Blood-Colored Ancient Castle

The Blood-Colored Ancient Castle (血色古堡 xuese gubao) was the largest comparatively preserved trial region in the Immemorial Path's eastern region. It was different from the Ten Thousand Beast Forest. The Ten Thousand Beast Forest had just been a primordial forest.
The Blood-Colored Ancient Castle was millions of miles long. It was a shocking, practically endless construction. The entire castle was the exact same color as fresh blood.
Originally, this castle had been built so grandly that it soared into the clouds. But that majestic and towering scene was gone. It was now a pile of ruins filled with an air of decay and dejection.
Although countless years had passed, although countless people had explored it, the number of people that had been able to reach its core region was pitifully low. Furthermore, the castle was so large that no one would dare to say that they had finished exploring the outer region.
== Location ==
Long Chen opened his map. The two of them were currently in the middle section of the eastern region of the Immemorial Path.
If they continued forward, they would reach another huge block that was almost the same size as the Ten Thousand Beast Forest. But this huge block was actually a castle.
That area was a trial region that had to be traversed in order to get deeper into the eastern region. However, it could no longer be referred to as a trial region, as it had completely broken down. It was the only huge ruins in the eastern region.
"Xiaoqian, let's go. I'll bring you to a very lively place." Long Chen smiled. He could run into many ‘friends' there.
== Monsters ==
*Nether Ghost
*Rockthorn Mouse
*Shadow ghoul
== Entering ==
=== Tower ===
"As soon as I entered this castle, I sensed an unusual aura. This aura isn't something suitable to human cultivators. If my guess isn't wrong, the Blood-Colored Ancient Castle must have caught ghosts from other worlds as trials for their disciples," said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen nodded. This guess of hers was extremely likely. Even if it wasn't correct, it shouldn't be that far from the truth.
Because the castle had crumbled, these ghosts had become free of all laws. They actually took the initiative to kill people.
They walk to a tower with some runes. Long Chen asks the Eastern Wasteland Bell about the Mysterious Rune.
They explored the tower for a while but didn't find anything useful. They left, continuing onwards.
=== Hidden places ===
As they continued, Long Chen kept his divine sense spread out. He had already found quite a few hidden places. There were other people moving around in stealth as well, and when they saw Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian holding hands as they leisurely advanced, their expressions became odd.
Long Chen laughed inside. The more carefully you advanced, the more people would think you lacked confidence, and the more they would think you were weak. Then you would become their targets.
The two of them weren't traveling quickly. After two hours, they had only traveled thirty miles. Long Chen had Yue Xiaoqian lead the way, while he simply followed. He felt that if she led the way, their luck would be a hundred times better than when he led the way.
Reality proved he was right. When Long Chen entered similar places on his own, if he didn't run into the attacks of wild beasts, he would be provoked by other experts. But with Yue Xiaoqian, everything went smoothly for these two hours.
Just as Long Chen thought that this method could keep them safe and sound, a huge figure appeared behind them and charged at them.
== Trial and devil murals ==
LC and Yue Xiaoqian encounter a mural with Winged Devils.
"Xiaoqian, what does this say?" Long Chen saw that whatever was carved was unclear. But there was a large mass of words. Long Chen could occasionally recognize a few characters, but he couldn't comprehend it.
"This is the introduction of the trial. It clearly indicates Qi Wu (錡譕). In today's language, it means that a steel body must also be flexible. A strong body has a strong soul, a strong soul has a weak-" explained Yue Xiaoqian. (以钢铁之躯，悟流水之道，强身以弱魂，强魂以弱)
"Cough, Xiaoqian, could you explain it in simpler terms?" coughed Long Chen.
Yue Xiaoqian smiled. "To put it simpler, this should be a trial for the soul and will. It has high requirements for Spiritual Strength, so this should be a trial suited to soul cultivators. Only those with strong enough Spiritual Strength can handle the shadow ghouls here. However, everything has changed now that it's broken down. If this was a trial only for people with powerful souls, those Rockthorn Mice shouldn't have appeared."
