Thousand Weak Waters

What could "two" refer to? It couldn't possibly be Erlang Shen, could it?

Zu An was filled with doubts, but with so little information, he couldn't deduce anything.

"Everyone, be careful!" Although they had scanned the temple with their spiritual senses and found no living creatures, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

The others nodded. Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue instinctively positioned Yu Yanluo between them. Clearly, she had the lowest cultivation, so they could protect her if anything unexpected happened.

Yu Yanluo saw this and felt a warmth in her heart.

After entering the temple, the group found it indeed very small. With its broken windows and dilapidated roof, almost everything was visible, confirming that no ferocious beasts could be hidden there. Only then did they relax slightly.

However, their attention was quickly drawn to the statue in the center. The statue had a human face and a snake body. Although many parts of it were ruined and damaged, it still appeared poised to pounce, its eyes and expression both extremely fierce and malevolent.

Noticing the others' gaze occasionally shifting to her, Yu Yanluo said with a mix of shyness and annoyance, "Why are you looking at me?"

Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue smiled awkwardly, too embarrassed to speak. Zu An then asked, "Could this be Medusa?"

"Impossible!" Yu Yanluo stated decisively. "Medusas are only female, and their lineage passes through a single descendant. There can't be male ones."

A thought sparked in Yun Jianyue's mind: does that mean Yu Yanluo will only have daughters in the future?

In that case, she poses no threat to Hong Lei in the future. Hmm, I must use this time to win her over, to prevent her from forming an alliance with that disciple of the Ice Stone Woman.

Yan Xuehen, on the other hand, had her cheeks slightly flushed, though no one knew what she was thinking.

"Are there any close relatives in the snake race that resemble this male statue?" Zu An continued to ask. With its human face and snake body, the first beings he thought of were Nüwa and Fuxi, but the statue in front of them clearly bore no resemblance to them whatsoever.

"No, there isn't," Yu Yanluo replied, her delicate brows also furrowed as she stared at the ferocious statue. "I even think he isn't part of the snake race at all, just someone who happens to have a snake body. Whenever I've encountered races close to the snake race, I've felt a sense of kinship, but I feel absolutely none from this statue, only a sense of dread."

"It seems to be an unknown evil god," Yan Xuehen surmised. "Many powerful beings like this have been completely forgotten by history due to the cessation of worship."

"Could it be the Ya Yu that Shun mentioned?" Yu Yanluo ventured a guess.

"That's certainly possible," Yan Xuehen said worriedly. "If it really is him, we need to be careful. From its ferocious appearance, it's clearly not to be trifled with."

Zu An wondered what the "two" outside the temple meant.

"There are some smaller statues on both sides," Yun Jianyue's voice chimed in. She had been searching along the walls and discovered several miniature statues hidden within them. However, these statues were severely corroded by time; their features were mostly unidentifiable, and many were even headless.

"It seems this person was likely a monarch or similar ruler," Yu Yanluo assessed. "These two rows of statues resemble his subordinate officials. However, neither the scale of this temple nor the number of statues warrants the title of 'all civil and military officials.' It's clearly not a temple for an emperor-level existence. Therefore, the temple's owner must have been either the ruler of a small kingdom or the leader of some faction."

In her early years, she had traveled through various kingdoms, interacting with the most powerful figures in each. Her political judgment was far superior to that of Yan Xuehen, who lived a carefree, reclusive life, or Yun Jianyue, who was essentially a gang leader.

"No wonder the worship ceased," the others realized. They wondered how many such small kingdoms or factions had been swallowed by the river of history.

"Why is there a missing statue here?" Yan Xuehen asked, surprised. She wouldn't have been so puzzled if a statue was missing elsewhere, but it was specifically the statue at the head of these "officials."

A statue in this position would clearly be that of the chief among all officials, the most important figure among the ministers. It made no sense for statues in other places to still exist while this one was the first to completely weather away.

"Looking at the condition of the base, it seems to have been deliberately removed from the start," Yun Jianyue remarked after a careful examination.

