The blast was easily felt by Sun Xieren, who rose to her feet in apprehension. The explosion could be felt so clearly, making the entire mountain quake from the inside. Not only so, but the shockwave brutally reached her.
After sending someone to gauge the damage, a fully covered black robed woman cupped her fists. "Sect mistress! The explosion happened less than twenty meters away! There are two confirmed dead elders, three severely injured elders, three lightly injured elders and two unconscious elders!"
Sun Xieren almost vomited blood from the unexpected outcome. Nearly all elders had been hit!
"Who did this?!" The black robed woman lowered her head in shame. "We have yet to understand what happened, but once the surviving elders recover, we might have more insight." She trembled from her sect mistress' boiling wrath. The temperature rose a few degrees, contradicting the usual.
"Find whoever did this, and why. In the meantime, block the access to this place and-" "Sect mistress! The Grand Elder wishes to see you near the fourth level!" A young but loud male voice echoed from beneath, near one of the pillars. Sun Xieren raised a brow. "Why now?" Heading down the stairs inside the pillar, she wanted to see what was going on.
In the meantime, a large group of brown robed cultivators was heading toward their Sky Sovereign Sect in bulks.
Sky Sovereign Sect, third level, sixty meters above the first level. A large golden door filled with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, amethysts, diamonds, and so on was lodged into the orange stone. The thickness appeared quite extreme from a few inspections. Wu Tian stood there with the ethereal Guizou behind.
His blue soul was deep into thought. The door could not be opened by force, and the frame along the surroundings were also heavily reinforced. If I possess him... and if I use around... ten? Twenty? Maybe more... I don't think it's worth the effort right now. But we are in a hurry...
Still inspecting the door while Wu Tian zoned out and recovered from the earlier show, Guizou then raised a brow while focusing on an emerald. "I think I got it? Turn the emerald horizontal, then that diamond two turns... the ruby over there six turns and... well, let's first see how that goes."
Doing as told, Wu Tian put his fingers onto the emerald shape of it and twisted with some difficulty. His fingers turning a little pale on contact and red around it, he finally managed to make the system give in, turning it horizontally.
A loud mechanism roaring for a few moments, it subsided while the emerald began to return back to its original position after ten seconds.
"So we have to go fast, huh..? Aiz... So annoying!" Wu Tian gave a wry smile as he blew on his fingertips. "Do you not like puzzles?" Guizou harrumphed behind the hand covering his mouth, slowly massaging his beard. "I like them, don't get me wrong young man. But not when we're in a hurry like this! On the contrary, puzzles are more enjoyable when you can relax... and easier too."
So you just prefer them when it's easier?
Seeing right through his disciple, Guizou smacked the back of his head with a snarl. "Get back to it! You only moved one!"
"Yes, yes..." Laughing awkwardly, Wu Tian turned the emerald, then the diamond and finally the ruby. The ruby and diamond were round, making his fingers hurt even more, but he did not mind much, hearing more heavy machinery shout from behind.
They kept going at it, trying to make sense of combinations amongst the dozens of gems before Guizou flipped. "Ah! Fuck this shit!" Possessing Wu Tian, his rosy white irises turned emerald green, his Warrior body suddenly rushing near the hinges of the door, on their right. Forming a thin rainbow crowbar, Guizou lodged it into the side, in between the heavy golden door and the frame. He then left this Qi there, waiting horizontally, before taking a step back. He then blurred, arriving near it as a powerful left punch hit it on the rightmost area, where it ended, as a loud metallic strain echoed. Looking to the side, the golden door was bent slightly.
"Seriously?" Repeating the process, the door kept screeching as forceful entry was being attempted. Each blow on this ethereal crowbar making it less bright and causing the door to shift more. After ten minutes of this, thankfully uninterrupted by anyone, the golden door was in a mess. They could even see some light from behind a thin crack. Meaning that they could also see the whole one meter and a half thickness of this door. Even a Star Realm expert might not be able to open it rapidly with brute force only.
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Wu Tian asked what material was the door made out of, as a Warrior of his caliber should be able to open a metallic door fairly easily. To which Guizou answered without losing focus, keeping his momentum going. "This is Thousand Arms Density Gold, you can say goodbye to any Mortal struck by this, and good luck to any Warrior wanting to break it. Maybe a Star Realm expert could break a thin bit of it, but a chunk of this size is nearly impossible to penetrate in one hit without quite the power."
