137: Chapter 137 Trap Maze

"Well, about that—"

Yan Jiuyue playfully stuck out her tongue, her eyes darting around. "Ehe?"

Seeing this, Chen Yi rolled his eyes helplessly and said crossly, "'Ehe' my foot! I almost fell for your nonsense!"

"I'm sorry! Next time we rest, Big Sister will definitely let you enjoy yourself for a while longer. Don't be mad!"

"Who's the one enjoying it anyway? As expected of a vixen—"

After a bit of bickering, Chen Yi led the group further west, aiming for the Earth Region in the southwest.

Under the guidance of Chen Yi's Treasure Seeking Eye, they harvested plenty along the way, constantly discovering various rare treasures.

However, without exception, none of these treasures had the light attribute.

This left Chen Yi in a bit of a predicament.

He had originally been confident that within the Light Zone, he would surely be able to collect at least a few light-attribute heaven and earth spiritual treasures.

But now he realized that Yan Jiuyue must have possessed some intelligence regarding the Five Elements Secret Realm.

She knew that light-attribute spiritual treasures were absolutely impossible to find within the Five Elements Secret Realm!

No wonder she had spent so lavishly at the auction, insisting on winning the remains of spiritual light no matter what—after all that, it turned out that light-attribute heaven and earth spiritual treasures were truly extremely rare!

No wonder the system only required 5 Enhancement Points to activate heaven and earth spiritual treasures of other attributes.

Yet, activating light and dark attribute heaven and earth spiritual treasures required a full 25 points.

Not only were the effects powerful, but they were indeed rare to the extreme.

---

And so, Chen Yi and his group flew toward the Earth Region while hunting for treasure.

Time slipped by unnoticed, and half a day passed in a flash.

Following the map's guidance, Chen Yi's group finally reached the border between the Light Zone and the Earth Region.

There was no obvious dividing point between these two regions; there were no storm barriers or spatial turbulence.

However, the moment they stepped into this border zone, they felt a completely different atmosphere.

A suffocating sense of heaviness bore down on them like a mountain, as if they had suddenly shouldered a thousand-pound burden!

The air became exceptionally viscous, and every breath felt like a struggle in a quagmire, carrying the dry scent of fresh soil mixed with weathered ancient rock, leaving their throats feeling parched and uncomfortable.

The light was dim, as if shrouded in a thick haze, forming a sharp contrast with the Light Zone, like two completely different worlds.

Above the firmament, the sunlight was obscured by the heavy dust permeating the air, casting an oppressive, murky yellow hue.

Massive, earthy-yellow rock pillars rose from the ground, each one towering into the clouds, supporting a high vault.

However, the most heart-palpitating thing was the omnipresent, abnormal gravity!

As soon as Lin Mengxue flew in, she immediately felt the powerful gravitational pressure. She lost her balance instantly and nearly crashed!

Fortunately, her flight skills and reflexes were truly excellent. At the moment she was about to fall, she quickly used Breath of Ice to create a smooth ice slide, significantly slowing the impact of the descent and allowing Chen Yi's group to reach the ground safely.

With every step they took, the rock beneath their feet felt exceptionally hard.

Lifting their legs became extraordinarily difficult, as if their limbs were filled with lead, forcing them to trudge through a swamp.

"So... so heavy!"

"The earth elements here... have they actually become so dense that they've formed a physical gravity field?"

"The spiritual energy consumption seems to have increased a lot. This feels even harder to withstand than the central region!"

"It's heavy and stuffy, this is really uncomfortable!"

The girls complained one after another, their faces showing expressions of pain.

However, they soon discovered a strange phenomenon.

Hua Yuetong and Hua Xingtong, the two sisters, seemed to be completely fine.

Logically, since they hadn't awakened their bloodlines and their physical constitutions were weak, shouldn't it be impossible for them to breathe so steadily in this gravitational environment?

"Are you two okay?"

Chen Yi walked forward to ask.

"We're fine? No problem at all, we actually feel light all over!"

"We thought you guys were putting on some kind of comedy skit!"

"Is that so?"

Chen Yi thought for a moment and quickly understood the situation.

Hua Yuetong and Hua Xingtong were likely unaffected because their spiritual energy was dissipated; it couldn't spread out, and thus couldn't resonate with the laws of the Earth Region to create a suppressing effect.

To put it simply, in this region, the stronger a person's spiritual energy, the stronger the gravitational pressure they faced!

Thinking of this, Chen Yi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the two of them didn't have to endure this gravity, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable!

"Brother Chen Yi, I'm sorry, I can't fly anymore—"

Lin Mengxue looked guilty. "Even though you gave me so many resources, I still can't be useful—"

Hearing this, Chen Yi just raised his hand and gave her a light chop on the forehead.

This girl, why was she overthinking things again?

Chen Yi knew that Lin Mengxue had always been somewhat insecure about her abilities, constantly worried she would become a burden to the team.

"What are you thinking? I doubt this region was meant for flying. We'll just explore on foot from here!"

"Okay—"

Chen Yi activated his Treasure Seeking Eye; the murky yellow dust and distorted gravity field had absolutely no effect on him.

Unexpectedly, just like the Wind Region, there wasn't a single trace of a heaven and earth spiritual treasure within a radius of several kilometers, but there were a vast number of traps.

[Gravity Amplification: The gravity experienced by entities within this area increases in proportion to their spiritual energy.]

[Meteor Fall: Entering this area will trigger meteors to fall from the sky, dealing a devastating blow.]

[Quicksand Pit: Entering this area will trigger a quicksand trap; the ground gravity increases and transforms into a quicksand domain.]

[Rock Golem: Entering this area will trigger a magical beast mechanism, summoning between ten to twenty Tier 4 magical beast Rock Golems.]

[...]

Chen Yi's brow furrowed slightly.

The types of traps were more or less the same as those in the heart of the secret realm.

Judging by the red zones these traps left on the system interface—why did it feel like there was a pattern?

If he connected these trap zones like red lines—why did it look like a miniature version of a labyrinth map?

Could it be that this place was one giant labyrinth?

The map did note that the Earth Region was the most dangerous, with the most uncertain terrain and frequent traps, advising against adventuring here. Could it be because of these traps?

Others couldn't see these traps at all, and once they triggered one, they generally wouldn't think about recording the terrain.

Therefore, they would never discover that these trap zones formed the walls of a giant labyrinth!

Navigating a labyrinth when you had a map—wasn't that a piece of cake?

No wonder there was such a powerful gravity field.

If one could fly, wouldn't they be able to cross this labyrinth in minutes?

Thinking of this, the corners of Chen Yi's mouth curled up involuntarily.

Although they could only walk, it wasn't a problem at all!

They would just treat it as a stroll!