Chapter 487: The Trial

Chapter 487: Chapter 487: The Trial

Just walking a circle at the entrance and leaving? That would definitely not satisfy the gluttonous Black Beast Tattoo. And now that the Tomb Beasts are like statues and no new dangers have been found inside, Shen Hao himself doesn’t want to leave just yet—after all, this place is coveted even by First-class Sects.

After passing through the doorway, the number of Tomb Beasts inside decreased significantly, and within the range of the light, Shen Hao realized that he seemed to have entered a gigantic stone building.

"Is this an Array of the space-type?"

Shen Hao couldn’t help but feel puzzled. According to the location, this should be under Caiyuan Village. But when coming in, there had been no stairs going down; logically, he should still be close to the surface. Yet when he looked up now, the ceiling was over five zhang high! The only explanation was that some kind of space Array encased this place, and he was no longer in the real underground space of Caiyuan Village.

Shen Hao had seen plenty of space-type Arrays before—a Storage Bag was a typical product of such Arrays, and the Teleportation Arrays in the major cities as well. But such a gargantuan space Array, this was the first time he’d seen one.

Normally, Arrays require energy to operate—Cultivators’ True Qi, Spirit Stones, or General Spirit Stones can all be used. The stronger and larger the Array, the greater the energy consumption. Shen Hao could hardly imagine how much it would take to maintain such a gigantic space Array for hundreds of years on end...

Hmm? What are those... Shen Hao ventured deeper and felt he’d come to a kind of grand hall. Looking around and overhead, he found the ceiling of the hall was no longer flat like the entrance, but arched, like the lid of a giant pot.

What surprised and perplexed him was that the dome above seemed to be engraved with numerous patterns.

Murals?

Shen Hao had no experience exploring ancient tombs, but he’d heard similar tales before—murals in tombs usually introduced the glorious deeds of the tomb’s master.

This is the Sword Emperor’s Tomb—so the master must be the Sword Emperor, Feng Bubai. Then, could these murals be the record of this controversial Strong Person’s so-called magnificent achievements?

There was too much, too big—observing bit by bit might take more time than he had. Unlike words, murals didn’t express directly; much could only be gained by pondering and study. Thankfully, Shen Hao had a Stamping Magical Artifact with him.

Even with the Stamping Artifact, though, it still took Shen Hao a whole incense stick’s worth of time to make copies of all the murals in the hall—ending up with a full foot-thick stack of rubbings.

Having crossed the grand hall, Shen Hao was faced with a narrow, winding corridor, pitch-black. Even with a torch, he couldn’t see far ahead—it was as though it vanished into boundless darkness.

Shen Hao stood at the entrance of the corridor, hesitating over whether to go in.

Though it was his first time here, Nie Yun had told him the Sword Emperor’s Tomb was riddled with traps and dangers. He’d made it this far thanks only to the closed state of the tomb, but traps were different—once triggered, they would activate. He had no wish to die in this inescapable, cramped corridor.

But as Shen Hao hesitated, his Black Beast Tattoo on his chest was already losing patience. Stabbing pains on his chest felt like warnings—"Hurry up, stop dilly-dallying."

Perhaps the Black Beast Tattoo had sensed its long-desired "food" nearby?

Behind was the way back, and forward meant braving the corridor. As a precaution, Shen Hao pasted several Talismans on himself, then gripped his blade and crept forward cautiously.

One step, two steps... There seemed to be no sign of danger, and no traps had been triggered.

Was it possible that there were no traps in this corridor? Or perhaps the traps were dormant, sealed together with the tomb? Just as this thought arose, the ground beneath his foot suddenly sank slightly, and in the silence, there was a faint "ka-cha."

"Crap!"

Shen Hao reacted quickly, retreating instantly, his blade guarding his chest, while activating a Talisman to form a Shield around his body. But he had underestimated the mechanisms within the Sword Emperor’s Tomb.

Shen Hao soon realized all his reflexive responses were laughable and pointless.

No flying arrows or forceful darts. No poisonous smoke or ground spikes. Not even an obvious murderous intent.

Or rather, there were indeed traps here, and they were indeed dangerous—but the danger was never isolated; it was always accompanied by opportunity. This time was no exception.

Shen Hao hadn’t even retreated a full zhang before the trap closed over him. An invisible barrier, half a zhang wide front and back, trapped him like an insect under a glass cup—safe for now, but escape depended on whoever held the cup.

"Swish!"

A Black Cut slashed out and passed smoothly through the invisible barrier, but while Black Cut could cross, Shen Hao could not. It seemed all physical objects were blocked by the barrier. At least for now, Shen Hao couldn’t think of a way out.

But... just locked up like this?

Of course not. A few breaths later, a wisp of green smoke rose within the cage, forming words before Shen Hao: Learn this, and you can leave. If not, you die.

Then the smoke transformed again, becoming long passages of text—the incantation of a Skill called Soul Power First Volume·Upper.

At the same time, Shen Hao felt the invisible layer around him beginning to shrink—slowly, but at this rate it would squeeze him flat in at most two incense sticks’ time.

Isn’t this the most hardcore way to force you to learn something? Fail, and it really will kill you.

Shen Hao recalled the Cloud Sword Domain the last time the Sword Emperor’s Tomb opened. The same thing—tests and opportunity. If you fail, it means death.

Since not even Black Cut worked on this formless shield, Shen Hao gave up trying other ways. He focused his gaze on the Skill floating before him.

The entire text was less than a thousand words. As with all Skills, there were no clear practice steps, just vague concepts and mystical descriptions. It could only be "comprehended, not spoken"—so Shen Hao was sure this was a test of his enlightenment.

Honestly, Shen Hao had to admit that the Soul Power First Volume·Upper before him was the most mysterious Skill he’d ever seen. Judging by the look of it, this was only the first Chapter of a longer series.

Shen Hao wasn’t sure how high his own aptitude was. No master, no clear answers. But after surviving the nine years of compulsory education, he had a knack for reading comprehension: read through once, break it into sections, then reconstruct the main points—this way, he clarified the obscure phrases. Finally, in his Sea of Consciousness, he tried to run through the technique as he understood it: if it didn’t work, try several times more. As long as the main approach was right, success shouldn’t be far.