Chapter 302: After revision - 116 [First Night] (9600 characters)
Chapter 116 [First Night] (9600 words)
The room wasn’t very big, about the size of an ordinary hotel room, with a similar layout — a hallway with a bathroom upon entering, leading to the bedroom.
The room’s decor was very simple, with wooden floors and walls.
The furniture was minimal, just a bed and a table. The bed had white sheets, blankets, and pillows.
They specifically took a look at the bathroom: the fixtures felt very old, with an old-style flush toilet and a bronze showerhead.
The room had a very classical feel — even the door handles were wooden.
Chen Yan sat on the bed, and as he did, he felt that the mattress wasn’t very comfortable; the springs inside were quite noticeable. Any slight movement caused the bed to creak loudly.
Chen Yan thought for a moment, then got up and went to the side of the bed. Pressing his ear to the wall, he listened intently for a while, then shook his head and said, "Can’t hear any sound from next door — this place must be isolated with an array."
Chu Keqing took a breath, her face stern, and whispered, "Senior..."
Chen Yan interrupted her quickly, "It seems we’ve accidentally stumbled upon some kind of gathering of supernatural creatures — they mentioned some kind of trial? Are they from the Japanese Cultivation Realm? But judging by their looks, they don’t seem to be good people."
Saying this, Chen Yan’s expression also turned serious: "The owner of this place must be very powerful... This Secret Realm, with its array setup, is beyond my comprehension."
Chu Keqing whispered, "Should we... leave here immediately?"
"Difficult." Chen Yan shook his head. "We couldn’t leave even outside; the Ghost Wall trapped us on the mountain road. Clearly... the host here set up restrictions with arrays to hold this trial gathering, and we happened to get caught inside."
Saying this, Chen Yan’s tone became heavy, "Before coming in, I thought if there were spirit monsters or evil cultivators here, we could subdue and eliminate them. But after entering, everything here is so strange, especially the array set up by the owner of this place. This so-called ’Secret Realm’ has too much that I can’t see through."
Earlier in the hall, a guest wearing warrior armor struck the wall with a slash. The power of that strike wasn’t weak; in that instant, Chen Yan clearly felt a wave of Primordial Qi akin to the Guiyuan Realm!
Yet, the wall of the building remained unscathed, easily absorbing the blow. This made Chen Yan dismiss the idea of acting rashly for the moment.
Chu Keqing thought carefully for a while, and then something clicked in her mind, "Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence... The black panther attack I encountered last night, maybe it was the host here clearing the area ahead of the gathering using spells?"
"Think even further." Chen Yan sighed, "That crazy Vice President Zhang from two days ago, maybe... that was also the Secret Realm Master clearing the area in advance. After all, a group of Dragon Country tourists suddenly staying at the mountain temple, the host might have intentionally stirred up some trouble to drive us away."
Chu Keqing smiled bitterly, "Unfortunately, the two of us stayed and didn’t leave."
Chen Yan wouldn’t blame himself or sigh — when faced with a situation, these emotions were meaningless. It was better to concentrate on figuring out how to get through this.
He got up and walked to the window, looking outside and pointing, "Come look outside."
Chu Keqing walked to Chen Yan’s side and looked out, frowning.
Standing by the window on the second floor, they could clearly see the small courtyard below.
But their field of view ended at the courtyard’s gate and wall!
Beyond the courtyard walls and gate, the desolate village that should have been there had completely disappeared! Replaced instead by a thick fog that was impossible to see through!
Chen Yan looked at the table in the room — there was no clock, but there was an hourglass on the table.
The fine sand in the hourglass was slowly flowing.
Judging by the amount of sand that had accumulated in the base and the remaining sand above, and the flow rate...
"When this hourglass runs out, that should be the time when the ’trial’ begins." Chen Yan frowned and took out his phone to check; the screen was black. Chu Keqing also took out her phone, shook her head at Chen Yan, "It’s blacked out, won’t turn on."
"Let’s review the rules the puppet mentioned." Chen Yan sighed, "Roughly estimating, there’s about forty minutes left."
Chu Keqing nodded and then said seriously, "Once the trial starts, danger can happen at any time, and we must not leave the room at night — it didn’t specify what punishment awaits if we do, but I suspect it won’t be pleasant.
During the day, the room is a safe zone, but the outside world is dangerous.
So what it’s suggesting... is that it’s best not to leave the room, day or night!"
"Yes, exactly." Chen Yan nodded.
"And the rules about changing rooms are strange." Chu Keqing, being intelligent and perceptive, immediately spotted the inconsistency: "The rule about switching rooms on the second day!
The first day’s room cannot be retained. Everyone must switch rooms before the second night!
The rule says if there’s an odd number or nobody willing to switch, then the empty rooms are used."
Chu Keqing sneered, "Hidden danger."
Chen Yan nodded in agreement.