Chapter 70: Danger and Opportunity

This was a red that signified danger.

With the intensity with which it shook everyone’s heart, it was clear that it was a very great danger.

Neo blinked.

He was almost tempted to walk inside there.

Why not?

This was the sort of challenge he was looking for.

With that level of danger, he might really be able to push that experience to hundred percent.

And see what Devour had in store.

There was still no reaction from Devour.

Neo felt this thing could hold a grudge.

Samath didn’t need to explain anything to everyone here.

The result spoke for itself.

They deactivated the formation, and rested for a while.

Then, they moved to the next pathway.

The one in the center.

They activated the same formation again.

The white light shot into the pathway.

The result wasn’t too quick to come back this time around.

They waited and waited.

When everyone thought maybe this time around, the formation had failed.

The light came back out.

The white light which had been bright, came back dim.

Neo raised an eyebrow.

Looking at the dim light, he came to the most apparent conclusion.

The center pathway turned out to be a dud.

It was a total dead end.

Samath also confirmed Neo’s thoughts with her next words.

"There is no path further in this pathway. It is a dead end."

Everyone now had their attention focused on the last pathway.

They hoped it was at least better than the other two.

Not as dangerous as the first one.

And not a dead end with no path forward, like the second one.

Samath’s team also prepared themselves, after some rest.

Although, all they had to do was just to activate the formation.

They truly hoped that this last pathway would turn out better.

The white light went into this last pathway, and they waited to see what it would bring out.

The wait was even longer than when the light entered the second pathway.

Almost everyone lost interest after a while.

They all turned to the first pathway.

It was the only one with a path forward.

They prepared themselves to enter.

Even if all it promised them was a hard fought battle.

Most had prepared themselves for possible death.

While the mood here became heavy.

The light which looked like it would never come back again, shot out with force.

Golden light shot out of the pathway, bright and glaring.

Gasps sounded all around.

If red meant danger, they didn’t need anyone to tell them what this golden light meant.

Opportunity.

A great opportunity.

Neo stared at the golden light, then he looked to the first pathway that had been inspected.

One represented danger, the other opportunity.

He was really tempted to go for the one with the glaring red symbol of danger.

But maybe this one that represented opportunity might also give him what he wanted.

A good fight.

He looked at Samath.

The woman was all fired up.

Neo understood why.

She was the main core of the formation.

When it determined danger or opportunity, she was the main reference for it to make that decision.

It didn’t mean the opportunity here was only useful for her.

It just meant that she would find more use in it.

Everyone prepared themselves, but they didn’t just step into the pathway.

They waited for something.

Or rather someone.

They waited for Neo to give the permission.

And Neo knew no better permission he could give, than to walk in himself.

He stepped into the pathway.

He was the one to lead the way.

And when he did, the others followed.

Even though the pathway represented a great opportunity, and even had golden light come out of it.

It didn’t look different from the place they had been walking through, since they entered this deep into the domain.

The tunnel, and the scattered light remained the same.

It was almost like they had gone back to the first pathway, through which they entered.

Neo continued forward.

He expected the strange creatures to start swarming them anytime now.

But it was still peaceful.

Everyone was now within the pathway, following behind Neo.

A wise choice.

With great opportunity, also came great danger.

Neo was the best person to lead the way.

As they went further in, everyone began to feel a strange resistance settle on them.

Neo knew what it was.

He gestured for them to bring the bucket of riloma to him.

The person carrying it came near to him.

He didn’t drop the bucket.

He carried it, as he stood beside Neo.

Neo looked into the bucket, the blue riloma decreased with every step they took further on the path.

The decrease was barely noticeable.

But Neo was paying attention.

The book Humba gave them had been very detailed.

Neo wondered how long they had been exploring this place.

To have gathered that much information.

The decrease in the riloma showed that they were on the right path. They were going deep into the domain.

The decrease would become greater, the nearer they were to the center of the domain.

The rate of the decrease was also affected by how many of them there were.

And they had quite a lot of people with them.

Neo stopped all of a sudden.

His actions also caused everyone to also pause.

They wondered what it was that he had noticed.

Neo pointed his finger forward, a bright light shone from it.

It illuminated the dark tunnel.

And revealed what was hidden from sight.

In the roof of the tunnel.

Above them were strange creatures that hung from the roof.

They were not the usual humanoids they had been fighting.

These ones appeared like large stony birds.

The moment the light illuminated them.

They swooped down.

Descending on the gathered cultivators.

But they had lost all element of surprise.

Neo had destroyed their plan to attack in the darkness.

The cultivators had prepared themselves, the moment they saw those strange creatures hanging up there above them.

They didn’t wait for the strange creatures to land at all.

Their attacks were targeted at them in mid air.

They would take down as much of them as they could before they even got near them.

The strange creatures weren’t so lucky as to be able to attack from their position.

They were in for a thorough beating.

Or so it seemed.