Chapter 217: Entering
Gao Zhen had already drawn their attention as she walked towards the ancient characters, so when they heard her words, their curiosity was naturally stoked.
"What do you mean, Madam Gao? Did you figure out where these gates lead?" Xie Rou asked while gesturing towards the doors.
"Yes, I did." Gao Zhen nodded and said, "The characters engraved in the space between the doors are something I’ve seen before."
"You’ve seen it before? Where?" Zhou Lan asked with furrowed brows.
"In the various records concerning ancient ruins that I’ve gone through. Similar doors had appeared in several different ruins as well, and the top-most lines of characters beside them had always been identical."
She said with a smile and continued her explanation.
"Each of these doors is a self-contained trial in itself. They lead to separate domains where we are faced with different challenges.
After we’ve successfully overcome them, we are greatly rewarded with all kinds of treasures!
Unfathomable artefacts, soul-stirring weapons and even various types of physiques! They all could be awarded to us in these trials."
When Gao Zhen finished those words, her eyes immediately met Yi Chen’s.
Desire was evident in his eyes, but along with that, there was also an inquisitive expression.
"What if one fails to clear the trial? What will happen then?" Yi Chen asked with a frown the next instant.
"Nothing." Gao Zhen said confidently, "That’s why encountering these rare doors inside any ancient ruin is considered a godsend by most, if not all, cultivators.
Even if you fail to complete it, nothing happens to you as death inside the domain doesn’t equal the death of the real body."
Gao Zhen then glanced towards the doors around them and said, "And with ten such doors here, even if some of us are unable to clear one, they can still try the other remaining ones!"
"Is that so?" Yi Chen asked with a doubtful expression.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Gao Zhen, he simply trusted his ability more. The status panel earlier had vaguely suggested that there was some punishment also involved.
"Is there something Young Master Chen has to say?" Gao Zhen asked, seeing him like that.
"...Yes. I somehow feel that this ruin is very different from the others. For example, even Madam Gao would agree that there had never been such murals painted in any other ruins. Therefore...I think we should be extra careful inside those doors.
Just because the other ruins didn’t have any penalty...doesn’t mean this one also won’t have...so what I’m saying is that we shouldn’t let our guard down."
Yi Chen said.
Hearing Yi Chen’s words, Gao Zhen naturally frowned a little, but on a second thought, his words indeed made sense.
After a few seconds of silence, she nodded and addressed the three of them, "Alright, let’s all be extra cautious while doing these trials and give our absolute best."
"Yes!"
Xie Rou and Zhou Lan nodded, not having any issues with being extra careful.
YAWN!
All of a sudden, Zhou Lan yawned loudly, attracting everyone’s attention.
"A-Ah, it came out louder than I expected. My apologies," she apologised with an embarrassed expression.
Seeing this, Gao Zhen smiled and said, "There’s no need to apologise. Moreover, your actions also reminded me of something crucial.
We’ve been on our toes for more than fifteen hours now, so it’s best we take a rest. It will also ensure that we’ll be able to do these trials with a much clearer head."
"Yes, let’s rest," Yi Chen chimed in from the side. Unlike the three of them, the mental fatigue he had been bearing all this time was enormous.
From fighting the black skeletons, rescuing everyone from their grasp, and later even performing the trial to open the temple’s door...it won’t be wrong to say that his mental energy was almost on the brink of exhaustion.
They soon took some items out of their storage rings and made adequate sleeping preparations.
It was soon followed by a sumptuous meal during which Gao Zhen narrated several different types of experiences shared by the cultivators who had successfully cleared such doors.
A few moments later, they all went to sleep in their makeshift beds.
Almost on the verge of exhaustion, Yi Chen was about to shut his eyes, but still, out of habit, decided to glance at his progress one last time.
======Cultivation Arsenal ======
#Weapon Arts
1) Advanced Swordsmanship [ Progress: 889 ->901 / 1000 ]
#Cultivation Arts
1) Crimson Fire Arts [ Comprehension: 77% -> 79% ]
2) Myriad Fire Swords [ Comprehension: 33% ]
3) Bursting Fire Steps [ Comprehension: 91% -> 92% ]
#System Items
NIL
============ END ===========
’Well, that’s a substantial increase for one day,’ he thought with a pleased smile, knowing fully well that it was all thanks to the life-threatening encounters he experienced in the last fifteen hours.
