174 Trap

The labyrinth was eerily silent. Very few traps now sprung as Gong Lan and Luo Xuehua carefully walked from one hallway to another. Despite their superior senses and spiritual perception, the quiet felt like a prelude to a sinister attack.

Suddenly, a blade sprung out from the wall without warning. It was followed by a crimson stone hand and a muscular statue. Gong Lan's eyes narrowed as she sensed the immediate threat to her life. Golden sabers materialized and slashed out against the incoming blade. She felt a snag at her feet, however. A hand appeared from the ground below, interrupting her defense. She chanted a mantra just in time to defend herself, but the stone figure swung back again with another strike.

"Behind you!" Luo Xuehua yelled. She threw out a talisman at Gong Lan's feet, encapsulating the hand in ice. While Gong Lan defended against the new threat—a sword heading straight for her chest—Luo Xuehua sent 108 sigils out and manifested a Nine Frigid-Ice Shield. Nine lesser ice shields joined and superimposed their defensive capabilities. The blade that struck it froze over and shattered, prompting a roar from the corrupted guardian that held it.

Gong Lan ignored him and chanted a Mantra of Purification. The golden words struck the lunging guardian's spirit points, turning it into nothing more than a decrepit statue. As the force that originally propelled it forward disappeared, it crashed to the ground and became pile of rubble.

Seeing that Gong Lan was safe and sound, Luo Xuehua jumped over the frozen hands and elegantly slashed out twelve times with her two icy sabers. The strikes superimposed into something akin to a formation, amplifying the power of her techniques as they smashed into the stone guardian. The first six strikes peeled off the statue's outer layer, while the three remaining ones struck spirit points, effectively paralyzing it. She finished it off by piercing her two sabers through the heart and mind spirit points.

Meanwhile, Gong Lan flipped backward while twisting in midair. She channeled the power of righteous indignation as she summoned six sabers of light to strike down at the frozen hand's position. Layers of flooring crumbled under the assault and revealed a much smaller guardian, who succumbed to the fifth and sixth blades.

"It seems they're getting stronger and stronger," Luo Xuehua said as she wiped the dust off her blades.

"And yet I don't think we're getting closer to the source," Gong Lan said. "I think the labyrinth just requires time to mobilize its guardians."

"What makes you think that?" Luo Xuehua asked.

"Because we've been here before," Gong Lan said, pointing to a gold speck on the side. "I've been leaving markers as we go."

Luo Xuehua frowned. "Let me take a look at the walls." She cast out her sigils, which danced around the golden runes and crimson veins of corruption. She continued walking while analyzing, with Gong Lan keeping guard. Soon enough, they reached a fork in the road. Luo Xuehua spent a large amount of time inspecting the walls and ceilings.

"It seems each fork and intersection are shifting points in the maze," Luo Xuehua said. "They use strange principles to swap hallways whenever we pass them. Technically, this intersection could lead to eight different hallways instead of the three we see."

"How many are new?" Gong Lan asked.

"Only one this time," Xuehua replied. "We'll be exploring new ground, likely with traps, but at least we won't be running in circles."

Gong Lan nodded. "That's all we can ask for at this point. No wonder it took Master Zhen and Sibi so long to get through it last time. There's more to this labyrinth than meets the eye."

***

Cha Ming charged toward a stone guardian. He used his weight manipulation ability to propel himself forward as he swung the Clear Sky Staff in a vertical arc. He poured his resplendent force into it, increasing its weight to 40,000 jin as it became as large as a temple pillar.

Coincidentally, the floor behind the guardian also collapsed, revealing another painful spike trap that would have caused Cha Ming a great deal of pain.

"I guess that's one way to do it," he muttered, massaging the painful wound he'd suffered on his shoulder. Fortunately, his body's regenerative powers made it so healing such a flesh wound only took a few breaths. It was also impossible for these traps to break his bones. The Seventy-Two Transformations Technique had increased their hardness to the level of a mid-grade core treasure, despite his initial marrow-refining cultivation.

From then on, Cha Ming walked forward like a blind man. He used the Clear Sky Staff as an extra-long cane to "gently" tap the passageway up ahead. He dismantled one trap after another, making it increasingly easier to handle random guardians that stumbled his way.

