While the man was on his way back, he came face to face with a dark figure. Before he could even think what was happening, he disappeared. All the items he was carrying dropped to the ground behind him in the process.
The items he wanted to save from the onslaught of Zhu Chang were still safe, but he wasn't left to see the items. No one was there to even notice his disappearance.
The dark figure started flying up the mountain.
...
Long Chen and Zhu Chang had passed through the small door obstruction only to find themselves in a different corridor which appeared to be the exact copy of the last corridor.
After walking for a little while, Long Chen noticed that the words were in the exact place on the wall as last time.
"Are we walking in a circle?" he asked, pointing towards the words on the wall. "Not only is the corridor identical, but it also has the words as well."
Xun looked towards the door where Long Chen was pointing.
"The words are certainly there, but they are different." She walked closer to the wall once again. "Yep, it's different. It's most probably a similar hallway but not the same."
"What does it say this time?" Zhu Chang asked.
"It just says Beware of the Unexpected," Xun replied.
"Beware of the Unexpected? What does that mean?" Zhu Chang asked, confused.
"How should I know? It could mean a thousand different things," Xun let out, rolling her eyes. "It sounds like a warning like last time. I wonder why your Ancestor is trying to scare people so much."
Zhu Chang himself was confused, but in the end, he could only ignore the words. The warning wasn't going to work on him at all.
...
The group of Zhu Clan members that were trying to catch up to Zhu Chang wasn't having an easier time either.
In fact, they were having much more trouble as they found themselves trapped in a hallway while two walls came out of the ground, blocking their path from both sides. They could neither go back nor go forward.
They tried using their strength to break open a path, but it didn't work, which made them think about using treasures as well.
"I don't think we can go ahead like this. We need to break the wall."
"I know, but how?"
"Zhu Ji, use your soul weapon and break the wall."
"What? And be banished forever? No thanks! I want to explore the dungeon. If not more, then in the future, but in any case, I'm not getting myself banned forever!"
"You! You think your exploration is more important than protecting this place?" Zhu Qi asked, glaring at his fellow.
"If we don't protect this place from the demon, we might not have any place left to protect or come back to! It won't leave just you being banished, but us all losing such a precious place of ours! Are you going to do it or not?"
"Why should I do it, even if that's the case? There are so many of us here!"
"You, you just don't understand. There are many besides you here, but you're the weakest! If anyone should sacrifice, it's you! We need the strongest of us here if we want to keep up to Zhu Chang!"
"Are you calling me the weakest? Nonsense!"
"You think you aren't? Which one of us can you defeat here?" Zhu Qi asked, glaring at the young man. "Stop wasting your time and use your soul treasure! The more time you waste, the farther Zhu Chang gets!*
"Yeah! Just remember one thing! If you don't do it and something happened to this tomb because you delayed us, you'll be as guilty as Zhu Chang in this tragedy!"
"Yeah, You'll be the culprit, and you'll probably be banished from this realm altogether! Do you want that?"
"If you don't want to, you should listen to us. Losing the chance of this exploration is much better than losing your home instead!"
When emotional blackmail didn't work, the people started threatening him with the consequences that he might face.
Facing the onslaught of the people he came here with, Zhu Ji felt like he was being sacrificed by everyone else. But he also knew that if he didn't do anything now, he was going to be vilified for life. He couldn't take the risk.
"Fine. I'll do it!" In the end, even he couldn't say no. It was better to lose an opportunity than to suffer even worse.
He brought his Spiritual Treasure out and attacked the wall.
Boom~
The wall shattered after coming in contact with the Soul weapon, but at the same time, a spatial disturbance appeared in the surroundings, which engulfed Zhu Ji.
The others created their distance from Zhu Ji to not be kicked out with him.
Zhu Ji looked at his friends, crushing his fist. Even though he hadn't realized them, he was still really upset that he was forced to sacrifice.
His figure disappeared, and he appeared back on top of the Plum Blossom Mountain.
...
After Zhu Ji left, Zhu Qi and the others passed through the broken wall to continue their search.
As soon as they all stepped out, the floor under them disappeared, making all of them all fall. But the more they tried to fly out, the more they fell as an invisible force pulled them down, overwhelming their flying ability.
Before long, the floor once again appeared, blocking their way out.
...
"Huh? What?" As soon as Zhu Ji appeared on hunt mountain, he noticed something strange
The entire mountain was empty. There were statues of Ancestors where they were supposed to be, but that was all. There was no person at sight.
The mountain top, which had plenty of people before, had none now. The arena looked completely barren.
"Did everyone else leave already?" he asked, talking to himself. "I wonder why. They must've been scared by the appearance of Zhu Chang after what he did last time."
"Zhu Chang?" A grim voice came from the thin air. "You mean the son of God King Zhu is here?"
"What? Who spoke?" Zhu Ji looked around, pale faced.
He had made sure that the place was empty, but the voice came from nearby, which scared him. He looked around but couldn't find anyone.
"Am I hallucinating?" he asked, confused.
"Probably." The voice came again. "The only solution to come out of this hallucination is if you tell me where Zhu Chang is!"
"I'm sure there is someone here! Who are you?! Stop hiding!"