Chapter 99: Zhong Guowei
Elder Jing narrowed her eyes as she could feel the stone tablet emitting a profound aura yet she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was.
“Proceed with caution, Yang Wei. I’m afraid the stone tablet may not be as simple as it looks,” Elder Jing warned Yang Wei as she entered inside.
To her surprise, Elder Jing felt the restriction lifted off as soon as her foot stepped inside.
“Seems like this could be a separate dimension or space away from the Pagoda since the restriction is gone,” Elder Jing exclaimed slowly.
Afterward, she closed her eyes to use her spiritual sense around the room and found nothing special besides the stone tablet in the center with some burned-out incense.
‘The incense near the stone tablet seems to be recently placed based on the aroma…’ Elder Jing said inwardly as she raised her guard up.
If this was a secret passage where no one has managed to enter then how could it be possible for incense to retain its aroma when it should have been gone a long time ago.
Based on her deduction, Elder Jing noticed the incense was just a regular incense without any special properties on it so there’s no way it could last for this long.
Yang Wei also got the same deduction as Elder Jing and wondered who else could be here besides them.
Alas, they couldn’t sense anyone here and whereas Elder Jing tried to look for an exit in this room.
Sometime later, Elder Jing sighed softly when there was only the stone tablet in the center.
“Seems like we have to do something about this stone tablet before we can proceed,” Elder Jing said shortly after.
Yang Wei nodded and sat down to stare at the stone tablet. Although a stone tablet should have some text carved in it, the one in front of them was blank without any wordings.
Hence, they were confused as to what this stone tablet was indicated for.
“At this rate, we are just going to be sitting ducks here,” Elder Jing said and tried to stand up.
Yang Wei agreed with her words and decided to take a risk. “Elder Jing, how about we smash this stone tablet into pieces?”
Elder Jing stumbled slightly when she heard his words.
“Have you considered the consequences if you actually smash it into pieces?” Elder Jing replied back with a question.
Meanwhile, Yang Wei started to ponder before shaking his head since he was merely taking a risk. If smashing the stone tablet might enrage the owner then there’s only another solution left to do.
“Let’s kowtow to the stone tablet to pay our respect then,” Yang Wei suggested.
Although his suggestion may seem a bit outrageous but given the fact that they were clueless, Elder Jing nodded her head.
“So be it then,” Elder Jing said as she slowly knelt down on both of her knees.
Yang Wei also did the same thing and changed his sitting position to a kneeling one.
Afterward, they both kowtowed at the same time and as soon as they finished, the door closed down and the ground started trembling.
“Seems like kowtowing is the answer,” Yang Wei mumbled softly as he stood up and waited for what’s coming next.
“Heh, took you this long to kowtow and pay respect to me.”
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the room, alerting Yang Wei and Elder Jing as they looked around to search for the source of this voice.
“Hmph, with your puny cultivation base, detecting my position is near impossible.” The same voice echoed again.
“May I ask who this senior is?” Elder Jing stepped forward and cupped her fist as she spoke in a respectful tone.
Yang Wei cupped his fist as well to show his respect. ‘This person could be similar to Senior Ling in terms of cultivation.’
Elder Jing remained still when the voice seemingly disappeared but her instinct is telling her that the person was still there.
A few moments later, the voice echoed again, “Hmm, it took me a while to recall my name and I’m not even sure if that’s the correct one. But you can call me Zhong Guowei.”
Elder Jing’s body started shaking when she heard the name, Zhong Guowei.
‘I-It can’t be the same person right?’ Elder Jing exclaimed inwardly as her face started to turn pale.
“Hoh, I didn’t think someone would still remember the name, Zhong Guowei in this current era.” Zhong Guowei said softly.
Meanwhile, Yang Wei was confused about the name Zhong Guowei since he had zero knowledge of history in the cultivation world.
In addition, this person, Zhong Guowei has ‘wei’ in his name but the definition is vastly different from the ‘wei’ in Yang Wei.
Hence, Elder Jing did not misunderstand and would think that Yang Wei could be a descendant of Zhong Guowei.
“S-Senior Zhong Guowei is a peerless cultivator from the past that has decimated millions of demons that intruded our world and created a peaceful life for cultivators. Any cultivators would know about Senior Zhong Guowei.”
Elder Jing said slowly as she bowed slightly despite not being able to see him in person.
‘D-Demons?’ Yang Wei exclaimed inwardly and was shocked to find out there are demons in this cultivation world that used to invade their current world.
However, he didn’t dare to make any sound and allowed Elder Jing to continue to communicate with Zhong Guowei.
“A little lass like you actually knows a lot about this old man but those are all in the past. Anyway, since you have paid me respect by kowtowing to my stone tablet, I shall give you some advantage in the upcoming trial.”
Zhong Guowei’s voice echoed the room and before Elder Jing could thank him for the generosity, they were suddenly transported away from the room.
Whoosh!
Yang Wei and Elder Jing reappeared in another area with a flatland in front of them.
“Ugh, it’s this damn trial again. This is going to be a pain.” Elder Jing cursed loudly as she remembered this area very well.