"I'd say, a Great Master should be able to open this thick piece of shit in one hit. But a Master may not be able to. Especially since the difference between One Star and Two Stars, Eight Stars and Nine Stars isn't that much. You'll understand at the time."
Sending a powerful kick, Wu Tian's body bounced back a dozen steps before a crack spread from the mess on the right. "Finally. Getting somewhere." The crowbar suddenly snapped and disappeared into fragmented pieces of light during the next kick.
Wu Tian's now armored body was looming next to the giant crack. "Let's finish this with one big blow." Forming a rainbow bar out of thin air, Guizou also formed a hammer. He snug the bar deep inside before hammering it further in between the door and the resilient frame.
"They really had to use the same material for the frame. These normally functioning bastards... couldn't they be stupid? Just like you kid? Couldn't you spread your idiocy in the air or something?"
Wu Tian was offended by the words he hoped to be a joke.
"Alrighty then!" The bar deep inside, the armored Wu Tian took a few steps back, before channeling Qi into his entire body.
His weight began to change, more Qi and spiritual energy drained. When his body caused the ground to quake at a simple motion, his body rushed in, a left palm colliding with the bar from the side. An earthly shockwave visibly spread out, Guizou frowning before deflecting the momentum more to the side, letting him escape from a sudden flying door. Wiping Wu Tian's forehead, he soon left the body. "Phew! Quite the workout for my old bones!"
"Master... my body... my bones..." His master only sparred a disgusted grunt. "Did I ask?"
Sheepishly lowering his head, he entered through the giant doorway, immediately struck with rays of all shades. Guizou ordered him to return to the doorway, pressing and releasing some and not others with his help. Another mechanical sound echoed, Guizou nodding fervently. "Good! The traps are disarmed." Wu Tian asked why he had done as such. "There had to be traps inside, so instead of triggering them, we must disarm them. The easiest way, if available, is to return to the frame and replicate the closed door's mechanism before making it seem like it was opened normally. So instead of getting the right combination, just force it open, mimic the door's normal closing and opening system, and get in without trouble."
"It doesn't always go well, especially if something is triggered upon an inappropriate entry, but their intruder defense mechanism isn't very good compared to the material of the door, frame and walls."
"In any case, get to looting!"
Searching around for a way to carry the loot, they soon came across the most obvious item, right in the middle of dozens of full wooden and metallic shelves, kept onto a stone pedestal with rays of colorful lights falling upon it.
"That's..!" Guizou widened his eyes with a wide grin. "Get that! Now!" Wu Tian frowned after seeing the obvious item. "Is it fragile?" Seeing Guizou shake his head, Wu Tian sent an earthly shockwave with his palm, knocking it over. "No traps?" Guizou shrugged, pressing him to grab the small item.
A few steps later, crouching, Wu Tian was right above it, slowly picking it up from the dusty ground. It was a dark blue ring. "What's this? Is it that good?" Guizou almost wanted to strangle his ignorance out. "Of course! Put it on your most valued finger... the one you'll never lose... basically not on your right hand." Raising a brow, Wu Tian wanted to retort at the heartless jab, but ignored it, feeling a phantom pain as if he truly had his right arm back.
Way to go... remind me of it...
Putting the perfect mat ring on his left middle finger, it snug in quite nicely. "At least it fits..." Trying to put it on his other fingers, it could get past the joints too easily, loose. My fingers aren't that thin, are they? The ring seemed quite tight, but it was still too big for his hand.
Guizou took his left arm, inspecting the ring a bit more. "It doesn't really matter much, but it's upside down." A dumbfounded face later, Wu Tian twisted it on his middle finger, not seeing a change on the perfectly preserved ring. There was no blemish nor anything particularly fancy. It looked like a blue ring with a mat finish, no pattern, strange shape, or anything. Smooth all over.
Until Guizou stopped his movement, pointing at the ring. On top of it, facing Wu Tian's incredulous eyes, a minuscule diamond shaped engraving was there. In the middle, an engraved circle with a dot at the center. "You see this dot? This is a gem. It is the origin of the storage. If you ever break it, do not put your body in there! Well, if it breaks, you might have other problems, but you certainly don't want to get near it."
Wu Tian wanted to ask what, fortunately, Guizou was in the mood to explain. Or he may have been cautious, wanting his disciple to not make rash decisions in case something happened.
"Space rings are made by turning space inside out."
"By... what?"
"Are you not understanding? You just take space, and turn it inside out, just like a shirt."
Wu Tian only remained motionless, lost in thought.
So easy... you say... it's just... "Excuse me master, but what the fuck?"