Everything had been a gamble, in which success could lead to a meteoric rise. However, failure, and the losses thus incurred, would have led to the decline of her Sect.
Zhixiang suppressed her excitement as she looked around the area. When she caught sight of the rock upon which she had left the mark in the Second Plane, she began to quiver and breathe heavily. She had to work hard to try to suppress her excitement.
Everything had worked out perfectly, even more smoothly than she could have possibly imagined. The key to it all was the stone with her mark on it. To enter this area, one needed the qualifications. To enter the Demon Immortal Cistern itself, one needed a second qualification.
That second qualification could only be acquired within the Second Plane, but not used there. Instead, the qualification could be retrieved in the Third Plane, and then cultivated.
If there was no Second Plane, and one went directly to the Third Plane, at first, there wouldn’t seem to be much difference. Zhixiang and her Sect, however, had used augury to ascertain with relative certainty that, because of the passage of time, and the great catastrophe, the restrictive spells in the area were thoroughly sealed, and would not approve of any intruder.
The only method of success was to get qualifications in ancient times!
Zhixiang took a deep breath, then turned toward Meng Hao, clasped hands, and bowed deeply.
“Fellow Daoist Meng, many thanks for all your assistance. I would now like to once again ask for your expertise in opening up a path. Please remove the curse power from the area and allow me to… succeed in entering the cistern waters!” She bowed to him once again.
Meng Hao understood that this was the extent of the help she needed from him. The entire area was broken and in ruins. It all seemed quite messy and chaotic, and even quite dangerous. Zhixiang was nervous because of the same thing that had made her nervous back in the Bridge of Immortal Treading; invisible curses.
The further one went along, the more terrifying the curses became. Anything that touched them would receive an intense jolt of backlash.
“Let me try,” he said with a nod. He had given Zhixiang his promise, and would not go back on his word unless he came across something that was truly beyond his control.
Thinking back to his experience in the Bridge of Immortal Treading, he had some speculations as to the reason why he was not affected by the curses; perhaps it had something to do with him being a Demon Sealer. His eyes glittering, he walked forward, waving his right hand to cause some of the stones that were blocking their way to lift up into the air. The stones did not appear to be equipped with any sort of curse; it seemed to take almost no effort to lift them up and move them over.