Chapter 321 Inner Sanctum
The white coc.o.o.n didn’t seem far, but when he thrust out the spear, it felt like there was an infinite distance between them. The tip of the spear couldn’t touch it.
Activating Ghost Steps, he instantly traversed a hundred meters. However, the distance between the tip of the spear and the white coc.o.o.n remained as far away as before.
What’s going on? Zhou Wen was secretly alarmed, but the black dragons outside had already rushed in. Immediately, they sucked at the blood-colored avatar with a terrifying black hole-like suction force. The blood-colored avatar was sucked into a dragon’s stomach without putting up any resistance.
The game screen went black, mirroring Zhou Wen’s expression. The coc.o.o.n was right in front of him, but for some reason, he couldn’t touch it.
He dripped his blood and resp.a.w.ned again. When he reached the underground sea again, the black dragons and the war wagon had returned to their original states—the former chained, the latter closed.
However, Zhou Wen knew that the dragon pearl was not the black dragons’ egg but a mechanism to open the war wagon.
In a new attempt, the blood-colored avatar rushed into the carriage again, but it still failed to touch the white coc.o.o.n. It was so near yet so far.
Zhou Wen used all sorts of abilities and Companion Beasts, but he still failed to touch the white coc.o.o.n.
Despite being stumped for a solution to penetrate the white coc.o.o.n and obtain the blood of the creature within, at least Zhou Wen was now able to cross the underground sea. He planned on heading to the temple to take a look.
The white coc.o.o.n in the war wagon definitely couldn’t be reached with brute force, so Zhou Wen didn’t waste any more blood on futile attempts. He had to figure out what kind of power the white coc.o.o.n possessed to crack it.
The nine black dragons were unable to catch up to Zhou Wen when chained. After Zhou Wen charged past the underground sea, he pa.s.sed the mountain and arrived at the location of the Longevity Tree. He hoped to know its situation in-game.
But when he arrived at the stone temple, he couldn’t find the Longevity Tree. The back of the temple was empty except for a stone drum.
The Longevity Tree isn’t here? What’s going on? Zhou Wen was alarmed.
If the game was different from reality, Zhou Wen would have to be even more careful when he entered dimensional zones in the future. Even if he had a strategy to clear the game, it didn’t mean that he could randomly enter; otherwise, something bad could easily happen.
However, this was the first time Zhou Wen had encountered something in-game that was different from reality.
Zhou Wen thought of a possibility. If the Longevity Tree wasn’t something that originally existed in the dimensional zone, then its nonexistence in the game became self-explanatory.
Zhou Wen was momentarily unable to determine the reason. It was just a guess.
He had originally wanted to experiment with a Longevity Fruit in-game, but now, he had to give up on this idea.
After circling the stone temple and pa.s.sing through the cave at the bottom of the fault, Zhou Wen followed the map An Sheng had given him and arrived at the other end of the temple. It wasn’t much different from what Zhou Wen had seen previously.
There were two stone statues in front of the temple’s entrance. They were identical to the stone statues at the entrance to the ruins. Zhou Wen turned the stone statue and opened the temple door.
With the detailed method An Sheng and company used to enter the temple, the blood-colored avatar quickly arrived at the innermost sanctum. There were no dimensional creatures inside, only some special trap mechanisms. As long as one didn’t trigger any traps, there wouldn’t be any danger.
What was truly terrifying was the inner sanctum that An Sheng and company had just discovered. When Zhou Wen arrived in front of the altar, he saw the spot where the former princ.i.p.al had left a marking. Of course, there wasn’t any marking on the altar in-game. However, the altar was key to opening the inner sanctum’s entrance.
Zhou Wen looked around and found seven stone furnaces in different spots in the temple. He placed the stone furnace in front of the desk in a certain position before hearing a rumble. The innermost wall of the temple began moving as it slowly rose, revealing the s.p.a.ce behind it.
As the situation in the inner sanctum hadn’t been explored to date, An Sheng had provided him with very little information. All Zhou Wen knew was that there was a stone statue in the inner sanctum. No one who entered the inner sanctum and pa.s.sed the stone statue had left alive. All of them had vanished.
When the stone wall completely rose up, it revealed the stone tunnel behind it. It was squarish with a depth of about thirty to forty meters before reaching the end. Then, it split into two forks. And in this T-junction, there was indeed a stone statue.
The stone statue was ancient and spartan. It was only about the height of a person, and it resembled a cloaked person standing there. However, the statue’s face was carved somewhat strangely. It only had a mouth, no eyes, nose, or eyebrows. Its mouth was slightly open, as if it wanted to speak, but it didn’t say anything
The stone statue gave off a stifling feeling. It made one have the urge to shut its mouth or open its mouth to finish what it had to say.
Zhou Wen walked in front of the stone statue and carefully observed it. The more he looked at it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He decided not to study it and instead looked at the two forks.
It was pitch-black inside the squarish tunnel. It led to the unknown. The An family had tried many times, but it was the same whether they chose left or right. No one who entered came out alive.
Zhou Wen allowed Doctor Darkness to possess him as he used Light of Penetration to look at the left fork. After the Light of Penetration shone into the left tunnel, it was as though it had vanished. He couldn’t see what was inside at all.
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How odd. Could it be that the tunnel is under the influence of spatial forces? That prevents Light of Penetration from s.h.i.+ning in? Zhou Wen thought for a moment and summoned a few Companion Beasts to enter the left fork.
The moment a Companion Beast stepped into the left fork, it immediately lost its connection with Zhou Wen. It was unknown if it was dead or what had happened, but it was the same as the news An Sheng had sent.
Since no one from the An family could enter, there was naturally no news. Up until now, no one knew what was going on inside the tunnel.
Zhou Wen summoned Ghost Bride, but she shared the same outcome. He lost contact with her the moment she entered. It was unknown if she was dead or alive.
Even ghosts don’t work? Zhou Wen frowned slightly. There was only one method left—to let the blood-colored avatar enter to take a look. Even if he died, he could still get some information out.
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Wen controlled the blood-colored avatar to walk towards the left tunnel. He definitely wouldn’t have done so in the real world.
Therefore, Zhou Wen really admired the soldiers. Even though they knew that there was almost no chance of survival, they still pressed forward if they were given the order.
If he could understand the secrets in the tunnel and reduce the sacrifices of those soldiers, it would be a great help.
The moment the blood-colored avatar stepped into the left tunnel, Zhou Wen’s body involuntarily s.h.i.+vered as he felt an ominous feeling
The originally dark tunnel lit up as soon as the blood-colored avatar stepped in.