Chapter 212: Hand Imprint
Yi Chen smashed his fists on the ground in frustration, but, knowing that he was pressed for time, he took out a pot of water from his storage ring and finished half of it in seconds.
His Qi pool was immediately filled to the brim, and without wasting a moment, he again utilised the Bursting Fire Steps and made his way downwards.
"Found them!" he exclaimed with joy, seeing their rushing figures.
However, a frown immediately appeared on his face when he noticed them being almost on the brink of exhaustion, and the skeletons were just a few feet behind them, ready to devour them at any moment.
’At this rate I’ll only be able to do one ride...’
Without further ado, his figure immediately appeared between the two of them.
"Young Master Chen!"
"Brother Chen!"
Both their strained expressions subtly relaxed in relief when they saw his appearance.
"I apologise in advance for the bumpy ride ahead." Yi Chen said, and the next instant, he tightly wrapped his arms around their waists and lifted them up.
"This..."
Both Gao Zhen and Xie Rou met each other’s eyes the next instant. Observing each other’s figures, which were firmly held at Yi Chen’s sides, a trace of embarrassment welled up on their faces.
Without any other warning, he immediately circulated his Qi and burst forward.
BURST!
BURST!
.
.
The harrowing howls from the skeletons grew more and more distant with each passing second as they soon closed in on the black temple.
"This...Why didn’t she close the gates as I’ve said?" Yi Chen muttered as a sense of frustration began to rise in his heart.
Not wanting Yi Chen to get the wrong impression, the moment she noticed his incoming figure, she shouted out loud, "The Gates! They are stuck!"
She had tried with all her might to close them, but no matter what, they remained where they were.
"This..." a troubling expression formed on Yi Chen’s face when he heard this.
Noticing this, Gao Zhen immediately realised what his plans were and said, "There’s no need to close the gate. It will automatically close the moment we all enter its premises."
A flood of relief appeared on Yi Chen’s face when he heard this.
"I was worrying needlessly," he muttered with relief and nodded gratefully towards Gao Zhen, who could only smile back awkwardly because of still being carried under his arms.
A few seconds later, they finally entered the temple’s premises, and just like Gao Zhen had said, the gate was slammed shut.
SHIIIIING!
The very next instant, a towering gateway made up of green light rose from the central part of the town.
’This?!’
An expression mixed with confusion and surprise appeared on everyone’s faces except for Gao Zhen.
Glancing towards the gateway, she was already anticipating its appearance. She said, "That’s the portal that leads to the exit."
"So, we just need to cross it, and we’ll be able to escape the tomb?" Yi Chen asked with a frown.
Given how dangerous the reputation of the Sky Devouring Tomb was and the multitude of cultivators who had lost their lives to it, such an easy way of escaping was hard to believe.
Understanding the reasoning behind his question and observing the same perplexed expressions on the other two’s faces, Gao Zhen said with a smile, "Yes. We just need to cross through that gateway, and we’ll be back on the shores of the Purple Carp Lake."
She paused for a couple of seconds, satisfied with the frowns that were intensifying on their faces and continued.
"...However, that’s only if we are able to make it to the gateway."
"W-What do you mean?" Zhou Lan asked with a frown.
"You’ll know in a few seconds." Gao Zhen smiled and gestured towards the outside of the gate, which had just slammed shut.
THHHUK!
All of a sudden, a black, bony arm popped out of the ground. Not even a second had passed, and dozens, if not hundreds, of similar hands burst forth from the ground all around.
KRUCH! KRUNCH!
Before Yi Chen and the rest could process what was happening, the bony claws started scraping the soil around and soon pushed themselves out.
KAT! KAT! KAT!
The familiar sound of the jaws resounded all around as the black skeletons covered in mud soon made their presence known with a soul-stirring howl.
KAAAHHHH!
Yi Chen’s eyes went all around, from the other side of the gate to the walls that surrounded the black temple.
Everywhere, these skeletons had crawled out of the ground in numbers much greater than the horde chasing after them.
