47 Confrontation (2/2)
The crossing of tunnels was now sealed off by chunks of rocks the size of houses!
Thankfully the rubble had only destroyed the first half of the set of stairs, leaving Bai Xuengen and Lan Hui unscathed but separated from Shin Sumi.
Due to the strange laws of physics in place, the disciples could not communicate via divine sense through the walls of stone but Shin Sumi could feel the presence of two different groups on the other side of the rubble.
”Chu Erlong is blocked too! Lan Hui needs to escape now, and so do I. Don't worry my friends, we'll join each other soon!”
Somehow, they had all escaped the blazing fire that had been thrown at them by Chu Erlong.
”What kind of magic was that?! Thankfully the Gold Tyrant Divine Sword redirected the blast, or we would have been fried instantly!”
Shin Sumi was thinking about the frightening magic in Chu Erlong's possession.
”First the Black Cloud Curse, now a small blazing fireball, how deep does her arsenal run? With that she can fight on equal footing with anyone under the Liquid Realm!”
Shin Sumi was about to curse her for having so many opportunities due to her being the heir to an important Clan of the sect when she realized how hypocritical it was from her.
Starting as a nobody without even an ounce of Shinsoo affinity, Shin Sumi had managed to rise and become one of the strongest Honorary Disciple too.
”And it was all thanks to the little nut that saved me once again today... Without it I would have died countless times, and I wouldn't have found the Copper Bell, and never gained the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword from Senior Brother Fen, and... My Sword!!”
Only then did she feel her empty hand. Her memories right before the blast were fuzzy but she recalled the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword being blasted away by the explosion.
Concentrating on her mental link to the weapon, Shin Sumi sent out her divine sense trying to call the blade to return to her.
Some small rocks close to the collapsed area started to rumble before letting out a golden blur that found its way to her hand.
Shin Sumi let out a long breath. In her anxiousness she had forgotten to breathe. At least she still had her sword, even if her friends were separated from her.
Weapon in hand, Shin Sumi felt like she could do anything. Upon closer inspection she had seen that the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword was completely intact, even after the massive amount of damage done by Chu Erlong's spell.
If a small sun colliding with the sword didn't leave as much as a scratch on it, then what could possibly happen? As long as she avoided monsters like the Water Ghoul, she could probably surpass anything that was thrown her way.
She thought about the giant crocodile from the first area of the trial for a brief second, wondering how she would now fare against it but didn't give it much thought. The enclosed area of the maze was way too tight for a huge beast like that. As for the 'blur' that had reduced the crocodile to its sorry state... well she wasn't so sure.
***
At the time of the confrontation between Shin Sumi's group and Chu Erlong's gang, not many elders were present in the Grand Hall of the Dark Sky Starry Sect as it was the middle of the night.
Outside of the timeless dimension where no sun ever rose, the life of the sect needed to continue, the Elders occupied with their disciples or simply taken by matters of the sect.
There was always at least one Elder present though, just in case in order to alert the others if an unexpected even arose.
The trial by fire had been going on for months now and the possibility of a disciple breaking through to the Liquid Realm was growing bigger.
Patriarch Sen spent most of his time seated in his high chair overseeing the large hall, seemingly meditating but his divine sense always connected to the Shinsoo screen displaying the map.
Nobody besides him knew what he was thinking of, which were the rules of the Rising Star Tournament that he himself had set up.
”It is still too early for a breakthrough. Even the most advanced disciples cultivation-wise have a really shallow level of experience. When they reach the Liquid Realm, they will finally take their first real step into the cultivation world, by then the more experience the better.”
The Honorary Disciples in the midst of the trial were so engrossed in their own adventures and their knowledge of cultivation and breaking through were too poor to realize that some of them had already acquired more Shinsoo than what was necessary for breaking through.
The main condition for finishing the test was to reach the exit, which could be done independently of the individual's level. But other forces were at play that even Elders didn't necessarily know about.
Patriarch Sen knew that some of the Elders had picked up on it silently after watching their disciples fail to break through.
Reaching the Liquid Realm can only be done in the fifth area of the floating continent. The central ring, that was where the exit was located as well as the only place that allowed a breakthrough.
”If a kid like Jun Qian, Tai Bu or Sui Lin who have been waiting for a long time at the top of the Shinsoo Gathering Realm were to be allowed a breakthrough, they would have done that immediately in the first ring!
Where would be the fun in that?! Eh-eh-eh!”
The Patriarch laughed to himself, ”what we need is a shift in power to push everybody to their limits! And the longer they stay in the training dimension the more benefits they can reap from it!”
Continuing his thought process, he focused his divine sense on the green dot of the map.
”For example like finding the Veins of Hell Fire...”
***
Shin Sumi had been roaming the maze for a week straight with little to no rest. It was not the first time she was alone underground, but she had somewhat gotten used to moving with Bai Xuengen and Lan Hui.
Even if she was more of a loner, the stuffy atmosphere of the rock all around her was slowly taking a toll on her mental.
”Exploring was much easier with the others. And faster too” she sighed out loud after having to retrace her steps back for what seemed like the hundredth time, ”dead ends everywhere.”
Her spirits were lifted for a while when she accidentally stepped in the middle of a room containing five Blood Wolves. That would have scared any red or orange robed disciple but for Shin Sumi it was just an occupation to kill her boredom.
The pack of wolves were without a doubt protecting a treasure and her divine sense indicated that they were not too strong.
The five wolves were standing around a large hole in the ground that was too far away for her divine sense to penetrate, not daring to attack her but clearly not going to leave the hole unprotected.
”Something in this hole must be of value! I have to get it!”
After fighting easily against them, sharp golden sword versus dark claws, Shin Sumi collected the red cores from their corpses, unaffected by the sight of their blood splashed everywhere.
Feeding the cores to the little nut, Shin Sumi stepped on the border of the hole.
The gaping mouth of darkness stared at her, giving rise to an uneasy feeling in her guts.
For some reason even the Copper Bell was unable to tear away at the darkness, as if some higher level of power had dictated the laws of this place.
In fact a stifling pressure seemed to rise off of the hole, the kind that was usually enough to make any disciple renounce on exploring that place.
Nevertheless, although Shin Sumi was a prudent and rational person not prone to rash decisions, she couldn't bring herself to ignore the possibility of a glorious treasure and some adventure.
”I hope it's some kind of dimensional artefact that would show me the way out of this maze!”
It was just wishful thinking and she knew it, but she wanted to believe.
Resting for a bit just to make sure she was in her best condition, Shin Sumi soon lept in the darkness.
***
”What in the Heavens is she doing?!! She can't enter that!” back in the sect, Patriarch Sen suddenly opened his eyes and yelled out loud.
The heads of the Elders present turned quickly, confused, waiting for an explanation.
”One of the disciples went to a sealed off area... Who in their right mind would do that?!”
It was also the reason why the Copper Bell couldn't diffuse the darkness. The area was normally limited to Liquid Realm disciples, but... Shin Sumi had entered the Blood Wolf's Nest.