Hao Ren followed Ulupi, and they both circled around the ruin. Ulupi brought him to a big pit. Hao Ren could sense a lot of gazes locked onto him. He asked, "You have stationed a lot of people here, are they guarding the pit?"
Ulupi nodded and said, "You are right, this pit is the entrance to the ruins. When you go inside you will see a restriction array. That is the gateway, and only humans can cross it. After you cross that restriction, it will be a death trap all the way to the center, and let me tell you, that center is seven kilometers away from the entrance."
Hao Ren was surprised, and he asked, "Your Highness, just so you know, I have never been trained in solving arrays."
Ulupi gave him an enchanting smile and said, "You have the Yin and Yang eyes. If you focus enough, you will find out that other than enhancing your vision, it can do a lot more."
The young man was surprised, but looking at her, he could tell she was not lying. He nodded and asked, "Is there anything I should be mindful of?"
Ulupi shook her head and said, "The traps were made to keep the weak Nagas outside. So, I cannot think of anything particular that you should be mindful of."
Hao Ren nodded and he asked while looking around, "Well, last question. What could you have done for the humans to seal you here?"
Ulupi smiled and replied, "The sin of being strong is that once you fall from the peak, even the insects think that they could do you one over."
Hao Ren did not reply and Ulupi continued, "Three thousand years ago, my father and his clan came out to this world to experience the difference. But they were discovered by the prince of the ruling dynasty.
My father managed to establish good connections with him. However, the worst disease of humans caught the prince. He was enchanted with my mother, and wanted to take her for his own. My father captured the prince and burned him alive at the entrance of the city.
The Emperor sent his army to avenge the lusty prince, and my father along with his people killed them all. Flames of war erupted, the Emperor gave up his entire kingdom to the Taoist sect to defeat us. I was a young child and had no knowledge of the world. So, my father and all the elders imprinted their knowledge in our mind and hid us away.
The elders all died in the war, and the Taoists made this monument to seal the souls of the fallen Nagas and all the others connected to them. They bound us to this forest. Over time many of the Taoists came over to the forest in order to tame us."
Hao Ren looked at her rageful gaze and said, "I assume you have buried them all around the forest?"
Ulupi smiled and said, "We did not bury them, but we burned them all alive. That way the souls will not bother us."
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Well, give me a few minutes to eat something and then I will go inside."
Ulupi nodded and Hao Ren sat down on the side to eat the pheasant he hunted on the way to the ruin.
...
Han Lingshi was leaning in her chair and was zoning out. Across her a young lady was working through the documents on the table. The young lady was Maya Okudera, she had returned to work after recovering from her injury.
She asked, "President, what are you thinking about?"
Around the bridge was empty space on both sides. Relying on his Yin and Yang eyes, Hao Ren saw a few more array patterns and memorized them as he walked ahead. He could see the aura of death surrounding the patterns on the array in the empty space.
He was scarred, because the bridge under his feet was wide enough to hold just one person, and it looked so fragile that one wrong step and Hao Ren would fall onto the killing arrays. Thankfully, after training in the body refining realm, he could control his steps. Hao Ren thought in his mind, "System, can I withdraw the rewards of my two tasks?"
*Ding: Apologies Host, but no reward can be withdrawn when a rated level task is on.*
Hao Ren frowned while walking and thinking about the danger that he would need to face inside the pyramid, he asked, "Can you not make an exception for me?"
*Ding: Host, can you please act in accordance to your intelligence attribute? The readers think that the system is just plot armor. It was stated in the beginning, you have to work for things you want.*
Hao Ren clenched his fists and wished to scold the system with the worst curse word he could come up with. However, it was of no use, he knew very well that this system came in his life to make things hard and not the other way around.
After a few minutes, Hao Ren reached the end of the bridge and just as he stepped onto the solid ground, he sensed the stone sink under his weight and he thought, "FUCK!"
He did not hesitate, and jumped forward with all his power, and managed to get through to the rectangular door, and a loud thud was heard behind him. Looking around he found that the entire ceiling had fallen down with long barbed spikes protruding from the stone blocks both above and below.
Hao Ren gulped and said, "I seemed to have walked into a death trap."
He saw the ceiling retracting back to it's original position and the barbed spikes also went back in. The young man took a deep breath and turned to look at his right. He saw a narrow corridor with not much room to walk around or maneuver. The corridor in his sight was at least a hundred meter straight path that would allow only one person to either enter or to exit.
Hao Ren sighed and remarked, "Those Taoists sure knew how to kill people."
He sat down on the ground and looked at the floor of the corridor, he took out a bunch of needles from his space ring, and flicked it hard at the stone tile. The impact caused the stone tile to sink a little. Hao Ren was observing the situation with great focus and noticed this. He did the same thing for the seven other tiles and in the end his hair were standing on their ends.
The entire corridor was loaded with triggers. Every tile for the first ten meters was a trap trigger, and that was the limit of how far he could jump while standing on one spot. He wanted to use the needles to check more tiles, but it would be a waste, because these needles could save his life in crucial times.
...
While Hao Ren was thinking about how to move forward, a young Naga male stood before Ulupi and asked, "Your Highness, why did you give him the blood bond? What if he betrays us?"
Ulupi shook her head and said, "Sanga, I have seen deep within his soul. He will not betray us or harm us until we don't do anything to him. He does not have greed or lust in his soul. I wonder how can he be so loyal."
The Naga women were very beautiful and despite having snake like torso, they could transform and move around like a normal human being. However, Ulupi did not like that, and tested Hao Ren by appearing in her true form. Yet, the young man was unabetted. Hao Ren did not know that Ulupi was impressed by his virtue. At this moment, he decided to do the only thing that he could.
...
Hao Ren looked at the wall behind him and the corridor before him. He stood with his back facing the corridor and dashed against the wall. He planted his feet on the wall surface, and used it as a jump board to dive as far as he could inside the corridor. The wall support provided him with a boost that allowed Hao Ren to reach the mark of thirteen meters.
Then as soon as he landed, he sensed the walls react and he did not bother to wait and dashed forward as spears and flames erupted behind him, missing him by a few millimeters.