After about ten minutes of aimless wandering, I noticed a glowing arrow, as if drawn by a trembling hand. At first, I assumed it was the handiwork of a previous visitor, but then I realized the iridescent shimmer on this arrow was identical to the more polished ones I’d encountered earlier. It was unlikely any of the other students wielded such "magic." Without hesitation, I turned into the passage it indicated, walked about ten meters, and stopped abruptly.
My psionic senses warned me that taking three more steps would result in my death. Scanning the nearby area confirmed the presence of a hidden trap. At knee height, a nearly invisible thread of Qi stretched across the passageway, while on the ceiling lay a one-time-use spell containing an "air blade" attack.
Visualizing the future options, I saw curved Qi "blades" slicing through the air with devastating sharpness. I spent five minutes examining both the present configuration and potential outcomes until I understood how the mechanism worked. Then, using the Qi blade technique I had just reverse-engineered, I severed the energy thread ahead. The trap activated, disarming itself, and I confidently walked forward. Even if the trap wasn’t single-use, its recharge time was likely measured in hours.
This "borrowed" technique turned out to be quite effective. In terms of efficiency, it surpassed my ‘Eastern Demon’s Tentacle’ for dispatching enemies. Naturally, I decided to name this one ‘Western Demon’s Claw’. The local population should to be dazzled with appropriately epic names.
Moving forward, I entered... a dead end. The small hall I found myself in had alcoves lining its sides. However, my psionic scan revealed a vertical shaft hidden in one of the alcoves, leading upward. Using the Dance of Autumn Leaves technique, I pushed off the walls to climb the shaft.
The ascent was about thirty meters, but when I emerged into another corridor, I was pleasantly surprised by its grandeur. Everything here was adorned with gold and gemstones, and the lighting was much brighter. Another glowing arrow directed my path. Following its guidance, I boldly pressed onward until I reached a fork in the corridor.
Here, the hallway split: one path angled 45 degrees to the left, the other 45 degrees to the right. Ten meters further, the left-hand corridor turned sharply right to 90 degrees, and the right-hand corridor turned left to 90 degrees. Theoretically, they should have converged into a square. However, my psionic senses revealed something impossible: the two corridors passed through each other without intersecting. I verified this phenomenon multiple times, and each time the result was the same. It was like a tinkering with higher dimensions, yet I didn’t sense any spatial distortions. Somehow, the corridors existed in dimensions I couldn’t perceive.
Standing there like a fool for ten minutes, I failed to unravel the mystery of this trickery. With a weary sigh, I decided to shelve the puzzle for later and turned left. After all, real men always go left. What followed was a genuine maze experience: aimless wandering without any clear sense of direction. I could circle the same pillar ten times, only to find a new passage on the eleventh lap.
Eventually, I realized I was thoroughly lost. So, I decided to trust my intuition—more specifically, my sense of potential futures. Despite the countless possible outcomes ahead, my subconscious, honed by Air Mage training, excelled at processing vast arrays of data. To my surprise, some paths seemed to lead to problems. I couldn’t discern the details because those issues lay too far ahead, but I wasn’t eager to find out. Instead, I gravitated toward a path that promised a pleasantly surprising outcome.
My movements finally acquired a clear purpose, even though to an observer, it might have looked like the erratic scurrying of a rat in a maze. Half an hour later, I found myself in a section that resembled royal chambers. As I progressed further, I entered a richly decorated hall, its perimeter lined with treasures displayed in special niches. There were ornate armor sets, weapons, staffs, rods, books, and mysterious jade tablets, all protected by impenetrable Qi-based force fields. I spent five minutes wandering around the room, trying to foresee a future where I successfully bypassed the vault's defenses, but it was all futile.
Eventually, my attention was drawn to the centerpiece of the collection. At the far end of the hall, on a lavishly decorated pedestal, lay a small jade tablet. It looked ancient, riddled with cracks and chips, and mysterious glyphs on its surface exuded an aura of concealed meaning. Intriguing as it was, the most notable thing about this treasure was its lack of any protective shield, making it accessible to anyone. Naturally, this raised my suspicion, like noticing the cheese in a mousetrap.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Despite my skepticism, the lure of the inaccessible treasures around me had whetted my appetite. With nothing else within reach, I decided to investigate the seemingly humble offering left by the creators of this place. Using the technique of the Eastern Demon Tentacle, I pulled the tablet closer and examined it. Then, attuning my mind for reading, I attempted to extract the information stored within, much like I would with any other jade book. Over time, I had mastered the ability to access such sources directly, bypassing the need for specialized devices.
