“You’re right about that, Mr. Aldwych,” Jared replied with a smile. “Must’ve been pure luck that Ms. Murray was there to save me.”
“Aziel, do you think you can open this stone door?” Jemina asked, changing the subject.
“Of course,” Aziel said casually. “It’s just a stone door. Nothing I can’t handle.”
With a calm, confident grin, he walked up to the door. Without saying another word, a short, jet-black blade appeared in his hand.
Clang!
A cold flash vanished into the stone, but the door remained completely unmoved. Then, a powerful backlash erupted from the door. Aziel, caught by surprise, was blasted backward over three hundred meters.
Everyone watching was stunned.
Even Aziel couldn’t move the stone door an inch.
Jared narrowed his eyes as he studied the runes more closely. They were strange. When the backlash happened, the runes almost seemed to come alive, shifting and twisting just before unleashing that explosive force.
His expression turned serious. It was clear now -exploring this ancient ruin wasn’t going to be easy.
Aziel, visibly frustrated after getting thrown back, stepped forward with a scowl on his face. He gently ran his hand over the stone again, but there was no response at all.
“Seems like this arcane array is stronger than expected. We should have Mr. Draycott from Heavenfall Pavilion take a look. He’s the expert when it comes to arcane arrays,” Aziel said, feigning calm.
Jared stayed quiet. Given enough time, he could’ve cracked this arcane array himself. It was unusual, but once he pinpointed the arcane array’s core, breaking it wouldn’t be a problem.
But with him only at Wandering Immortal Realm Level One, he couldn’t afford to show too much power in front of these people. His knowledge in array craft would only draw unwanted attention from Aziel.
Right now, his best move was to act useless. If there were magical items in these ancient ruins, maybe he could grab them while the others were off guard.
But if Aziel started getting suspicious, things would only get harder.
Just then, Aziel pulled out a token and crushed it in his hand.
As it shattered, a drop of blood essence was forced from his palm and floated into the air, slowly spreading into a blood mist.
Quickly, the void within the blood mist began to tremble.
Then, from the center of the blood mist, an elderly man with completely white hair slowly emerged.
This was none other than Dexton Draycott, an elder of Heavenfall Pavilion.
“Aziel, what is it? I was in the middle of a chess match with the sect leader,” Dexton said with a raised brow.
“Mr. Draycott, I was checking out the ancient ruins, and there’s an arcane array on this stone door I can’t break. I thought of you right away. Since you’re skilled in array craft, I was hoping you could help me break it.”
Aziel’s tone was noticeably more polite with Dexton. There wasn’t a trace of the arrogance he had shown before.
Dexton nodded slightly and walked up to the stone door. He examined the runes with a careful eye. Then, with a wave of his hand, a glowing screen materialized in midair. All the runes on the stone surface projected onto it in sharp detail.
As his fingers danced through the air, the runes on the screen shifted, rearranged, and spun in complex patterns.
Jared could tell right away that Dexton was searching for the core of the arcane array.
If the arcane array’s core could be found, it could be dismantled without brute force. Otherwise, one would need overwhelming strength to break through.
Jared silently watched, intrigued by Dexton’s approach.
“This one’s definitely a tough nut to crack,” Dexton muttered, his brow furrowed as the light screen gradually dimmed.
Then, on the surface of the stone door, a faint circular glow began to spin, like some unseen force was beginning to stir.
