Chapter 642: Eight Doors Dilemma
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“First Pavilion in the Sky…”
Under the big tree, Jiang Yu looked at the signboard that was s.h.i.+ning with golden light in the dark night and nodded. “There’s no mistake. It must be here.”
During the day, they had a conflict because of the words “First Pavilion in the Sky”.
Based on the information he got about the “Pilgrimage Tower”, there was only one place in the entire Dongtianw.a.n.g City.
His target was definitely here.
However…
“Was this the original appearance of the First Pavilion in the Sky?”
Jiang Yu raised his head as he spoke while looking at the lush ancient trees above him. He was somewhat doubtful.
This place was a historical site of Dongtianw.a.n.g city, albeit they hadn’t been here before.
However, all the spiritual cultivators who entered the city would look at the Pilgrimage Tower from afar.
The Jiang family had never come here to pay their respects.
However, when they entered Central Zone, they occasionally looked at the Pilgrimage Tower. At that time, the Pilgrimage Tower was the previous old building. The ostentatious golden plaque was not hung up there yet.
Back then, there were not so many ancient trees outside the tower.
But now, looking at the height of the ancient trees and how densely packed they were…
Without a hundred years, it was impossible for them to look this way!
“It should be the decoration they requested from the trading firm. It’s not important,” Jiang Tai replied.
His attention was not on the trees, but on the entrance of the attic. He was thinking while staring.
“What we should focus on now is how to break through the barrier of the First Pavilion in the Sky and kidnap them without alerting the enemy,” Jiang Tai transmitted his voice.
Before the operation, the two of them had actually done some research.
The location of the First Pavilion in the Sky was too good. It was located at the core of the barrier and was protected by the great array.
It was basically impossible to break through the barrier of First Pavilion in the Sky by relying on two ordinary Sovereign masters.
Therefore, the key to the operation this time was Jiang Yu.
“Spirit Array Master, it’s up to you!”
Jiang Tai patted Jiang Yu’s shoulder and held his breath.
There was only one person in the Jiang family who had the right to protect the “Heaven Pearl”.
The City Guarding Array was indeed powerful, but Jiang Tai believed that with enough time, they didn’t have to break through the array. He could dig a small hole to accommodate two people, it should be very easy.
“Don’t worry.”
Jiang Yu nodded and took out a black spiritual array bead. He injected his spiritual senses into it and began to use perception.
The night breeze was faint. There was a rustling of leaves with the breeze.
Jiang Tai concentrated his attention and watched every movement in all directions.
He knew that in the next few hours, his job would only be to wait and conceal their whereabouts.
However, Jiang Yu who had just injected his spiritual senses into the spiritual array bead frowned in the next second.
“It seems like… We don’t have to break the array,” he said hesitantly. He turned his head stiffly and pointed at the door not far away.
“What do you mean?”
Jiang Tai was stunned and looked in the direction he pointed.
However, he couldn’t see anything other than the golden plaque.
“Look below, don’t look at the plaque,” Jiang Yu’s eyes were filled with worry.
Below?
When Jiang Tai heard this, he slowly rolled his eyes down. Then, he was frozen on the spot.
Under the plaque “First Pavilion in the Sky” that was s.h.i.+ning with golden light, there was a door couplet that was covered in the shadow.
With the presence of the plaque, no one would pay attention to the door couplet that was dimmed.
However, if they looked at it closely, the contents of the couplet would be particularly eye-catching.
“Welcome, all my guests?”
Jiang Tai muttered to himself. Suddenly, his feet felt as heavy as lead, and he swallowed hard. “He guessed that we were coming?”
Jiang Yu could not reply.
The chilly wind swept through the night.
The two stared at the couplet and then glanced at the “First floor in the sky”that had been criticized. The pores all over their bodies began to blossom without them realizing it.
“How arrogant!”
Jiang tai spat, “Judging from the behavior of Xu family, they must have offended many people… I think they knew someone is coming, but they don’t know when, so they posted this door couplet to scare people away.”
“An empty city scheme?” Jiang Yu raised his eyebrows.
“It’s possible.”
“But what if it’s not?”
“If it’s not…”
Jiang Tai fell silent.
If it wasn’t, the Xu family were indeed arrogant!
If Xu Xiaoshou knew that someone was coming and intentionally put these words up, was he mocking the enemy?
Was he looking down on others?
Did he not care about it at all?
“Retreat?”
The scene fell silent. Jiang Yu hesitated before uttering those words.
“We can’t retreat,” Jiang Tai waved his hand. He continued, “Let alone the consequences of failing the mission, do you think these simple words could scare two Sovereigns? No matter what, we have to check it out first. If things are going south later, we shall figure it out then.”
“But what if we can’t figure it out?”
“…”
Jiang Tai was stumped by the question. He paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up and heavily knocked on Jiang Yu’s head.
“We are given a mission, do you think you can retreat as you like?”
“Hmm.”
After a short conversation, they fell into silence again.
