Before long, Long Chen reached the end of the hallway.
The end of the hallways attached directly to a room that didn't have any door at all. The entrance seemed completely open.
However, for some reason, he couldn't see anything inside the room. The room was completely empty.
He took a step forward to enter the room to check more thoroughly, only to step back immediately.
He could feel a barrier at the entrance of the room, which sent a frightening current inside his body as soon as he tried entering.
"It seems like I was too optimistic. There's no door, but something is blocking the way."
He tried to Teleport inside the room, but even that didn't work.
"I can't Teleport inside either." He shook his head, disappointed.
Seeing no other option, he brought his Sword of Time and tried to penetrate the barrier, hoping that his Sword could absorb the energy that was blocking the door.
The black Sword of Time passed through the barrier easily. However, it didn't absorb any energy.
Feeling like he could also pass through while holding the Sword like it did, Long Chen tried to test. His hand firmly held the Sword as it tried to pass through the barrier.
As soon as his hand touched the barrier, he again felt the current. This time, the current seemed more intense. It made his hand open unwillingly. The sword of time fell from his hand, dropping inside the room.
Long Chen observed his hand, frowning. There was still a tingling sensation all over his hand, and a burning mark was still visible.
He jerked his hand a little while observing the sword on the other side.
Since he was connected to his shadow clone with Zhu Chang, he knew they had almost left the temple.
"I don't have much time. I need to leave before the temple closes, but I can't leave it behind!"
His frown kept getting deeper and deeper as he walked back and forth, trying to find a way to the other side.
"How did the others go on the other side? How did they cross the barrier? Is it that I can't cross because I'm a human? That does seem highly likely. I can try to force myself through, but that will most probably destroy my body."
He understood that he needed someone's help to understand this thing more. And who was better for it than Xun?
He called Xun outside.
"Xun, I need your help. We don't have much time. I need my sword back, but there's a barrier. It doesn't let me enter, and I can't Teleport either. Do you know a way we can cross it?" Long Chen asked, sighing.
"I can't see any barrier," Xun muttered, frowning.
Long Chen tried to force his hand to cross the barrier once again. As soon as his hand touched the barrier, lightning started flickering around the barrier.
"Argh."
Long Chen pulled his hand back, turning to Xun.
"You saw it? Now answer me. I can't leave the Sword behind at any cost."
"I did see it. It seems like a really powerful barrier. I could also sense some Origin Energy inside the barrier. If I'm not wrong, it was cast by someone really strong," Xun replied. "But there is a way to bring your sword out."
"What way?" Long Chen asked. "I was thinking about trying to send one of my beasts since I believe they can pass through. The barrier most probably doesn't affect beasts since Zhu Chang, and the others entered that place."
"Exactly. Using a beast would work, but you need a beast with pure bloodline like the Godly Beast Heirs," Xun explained. "Who can have a purer bloodline than Little Snow?"
"I should call her out then? What if the beasts sense her?"
"Are you forgetting something? This is Little Snow's home. Everything here has her aura. No one is going to sense her here. I think you don't need to worry. She should be able to do it."
"That's true as well. Even if I get some of her aurae, entering the Temple is a good justification for that." Long Chen agreed with her. However, still, he had some doubts.
If he weren't in a race against time, he wouldn't have done it at all.
He called out Little Snow after a long time of having her stay in the Beast Mountain.
Little Snow came out, landing near Long Chen's feet.
"Welcome back, little one." Long Chen picked up Little Snow in his arms. "You seem to have grown up. Not bad."
He patted Little Snow. "I can't sense your strength, but you look stronger as well."
"I have an important task for you," he told Little Snow.
"You see that Sword? I want you to push that Sword towards me. Can you do that?"
Little Snow seemed a bit confused, as if she was drunk. Something about this place was making her very happy. She nodded her head in response to Long Chen as she jumped down.
She entered the room and walked to the black Sword; however, just as she was about to push the sword out, she stopped. She turned around and started looking in a different side
Long Chen couldn't see what was on the side of the room from outside. It was the only blind spot for him inside the room.
Little Snow started walking away from the Sword as if she was hypnotized.
"No, wait! Don't go there! Return the sword and come back with it!" Long Chen called out, but Little Snow ignored him.
Instead, little Snow continued walking before she ultimately disappeared from Long Chen's site.
"Argh!" In frustration, Long Chen punched the wall.
He had lost the sword inside, and Little Snow wasn't coming back either.
On the other end, everyone else had already stepped out of the Temple.
The ground of the Temple started vibrating as the door started closing.
Long Chen knew that he needed to leave the place. If he didn't, he was going to be trapped inside, but he couldn't convince his heart to leave Little Snow and the Sword of Time behind.
In the heat of the moment, he stopped thinking about everything and started punching the barrier, hoping to break it.
He didn't care about the pain that he was experiencing and the damage his body was taking. He simply kept punching against and again, trying to force his way through.
....
Everyone stepped out of the Temple, finding the phoenix heir sitting at the entrance.
"You?" Zhu Chang asked the young lady.. "It seems you missed entering."