588 Finding the Entrance

Not long after, the people from other influences arrived at the scene. It took them all their courage to come here after seeing the huge flame pillar. It was only after all influences ganged together, they finally had the courage to come here.

They only knew that this place should be the place where the Black Devil Sect was stationed. However, they realized they had underestimated Alex and his group this entire time. The forest was destroyed, leaving only a huge crater with blazing fire… There were many other things that shocked them the most, but the forest took the first spot.

Chloe sweatdropped before flinching back. At first, she thought by coming here, there would be a bit more guarantee for her safety. The thought vanished as she presented the scenes in front of her. "Who are they?"

If she knew that Nelson also had killed the elders from Black Devil Sect, she wouldn't want to come to this place just to check the situation. 

The chaotic feeling continued when they began investigating the area. They could see a pool of blood around, but not a single dead body. Because of this, they couldn't learn how many people were buried here? Have the Black Devil Sect been wiped out in this area? Or there were still a few that managed to escape?

Unfortunately, these questions would remain unanswered.

Meanwhile, Alex and the others were already teleported far away from them. They were inside the woods, so no one would ever bother searching for her. Anya used her element to provide light so they could have a discussion.

"What are we going to do after this?" Alex asked.

"There is no other place we need to go other than that place, right?" Anya rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. I'm just asking since there might be a place where you feel suspicious." Alex shrugged before remembering Stina's matter. "By the way, Stina is having her deep sleep. In other words, we can only do the rest by ourselves."

"We have completed our mission anyway, so I believe it's not a problem." Anya nodded. "How about the others? Do you have a place that looks suspicious to you?"

The other spirits pondered for a minute before shaking their heads in unison. Anna pondered for a moment before asking, "Do you think there will be a secret door in the cultivation place?" 

"I don't know." Alex shook his head. "The cultivation place is situated in the middle of the barrier. It is a perfect spot to place the Gathering Array to hold this array. If I want to use the same plan as our secret base on the Northern Continent, there will be many symbols underground that can be traced.

"After observing the layout, the only suspicious place is in the middle, which means the cultivation place. I heard there is another barrier that prevents everyone from entering. It makes the spot more suspicious."

Alex nodded. "Yeah. You are right. We will go to that place in three days, so have a good rest."

The spirits nodded while asking Greg, who didn't do much in the battle earlier to guard Alex while he was recovering. The spirits could recover inside the card anyway, while the contracted beasts could heal themselves in Alex's body. In other words, only Alex and Greg were in the real world right now, with the former closed his eyes and recovered.

Alex took one day to recover all of his energy, but he rested for another two days just in case.

"Young Master. Should I go back or follow you?" Greg asked. 

Alex thought for a moment and said, "I will ask Narman to guide me in the dark so as to not alarm the enemy. If we are going to fight, I will call all of you later."

"Understood." Greg nodded before turning into a green light that flew and disappeared inside Alex's body. 

Alex took out Narman's card and summoned him. "Narman, you already know your mission, right?"'

"Yes. Please follow me." Narman nodded and disappeared.

Alex began running forward, following Narman right behind his back. He could see a few signs of people around the area, but Narman avoided them skillfully.

Although Alex could use his teleportation to pass them, he wouldn't know whether they would be spotted when they arrived or not. After all, Alex knew he would teleport them if it were not too far. It also meant that it was faster to cross the region with their speed than wasting his energy with a teleportation array. In the end, Alex abandoned the idea and followed Narman patiently. 

It took them three hours before they arrived in front of a barrier. Inside the barrier stood a few buildings made of stone. Each building had a hundred sockets sealed with a simple stone door. The barrier itself was hidden inside a small forest.

Outside the forest was a huge plain with a few hiding spots. The other influences stayed right outside the forest. Nonetheless, Narman guided him safely. And when they entered the forest, a few disciples were patrolling around the area. If Alex used his teleportation, he might end up spotted by one of these disciples and forced to kill them… unless they were fast enough to inform the others since Alex still needed to look around the area.

Finally, their efforts had been rewarded with Alex arriving in front of the barrier secretly. He took a look at this barrier. "Hmm…"

"Young Master? Should I go back?" Narman asked.

