Chapter 30: Task in upgrade. Please wait
Shi Xia was in panic. Just when she was thinking about the ‘To go or not to go' problem, Zhen Bing suddenly pulled out three talisman papers and slapped them to each one of their chest before mouthing, "hiding breath talisman."
As he finished speaking, the probing spell went directly through their bodies and crossed over. Not a moment later, the man named Ji Han opened his eyes and assured his companion, "Everyone, no need to worry. No one is in the city at this time except us."
Wow, that's amazing! Shi Xia looked at the talisman on her chest and then looked at the face of Zhen Bing as she thought, this follower of mine can't really be the Doraemon, right? How come he has everything?
"In that case, let's hurry up and start!" The other man urged. Turning his head, he looked at the woman named Lu Yi and asked, "Where is the fourth-rank demon pellet?"
"Here it is!" Lu Yi pulled out a fiery red demon pellet from her storage bag.
Shi Xia immediately felt her heart tightening. Red pellet! It was the elixir made of the little demon fox from before. The little bitch had actually killed it!
She turned her head to Zhen Bing and couldn't help but feel guilty. It was them who unknowingly helped the little bitch to catch the little demon fox. As she felt sad for Zhen Bing, she unconsciously reached out and rubbed Zhen Bing's fiery head.
Zhen Bing froze, he turned his head and looked over to Shi Xia, his expression was still as usual and didn't change even the slightest bit. His eyes were still as clear as a lake looking straight at her. Shi Xia felt even more guilty at his calm look. She lowered her head and whispered after a moment of hesitation, "I'm sorry ……". Although, now Zhen Bing is her contracted spiritual beast and wouldn't harm her, but because of them, his son was caught by others. So she couldn't help but apologize.
Zhen Bing became dumbfounded, something flashed in his eyes but his expression still did not change. He just reached out and touched her head just as she did with his.
This is ……does it mean he isn't blaming her? Why is she feeling even more guilty?
Over there, Lu Yi had put the pellets on the ground. Only then did Shi Xia see that a circular spell formation was curved on the ground. Once the demon pellets touched the formation, the entire spell formation lit up with red light, and a small black void opened at the center of the red light.
"It's really here!" The four people over there had an excited look on their faces. "It's true as that ancient book said. This formation can really open the entrance to the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion with the help of a pellet made of a fire-based spiritual beast."
Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion! Wasn't that her mission destination?
"The entrance will be closed in half an hour, let's go in!" The man named Ji Han reminded and urged everyone, "We need to make sure to get the ‘Returning Wheel' treasure."
The four people then jumped into the middle of the spell formation one after another and disappeared.
"Benefactor, shall we go in too?" Long Aotian asked.
Shi Xia was a bit hesitant, going in now means they may likely bump into that group. The three of them were all weak chicken except for Zhen Bing, so they had no chance of winning at all. Besides, the mission told her to go to the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion, but it didn't say that she must go in!
Ding!
A beep suddenly sounded in her pocket.
Shi Xia took out her phone, and saw the 《Cultivation》 app on the phone had a new message notification. She opened it and a prompt popped up directly: Arrived at the entrance of the destination!
The original map disappeared and instead, a line of black letters began to appear.
Arrived at the entrance of the destination. Upgrade to stage 2 of the mission. Content unfolding ……
Please enter the final destination and complete the restoration.
Mission: 0/1
Upgrade your sister!
Doesn't this mean she still has to fucking go? Shit! What benefits would she have if she finished the task ah?
"Benefactor?" Seeing that she did not speak for a long time, Long Aotian could not help but nudge her.
Don't ask me, I want to be quiet!
"This formation is the Phase-less Teleportation Formation." Zhen Bing looked at the formation on the ground and said.
"Phase-less Teleportation Formation? What do you mean? Speak human."
"Phase-less Teleportation Formation is a type of teleportation array without a certain destination. Although the array starts from here, it is uncertain where it will lead you to."
"You mean ……," Shi Xia was delighted, "If we go in, there's a chance that we won't be teleported to the same place as those four people?"
"Yes." Zhen Bing nodded.
Shi Xia's eyes lit up, she suddenly felt he looked even prettier and rushed to hug him, "Zhen Bing ah, you are really my mascot. From now on, I name you, Feng Zhi'an*."
[T/N: Feng Zhi'an (Chinese: 冯治安; Wade–Giles: Feng Chih-an) was a Chinese Nationalist Lieutenant-General during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Chinese Civil War from Hebei.]
"Benefactor, my surname is Long ……" Long Aotian wanted to cry. Why does the benefactor not only like to change her own name, but also like to change other people's ah?
Three people walked directly into the middle of the spell and stepped inside the void. Shi Xia only saw black dots in front of her vision, and the next moment, the scenery in front of them really changed. The dusty ruined city was gone, and a dimly lit hallway appeared before her eyes, surrounded only by a few dark pillars. In front of them was a stone paved passageway, a fist-sized flame was burning ahead and four familiar-looking people were seen walking behind the flame ……
"Who came?" A questioning voice rang out.
Shi Xia's confidence suddenly poofed away and she turned her head to look at a certain mascot with accusing eyes.
Didn't you say it is uncertain we won't reach the same place? Can there be some basic trust between humans and beasts?
Zhen Bing also froze. He turned his head and looked at her, before reaching out and shaking her hand silently to believe him.
It's useless to coax me right now! The trust between the owner and the spiritual beast has collapsed. This grandma wants to break the contract with you.
