[Three days ago. Inside the first battlefield.]The thin and dirty young man sitting in the sandy desert picked up the sword inscription and inspected it carefully. Although the stone the engraving was on was a very common type of stone in this desert, the inscriptions were full of powerful intent. w.a.n.g Hao could not comprehend all the concepts contained within the stone in such a short amount of time, but it was profound and vastly exceeded the level of anything he had ever studied in terms of the Dao of the Sword. Realizing this, the young swordsman"s eyes gleamed. The vitality that had been sucked out of him by the desert suddenly seemed to pour into him from this sword inscription.
w.a.n.g Hao was a simple sword enthusiast – put such a powerful and profound sword inscription in front of him and he would feel as if he had been injected with chicken blood. The color returned rapidly to his face.
[I want to read it!]
He staggered upright and dragged his tired body over to a large boulder a few hundred meters away. The boulder"s size was helpful in blocking out the baleful wind and the harsh sand that blew across the desert. In this sheltered spot, w.a.n.g Hao pulled out the sword inscription and began to contemplate the profound mysteries within.
Soon the youth"s brows began to furrow. With an innate talent for the Dao of the Sword, w.a.n.g Hao soon began to feel that the aura within the inscription seemed familiar to him. He delved deeper and realized that the sword strokes being shown in the inscription possessed a 60% similarity to the sword strokes he had unconsciously been using for the last few days.
The dark-haired youth contemplated the engraved stone. It seemed that his stumbling onto this great fortune wasn"t just an accident. After all, how impossible was it that w.a.n.g Hao would sit down and accidentally sit onto a powerful item like this sword inscription?
It was far more likely that this sandy desert was a trial or some sort – after all, the Monster Mausoleum is a place designed to test and reward talented disciples.
w.a.n.g Hao, this sword-loving lunatic, persevered over treacherous terrain with no food or water for five days and nights with no sight of green or blue in the distance to give him hope. The only thing that kept him going was his dedication to the sword in his hand and his desire to improve himself. When his body finally couldn"t handle it anymore and he finally collapsed, w.a.n.g Hao still felt sorry to his beloved sword – I"m sorry that I could not bring you to the end with me.
The Underworld Labyrinth section of the Monster Mausoleum was a fluid and strange place. Its rewards were not always pre-determined. The appearance of the sword inscription was a direct result of w.a.n.g Hao"s performance over the last five days and nights in the desert – it definitely wasn"t just laying there in the sand.
[This sword inscription contains extremely powerful sword intent that is very compatible with my personal style. I feel like if I contemplate this for longer, my sword skills would jump up by an entire level at least.]
The rather stern-faced youth placed his hand on the pommel of his sword and his face towards the sun.
"Yun Hai, you despicable b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You better watch out for yourself now that I am back!"
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"It"s time."
Klaus set his gaze to the center of the dark forest he had been exploring since he had been teleported into the Underworld Labyrinth five days earlier. Originally it had been full of evil auras, but over the last few days the silver-haired youth had steadily defeated the demon beasts that roamed the forbidding forest in front of him. Now that the coast was relatively clear, Klaus felt that he had reached the prime time to journey to the center of the twisted forest. There was something there that called to him on a cellular level.
Klaus narrowed his eyes. There was just one problem – the beast that guarded the center of the evil forest was 9th ranked!
The silver-haired youth mulled over the situation for a few more minutes.
[Hm, yes. That should work.]
______
[Present moment.]
Van exited the Ancient Abandoned Manor soon after he stabilized his cultivation. While the treasures and resources remaining in the manor were tempting, they took too long to extract even with the two 9th rank Ghost Guard Captains to help out. Besides, Van had seen something strange earlier…
Shuah!
With the Palladium Wind Nymph Sandals on, Van travelled extremely quickly over the terrain. It was as if the wind was supporting him from below his feet. The youth sped towards a medium-sized hill that he had found using his spiritual sense.
From that vantage point, Van closed his eyes and extended his newly-developed spiritual sense 100km in each direction. As the spider-web of his spirtual sense extended over the landscape, Van began to form a strong mental image of what the land inside of the Underworld Labyrinth was like.
[As I thought!]
Van grew excited. He had felt that the landscape looked a bit strange last time, and now his suspicions were confirmed. That river that flowed through the landscape, those mountain ranges, the valley, the field of flowers and that strange murky area – the arrangement of all these areas was just like an extremely large, natural labyrinth.
[The clue was in the name, "Underworld Labyrinth"!]
Now that Van was looking closely, he could see were various natural formations used to construct the labyrinth so it looked as natural as can be. They might look innocent, but the way they were arranged made it almost impossible to navigate through the labyrinth without getting lost once or twice.
[The goal of a labyrinth is to confuse those who enter it and prevent them from both reaching the center or escaping the labyrinth.]
The red-haired youth"s gaze sharpened. This entire place was made to misdirect people away from the center – presumably something incredible would be hidden there!