Entering the Secret Realm, A Treasure Hunt

My feet had barely stepped inside when the ground felt like walking on thin ice, trembling slightly beneath me. I immediately steadied myself, my right hand still in a forward-pushing stance. The drop of blood on my fingertip had dried, but a connection I couldn't quite describe still linked my palm to the seal, like a thin thread tethering me to the outside world.

I knew my retreat was still open.

My vision was obscured by a gray haze, my sight disoriented, unable to distinguish up from down, left from right. My spiritual sense swept out immediately, only to be blocked by something, allowing me to probe just three feet ahead. Some of the stone bricks on the ground glowed faintly, their light flickering. I didn't dare move carelessly.

"System," I asked mentally, "can you identify the current environment?"

After a few seconds of waiting, there was no response.

I frowned, contemplating whether to retract my spiritual sense and try again, when I suddenly detected a slight disturbance in the air about three feet to my left. It was clearly empty there, yet my spiritual sense felt a sense of substance when it swept past.

That was the real path.

I slowly turned sideways, my left foot tapping forward a step. As my foot landed, I felt a solid surface beneath it, completely different from the previous hollowness. I stood firm and summoned my spirit beast to my side. It walked close to my right leg, its horn pointed towards the ground, its ears twitching slightly.

We moved forward step by step.

After walking five steps, my vision finally cleared a bit. Above, there was a black rock ceiling that seemed to stretch endlessly. Stone walls appeared on either side, etched with broken patterns, as if violently torn apart by some force. A faint scent of rust hung in the air, mixed with the smell of aged dust.

Before I had traveled ten feet, the air ahead suddenly changed.

Several semi-transparent silk threads emerged from all directions, weaving into a net that spanned the center of the passage. They remained still, but the moment my spiritual sense touched them, I felt a strong flow of energy.

This was a formation.

I stopped, and the spirit beast crouched beside me, sniffing the air and letting out a low growl.

Just then, a voice sounded in my mind: [Detected elementary formation structure, question generated]

Immediately, text appeared directly in my consciousness:

[Question: Which of the following is most likely the flaw in the 'Entangling Silk Spirit Binding Formation'?]

[A. Destroy the formation eye in the southeast corner]

[B. Forcefully break through with high-level spiritual power]

[C. Wait for a momentary gap during the cycle to pass through]

[D. Induce ground vibrations to disrupt the rhythm]

I stared at the options, my mind racing.

The formation's name included "entangling silk," suggesting it primarily relied on a continuous cycle of spiritual power to trap people. If it was continuously operating, there must be a brief pause in the middle, like breathing, impossible to sustain forever.

I chose C.

The moment the thought formed, the System immediately responded: [Correct answer, reward 'Insightful Vision', duration ten breaths]

The scene before me instantly transformed.

The previously invisible silk threads now became clear, each one connected to a point on the wall. And in the very center, the net loosened slightly every few breaths, for an extremely short duration, about the blink of an eye.

That was the gap.

I grabbed my spirit beast's horn and whispered, "When I rush through, you tap the third floor tile to the front right with your horn."

It nodded.

I took a deep breath, focusing on the center of the silk net. As soon as the next loosening occurred, I lunged forward.

The moment my body moved, the rock ceiling above began to slowly close in, the sound of grinding stone echoing in the passage. While still in mid-air, I felt the air pressure change, as if I were about to be crushed.

At that exact instant, the spirit beast's horn struck the floor tile.

"Weng--"

The ground shook, and the silk net ahead contracted violently, all lines converging towards the center before snapping apart with a "pa" sound. The safe passage was revealed.

I rolled as I landed and got to my feet, looking back. The rock walls had closed to just one person's width; any later and I would have been trapped.

The spirit beast leaped over, standing beside me, its breathing a little rapid.

I patted its back. "It's okay now."

We continued forward.

The passage became narrower, and ancient symbols appeared on the walls, a dark red color, as if drawn with blood. I let my spiritual sense sweep along the walls and discovered that these symbols were incomplete, some missing a stroke, others broken in the middle.

This wasn't a complete formation, but more like a warning.

After walking another dozen steps, cracks began to appear on the ground, revealing a faint light from below. With every step I took, I could feel something moving beneath, not a living creature, but some kind of mechanical structure in operation.