Zu An was startled. "If it was removed at the time of construction, it suggests this person must have committed some unforgivable crime."

Yan Xuehen suddenly let out a small gasp, gently sweeping her hand above the statue's missing spot. A cloud of dust dispersed, revealing some black dots and lines forming a simple pattern.

"This appears to be a constellation pattern," Yan Xuehen observed after studying it. "This should be the Wei mansion, also known as the Moon Swallow. Do you notice how these lines, when connected, resemble a swallow's tail? In astrology, when the moon enters the Wei mansion, it should ideally bring light to the dim constellation. However, in reality, a lunar eclipse often occurs instead, making the constellation even darker. This kind of celestial alignment is usually very ominous, signifying a major disaster."

Zu An's heart stirred. Since coming to this world, he had repeatedly found connections to his previous life on Earth. For instance, this astrological knowledge was largely the same as in his past life. Didn't that prove this was Earth?

Yet, this world was far, far larger than Earth in his past life. After he became a Grandmaster and could fly, he was even more certain of this, which left him utterly perplexed.

At this moment, Yu Yanluo suddenly let out a chuckle, causing the others to look at her in confusion. Such an ominous celestial alignment was quite inauspicious; why was she laughing?

Yu Yanluo's face flushed as she explained to the two women, "Don't you think the name 'Moon Swallow' (Wei Yue Yan) is quite fated for you two? It has 'moon' and 'swallow,' which perfectly correspond to a part of each of your names."

Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue both froze simultaneously. Only then did they grasp her meaning, and then, as if on cue, they turned their heads away from each other.

"Hmph, who's fated with her?"

"See? The stars already told us that nothing good happens when we're together."

Seeing the two women arguing again, Zu An shook his head with a wry smile and began to look around the small temple for other clues.

As he moved behind the human-faced, snake-bodied statue, he suddenly paused. "Everyone, come quickly!"

The women rushed over and were also startled by the sight: there was a person hanging here—no, it was a statue of a person hanging.

The statue had a bird's head and a human body, holding a wooden staff. It looked equally ferocious, but at the moment, its face expressed more distortion and pain, as it was hanging in a bizarre posture.

Its hands were tied behind its back and bound to its hair, making its entire body curl into the shape of a cooked shrimp, though twisted in the opposite direction.

"Look at its right foot," Yun Jianyue said gravely. "Its right foot has been severed. This kind of punishment is usually reserved for those who have committed heinous crimes. Combined with its current bound and hanging posture, it's highly likely this person committed an immense crime."

"Could it be the missing statue from the front?" Yu Yanluo asked softly.

"That's very possible," Yan Xuehen nodded. "We just don't know what connection it has to the Ya Yu."

Zu An smiled. "Since this temple is here, it must be related to the Ya Yu. We just don't have enough information to find the connection yet. Let's go look elsewhere first."

The three women couldn't help but admire his optimistic mindset. Seeing that no more clues could be found in the temple, they simply put their doubts aside.

The group then searched around the mountain. The mountain was barren, devoid of trees, and everything was visible, so they quickly finished their search.

"Where could that Ya Yu be hiding?" Yun Jianyue was a little frustrated, surprised that they were already stuck at just the first stage.

"Look quickly, there seems to be a river at the foot of the other side of the mountain?" Yu Yanluo suddenly exclaimed, having made a discovery.

A thought sparked in their minds, and they immediately employed their movement techniques, quickly descending the mountain to the riverside.

Only upon closer approach did they realize this was no mere river; it was wider than a great river, stretching out of sight.

Logically, such a wide riverbed should have very gentle currents, yet paradoxically, the water before them was extremely turbulent and perilous.

"There's a stone tablet here!"

Using their spiritual senses, they quickly found the clues.

Zu An looked at the lines inscribed on the stone tablet, his expression slightly changing: "Three thousand weak waters run deep, a goose feather cannot float, a reed flower will surely sink to the bottom!"