A few seconds later, Yi Chen put away the system panel and closed his eyes.
Within seconds, his breathing stabilised, and he fell asleep.
The next day, after freshening up and having an energetic breakfast, they were all ready to enter the doors.
Since there was no sequencing on the doors and they all looked exactly the same, the four of them just randomly chose doors for themselves and went to stand in front of them.
"Good luck, everyone! Remember all the tips and stories I gave you earlier. They’ll definitely come in handy."
With that said, Gao Zhen walked inside her door, and the next instant, its white light vanished, leaving only a hollow door frame made of stone.
’So that’s what happens once we enter the door...’ Yi Chen nodded his head in understanding.
"Good luck, Brother Chen,"
Meanwhile, Xie Rou and Zhou Lan wished Yi Chen good luck before subtly nodding towards each other and simultaneously entering their respective doors.
Seeing another two doors dim, Yi Chen took a deep breath and nodded to himself.
"Let’s do this then."
With that said, he was just about to take a step inside when a familiar grating voice echoed inside his head.
"Stop. The third door to your right. Enter that."
Yi Chen’s expression tightened as he realised that the owner of the voice had been keeping its eyes on him all along.
By now, even if the voice seemed scary to him, he had started to develop a little trust towards it.
If not for its timely reminder in that previous trial, he definitely wouldn’t have made it out unharmed.
However, he was still curious to know the reason behind the voice’s suggestion, so he asked.
"Why? Is there anything special about it?"
"..."
No reply came.
Seeing that the voice had no intention of adding on to what he had said, a brief debate ensued in Yi Chen’s mind.
One side wanted to just enter the door he was currently facing and not listen to the unknown voice’s suggestion, while the other side wanted to trust the voice because it had helped him last time.
The latter soon won over the former, and Yi Chen soon walked towards the third door to his right.
"This one, right?" Yi Chen asked for confirmation. However, once again, there was no response.
He subtly clicked his tongue at this silent treatment and soon stepped inside the door the next instant.
Meanwhile, the eye that had been silently observing everything from above developed a pleased glint before slowly fading into nothingness.
...
"So, this is where my trial would be held..." Yi Chen muttered while looking at his surroundings.
Beneath his legs, there was red sand which completely encompassed the vast space he was in.
Only a few small shrubs could be seen while the majority of the landscape was filled with either sand or boulders.
He glanced towards the sky, which seemed to be turning orange as if it were nearing sunset. However, when he looked around, he found no traces of the sun.
"So, a vast desert, and a sunless sunset..."
He sighed to himself and then started looking all around in an attempt to find out what he needed to do to clear this trial.
Just then, a being materialised out of thin air just a few meters ahead of him.
"This..."
Seeing it, Yi Chen immediately used his ability to look at its status panel.
=======STATUS========
Name: Demon Soldier
Cultivation: Fifth Meridian Refinement Stage
Qi Nature: Darkness
Strength: 100
Remark: A lifelike projection inside the domain [Regenerate: 10,000 EXP]
======================
’Demon Soldier...I was right,’
Yi Chen thought to himself while glancing at the being that had just materialised a few meters ahead of him.
Standing six feet tall, its height was similar to that of an average human cultivator. However, what distinctly separated it from a human was its skin, which was completely pitch black in colour.
It had horns growing out from the sides of its head, blood-red eyes, white fangs protruding out of its lower lip and long razor blade-like claws which shone with a dangerous glimmer.
Its image completely matched how it was depicted in the murals.
However, in reality, it looked even more intimidating, and Yi Chen couldn’t help but tense up at its sight.
He immediately reached for the sword resting around his waist, only to discover that it wasn’t there.
"Where did it go...?!"
An expression of confusion immediately formed on his face, but before he could think over it for any longer, the demon soldier, sensing his sudden movements, was immediately alerted and rushed towards him with a grating cry.
ZAHIIIIR!
Yi Chen instantly used the Bursting Fire Steps to maintain the distance between them.
At the same time, he reached for the spare sword in his storage ring.
"!!!"
To his utter surprise, even his storage ring was gone.