I slowed my pace, stopping at each step.

Suddenly, the spirit beast shoved me hard to the left.

I stumbled a couple of steps, and as soon as I regained my balance, the spot where I had been standing collapsed, revealing a deep pit filled with spikes that gleamed with a dark, obviously poisonous sheen.

I took a breath and looked at the spirit beast. Its eyes were tense, its horn pointed forward.

I knew it was reminding me not to be careless anymore.

For the rest of the path, I switched to using my spiritual sense like a needle to probe ahead. I released a little at a time, confirming safety before taking another step. This made progress extremely slow, but at least I wouldn't step on anything wrong.

Half an hour later, the passage reached its end.

Ahead lay a dense fog, grayish-blue and motionless, like solidified water. My spiritual sense had barely penetrated five feet before being pushed back, causing a sharp pain in my forehead, like being pricked by a needle.

I took a few steps back and sat down cross-legged.

The spiritual power within my body also began to destabilize, as if suppressed by something, and its circulation slowed. I tried to regulate my breathing, guiding the spiritual power through my meridians in a small Heavenly Cycle, and only then did I feel slightly better.

The spirit beast lay beside me, its nose to the ground. It suddenly raised its head and let out a low growl into the mist.

I opened my eyes. "What did you sense?"

It didn't answer, just stood up, took two steps forward, then looked back at me with a serious expression.

I knew what it meant—there was something inside, not dangerous, but something else.

I reached out and touched my storage bag, taking out a jade slip. This was the detector I got from answering questions before; it could still be used once. I injected spiritual power into it, and a faint light appeared on the surface of the jade slip, pointing towards the depths of the mist.

It matched the spirit beast's feeling.

Just as I was about to put it away, the System's voice sounded in my mind again: "[Detected high-level spiritual energy fluctuation, matching degree 92%, consistent with characteristics of 'advanced cultivation technique' or 'origin artifact']"

I tightened my grip on the jade slip.

As expected, there was a treasure.

Although I didn't know what it was specifically, anything marked as high-level by the System was definitely not ordinary. Moreover, this secret realm had been sealed for so many years; anything that remained must be important.

I stood up and stretched my limbs.

My meridians were clear, and although my spiritual power was suppressed, I could still mobilize more than seventy percent of it. As long as I didn't encounter an overwhelmingly strong enemy, I should be able to handle it.

I glanced at the spirit beast. "Ready?"

It let out a low growl, its front paws pointed forward, standing to my right.

I lifted my foot and walked into the mist.

The moment I stepped in, the temperature plummeted, and goosebumps rose on my skin. The mist clung to my face, slightly damp but not cold. My vision was compressed to only about two steps ahead; beyond that, I couldn't see clearly.

I continued to probe forward with my spiritual sense, like a needle piercing through. Every inch of progress was difficult. I could feel that there was a large space ahead, not narrow like a passage. There were also steps, descending one by one.

After walking about thirty steps, the ground turned into stone steps.

I counted my steps, descending a total of twenty-three, arriving at a flat area. The mist here was even thicker, almost sticking to my face. My spiritual sense could only reach three zhang, and beyond that, it became completely ineffective.

But I could sense it.

There was something ahead.

It wasn't killing intent, nor was it the fluctuation of a formation, but a kind of quiet power, as if it were asleep but constantly breathing.

The spirit beast suddenly stopped, its ears perked up, its entire body tensed.

I also sensed it.

There was a vibration in the ground, very faint, with a stable frequency, like some mechanism in operation. It vibrated every seven breaths, like a heartbeat.

I held my breath and condensed my last wisp of spiritual sense into a point, piercing towards the source of the vibration.

The instant it made contact, my glabella suddenly burned.

System Prompt: "[Hidden path discovered, coordinates have been marked]"

Just as I was about to withdraw my spiritual sense, the ground suddenly vibrated.

Not with the usual rhythm.

This time it was heavier, as if something had been awakened.

The spirit beast growled, its horn pointed forward.

I raised my hand, condensing a ball of spiritual power in my palm, ready to strike at any moment.

In the mist, a shadow slowly moved.