Chapter 400 - 400: Trapped

Long Chen and Chu Miao went further and noticed that the number of statues that they saw was increasing.

Previously they saw a statue every 500 meters, but now they saw the statues on both sides of the roads every 20 meters.

Long Chen felt as if these statues were leading him somewhere, and he thought that it was somehow related to beasts.

Long Chen kept walking ahead, and he saw something.

He saw a giant spherical golden barrier that was surrounding a large portion of land.

The barrier was semi-transparent, and Long Chen was able to see on the other side of the barrier.

He saw trees everywhere. 

"A barrier that surrounds a forest? It somehow reminds me of the beast mountain of the Beast Hall branch. I wonder if they keep their beasts here. I might be able to get something," Long Chen muttered.

He looked around and found a small piece of stone.

He picked up the stone and threw it towards the barrier just to be sure.

He expected the stone to either bounce back or be destroyed, but what happened was completely opposite.

The stone passed through the barrier with ease and landed on the other side of the barrier.

"The heck? Is this really a barrier or a decoration?" Long Chen muttered as he stepped forward. 

He stepped towards the barrier and brought his Mountain Destroyer out of his storage ring. He thrust the sword towards the barrier, and it passed through with ease. There was no resistance whatsoever.

He put the sword back and tried touching the barrier with his finger; still, nothing happened.

His hand passed through the barrier, and he also stepped inside with ease. 

He wasn't stopped and didn't feel any resistance this time, either.

"Strange. This barrier is useless," Long Chen muttered as he looked back.

Chu Miao saw him enter, and she also passed through the barrier.

"Really strange," he frowned.

"Maybe it's just for show," Chu Miao said.

"Maybe," he let out as he turned back and started walking deeper into the forest.

"Do you think there will be something good here?" she asked Long Chen.

"If this place is what I think it is, then this place might have something that's even more important than a treasure," Long Chen muttered as he looked forward.

He used his Divine Sense and scanned his surroundings as he walked further.

Long Chen walked for over 3 hours, and he got to the end of the forest, and he saw the other end of the barrier.

Long Chen stopped using his Divine Sense as he sighed.

"That was a waste of time. There was nothing here," he muttered with a disappointed look on his face.

"That wasn't a complete waste. Think of it as us taking a shortcut instead of going a long way around the barrier," Chu Miao said as she looked at the positive side of it.

"Yeah," Long Chen let out, but he clearly didn't look happy.

Long Chen walked to the barrier, but as soon as he tried to pass through it, he felt a powerful shock.

He hurriedly moved back.

"Are you alright?" Chu Miao ran to him and provided support.

"I'm fine. It's nothing," Long Chen let out.

He picked up a rock from the ground and threw it towards the barrier, but the rock was stopped by the barrier. It didn't pass through and fell down to the ground.

"I get it. This barrier doesn't prevent someone from entering, but it prevents someone from leaving. My assumption should be right. This place is their beast sanctuary," Long Chen said as a frown covered his face.

"So, we can't leave?" Chu Miao said as she started getting worried.

"We should be able to leave. There should definitely be a way for humans to leave in case someone accidentally entered this place," Long Chen told her.

"Do you have an idea," she asked as she looked towards him with a hopeful gaze.

"I don't have anything yet," Long Chen replied, crushing her hopes under his honest words.

Long Chen sat down on the ground with his back resting against a tree.

'Xun, do you have any idea?' he inquired.

'I don't have anything yet,' Xun replied in a similar manner.

Long Chen couldn't help but smile.

"You should be able to use teleport to leave this place, but that would mean leaving the girl behind to die," Xun added.

"Me outside... Yeah, that might work," he muttered as he stood up and walked towards the barrier.

Using his Law of Space, he teleported outside.

He tried touching the barrier, and nothing happened this time.

"I'm right. This only stops someone from leaving," He let out.

Chu Miao was looking in her surroundings to find something when she noticed Long Chen standing outside the barrier.

"How did you leave?" she let out loud.

"I cheated," Long Chen said, smilingly.

"Tell me the way. I want to leave this freaking forest as fast as I can," Chu Miao told him.

"There's no way for you to leave. I was only able to bring myself out, but I can't bring you out. There's no way. You can stay there; I'll go ahead. If I find something, I'll come to save you. If I don't find anything, well, goodbye," Long Chen said to her as he started walking away.

Chu Miao stayed there stunned. Her eyes started getting wet.

Long Chen stopped after taking a few steps as he turned back.

"I'm kidding. I was only messing with you. I have an idea to bring you out," he said as he walked back towards her.

"You arsehole!" she cursed him as she wiped off her tears.

"I never expected that a girl like you would start crying. Anyway, let's get you out," he said as he inserted his hand inside the barrier.

"Hold my hand. You should be able to leave as long as you're holding my hand," Long Chen told her.

Chu Miao walked up to him and caught his hand. Long Chen pulled her towards him, and she came out of the barrier.

"Thank you," Chu Miao said as she hugged Long Chen.

Her chest pressed against Long Chen's chest as she embraced him tightly.

After five minutes, she freed him.

"How did you know that it was the trick of coming out?" she inquired.

"When I left the barrier, I tried putting my hand inside, but I didn't feel shock, you know why? The barrier thinks that you're outside as long as you have a part of your body touching outside. You touched me, and I was touching the ground on the outside. The barrier didn't stop you from leaving. That's how this barrier was made. It was for beasts, not humans who will help each other," Long Chen said as he chuckled.

"Whatever the reason, I can only thank you. I can't even imagine spending the rest of my life inside that barrier," she let out with a wry smile on her face as she looked towards the barrier.

"It wouldn't be that bad. The Qi here is quite dense. You can cultivate here for decades with ease," Long Chen said.

"I don't want that. I'm more than happy to cultivate in the Dark Soul Sect. I don't want to be a trapped cultivator who can't even use her cultivation for anything other than punching trees in frustration all day," Chu Miao said.

"True. Also, the fact that those who stayed inside were never found again when the Sect appeared after years. It's tough to survive here after the sect disappears," Long Chen said to her.

"Anyway, let's move forward. We should be getting somewhere. I see something up ahead," Long Chen let out as he started walking ahead. Chu Miao followed after him.