Chapter 548: Cracks In the Sacred Lands

CH548 Cracks In The Sacred Lands

***

The sorcerer party passed through the glowing portal door suspended above the igneous rock platform.

’Is this...?!’

However, contrary to their expectations, they did not arrive in a new terrain.

Instead, they returned to an old one.

The second room — the forest.

Frowns immediately formed across their faces.

"This can’t be the second room, right?" Lina of the School of Alchemy asked her partner, Ray of the Craftsmanship Holy Land.

She intended the question to be a quiet, subtle whisper, but everyone present were Third Circle sorcerers with heightened senses. They heard her clearly.

Lina and Ray exchanged wry smiles upon realising that. However, the other Holy Sons and Holy Daughters paid them little attention. Their gazes shifted instead to Hiro.

Hiro himself was confused.

He didn’t understand what had gone wrong.

’...I followed the Sect’s pathfinding method exactly. Since the Ancestor who created the talismanic field was from the Heaven’s Secret Sect, the method used to build the field should be sympathetic to the Sect’s pathfinding method.’

’If that’s the case, how could it fail?’

Hiro’s thoughts spiralled.

Outwardly, however, he remained composed.

He turned toward Ken of the Elemental Sacred Land and Ariana of the Grey Sacred Lands.

"I know you two have been leaving imprints behind. Don’t bother denying it. This is neither the time nor the issue." He said evenly.

"Can you still sense your imprints? Is this the same forest room as before?"

Ken’s wizened eyes flashed for a brief instant, but he offered no denial. He simply nodded with a small shrug.

Ariana also nodded, confirming the suspicion.

"Does that mean," Jin of the Physique Tempering Holy Land spoke, "after all your posturing, you can’t guide us correctly?"

Hiro didn’t bother to respond. He knew Jin’s words were nothing more than a verbal trap. Whatever he said would be used against him by the deadwood-looking man.

Instead, he turned to his junior disciple-brothers, Leo and Samir.

"It seems the Ancestor made the talismanic field more abstruse than I expected. I will need your support to strengthen the pathfinding mystic arts." Hiro said.

"Understood, Senior Brother." Leo and Samir replied in unison.

The other Holy Sons and Holy Daughters watched the trio with scepticism, but none spoke.

In truth, each of them possessed pathfinding methods from their own Sects —and from the collective Sacred Lands— that could be used to brute-force a route through the talismanic field.

However, since the field originated from an Ancestor of the Heaven’s Secret Sect, they had hoped the Sect’s disciples would be able to guide them through without resorting to such crude measures.

After all, previous successors from their Sacred Lands had attempted the trial before them.

Those predecessors would have known the same pathfinding methods they now carried— and most likely used them.

Yet none returned with success.

Some never returned at all.

Which meant those methods were likely insufficient.

That was precisely why the Heaven’s Secret Sect had been allowed to send three disciples this time, while the larger Sacred Lands each sent only one representative.

It was not because the Sacred Lands truly accepted the revived Heaven’s Secret Sect as their leader— despite appearances.

Rather, they were hoping the Sect would possess an advantage in navigating their Ancestor’s talismanic field.

And once the important final field revealed itself...

Well,

Each of them already knew their orders.

Hiro sneered as he observed the other Holy Sons and Holy Daughters from the corner of his eye.

The Heaven Secret Sect was well aware of the other Sects’ and Sacred Lands’ scheming.

Even a child could deduce as much, considering the friction that had existed between the factions since the end of the Era of Sorcery in Verdantis’ main space.

That was precisely why the Heaven Secret Sect’s leadership had expended the Sect’s newly recovered strength and political leverage— ensuring Leo and Samir accompanied Hiro.

Alone, Hiro might be able to kill one of the Chosen Children, defeat two working together, or escape from three.

Beyond that, his chances alone were limited.

However, working together with his junior brothers would raise his strength to an entirely different level.

The three of them, combining their abilities —and employing some of the Sect’s secret techniques— might just be able to escape the combined pressure of the other Chosen Children.

Thinking this far, Hiro’s eyes flashed.

’Scheme all you want... in the end, you will kneel at my feet and become stepping stones towards me saving this world.’

The hands of Hiro and his junior disciples blurred as they formed complex hand signs.

These were far more intricate than the seals Hiro had used alone.

It was clear the spell they were preparing was of a higher order.

"[Prying Heaven Sight]!"

The trio cast the spell in unison.

Immediately, the three disciple-brothers perceived a different space— a blank void layered beneath reality. Within that void floated countless mana signatures, each shifting like distant stars.

The trio merged their mental focus into one stream and attempted to resonate with the surrounding mana.

One attempt.

Two.

Several failures.

Then— success.

Their Heaven Secret mystic signature finally resonated with one of the energy patterns.

Without hesitation, they traced that resonance back to its source.

A portal door.

The three Heaven Secret Sect disciples opened their eyes at the same time.

"We have found the correct path." Hiro said.

Hiro marched ahead, once again leading the party toward another portal door.

From the surroundings, it was immediately obvious this was a different portal from the one they had passed through before.

The other Chosen Children cast sceptical glances at the three Heaven Secret Sect disciples.

Hiro’s expression darkened.

"If you don’t trust us, you are free to find your own path." He said, irritation bleeding into his tone.

"Humph!"

He waved his hand forward and led his disciple-brothers ahead.

However, beneath that confident exterior, a thread of worry lingered.

Hiro knew, deep down, that he needed the other Chosen Children if he wanted to reach the final series of trials.

Whether they served as allies... or cannon fodder — which was his true intention — the result was the same.

Fortunately, just before stepping through the portal, he noticed the others moving as well.

An unconscious sigh of relief slipped from his lips— one swallowed by the shifting space as he crossed the threshold.

—

The three Heaven Secret Sect disciples exchanged looks after stepping through the portal.

They smiled.

They had arrived in a new room.

The environment resembled a coastline.

They stood on a sandy beach as waves from a mighty ocean crashed against the shore.

On the opposite side of the beach rose a mountain that stretched into the sky.

The three disciple-brothers felt a pull from within that mountain.

Without delay, they decided to head toward it.

However, just as they prepared to move, the other Chosen Children arrived within the space.

"So far so good." Jin commented.

"Where to next?" He asked with a smile that his withered face did little to soften.

Hiro didn’t answer.

He simply pointed toward the mountain peak.

The others nodded, and the group began moving again.

But unlike the previous rooms, this one did not allow them to roam freely.

It offered them some... entertainment.

Blocking their path forward was a cluster of berserk humans.

***