Although they said so, they couldn’t move an inch as if their feet were stuck to the ground.
“Rustle…”
A strong wind blew and made the ancient tree bent.
The rustling sound made by the swaying branches seemed to be inviting guests into the building.
But that building…
Jiang Yu raised his eyes once again.
He just mocked the “First Pavilion in the Sky” during the day. Right now, its inexplicable aura indeed felt like the “First Pavilion in the Sky”.
It seemed to stand tall and look down from above, laughing at the common people!
Under the night curtain, this sky-sc.r.a.per was no longer a building in his eyes. It was like a ferocious beast that was about to devour people.
The direction where the ancient tree led to was the huge mouth of this ferocious beast!
Jiang Tai took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind.
“Let’s go!”
“We’ll figure things out. If it doesn’t work, we’ll leave then!”
…
Welcome.
All my guests.
Outside the door, two silent black figures landed. Then, they turned into an intangible cat.
“Bounded domain, open!”
“Bounded domain, open!”
The s.p.a.ce rippled.
They were wrapped in a thin but safe bounded domains. After taking a step forward, the two of them jumped through the door.
“Ding dong!”
As soon as they entered, the dull sound of a wooden bell seemed to strike at their heartstrings, giving them terrifying gooseb.u.mps.
“Have we been discovered?”
Jiang Tai was the first to be shocked. Looking tensed up, he immediately took a defensive posture and raised his head to check.
He saw an ancient wooden bell hanging in the side hall of the door. The sound of the bell was loud and clear. However, it did not seem to ring because of them entering.
“Ding dong!”
Another rhythmic bell sounded.
Jiang Yu who was hiding in the dark let out a sigh of relief.
He had not been discovered!
The bell had been ringing at a certain frequency, as if it was telling the time. It acc.u.mulate force slowly from the wind blow and strike according to time.
“d.a.m.n it, what kind of weird hobby is this!”
“With this gloomy bell ringing, how can anyone live in this place? How can anyone fall asleep?”
Jiang Yu cursed in his heart. He secretly transmitted his voice to Jiang Tai, indicating for him to stay calm.
In front of them was the hall.
There were two rows of short wooden tables in the hall. On top of them were weak candlelight.
Under the dazzling light, the path of the hall was lit up nicely. However, in the deepest part of the hall, it was pitch dark. Nothing could be seen.
On the wooden table, a few candles were extinguished, perhaps because the barrier was not closed.
The remaining embers vanished along with the wind. It looked really horrifying.
When the Jiang duo saw this scene, they felt as if they were going to throw up.
The layout of this building was really too horrifying.
Who would do this to their own house?
It did not seem like someone was staying there, more like they were offering sacrifices… offering sacrifices to people!
It was simply disgusting!
“Let’s split up.”
Telepathic communication.
The two knew that they didn’t have much time. They had to find and bring out the two women of Xu family as soon as possible before they were discovered.
But in their hearts, they could barely maintain their sanity.
They took a step forward, and the scene in front of them spun. The scenery was no longer there, as if they were in another dimension.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
A strong wind blew, and sand surged.
The layout of the pavilion was no longer there. In the blink of an eye, a desolate desert appeared in front of them.
Under the dark night, there was faint candlelight in the sky. It was like a pair of G.o.d’s eyes were looking down at all the people movemen in the desert.
“Fantasy realm!”
Jiang Tai’s heart sank.
He knew it was going to be bad.
This was not an empty city plan. The enemy was well-prepared and just waiting to catch them!
However, they could not retreat.
Not to mention there was no way out.
If they were discovered, they had to, by all means, capture the two women from the Xu family.
Otherwise, the punishment for failing the mission would be much more terrifying than breaking into a building.
“Do it!”
Although he couldn’t see his comrade, Jiang Tai shouted towards the direction where Jiang Yu was previously.
The two of them had already rehea.r.s.ed all sorts of scenarios.
If they were trapped in a spiritual array, telepathic communication under spatial positioning would be the only way for the Sovereigns to communicate.
However, the situation was different from expected.
After telepathic communication, Jiang Tai didn’t get the response he expected.
His heart sank.
At that moment, he knew that they had entered a different fantasy realm despite only making a small step forward.
“s.p.a.ce isolation?”
Bounded domain covered his whole body like clothes.
Yet, Jiang Tai was panicked. He didn’t dare to move even half a step, afraid that he would trigger some mechanism.
He wasn’t a spirit array master. The only way to break an array was to attack forcefully.
But wouldn’t that reveal to Xu family that somebody invaded the First Pavilion in the Sky?
Plus, if Jiang Yu began to break the array right now, wouldn’t that alert the enemy?
“Meow!”
While he was thinking, a shrill whine sounded beside him. Jiang Tai’s eyelids twitched and he immediately looked sideways.
A white light flashed and disappeared.
The last image captured was a widely-stretched white cat jumping into a narrow spatial crack far away.
“Array core?”
