Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 721 Auspicious Blessing
"What is this??"

Everyone was bewildered when they saw the gate that appeared before them, and they all turned to look at Chen Cheng.

Chen Cheng turned to look at the Tan brothers.

Seeing this, the Tan brothers didn't hesitate. They quickly ran to the door, placed their hands flat on the door, and veins like aerial roots sprouted from their palms, quickly covering every corner of the door in front of them.

As treasure hunters, the Tan family brothers naturally have their own unique methods.

However, after groping around in front of the gate, the two discovered that there wasn't even a crack in it.

"The door wasn't even cracked?"

The two brothers, Shanyuan and Shanming, looked at each other in bewilderment.

Then Shanyuan lay down on the door, while Shanming clenched his fists tightly, the muscles on his arms wriggling and gradually merging into a huge meat hammer, which he then slammed into the door.

Even though the two brothers, who were both highly talented, exerted all their strength, the door in front of them remained completely still, without even the slightest sound.

Even the Tan brothers were starting to get a little confused.

The two initially suspected that this thing was a decoy, that it wasn't a door at all, and that the inside seemed to be solid.

"Looks like I'll have to use my best skills." Shan Yuan pulled a handful of black sand from his pocket and splashed it on the stone gate in front of him.

Then the two took out the copper plates they had used when they attacked Xiao Ran, and positioned them one on the left and one on the right of the gate. They rotated the copper plates to a specific angle, and the two copper plates began to emit a buzzing sound.

Before long, the buzzing sound grew louder and louder, and ripples that were visible to the naked eye appeared in the void.

"This treasure hunter certainly has a lot of tricks up his sleeve!"

Seeing this, Shao Hongzhang couldn't help but snort coldly. Although he looked down on treasure hunters, he could still see some clues from the two men's methods.

Xiao Ran also saw the cleverness in it.

He didn't know how Shao Hongzhang understood it; in his eyes, it was clearly similar to the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance.

The sand sprinkled on the gate, under the influence of the ripples, slowly gathered into a small black snake, which kept writhing on the gate.

Before long, a strange pattern appeared on the door.

"There is indeed something!"

Tan Shanyuan's eyes lit up, and then his fingers moved like lightning, pressing down along the texture of the door.

"Click!!"

All that could be heard was a sound like a spring, followed by the continuous whirring of machinery coming from behind the door.

Six grooves then appeared on the door.

This change undoubtedly invigorated everyone, and they all stepped forward to begin studying it.

Xiao Ran only glanced at them before realizing the purpose of the grooves: "These seem to be... Fate Stones."

This thing is not hard to identify because the groove on it looks almost exactly like the shape of the Fate Stone.

"That's right, it's a chance stone."

Chen Cheng nodded, then looked at the several talented individuals beside him: "Gentlemen, take out whatever opportunity stones you have."

The group exchanged glances, but no one made a sound.

There are definitely quite a few opportunity stones. Even those with average or intermediate aptitudes might have them, let alone those with superior aptitudes.

Six Fate Stones would certainly be more than enough, but since these stones can grant a person special abilities, no one would want to give them away easily.

Seeing this, Chen Cheng simply took off two Fate Stones from around his neck: "Gentlemen, what use are these broken stones if we're already dead?"

Seeing Chen Cheng take out two in one go, the others were also moved.

"Take this too, it's not really of any use to you."

Shao Hongzhang casually tossed the black stone that Xiao Ran had given him to Chen Cheng. Then, the other high-potential individuals discussed it for a moment. The Tan brothers took out one stone, and the other high-potential individuals took out two stones, thus completing the six opportunity stones used to open the door.

"Old Chen, why don't you have your fortune told? I just don't feel at ease."

One of the superior talents spoke up.

Chen Cheng shook his head and said, "We won't consult the oracle. In a life-or-death situation, fortune and misfortune are intertwined. What good is the result of the divination? Blindly seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune will only make it harder to escape death. If we don't have the determination to burn our bridges, no one can leave alive."

Everyone was speechless for a moment. Chen Cheng handed the six opportunity stones to the Tan brothers, who then placed them in the groove.

Xiao Ran's opportunity stone was placed in the first slot, followed by Chen Cheng's two stones, arranged in order. After all the opportunity stones were placed in, the gate lit up as if it had been infused with life.

The light wasn't a dazzling brilliance, but a deep, metallic halo that flowed and intertwined like blood along the veins of the design. All eyes were fixed on the ever-changing, pulsating giant door.

"It's about to open! It's really about to open!" A student with exceptional talent exclaimed, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

The Tan brothers were the first to notice something was wrong. They immediately retreated, shouting in horror, "Something's wrong! Retreat!"

Almost at the same time they finished speaking.

"boom!!"

A deafening, heart-stopping roar erupted from within the gate. The massive stone door didn't open slowly; instead, accompanied by a sickening cracking sound, it shattered violently inward!
The entire valley seemed to tremble along with it.

"Kakaka..."

The grooves on the gate, where the opportunity stones were embedded, began to narrow deeper. Once the stones were completely swallowed, the patterns on the gate suddenly turned black, and a surge of black energy gathered above it. Then…

With a loud "boom!", the energy slammed into the ground like a cannonball, and in an instant, the entire ground was covered by a black shockwave.

