Chương 92: Illusions

A few days later, Shu Yang's Bloodline Ability had recovered enough to use again. The tunnel still hadn't shown any change or led to any destination. If Shu Yang wasn't absolutely certain he was in an illusion before, he was now. Over the past few days, Shu Yang had scrutinized the tunnel closely, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't find a way out.

'It's strange, my Piercing Gaze managed to see through the previous illusion easily, even in a passive state. Why is it impossible now?'

'I guess this illusion formation is of a higher grade.'

'Will I solve this formation only to end up at an even more difficult one? Where does it end?' Shu Yang scratched the surface of the tunnel wall, and a few pieces of dirt came loose. He looked at the dirt closely, but really couldn't tell if there was anything wrong with it.

'Why does scratching the walls work, but punching has no effect? Do I have to claw myself out of here?' Shu Yang slapped his face, feeling that he was losing focus. So many days in the tunnel made him feel off.

'Come on, as I planned. If I mess up again, I will have to spend another 4 or 5 days here.' Shu Yang took a few deep breaths and went over the plan in his mind a few more times.

'Alright, let's do it.' Shu Yang unsheathed his sword and leaned against the wall, his ear pressed up against it. After feeling that he had gotten a good angle, he activated his Bloodline Ability. He took it slowly this time around. He didn't want to see anything too far away. He first focused on a bit of dirt just in front of his face before piercing through a thin layer of dirt with his vision.

'There, hold it.' Shu Yang slowly started walking forward, keeping his head as steady as he could. Nothing of note appeared in his vision, but Shu Yang decided to follow things through to the end and not change tactics in the middle of things. He picked up his pace and started running, keeping his head in the same position. Finally, after a few dozen feet, he saw something. The wall had changed from rock to a kind of metal.

'There!' Shu Yang was far from an expert on formations, but he was confident that a good way of solving them was to break the things he couldn't normally see. He took a step back, losing sight of the metal again. Shu Yang didn't care, though; he raised his sword, ready to unleash his sword intent. He tried to adjust his vision to see the metal again, but he could feel the power of his Bloodline Ability running out.

'Whatever, I know it's there.' Shu Yang swung his sword, and a dull thud sounded.

'Did I do it?' His Bloodline Ability ran out of power, and Shu Yang hurriedly stepped up the wall, where there was no sign of any metal, nor any sign of his sword strike.

'It doesn't matter, I know that there is something there.' Shu Yang stepped back and swung his sword once again. But yet again, nothing happened. The wall of the tunnel didn't get a scratch. Shu Yang swung his sword over and over, but to no avail. Eventually, he took a seat against the opposite wall, staring at the place he knew he had seen something in.

'Fine. I'll wait for my Bloodline Ability to recharge. We'll see what is actually going on.' … In the end, Shu Yang waited for a total of ten days before trying again. That was about how long it took for his Bloodline Ability to fully recover. He didn't want to make another half-assed attempt. Now that he had a clear goal, he didn't mind the wait as much. He still had some spirit stones and could cultivate and practice his spells. As well as some books that he thought could be read a second time.

He also meditated on his Sword Bone, experimenting with his sword intent and visualizing cleaving that metal part hidden behind the wall. He had plenty of meat to eat in his storage ring, so he wasn't worried about wasting energy. When ten days had finally passed, and he felt that his Bloodline Ability was as powered up as it could be, he rose to his feet and unsheathed his sword.

'This time, I'll definitely destroy it.' Shu Yang activated his Bloodline Ability and focused on the wall ahead of him. He slowly, as carefully as he could, let his gaze pierce through the wall. But to his surprise, nothing out of the ordinary appeared.

'What's going on?' Shu Yang adjusted his vision slightly, thinking he might have gotten the placement slightly wrong. But no matter how he turned his head, the metal he had seen ten days prior was nowhere to be seen.

'That's impossible!' Shu Yang started walking down the tunnel, scrutinizing the wall carefully, desperate to find it again. When it didn't appear in his vision straight away, he started running. His vision struggled to keep a consistent depth as he ran, but Shu Yang didn't care; he just needed to catch a glimpse.

