38 The Mural

A few moments later, after speeding through the skies with their aircraft, Ye Chen could once again see the familiar sight of the Eastern Continent.

Lighting their way was the rising of the sun which made the view a picturesque sight.

"The Einder Stronghold of the Eastern Continent is located on the Sacred Island." Ye Chen softly told Anastassia as he looked at the sight from a window.

"Can you give me the exact coordinates so that we could go there directly?"

"I'm afraid that, even if you know the coordinates you won't be able to go there. Can you let me borrow the controls for a bit?"

"Sure. Initiate manual mode." After that, a steering platform arose from the middle of the hall. The both of them began to walk towards the platform with Anastasia showing Ye Chen the controls.

He took over it and began steering in a certain direction.

"Have you ever wondered why the empire had never found us?" Ye Chen had a playful look in his eyes as he looked towards Anastasia.

"I guess it has something to do with the island itself right? You must've used a whole lot of energy to keep a barrier to protect it, right?" After giving it some thought this was the conclusion that Anastasia had come to.

Ye Chen smiled as he shook his had. "Too bad, your answer was a close one. To be honest, the reason the empire had never found out the exact location of the island was because..."

Just before Ye Chen finished his sentence, a huge shadow had suddenly appeared from above them. This shadow had started to creep in closer to their ship, the people from the Chen Clan, however, were very calm and composed. Some of them even took delight at the surprise that everyone else had shown.

"A dragon........." Anastasia was aghast as she looked at that domineering figure. She then saw the mischevious smile that Ye Chen had, she then took a deep breath and collected her composure.

"I now understand how the Chen Clan had managed to avoid extermination from the purge that the empire did." Anastasia had an understanding look on her face as she continued looking at the Dragon.

"Seriously, who would have thought that the Chen Clan would be hiding under a Dragon's nest."

Ye Chen who saw this gave a chuckle as he made a sharp turn to the left following the dragon. "I know right? This is just like a natural barrier. No need for any external energy. Set this in automatic mode. We're going to land soon."

"Alright." With that simple reply, Anastasia had once again made the ship run on auto. She then set the ship to directly follow the dragon.

After following the dragon, they had eventually landed in a serene greenery. The crew of the ship alongside the members of the Chen Clan began to disembark. Stan and Cray were taken along as well.

They headed towards the entrance of the stronghold. This time, the moment they had entered three rings began to light up in their respective colors.

And Cray who had previously been unconscious had begun to awaken. In his chest was a burning feeling. In his chest, a tattoo was beginning to light up.

The moment Cray had awoken from his slumber he heard Note's voice giving him notifications.

"Good morning host! For finishing Vier's Trial of Fire you have mastered the Brace stage of hell flames."

"Warning, the life embers of Vier had reached critical conditions, the lockdown of Vier had commenced."

"Warning, the host had suffered multiple injuries from the previous battle, immediate treatment is required."

"Host had entered a functioning Einder Stronghold, immediate use of flame incubator to heal the injury is strongly suggested."

"Welcome to the Einder Stronghold."

Cray was taken aback by the sudden explosion of notifications from Note. He then took note of his current situation. He saw Stan who was lying unconscious with his finger shining.

"Oh! So you've woken up already." A beautiful woman who was well endowed and had a golden hair greeted Cray as he looked around.

"Where am I? Who are you? What happened....."

Before Cray was able to finish what he was saying he caught sight of a certain mural on the wall. This pictures on it made him curious. It was captivating, those pictures seem to be calling out to him telling him to come and take a look.

Ye Chen, who saw Cray entranced by the mural told him, "It's beautiful, right?"

Cray was once again dragged back to reality when he heard Ye Chen.

"For now, we should go inside. I'll fill you in on what happened a while ago." Ye Chen then took the lead as he helped Cray stand up and go inside the Stronghold. He commanded two of his men to also bring Stan inside while the rest of them stand guard outside.

They then reached the center of the Stronghold. This time, Ye Chen and Anastasia along with her sister introduced themselves. After doing so they told Cray of their previous attempt to rescue him from the Empire's soldiers, and how Stan had managed to make contact with them after he forcefully dragged him out.

At this point, Cray was staring at them blankly. He surely didn't expect that the reason Stan had been unconscious was because he had overworked himself mainly because of him getting captured.

He was frustrated.

But at the same time, he was still confused. Why does the empire want him? Why would these people do so much just for him?

He looked at Anastasia, this rich woman had abandoned her lifestyle. He looked at Ye Chen, this man had gone with an army just to rescue him. Finally, his gaze landed on Stan, this man had sacrificed a lot. He had done so much even if they both are probably in the same age.

He then remembered the mural that he saw outside. "By the way, about that mural outside. What was it about?"