A black storm suddenly surged out from under the stone gate, sweeping over everyone.

"Hold on!!" Seeing the storm approaching, Chen Cheng immediately raised the lantern above his head in front of him, allowing everyone to exert the lantern's power to the fullest extent.

Instantly, the dazzling red light converged into a cluster, resembling a bright red lotus blooming in the valley.

The storm, pebbles, and flying sand made a crackling and popping sound as if they were hitting the reef.

Fortunately, although Xiao Ran's suspending lamp technique was a simplified version, it was still quite effective, especially when so many people used it together, its defensive power was naturally excellent.

The tremors, like those of the apocalypse, lasted for several breaths, as if the entire valley had been violently shaken by an invisible giant hand. Stone chips, dust, and embers mixed with black energy flew everywhere.

As the tremors gradually subsided, everyone waved their hands, brushing away the dust that had been stirred up in front of them.

"Look!!"

At this moment, the Tan brothers' eyes lit up, and they pointed to the gate in front of them.

A crack had appeared on the once-smooth door.

Even Shao Hongzhang and Chen Cheng couldn't help but step forward to examine the crack closely.

One of them is a Qimen Dunjia master, and the other is a Feng Shui master. Together with the two treasure hunters, they are all comparable to experts.

Even the most notorious tomb raiders would be utterly crushed in the face of these four.

The four of them carefully observed the crack for a moment, and then clapped and exclaimed in admiration.

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful! The design of this mechanism is ingenious."

"I've never seen such a mechanism before. It's truly refreshing and eye-opening."

Although the four of them looked down on each other, they recognized each other on this door.

The others were puzzled, and one of them, a man of exceptional talent, couldn't help but ask, "Old Chen, what exactly is going on? The sound we heard suggests something is wrong inside. Can this door still be opened?"

There is no door at all.

Tan Shanming said, "This is a big rock, indestructible, without even a crack. But the trick is that it seems to be able to use the power of the Opportunity Stone to create an explosion from the inside, blasting the rock open directly from the inside."

"Six opportunity stones, which means we need to blow them up six times before we can leave."

Upon hearing that they could leave, everyone's faces relaxed.

However, Xiao Ran keenly sensed that something was wrong. He turned his head sharply, his eyes flashing with a fluorescent light.

He focused his mental energy into his eyes, forcefully piercing through the darkness behind him.

But then they saw a pure black energy rapidly spreading through the valley behind them.

"There's a situation!!"

Suddenly, Xiao Ran's pupils constricted. He saw a shrine completely dyed black, and the stone statue sitting in the shrine also turned pitch black.

It's the power of the Stone of Chance!!

Seeing this, Xiao Ran was shocked and immediately realized that something was wrong. The power of the detonated opportunity stone had been entirely amplified on the stone statues.

Even the anthropomorphic sculptures on the ground were covered up.

But this is not the worst-case scenario.

Xiao Ran turned her head sharply and looked at the second opportunity stone that was slowly sinking into the gate. Her heart tightened, and she hurriedly shouted to Chen Cheng, "Quickly take the stone out!!"

But it's too late.

As the second opportunity stone was swallowed up, another loud bang came from inside the gate, but this time the noise was far less than that of the first opportunity stone.

But you could see streaks of purple light gathering on the gate, and then, with a loud bang, they were blasted into the ground.

"Uh-huh!!!"

The purple light quickly covered the earth and spread throughout the valley at an extremely fast speed. In an instant, the originally dark valley was once again shrouded in a layer of purple light.

Chen Cheng and the others finally realized that something was wrong.

In the distance, more and more stone statues emerged from the shrine. They were all black, but purple arcs of electricity occasionally shot out from their bodies.

"how so!!"

Chen Cheng was also taken aback when he saw this. The purple arc of electricity was the power of the Opportunity Stone, which could grant the holder the ability of lightning.

"Quickly, take all the remaining opportunity stones."

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Chen Cheng hurriedly turned around and shouted to the Tan brothers. However, when the Tan brothers tried to grab the remaining opportunity stones, their hands were thrown back by a force the moment they touched the door.

Just as the third opportunity stone was about to be swallowed up, Xiao Ran swiftly leaped forward, raised his staff, and swept it horizontally.

"Bang bang bang!!"

Sparks flew everywhere, and two of the opportunity stones were sent flying, but the other two remained firmly embedded in the gate.

"boom!!"

At the same time, the third opportunity stone was swallowed up, the gate trembled, and the cracks on it widened again.

With a loud boom, a golden light suddenly burst forth from the ground, instantly covering the entire valley.

In an instant, the statues throughout the valley began to tremble, their bodies covered with a metallic sheen. This third opportunity stone's power was called the Indestructible Vajra, which could make the holder's body as strong as steel.

But at this moment, this ability has been added to the bodies of these statues, making them indestructible, wielding the power of lightning, and possessing the ability to transform.

This left not only Chen Cheng and the others bewildered, but even Xiao Ran was completely at a loss...

(End of this chapter)