<
>
On that note, Lu Ye felt more at ease knowing that he still had a very good chance at staying alive despite whatever odds the Heavens were stacking against him. He took the Gold Amulet and slipped it into his pocket and went back to reading.
That made the time pass by relatively quickly. With the first sixth-hour mark nearing, Lu Ye tucked away his book and extracted the Gold Amulet. Next, he waited and observed, staying at the center of his Teleportation Ward.
The information he had indicated that the Gold Amulet would erupt once every six hours, broadcasting its position. But as to how, Lu Ye wasn’t informed at all and this was the first time he encountered something like this.
Seconds ticked like an eternity. All of a sudden, the already-shiny glow of the Gold Amulet blazed with a stronger and brighter radiance that mimicked a star; a radiance that could permeate through everything—anything—blasting out of the cave in a column of light that reached straight for the clouds overhead.
That was not all; with the column of light, erupted a huge pulse of Spiritual Power.
Lu Ye had been anticipating something like this, but seeing it up close was nevertheless awesome enough that he needed to squint his eyes at the blinding light. Beyond any doubt, every single Cultivator within a hundred miles of this place would see this spectacle.
The humongous beam of light lasted for ten seconds before it finally ebbed away like extinguishing embers and the Gold Amulet resumed its usual lethargic green glow as if the phenomenon seconds ago did not happen at all and everything was just a dream.
But reality would prove otherwise; Lu Ye was already hearing cascades of footfalls approaching, followed closely by chatter.
“Here, there’s a cave!”
“Fool! Hiding in a cave and getting himself trapped inside! This must be an amateur who knows nothing about the Colosseum.”
“Careful! Let’s ascertain his affiliation first!”
Lu Ye could hear different voices in conversation; at least three to four people. They must be a group. Parties like this were commonly made up of lower-tier Cultivators here in the Colosseum; Cultivators powerful enough to hold their own oftentimes traveled alone. While most champions preferred being alone out of temperament, some were just unwilling to share whatever bounty they discovered individually.
“Hey there inside! We’re Grand Sky Coalition Cultivators! If you’re an ally, please show yourself!” cried a voice from outside.
But Lu Ye wasn’t born yesterday and he was not going to believe that. No matter who the strangers outside were, he was ready to leave at first notice.
“That does it; let’s get inside and just be done with it!” said another voice. They must have been nearby since they were the first to arrive. But one thing was certain, everyone within a hundred miles from here had seen the beam of light. If he delayed too long, this place would be swarming with enemies—or competitors to the prize.
The party’s collective strength might be good, but not good enough to deal with true champions.
The one who suggested rushing inside had barely finished speaking when everyone detected the signature of Spiritual Power coming from inside.
They shared nervous and oblivious glances before the leader of the party led the rest inside with their Spiritual Powers channeled and ready. Carefully they made their way inside, anticipating resistance.
Three seconds later, a huge rumble came roaring out from the yawning mouth of the cave, accompanied by violent spates of flames spitting out of it and the men came hurrying out, looking utterly beaten and disheveled as they muttered words of curses under their breaths.
None of them knew that booby traps were waiting for them inside. While all of them managed to escape unscathed, the ordeal was enough to reduce them to nothing more than a bunch of ashen-faced beggars with scorches and bruises all over them, plus the chaotic state of their internal energies that had severely weakened them.
[Gods be damned, that’s a Ward Cultivator inside!]
A shadow loomed over them for one transitory beat as a figure landed before them, their Battlefield Imprints glowed immediately.
The newcomer—a powerful Eighth-Order—studied their bedraggled appearances and muttered curtly, “Where is it?”
The party regarded the threatening presence of the newcomer apprehensively. One of them barked warily, “Don’t know. There’s no one inside!”
The newcomer could barely believe that. He was positive that he felt traces of Spiritual Power coming from inside the cave just now. How could there be no one after these men had gone in?
But as far as his suspicions went, little did he realize that the men weren’t lying at all.
Coldly, he hissed, “Surrender what you found and I’ll leave you be. Otherwise, every one of you will not be walking away from here alive!”
“There really was no one inside,” the one who spoke earlier explained testily, “We came here first, but what we found inside were booby traps. Nothing and no one else! This I swear in the name of the Heavens’.”
The Eighth-Order frowned. If these men were willing to swear to the Heavens that they found nothing inside, then that could only be the truth. He paused several seconds to think. Then, without warning, his hand shot up and he fired a blast.
If the Gold Amulet were lost, then he would at least profit by killing and looting these men.
And a furious clash ensued.
It would not be long for more Cultivators to congregate here at the caved-in underground cavity and the brawl would crescendo into another full-scale battle where Cultivators from both sides would band up and hurl whatever they could at the enemies with reckless abandon.
In the meantime, Lu Ye was very, very far away—more than two hundred miles out, inside another cave, utterly oblivious as to the powder keg that he had unwittingly set off.
Not that it was his business anyway.
But now that he had witnessed first-hand the spectacular extravaganza the Gold Amulet could cause, it was clear to him that trying to use a magical ward to contain its eruption would just be futile.
That was the original plan he concocted prior to the Gold Amulet’s eruption. But after assessing its sheer magnitude, Lu Ye began to realize that as another one of the Heavens’ contrivances, no human could possibly contain it. Being several meters underground inside a cave too had failed to contain the blast of light tunneling up into the clouds.
That would leave sacrificing more Teleportation Wards as the only viable way of surviving this tribulation. He would need to quickly move to another position as soon as the eruption of light and Spiritual Power by the Gold Amulet had ended. Fortunately, he had constructed enough Teleportation Wards for this contingency.
