299: coercion

Inside the Stone Chamber, the silence remained as before, and the darkness was so thick it could not be dispelled.

But Lu Chen's perception was already completely different from before.

Deep within his brow, the reborn Tribulation Pupil, even without being actively activated, had raised his perception of the surrounding environment to a new level.

He sensed it clearly, not by seeing with his eyes.

But by some more mysterious spiritual sense.

In a corner of this absolutely dark Stone Chamber, a cold, indifferent, and scrutinizing gaze was silently fixed upon him.

That gaze did not come from a physical entity; it was more like a sophisticated Divine Sense mark or surveillance Spell, vaguely connected to the Restriction of the Stone Chamber itself.

Thoughts raced through Lu Chen's mind, but his face showed not the slightest change.

He even controlled the frequency of his breathing and heartbeat to be exactly the same as when he was weak and unconscious before.

He did not even fully open his eyes, merely maintaining that appearance of being on his last breath, with his consciousness submerged.

He knew that any unnatural movement at this moment could invite unnecessary attention, or even tighter surveillance.

Slowly and extremely naturally, he completely withdrew the last trace of his leaking mental energy.

He closed his eyes completely, as if he had fallen into unconscious slumber once again.

Only in the depths of his heart was there a cold, tranquil stillness.

The embryonic form of the God Slaying Pupil Light was already gestating in his heart.

But to truly master and use it freely, he still needed to carefully ponder and repeatedly visualize and deduce it within his Sea of Consciousness.

In this monitored environment, he could not Cultivate or conduct any substantial experiments.

However, the operation of his thoughts, the framework of his Divine Ability, and the techniques for exerting power could be silently polished over and over again in the depths of his Divine Soul.

Time, in this absolute darkness and silence, lost its meaning once again.

Lu Chen's mental energy was completely submerged in the deduction of the God Slaying Pupil Light.

He did not know how much time had passed; perhaps a day, perhaps several days.

"Click... creak..."

The sound of the heavy stone door being opened from the outside broke the eternal silence within the Stone Chamber.

A beam of dim light, carrying the cold aura peculiar to the cave, shone in through the slowly opening crack, illuminating a small patch of dusty ground in front of the door.

Immediately following this were steady and slightly heavy footsteps, approaching from afar.

Two figures walked into the Stone Chamber; they were the two gray-clad guards who had imprisoned him here earlier.

They did not speak, walking straight to Lu Chen's side, and unceremoniously hauled him up from the cold ground, one on each side.

Lu Chen felt a jolt in his heart, knowing that the moment he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

He still maintained his state of being limp and having a blurred consciousness, allowing the two to haul him up, his head hanging down powerlessly.

Passing through the familiar narrow passage, they arrived once again at that relatively spacious cavern hall.

Inside the hall, more than ten Person of the You Clan were already standing solemnly, and the atmosphere was even more heavy than before.

The Gray-Robed Woman stood slightly in front in the center, while Bai Youli stood quietly half a step behind her to the side.

Her snow-white figure appeared exceptionally striking and cold under the slightly dim light of the cave's pearls.

Neither of them spoke, but that invisible sense of oppression permeated the entire hall.

"Bang!"

Lu Chen was thrown onto the cold ground in the center of the hall by the two guards as if he were a sack.

The force was not light, but he had already channeled a trace of True Qi to protect his internal organs.

He only let out a muffled groan, moved with difficulty, and made a gesture of struggling to rise.

But he collapsed weakly again, laboriously lifting his eyelids, and scanned the crowd in front with unfocused eyes.

Finally, his gaze landed on the Gray-Robed Woman, filled with weakness and fear.

The Gray-Robed Woman took a small step forward, and the shadow under her hood seemed to examine Lu Chen for a moment.

Only then did she speak in that female voice, which was still somewhat hoarse but had recovered some of its vigor.

Her voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears: "Lu Chen, you and I can be considered old acquaintances. The previous offenses were truly forced by the situation. Between you and me, there is no deep hatred."

