Right as the oil, which was fueling my lamp, was about to dry up, the magic array ceased absorbing my magic power. The moment I released a giant sigh of relief, an unprecedentedly dazzling radiance burst forth from the array. Seeing this, I knew that the magic array was about to activate so I shouted to the others, “Quickly! Everyone quickly enter the hexagram! The array is about to activate.” I immediately began running towards one of the corners of the hexagram because I knew that only the six corners of the hexagram provided the greatest amount of protection against the magical array.
The group’s shadows parted, flashing to the other five corners of the hexagram. Just as we stepped on, we felt the sky spin. The magic array’s golden rays of light faded away with us into the air.
Whoosh. We all fell onto the floor at the same time. Thanks to the gold light we could see a bit of our surroundings in the pitch black darkness. ‘We should be in the belly of the mountain.’ The gold light in the center began to grow dimmer and dimmer before we were suddenly enveloped within complete darkness.
“Everyone don’t move yet. Stay on guard while I recover my magic power for a bit. Then we’ll continue forward.”
“Light elements, my friends, I beseech of you to illuminate the earth.” This was the first spell I had ever learned, illumination.
A light sparked from my hand and the environment shone as if it were day. I first saw everyone sitting in a single circle around me. Nobody had completely adapted to the dazzling light yet. The cave was as tall as two people and about five meters wide. The area ahead was so dark, we could not tell how deep it reached. The entire cave’s walls and floors were abnormally smooth. It was obviously polished.
Everyone began cautiously surveying the surroundings. Xiu Si said, “It seems that we’re in the belly of the mountain. The Holy Sword should be in here.”
Big Brother Zhan Hu said, “Everyone be cautious. Xiu Si and I will lead the way. Zhang Gong will be at the center. Gao De, Xing Ao and Dong Ri will be in the back. Let’s go.”
We kept formation as we walked onward. The illumination was only able to light up 10 meters ahead, so we treaded carefully forward. However, there seemed to be no end. We had already walked for an unknown amount of time and the circumstances had not changed one bit.
“Wait a moment everyone.” I felt that there was something wrong with the situation so I had everyone halt. I took my magic staff out of my dimensional bag and continued, “I don’t know if my feeling is right, but I think we’re going in circles. I’ll leave behind this seal and we’ll see if we come across it again later.”
Xiu Si said, “I feel the same. Let’s hasten our pace.”
We sped forward. Sure enough, in approximately half the time, we returned to where I had placed my magic staff. I picked up my staff from the ground and scowled.”
Dong Ri said, “What are we going to do? Could it be that this is a labyrinth?
I said, “No, this shouldn’t be a labyrinth. It seems we still haven’t found the crucial location. There should be some kind of mechanism.” With this said, I sat cross legged on the ground and released my spiritual energy to look for a way out. I felt my surroundings were made up of entirely impermeable mountain rock. Only the ground seemed to be hollow.
I stood up and had everyone stand apart. I pointed to the ground and said, “The ground is contrastingly empty. Let’s try and see if we can break a hole through.”
Big Brother Zhan Hu said, “I will.” He waved his knights sword and slashed with white battle spirit toward the ground. Bang. Dust filled the air.
Before the dust had even settled, the entire cave began shaking. I shouted, “This isn’t good! Everyone gather here quickly and concentrate your powers.” After everyone gathered around me, I cast a protective cover on all of us. In return, they all used their battle spirits to form a formidable energy cover. Right as they finished forming their energy covers, the floor beneath our feet crumbled away. We all fell into the bottomless abyss together.
Not knowing how far we dropped, the energy cover eventually hit the ground. Hong. The energy cover holding the six of us shattered and everyone scattered. The formidable impact made us all receive varying concussions, knocking us all out
I felt myself completely sink into a dark vortex. My surroundings had many vague things revolving around me. The feeling of dizziness circled around me.
Suddenly a warm voice called out to me, “Child. Come back. Don’t give up. Come back!”
A warm power surrounded me and the spinning surroundings gradually slowed down. Soon after, everything faded away and once again, I sunk into the darkness. Yet, my mind was gradually recovering.
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Volume 3: Chapter 44 – Tale of the Gods
It hurt so much. It felt like my entire body was crushed. Although my body was feeling great pain, the warmth was very comfortable. A wave of warm energy comforted me and restored my damaged body. What was this?
I slowly opened my eyes and was stunned by the sight before me. I was inside an extraordinarily large shrine with many statues of gods. The floor spanned at least 10,000 square meters and the roof was over a hundred meters tall. Many large precious stones were embedded in the ceiling and walls. The main hall shone as if it were daytime. What a grand building!
We were all completely covered in light. It seems that they still hadn’t woken up and that the warm energy came from the covering of light.
I tried to move, but was met with an unbearable pain. My body spasmed with pain. I tried to scream out in pain, but my voice just did not come out. When I panicked, I fainted again.
I don’t know how much time passed before I woke up. Dong Ri’s voice sounded in my ear. “Zhang Gong has awakened!”
I opened my eyes and realized that everyone was surrounding me. I moved my body, which already did not hurt anymore. It looks like that light had treated my wound.
“How is everyone?” I weakly asked.
“No problem, everyone is fine.” Dong Ri answered.
I smiled and said, “That’s great! It seems like we are in a God’s shrine. This should be our destination. Have you found the Holy Sword?”
Xing Ao said, “We just woke up not long ago and roughly surveyed the area, but we have not found it.
Dong Ri helped me up. I inhaled deeply before checking my body’s condition. My magic power had fully recovered. How did that happen? Did that light change my body?
I hurriedly asked the team, “Do you feel like something is different?”
Gao De said, “Yes, really different. It looks like my body has changed a lot. My six senses have increased greatly. However, my skills are still the same as before, but I feel that if I continue to train, my speed of improvement will increase greatly.”
Zhang Hu nodded his head and said, “That’s right! I feel the same. It is as though I have shed my mortal body and exchanged my bones.”
Just as I was about to say something, a benevolent voice suddenly resounded throughout the whole shrine. “I welcome you all, kind children.” It was a familiar voice.
We looked around at our surroundings, but we still could not figure out where the voice was coming from. The voice seemed to be coming from all directions at the same time.
The benevolent voice echoed again, “Stop searching. You will never find me. Otherwise, did you forgot who let you all in?”
Ah~ I remembered. I softly said, “Are you the grandpa barrier?”
“Haha, you remembered. However, I am not the grandpa barrier. Actually, to you, I should be called the God King.”
His words dumbfounded us. Dong Ri stuttered and said, “G-G-God King?”
“Correct. Could it be that you thought you would be able to breakthrough my barrier without my permission?”