In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

The biggest expense in setting up a camp in the desert actually comes from the rainforest.

Other things, like labor costs, are actually worthless.

“Then we’ll leave it to Aru Village. My mentor and I will continue our investigation of the ruins,” Wang Yan said.

Candice nodded slightly: "Don't worry, leave it to us."

Chapter 89 Topic: [Flora Temple Relief] (14/20, Seeking First Subscription)

Candice acted swiftly, gathering the monster materials that very day, and Team B entered the arena.

Even the people of Aru village asked if they should find a scholar of the Mystic School to design the camp's layout.

As a result, Erosan rolled her eyes at him.

She only took half an hour out of her time to inspect the site, and based on the surrounding environment, she designed a blueprint for the construction team.

Wang Yan glanced at it and saw that Eros had even reserved space for the water source to continue expanding under the influence of underground water veins.

Although the timber for building the camp has not yet arrived, the construction team has already begun the preliminary leveling and stone quarrying work, which means they are on track.

Wang Yan, following Fa Lushan, officially began the site investigation.

The so-called investigation, in the absence of a large number of books in the ruins, mainly focuses on the analysis of the architectural style of the ruins, the use of reliefs and runes inside, and the visual areas such as scene decorations.

"The relief carving is exquisite. This kind of craftsmanship is not something that ordinary people can possess. Even during the Red King's era, this level of fine carving was only found in some great temples."

After carefully examining almost all the reliefs inside the temple, Falushan analyzed.

Wang Yan nodded, seemingly lost in thought, and said, "Does this mean that this temple is actually of a very high standard?"

Wang Yan's question made Falushan nod slightly: "Yes, although the temple is not large in terms of area, judging from the fine details of the reliefs, it is in no way inferior to the Crimson King's Tomb."

"Take this flower for example."

She pointed to a detail of a rose relief on the wall.

The rose presents a three-dimensional sense of layering: the outermost layer is a half-open bud, and inward are layers upon layers of fully unfolded petals, with the curvature, thickness and even the fine texture of each petal clearly visible.

At the center of the flower, the sculptor even used extremely fine lines to outline the shape of the pollen sac.

"This 'multi-layer openwork carving' technique requires craftsmen to have a very deep understanding of the characteristics of the stone."

"First, the outline is carved out on the outer layer, and then it is carved deeper and deeper inward. With each layer, the risk increases. If you are not careful, the whole piece of stone will shatter."

“Even in the current school of thought, this technique is considered a high-level skill.”

Wang Yan was holding a sheet of rubbing paper, carefully covering the surface of the relief, and gently patting it with a soft brush to make the paper adhere to each indentation.

This is a process of making rubbings, which is also part of the examination and recording.

“Mentor, these flowers… seem to be more than just decorations.” Wang Yan noted as he made rubbings. “I counted at least seventeen different flower types in the reliefs I’ve seen so far. Some of them simply couldn’t grow naturally in the desert, like this one—”

He pointed to a lotus relief sculpture with ripples on water not far away.

“Blue Water Lily,” Erosanne pronounced accurately. “It only grows in clean lakes and has extremely high requirements for water quality. Even if there are underground water veins in the desert, it is difficult to form an environment suitable for its growth.”

"So, is it possible that these reliefs contain other information?" Wang Yan asked tentatively.

As an important component of ancient civilizations, temples also possess a function of transmitting civilization.

Generally speaking, apart from places like academies, temples should be the areas with the largest collection of books.

Even if there are no regular books, there should at least be hymns to gods and the transmission of myths and legends, right?

There's nothing here.

In fact, when Wang Yan first entered the ruins, he found that there didn't seem to be any collections here. He had thought that the treasures were hidden deep inside, but now, even after clearing out the monsters and looking at the ruins several times, he still hadn't found anything.

Wang Yan was certain that this was either an empty temple, or... the information contained within the temple was hidden in a place unseen by people.

What's most unusual about the entire temple is the floral reliefs that cover the entire temple.

On the one hand, there are so many of them, they are everywhere in the ruins; on the other hand, these reliefs are completely different from the decorations of other desert ruins.