Suddenly, he saw an unfamiliar silhouette up ahead. Is there someone else here in the labyrinth? he wondered. He'd discovered the peculiarity in the intersections some time ago, but he'd never seen another person until now. Cha Ming rushed forward, smashing many traps and crushing guardians as he advanced. The black-robed silhouette grew clearer and clearer in the distance.

They approached an intersection, where the robed figure turned right. Cha Ming followed, and it wasn't long before they reached an open room, something that Cha Ming hadn't seen until now in the labyrinth. Then, the figure turned around, revealing a face that Cha Ming was very familiar with—Zhou Li's.

Zhou Li sighed. "I knew you'd come here. Which is a shame. We don't have to stand on opposite ends of the spectrum, you know. That's why I'll give you a chance—you can turn back now before it's too late. Take it as a token of my good faith."

"I already experienced your good faith when you cursed me and Huxian," Cha Ming said. He summoned combat sigils in preparation for battle. The stone floor sank slightly under his increased weight but didn't shatter.

"I already told you it was a misunderstanding," Zhou Li said, shaking his head. "I was doing you a favor, but you failed to appreciate it."

"I don't think talking can resolve this," Cha Ming said. Clouds formed under his bare feet as he summoned a Stormwalker Formation. He struck forward with his Clear Sky Staff at breakneck speed, seemingly too fast for Zhou Li to react. This swift movement was only possible with his gravity-inversion ability and was the embryonic form of his Swift Staff Art. Shattered rocks flew around as Zhou Li's figure disappeared.

An illusion, Cha Ming thought.

Zhou Li immediately appeared in another corridor. Meanwhile, gold and crimson runes activated around Cha Ming in a three-layered shield. "This is a useful trap, though only thirty-three-percent effective against someone like yourself. I won't tell you how to escape, but make sure you consider all your options. It would be a shame for a talent like you to get ruined for the sake of the Song Kingdom." His figure shimmered, then disappeared.

What are these three barriers? Cha Ming thought as he inspected them with his resplendent force. He barely probed the first one before it shattered into a million pieces. However, it completely stopped as soon as it reached the second barrier.

After probing every inch of it, his hands clenched around the Clear Sky Staff, and his feet sank into the ground as his weight increased to 430,000 jin. The Clear Sky Pillar bent as he swung it at the red-and-gold barrier with all his might.

The second shield shattered on impact, but his staff couldn't penetrate the third layer. Unconvinced, Cha Ming swung against it again and again. He even crushed the rocky ground beneath him until it was nothing more than dust. Unfortunately, this only exposed the bottommost part of the shield, which formed a perfect sphere. Seeing that it was no use, he stowed the staff.

Huxian, can you hear me? Cha Ming sent.

I can hear you, but I don't have time to talk, Huxian replied. The walls are coming. What have you done to us?

Just calm down, Cha Ming said. The walls aren't a big deal. They can't hurt you.

Tell that to Lei Jiang and Silverwing, Huxian retorted. They've both been wounded by the traps and minions the wall has sent out to attack us.

Cha Ming sighed. It seemed it would be impossible to clarify the situation. You're much stronger than the walls, but you just don't realize it. But enough of that, I need to pick your brains. Have you ever heard of a shield with three layers? One layer crumbles to spiritual force and another to physical force.

A triple-restraint barrier? Huxian said. They're common. You can't escape them unless your cultivation level exceeds the limits of the barrier. This applies to all three levels, and their limits are always the same. If you could break the soul barrier, that means the cultivation barrier will also be at initial core formation.

Cha Ming's complexion changed. So that's what he meant by ruining my future. Is there any other way to break it?

You can wait, Huxian replied. You can usually tell by the power decay rate in the formation. It could last as little as a day but as long as a year.

Cha Ming used his spiritual force to probe the barrier, which he now noticed was weakening little by little. It looks like this one will last a month.

Well, I can't help you because of this wall business, Huxian said. The barrier can be broken from the outside, but whoever does it would need a higher cultivation base by a level or two. I can't reach such a high level even if I break through to core formation. You need to make a choice. Either quickly increase your cultivation or sit this one out, brother.