Her guess was truly reasonable. If this was a trial of Spiritual Strength, in other words, a trial for soul cultivators, having soul cultivators face physical attacks was simply murder.
=== Underground ===
This entrance was an underground entrance to some construction. Long Chen replaced the wall so that everything looked normal. That way it wouldn't be likely for others to follow them.
As they continued onwards, they saw that this passage continued at a slight tilt downwards.
=== Illusion formation ===
This underground world was like a maze. They were constantly being attacked by Rockthorn Mice.
After traveling a bit more, Long Chen felt like the spiritual pressure was growing stronger. He suddenly saw that Yue Xiaoqian was a bit pale. "Xiaoqian, what is it?"
"You... do you not feel that some illusions are starting to pop up?" Yue Xiaoqian looked at him with shock.
That was because an hour ago, she had started to feel that everything she was seeing was growing distorted. Illusions constantly popped up.
Sometimes the ground beneath her feet would become an abyss. Sometimes fierce devils would appear in front of her. Sometimes she would hear a strange sound behind her. From the start, she had known they had entered an illusion formation.
But seeing Long Chen easily brushing it off, she hadn't said a word. However, now the illusions were growing stronger, and they were becoming more and more realistic. She was starting to be unable to bear it.
Being caught in illusions, a person's spiritual perception would sharply drop. At this time, even if a Rockthorn Mouse appeared right in front of her, she might not even notice it. That kind of feeling was extremely uneasy. It was like someone with excellent vision had become blind.
"Illusions? Where?" Long Chen's words caused Yue Xiaoqian to feel shocked.
At this time, the Eastern Wasteland Bell rang out in his mind. "You're different. You defeated yourself, and a version of yourself that was even stronger than you at that. Your will has reached a kind of pinnacle, and your Dao-heart is essentially flawless. The illusions here don't just require powerful Spiritual Strength to resist. They are targeted toward a person's heart-devils, the weaknesses in their hearts. Your will has reached a monstrous level, so this kind of illusion formation cannot shake you. You can't even sense them, but she finds it very taxing here."
Long Chen didn't know that this illusion formation was targeted toward a person's heart. The more unsteady a person's Dao-heart was, the easier they would be affected. The stronger their heart-devils, the greater their fear, the more things they feared would appear here. In the end, they would be lost in this labyrinth.
"Do you not feel anything at all?" Yue Xiaoqian felt this was inconceivable.
Long Chen smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist. He also released his will.
Releasing his will was like releasing his inner aura. That was an unrivaled will, one that could disdainfully look down on gods, the heavens, the earth, and the entire universe.
Long Chen would only release it when he fought peak experts. But he now used a kind of self-hypnotism to make it seem like he was facing a powerful expert.
This was a kind of formless energy, but it was also substantive. It was mysterious and profound, impossible to describe with words.
"How did you do this?" Yue Xiaoqian was shocked.
Long Chen didn't hide anything from her. He told her about how he had entered a trial where he had fought against an even stronger version of himself. When Yue Xiaoqian heard that, she was appalled. That was something impossible. How could someone possibly defeat a version of themselves that was slightly stronger in every aspect and never tired?
== Aboveground ==
Before they even entered the light, he felt several powerful auras ahead. There had to be experts already there.
The space in front of them suddenly opened. This was a world of light, with a bright sun hanging in the air. Only now did Long Chen realize the two of them had made a mistake. Perhaps if they had been walking aboveground, it would have been much easier to reach this place.
It seemed as if the underground core trial had already crumbled. As a result, it was revealed aboveground in a huge space around twenty miles wide.
There was a hill ten meters tall in this space. That hill was covered in a layer of light.
Once Long Chen entered, he immediately felt that something was wrong. He felt like some kind of energy had been stripped off him.
"This place forbids the usage of magical arts. Nor can you use heaven and earth's energy," warned Yue Xiaoqian quietly.
There was a hill with Item-Nourishing Empty Coffins.
==References==
Category:Wangu Road
Category:Castle
Category:Location