Lu Ye sat there and waited for minutes to make sure that he really was alone. Satisfied at last that nothing was around, he put away the Gold Amulet and went back to reading.
Six hours flitted by swiftly.
Just like before, the Gold Amulet’s eruption of the beam of light came right on time, followed closely by the terrible wave of Spiritual Power.
This time, Lu Ye did not wait to observe or listen; he immediately activated his Teleportation Ward and moved to the next spot.
Cultivators would arrive at his previous position only to trigger the explosive wards and they would leave the place empty-handed, with litanies of curses and expletives being repeated incessantly.
Like what happened six hours before, Cultivators later converged on this place and another furious battle was sparked.
Meanwhile, more than tens of thousands of miles away from the Carnage Colosseum, a ray of light was streaking across the sky like a comet. It was a sword and riding upon it were Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan, both of whom were racing as speedily as the sword allowed towards the opening into the Carnage Colosseum.
As soon as he heard about Lu Ye being trapped inside the Colosseum, Li Baxian rushed to find out about its whereabouts. Too far and he might not get inside in time. But hearing that it was just a two-day journey from his present location, he knew he just might be able to make it.
He did not tell Lu Ye about his intention to come to find him. He knew that Lu Ye would decline the offer if he were aware of this. Just as he was worried about Lu Ye, Lu Ye would feel the same way about his well being too and he wouldn’t want to see Li Baxian getting himself into danger on his account.
Knowing this, Li Baxian decided to just enter the Colosseum and rendezvous with Lu Ye before making plans for their next course of action.
[Poor Lu Ye! He might not even be at the Second-Order yet! Why must such a cruel test be laid upon him!? How is he now, I wonder?]
Every quarter of an hour, he would check his Battlefield Imprint to make sure Lu Ye was still safe and sound.
[Wait, Lu Ye! Hold on! Wait for us! We’re coming!]
Somewhere inside the Colosseum, Lu Ye was sitting at the center of his Teleportation Ward, counting down the time.
More than eighteen hours had passed since the Gold Amulet showed itself to him. In less than a dozen minutes, the Amulet would erupt for the third time. All he needed to do was to wait this out one more time and he would be essentially safe after that.
By his reckoning, the twenty-four hours duration would have been used up and the Gold Amulet should be his to use freely and there would not be a fourth eruption if his interpretation of the Heavens’ rules were right.
Nevertheless, he was completely prepared to believe that he could be wrong. But at the very least, Lu Ye was ready to see a third Teleportation Ward sacrificed for the sake of his ultimate safety.
He sat there quietly to bide his time.
His calculations were correct. Moments later, the same eruption from the Gold Amulet burst out once more. First the gigantic column of light, then the huge wave of Spiritual Power.
Lu Ye waited until the commotion was over before he once again activated the Teleportation Ward and he discorporated.
Another two hundred miles away, Lu Ye was just appearing when he realized that something was terribly amiss. He looked around and there was someone else fifty meters away, staring at him with disbelief upon his face.
Evidently, the stranger was flabbergasted to see someone appearing out of thin air!
Conveyance through magical means had always been a bread-and-butter part of life as a Cultivator. Entering the Spirit Creek Battlefield and the Cloud River Battlefield all required magical conveyance using the Divine Opportunity Column.
But that was a magical conveyance using the power of the Divine Opportunity Column. The power of the Heavens themselves.
Few, if any Cloud River Realm Cultivator was capable of ward magic and that Lu Ye appeared right out of nowhere greatly shocked the stranger.
His very presence here was just like what Lu Ye was concerned about earlier.
With prizes lurking anywhere in the Carnage Colosseum, Cultivators might be curious enough to explore caves and crevices hoping to find any freebies that the Heavens might have kept in store for them. Therefore, when this stranger came by this cave, he stepped inside, hoping to find something most others missed.
The booby traps Lu Ye set in place were in the deepest-most parts of the cave and if no intruders ventured far enough, they would not trigger the wards.
Therefore, this stranger had only come inside for a look. Finding nothing, he was just about to leave the cave when Lu Ye’s figure appeared right before his eyes—what an ill-fated coincidence this was!
His gaze darted down and he found a pale-sapphire glow coming from the back of Lu Ye’s hand.
Lu Ye too saw the fiery-red luminescence on the stranger’s hand.
Without any warning, the stranger’s hand shot up and he fired a spell. The rocky terrain in the cave was exactly what he would like; it was good for Spell Cultivator to maintain as much distance as possible from their enemies. He could just focus on delivering as much damage as possible and he would be just okay.
“No, wait!”
Lu Ye cried, but it was too late.
The spell missed and whizzed past him. The force of the Spiritual Powers caused the booby traps to activate and a terrible detonation took place with the stranger Spell Cultivator not knowing what was going on. A frenzy of Spiritual Power swept through like a tempestuous storm, destroying the Teleportation Ward set up by Lu Ye in an instant. The powerful impact tossed him up before slamming him heavily against the rock face, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling and rain down in a deluge, threatening to bury Lu Ye underneath a mound of debris.
The enemy Cultivator fared no better. The self-destruction ward had triggered too suddenly, catching them both off-guard with no time to prepare. In a moment of realization, they hastily activated their defensive auras to shield themselves from the blast, but that did not prevent them from being covered in dust and dirt.
The dust finally settled after a few moments.
Luckily for them both, the cave was sturdy enough to withstand the blast of the self-detonating ward.
As the smog was gradually fading, the practitioner waved his hand, clearing his throat a few times. He lifted his gaze and that was when his attention was immediately drawn to a glimmer of aureate sparkle.
<
>