I understand, Cha Ming said, closing off their connection. He reached out to the barrier with his qi and noticed that unlike with his physical blows, his qi caused some disruption in the red and gold runes that composed the shield. After thinking for a while, he threw out seventy-two flags and summoned a Gold Slaughtering Formation. The energy of heaven and earth mobilized and struck against the barrier. Unlike his qi, however, the Gold Slaughtering Formation didn't even provoke the slightest change from the red-and-gold bubble.

Perhaps a combat formation will work, he thought. He mobilized seventy-two sigils and formed a substantially less complex array, which he used to unleash multiple blows against the shield. While these blows caused some distortions, they weren't enough to break it.

I have one more thing to try, he thought. He unleashed five groups of twelve sigils, which each formed one of the five elements. He then channeled five-element qi into the formation and poured in his destruction qi. A glistening black blade of qi formed at the center of the five-colored formation. It was an evolution to the previous one that only used five sigils. He breathed in deeply before willing the black blade to slash out against the barrier.

The slash caused a ripping sound as a tiny hairline crack formed in the red-and-gold shield. He willed it to strike again and again, but the crack only widened slightly. It wasn't long before his destruction qi was completely exhausted. He crumpled in pain as his body regenerated from the damage caused by the destruction qi. If an enemy were to attack him, he'd be completely helpless. It dawned on him that Huxian was right—there was no other way to get through without increasing his cultivation.

Now, he had a difficult choice to make. He knew his cultivation was already unstable due to his rapid ascent to late foundation establishment. Could his foundation bear the strain of breaking through to peak foundation establishment then core formation? He was nervous about risking it. Not only could he damage his Dantian, but if he was forced to recultivate, he wouldn't know how to incorporate creation and destruction qi into his Dantian as a framework. As far as he knew, it was impossible to do so without external interference. A slight misstep could cause everything he'd built up to crumble to pieces.

***

The stampede had finally ended. Huxian, Silverwing, and Lei Jiang collapsed on the labyrinth's stone floor, completely devoid of energy. However, they didn't dare let their guard down. They took turns glaring at the seemingly mundane but obviously murderous structures that surrounded them.

Brother Cha Ming, your plan worked, Huxian sent. As long as we hold our position, the walls are far too cautious to act out against us. They fear our mighty power as much as we fear them. It's much like how normal beasts often fear humans due to a misperception of their size.

Great, Cha Ming replied. Now focus on the wall's weaknesses. What can you think of?

Huxian pondered a little. They might be endless, but they are immobile. Also, their attacks don't seem very strong. They at most cause flesh wounds. We were clearly overreacting earlier.

Good, Cha Ming sent back. You'll need to come up with something yourselves, but I believe that you have the power to conquer these walls. There's nothing to be afraid of. They're trying to scare you away because they're nothing more than paper tigers! They're being aggressive to cover their weaknesses, much like a small dog when facing a larger one.

All right, Huxian sent back hesitantly.

A half hour later, the trio had fully recovered. "Everyone, listen up!" Huxian yelled to the other two, who sat up. "Now is not the time to be overwhelmed by fear. The wall might have advantages, but we have some too. What are they?"

"Our battle armors?" Lei Jiang said. He instantly summoned the black-and-white runic armor that covered him from head to toe.

"Sure, that's one," Huxian said. "Another one is our strong bodies. Even if the wall crumbles down on top of us, we'll barely be hurt. Lei Jiang, I order you to hit the wall with a full-force blow!"

"Are you sure, boss?" Lei Jiang said nervously. "What if this is just a ploy by the wall king? What if it wants us to attack it?"

"It's not a ploy," Huxian said. "Think about it: Has it attacked us yet?"

"No, but—"

"Then attack it!" Huxian barked.

"I refuse!" Lei Jiang squeaked back.

"Silverwing, hit him for his insolence," Huxian barked again.

Instinctively, the falcon lashed out lightly, propelling the mouse several hundred feet due to the difference in their realms. The mouse landed on another nearby wall, causing many cracks to propagate from the impact crater.

"It was a trap after all," Lei Jiang whispered and scampered away in fear. He ran back to the other two, who looked on fearfully as the large cracks made their way toward them.

A fierce rumbling echoed through the tunnel as it filled with dust. Huxian and Silverwing activated their strongest defenses as the dust billowed lightly against their powerful figures. It soon settled down, revealing another empty corridor. It was on the other side of the wall that had collapsed because of a light blow from Silverwing.

"Would you look at that," Huxian whispered in awe.