Techniques and Dao

Chapter 28 The Dark Stone Box
"So, you've been in this dark stone box since just now?" It was Taishang Xiaojun who spoke.

After bidding farewell to the blooming flowers, Tai Shang Xiao Jun escaped from the Divine Calculation Bureau with a streak of blue light. Unexpectedly, everything went black, and he found himself in a "prison".

Calling it a prison is an understatement. The word "cage" is far from sufficient to describe the strangeness of this place. It's a rectangular "room" without doors or windows. It's about ten feet wide, and roughly twenty feet long and high. If the newcomers hadn't used fire-controlling magic to start a fire, the room would have been pitch black.

The room was unusually cold.

By the dim light of the fire on the ground, Tai Shang Xiao Jun saw that the room was surrounded by rocks, the rock walls as neatly cut as if they had been hewn. The only furnishings were a desk and an iron bed. If the stone wall next to the bed could be called a "wall," then the iron bed was against that wall, while the desk was next to the iron bed against the opposite wall. But what Tai Shang Xiao Jun found strange was that the design of the iron bed and the desk was not what was commonly seen in Sheng Ping Ning. Tai Shang Xiao Jun knew a little about the mortal world, and he felt that these two objects seemed to come from the mortal world, like the kind of simple, inexpensive furniture commonly found there.

He saw Xuanwen sitting on the edge of the bed, while Tianjizi leaned against the wall on the other side. Then came the two mortal disciples, one fat and one thin, from before. In contrast to the somewhat calm expressions of Xuanwen and Tianjizi, the two mortal disciples' expressions were filled with unease and fear.

"When I first arrived here, I thought it was too dark outside. But I ended up bumping into this stone wall."

The speaker was Xuan Wen. In the Divine Calculation Bureau, he pieced together the torn answer sheet of Tianjizi and was the first person from the Divine Calculation Bureau to arrive here.

"If we were teleported here by an array, could this place be the training ground for the third round?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun asked.

Xuanwen said, "Is this all the space you have? What kind of trial are you going to have? Play Go?"

"I can't take it anymore. I can't stand being locked up in a place like this," the fat disciple shouted.

"Rongping, calm down."

The one speaking was the thin disciple; it seems the fat disciple's name is Rongping.

"No! Qi Guang, you know I can't stand this kind of confined space!" Rong Ping gasped for breath, sweat pouring down his face.

The thin disciple named Qi Guang comforted him, "Let's wait a little longer. Maybe this is just a place for the trainees to rest. Look, there are beds over there."

Rongping shouted, "You're talking nonsense! How could a place to rest not even have windows? And not even a door? How are we supposed to get out? We're trapped here."

Qi Guang patted Rong Ping on the back, seemingly wanting to say a few words of comfort, but unsure where to begin.

Rongping, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly stood up: "No! I can't be locked up here!"

After saying that, Rong Ping chanted an incantation and struck the stone wall with his palm, shouting, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Stone-breaking technique!"

With a sudden jolt, Rongping was thrown aside by the stone wall. He slammed into the other side with a dull thud, and blood instantly streamed down his forehead. It seemed that he had accidentally hit his forehead after being thrown back by the force.

Xuanwen, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, looked up and said, "Fatty, don't waste your energy. I've tried, this stone wall is incredibly hard, unlike ordinary rock, it's impossible to break it."

The disciple named Rongping squatted down and started crying: "I shouldn't have come to participate in the Heavenly Eye Trial!"

"Useless fatso," Xuanwen cursed.

"Can't you watch your mouth?" Qi Guang retorted from the side.

Xuanwen continued, "You mortal disciples are all useless. How did you manage to climb to the third round? What's wrong with this year's Heavenly Eye Trial?"

"Do you look down on mortals or something?" Qi Guang couldn't stand it and rolled up his sleeves to go up and argue, but Xuan Wen slapped him away and sent him crashing into the hard stone wall.

"You mortals? You think you can compete with us immortals?"

Qi Guang fell to the ground, clearly struck hard by the blow. He couldn't get up for a while.

"Enough is enough. Do not harm your fellow disciples." It was Tianjizi who spoke.

“That sounds nice. You, the head of the Disciples Association, don’t you also look down on those mortal disciples?” Xuanwen’s words were unexpected.

"Shut your mouth." Tianjizi waved his hand, and Xuanwen's mouth was stuck together.

Xuanwen frantically scratched his mouth, trying to use magic to open it, but after several attempts, he could only make muffled noises.

Seeing this, Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "I originally thought you only liked to bully mortal disciples, but it seems you don't hold back your words to anyone. This kind of hothead is actually quite admirable."

