The maze map was very complicated. Even with Zhou Wen’s memory, it took him a long time to memorize it.
Apart from the maze being overly complicated, it was also because the maze was constantly changing. The degree of change was so complicated that it far exceeded the limits of what ordinary humans could imagine.
Memorizing the map didn’t only require memorizing the routes, but it also required some formulas. When one really got lost, one didn’t have to rely on their brains’ memory of the routes. Instead, one had to use formulas to calculate the way out.
Zhou Wen had spent quite a bit of time on this. To be safe, he had put in a lot of effort.
Two days later, Zhou Wen and An Sheng arrived at an inconspicuous field. It was originally a cornfield, but it was very remote. After the dimensional storms, there was an anomaly here.
The corn here grew extremely tall; each of them was as tall as a tree. The corn on them was golden and even bigger than a person’s head.
Furthermore, ever since the dimensional storms, the corn here hadn’t withered. They kept growing.
The entrance to the maze was in the cornfield. Back then, An Tianzuo and An Sheng had fled from a Mythical break-out creature. In their panic, they escaped into the cornfield and ended up falling into the maze. As a result, they escaped the calamity.
An Tianzuo obtained his first Mythical Companion Beast there.
An Sheng circled the cornfield for a while before finally finding a spot. He used a shovel to dig up the soil on the ground, revealing a metal plate.
He lifted the metal plate and revealed an ancient well.
An Sheng patted the soil in his hand and said, “Overseer and I disguised this place to prevent others from accidentally entering. Firstly, it was to prevent the treasure chests from being opened by others. Secondly, it was to prevent humans from entering. It’s impossible for people to come out of such a complicated maze. Death would be the only outcome in that event.
“Young Master Wen, you have to follow me closely after we go down. Don’t take the wrong path,” An Sheng exhorted before heading down the well.
Zhou Wen followed An Sheng down the ancient well. There was still water at the bottom. An Sheng dived down, and before long, there was a horizontal tunnel.
Soon, the two of them passed through the underwater tunnel and appeared in a squarish stone room.
An Sheng kept leading Zhou Wen through the stone room. Every stone room looked identical. There was almost no difference.
Every stone room had six exits in all directions—up, down, left, right, forward, and back. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to walk far before getting lost.
Furthermore, the stone house here could move on its own. It made it even harder for ordinary people to leave.
The only thing worth rejoicing about was that there were no dimensional creatures in the maze. All they needed to do was identify the path and ensure that they didn’t get lost.
An Sheng kept walking and stopping, occasionally doing some calculations. After three or four hours, he finally found a treasure chest with Zhou Wen.
This stone house was a little special because there was no exit at the bottom. There was a stone chest in its place.
It was different from the treasure chest inlaid with gold and silver that Zhou Wen imagined. It was an ordinary stone chest that didn’t look anything special.
“The treasure chests here are very strange. A person can only open three treasure chests. Once you open three, it will be difficult to touch any more, even if you use all your strength. According to our past experience, the treasure chests might be empty. There might also be Companion Eggs, dimensional crystals, and some strange items. They are all dimensional items,” An Sheng said.
Zhou Wen walked forward and held the lid of the treasure chest, lifting it up.
There was no golden light, nor was there any treasure aura. In the huge chest, there was only a palm-sized crystal hourglass.
“What’s this? What’s its use?” Zhou Wen took out the hourglass and sized it up.
The sand in the hourglass was slowly flowing from one end to the other.
The sand was a type of white sand, not common yellow sand. It looked even finer.
“It’s possible to obtain something strange in the treasure chest. It’s hard to tell if it’s of any use. Perhaps this hourglass will be of some use,” An Sheng said.
Zhou Wen nodded and was about to put away the hourglass when he discovered something strange.
As he was about to put it in his backpack, Zhou Wen held the hourglass horizontally. Strangely, when the hourglass became horizontal, the sand didn’t stop flowing. It continued falling in another direction.
Strange! Zhou Wen picked up the hourglass and sized it up again. He saw that the sand was flowing horizontally, completely violating the laws of physics.
Zhou Wen overturned the hourglass. The sand that should have flowed down flowed upstream without any intention of falling. It looked extremely strange.
This hourglass sure is extraordinary! Zhou Wen fiddled with the hourglass curiously. No matter how he oriented the hourglass, the sand inside stubbornly flowed in the same direction.
However, other than that, there was nothing special about it. Zhou Wen injected his Essence Energy, but it didn’t affect the hourglass. It was as though it was an Essence Energy insulator.
Seeing that the hourglass didn’t have any special effects, Zhou Wen placed it in his backpack and continued searching for other treasure chests with An Sheng.
During the time they were here, the stone house’s location changed again. An Sheng kept calculating, and after doing so, he continued walking with Zhou Wen.
After walking for about half an hour, Zhou Wen suddenly heard a “ding” that sounded like the notification of an electric oven.
Zhou Wen and An Sheng jumped in fright before realizing that the sound came from the backpack.
Zhou Wen opened his backpack with a strange expression. There weren’t any mechanical objects inside, nor were there any clocks.
Zhou Wen suddenly realized that the sand in the hourglass had been completely emptied. All the sand had entered one chamber.
Could it be that the sound was produced by it? Zhou Wen felt that there was no other possibility.
He kept looking at it. Apart from the sand beginning to flow in reverse, nothing happened.
After putting the hourglass back into his backpack, the two of them continued walking. However, just as they stepped into the next stone house, they suddenly realized that a beam of light had lit up inside.
All the stone houses Zhou Wen and An Sheng had passed through previously were the same. They didn’t differ from one another, nor were there any carvings on the walls.
However, there was a mural that resembled a phoenix on the wall of the stone house. It was still emitting light as though it was about to come to life.
Just as the phoenix mural lit up, the tunnel in the stone house automatically sealed shut.