Chapter 159 - The Clock Tower

Cheng Xiu and the rest reached the final pair of pillars relatively quick thanks to the fact they learned their lesson to not jinx themselves for now.

Cheng Xiu stood on the spot, staring at the great stone wall in front of her.

"Did we take the wrong corner?" San Zhe asked.

"How many corners did you see, Brother San, for you to take the wrong corner?"

San Zhe blushed. He looked away. He was just trying to come up with a reason as to why they were stuck staring at a wall.

Cheng Xiu looked around her and then back at the wall. She let out a sigh and raised her hand to place it on the wall.

A warm hand grabbed her wrist.

Cheng Xiu gave Yaksha a cold gaze.

He let go of her hand slowly. "Sorry. But, are you that much of a rookie that you are just going to touch a wall that could be just as dangerous as the pillars of statues around us?"

Cheng Xiu looked at the statues. The sculptures from the first pillar to the latest, all had followed them here. She looked at Yaksha.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you have a better way?"

"We could see what would happen if we walked in the other direction?" San Zhe asked behind them.

Cheng Xiu rolled her eyes and placed her hand on the center of the wall.

She heard San Zhe curse a very bad word, while Yaksha stuck to her side even more, his hand stretched out so that he could get a hold of her if they ended up in a situation where they were split up.

Cheng Xiu's lips curled into light smile at his action.

The wall was cool under her touch.

Cheng Xiu closed her eyes and sent a tiny bit of Qi into the wall to see what would happen.

There was a rumble in the wall.

From the wall, a small glowing fish emerged. It jumped up and down on the wall like it was jumping in actual water, letting out golden ripples as it swam all over the wall in jubilation.

"What the hell…" San Zhe muttered in confusion. "Is that a moving picture of a carp fish?"

Cheng Xiu was surprised to find that it was her Breakthrough Fish as she had started to call it in her head.

Suddenly the carp fish reached where her hand was in a split second.

Before any of them could react, it touched Cheng Xiu's hand.

A familiar Red Door appeared in front of her.

Cheng Xiu blinked in confusion. Was she having a breakthrough? What was going on?

"A Door?" San Zhe asked in confusion. "Why is this Door so familiar though?"

"Open it," Yaksha said, his eyes roaming over the writings on the door. A Breakthrough Door. He looked towards Cheng Xiu. Did she know what this door did? What it represented?

Cheng Xiu yanked the door open.

There was another passageway in front of them.

"Okay…maybe fighting things would be more interesting," San Zhe said in disappointment. He couldn't believe that they had to walk even more.

Yaksha went in first, yanking San Zhe with him.

Cheng Xiu blinked. Why was she the one who was entering last?

Cheng Xiu decided not to give it much thought and walked into the door as well.

Just as she stepped into the other side of the door, it disappeared.

San Zhe shivered. He looked at Yaksha greatfully. "Thank you, My Lord! I did not think that would happen at all!"

Yaksha raised an eyebrow. "Did you not go through any breakthroughs recently?"

San Zhe stared at him for an entire five seconds. "That was why that door was so familiar to me! That was the Red Door of Breakthrough!"

Yaksha stared at the man for a moment and then looked at Cheng Xiu who was staring at something in the distance. He followed her line of sight.

A few steps away from them stood a monolithic tower with the faces of clocks carved on all four sides of it.

"So the clock is not an actual clock? It is just a carved clock face?" Cheng Xiu asked.

Just then the clock struck twelve and bells started to ring all around them.

Cheng Xiu stepped back in surprise. "What the hell…"

The ground floor of the tower lit up and a door appeared, and a group of people were thrown out.

Cheng Xiu was surprised.

"Finally!" San Zhe said with great emotion. "A familiar scene!"

Cheng Xiu looked at the Clock Tower at his words.

The large stone hands of the clocks started to go backwards, until the time it showed was 11'O Clock.

"This…"

"The time limit is an hour," San Zhe said in excitement. "If you don't complete your mission in an hour you fail. If there is no survivor player in the dugeon you fail."

"Why did the clock hand go back to 11?" Cheng Xiu asked.

San Zhe was stumped. "Because it did?"

Cheng Xiu threw him a look of disdain.

San Zhe ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Because it used to be the Mystical Space of an Immortal a thousand year back," Yaksha answered her.

Cheng Xiu blinked. "How do you know that?"

"There is a team of players who have dedicated their lives to record the mysteries of the clock towers."

"Are they getting paid?"

"Yes."

Cheng Xiu was surprised by that. "By whom? No the Devs obviously."

"Large companies and industries."

Cheng Xiu was sruprised by that answer. "Why would they want to know such things?"

Yaksha smiled. "That is something that I want to find out too."

Cheng Xiu looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

"Let's go then?" she asked San Zhe and Yaksha.

"Yeah," San Zhe said with clear enthusiasm in his voice.

Cheng Xiu was surprised by that. "Why are you excited?"

"No more creepy passages to walk through!"

Cheng Xiu shook her head and walked away.

"Sister Xiu! Wait for me!"

Yaksha followed after them at a sedated pace.