Chapter 655: Mirror Mirror On The Wall II

"What an interesting event. What do you think is the objective of such a trial, Eccentric Long?" the commentator asked.

"What I think… hmm, what I can say is, this is a very interesting and ingenious trial. It is done in a way to test one"s intuition, ability to recognize friend from foe. And to see lies from truth. It should be something worth watching,"

"Du Shen had been using his s.h.i.+p for the most part, but in this maze the ability to move it and maneuver with it is very limited. So, do you think he will be forced to use more of his personal prowess, than rely on his devices and gadgets?"

"I doubt it," Eccentric Long said, "That man had worked hard to make those things, I doubt you"ll make him give them up, HAH! Look at what he is wearing and how he is moving, he already gave up on using his own legs!" Eccentric Long laughed.

The commentator looked up at the screen and was awestruck at what he saw.

Shen Bao was comfortably sitting on top of a palanquin and four metal puppets were carrying it. He wasn"t even paying attention to the path ahead as he was working on some sort of device, using the gla.s.ses that he made to focus his sight on the more intricate part of this small device he was creating.

The puppets that were carrying him weren"t the only ones though, there were several more behind and in front of him, and four others that were actually hanging on the ceiling above.

"I guess… he really likes his comfort," said the commentator.

"It"s not just comfort, he had positioned his puppets in a way that they would protect all sides, if you see the puppets at the front, they"re scanning every step of the way as they"re moving, not missing a single spot, making sure to check the corners first, as for the ones in the back they"re not even facing forward, they"re moving backwards to make sure that they don"t get ambushed, as for the ones in the ceiling, either they"re there to make sure that nothing comes down to attack them from above or act as a surprise ambus.h.i.+ng tool.

While he himself hadn"t lifted his head even once, the orders he had given to his puppets are all one needs in this type of maze to move carefree," Xiao Du explained the situation.

"A man who would prefer to be relaxed even in a place where danger might lurk. I like this type of people!" the commentator said.

"I didn"t know you swung that way," Eccentric Long cracked a joke.

The commentator with a red face replied, "It"s not like that! Anyway! It seems that Du Shen will be meeting his first friend or foe! Let"s see how this encounter goes!" said the commentator.

***

As I was moving around the maze, aimlessly mind you, one of the puppets up ahead noticed something.

X immediately spoke, "We have company. Someone is coming up, they"re moving steadily and seem to not be hostile."

I raised one arm up, to stop the group from moving, and soon Law showed up with a worried look on his face.

He didn"t notice the two ma.s.sive puppets that were standing in front of him until I coughed.

Surprise on his face he turned to look at me, "Oh! You"re here, what a lucky encounter!" he said.

"How in G.o.d"s name did we end up in the same place again?" I asked.

Law simply shrugged, "I wouldn"t know, I guess it"s my lucky day today isn"t it!" he said.

"You"re expecting a free ride?" I said.

"I wouldn"t say no to that," he replied sheepishly.

I shook my head and said, "follow along."

As the two of us were moving he said, "I"m curious about something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Aren"t you being too friendly with me? What if I am an imposter?" he said.

"That wouldn"t be possible, or at least very unlikely," I said.

"How did you come to that deduction?" he asked.

"Simply put, you"re luck is way too overpowered," I said.

"I fail to understand."

"Let me humbly brag. I really don"t see myself losing in this round, it"s a simple maze with a simple goal, no matter how hard others thing this place is, I could easily clear it and proceed forward. And if you were one of the imposters, then you will fail in stopping me, meaning you will lose.

Your luck acted in a way that you"re not an imposter and you"re a path finder since if you were the other way around you will have to meet me and survive me, which, even with your luck, will be a very tall task," I said.

"That is a rather far fetched a.n.a.lysis," he said. "But, among all that I have met, you"re the first one to think like this, and you are right. I believe that if I hadn"t met you, I wouldn"t have been able to clear the former trial, or at least would have had a harder time. And perhaps my luck is what allowed me to be in the same maze as you, and meet you first," he said.

"Frankly speaking, I hate the fact that you can easily go through life without worrying about anything, but at the same time, relying on luck is something I"ll never consider." I said.

"Luck is a part of a man"s fate," he said.

"But we"re cultivators, our existence itself is defying fate. If I were to reach a goal and there is a mountain in front of me. I wouldn"t hop that luck will break the mountain down and have it crumble, I would personally carve the mountain itself to reach my goal. We"re different," I said.

"I see…" Law"s eyes drooped down.

"I"m not antagonizing you," I explained. "It"s nothing but advice. Luck is a finite resource that cannot be constantly used. One day it will run out, and in that day you"ll need the ability to compensate for your luck with your own strength, seek power and if you got lucky then good, but seek it with effort still."

"I know what you"re trying to say, but aren"t you the guy who"s not even using his feet to walk? Talking about effort… in this case is rather ironic," he said.

"There is a difference, I made everything here, they are a part of me, a part of my power, why walk when I can ride? It would be foolish to exhaust myself," I shrugged.

"Oh yeah, how did you end up leaving the room of the Frost Shard?"

"I just sealed the entire thing and left," I shrugged.

"I see, you also got a piece of a map form the ring?" he asked.

"Yes, indeed I did."

"Is it comparable to this one?" he said as he showed me his.

Looking at the map piece on him it was relatively smaller in comparison to mine, it only had a couple pathways drawn on it and a small circle to mark the exit.

When I showed him my map.

"Oh yours is bigger," he said.

I smirked at his wording and said, "That"s what they always say, anyway, I guess these two pieces are incompatible, mine is a corner piece of the map, yours seem to be a more centralized piece. SO this is like a jigsaw we need to complete," I said.

"True, we"ll need more pieces of the map to figure out the entire layout of this maze so we can leave…"