Jiang Tai subconsciously stepped forward and was about to follow.
Then, he was immediately jolted awake. It was very likely to be a technique in the fantasy realm in order to…
“Hiss!”
Looking at his raised right foot, Jiang Tai suddenly realized something. Could it be that he shouldn’t move in this array?
Was that white cat trying to make him move?
He took a deep breath and carefully retracted his foot, matching it with the original footprint.
“Swish.”
His footstep seemed to have triggered a trap. The scene before him changed again.
“Squeak squeak…”
The pleasant chirping of birds came into his ears. His nose and mouth were filled with a refres.h.i.+ng fragrance.
The desert was gone. A dense forest suddenly appeared. It was full of greenery with birds flying everywhere.
Jiang Tai closed his eyes with a heavy heart.
So placing his foot back onto the ground was considered a move?
“d.a.m.n it…”
The desert was gone.
What replaced it was a dense primitive forest.
His heartbeat became slightly faster. Jiang Tai was about to lose his composure. He wished he could make an immediate attack and completely shatter this predicament.
However, just as he thought about it, the scene he saw through his spiritual senses made him suddenly quiver.
“Door?”
There was nothing in front of him.
Other than trees, there were flowers and plants.
However, behind him stood eight large doors that did not fit in.
Those doors seemed to be here since ancient times. They emitted a majestic aura and were very daunting.
On the top of each door, there was a large word condensed from sand. It was arranged in order, namely Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jin, Si, Jing, Kai.
“Eight doors?”
Even if he wasn’t a spirit array master, Jiang Tai knew the meaning of these eight words.
What stunned him the most wasn’t the eight doors, but the fresh blood and the corresponding broken limbs in front of each door.
In front of the door of Xiu, there was half a piece of black clothes and one broken arm with minced flesh. It was extremely horrifying.
In front of the door of Sheng, there was a worn-down shoe and a broken leg.
Before the door of Shang, there was a b.u.t.t…
The door of Du, arms, internal organs…
The door of Jin, tibia, spine…
The door of Si, there was nothing!
The door of Jing, there was a blood-red arrow pointing to the left…
The door of Kai… There was a human head!
Jiang Tai swept his gaze across the room and his pupils constricted.
The last human head before the door was his companion for this mission, Jiang Yu!
“No, don’t move…”
The head was oozing with fresh red blood from all seven orifices, but the intermittent human voice was heard from the corner of his mouth.
“Eight trigrams… Pilgrimage Map…”
“Eight doors, spiritual, spiritual array…”
“Choose one and think, then you can go out…”
“No, don’t move! ! !”
Seeing Jiang Tai wanting to lift his leg, the severed head struggled violently and suddenly shouted. After spitting out a mouthful of blood, he stopped talking.
“Is he dead?”
Jiang Tai was completely dumbfounded.
That night outfit, that expression, that familiar tone…
Without a doubt, this person was Jiang Yu!
However, Jiang Tai didn’t believe it.
How could he not know how terrifying a high-grade spiritual array was?
Although it was difficult to simulate all these, it wasn’t impossible.
All these were to make the Array Shattering person believe in the fantasy realm better.
And just now, he was about to raise his foot, but Jiang Yu gave his all to shout angrily…
“Don’t move?”
Jiang Tai fell into silence.
His heart was beating wildly, and he didn’t know what to do at all.
He couldn’t take a step forward. As a newbie array shattering master, he had come to this conclusion.
It was impossible for outsiders to know!
Now, Jiang Yu died in front of him in order to give him that warning.
What did he mean?
How did he know?
Was he real?
“The Eight Trigrams Pilgrimage Map…”
Recalling the information that Jiang Yu had given him before he died, Jiang Tai hesitated.
Was this the fantasy realm?
Or was it the last image that Jiang Yu sent using the power of the spiritual array in another place?
If it was the former, to believe it, then it was very likely to represent death!
If it was the latter, to not believe it, then Jiang Yu’s final struggle would be a waste!
Jiang Tai’s gaze was fixed on the blood-red arrow pointing to the left.
Following the arrow, he could see the empty door of Si.
“Si (death)…”
This door was probably one that no one would want to enter.
However, what Jiang Tai saw was the only way to survive that Jiang Yu sacrificed himself to remind him multiple times.
One thought of heaven, one thought of h.e.l.l?
Jiang Tai clenched his fists.
He didn’t know whether this great array was originally from the Pilgrimage Tower or created by Young Master Xu.
But he knew that if Jiang Yu hadn’t been able to break the array at this time, he might have already met his doom.
“Xu Deye!”
Jiang Tai gritted his teeth and tasted the bitterness in his throat.
Should he continue to wait…
Or should he believe in the scene in front of him and enter the door of Si(death)…
Or should he disregard the consequences and directly destroy this spiritual array…
There was no time to choose!
His eyes widened in anger. Jiang Yu only muttered to himself for less than a second before he raised his fist…
“d.a.m.n it!”