Chapter 4816: Failure?
Chu Feng descended swiftly after leaping into the hole. There was some sort of powerful gravitational force tying Chu Feng down, leaving him unable to control his body. He could only fall helplessly.
The surroundings were completely dark, and his vision of his Heaven’s Eye was restricted here. Nevertheless, he was able to sense that the abyss was getting wider the further he fell.
He thought that he would only come to a halt at the bottom of the abyss, but he suddenly froze in mid-air.
In that very moment, he regained his freedom, though he was still unable to get a clear look at his surroundings. It was dark, sinister, and mysterious…
Weng!
While Chu Feng was still looking around, light suddenly started glowing behind him. He quickly turned around to take a look, only to see that it was Zi Ling.
No, it wasn’t exactly Zi Ling since it a.s.sumed a translucent form, but at the same time, it wasn’t a soul being either. It had simply fused into Zi Ling’s soul.
What was worthy of mention was that it was still wearing armor. The armor was extremely thin and it looked oddly stifling instead, as if its purpose was for restraining instead of protection.
Beside this Zi Ling-like being was a wooden puppet.
“Lad, I applaud you for your courage. However, we’ll see whether you’re just putting on an act or willingly putting your life on the line for that la.s.s,” the mysterious voice said.
“What do I have to do?” Chu Feng asked.
“Put your hand on the chest of that wooden puppet and infuse a sliver of your soul into it,” the voice said.
Chu Feng knew that he had no other choice here, so he could only do as the mysterious voice told him to. The moment he placed his hand on the wooden puppet’s chest, he felt a force pulling his soul into it. Even without resorting to any means, he was able to infuse a sliver of his soul into it without any trouble.
He was a little worried about this since it was his soul he was talking about. On top of that, he knew that this wooden puppet was not just any ordinary body.
Without a doubt, the shackles on Zi Ling definitely had something to do with this wooden puppet.
Nevertheless, he still did it without any hesitation. He had come in knowing the dangers. If he wasn’t willing to push through with it, he wouldn’t have jumped down the abyss in the first place.
Weng!
The moment his sliver of soul seeped into the wooden puppet, a powerful spirit power immediately gushed out from it. Soon, the wooden puppet’s form began morphing into Chu Feng’s appearance, forming a translucent being similar to Zi Ling.
This made Chu Feng realize that the Zi Ling he was seeing before him back then was just a wooden puppet previously too. It only morphed into Zi Ling’s form after taking in a sliver of her soul.
Shoos.h.!.+
An armor suddenly fell from the sky and locked itself onto the Chu Feng wooden puppet.
“This feeling!”
Even though the armor was shackled onto the wooden puppet, Chu Feng felt like the soul in his body had also been shackled as well. This left him with an ominous feeling.
He realized that he had already fallen into the same plight as Zi Ling. If that mysterious existence wanted to deal with him, he could easily torture him through the armor.
Chu Feng was only fine at the moment because the mysterious existence wasn’t intending to make a move on him yet.
“Courageous indeed, lad. However, courage won’t be enough to get you through this. If you wish to save your woman, you’ll need to prove your own capability. We’ll be playing a game, and as long as you win, I’ll let the two of you off. Otherwise, the two of you will be trapped in the Abandoned Land forever as my slave!” the mysterious voice said.
Weng!
A brilliant light suddenly shone beneath Chu Feng’s feet.
A map was surfacing on the ground. It was like a labyrinth, filled with complicated pathways and dead ends. It was growing larger with each pa.s.sing moment, and soon, it materialized itself into a real labyrinth.
Chu Feng was still able to see its true form just a moment ago, but all he could see now was just its entrance.
“Elder, do I only have to escape from this labyrinth?” Chu Feng asked.
“Yes, that’s the case. Does it sound easy to you? I should remind you that the labyrinth isn’t as easy as you think. You only have ten days, and if you fail to escape from it within the allotted time, you’ll be automatically ejected from it. If so, it’ll be considered as your loss,” the mysterious voice said.
“When does the countdown start?” Chu Feng asked.
“It has already started,” the mysterious voice replied.
Shoos.h.!.+
Chu Feng immediately darted into the labyrinth in a flash of light.
His movements were fast at the start. He was intending to find the exit based on his memory of the labyrinth. Unfortunately, the labyrinth was simply too complicated. Despite having seen the complete mapping of it at the start, he wasn’t able to fully remember it before it materialized.
That being said, he wasn’t any ordinary cultivator either. Even with just a partial memory of it, he was able to make further calculations based on what he had remembered.
Labyrinths usually didn’t pose a challenge to Chu Feng at all, but as time pa.s.sed, he swiftly realized that there was more to this labyrinth than he had expected.
In the blink of an eye, five days had already pa.s.sed.
Chu Feng’s footsteps hadn’t stopped even once within the past five days, but he was still unable to find his way out of this labyrinth.
“No, this isn’t right.”
Chu Feng finally halted his footsteps and started thinking deeper into it.
While he had another five more days to work with, he knew that he would lose if he simply continued walking around blindly.
So, he began examining his surroundings carefully once more, especially the walls.
He had long noticed that the inscribed patterns on the labyrinth’s wall would repeat after he traveled some distance. Despite the humongous size of the labyrinth, there were only eighteen unique inscribed patterns.
These patterns looked simple at first glance, but there might be some clue that one might derive out of it.
After careful examination, he realized that his gut feeling was on the dot. It was just a pity that the secret in the inscribed pattern didn’t hold the clue for him to escape from the labyrinth.
Of course, he wouldn’t give up just like that.
Another five more days pa.s.sed in a flash, and the challenge was finally coming to an end.
The labyrinth suddenly dissipated into a whiff of smoke and vanished into thin air, and Chu Feng found himself standing at the same spot where he was when he first entered the labyrinth.
“Looks like this is all you have, lad. Brawn but no brain. With this, you and your girlfriend are now my slaves!” the mysterious voice sneered.
“Elder, can I challenge the labyrinth once more?” Chu Feng asked.
“Of course, but the next challenge has to be ten days later. It’ll be the same labyrinth, and as long as you can breach it, I’ll allow you to leave. I should tell you that the la.s.s has already attempted this labyrinth many times, but she hasn’t been able to succeed,” the mysterious voice said gleefully.
It was as if he was certain that Chu Feng would fail.
As he laughed and laughed, Chu Feng suddenly did something that caused the mysterious voice to exclaim in astonishment, “Lad, what are you doing?”
Chu Feng had walked up to Zi Ling’s wooden puppet to remove the armor on it.