Mu Li arrived directly above the island, riding on Togekiss.
"Did you see anything special?" Wang Xiang's voice came through the headset.
From the sky, the entire forest covered the island densely, making it impossible to see any abnormalities.
"I don't see anything unusual. I'm going directly to the center. The headset signal might be blocked." With that, Mu Li signaled Togekiss to begin descending towards the central area.
As soon as he landed, a chaotic noise came through the headset. No matter how Mu Li called out, there was no response from the other end of the headset.
Mewtwo's figure appeared beside Mu Li: "The energy here is very chaotic, and even the Psychic perception range has become very small. You need to be careful."
Mu Li nodded, not being careless, and immediately released Snorlax.
However, at this moment, Gengar suddenly appeared, and with him was the little Zorua.
Zorua's state clearly wasn't right; her face was anxious, and she was constantly struggling in Gengar's arms.
"What's wrong with her?" Mu Li's brows furrowed.
"She doesn't know what's wrong; she just feels very uneasy and wants to get away from this place," Gengar explained. "Also, I sense an evil force. This force seems very similar to Ghost energy, but it's not quite the same."
"An evil force?" Mu Li's brows furrowed tightly, and he summoned Togekiss again.
With Togekiss's appearance, Zorua visibly calmed down. Although there was still a hint of unease in her eyes, she was no longer struggling.
Seeing Zorua calm down, Gengar directly placed Zorua on Togekiss's back.
Upon contact, Togekiss surprisingly emitted waves of silvery-white light.
These rays of light, centered around Togekiss, gradually enveloped everyone, turning into a small light source beneath the somewhat eerie forest.
"This is Togekiss's Purification Power!" Mu Li exclaimed in surprise. "It actually materialized."
Mewtwo, however, seemed even more tense: "It seems this power is not to be trifled with."
Mu Li also nodded: "But since this power is so evil, we can't just leave it alone. Let's go in and see the situation first."
With Togekiss's appearance, Mu Li's emotions seemed to have stabilized a lot.
As Mu Li delved deeper, the trees in the forest seemed to grow taller and taller. Even though it was only a little past one o'clock, not a single ray of sunlight could be seen throughout the forest.
"Wait!" Mewtwo suddenly called out, and everyone stopped in their tracks.
"What's wrong?" Mu Li asked, puzzled.
"The surrounding vision is distorted." As soon as Mewtwo finished speaking, his pale blue Psychic energy diffused outwards. Strangely, once this Psychic energy touched the space five meters ahead, it vanished.
"Is this a barrier?" Mu Li was very familiar with this kind of thing; he had a large Psychic barrier at his home.
"Exactly, but this power is not Psychic," Mewtwo said, his brows furrowed. "This power lies between Dark and Ghost types, and it can even be said to possess the characteristics of both types of energy, having a strong suppressive effect on Psychic."
"Is there a way to open it?" Mu Li inquired.
Mewtwo hesitated for a moment before answering: "It will take some time, but if we use Psychic to open it, the Pokémon who set up the barrier will definitely sense it..."
"Let me," Gengar suddenly said. "This power is somewhat similar to the Ghost power within me. I should be able to briefly break the barrier without alerting the other party."
Gengar wrapped his hand in Ghost energy and placed it over the barrier. A minute later, a door formed by Ghost power appeared before Mu Li.
Snorlax didn't hesitate and charged in first. Mu Li and Mewtwo followed, with Togekiss and Gengar bringing up the rear, entering the barrier.
"This is..." After entering the barrier, the surrounding environment changed dramatically.
Mu Li, who had originally been deep in the forest, now seemed to have arrived at an ancient ruin. In the very center of the barrier, a building resembling an ancient temple appeared.
"Is that the source of the power?" Mu Li asked with a frown. Even though he wasn't a Pokémon, he could feel the oppressive sensation emanating from the ancient temple.
Suddenly, Snorlax's eyes turned somewhat crimson. He slammed his fist into the ground. This punch didn't use any power, yet it created a pit several meters deep in the ground.
"What?" Mu Li asked, puzzled.
Snorlax shook his head and said, "The power here seems to affect a Pokémon's emotions. Just now, I wasn't careful, and even I was subtly influenced."
Mewtwo frowned, and with a flick of his finger, a semi-circular barrier appeared, enveloping all the Pokémon and Mu Li.
"This place is too strange; it's better to be careful," Mu Li dared not relax his guard in the slightest. Even Snorlax was slightly affected, which meant that the essence of this power was at least of a divine level.
For Pokémon of the same divine level, this power might not be difficult to deal with, but for a human like Mu Li, just the leakage of divine power could cause Mu Li's body and soul to be unable to bear it.
Togekiss also seemed to sense something, pressing tightly against Mu Li.
His power seemed to be the bane of that force.
Snorlax also became very vigilant, cautiously walking at the front of the group.
"This temple is a bit strange; it seems to be an architectural product from a very ancient period," Mu Li said, looking at the temple's craftsmanship. "I've seen similar stone temples before, but they were all structures from the super-ancient period, likely from the time of human civilization's enlightenment."
Led by Snorlax, Mu Li entered the temple and immediately fell into darkness.
"Chuuu!" Togekiss cried out, emitting light from its body, illuminating everything around them clearly.
The entire temple was a sealed space, with nothing but numerous murals on the walls.
"Strange? There should be another path," Mewtwo said, puzzled. "The source of this power..."
Mewtwo closed his eyes, floating in the air. After a few breaths, he opened his eyes and looked at the stone bricks on the ground: "The source of that power is underground."
"Underground?" Mu Li asked, a bit confused. "Are there some mechanisms or something?"
Mu Li cast his gaze towards the murals on the wall.
The content of these murals was very simple, with the people depicted as stick figures.
The content of the paintings was very rich, seemingly documenting the occurrence of a major event.
Except for the wall at the entrance, the other three walls were covered with murals, and at the top, a pattern resembling an eye appeared.
Mu Li looked up and saw that eye. The eye's gaze seemed to transcend time and space, staring directly at him, and Mu Li couldn't help but feel a chill.
What exactly is this place?
