Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-3813

As they entered deeper, they saw desiccated bones that were badly eroded. A light touch would turn them into dust.

And the further they went, the more bones they saw. The aura of death also grew heavier. Right now, this feeling of death penetrated deep into their souls. Those without strong enough wills would feel increasingly terrified. They might even start seeing nightmares.

Fortunately, amongst all of them, even Guo Ran, with his weak will, didn’t feel any fear. When it came to Guo Ran, whether or not his confidence was strong depended on who he was with.

“This is…?!”

Suddenly, they came to a startled stop. Mo Nian had been leading them while putting some special markers wherever they passed. But an hour later, they actually found themselves at the first marker.

“What’s going on? We were going in a straight line!” exclaimed Guo Ran.

Long Chen and the others grew serious. With their spiritual perception, they couldn’t have been going the wrong way. But somehow, they had returned to the starting point with none of them sensing anything.

“This is most likely a Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier. The heavens do not want us to pass, so they created this barrier to keep us out,” said Yue Xiaoqian.

“What is that? That is not within my knowledge.” This time, even Mo Nian was startled.

“A Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is a barrier the world sets up to protect something. We can consider it to be a kind of high level illusion formation that blocks intruders. However, it is different from true illusory formations because there is a solid barrier. You can’t see it with the naked eye. You also cannot touch it because once you enter it, space grows chaotic. No matter how great your sense of direction is, you will ultimately end up back where you started,” said Yue Xiaoqian.

Long Chen looked at Yue Xiaoqian with a smile. Seeing his gaze, she blushed and asked, “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Yue Xiaoqian actually thought that Long Chen was more familiar with the topic than her. But he shook his head. Her learning made him think of when he had first encountered her. Yue Xiaoqian was an erudite, and he was very impressed with her knowledge.

Currently, Long Chen was the dean of the High Firmament Academy and had gone through the academy’s tomes. So, he could be considered a learned scholar. Although he wouldn’t dare to call himself a master of all knowledge, he should be considered extremely knowledgeable. But compared to Yue Xiaoqian, he was still lacking.

“As expected, there really is a problem.” Xia Chen took out over ten formation discs, and after studying them patiently, he shook his head. “The Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is unfathomable. I can only tell that about thirty miles ahead, there is some kind of change in the energy of heaven and earth. That should be the Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier.”

“Let’s take a look.”

They carefully walked forward once more. But even once they reached where Xia Chen indicated, they couldn’t sense anything odd.

They continued on carefully. Despite walking in a straight line, it wasn’t long before they returned to their starting point once more.

Guo Ran had even intentionally dragged a stick behind him in a straight line. But while the line was straight, they ended up where they started.

“This is so strange!” Guo Ran was gobsmacked.

“Good. Otherwise, someone else would have long since plundered this heavenly tomb. Let’s go. I think I’ve figured out the entrance,” said Mo Nian.

They continued the same way again. When they reached the spot that Xia Chen indicated, the line that Guo Ran had left behind was still there. Here, Mo Nian stopped.

He took out a rock and flung it ahead. That rock was flying in a straight line when it suddenly took a strange turn and flew away.

The most shocking thing was that while the rock followed the straight line on the ground at first, when the rock turned, the line on the ground didn’t turn although the two were parallel. It made no sense.

Long Chen then took out a spear and slowly probed the space ahead. After a few steps, everyone cried out in shock. The spear was starting to turn.

The spear had only turned ever so slightly. Without focusing all their attention, they wouldn’t have sensed it. But it truly was turning.

“The Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is right here. Just like when you put a stick in water, despite the stick being straight, it looks like it’s displaced in the water. Our path looks straight, but we actually turned around here,” said Long Chen.

“Boss is wise!” praised Guo Ran.

“Is fawning the slightest bit useful? The main thing is that even if we know, it’s meaningless!” said Long Chen irritably.

“What if we walk in the opposite direction of the turn?” In a rare turn of events, Guo Ran actually proposed a very reasonable idea.

However, Yue Xiaoqian shook his head. “It’s useless. The Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is like flowing water. Look, do you see the spear tip starting to twist in the other direction?”

“Then we can go in the other direction. For example, if the spear starts twisting to the left, we’ll go right. Based on what direction the spear is twisting, we’ll go in the opposite direction. If it goes up, we’ll go…” Guo Ran suddenly fell silent. If the spear twisted up, were they supposed to dive into the ground? Even he felt that this wasn’t very possible.

“Mo Nian, any ideas?” asked Long Chen.

Mo Nian’s expression was serious. He seemed to be calculating something. After a long time, he shook his head.

“It seems that I overestimated myself. Just as Xiaoqian says, this Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is like flowing water. There is no way to find the spatial nodes. The only way is to break through with brute force. But this Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier is in constant flux. If we attack, our attacks will all land in different places. There’s no way to concentrate our power in one spot. Then there’s no way to break through it.”

As an expert in grave-robbing arts and formation arts, Mo Nian had immense confidence. Although he wasn’t as proficient as Xia Chen in formations, he had the Limitless Palace’s unique secret arts for breaking through the defenses of ancient tombs.

However, a heavenly tomb was something that he had only heard of before. He never encountered one until recently. Now that he finally encountered one, he was given a harsh lesson. This Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier stumped him.

“Can you force out the barrier?” asked Long Chen suddenly, his gaze brightening.

“What?” Seeing that expression, Mo Nian grew excited.

“As long as you can force out the barrier, I feel like I can pierce through it,” said Long Chen.

“Really?”

Mo Nian was delighted. Although he knew that Long Chen wasn’t one to joke around, he couldn’t help asking again to confirm it.

“Let’s try it. I’m not one hundred percent confident, but there’s no loss with just trying,” said Long Chen.

Mo Nian nodded and exchanged a look with Xia Chen. The next moment, the two of them each took out a formation disc and smashed them into the space ahead.

BOOM!

Both of their formation discs were embedded into the air just like that. Their runes flowed around. A barrier then appeared in front of them.

It was a translucent barrier with wild currents of energy flowing inside of it. That was the Heavenly Dao Bewilderment Barrier.

Suddenly, a black dagger appeared in Long Chen’s hand. With a shout, he stabbed it into the barrier with all his power.