In the following days, the expedition headed south.
After encountering the Saenz bandits, both the mercenaries and Noxian guards in the team kept a distance from Li Lin intentionally or unintentionally.
The energy shells released by the storm directly annihilated the bandits, leaving no ashes behind, which left a deep shadow on them.
Now, they were afraid that this young and energetic young man would be offended by their group of rough men, so they directly controlled his robot to make a fuss.
Before arriving at the ruins of City of the Sun, the expedition team once again encountered a sandstorm that was larger than before and lost four camels carrying supplies.
Fortunately, everyone had encountered the Doman Behemoth Nomads once before, and replenished the water supply in the hidden oasis guided by them.
If you use it sparingly, you won’t have much pressure on food and water.
After walking the last morning’s journey, the group finally arrived at the ruins of the City of the Sun, the imperial capital of Shurima.
The Shurima Empire was once a prosperous civilization.
Under the guidance of the Titans, the ancestors of Shurima built the first sun disk in the western part of the continent, near the former capital of Targon, Nerimaji.
From then on, through the sun disk, the warriors of the gods who were imbued with the “power of the sun” began to appear.
Under the leadership of the first emperor Setaka, the army composed of Ascended Ones was invincible and soon conquered the entire continent of Shurima.
It even occupied the isthmus between the continent of Shurima and the continent of Valoran, and included the former Oshra Vazuan into its own territory.
Later, Shurima moved its capital to the City of the Sun in the center of the continent, and thus entered a golden age.
At its peak, the Shurima Empire had at least a thousand Ascended Warriors, most of whom were often stationed in distant lands and loyal to the royal family.
However, this golden age only lasted for more than two thousand years…until the Void War began.
Because the Icathians in the eastern part of the Shurima continent were dissatisfied with the empire’s slave tyranny, and seeing that their country’s application for ascension was hopeless, the Council of Elders declared war with the Shurima Empire.
Under the brutal suppression of the Celestial Warriors, the Icathian soldiers retreated steadily.
However, in order to win the war, the foolish Icathian Elders released that terrible existence-the void at all costs.
They sent people to further tear open the void cracks found underground, releasing twisted and corrupted void monsters.
Several celestial warriors were instantly corrupted and twisted by this void power, and their ascended power and souls were swallowed by the void, eventually becoming their nutrients.
The first war of suppression ended with a tragic victory for Icathia…
But they never thought that this kind of corrupting power that even the gods warriors could not resist was not something they could control as mere mortals.
The growing void quickly swallowed the entire Icathia, the rugged abyss tore the earth apart, and countless evil monsters created by the native creatures of Runeterra emerged from the surface, greedily sucking the life of this land.
In the bloody battles and desperate resistance of batches of ascended warriors, even the first-generation ascended warrior Setaka died on the battlefield, just to prevent the world from being swallowed by nothingness.
It was not until the god warrior Horok used his Hades Blade to close the void passage of Icathia that the war that lasted for decades finally ended with Shurima’s tragic victory.
At this point, the Shurima Empire began to decline from its peak.
When the last emperor Azir ascended the throne hundreds of years later, under his wise rule, the Shurima Empire entered the post-peak era.
However, due to the betrayal of his cronies, his ascension failed, and the energy that escaped from the collapsed sun disk instantly reduced the entire City of the Sun to ruins.
The emperor fell and the imperial capital fell.
The Shurima Empire, which had been inherited for thousands of years, fell apart and its glory was no longer…
Li Lin stood on the small sand dune outside the City of the Sun, looking far into the center of the ruins.
Most of the countless huge golden metal pillars were buried by the yellow sand, and the upper ends were eroded by wind and sand and were already in ruins.
As a heat wave passed by and dust flew up, a corner of the rusty giant sun disk was accidentally visible.
In the rugged ruined city, drought-tolerant vegetation growing everywhere adds a sense of desolation to this lost imperial capital.
Looking at this scene from a distance, Li Lin felt an indescribable feeling in his heart and couldn’t help but sigh.
“…Li Lin.” Sivir walked up and called softly behind him, bringing his thoughts back to reality.
Li Lin opened his mask and turned around, glanced at Kassadin who was holding Scarash beside him, and the expedition team not far away, then looked back and looked at Sivir.
“Let’s say goodbye here.” Li Lin chuckled, “Thank you for taking care of me all the way. When I get back to Naslamei, I will definitely buy you a drink.”
Sivir also had a smile on his face, “Then it’s settled.”
After watching Sivir return to the expedition team and looking this way, Li Lin waved goodbye to her for the last time.
Then, he looked at Cassiopeia, who was surrounded by guards in the center of the team.
Long before arriving at the City of the Sun, Li Lin had discussed the follow-up plan with her.
In order not to be noticed by Sivir, he and Kassadin would go around the City of the Sun first.
After the expedition team entered the tomb, he would turn back and follow them secretly, helping them secretly.
Sivir led the expedition team up and down the steep slope to the ruins basin, then bypassed various obstacles and headed straight to the center of the City of the Sun.
Li Lin kept staring at them until the group of people turned into small black specks the size of mosquitoes.
Kassadin stepped forward and asked in a low voice: “Are we going to continue our journey?”
Based on past experience, he could feel that Li Lin seemed to have his own plan.
Coveting the treasures in the tombs of the Emperor and the Ascended Ones?
never mind.
No matter what Li Lin wants to do, he will support it unconditionally.
After all, he had nothing to repay for his precious Hex Power Armor and Li Lin’s support along the way.
If he could contribute his modest efforts to help Li Lin realize any plan, Kassadin would be happy to accept it.
“Wait a minute.”
Li Lin shook his head and looked at the time on the display inside the mask – it was around three o’clock in the afternoon.
Although there is quite a time difference compared to Piltover, it can still be used as a reference.
“Kassadin, I have a question.”
“Ask me, as long as I know.”
Li Lin lowered his head and thought for a moment, “Based on your experience… How long will it take for an expedition team to dig through the tomb and enter the tomb?”
“Uh… this has to take into account all aspects of the situation.” Kassadin said hesitantly, “such as the depth of the tomb from the ground, the surrounding environment, the quality of the expedition team’s tools, etc.”
Li Lin realized that he had asked a stupid question, so he laughed and changed his words, “Then tell it based on your past experiences.”
He knew very well that as a desert guide, Kassadin often helped the expedition team “dig graves.”
In the eyes of the Shuriman people, it is not a shameful thing to help outsiders dig up Shuriman antiquities.
After all, in such an extremely harsh environment, even daily life has become difficult. Who would care about the inheritance of an ancient country that has long since disappeared?
“I used to help a Zaun expedition team open the ancient tomb that had been sealed for thousands of years by Horok. It took about three days, right?”
Kassadin thought for a while and continued: “The main reason is that it takes too long to clean up the debris on the surface. The yellow sand in Dasai is very soft, and they also have Hex instruments specially used for digging.”
“Is that so?”
Li Lin looked at the expedition team, which was almost invisible in the distance, and fell into deep thought.
Before he could think about it for too long, Kassadin added: “However, I have been here before with an expedition team.”
“Oh?” Li Lin suddenly became interested.
“It’s just that the expedition was unlucky and lost most of its instruments in a sandstorm, so they only cleaned the surface of one tomb before giving up.”
Kassadin followed Li Lin’s gaze and pointed in the direction where the expedition team just left.
“If they can find the excavation site left by the previous expedition, they should be able to descend into the tomb in less than a day and a half.”
Li Lin nodded and made a decision: “Okay, then we will find a hidden location to camp outside the city and come back to see it in a day and a half.”