She paused, her tone softening slightly, carrying a trace of faint inducement: "What we seek is merely to borrow your pure Lightning Technique to help us open the seal of a secret land. If you are willing to help sincerely, I guarantee in the name of the You Clan... Holy Lord, that after the matter is accomplished, not only will I let you leave safely, but the items previously confiscated, except for necessary tokens, can also be returned in part as appropriate. How about it?"

Lu Chen sneered inwardly, but on his face, he appropriately revealed a trace of struggle and hesitation, which finally turned into a resigned dejection.

He blinked his eyes with great difficulty, made a hoarse, meaningless sound in his throat, and nodded reluctantly.

His performance at this moment perfectly displayed the image of a captive who was under someone else's control, suffering from unhealed severe injuries, and had to compromise upon seeing a glimmer of hope.

The Gray-Robed Woman seemed quite satisfied with his knowing the current times, nodded slightly, and said no more.

Between her and Bai Youli, there was still no exchange of glances or words.

But Lu Chen could feel that Bai Youli's cold gaze seemed to linger on him for an extra moment.

The Gray-Robed Woman did not delay any longer, taking out an inconspicuous black hood from her sleeve.

This hood was neither cloth nor leather, felt cold to the touch, and had obscure runes faintly flowing on its surface.

She stepped forward herself and placed the hood over Lu Chen's head.

The moment the hood closed, the last trace of faint light before Lu Chen's eyes completely disappeared.

Not only that, but a special Restriction inside the hood seemed to have been activated, and an invisible force instantly sealed his hearing and any sound from the outside world.

Footsteps, breathing, and even possible sound transmissions all came to an abrupt end.

What was more troublesome was that this hood had an extremely strong isolating and interfering effect on Divine Sense.

The wisp of Divine Sense that Lu Chen tried to project outward felt like it had hit a wall of copper and iron, being firmly locked within his Sea of Consciousness, unable to detect anything of the outside world at all.

'It really is a Magical Artifact, and not of a low grade, specifically used to imprison the perception of captives.'

Lu Chen's heart sank; now, he had truly become blind and deaf.

But he did not panic; instead, he became even more focused and calm, concentrating all his attention on his body's other senses.

With the hood secured, the two guards stepped forward again, hauling him up steadily from the left and right, and began to move.

Sight and hearing were stripped away, and his Divine Sense was also blocked, but his proprioception remained.

Lu Chen could feel himself being carried steadily, the guards' footsteps firm.

He could barely feel any jolting; they were clearly not weak in cultivation and were well-trained.

He began to concentrate fully on perceiving every subtle change in his body.

At first, it was the air peculiar to the cave, carrying a smell of earth and a faint Yin Qi.

Soon, the flow rate, temperature, and humidity of the air began to change subtly.

He felt an extremely faint, erratic airflow brush against his exposed skin, and the air held a hint of the fresh scent of vegetation, as well as...

A faint, extremely distant rumbling of thunder was transmitted very weakly through the ground and the air.

They had left the underground cave and come to the mountain forest outside.

Furthermore, the environment of this mountain forest felt extremely similar to the outskirts of the Thunder Roar Ruins where he was before being captured.

He was carried along in silence.

The direction changed constantly, sometimes going uphill, sometimes going downhill.

Lu Chen silently constructed a rough route map in his mind, although it was extremely vague due to his limited perception.

But combined with his memory of the terrain on the outskirts of the Thunder Roar Ruins, he could roughly judge that this group of Person of the You Clan was carrying him through the mountain forest.

The destination was very likely the entrance to the secret land that the Gray-Robed Woman had mentioned.

He did not know how long they had walked when the two people carrying him suddenly stopped at the same time.

Immediately after, Lu Chen felt his body being gently put down, his feet touching the solid ground.

But the force binding the hood and holding him did not loosen.

Then, he "heard" it.

No, it was not hearing, but a more direct, faint vibration transmitted through his body's bones and the ground.

It was many people stopping at the same time, as well as...

A low, muffled rumbling that seemed to originate from the depths of the earth.

Accompanied by faint, heart-palpitating energy fluctuations, like the breathing of a sleeping giant beast, it penetrated the isolation of the hood and was vaguely sensed by his body.

Had they arrived?

Lu Chen's heart quietly tightened.