The sun shone brightly in the sky, but it didn't look very happy. It occasionally sat behind the purple clouds like a lazy cat.
Leon tightened his boots and looked at the Heavenly Tribulation disciples. They were walking with their chests puffed out, looking like they owned the place specially Kael and Evan. Now that they had levelled up, they were almost behaving like they were invincible—except Vane. He was still quiet and cool. Looking at the broody look on Vane's face, he must attract a line of beauties big enough to wrap around a mountain, Leon thought.
"Hey, Kael," Leon said, walking next to the big guy. "Why did you guys actually enter the Middle Region? Everyone says the Middle Wetlands are a place where even the most powerful meet their end. Why are you all that desperate for resources? Aren't resources in the sect enough for safer cultivation?"
Kael stopped smiling for once and sighed. "It's because of the upcoming sect competition in three months, Leon. Our sect has so many disciples. If we don't get an Elder to pick us as their personal disciple, we'll never be able to rise to the peak of sword strength. We had to come here to get strong fast. No risk, no gain, right?" His smile returned. "And the gains till now have been significant—although we haven't had luck with treasures, our cultivation has increased. We might actually have a chance this time."
Leon nodded. Becoming the disciple of an Elder must have its fair share of benefits.
As they walked deeper, a thick, grey fog rolled in. It was so heavy that Leon couldn't see his own hands even a few feet in front of him. It felt like walking through a bowl of soup. Kael and Evan felt the same.
"I can't see a thing," Leon said, holding his sword tight.
"Don't worry, Leon. Vane and I can use spirit sense," Sira said as she and Vane started navigating them through the thick fog.
Spirit sense was a technique that allowed cultivators to observe their surroundings using their spiritual energy without needing their eyes. People starting from the Spirit Profound Realm could use spirit sense. The greater one's cultivation, the greater their range to observe.
What followed was a gruelling four-day trek straight through the oppressive grey mist. For Vane and Sira, it was a test of their spiritual endurance. For Leon and the others, it was absolute torture. Straining his mortal eyes and ears for ninety-six hours straight left him exhausted and on edge. Although he couldn't see anything, that only made him feel more uneasy. He felt deeply envious. Must be nice to have a radar in your head, he thought bitterly. He had to stumble through the blind fog like a mortal while those two had a working cheat code in their minds.
After four straight days of walking, the fog finally broke to reveal a huge building carved directly into the side of a cliff. It looked ancient and ominous. A massive set of stairs led straight down into the dark ground.
"Should we head in?" Vane raised the question.
"Why not? My gut says this place definitely holds something special," said Kael. Leon, however, felt that something was ominous about this place, but he did not speak his mind.
"Sira, what do you think?" Vane asked Sira. In these cases, their party usually relied on her—her judgment having saved them many times.
"I think it might be one of those trials we've heard about from the seniors," Sira said, sounding unsure of her judgment. She added, "I feel that the fog purposefully led us to this place."
Looking at the stairs leading down, they all had the same curiosity: where was it heading?
"If there's a chance that it's a trial, then I think we should take that chance. Trials are a chance to prove your worth," Vane said.
They agreed unanimously and started walking down the stairs. After they all had the same purpose in coming to the Wetlands—strength and resources—after walking down around a thousand more steps, they reached the bottom.
At the bottom of the stairs, a massive black metal door blocked the way. It was covered in weird, cryptic symbols.
"Hmm, definitely not a language I can understand," Kael said, looking at the symbols. "Can we blast it open?"
"Move aside, Kael. I think I can give this a try," Leon said, pushing his way to the front. He looked at the symbols and found that he could actually read them. "The Divine Tortoise and the Alcazar," he read aloud.
Sira looked shocked. "You can read this ancient gibberish?"
"Hey, when you're a 'useless' prince who can't fight, you have a lot of time to read," Leon replied. He knew this because he had spent years studying the Wetlands' history in the Empire, never knowing the knowledge would one day come in handy to a cripple like him.
Leon spoke a weird, scratchy word out loud.
CLANG
Suddenly, the giant door groaned and swung open. A puff of dusty air hit them, and then light illuminated the room.
