Lin Mu could accurately gage that the multiple branches he was seeing were coming from other locations of the trials.
"Nine branches… Nine Teleportation channels." Lin Mu spoke.
"Nine… So the others will be taking the same path in the end." Lady Kang replied.
"They just might if the trial they area in similar to us. Though I reckon they will be in different ones." Lin Mu replied. "Considering that strange energy that imbues life into different materials, there could be more such trials with different habitats." He explained.
"Hmm… we saw the beasts that were purely condensed out of that energy before… then the Lava ones here and you've said you've encountered them before too." Lady Kang replied.
"I've also encountered those made from earth and mud." Lin Mu added.
"So that means your guess is highly likely to be accurate." Lady Kang nodded. "While having similar trials is common in many inheritance grounds, with a Celestial's inheritance I can't help but think they won't keep it this simple." She stated.
"Indeed… To make things more complex an unpredictable they are likely to change it around." Lin Mu said. "If the others got different habitats, the time needed for them might be different too." He guessed.
"I see… so there is a chance we might be the first ones there." Lady Kang wondered.
"Or the last." Lin Mu didn't leave out that possibility either.
After all they had been here for over two months now. Whatever might in held in the future for them, the only way to figure that out was to proceed through the Teleportation gate and see how it worked.
"Time to head in, no use in us waiting here." Lin Mu said looking at the gate.
"Alright." Lady Kang nodded and Lin Mu quickly sent the beasts into the Sleepscape.
This would keep them safe and ensure that they all ended up at the same place. ~SHUA~
But just as they were about to step in, runes appeared in the air.
'Trial of Discovery passed.'
Lin Mu and Lady Kang both saw this finding that it was indeed accurate to the contents of the trial.
'We had to discover the method to get out which was the keys.' Lin Mu thought.
'We had to discover the keys that were needed for it without knowing where or how to get them.' Lady Kang thought.
'If one didn't take the risks to find the keys forge out their own path in the unknown, they would certainly fail this trial… The Trial of discovery.' They both thought.
Their gazes lingered the runes for a bit until they disappeared.
Next, Lin Mu and Lady Kang stepped through the Teleportation gate that was made out of lava, rocks and stones, together. As soon as they did, they found their bodies becoming weightless, making them aware that the Teleportation had begun.
Lin Mu had kept his Spatial Perception active and could look around the Teleportation channel. He took this chance to observe the other branches and tried to figure out whether others had used it or not.
'The Teleportation gate appeared when we obtained the necessary number of keys, this signals that the channels might only appear when the conditions are fulfilled. But if so, then the other channels should not have existed.' Lin Mu analyzed the situation, trying to learn more about the next trial.
He didn't know if this was a default setting for the teleporting array or not, but depending on this the next stage of the trial might be completely different.
'The trial definitely allows multiple people to pass, which means this isn't an eliminative process where only one or a handful people obtain it. We were divided into give groups and yet there were nine channels, which means that there is a chance not all groups are of two. There might be solo people too.
But… there's also a chance that the default number is two but the trial grounds are greater than that just to create a sense of unfamiliarity.' Lin Mu analyzed what could be the possible composition of the trial of discovery.
And by the time he finished thinking all this, he seemed to have reached the end of the Teleportation channel.
~SHUA~
A blinding light filled the vision of Lin Mu and Lady Kang before they felt their bodies becoming weighted again.
~THUD~THUD~
The two of them landed on the ground, feeling the pressure on their bodies that seemingly increased after a second or so.
Next, their vision returned and they seemingly found themselves in a large dome. The area was illuminated brightly, and everything could be seen inside it. Lin MU observed the structure of the dome and found it to be perfectly symmetrical and made out of the same kind of stone they had seen in the previous trial.
The dome was about three hundred meters in radius, having plenty of space for thousands of people. The inside of the dome had no designs and carvings on it, but looking to the floor of the dome, Lin Mu quickly saw something eye catching.
"That's a clear clue." Lady Kang spoke, having seen it too.
"Yeah," Lin Mu said as he looked at the circular platform that was slightly raised from the rest of the floor.
It had multiple holes in it that were laid out in concentric circles.
If one looked closely at the holes, they would realize that they were not just normal holes, they had a specific shape.
"Keyholes." Lin Mu said upon seeing them. ~SHUA~
He took out one of the Iron Keys and inserted it into one of the keyholes, finding that it was a perfect fit.
"So this is what the keys were for." Lady Kang spoke. "Does it turn?" she asked.
~CLACK~
Lin Mu tried it out, making the key turn effortlessly.
"It does turn… though something is not right…" He said looking at the holes. "There are too many of them," he counted the keyholes.
There were exactly a hundred of the keyholes on the platform.
Lady Kang too found the number a bit concerning and furrowed her brows. 'Did we make some kind of mistake?' Lady Kang wondered.
There were one trials that could have a trick to move onto the next round. Sometimes one might not have finished all the conditions needed to finish the trial and become unable to proceed to the next stage.
This was intentional and was intended for the trial takers to have good analysis skills as well as the drive to explore all options.
If one didn't do so, they might end up getting soft-locked in their trial.
The way to get out of that would not always be available to them and they could very well end up dying there if the trial creator was not a forgiving individual.
There had been no lack of cultivators that had forever become trapped in the trials, unable to ever exit it.
Though there could be some that managed to get out of it through unorthodox means. But those that could, were far and few in between. And even those that did needed to have the fortune of heavens on their side.
This was one of the biggest reasons why such trials were risky and one needed to be well prepared.
~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~
Lin Mu decided to test some things first and inserted more keys into the holes and turned them.
"They all turn." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm… use all the keys we have for now. Perhaps there might be a chance once we do that." Lady Kang added.
"Alright." Lin Mu said and inserted the rest of the keys.
Once he had done that, all the keys in the outermost circle of holes were turned.
~SHUA~
Once he did that, the outermost circle started to glow in a faint light showing that this was indeed what they were supposed to do.
"No more keys." Lin Mu replied, seeing that they needed to fill more holes.
"I don't think we are supposed to fill all of them alone." Lady Kang replied before turning to the spot they had come from.
It was very faint, but one could see a circle there.
"Can you see the other spots?" Lady Kang asked.
Lin Mu spread his immortal sense and found nine more spots around the entire dome, spread out in an equidistant manner. "Yeah… Theres more of them." Lin Mu said before using his spatial perception and observing the Teleportation channels.
"Looks like this trial was a composite one… it was never meant for us to be completed alone." Lady Kang stated. "We need to wait for the others to arrive." She added.
"So we really did end up being the first ones here." Lin Mu muttered as a few thoughts appeared in his mind. "It took us over two months to finish this. Will the others be able to finish it soon?" he wondered.
"I don't know. All we can do right now is wait and watch." Lady Kang replied.
