Chapter 166 Murals and Packages

All four people present fixed their gazes on the golden giant gate.

"There is only pitch black, nothing can be seen..."

At this moment, Lin Wei had already calmed down and started observing the characteristics of the golden giant gate.

"Go on in, Lin Wei." Jartings repeated his earlier words.

"Yes, Lord Dean," Lin Wei answered in a low voice.

Without hesitation, he stepped directly inside. Lin Wei had been prepared for this for a long time, so after the initial shock, he felt no particular sense of fear. Lin Wei had no way out; this was his only choice.

Watching Lin Wei's figure disappear into the golden giant gate, a complex look flashed in Jartings's eyes: "This is the most precious sacrifice in recent years, nothing must go wrong..."

...

Just as Lin Wei stepped through the golden giant gate, the originally pitch-black space suddenly became bright.

Lin Wei subconsciously looked back at the path he had come from, only to find that the original golden giant gate had disappeared at some point.

He seemed to have been placed in an empty, uninhabited space.

Lin Wei looked around in all directions.

"It seems to be an infinitely extending space. Even though there is plenty of light, I simply cannot see where the end is..."

Lin Wei groped his way forward while walking.

The secrets of this mysterious space were unknown to the Shadow Forest, unknown to the Fangs of Blood Shadow, and unknown to him. All his subsequent actions would have to be completed entirely on his own.

"Does testing the condition and quality of a sacrifice really require such a complicated process?"

A trace of doubt arose in Lin Wei's heart. Vaguely, he felt that the form and significance of this space's existence were not as simple as they appeared on the surface.

Just as Lin Wei was moving forward without a clue, he suddenly felt the light above his head flare brilliantly.

"What is that?"

Lin Wei quickly raised his head, the intense white light causing his pupils to contract instinctively.

Rows of horizontal and vertical lines intersected to form neat grids. The intensely dazzling white light flowed rapidly across the lines like swimming fish.

Dense, mysterious characters rapidly split apart within the grids, then drifted apart and healed again. Everything was in a state of unfathomable transformation.

"This seems to be a chessboard?"

The white light cast a reflection on Lin Wei's retinas.

Just as Lin Wei wanted to observe the changes of the mysterious characters further, a grid on the chessboard suddenly erupted with a beam of light that could pierce the endless darkness, shooting straight toward Lin Wei.

"Huh?!"

Lin Wei almost instinctively wanted to dodge.

However, the speed of this beam of light was simply too fast—so fast that it was almost synchronized with Lin Wei's consciousness. Before his body could make any movement, Lin Wei was enveloped by it.

His consciousness did not experience a gradual fading process; it was directly cut off!

...

I do not know how much time had passed.

"Mhm..."

The very first instant Lin Wei recovered his consciousness, he felt as though he were lying on a warm floor.

He propped his body up with his arms and sat up.

"There seems to be no discomfort..."

Lin Wei's physical state seemed no different from when he had lost consciousness, without a single aftereffect of dizziness.

He stood up and scanned his surroundings.

"Clearly there is no light source, yet everything can be seen with absolute clarity..."

This had nothing to do with Lin Wei's night vision ability, making him feel somewhat novel.

"I seem to be trapped in a cramped space..."

At this moment, Lin Wei was inside a sealed space of only about ten square meters. Above his head, beneath his feet, and all around him were dark red walls.

The walls were extremely smooth, without a trace of blemishes.

Lin Wei walked up to the dark red wall and gently stroked the surface with his fingertips.

"This wall... seems to be warm..."

Lin Wei sensed a faint warmth emanating from the wall.

Without stopping his movements, he knocked hard against the wall with the knuckles of his middle and index fingers.

A muffled thud echoed from the wall.

"Solid..." Lin Wei formed a rough judgment regarding the construction of the wall.

"Qiu Xin, detect the composition of the wall!" Lin Wei commanded directly.

"Detection failed, covered by unknown energy."

"Is it trying to make me break out of here?"

A new thought emerged in Lin Wei's mind. This place was completely empty, with virtually no clues for escape.

"It seems I have to resort to brute force..."

A wave of wizard power undulated within Lin Wei's body, and a tiny sphere floated out from his palm.

"Shadow Extreme... Explode!"

Boom!

The tiny sphere exploded with a deafening roar the moment it neared the wall!

The intense aftershock forced Lin Wei to activate the defense of the Astral Dark Quicksand to prevent injuring himself.

"There is no change at all, not even a tiny speck of gravel..."

A look of solemnity appeared in Lin Wei's eyes: "An explosive spell like Shadow Extreme couldn't even damage this wall by a fraction?!"

Just as Lin Wei was momentarily at a loss for what to do:

Boom, boom, boom!

The dark red walls suddenly began to change.

Lin Wei retreated instinctively to the very center of the space.

He gathered all his concentration, watching the surrounding changes with extreme caution.

Swish, swish, swish...

On the surface of the previously smooth and flawless walls, uneven edges and corners began to protrude from the inside.

"What is this?"

Only three of the walls were changing; there was no movement above Lin Wei's head or beneath his feet.

"Are these... murals?"

The irregular stones emerging from the walls stopped shaking and came to a completely motionless halt against the wall surface.

Just as Lin Wei was planning to step forward to uncover the secret, he suddenly noticed an additional burlap package near his feet.

"This is the most common kind of package in the mortal realm..."

Lin Wei squatted down and picked up the package. The crude workmanship made him frown slightly.

He pinched the unprovoked package with his hand and suddenly touched a hard object: "There is something inside..."

Clatter!

Lin Wei pinched the bottom corner of the package and dumped everything inside out in one go.

"These things..."

A strange expression appeared on Lin Wei's face.

"Black bread... green vegetables... cement fruit... and..." Lin Wei was instantly puzzled, "These are all things that mortals use..."

Aside from the items Lin Wei had silently named, there were also two containers.

One large and one small, they lay beside the rest of the items.

Lin Wei first picked up the larger container and pulled out the cork.

"It seems to be a wine flask..."

Lin Wei sniffed at the mouth of the bottle, and a reek of alcohol drifted out. He frowned: "Inferior wine..."

Lin Wei reinserted the cork and picked up the smaller container instead.

"This is... mustard?!"

Lin Wei opened the lid of the container, the expression on his face growing even stranger.

"These things appearing out of nowhere... what on earth is their purpose?" Lin Wei rubbed his chin, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Could this just be on the surface?"

"Qiu Xin, detect the composition of the food before me and determine whether any anomalies exist!"