140 Chapter 140 (1/2)
The five hundred or so people were led to a large hall where they stood and waited. Everyone was keeping to themselves in the previously created groups, only a couple of people could be seen alone without any factions backing them up. This hall was mostly empty with torches lined up on the walls that shone brightly.
The trial participants had walked down into the unknown for quite some time before arriving here. The place they were led to was apparently deep underground under the city. The hall was quite immense and the ceiling was at least twenty meters tall. There were large square pillars holding it up with bright-lit torches that seemed to be burning without the need for oil.
There were several men standing on the other end of this hall, they wore a familiar set of robes that these junior participants were already familiar with as they belonged to the people responsible for the testing process. Everyone looked to them as it was time for the last test to start, a lot of the youths feeling those butterflies in their stomachs.
”Welcome, you have managed to best your peers but now the real trial begins!”
There was something like a large gate close to where the testing personnel was standing at. The strange thing about this gate was that it wasn't leading anywhere. There were wide stairs leading up to it but nothing behind it, not a tunnel or anything of the sort. The youths looked at each other while the people that worked for the dark palm sect chuckled on the inside, laughing at these backwater cultivator's lack of knowledge.
Suddenly the large circular shaped gate that was embedded into the wall started vibrating. Everyone could feel massive spiritual energy radiation coming off of it. Some Chinese symbols started appearing on the rocky surface of that gate, a burst of energy making the whole thing light up in one go. Suddenly something that looked like water exploded forward startling the young contestants.
”W-what is that...”
”It looks like a pond of water but on the wall...”
This was what some people called a 'portal' it was shining with deep blue light, the surface looked like a pound which was waving around. While the young people were gazing at the strange phenomenon the people in the room spoke out.
”This is what we call a transfer gate, you will walk through this treasure and be placed inside the last trial ground. As you might have heard, the place you will be transported to will be unknown, if you're lucky you might even appear near a treasure!”
The youths looked at the strange-looking treasure that looked like a teleportation gate. It looked a lot different than the teleportation array that was located in the secret ground. The senior member picked up a rock for a presentation and threw it inside the watery like surface. The item that was thrown vanish inside and the surface just rippled like it was made from water.
”As you can see, you just need to go through it, so don't be afraid.”
The man laughed a bit after seeing how these young cultivators reacted, most of them never having seen a teleportation treasure like this. Something like this was a well-kept secret among powerful clans, being able to teleport was a big advantage if it came to battle. Mostly due to logistics, you could easily transport resources to your warriors and army without having to leave your well-protected fortress. You didn't need to worry about enemy attacks hitting your transport line either.
This wasn't something widely spread though, even this place only allowed people to teleport within the trial grounds and at a random fashion to boot. The dark palm sect possessed the knowledge to build teleportation gates like this, but there were very few of them around as they just used up way too many resources. This one was only valid for the trial period as it couldn't be used for long-range teleportation between cities. The sect only had the teleportation treasures situated in their core cities and strongholds.
”Please proceed to the gate in an orderly fashion, but don't go in, all at once.”
A line was formed and the youths started vanishing while the teleportation gate rippled as if something splashed inside of it. In time everyone found themselves alone in various sections of the large trial ground, it consisted mostly of wide corridors with faint light but some were pitch dark. The less fortunate people ended up in the middle of traps or around automated dolls that started chasing them the moment they got a glimpse of the enemy.
One of those unlucky people was the Zhang Clan prodigy, Zhang Tai. At first, he thought he hit the jackpot, ending up close to some spiritual herbs that were just growing to the side. The herb that he spotted was giving off some strong spiritual energies and had a nice mint smell to it. Was this the fabled seven-star sage? he thought before moving up to it, hoping to pocket it with him. Spatial rings were forbidden in this area, the cultivators could only bring as much as they could carry with them.
But just as he was about to pluck the herb from the ground, he noticed something staring at him. After he pushed some spiritual energy into his eyes to get a better look he saw quite the army of wooden dolls. They weren't the humanoid looking ones that were at the corridor though. Those didn't have sickles for arms and swords for legs, these here were clearly enhanced to kill. He quickly grabbed the herb and bolted away, not really keen on finding out if he was able to handle these automatons on his own. The moment he snatched the treasure though, the group of battle puppets chased after him.
Zhang Liu, on the other hand, was dropped off in an unsuspecting corridor with nothing in particular around him. After traveling for some minutes, hoping to find something he noticed some strange fluctuations right above him. Before he could react to the strange phenomenon he saw a large posterior right in front of his face. Bewildered by the display he didn't react in time and got hit by it and tumbled to the ground. He started wiggling around and could hear the person on top of him gasp, with a rather cute voice.
The person on top of him quickly jumped off his face, he groaned as he felt a foot hitting his stomach as the female to who the posterior belonged to jumped away. He gasped yet again, the moment he saw who the person was that landed on him.