'There!' Shu Yang finally spotted it again, a few hundred feet away. He stuck with his sword straight away, but once again, only a dull thud sounded. Shu Yang forced himself to calm down; he only had a few seconds left before he ran out of power. He adjusted his stance and carefully pierced through the wall with his gaze. Ever so slightly, he saw what was hidden behind the tunnel wall. It was a metal plate with some kind of inscriptions, similar to those found on talismans.

Shu Yang didn't have time to examine it, though. Now that he had a clear view of what he wanted to cut, he refused to believe his sword intent was useless. He once again swung his sword, willing it with all his might to cut the plate in two. But once again, only a weak sound, like someone hitting a punching bag, came through. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

'What's that?' However, Shu Yang noticed something this time around. Something in front of the plate lit up briefly. Shu Yang turned his head to the left, where he thought he had seen some kind of weak pulse travel. Unfortunately, his Bloodline Ability ran out of power once again. And only the same old tunnel appeared in his view. … Weeks passed. Months passed.

Shu Yang would take a small step forward every time his Bloodline Ability recovered, but the illusion formation he was in was an intricate web of connected engraved plates, some kind of formation nodes, that was incredibly hard for someone like Shu Yang to make sense of. Not to mention that there was no way to make use of the nodes he had previously discovered, as their location would change every time he looked for them again.

Even when Shu Yang clearly marked where he found a node and barely took his eyes off it, it would end up hundreds of feet away from him the next time he used his Bloodline Ability to spot it. His spirit stones had run out, his books were all read through several times over, and the days all looked the same. Gradually, all his recent memories lost their colors and shapes and were replaced by ones from the same tunnel where nothing of note ever happened.

He spent most of the time trying to connect to the Bloodline Tree and deduce the next step of his body cultivation, as well as improving the Shu Art now that he had the perspective of a Foundation cultivator. It was hard to distinguish one day from another. In order to keep track of time, Shu Yang would make a small mark in one of his books every time his Bloodline Ability recovered.

'Seven months.' Shu Yang thought as he made another mark.

'This is insane. Can anyone get through this trial?' He thought of his new acquaintance Chongzi. Shu Yang doubted that he had survived for this long, lacking food and all. That was one thing he felt blessed about: Shu Yang had really stocked up on meat before leaving Chenqi Immortal City, since he didn't know when he would return, and wanted to give Xiaorong plenty so she could recover better. He still hadn't run out, even after this long. But if he was stuck for a few more months, that would change.

'I wonder how Xiaorong is doing? Has she already gotten through this step? Is there another challenge waiting afterward?'

'Perhaps she has already made it all the way through.'

'But surely I wouldn't still be here if someone had gotten the inheritance, right?'

'I wonder how many of those who entered are still alive.' Shu Yang had actually wasted one of his Bloodline Abilities to try to see Xiaorong. Not just to make sure she was safe, but perhaps to reveal some clues about this place. But unfortunately, he failed. Seeing someone who wasn't blood-related to him was still too difficult. He was sure he would be able to eventually, but it would take a lot of practice, and there was no time to waste on that at the moment. Shu Yang got up on his feet, stretching his body.

He closed his eyes and connected to the Sword Bone in his forearm, and went over the insights he had gained over the past few months. He then wandered down the endless tunnel and went over the plan of operation in his mind a few times. After that, he just stood still and tried to get in the proper state of mind. If a thought appeared, he would give it some time and let himself think it through before emptying his mind again.

He had discovered that allowing himself some time to settle was worth it, even if it took him hours. One mistake once he activated his Bloodline Ability, and he would have to wait another ten days. After almost two hours of this process, Shu Yang felt ready to begin.

'Today is the day I'm getting out.' He opened his eyes and activated his Bloodline Ability. He could now control his piercing a lot better, and he quickly adjusted it to where he knew the formation nodes lay hidden. Shu Yang looked down at the ground and started running. This time, he was lucky. After only a few dozen feet, he saw a huge stone slab beneath his feet. Plates of metal, wood, and even plain rock were scattered on it, with a bunch of complicated inscriptions that were glowing weakly.

He knew which one he had to cut. In the top-right corner, an engraving that took the shape of a hexagon.

