Chapter 192: At the Bottom of the Pit
At this time, Jiang Yue felt a vibration on his chest area and his eyes widened.
’Treasure compass?’ He thought, and his heart beat a little faster.
He was so focused on other things that he didn’t realise the treasure compass had been vibrating since he entered the cavern.
Without delay, he turned around to face the corner and removed the compass.
He hid the compass with the edge of his sleeve and turned back to locate the treasure.
However, when he looked at the compass needle, his eyes widened in surprise. This is because the compass was swinging wildly and could not settle on a direction.
’What’s the situation?’ He wondered and looked around.
The cavern had more character than the previous stone rooms, but it was still empty.
There was only the pit and mat, so Jiang Yue didn’t understand why the compass was reacting so strongly.
After taking a deep breath, he looked at the compass more carefully. This time, he noticed that the compass needle wasn’t swinging randomly.
It was just undecided between two points.
One point was the cultivation mat, and the other was the pit.
’Is there something in the pit?’ He looked at the pit and then the mat.
Since he couldn’t use the mat, for the time being, he decided to investigate the pit.
However, he didn’t want to alert the others.
Although the others didn’t seem interested in his presence, he knew they were keeping an eye on him.
If he went to the pit directly, they would be curious and probably follow him down.
With such thoughts in mind, Jiang Yue began to check the walls while slowly making his way to the pit.
This took two hours, but he didn’t show impatience. His patience had also paid off because he had learned more about the chamber.
When he first arrived, he hoped for a chance to cultivate on the mat, but he didn’t know if he could get it.
However, after two hours, he learned the cultivation mat wasn’t as simple as he thought.
Jiang Yue didn’t know how it worked, but he suspected it had a consciousness.
This suspicion was because the person sitting on the mat was suddenly ejected half an hour ago, and another person was pulled onto the mat.
After that, Jiang Yue talked to one of the cultivators who arrived earlier than him.
From her, he learned that one could only sit on the mat for seven days.
After seven days, the mat would eject the cultivator sitting on it and pull another one on.
However, this pulling was not random.
It followed the order of entering the room, and Jiang Yue was in the fourteenth place. This meant he wouldn’t get his turn until three months later, but he wasn’t in a hurry.
Since his turn was within the opening time of the small secret realm, he didn’t need to worry.
In fact, it played in his favour.
Until his turn came, he could use the three months to investigate the pit and grab whatever treasures were hidden in the deep.
Standing at the pit edge, Jiang Yue took a deep breath.
He didn’t know what was at the bottom of the pit, and he worried he would encounter unforeseeable danger.
However, he was a cultivator.
If he didn’t fight against the odds, his future would be mediocre, and he couldn’t stand that.
After taking a last look at the mat, Jiang Yue activated three defence talismans and jumped into the pit.
"Another one jumped into the pit." Someone said, and several chuckled in schadenfreude.
They were all cultivators and also desired treasures, but they treasured their lives more.
Before entering the secret realm, their Lu family elders had warned them about entering the pit.
According to the elders, there was something at the bottom of the pit. They didn’t know what it was, but they knew no one had ever come up after going down.
"He is just an outsider. Who told him to covet the treasures of our Lu family." Someone sneered.
"How did he even know about our ancestor’s cave?"
"What does it matter if he knows? Isn’t he going to die?"
"These miners should know their place and stick to their roles."
The Lu family cultivators continued in this way, but Jiang Yue didn’t know and wouldn’t care if he knew.
At the moment, he was falling rapidly, and his body felt heavier with every second. His bones were creaking loudly, and a line of blood dripped from the edge of his mouth.
"What is this crazy gravity?" He muttered through gritted teeth.
After so long in the secret realm, Jiang Yue had cultivated to the peak of the second level of the flame body refining technique.
This level was equivalent to the peak of the qi transformation realm.
Logically, there shouldn’t have been anything in the secret realm that could threaten him in this manner.
However, he was clearly mistaken.
As he fell, his bones began to break, and he frantically swallowed a rejuvenation pill.
At the same time, he circulated his qi to refine the pill and maintain his state.
When he finally reached the ground, Jiang Yue felt like he had been falling forever. His bones were broken in several places and blood was pouring out of his pores, dying his clothes a light shade of pink.
’I can’t delay.’ He thought and sat cross-legged.
He forced himself to ignore the pressure that was bearing down on him and circulated the third level of the flame body refining technique.
At this moment, he realised that his only chance of survival lay in breaking through to the third level of flame body refining.
If he didn’t break through, he wouldn’t be able to fly out of the pit and would be crushed by gravity without leaving a speck of bone.
After that, Jiang Yue took three rejuvenation pills and focused on breaking through.
Fortunately, he had already felt the barrier to the third level and only needed an opportunity to break through.
The gravity in the pit was sufficient as an opportunity, and Jiang Yue broke through after five days of cultivation.
However, this breakthrough was not easy.
He often needed rejuvenation pills, and even then, his body was not in good condition.
Even after breaking through, Jiang Yue found that the pressure on his body only lessened but was not extinguished.
"What kind of gravity stone is in this pit?" He muttered.
Although he had had a brush with death, Jiang Yue was also excited.
He had collected a lot of gravity stones for Yu Nianzhen to use, but nothing like the one in the pit.
If he collected it, the effect of the gravity formation he arranged would be better than he initially thought.
After stabilising his body refining cultivation, Jiang Yue began to search using the treasure compass.
He overturned the ground and examined the stones at the bottom of the pit. Eventually, he found a stone the size of his fist.
The stone was round and smooth, which reminded him of the rocks found at the bottom of a river.
However, unlike those stones, this stone exuded an intense gravity that threatened to pull out his soul.
’Can this be kept in the storage ring?’ He wondered and frowned.
Instinctively, he felt it was a bad idea to place the stone in his storage ring.
With its gravity, all the things in his storage ring would probably be destroyed, and Jiang Yue didn’t want that.
After thinking about it, he decided to send the stone to one of the training rooms in the ancient palace.
Although he didn’t know if the ancient palace could withstand it, he was hopeful. After all, the palace was an ancient growth item.
As luck would have it, Jiang Yue was right. The stone entered the ancient palace without causing any ripples.
’It’s good this way. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to do.’ He thought and flumped on the ground.
His nerves had been tense for many days, and he finally felt like he could relax.
Without the stone, the bottom of the pit was just another piece of ground with normal gravity.
This allowed Jiang Yue to relax and recuperate from the damage caused by the stone. He could also focus enough to continue stabilising his body refining cultivation, which had just broken through.
Two months later, he flew out of the pit and re-entered the cavern.
Unexpectedly, the number of people in the room was the same as before, and he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow.
’Did no one enter while I was at the bottom of the pit?’ He wondered and looked around.
He confirmed that those in the room were the same as before.
This meant that no one had entered, and none had left.
’Is there a limit to the number of cultivators that can enter, or be in the room at the same time?’
’My luck is really not bad.’ He thought.
If his speculation was true, he barely made the cut.
Just as Jiang Yue was thinking about his luck, a discordant voice reverberated in the cavern, and his eyes turned cold.
