Chapter 357: Underground World (2/2)

Life Scale Shield!

Xue Wei had not restored much of his wood elemental Qi yet, but at that moment, he used what he had to raise a faintly glowing green shield around his friends.

Afterward, the sounds of explosions resounded in the corridor as stones of varying sizes continued to collide with the shield.

Xue Wei, who had been in the midst of the exploding door, was completely unharmed. The only thing that betrayed the painful experience he had encountered was the sweat on his forehead alongside his palm being slightly red.

Looking at his palm, he suddenly saw a strange energy rune had been carved into his skin. It was not deep and resembled a scar, but when he put his spiritual energy into it, he could sense that it was not that simple. All his energy was like throwing a stone down a deep hole; it vanished without a trace or ripple.

Xue Wei pondered for a moment what this rune could possibly mean, but he did not understand it. It looked somewhat like a flame, but not really. It was bizarre.

Deciding that he could not do anything about it and that it was likely to prove of some importance later, he did not care too much. Instead, he smiled slightly. He felt as if he had passed a trial - the door had at last successfully opened for him.

When the dust fell, Xue Wei turned around to confirm that his shield had protected his friends, and after ensuring that no one was injured, his eyes glanced at the rubble lying all over the corridor before he finally moved his eyes towards what was inside the door.

What he saw shocked him. Everything he had encountered so far had been dark and damp, cold, and grim. Now they were looking at a magnificent hall. It was very different from before, pillars plated with gold were holding up the ceiling, which resembled the morning sky, shining light down on the entire hall.

There were statues at the edges, standing five meters tall, all of them wearing armor made from gold and weapons made from some unknown materials.

Xue Wei entered hesitatingly. Although there was gold everywhere, and there were many magnificent sights, there did not seem to be any treasures within this hall apart from the hall itself.

There were no doors to either side, nor were there any herbs that had grown in the corners like they had in the previous corridor.

Walking inside, he and his friends began examining the area. Xue Wei had no intention of taking the gold plating on the statues and the pillars. Although he was greedy, he was not that poor; gold really wasn't worth much to him any longer.

However, his eyes were continually landing on the weapons in the hands of the statues. These weapons were made from unknown materials, but they seemed very powerful.

Contemplating if he should take them, Xue Wei finally decided against it.

Although it was tempting, he was not sure what the material was, so getting it would be quite useless. Not to mention, he had already gotten his hands on quite a number of good weapons already, so these were not too useful for him.

After reaching a decision, Xue Wei did not waste any more time in the hall and walked further and further into the depths of the hall.

There was truly nothing of interest, and they soon reached the end. Here they had expected another big stone door, but instead, they encountered a big platform with a throne in the middle and two small wooden doors, one on each side of the throne.

Since he saw these two doors, Xue Wei was unaware of whether or not to pick one or the other. Looking around, he found a sign on top of the two doors.

”Life and death let fate decide.”

Instantly, Xue Wei understood that one door leads to death while the other led to life. However, there were no more leads, no more help to tell them where exactly they should go.

Frowning, Xue Wei looked at the two doors. They were completely identical.

”You guys, go back the way we came from and catch up with the people from the Demon Phoenix Continent,” Xue Wei finally said after thinking for some time, ”I am going to gamble with my life, but I can't risk yours as well.”

Hearing this, they were stunned as their eyes widened, and they were filled with horror.

”No,” Luoluo shook her head. ”If I leave now, I will regret it. I have no idea what will happen, but you guys are my family. If I live, but you die, I will never forgive myself for not being by your side in the final moments. If we die, let us all end together.”

”I have nothing apart from you guys,” Lin Xiao agreed with a slight smile.

”Yeah, we will gamble together!” Hei Gou grinned.

”I can't die anyway; I might just lose a couple of thousand years, so let's go!” Bai Tianyi would never say anything cheesy, so instead, he acted tough, but hearing his words, the others laughed.

”Okay then,” Xue Wei paused and looked at the two doors. ”We are taking the right door,” he finally said.

”Right door? Sure.” The others did not mind; to them, any door was fine; they did not even ask him why he had decided on this door.

Xue Wei reached out his right hand, the hand with the strange rune, and pushed open the door. Darkness flooded out, but he did not hesitate and stepped inside, closely followed by the others.

The darkness lasted for a long time, they kept walking forward, but there was no sound, no visibility, no scent. Nothing.

Xue Wei continued stumbling forward in the darkness. He called out but could not even hear his own voice. The others seemed to have vanished from behind him as well.