Unfortunately, Hua Diao is neither writing nor runes, nor can it be a commonly used information carrier, so Wang Yan's cheat code is of little use to it.

"Are you suggesting that these reliefs might be some kind of code?" Erosanne countered.

Wang Yan nodded: "Yes, mentor, otherwise it would be too unreasonable for a temple to have no information records at all."

"Then try to decipher it. Classify and record the types of flowers, their conditions, and their order, and see if you can find any patterns." Eros didn't refute Wang Yan's words; instead, she strongly supported Wang Yan's research in this area.

Often, archaeology is a process without a clear beginning; it requires painstakingly unraveling the clues and uncovering patterns to decipher ancient civilizations.

Even if Wang Yan doesn't bring it up himself, Falushan will still guide him to do so.

Directly interpreting classical Chinese texts is merely the most basic operation of the epistemological school. Truly accomplished epistemological scholars should be able to analyze the hidden textual and linguistic patterns, that is, to decipher the secret language.

"Remember to save the data carefully. Your first paper can be a study on the reliefs of the Temple of Flora."

"Okay, mentor."

Wang Yan also became excited, feeling like it was the first time he was working on a project alone.

With Eros's approval, Wang Yan got into the zone and started taking notes in his notebook.

Erossen did not teach the scholars of the Wangyan Academy how to record things, or rather, each scholar recorded things in a different way.

Wang Yan also has his own habits.

他用一套簡潔的符號系統在筆記本上標註：F-1（薔薇型）、F-2（蓮花型）、F-3（鈴蘭型）……每類再根據開放程度細分，如F-1a（花苞）、F-1b（半開）、F-1c（盛放）…

The key to recording this kind of thing is that you can understand it yourself, and then simplify it as much as possible.

Don't use too many words, otherwise it will be tiring to write.

Seeing that Wang Yan was getting into the zone, Falushan smiled with satisfaction and went to the side by herself.

She was also curious about these reliefs, and as Wang Yan's mentor, she could at least understand them once he finished his research.

So, while the apprentices are working hard, the teachers can't just sit idly by.

Time passed slowly until a sound came from outside the temple.

“Senior Erossan, Wang Yan, I’ve brought you lunch.”

It's Dixia.

Aru Village took over the construction of the camp, and the Radiant Hunter also profited a lot from the previous monster materials. Simply moving a monster corpse was obviously not worth that much money.

So, the members of the Blazing Hunters did the math and decided to stay and take charge of security during the camp's construction, so they wouldn't have taken the money for nothing.

Wang Yan snapped out of her reverie, her gaze returning from the bas-relief flowers, and her thoughts gradually returned to their normal course.

"Okay, thank you, Dixia."

"It's no trouble at all. The meals are all prepared by the logistics staff. I'm just helping to bring them over."

Dixia put down the food and waved her hand.

With a construction team, there is also a corresponding logistics team, all of which are handled by Aru Village.

With logistics support in place, the people of Aru Village naturally wouldn't allow Wang Yan and Falushan to cook alone.

Therefore, their meal problem was also solved.

"You've been looking around for so long, have you discovered anything?" Dixia asked curiously.

Wang Yan had already taken the rice bowl and was eating when he heard Dixia's question. After swallowing the food, he replied, "The runes that maintain the temple have been analyzed. Although there are some unique runes, overall, they are still based on the desert civilization template."

After a pause, Wang Yan continued, "However... the temple is too empty, I feel there's a problem."

Erosanne ate her meal on the side, without interfering with their conversation.

It's not a classified project, and there aren't any special results, so it's okay to talk about it.

Moreover, Falushan also believed in Dixia's character.

Chapter 90 The Tanit Tribe? (15/20, Requesting First Subscription)

"Is space a problem?"

Dixia was somewhat puzzled.

In her view, there are all kinds of relics in the desert, so what's the problem if there's nothing in the temple? Maybe they just moved it away?

Wang Yan nodded as he ate: "Of course, I know what you're thinking. If this temple was abandoned, then it's understandable that there's nothing here."

He put down his chopsticks and continued, "But when my mentor and I came here, the ruins were still intact. Everything was in good condition, and the lighting inside was also working properly, which means that the temple had not been abandoned."