Immediately, my consciousness was transported into a mystical dimension within the tablet. Radiant mist surrounded me, and enormous glowing glyphs hung in the air like molten gold. I didn’t recognize any of these symbols, but by focusing on them, I managed to grasp the deeper meaning embedded within.
“The great is the turning of the black. Who traverses the triple path shall receive the seven blessings. Eternal Strength shall find the fractured vessel and manifest a miracle. Heavenly law and the hidden dragon.”
The words carried an air of profound wisdom, though their full significance remained elusive. Brief flashes of insight hinted at the depth of knowledge contained within this tablet, yet the truth felt maddeningly out of reach.
Forcing myself out of the trance induced by these cryptic symbols, I surveyed the room, walked up to the pedestal where the tablet had rested, and smashed it against a sharp corner. The tablet cracked in half. Then again. And again. Until shards of jade scattered across the floor, turning to fine debris that filled the air.
Like hell I’d meditate on such heretical nonsense. Let the local cultivators waste their brains on these so-called "profound teachings". Anyway, they do not understand anything about the cultivation, so even if they clutter their minds with this "great knowledge" they wouldn’t lose anything. Irritated, I cast a scornful glance around the hall before heading for the exit. If all the treasures here were of this caliber, I’d be severely disappointed.
I continued through the palace corridors and soon emerged... into an open space. Before me lay a garden, and in the distance, I saw endless fields overgrown with grass. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed the absence of the sun and the strange grayish tint of the sky. It seemed that this entire world existed in some kind of pocket dimension, similar to the spatial ring. Nearby, I spotted another glowing arrow pointing the way forward. Without hesitation, I followed the path it indicated.
The landscape I traversed resembled a slightly neglected garden. Still, the paths were immaculate, the grass well-kept, and the flowers dazzled with vibrant colors. Clearly, this place had been crafted with a love for grandeur. Even the benches in the garden were adorned with gold and precious gems. Unfortunately, like the labyrinth walls, these benches were protected by fortification techniques that made it impossible to chip away a piece of their splendor or even scratch a “Vasya was here” inscription.
Walking along the path, I noticed another bench. On it, nestled in where seemed to be a deliberately crafted depression, lay a small jade sphere. It was about five centimeters in diameter, with a bright green hue that stood out against the gray granite of the bench. Picking up the trinket, I examined it from all sides. In one section of the jade, faint blue lines formed a stylized image of a cloud.
The sphere emitted a barely noticeable Qi aura, prompting me to use my thought-reading technique after settling down on the bench. I was drawn into another "virtual world" where an old man in opulent robes appeared before me. His long beard and hair gleamed with snowy whiteness, while his bright blue eyes radiated otherworldly wisdom.
"Greetings, chosen one!" - the old man proclaimed pompously, as if he had been rehearsing this moment for a millennium. Clearly, this wasn’t something an absent-minded student had forgotten while resting on a bench.
"Hey there, old-man. Who are you in life? What do you do? What's your function?" - I asked, unfazed.
"What? How dare, I am the great cultivator Gas Bag Din! How dare you address me so disrespectfully?"
"Great cultivator?" - I smirked derisively. - "What’s so great about you? Why should I respect you?"
"I am a thousand years older than you!" - the old man huffed indignantly, stomping his foot in frustration.
"Listen" - I said, leaning back with a smirk. - "There are four kinds of people. Priests and mages pride themselves on knowledge. Warriors boast of their honor and valor in battle. Merchants flaunt their wealth and luck in business. The last one are slaves, they’re only respected for how long they’ve survived. Why would I need a teacher from the caste of slaves?"
"Khuh! Khuh! Khuh!" - The old man coughed up three mouthfuls of blood before managing to compose himself. - "You!" - he exclaimed, almost hurt. - "I possess countless secrets of cultivation!"
"For example?" - I queried, raising an eyebrow. - "I also have plenty of knowledge myself. What makes your knowledge better than mine? Go ahead, enlighten me with some profound truth."