Chapter 750: Seal (1/2)

Zac would have preferred to enter seclusion for a few days to consolidate his gains, but he was running against the clock here. Alvod had given him one month to unblock at least one jammer, and he had already spent a good chunk of that time climbing the chasm and heading to the valley. He would have to get used to his newfound power on the go.

He soon left the cave, swimming even further toward the heart of the Twilight Chasm. Zac didn't want to head back where he came from since that way would take him toward the Living Pulse once more, which was the opposite of what he wanted. If he had entered the Twilight Chasm from the South, then he instead set a rough course heading northeast.

The Death Pulse should be somewhere in the opposite direction of the Living Pulse, and cutting straight through the surface layer of the Twilight Chasm would save a few weeks of travel time. Hopefully, that would also lessen the chance of encountering elites, since even they usually stayed at the periphery of the chasm.

It wasn't that he was afraid. This deep in the trial he was nigh-invulnerable thanks to his resistance to Twilight Energy. But the moment his location was leaked, it would lead to all kinds of trouble. And the top combatants had all kinds of methods to stay alive, making it almost impossible to guarantee his secret being kept.

Of course, not even Zac dared to enter the most central area of the Twilight Chasm even in his current state, which was purported to be a towering mountain tens of times larger than the ones he climbed here. According to rumors, it stretched tens of thousands of meters above the surface, and it held just as great treasures as the deepest depths of the chasm.

But it was also crawling with Beast Kings, and not something Zac wanted to entangle himself with right now. There was too much to do, and too little time. The days passed as he crossed from mountain to mountain, occasionally snatching a herb or mineral that seemed valuable. His senses were constantly stretched to their limits in search of other trial-takers, but he hadn't spotted a single one.

Had he overestimated the elites of this opening, or were the rankers busy with something else?

He was however constantly targeted by large packs of beasts every time he reached a new mountain. But Curiously enough, not a single one of the Beast Kings made their appearance to lead their subordinates, even when Zac could sense their auras hiding deep in the mountains. That only increased the unease Zac felt, and his mind was starting to get frayed after a week's travel.

He knew that he wasn't scary enough to subdue all the Beast Kings in the chasm, so just what was going on? These behemoths were the most common source of deaths in the chasm, yet he was swimming through their territories unchallenged. Were they laying low because of what transpired in the valley? Or had a certain apex predator lurking in the depths made an appearance recently?

Zac didn't know what was the case, and the mystery prompted Zac to push himself to his limit to cross the chasm in record time. With his improved attributes and experience with far deadlier currents in the depths, Zac found himself able to almost effortlessly cover ground. Sometimes, he was even able to hitch a ride with one of the currents, saving hours in one go.

Unfortunately, he did feel that the Twilight Energy was starting to enter his body at a greater and greater rate, meaning the immunity he enjoyed wasn't permanent. Zac wasn't too bothered by that fact though. It would last over a month by the looks of it, and by that time he would be far from the chasm. Another week passed, and Zac eventually reached the other edge of the chasm, with less than a week to spare before the deadline.

It looked pretty much the same as there he first arrived, a massive wall stretching down into the darkness, with enormous currents rushing into the chasm to turn into submerged waterfalls. He didn’t immediately approach, but instead stayed hidden on a nearby mountain for almost an hour without making a move.

No matter if it was his Draugr-sense or [Cosmic Gaze], he still couldn’t spot any cultivators staying by the edge, and it was starting to get to him. There were millions of cultivators participating in the trial, and normally, there should at least be a few thousand who venture into the chasm every round.

He gave it some thought, but he eventually decided to stay in his Draugr form as he set off toward the edge. His Draugr identity was definitely exposed because of the ladder, making his human identity a lot safer in comparison. Of course, it wasn’t a very good disguise considering the bounty on his head, but he knew that the prompt required a few seconds to appear.

A few seconds might not sound like a lot, but it was enough to either ambush an unsuspecting party or escape with a talisman. That had been his original idea, but he didn't dare break the array hiding his Duplicity Core unless necessary now.

Zac reached the edge soon enough and was greeted with a barren landscape that stretched for miles. Still, the scene was filled with a sense of beauty to Zac, who was more than done with the subdued darkness of the Twilight Chasm. Besides, he knew that the environment should soon gain some more greenery. It was simply that the currents made it impossible for anything to grow around the edge.

Sure enough, the desolate rocks were soon replaced by a thick bed of moss and swaying seaweed. Ten minutes later, the grass had grown to over five meters in height, turning the area into a veritable forest. Zac was forced to slow down his pace somewhat since this area had to be a prime location for an ambush.

He suddenly spotted something amiss, though it wasn't a cultivator lying in wait. It was rather a massive rune that shimmered in the waters at the edge of his visibility. It only lasted a second before it disappeared, making it almost seem like the water refractions were playing with his mind. However, after the first one came another, and two turned into innumerable runes that stretched across the horizon.

It was like the whole Twilight Chasm had been cordoned off by some sort of array, and Zac immediately took out the array disk for his quest. For the second time, the tracker indicated a spot not too far away. The first time was when he had almost finished his climb on the opposite side of the chasm.

By the looks of it, the location was situated right beneath the line demarcated by the gargantuan array. These runes were connected to whatever jammers the Twilight Lord wanted removed, and they probably stretched all around the Twilight Chasm. The question was what kind of array had been set up, and who was behind it.

The native clans being behind this felt like a distinct possibility, considering they should be the factions with the most reason to stop the Eveningtide Asura's plans. Exactly what the Eveningtide Asura was planning wasn't clear, but the words of Yod echoed in the back of his mind.

The Corpselord had been convinced that someone wanted to blow up the whole Mystic Realm to drain it of its resources, but he had rather been convinced that the culprit was the foreign empires rather than the Twilight Lord himself. And knowing the ruthless method of cultivation the Eveningtide Asura employed, Zac figured this Mystic Realm wasn't long for the world if he had his way.

The empires were clearly embroiled in this matter as well, and the more Zac learned the more he understood he had no business getting himself involved with something like this. Yet he found himself swimming toward the spot marked on the tracker, using the lush plantlife as a means to cover his approach.

Soon enough he got within a few kilometers of the mark on his tracker, but he still hadn't spotted anything amiss. He got closer and closer, moving back and forth to get a better vantage. And eventually, he saw it. There was just a large pillar embedded in the ground, covered in markings. It was the same color as the ocean itself, and the engravings made it blend in almost perfectly with the seaweed around it, forming a nigh-perfect camouflage.

That wasn't only true for his mundane senses. The energy it emitted was wholly unimpressive, not standing out from the plants in the area at all.

If Zac was just passing by, he could probably have swum a few hundred meters from it without noticing its existence at all. It had to be a disguise. The Eveningtide Asura had risked the wrath of the Heavens to enter the Trial and find someone to shut that thing off. Perhaps the pillar had arrays hiding the energy it emitted.