"Just watch over me and check whether any disciples are coming here." Alex nodded before turning back to the barrier.

"Yes." Narman nodded and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Alex narrowed his eyes because he never expected he would see this. "This is the combination of many arrays… In terms of complexity, it is as hard as mine to decipher. If I want to break inside this, I might need a week to create a hole inside the barrier.

"This is because the barrier is reinforced by Rank 8 Array, Space Element, and powerful energy." Alex couldn't help but look down. "There was no way the person who created this array would draw a core in the sky… which means, the only possibility is underground."

The moment he looked down, the answer appeared. "I see. That's how it is…"

Although barely, he could see a flash of energy deep underground. It would only occur when the barrier would open soon. 

"Young Master, have you found the way? There are two disciples nearby, so if you haven't the secret entrance, we need to hide." Narman appeared behind him and said.

"Let's hide first," Alex said without hesitation.

Narman nodded and guided him. 

After finding a safe place, Alex started muttering in a low voice. "A hidden barrier underground… and leaking spiritual energy. This will only occur when the Spiritual Energy has reached its maximum capacity and want the array to open itself. However, making an array underground is easier said than done. There should be an entrance that leads to the underground… The problem will be where it is…" 

Alex already found the clue he was searching for. He might not know the entrance, but it should be inside this forest. The problem would be how he entered it.

"I need to search the entrance and lock it back again… I can't let the mistake happen twice." Alex narrowed his eyes as he remembered how he first met Letizia. If such a thing happened again, he might as well kill them to prevent any future problem and not become a good person by letting them off with a single Heavenly Oath.

"Narman, I want you to lead me around this area to check where the entrance is."

"How about inside the barrier, Young Master? Isn't it more protected that way?" Narman asked.

"No. There is going to be a distorted flow of energy if I place the entrance inside the barrier. The best place would be outside this barrier… but not too far. In other words, the entrance is somewhere in this forest." Alex carefully said with all the knowledge he had. 

"Understood. I will keep looking out while guiding you so you can rest assured while finding the entrance." Narman nodded.

The two of them quickly looked around the area. They had quite a hard time because they needed constantly moving.

Alex looked left and right to see any abnormality and watched the condition underground to find any clue. Until finally they entered the southern part of the forest…

*Fwoosh!*

A strange wind blew his hair a little bit. He hadn't felt a single wind up to this point, so he knew there was something wrong around the area.

The moment, he looked down, a flash of crystal golden light came into his eyes. This was the color of Spiritual Energy, which meant the one that previously blew his hair was the leaked Spiritual Energy.

Alex halted his footsteps and looked around to find the concealment array. It wouldn't be possible to make a natural-looking entrance without a concealment array because the energy would leak from the entrance.

"Young Master?" Narman glanced at Alex.

"We have found the general spot. And now, our task is to find the entrance." 

"Understood. Young Master can take your time. If any disciples come here, I will direct them somewhere. I will inform you if I can't." Narman nodded.

Alex nodded. "I will leave it to you."

He began his investigation with the Spirit Eyes before he stumbled upon a weird looking stone. It was quite a big stone with a dense of trees surrounding it. For normal people, they wouldn't be able to find a strangeness from this, but for Alex and other skilled Space Element Array Masters, this place might look strange.

Alex kneeled right in front of the boulder and looked into the trees only to find it artificial. "This is artificial trees… and behind this…"

Alex scrapped the outer layer of the wood and smiled.

"I know it!"

Many symbols were hidden under these trees. No one would be bothered enough to scrap these trees to check what's inside. Nonetheless, Alex found this matter unusual. This barrier had stood tall for over thousands of years. He was wondering why this place wasn't found yet.

Alex placed his hand right on the ground and channeled his Spiritual Energy inside. At that time, he noticed his energy was being repulsed. This only meant there was an array a few meters underground.

Remembering the matter with Race Crystal in another world, he realized that the same as Race Crystal, the array underground was the core, while the symbols in these trees would be the ones that made it sustainable. 

If Alex tore this place down, he would only meet a normal destroyed ground unless he dug a hole. He couldn't help but smile.

"Alright. Let's get to work and break the barrier."