958 Preservation Golem
Standing in front of the large pair of sandstone doors leading out of the small hall, Xuan Hao couldn't help marveling at the intricate carvings on the surface of the large doors. Even with the passage of time, these intricate and mystical carvings of different mythical creatures had managed to remain intact.
Taking a step forward before trying to push open the pair of large sandstone doors, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he felt the terrifying weight of the pair of doors in front of him.
Rumble~
Deciding to put more strength into his arms and raising the strength used all the way up to the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm, the large sandstone doors finally began to show signs of moving-
Creeeeaaak~!
However, it was only when his strength reached a level comparable to that of the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm that the sandstone doors finally gave in and opened up to reveal a large hallway on the other side.
"Just what kind of sandstone is this door made of…?" Muttering this to himself as he briefly glanced over the now open pair of sandstone doors, Xuan Hao soon turned his attention towards the large hallway leading deeper inside the massive underground structure buried beneath the sand.
Although he had no idea what kind of purpose the structure had served in the past for the trial, he felt that it should have some other use than just being the place where the scroll of trials happened to be located.
If that was the case, there would have been no need to construct such a massive structure in the first place, just leaving the stone pedestal somewhere near the place he had appeared after entering the trial like the other two trials had done would have been far simpler…
"Hm? This is…" Observing the walls of the hallway, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he noticed a thin line of energy connecting to the sandstone door traveling along the side of the wall before disappearing behind a corner a few hundred meters ahead.
The reason that this thin line of energy happened to catch his attention was not due to the fact that it was there, but more so the fact that he hadn't sensed it with his divine sense earlier and should have only just appeared after he opened the sandstone door.
I hope this isn't some kind of trap…
Feeling a sense of unease as he kept his attention focused on the corner that the thin line of energy had disappeared behind, Xuan Hao prepared himself for whatever kind of trap might have been triggered by him opening the sandstone doors.
Tap~ Tap~
Not a second later, the sound of something light moving through the hallway could be heard. Instantly causing Xuan Hao to prepare himself for the worst as his dao domain spread out together with his divine sense.
"Huh?"
However, what appeared in front of him was not some kind of powerful guardian demon beast nor some kind of puppet that might have been activated as a result of someone entering the structure forcefully. Instead, what appeared in front of him was a human-sized golem made up of what could only be described as some kind of mud. Not to mention over half of its body was missing, causing it to slowly limp towards him at a speed that even a normal mortal could outrun.
The only thing forcing him to take the golem seriously even in that condition, was the fact that he could feel a terrifying power no weaker than the cloud demon beast inside the golem.
Although it was faint and clearly close to extinguishing at any moment, he didn't dare being the slightest bit careless when faced with something that had to do with the Earth Immortal Realm, the feeling of absolute suppression that he had felt when facing the cloud demon beast was still fresh in his mind.
Thump!
Just as the golem was about to reach the area covered by his dao domain, it came to a sudden stop before its head turned to look directly at him.
"Greetings trial participant, you have not reached the minimum requirement for redeeming a secret technique. Entering the exchange hall without fulfilling the minimum requirement will result in a response from the Protective Formation in place that might kill you.
The Mirage Sect is not responsible for any trial participants who die after violating the rules. Please turn around and return only after reaching the minimum requirements for exchanging a secret technique."
"It can talk!?"
Taken by surprise by the golem suddenly starting to talk, Xuan Hao momentarily froze as he looked towards the golem filled with confusion.
"Talking is a normal feature of a preservation golem, as they are required to converse with trial participants on occasions and prevent them from recklessly activating the protective formations of the Celestial Trials and get themselves killed in the process." Not caring about his confused state, the preservation golem promptly answered the surprised exclamation without missing a beat.
What in the world is this thing… And Celestial Trials? Is it perhaps talking about the trials of the celestial gates?
Taking a few seconds to calm down as he looked towards the self-proclaimed preservation golem, Xuan Hao could not help feeling confused about the new information that he had obtained from the golem.
Even then, through the information that it had given him, he could at the very least determine that it shouldn't be an immediate threat to his safety and just came out to warn him before he ended up accidently walking into a so-called protective formation guarding part of the underground structure… And given the other formations he had seen so far after entering the mystic realm, he felt rather lucky that he didn't end up walking into one again.
Other than that, he also found out about the fact that the golem belonged to the Mirage Sect and that there was some kind of exchange hall with secret techniques inside the underground structure.
As for any more information, it looked like he would have to try and see if he could get any more information from the golem in front of him. Maybe even try to figure out what the Celestial Trials and requirements it had mentioned was about…