Xuanwen struggled a few times but couldn't make a sound, so he had to give up.

Silence fell over the "room." No one spoke.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun pressed his ear against the stone wall, and a chill came through his pressed cheek, but he could not hear any sound.

"In the Divine Calculation Bureau, before Hua Sheng and I arrived, were you also waiting in that cave?"

“We were also teleported to that cave before. But like the Candlelight Battle, there were clear rules: once all the participants arrived, the game would begin.” The one who answered was the fat man, Rongping, who had just wiped the blood from his forehead.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun touched the stone wall and said, "It seems we might as well wait a while. Mie Ying and Hua Sheng should be here soon."

These words caught Tianjizi's attention: "That ant can actually pass the Divine Mind Calculation Game?" "Hua Sheng can not only pass, but he will also beat you."

Tianjizi chuckled dismissively and said nothing more.

A moment later, a blue light suddenly flashed in the center of the room, illuminating it completely. Two figures appeared in the blue light: one was Hua Sheng, and the other was the slender Third Sister of Extinction Shadows, with dark red hair. Just like before, her red hair was tied up in a bun, hanging down her back. As soon as she appeared, the lotus-like fragrance emanating from her body wafted around.

Upon seeing the red-haired figure disappear, Tai Shang Xiao Jun said, "Where did that little sister go? Sister Xiang, you're here again? Did you come especially to see me?"

"You dissolute young master, I'll burn you to ashes!"

Red-haired Shadowless raised her hand, about to strike, when Hua Sheng immediately stepped in and said, "Third Sister Shadowless, didn't we just agree? Don't forget the important matter, don't forget the important matter."

Red-haired Shadowless bit his lip, clearly still seething with anger.

"Go ahead and burn me with your fire wheels! This house is so small, you can burn Tianjizi down too. It'll kill two birds with one stone."

"Supreme Lady Xiaojun, she's a lady. Don't provoke her." Hua Sheng quickly stopped Supreme Lady Xiaojun from continuing to stir up trouble. Only after saying this did he realize the situation around him. "Why is it so dark?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun briefly explained to him the current situation in which everyone was trapped.

Hua Sheng said, "So, we've already arrived here from the Divine Calculation Bureau."

"good."

"I'm certain that the final challengers in the last round were me and Mieying. The Divine Calculation Game should have ended by now."

"So, there are only two possibilities now. One is that we are in the gap before the start of the third round. But we can't rule out the second possibility, that the third round has already started, since it's not uncommon for trial rounds to be held consecutively."

Mieying interjected, "But if the third round begins, there should be clear trial rules regardless of where you are. Tianjizi, you've participated in the Heavenly Eye Trials for ten years; have you ever encountered this situation?"

Tianjizi glanced at everyone and replied, "As things stand now, we are trapped in one place, unable to move forward or backward."

"So even a seasoned veteran like you hasn't seen one?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun asked.

Tianjizi glanced at him.

Ignoring the discussion, Hua Sheng carefully looked around the room, a strange feeling rising in his heart.

"This place feels like a hospital ward..."

"Hmm? You recognize this place?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun quickly asked.

"I can't say I recognize him. I just have a strange feeling about him."

"You said it was like a hospital ward. Is it the hospital ward you stayed in when you first arrived in St. Pingning?"

"No, it's not quite the same as the ward back then. Although the size is similar, the layout and style are different. Besides, there are no doors or windows here."

"But why did you say this feels like a hospital ward, rather than a bedroom?"

“You’re right, you have a point. But I just feel like this place is a hospital ward, and it feels like I’ve seen it somewhere before…”

"The conditions in hospital wards are all pretty much the same, aren't they?"

"Perhaps so." Hua Sheng began to feel along the stone wall with his hands, muttering to himself, "There's a hospital bed over there, and a desk next to it. That desk should be by the window. If that's the case..."

He walked to the stone wall opposite the desk. Earlier, the thin disciple Qi Guang had been resting against the stone wall after being knocked down by Xuan Wen.

Excuse me, could you please move aside?

“His name is Qi Guang,” said Taishang Xiaojun.

“Okay, Senior Brother Qi Guang. Here, let me help you.”

Hua Sheng draped Qi Guang's arm over his shoulder, shifting his position to the other side. Then, he began to feel around on the stone wall, muttering, "Opposite the window, there should be a door..."

He turned around and gestured to the opposite stone wall, indicating its height.

"The windowsill is about this high, and the opposite side is right here. A little to the right, below that, should be... the door handle?"

Suddenly, as if touching something on a smooth stone wall, a bright red line appeared before him. The line extended from the stone wall where his hand touched, eventually forming a rectangular door frame.

(End of this chapter)