Chapter 325: 42nd Chapter: Lianshan’s Treasure Vault, Earth Element Maze
Packing away the Heavenly Weaving God Shuttle, Luo Yan looked around once more and found that he and Shi Liuli were inside an underground space.
Looking closely, it seemed to be a maze.
The ceiling overhead, the ground beneath their feet, and the surrounding walls were all composed of impervious rock.
Shi Liuli tried using the Earth-Penetrating Divine Shuttle, only to find that it couldn’t penetrate the maze’s stone walls.
This was to be expected, as secret realms that restricted movement typically imposed limits on the use of Five Elements escape techniques.
Otherwise, if everyone just used escape techniques to run around, the maze would lose all meaning.
“Junior Sister, don’t panic,” Luo Yan said as he took back the Earth-Penetrating Divine Shuttle and put it back into the Heavenly Craft All-Treasure Bag—this was something Elder Shi Ding had specifically instructed: treasures taken out of the All-Treasure Bag must be put back, so they could be utilized again in the future.
Even in the Cultivation World, it was crucial to persistently implement a strategy of sustainable development!
After exploring the area for a while, they confirmed that it indeed was a maze.
The pathways were complex, with branching junctions everywhere and not a single signpost in sight; it seemed that the only thing they could rely on was their own memory…
“Senior Sister, don’t worry,” Luo Yan confidently asserted. “Leave the task of remembering our route to me!”
“I’m not worried about not finding a way out,” Shi Liuli said with concern, “What bothers me is, where does this maze actually lead to?”
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Luo Yan thought the same.
If they couldn’t make it through the maze to acquire the corresponding adventure or treasures, what use was there in memorizing the route?
Was the worry about not finding a way out? Or the worry of entering the secret realm and returning without success, empty-handed!
When it came to exploring mazes, Luo Yan’s talent of understanding a thousand things at one hearing couldn’t be put to use.
But then he suddenly remembered he had another trick up his sleeve.
“Ah Jing!” Luo Yan called out in his mind, “Help me scan!”
“Understood,” the voice of the Kunlun Mirror responded unsurprisingly, as if it had been expecting his request. “This maze is quite large, give me a moment.”
Luo Yan let the Kunlun Mirror begin the scanning process while he continued to play the maze game with Miss Shi.
About two quarters of an hour later, the Kunlun Mirror finally replied:
“Guan Shui, I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news, which would you like to hear first?”
“The bad news first,” Luo Yan replied without hesitation.
“The bad news is that this maze has forty-nine exits,” the Kunlun Mirror informed.
Luo Yan: ………
Wait, there’s more than one exit to this maze? That doesn’t seem reasonable!
But when he thought about it carefully, there was no rule stating that a maze could only have one exit.
“The good news,” the Kunlun Mirror said deliberately, “is that I suspect out of the forty-nine maze exits, only one leads to the outside world, all the rest lead to treasure spots within the secret realm.”
“You mean, there are forty-nine treasure spots within this secret realm?” Luo Yan asked, surprised.
“Perhaps they are treasure rooms, perhaps other secret realms, who knows?” the Kunlun Mirror said nonchalantly. “The structure and routes of this maze change regularly with time, but the positions of the forty-nine exits remain constant.”
“Quite the ingenious space design, and it also incorporates the theory of Art Calculation; I suspect this is the Lianshan Treasury.”
“The Lianshan Treasury?” Luo Yan pondered for a moment then exclaimed, “If this is the Lianshan Treasury, then it’s even more advanced than the Pavilion Secret Realm!”
As is common knowledge, the further back in the historical timeline, the more chaotic and harsh the living environment of the Cultivation Realm became, with cultivators having a tougher average quality, and the Cultivation Resources left behind of a higher level.
The Lianshan Treasury, originating from Ancient Times, was considered even more precious and rarer than the East Sea Pavilion and the Western Queen Mother Secret Realm in the Ancient Era.
So it seems, this Lianshan treasure vault… indeed holds great exploratory value!
As he excitedly discussed with the Kunlun Mirror on this side, Miss Shi on the other side was getting impatient. She took out the copper coin and cast a divination.
“The exit is to the northeast!” Shi Liuli waved her arm, “Forward!”
She deliberately headed northeast at the next crossroad, only to find the path turn north and then northwest… It frustrated Miss Shi so much that she pulled out the Purple Extreme Han Yuan Sword and vented her irritation by wildly slashing at the stone walls of the passageway.
“Sister, are you trying to go northeast?” Luo Yan, who had been following her, suddenly asked.
“Hmm.” Shi Liuli curbed her anger and nodded, “According to the hexagram, northeast brings great fortune.”
“I see.” Luo Yan then had the Kunlun Mirror project a small map for him, “How about this time I lead the way?”
“Sure, sure.” Shi Liuli was also tired of wandering through the maze and called on Luo Yan to take the lead.
Luo Yan quickly scanned over the map and soon organized a route.
As they walked, Shi Liuli suddenly asked:
“Junior Brother, I want to go to the northeast, but you’ve been heading northwest all this way?”
“Sister, to get to the northeast, we must first go around from the northwest,” Luo Yan said with a smile.
Shi Liuli kept silent, thinking to herself that since it was her Junior Brother who was leading the way, if they couldn’t find the exit later, she would mock him ruthlessly!
They had traveled for a while when suddenly the Kunlun Mirror spoke:
“Someone’s approaching.”
“Who is it?!” Luo Yan immediately became alert, “The cultivators from Moon Island?”
“That’s right.” The Kunlun Mirror replied, “It seems they have a cultivator skilled in the Art of Calculation within their team, who is currently trying to divine your location in the maze.”
“Heh.” Luo Yan let out a cold laugh, “To think they could catch me with mere Art Calculation.”
“Ah Jing, shield my heavenly secrets!”
The Kunlun Mirror finally couldn’t hold back and said:
“There’s no problem doing that, but can you, you know, not act as if you’re the one demonstrating great might? It’s me who’s doing all the dirty and tiring work.”
“Ah Jing.” Luo Yan then asked in surprise, “You don’t want me to look for the Heaven-Mending Stone anymore?”
“Of course, I want that… forget it.” The Kunlun Mirror heaved a sigh.
Forget it, forget it, for the sake of the Heaven-Mending Stone, let’s not argue with him.
With a little operation on its part, the cultivators from Moon Island not far away in the maze suddenly stopped in their tracks.
“This isn’t right!” The cultivator responsible for navigating by divination furrowed his brow and exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?” another cultivator quickly asked.
“There’s something wrong with the results!” The diviner was sweating profusely as he manipulated the compass, but all he saw were the needles whirling around aimlessly, sometimes pointing east, sometimes north, refusing to stabilize.
“Is your divining magic artifact broken?” The other cultivators were suddenly alarmed.
They didn’t have a strong enough memory to navigate the maze, and getting lost here meant there would be no chance of getting out any time soon.
Moreover, the maze within the Lianshan treasure vault changed its routes over time; if they were unlucky, they could be trapped for hundreds of years.
“It’s not broken, it’s being interfered with!” The diviner said with a crestfallen face, despairing, “And the difference in realms is too great. I’m completely suppressed by the other side and can’t maintain the calculations at all!”
Thus, the entire team of cultivators from Moon Island was thrown into chaos.