CHAPTER 209: 209

By the walls around the sect’s hideout, Michelle and the rest kept making noise to see if someone would come out. But nothing happened, even on the fifth day. It seemed the sect really wouldn’t react unless someone entered.

So, by the end of the fifth day, everyone gathered in the ice hut made by Michelle to discuss what to do next.

The final decision was to go into the sect, even if it was reckless and dangerous.

The one who showed the biggest opposition was the scarred man. That just made Michelle more sure that either he or his boss, Alexander, had something against the black god or his sect.

But the opposition from the scarred man wasn’t that big, so the group easily convinced him to come with them. Of course, they also gave him the option of staying behind, but then there was the chance he would never see them again.

So, after making the ice hut thaw, Michelle was the first one to step towards the sect’s gate. And the person right behind her was the scarred man.

"Uncle Pete, considering you were the most opposed to going in, aren’t you a bit too eager now?" Anastasia asked from behind.

The scarred man, Pete Corven, glanced back for a moment, but he didn’t give much of a reaction. The whole time he was with the group, he was detached and calm. Everyone was already used to it.

Just then, Michelle stopped in front of the heavy gate. It was clear that they would have to find a way to open it if they wanted to get in.

She put her hand on it and pushed.

As expected, nothing happened. "Let’s all try together," she said to the group, knowing even if she used all her strength, she wouldn’t be able to move it alone.

Even when all five of them pushed against the gate, it didn’t move an inch. It clearly wasn’t normal.

"Uncle Pete, do you know something about this?" Michelle asked Pete Corven, considering that he was the subordinate of Alexander, a person from the heavenly realm.

Pete placed his palms on the gate and started exploring its surface, searching for clues.

At first, everything seemed smooth, without any changes, but upon further inspection, he noticed a change in the texture in three places. Two of them were warmer than the rest, and one was colder.

A guess formed in Pete’s mind. "This could be an opposing mechanism," he concluded, but some uncertainty was in his voice.

"Opposing mechanism?" Ivona tilted her head a bit, staring at the gate. "What’s that?"

No one in the group had ever heard of something like the opposing mechanism. Not even Michelle.

All they could do was guess.

But Pete quickly explained things.

Opposing mechanisms were based on spirit energy of two opposing elements crashing, which would create the necessary force to set the mechanism in motion.

Opposing mechanisms were rarely used in realms below the upper realm because they were quite complex to set up.

To create such a mechanism, one needed to predetermine how much spirit energy of which element would be needed to enter the mechanism for it to work properly.

Next, it was necessary to set up the ratio between the two opposing elements so that the result would be as desired.

And lastly, the one setting it up would need to determine the exact places from which spirit energy should be injected into the mechanism.

For an opposing mechanism to be set up in the lower realm, it was clear that at least two people from the upper or heavenly realm were present when the sect was created. Also, to keep the gate working, they would need to regularly check it, so there was a high possibility they were around.

"Which elements are needed to open this gate?" Michelle asked.

Pete finally retracted his hands from the gate. "Ice and fire elements, with double the fire element compared to the ice."

So, under Pete’s guidance, Kieran placed both his hands on the gate, and Michelle put just one on it.

Her other hand went to Kieran’s shoulder, so she could show him the pace at which he needed to inject the spirit energy into the gate.

What was important was that the rate at which he injected the spirit energy was the same from both of his hands. And Michelle needed to make her rate exactly the same.

When the two were prepared to inject their spirit energy into the gate, Michelle first let her spirit energy seep out from her hand on Kieran’s shoulder, letting him feel at what speed she was pumping it out.

Then, under Pete’s command, they both started sending spirit energy into the gate.

At first, nothing happened. Or at least, that was how it looked in the eyes of the onlooking Anastasia and Ivona. Pete, who was somehow knowledgeable about opposing mechanisms, noticed a change, and Kieran and Michelle, who were in direct contact with it, could easily feel the power soaring through the gate.

Glancing at each other, they agreed to increase the pace.

Michelle, with her hand on Kieran’s shoulder, showed the pace to him, and Kieran followed along.

That dragged on for a while, until even Ivona and Anastasia could feel the power surging from the gate. It was dangerous, threatening to explode any moment.

And after a while, it happened. Michelle and Kieran got rudely thrown back as something exploded within the gate.

The explosion gave the mechanism enough power to move, and the gate then slowly opened.

"Let’s go in, or it will close soon!" Pete reminded, so everyone followed him in.

They didn’t even get to look around properly when the gate closed behind them with a loud thud.

The surroundings were eerily silent. The air was still, without even a gust of wind. And the smell of death was thick in the surroundings.

Ivona covered her nose in disgust. Kieran and Anastasia were clearly uncomfortable, too. Pete was calm, clearly used to being close to death. And Michelle took in a deep breath.

At first, it seemed like she was enjoying the presence of death all around her, but if someone knew her better, they would know she was just trying to assess the situation better. There were many things one could find out just from smelling the surroundings.

Of course, it was more difficult with the smell of death being so thick. It meant many people died at the place, so it was impossible to focus on a sole target.

But Michelle still tried it out of habit.

At least she found out one thing. "The air isn’t poisonous." She came to the conclusion quickly.

"What do we do now?" Ivona uncovered her nose, a frown still on her face.

Michelle glanced around, looking for the source of the smell. But she couldn’t see anything. It was just a deserted garden.

"We should probably go further in. Maybe we will discover something there," Kieran suggested.

Everyone agreed it made sense, so they proceeded through the garden, the stench of death growing stronger the closer they got to the building in the distance.

After being in the garden for a while, Michelle was nearly sure that the garden was a safe place, and that the danger was lurking in the building up ahead. But that assumption didn’t make her let her guard down.

She was in the territory of potential enemies and in an unknown place. Traps and threats could be anywhere.

When the group reached the building, Michelle stopped in front of the door, and the rest stood on the side.

Michelle then put her palm over the door and summoned her soul energy.

A black ball appeared in the middle of the door and started growing rapidly, swallowing everything around it. After just a few moments, the door was gone, and the black ball started chipping away at the wall.

Seeing it, Michelle smiled. Her soul energy was her best weapon. Void. She loved it. It could swallow anything.

Clenching her fist, the ball of void shrunk and retracted into her skin. Then, she could finally see into the building.

There, darkness had swallowed everything. But the intense scent of death, blood, and rotting bodies made it clear that the corpses were there. The space in front of Michelle was definitely where most of the cultivators who dared to enter the sect lost their lives.

Maybe some survived, but they didn’t return to the lower realm to tell the tale. It made people wonder why.

"How nasty..." Kieran stepped into the room, but Anastasia grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled him back.

"It’s dangerous!" she glared at him.

Kieran turned to look at her. "What can we achieve if we don’t risk getting in danger?"

Seeing that the two were about to argue, Ivona rolled her eyes and winked at Michelle. The two girls then pushed the arguing pair into the room, between the corpses.

They were expecting something to attack. Or at least for a trap to activate.

But nothing happened. The room remained silent.

"Maybe it’s just a mass grave, and the killings happen elsewhere..." Ivona contemplated, but even she herself didn’t believe her own words.