'Let's begin.' With a swing of his sword, Shu Yang easily cleaved the node in two. He then hurriedly took a step back. In the middle of this collection of different engravings, one node stood out. It was engraved on a large piece of wood, and the pattern that made it up resembled tree roots. It was where Shu Yang had stumbled several times, his sword intent not powerful enough to cut through it. But 20 days ago, he finally made a breakthrough and managed to cleave the strange wood in two.

'Let's hope this one isn't as fast to get repaired.' With a lot of trial and error, he had basically figured out the effect of most of these nodes. This tree root-like pattern seemed to be the one that repaired all the other formation nodes. It was the reason that Shu Yang had to do the whole process from the beginning every time he recovered his Bloodline Ability. The nodes he had cut in two the previous time were all repaired by the time he could try again. Shu Yang swung with his sword, and a crack sounded.

The formation node had been broken. It came easily to him now that he had taken that final step and raised his sword intent to a new level.

'What kind of wood is this? To be so strong even without any formation blocking my sword intent?'

'No time to think about it now.' He glanced to the left, where another engraving lay. It resembled the hexagon he had first cut, as well as many of the other engravings beneath his feet. These were truly a nuisance, responsible for protecting other formation nodes. Even with Shu Yang's improved sword intent, he couldn't cleave through a formation node protected by one of these. So taking them down in the right order was important, and it had taken Shu Yang a lot of effort to figure out.

He swung his sword and broke the node. He turned his attention to the top-left corner, where another similar engraving was located. He cut that one too. Then another, and another. A total of six of them. These things truly revealed how sadistic the person who set this thing up was. Once the sixth one was cut through, Shu Yang hurriedly turned around and ran down the tunnel again. He adjusted his Piercing Gaze to just where he knew it needed to be.

'There!' Shu Yang spotted the same metal plate that he had seen when he first got to this tunnel. He swung his sword, and his sword intent easily cut the plate in two, now that there was nothing protecting it. He looked up and saw a piece of wood with a similar inscription, hidden in the ceiling. He swung his sword, and the wood was easily cleaved. Finally, he turned to the right. On the opposite side of the tunnel wall. There, deeply hidden in the rock itself, was a third carving of the same pattern.

It had taken ages for Shu Yang to discover it.

'Please let this be it.' Shu Yang swung his sword, piercing the wall, and breaking the carving. His Bloodline Ability ran out, but Shu Yang didn't care. He hurriedly turned to look up and down the tunnel, and what he saw almost made him break down in tears.

'Finally. I'm out.' There was no longer any endless tunnel in front of him. A few dozen feet behind him was the place he had first entered from, and up ahead, just past the huge piece of stone, metal, and wood on the ground, was a set of stairs. Shu Yang didn't waste another second. Even that tree root-node would repair eventually, and once it did, it would repair all other engravings. Shu Yang wasn't about to get stuck in that illusion again.

He jumped over the broken formation, now visible to him as clear as day, and shot up the set of stairs behind it.

'Please. Let this be the final challenge. I really can't take any more.' Shu Yang almost didn't care about the inheritance anymore; he just wanted out of this place. As he climbed the steps, he didn't know if he wished to see a pile of treasure at the top, or just the open sky. In the end, it was neither. It was another long tunnel. Shu Yang almost cursed, but he refused to believe there was another test waiting for him.

Still, being in a similar tunnel again unnerved him, so he took off running, hoping to reach an end with all his heart. Luckily, it wasn't another illusion. Shu Yang reached another set of stairs after only a few hundred feet. Climbing those led him to another fairly short tunnel, then a slightly longer tunnel, and so on. Finally, after almost an hour of rushing through various corridors, with several twists and turns, Shu Yang reached a grand doorway.

'Is…this it? Did I make it?' Shu Yang slowed down and carefully walked forward. Even if he couldn't see anything blocking his path, he felt certain that there was another formation in the doorway. When he got close, he reached out his hand. To his surprise, his hand didn't encounter any obstacles. Shu Yang took a step forward and easily passed through the opening.

'Looks like I have become a bit scarred from this experience.'

"Another one?"

"There are actually people alive down there?"

"Just a low-level Qi Refiner, I bet his formations ran out of power, and he just walked his way over." Shu Yang turned his head and saw several pairs of eyes watching him. He was in a grand hall. It looked almost like a palace. And six other people were standing in front of the huge gates blocking the way outside.

'So…not quite finished yet, I guess.'