Abandoned temples don't need maintenance; at most, they can be cleaned up before leaving and then sealed away.

But this temple has remained standing since ancient times. If it weren't for the unknown reason that caused the temple's entrance to appear, this temple would still be...

This kind of unmanned, but long-term operation is possible.

The spark of civilization.

It may have preserved some of the sparks of the Flora civilization, but these sparks may require a secret key unique to the Flora civilization to decipher.

"I see... Speaking of which, this temple is for worshipping the Lady of Flowers, right?" Dixia asked again.

Wang Yan nodded: "Yes, the current findings do indeed point to this Flower Goddess."

"The Lady of the Flower... Her search for the eternal oasis in the desert caused quite a stir back then. Legend has it that it is the resting place of this Lady of the Flower."

Although Desia and the Traveler were good friends, the Traveler did not tell her about the Everlasting Oasis.

In reality, the Eternal Oasis has only been entered by the Traveler and Jade, oh, and Paimon.

But none of the three of them would tell anyone about the Everlasting Oasis.

Others have heard some true or false stories, the most legendary of which is the Tanit tribe, a desert tribe that worships the Flower Mistress, whose entire clan was wiped out in one night.

With a mysterious expression, Dixia told Wang Yan, "Many people are saying that the Great Mistress of Tanite has actually found the Eternal Oasis, but she wants to monopolize the Flower Mistress's favor and is unwilling to tell her people about the existence of the Eternal Oasis, which has caused internal strife in the Tanite tribe, and it has fallen apart overnight."

As she spoke, Dixia couldn't help but shake her head: "I think this is probably a rumor. I've met the First Madam of Tanette. That woman doesn't give off a very good impression... but she's definitely not that stupid."

Wang Yan smiled and said, "Then you must have another version of the story, right?"

“Hehe.” Dixia chuckled and whispered, “That’s right, compared to the internal strife in Tanit… I actually have some inside information. It’s said that the Tanit tribe colluded with some people in the north, and even kidnapped children in the desert for experiments…”

"I've also met people from the north, and they're not good people... In my opinion..."

Dixia paused for a moment, a hint of coldness flashing in her eyes: "Perhaps the Tanit tribe was wiped out by people from the north."

Don't say it, you really shouldn't say it.

People in the north are naturally fools.

Back then, the Fool of Sumeru wrote the tale of the mortals, and there were a few spies from the House of the Front Wall Furnace.

These people are definitely not good people.

Compared to the claim that the Tanit tribe was wiped out by Jade alone, it's easier to believe the truth when these fools entangle the facts.

If it weren't for the fact that Wang Yan had experienced the story himself, he would have believed Dixia's version of events.

And the foolish man offered fish, c tiger made, ぃヲ Yue Ba huang gambling ⅢH… This is too smooth.

"It's a pity. If Tanit were still alive, you might have been able to find some clues about the Flower Goddess's ruins," Dixia said with a hint of regret.

When she mentioned Tanit, she was also reminded of the connection between this tribe and its ruins.

Both are believers in the goddess of flowers, so there might be clues that outsiders don't know about.

“Of course someone in Tannet is still alive.”

The voice that came through was from Falushan, who hadn't said a word until now.

The two subconsciously looked over, only to see Erossan looking like she knew everything: "The Church Council has actually been investigating the extermination of the Tanit tribe."

"Huh? At that time... the Order of the Church actually cared about what happened in the desert?" Dixia was somewhat surprised.

The time when Tanit was exterminated was around the time when the Church Council was in its most turbulent period. Dixia did not expect that at that time, the Church Council would also pay attention to Tanit's affairs and even conduct an investigation.

"After all, they are the only large tribe in the desert that worships the Flower Goddess. The Grass God is quite concerned about them. Moreover... this Tanit tribe is well-known in the Thirty-Man Group and the Disciplinary Committee. They have long been involved in smuggling and other criminal activities. Even if they are not exterminated, they will be investigated by the Order of the Church."

Erosan shook her head, clearly not having any good feelings towards this tribe.

"Then, mentor, are you saying that someone in Tannet is still alive?"

Wang Yan knew that Jie De was definitely still alive, and had even organized her own gilded tour group to travel to various countries.