"WAIT, TIARA, THE ICE DISCS ARE GONE!"
Alaric shouted profusely when the ground melted under his feet in the literal sense of the words. However, he soon noticed that the bloody mist devoured his technique, and nobody could hear him.
He tried to reconnect them by spending more Qi, but his attempt ended in failure as the technique, and he understood that the fog was interfering with his sense of direction.
'Sonic Echo.'
He performed another technique decisively, unwilling to crash on the ground and die. The way Sonic Echo worked was similar to how bats navigate; he used Sound Qi to send high-frequency sound waves to his surroundings and could determine the objects around him, including their distance from him and their shapes and sizes.
He wanted to sigh in relief when he finally perceived his surroundings, but he didn't have time for that. His speed was increasing with every second passing, and knowing his situation was only the first step to saving himself.
The young man used his spear to pierce through the rocky wall in front of him, but he never pierced too deep; only enough to slow down his fall but not enough for the spear to remain stuck inside while resisting his pull. He wasn't confident in being strong enough to stop his momentum at once, and he didn't want his hands to slip.
Alaric's arms worked hard, stabbing the wall repeatedly and slowing him down with every second passing. Not long after the ice discs disappeared, he felt something light hit his chest and remain there, but he didn't have the time to check what it was.
"AH!"
Just like the woman who landed around the same time as him, his landing was anything but graceful. He rolled on the ground to distribute the impact throughout his body and remained lying on the ground, panting heavily.
"That hurts. That woman must have survived by saving only herself; I doubt she even hesitated for a moment to abandon the two of us and focus on generating a single disc. I don't understand why Team Leader insists on keeping her around. I hope he survived; I think he has many tricks to save himself that he hadn't shown."
Alaric talked to himself as he took out a healing pill from his storage ring and waited for the medicinal energy to do its magic and mend his fractured legs. His fall was worse than Tiara's, so he had to wait a little bit longer. Looking at the object stuck to his chest, he found his Blood Token.
'This mist is so suffocating.'
He let his Lightning Qi envelop him and ward off the mist from touching his skin, simply because his instinct told him it'd be the most effective Qi against the mist out of his three attributes. As soon as he deployed his Lightning Qi, the man heard a voice calling for him.
'Hmm, what's that?'
He wasn't the type to rush into situations, so he first analyzed his situation. It didn't take him long to connect the constant call to his Lightning Qi.
'Let's review what I know about this place. Team Leader mentioned it should have inheritances of Elemental Qi. My Elemental Qi is lightning, and thinking about it, I started hearing this call ever since I deployed my Lightning Qi.'
Once he reached those conclusions, he stopped channeling his Qi, letting the mist fill him with the suffocating sensation. When he stopped hearing the urge to head in a certain direction, he concluded his reasoning was correct.
Next, Alaric wanted to make sure only his Lightning Qi was appreciated by the mist, and he tried fending off the mist with his Spear Qi. Unsurprisingly, not only did his Qi consumption rose, but he also didn't hear anything calling for him.
And for the final test, he tried coating himself with Sound Qi. Unfortunately, the place didn't consider it as Elemental Qi either.
Alaric tried finding his way using his Sonic Echo technique, but although it worked, its distance was limited by the mist, mainly because of its Qi scattering effect. His Qi got scattered as it got further from him, making him lose control over it and canceling his technique.
While it helped him sense everything in a distance of a few meters from him, it wasn't enough to navigate inside the bottom of the canyon.
'Let's follow the directions it's giving me. This place is trying to find inheritors, so it shouldn't try killing a suitable inheritor candidate.'
He realized he could only choose between being stuck there or following the place's mechanism, so he chose the second option willingly.
It didn't mean he let his guard down; on the opposite, he remained vigilant the whole time as he marched toward his destination. However, nothing worth writing home about happened.
Like those proceeding him, he understood the plural in the area's name. He was already in a chasm, but in front of him lay another one, and the lightning coursing through the walls gave him a strong hint that he reached his goal.
'I guess there's no point in waiting here unless I want to fight everyone else with Lightning Qi.'
Alaric thought to himself as he slid into the tunnel leading to the chasm. Happily, this one had tilted ground rather than just a wall, so he didn't have to free fall to the bottom like earlier.
The cruelty of the area's mechanism didn't escape his attention, but he expected that from an evil sect.
"Welcome to the Mystic Chasm of Lightning. Venture through its trials to claim the rewards and inherit our sect's esteemed Lightning legacy, or face the dire consequences. Beware, the perils extend beyond the trials alone; you may be compelled to battle other contenders. Embrace the challenge, for within this chasm, your destiny shall be forged."
He heard the same voice that announced their progress in the Labyrinth of Blood every time they cleared a floor. He simply categorized it as the butler of the secret realm now.
'This might get dangerous; this place isn't limited to fourth-stage cultivators only.'
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