’Hundreds...No, they are definitely in thousands!’ Yi Chen thought as the gravity of the situation appeared on his face.
Far away, the horde of skeletons that had been chasing after them all this while soon joined this fray, but their numbers were like a drop in the ocean compared to the already gathered skeletons.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
With their claws, they kept hitting the railing of the metallic gate and the walls in unison as a ringing sound, more nerve-wracking than their howls, which reverberated all around.
’It’s going to be extremely difficult, but if we use all of the pond’s water...then escaping is still within reach,’ Yi Chen concluded in his mind.
ZOOM!
Just then, a black and white dot zoomed past the hill, going higher and higher in the sky. It wasn’t a one-of-a-kind case, as the very next second, hordes of similar dots zoomed past their eyes, bolting towards the sky in a similar manner.
"...They can even fly?!" Zhou Lan exclaimed in horror when she saw the scene.
Hundreds of flying skeletons with grey wings on their backs, almost a meter long, entered their vision.
After attaining a certain height, they started circling the temple’s premises high up in the sky, shrieking and howling relentlessly.
A sense of fear was evoked in their hearts as they observed this scene, afraid that the flying horde would dive straight towards them from the sky.
However, their fears didn’t materialise.
Despite there being no barrier on the top, for some reason, the skeletons didn’t dare to enter its premises and continued circling around it, just like how, despite the surrounding walls being only a few meters tall, the skeletons didn’t dare to climb above it.
A sigh of relief left their chests as they found the scene both strange and relieving.
It was at that time that Gao Zhen’s next set of words entered their ears.
"Just making our way past a few hundred skeletons had almost brought us on the brink of death...now that the number amounted to thousands and includes skeletons attacking from both the land and the sky, what do you think our chances of reaching the gateway would be?"
She glanced towards Zhou Lan when she finished.
"Impossible...close to impossible..." she muttered with a grave expression on her face.
"Indeed. That’s why, despite opening every year for the last hundreds of years...the number of cultivators that had successfully escaped the tomb amounted to only a handful." Gao Zhen said with a nod.
Seeing that everyone’s countenance had turned grave, Gao Zhen chuckled and said,
"However, since we’ll be the first ones to enter the black temple, we won’t have to share a similar fate. I’m sure we’ll be given a safe passage to the gateway after clearing this tomb."
As she finished those words, she turned towards Yi Chen and asked with a smirk, "Young Master Chen, are you ready? The success of our mission strongly hinges on you."
"Yes," Yi Chen exhaled a deep breath and, with a firm expression, nodded, "I am ready."
"Good," Gao Zhen nodded in a pleased fashion, and the next instant turned towards Zhou Lan and Xie Rou, "Let’s get going then."
They nodded in response, and soon the four of them turned towards the black temple and started walking towards it.
The temple’s height was that of a two-storied building, but it had a ground floor. Above it, an enormous dome acted as its roof.
A simple design, however, the glimmering black colour exuding from it made it clear that the structure was far from simple.
Near its entrance, two black pillars stood tall and between them a small flight of stairs.
After climbing ten steps, they walked forward and in front of them was an iron door, on which several strange patterns were engraved.
Their gaze then fell on a square slot in the middle of the door, just beside it, a deep hand imprint was present.
"When you place your hand over that imprint, the trial will begin." Gao Zhen turned towards Yi Chen, who was observing the same spot at that moment.
"I see." He nodded firmly and took a deep breath to prepare his mind.
"Good luck, Brother Chen."
"We are hoping for your success!"
Both Zhou Lan and Xie Rou wished him luck from the side.
"Mhm," Yi Chen nodded with a smile as his eyes met Gao Zhen’s the next instant.
With a serious countenance, Gao Zhen said, "Forget about the storage ring if you fail, you understand?"
Yi Chen and the others, who were expecting her to wish him luck as well, chortled when they heard those unexpected words.
"Y-Yes, I’ll keep Madam Gao’s words in mind," Yi Chen said while trying hard to control his laugh before finally nodding towards the three of them as his right hand rested on the imprint.