Chapter 7
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The closer Shu Jing got to the mural, the more aggressive the Spirit Engulfing Flood Dragons became. Lin Ying Mei followed closely behind and protected him with all her might. She was extremely puzzled about why Shu Jing was just standing in front of painting, observing and refusing to move on.
Shu Jing leaned closer, the more he inspected it the more vivid and lifelike it became. The figure of the Green Dragon looked like it was about to burst out at a moment’s notice. Inside the dragon’s mouth was a pearl with seven small blinking stars carved upon it. Shu Jing’s eyes lit up, without any hesitation his hand shot towards the stars and pressed down on one gently. The moment that his finger made contact, a brilliant thin ray of light appeared from within the star.
When Shu Jing saw this, he immediately pressed down on all seven stars simultaneously, his heart full of expectation for a special event to happen. But on the contrary, the seven stars only briefly flickered to life before slowly turning back into a normal carving.
“Master, more Spirit Engulfing Flood Dragons are coming out from inside the Astral Gemstone faster and faster, we must leave this place at once!”. Lin Ying Mei called out in a panicked tone, she really didn’t want to end up as a meal for these flood dragons, that kind of death would not be satisfying at all.
Shu Jing turned around and stared unblinkingly at the 7 pillars inside the throne room, and then looked at the 7 stars on the pearl. The way they were arranged was very similar to each other.
“Hold on for just a little more!”. Shu Jing’s mind was circulating at lightning speed, he once again pressed down on all the 7 stars.
The seven stars on the pearl once again blinked to life, a deeply muffled sound rang out.
The dragon spat out the pearl in its mouth as the loud sound of the wall slowly moving came to an end. In place of the pearl’s location now appeared a hidden passageway. Lin Ying Mei and Shu Jing were both startled by this development.
Shu Jing didn’t waste anytime scrutinizing what the new hallway actually contained, he immediately swung his arm and shouted: “Let’s go!”. Lin Ying Mei gathered her strength and swept the Flood Dragons aside with her Arctic Star Serpent Spear and followed Shu Jing into the hidden passageway.
After they made their way inside the passage, they realised that they were surrounded by complete darkness. The light from the outside simply could not enter this place. Luckily, this was also the Spirit Engulfing Flood Dragon’s weakness, because without light they cannot find their target at all.
After lighting up a small torch, the illuminated Ling Ying Mei turned and asked , “What did Master just do to unlock this secret passage?”
Shu Jing didn’t immediately answer, but instead he took out some items from inside his pouch. There was a small slab of crystal and a jade marble. “Thanks to you giving me a hint, I managed to retrieve these. It seems like the creator of this legacy and I think in the same way.”
“This is… ?” Lin Chong released her divine soul to inspect the items in his hand, suddenly her face showed a surprised expression, “The Profound Astral Barrier!!”
“No way, this is the Profound Astral Barrier?” Shu Jing was taken aback, and he carefully re-evaluated the palm-sized piece of jade in his hand. Just looking on the surface, there wasn’t a single trace of Artifact energy coming from within the treasure, but if Lin Ying Mei said that it was the Profound Astral Barrier, then it must be true.
Shu Jing then shifted his attention to the jade marble. Aside from a dark shadow residing within it, it seemed like just an ordinary rock.
“What great luck, we already managed to get our hands on an Astral Treasure.” Shu Jing grinned.
Lin Ying Mei stared at Shu Jing suspiciously, she completely did not believe in the “luck” that Shu Jing spoke about. Thinking about the previous actions of Shu Jing, he definitely knew the solution to the secret of this Relic Blade Legacy. “Master, how did you figure it out?” Lin Ying Mei wasn’t able to comprehend his previous actions.
Shu Jing spoke about his discovery of the similarity between the pillars and the stars. In the beginning he didn’t thought much of it, but when Lin Ying Mei was hurrying him, a new possibility suddenly emerged in his mind. Shu Jing felt that even though the throne hall contained Astral Gemstones columns, there was no reason for the legacy’s creator to raise a bunch of Flood Dragon there to guard it, he couldn’t have been so idle that he wasted effort to create such a simple trap. He must have had a deeper motive..
