Chapter 466 - 215: The Third Pass
Chapter 466: Chapter 215: The Third Pass
"This is all very convoluted. I’ll explain it to you in detail when I have the time."
"I hope that when you have time, you really will tell me."
Fang Shuwen glanced at her.
Yu Yaoguang gave a sidelong glance, her eyes brimming with indescribable allure.
Fang Shuwen felt his self-control had really been slipping lately...
Miao Feichan couldn’t stand to watch any longer.
"Can we cross now?"
"Let’s go. Follow my steps exactly."
Yu Yaoguang took a step forward, landing on a stone. The stones were all marked, but the sequence—which to step on first, which to step on next—was very particular. They couldn’t afford any mistakes.
Otherwise, they would still trigger the traps.
The three of them advanced steadily, and at last, they successfully crossed the area.
Once his feet were on solid ground, Fang Shuwen suddenly realized Yu Yaoguang hadn’t been exaggerating.
The path they now stood on was clearly man-made; he could even see the seams where it had been pieced together.
If they hadn’t properly deciphered the Array earlier, even if they had managed to jump across, this piecemeal path beneath their feet would have likely collapsed, plunging them into the abyss.
As Fang Shuwen passed the stone he had shattered earlier, he peeked through the hole.
It was incredibly deep, with a fiery glow emanating from far below.
It must be some kind of subterranean lava cavern.
If the three of them were to fall, he was certain that, apart from himself, neither Miao Feichan nor Yu Yaoguang would survive.
Clearly, this place was fraught with peril at every step.
However, the path ahead seemed free of any further danger.
The path simply descended at times and turned at others. Following it, they had no idea where they were, but it felt as if they had already left the grounds of the Lingyun Sect.
The place was treacherous, so the three of them didn’t dare use their Lightweight Technique to dash ahead.
The further they advanced, the hotter it became.
After walking for nearly an hour, the path ahead suddenly brightened.
A massive gateway appeared before them.
Stepping through the gateway, the scene before them left all three stunned.
They now stood on a cliff ledge that extended out from the gateway.
Before them lay a sea of fire. Below, magma churned and boiled ceaselessly.
From the magma rose towering stone pillars, some perfectly intact, others broken in half.
Farther still, a rectangular platform rested in the very center of the fiery sea of lava.
Upon it sat a sarcophagus.
Fang Shuwen’s gaze swept around the entire cavern.
He realized the lava wasn’t natural to this cavern; it had been diverted from elsewhere.
There were numerous openings in the walls from which lava flowed...
’Someone must have set up the stone pillars and the platform first, placing the sarcophagus here.’
’Only then did they divert the lava to create this place.’
The three exchanged glances, and Miao Feichan’s eyes fell upon the sarcophagus again.
"Could Dragon Abyss’s objective be that sarcophagus?"
"Whoever is lying in there must be the founder of your Lingyun Sect, right?"
Fang Shuwen glanced at Miao Feichan.
"What do we do?"
’Opening the founder’s sarcophagus... wouldn’t that be incredibly sacrilegious?’
Yu Yaoguang also looked at Miao Feichan, her expression complicated.
’If this were the sarcophagus of the Yuqing Pavilion’s founder, I wouldn’t dare open it...’
Miao Feichan took a deep breath.
"We have to open it. If Dragon Abyss is truly after what’s in here, they’ll open it if we don’t."
"Better for me to take it than to leave it for them to desecrate."
Her words made sense.
Fang Shuwen nodded, then turned to Yu Yaoguang.
"Those stone pillars..."
Yu Yaoguang nodded.
"It’s an Array."
"Thinking back, the first trial was the Seven Stars Opening."
"It wasn’t a test of a Body-Protecting Divine Technique, but of Lightweight Technique."
"Actually, with Xiaochan’er’s skill in Lightweight Technique, she might have been able to get away if she had been the one to open the gate."
"The second trial was a test of Arrays..."
"And now, this is the final trial."
"Given its location and environment, it must be a combination of Arrays and Lightweight Technique."
As she said this, a troubled look appeared on Yu Yaoguang’s face.
They could test the previous trial with stones, but stones would probably be useless for this one.
The only way to test it was for someone to go themselves.
But the slightest mistake or miscalculation, and they would fall into the lava...
They’d be incinerated without a trace.
She glanced at Fang Shuwen. Earlier, outside the gate, when the Celestial Spirit Qi-Breaking Needles had rained down, Yu Yaoguang had been able to grab Miao Feichan because she had complete confidence in Fang Shuwen.
But now, she didn’t know if Fang Shuwen could survive a fall into the lava...
So she only took a quick glance before looking away, not even daring to let him notice. She was afraid he might act rashly and volunteer for the task.
’If something happened to him, what would I do?’
She turned to Miao Feichan and sighed.
Finally, she said,
"I’ll do it this time."
Fang Shuwen shot her a look.
"No. You’re the only one here with profound knowledge of Arrays. Let’s have Elder Miao go instead."
"I’ll watch from the side. If anything goes wrong, I can pull her back through the air."
Yu Yaoguang’s eyes lit up.
"That’s a great idea."
Miao Feichan nodded as well. It was her duty to go in the first place.
This was, after all, a Lingyun Sect matter, and it was her own obsession.
She couldn’t let Fang Shuwen and Yu Yaoguang do everything for her.
She nodded at once and said,
"Then it’s settled."
The three of them made their decision: Yu Yaoguang would be responsible for deciphering the Array, Fang Shuwen would watch over Miao Feichan, and Miao Feichan herself would brave the path.
Before they began, all three of them were somewhat worried.
But once they set their plan in motion, it went exceptionally smoothly.
Miao Feichan’s Lightweight Technique was like a phantom thread, ethereal and traceless—a truly breathtaking sight. In just a few moments, following Yu Yaoguang’s guidance, she had crossed the entire sea of fiery lava and arrived before the sarcophagus.
Without hesitation, she pushed open the lid of the sarcophagus. After a single glance inside, her face filled with utter astonishment.
"This is..."