"Heavens!" Kael shouted, slapping his thighs.
It was a treasure room! There were piles and piles of gold ore everywhere. Chests were overflowing with blue spirit stones that glowed like little stars. Old scrolls and weapons leaned against every wall.
But in the middle of the room, stuck in a black stone block, was a sword. It had a blue-coloured hilt, and its blade shone in the light. It radiated an intent so sharp that even looking at it made Leon's eyes hurt.
Suddenly, Vane started walking toward the sword. His normally unreadable, cool exterior vanished, replaced by an expression of raw, helpless hunger. He walked toward the sword like he was in a trance, his boots dragging against the stone.
"I can't even tell how strong this sword is," he whispered. His voice sounded hoarse and strained, like he was fighting his own vocal cords. "It's... it's calling me."
"Vane, wait!" Leon yelled. "This looks like a trap!"
"Leon, we're in a ruin!" Kael said, moving forward and already stuffing gold into his spatial ring. "Everything is a trap! Grab what you can! You can trust your brother Kael." He thumped his chest with confidence.
Leon looked at the piles of spirit stones. His heart started beating fast. His mind screamed at him that taking even a single stone was bait for the trap he had just called out. But the glowing stones pulsed with a sickly, sweet spiritual allure that bypassed his logic, clouding his judgment. The intoxicating energy pulled at him, drowning out his natural caution.
He started shovelling spirit stones into his canvas bag as fast as he could, his hands moving with an unnatural greed. But the bag was tiny, and it was already starting to rip. He felt like crying. I need more space! he thought.
Suddenly, his eyes fell on a distant spear—a short spear buried in a pile of silver. It was dark, heavy, and felt very powerful. Spirit Profound Realm! Leon exclaimed silently. But the even better part was the handle. A small, black ring was wrapped around it.
Leon's eyes turned into gold coins. He grabbed the ring and put it on. He felt a giant, empty space inside it. A spatial ring.
"Hahaha! What a loot! Finally, I have a spatial ring!" he cheered. He started siphoning whole piles of spirit stones into the ring hungrily, along with all sorts of scrolls and weapons.
"Vane! Let's go!" Kael suddenly yelled from across the room.
But Vane wasn't listening. He was standing at the black stone, sweating profusely. His hand was shaking violently, as if his rational mind was battling his body's urge to reach for the sword. The insidious black aura of the blade was already reaching out, wrapping around his arm like a snake and overriding his control.
"Vane, don't touch it!" Kael's shout seemed to bring Leon to his senses. Sensing the abnormality, he screamed, running toward Vane.
But it was too late.
Vane's hand closed around the hilt. He gave it a hard pull.
The room didn't explode. The gold didn't vanish. Instead, the entire floor just... disappeared beneath them.
Leon didn't even have time to curse. They all fell into a giant void that had appeared. They fell for a long, long time—their clothes fluttering, wind whistling in their ears. Leon closed his eyes, cursing his greed. Just some spirit stones made me lose my senses, and now I'm about to become a pancake on the floor. Kael was endlessly screaming for his mother, while Vane and the others seemed to have already paid their respects to their ancestors in the afterlife.
When what felt like an hour had passed, right before they were about to hit the bottom, something weird happened. The air turned thick, like they were falling through honey. Their speed slowed down until they were just drifting. Then, the force disappeared.
THUD
Leon fell face-first from about three meters up. He rolled over, spitting out dust.
"Is everyone alive?" Vane's voice came from the dark, sounding very embarrassed.
"I think I broke my nose. Again," Kael groaned.
Evan was still scared from the fall, his body shivering. Sira reached out to comfort him.
Leon pushed himself up, rubbing his sore face. He looked up at the miles-long tunnel they had just fallen through.
"Vane, what happened there?" Leon asked. "Our senses were definitely affected in that room."
"I... I don't know... I just felt a really strong pull toward that sword, like it was calling out to me," Vane recounted. "I think it was some kind of spell forcing me towards that sword, and we've all been lured into something unknown."
"So in short, we were screwed the moment we entered the room," Leon said, wiping blood from his lips. "If even Vane couldn't resist the effect of that spell—or whatever it was—how could we?"