As soon as Grey entered the entrance, he realized there was a staircase inside that led downward. The area was damp and dark.
The part below the staircase was even darker; he couldn't see anything at all.
There was plenty of light outside the entrance, yet none dared to enter inside the trial ground.
"From the information I received, the trial in this mountain is a mental and illusion trial." Grey nodded.
The records from over 500 years ago made it clear how excruciatingly hard this trial was.
Most attempted the mountain on the left first before coming down to the right one, as it was far easier to do so.
A solid mental state was something the majority of evolvers didn't possess.
With that said, Grey didn't waste any time. He directly descended down the staircase, step by step, and after a full five minutes of descending, a door appeared within Grey's vision.
The door was covered in intricate designs, and both the doorknob and the carvings were colored gold, while the door itself was grey.
Without hesitation, Grey directly opened the door and entered.
The instant he stepped in, he immediately felt dizzy. It was the same feeling one would get when entering a different dimension.
"Huh?" Grey glanced around in surprise.
The door behind him was now completely gone.
What replaced it was a huge towering wall that seemed to stretch up to the ceiling and down to the floor.
The wall and the ceiling were both grey in color, and when Grey looked ahead, he saw more of these towering walls with openings to his left and right.
"The first stage of the trial. The maze." Grey said thoughtfully.
He knew he had been teleported elsewhere. It was likely a powerful formation governing this underground illusion trial ground in play. For such formations to work, the person who inscribed them would need an extremely deep understanding of the Law of Space.
"Which way should I take?" Grey had a thoughtful expression on his face.
There were no secret hacks or tips and tricks for this trial. All the records suggested that the mind and illusion trial was extremely horrifying. Some people directly broke down under its bizarre illusions.
But the maze was relatively simple.
The task was to reach the middle of the maze, but the maze constantly changed its course, making it incredibly hard to get there.
If you were lucky, then you might have a chance.
Another thing was that one's mental powers were completely suppressed here. Mind perception wouldn't work at all, meaning one couldn't see past the walls.
Brute force wouldn't work either.
Grey turned to the wall and punched out slightly. Immediately, heavenly tribulation energy followed his attack and landed on the wall, but it remained completely unharmed.
"Brute forcing is useless." Grey shook his head.
With that said, Grey walked to the openings and directly went to the right.
Entering the passage, he saw an even more stretched-out road ahead, and at the end, there were now three openings.
Grey immediately went to the middle one. There, an even bigger path appeared.
Seeing this, Grey sighed. "This is going to take a while."
And just like that, an hour passed.
Grey looked around in confusion.
In all three directions in front of him, everything was a dead end. He had no choice but to go back.
"I want to beat someone up." Grey said with twitching lips.
For the past hour, he had been running around, and so far, every five turns he took, he would end up in a dead end. He even went back and tried the other openings too, yet after five turns, it was always the same, dead end.
Now, there were no more openings for him to enter.
"This is definitely the working of a formation." Grey mumbled.
He had realized it shortly after making no progress in the maze.
The maze was changing every second, and it didn't seem to be changing randomly.
As soon as he thought that, his cheat activated.
[Your Comprehension defies the heavens! By realizing the intent of a powerful formation, you've gained insight into the 'One-Path Array'.]
His mind churned, and information began pouring into his head.
"Oh." An irritated look appeared on his face.
"This array… it's too unreasonable!" Grey said, slightly angered.
Having gained insight into the array, he realized what was happening.
The maze was constantly changing, but the changes made by the maze were caused by this so-called One-Path Array. It deliberately changed the paths for those who didn't meet the set requirement of the array.
If you met the requirement, then you could safely enter the middle of the maze. The array itself would help guide you there in just a few steps, depending on how close you were to fulfilling the condition.
He didn't know what sort of array this was or what the requirement might be, but one thing was for sure, he definitely didn't make the cut.
Grey snorted, and instantly, a powerful mental fluctuation erupted out from him.
This array also had an illusionary function.
It made those with mind perception fall into an illusion where they believed they couldn't use their mind perception at all. Even if you tried to see if it would work, the illusion would activate and make you believe that you tried to use your mind perception, when in reality, you would just be standing still at that time.
Even he had fallen for it.
But if someone with absolute confidence in their ability, or perhaps someone completely delusional, entered, they could easily bypass this illusion. Their trust in their power would overshadow the illusion completely.
Luckily, with his comprehension and the gained insight, the illusion immediately lost its effect.
"Lesson learned. I should get myself some more mind protection techniques, or else I'll fall into illusions like this without even noticing." Grey nodded seriously.
He silently promised himself that he would never let something as stupid as this happen again.
He had neglected his mind for too long, and due to that, he suffered here.
After this, he would go on a shopping spree and buy countless mind protection and mental attack techniques.
And now, with his mind perception unleashed, he could finally see through the walls. He knew where he should go!
With a grin, he flew up and shot off like a cannon. With mind perception, he didn't have to worry about dead ends anymore. He flew swiftly, overpowering the maze's constantly changing array, and soon he was near the maze's center.
But just before reaching it, he spotted two people, both wearing combat suits with the light saber insignia.
No doubt about it, they were from the Ardent Family.
They both had angered expressions on their faces.
"It's been two hours! Two! Where is the middle of the maze?!" one of the Ardent Family members shouted in rage.
"Should we get out, Young Master? It's already been two hours," the other Ardent Family evolver said in a worried tone. "If things keep going like this, we might never find anything, and the realm will close before that!"
However, just as the young master was about to reply, he froze, along with the other member. That was because they saw a shadow appear above them, the shadow of a human.
They both turned their heads upward, only to see two powerful red energy beams coming their way.
Boom!
The instant the beams landed, their bodies disintegrated.
"It's been a while since I used the Crimson Fang Array." Grey mumbled casually as he stared down. "With heavenly tribulation infused into it, its power increased even further."
With that said, he swiftly made his way to the middle of the maze. The maze was just about to change, but he made it in time.
In the dead center of the maze was a golden core floating slightly above the ground. He looked around, and indeed, the opening he came out from was the only one that could reach it, meaning the chances of reaching the core were extremely low.
But he made it in the end; his comprehension truly came in handy.
The next instant, he swiftly made contact with the golden core and was teleported out.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.