Because while on the outside, the Spirit Engulfing Flood Dragons may seem intimidating, but they really aren’t that much of a threat until after certain period of time has passed, once a sufficient amount of them has gathered. Shu Jing then thought of the possibility that this legacy’s creator had kept the Flood Dragons here not to deal with the people who had invaded the legacy, but to only scare them into quickly leaving the throne hall. If this was the reason, then there was only one possible answer: The secret of the Relic Blade Legacy was contained within the throne hall itself.
Hearing Shu Jing’s deduction, Lin Ying Mei felted faint. “Master, even if you were right, how did the hidden passage opened in the end? No matter what, many people have already went through this legacy previously.”
“I think the appearance of the Flood Dragons caused them to be too distracted to notice the password”.
“Password?” Lin Ying Mei frowned, because she has never heard of this term.
“The password is the key to opening this hidden passage. Do you remember the 7 columns? I pressed the stars based on the order that those columns initially lit up. But to be honest I really didn’t think it would reveal this passageway .” Shu Jing said and then laughed: “The architect seemed to have put a lot of thought into this.”
Lin Ying Mei can only sigh, a feeling of admiration rising in her heart. If before she still looked down on Shu Jing a bit, after going through this trial she was now completely convinced in his ability. “Master has such deep knowledge, in the blink of an eye you were able to think of so many things! I believe that throughout history there has been many Star Masters and Star Knights who have made it to this Legacy, but they were all distracted by the Spirit Engulfing Flood Dragons and never discovered this hidden passage.”
Shu Jing laughed lightly, in order to become the number one pilot of his country, his intuition, calmness and quick-thinking speed has always been his trump card. The design of these puzzles, while mysterious in their own way, the kind he has encountered during his training far outstriped them.
Shu Jing remembers the time he challenged the “Tomb of Ancient Dragon”, the traps inside there could cause even grown men to shiver in fear.
“Why was there such a puzzle in this Legacy? Could it be that the creator had too much time on his hands?”. Shu Jing laughed.
“Master doesn’t know about this, but Relic Blade Legacies are also used to assess cultivators!”
Shu Jing asked with a quizzing expression, “Why is there a need to test cultivators?”.
“Every time the great Star Duel event begin, many sanctuaries will simultaneously appear all over the land. Inside these sanctuaries there are many treasures that both cultivators and Star Knights can only dream of attaining. Due to the upcoming Liangshan Maiden Star Duel, everybody is scrambling to enhance their strength, and people who discover hidden sanctuaries like this legacy will have first pick of the spoils.”
“What are these sanctuaries like?” Shu Jing curiously asked.
“Based on ancient scriptures, there have been recorded cases of Star Knights discovering these sanctuaries and receiving a drastic increase in power, but then are there are also cases of people not being able to find anything within these sanctuaries. More importantly, many cultivators and Star Knights have lost their lives at these forbidden grounds over the years, losing even the chance to meet the Liangshan Maiden.” Lin Ying Mei slowly explained. “I have heard of sanctuaries that were extremely complex in design, even a large amount of cultivators were not able to break through and enter it, so they could only leave empty-handed.”
“They sound quite interesting.” Shu Jing’s interest was piqued.
“Unfortunately, most of these forbidden grounds are very dangerous. With your current strength, this Lin Chong will be honest: now isn’t the time.” Lin Ying Mei didn’t want Shu Jing to be blinded by greed and run toward his own death.
Shu Jing was likewise not so reckless. “If these forbidden sanctuaries have such benefit for Star Knights and Star Masters, sooner or later we will find our way to one. But there seems to be something strange about them, these sanctuaries seemed to be tailored made to attract cultivators connected to the Star Duel Covenant, as if they were put there on purpose.”
“Your servant also thinks this, but in order to know for sure, I’m afraid there is only one way –” Lin Ying Mei calmly said.
Become the final victor of the Liangshan Star Duel!