"Huh? I think I just now felt the aura of a few people. How can it disappear so quickly?" The Golden Pill Stage cultivator named Ji Han, walked to the three of them with a sword in hand, but looked past them as if he couldn't see them and turned around with a face full of confusion.
He couldn't see them! (⊙▽⊙)
Shi Xia and her buddies are stunned. They looked down to their chest at the "Hiding breath talisman" and couldn't help but ask themselves, is it because of this?
Zhen Bing nodded and tightened his hold on her hand.
I didn't expect that this hidden breath talisman not only hides a person's breath, but also has the function of invisibility!
Well! Seeing as this talisman was very advanced, she felt that she could renew her confidence for a while longer.
"Senior brother Ji Han is too anxious." Lu Yi stepped forward and hugged Ji Han's hand, softly saying, "Now that the city is deserted, even if someone knows about it, they won't be able to enter the city again in time for the formation to be opened for them. So how can other people come here?"
"That's true!" Only then did Ji Han put away the sword in his hand, and the other three continued to go forward.
Shi Xia made a gesture towards Long Aotian and Zhen Bing as they began to follow the four from behind.
The passageway was very long. Two groups of people walked for half an hour, but didn't reach the end. In order to avoid being discovered, Shi Xia didn't dare to use fire magic to light up a flame like the group ahead and continued to follow them in the darkness.
Perhaps because it was too quiet, she and her group could hear the conversation of the four people in front of them. From their conversation, they learned that these four people were disciples of the Qiong Ling Sect, and the reason how they came to know about the entrance to this secret realm was because they got an ancient book from a library by chance, which was left by the former Demon King. Inside the book, location of the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion and how to open it was written.
The ancient book said that the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion was the resident of the Demon King and is filled with various traps and hidden formations. However, the Demon King had disappeared for a hundred years, and although there are many magic treasures inside, no one has ever seen him use the ‘Wheel of Return'. So the people guessed that the most precious treasure ‘Wheel of Return' of the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion, should still be inside. In addition, there were ancient books in their hand, and inside the book, the way of escaping the traps and breaking the formations were written, so they risked their lives coming in.
The Demon King again! Shi Xia instinctively felt irritated hearing these two words again. How can he seem to meddle everywhere? At least tell me a place where you hadn't meddled in ah!
"Here we are!" Four people suddenly stopped in their tracks.
Shi Xia and her group looked forward and saw the passage in front was divided into two paths, with a pair of doors on either side. Nothing could be seen on the other side of the passageway, only the words, "Life" and "Death" were respectively written on top of each sides' doors.
Four people in the doorway stared at the doors but didn't go inside.
Shi Xia's group of people were just watching from afar. The passageway in front was too dark, as if all the lights were sucked inside. Although "Life" and "Death" were written on top of the doors, since the Mu Xuan Immortal Mansion was known to be filled with traps and formations, it was difficult to choose. Who knows what trap is laid ahead?
"What should we do?" After studying the doors for a long time, Lu Yi asked with an annoyed expression, "nothing inside could be felt from outside. It could be either a trap or a hidden formation. So which door should we enter?"
"Since "Life" and "Death" are written on top of the doors, we should enter the "Life" door, right?" One of the male cultivators said.
"But what if the writing on it is intentional to deceive us?" Another man asked rhetorically.
They all turned their eyes back to Ji Han, who had the highest cultivation level of them all.
Ji Han looked at them, and only a little later did he say something extra pretentious: "When the door of "Life" seeks death, the door of "Death" must also seek "Life". Life is also death. Without entering inside, we cannot be sure."
"Then what should we do?" Lu Yi asked anxiously, "Can't we just go in both doors and try?"
Ji Han smiled, he didn't seem impatient like the people of his group. His eyes turned cold, and whether it was intentional or not, he glanced behind as he said, "Since we are here after so much hardship, we naturally can't risk our lives. There must be a formation set up in these two doors, even if we can't try, we can let other people try. And surprisingly we just have such volunteers."
Suddenly, a seal was formed in his hands. Five magic swords instantly appeared behind him, flying directly towards Shi Xia and her little followers as his cold voice followed suit, "Since they already came a long way to volunteer, why not give them the chance to enter first."
Damn! We are discovered.
Shi Xia's heat tightened, she reflexively wanted to step back, but the swords flew extremely fast. With a "whoosh", the swords were all inserted into the ground behind them, before instantly turning into a fire wall, blocking their way back. The three had to move forward to avoid the scorching flames. Just as they stepped forward, an array lit up beneath their feet, illuminating the entire passage brightly. She only felt her whole body turning stiff, and could no longer move. Next to her, Zhen Bing and Long Aotian were also in a similar situation.
"It's them!" Lu Yi had a surprised face.
"Senior sister knows these three?" Ji Han asked.
Lu Yi stiffened for a moment and immediately recovered, "I just met them in the forest. The demonic fire fox was caught with their help. I thought they were kind enough to help, but I didn't expect their purpose was actually to follow me here."
Crap! This little Bitch! Who followed you? You dared to lie, turning the black to white. Obviously, it was her who used them!
"In that case, then these three deserve to die. It's also fortunate that we can examine these two doors with them." Ji Han, once again formed a seal.
The formation under their feet brightened even more, and a wrist-thick chain flew out from the formation. Shi Xia wanted to curse, these people want them to be bait, to test the depth of these two doors ah.
Shi Xia wanted to move and tried to use her spiritual energy, but she was completely unable to move. Her body felt like a big stone with a thousand pounds was pressing on her back. That Ji Han's cultivation level is higher than her, so obviously, the pressure would also be greater. Why did she think she could deceive him just by hiding their presence? What a fool she was…
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