Mystic Eyes: My Eyes Steal the Laws of Cultivation Chapter 327: Inside the Gate

Kyrian examined the two formations with close scrutiny.

The initial one, known as the illusion formation, remained fairly straightforward. It existed solely to conceal the gate from passing eyes. A cultivator boasting keen senses or formation knowledge could spot the irregularity. However, the majority would just soar above the mountain, utterly unaware.

The other, called the barrier formation, proved far more intricate. An unseen Qi layer wrapped around the whole gate, blocking any uninvited intruders. Kyrian brushed his fingertips against the barrier, sensing firm opposition.

Yet something felt off.

Weakness plagued both formations. Extreme weakness. They seemed neglected for ages, on the verge of crumbling naturally. Kyrian figured that within days, the pair would vanish entirely.

"Someone set them up long ago." Kyrian muttered, mostly to himself rather than Arcon.

"And never came back to bolster them."

Waiting a few days for a return offered an option. Curiosity won out, though. Kyrian resolved to dismantle the formations personally.

During his days in the Verdant Sword, books on formations had filled his studies. He grasped enough to handle basic, faded setups like these.

Starting with the illusion.

Kyrian concentrated. Crimson light flared in his eyes as he probed the formation's layout, hunting its nucleus—the hub where every bit of energy gathered. Through his gaze, Qi streams flowed visibly amid the symbols etched on the gate and nearby stone.

That nucleus hid in a jade tablet, tucked behind a stone outcrop mere meters away.

Kyrian strode over. Dust and fissures marred the tablet, betraying its great antiquity. With fluid ease, he pried it free from the rock.

The illusion flickered right away.

Scarlet blood beaded at his fingertip. A swift flick sent it flying toward the tablet.

It hit dead center on the jade.

Infused with his essence, Qi, and will, Kyrian’s blood raced over the tablet's face like flames devouring tinder. The jade inscriptions blazed fiercely for a heartbeat, then dimmed to nothing.

The tablet fractured into three shards.

Simultaneously, the air by the gate warped savagely. The rocky facade hiding the entryway shattered. The massive ebony stone gate stood fully revealed, plain for all to see.

"The barrier persists."

Kyrian neared the unseen shield guarding the gate. Though frail, it held firm. He reckoned a handful of full-power blows would smash it through sheer might. Yet Kyrian disliked squandering effort needlessly.

He opted instead to leverage his formation insights for a vulnerability.

Crimson eyes swept the barrier inch by inch, dissecting Qi currents for flaws. Age and neglect riddled it with uneven Qi pools, spawning inner strains.

Fundamentally, it mirrored the barriers from his studied tomes. Though cruder. More elemental.

In under a minute, Kyrian pinpointed the frailest spot.

A tiny rift marred the barrier's frame, where Qi streams clashed at odd angles, breeding chaos. Precise force there would topple the whole thing.

Kyrian lifted his right hand.

Five blood droplets rose from his fingertips, hovering like ruby gems. They rotated lazily before fusing into one hefty orb, thick and throbbing with Qi and bloody purpose.

Crimson radiance bathed the droplet, fierce as a tiny sun.

Kyrian targeted the barrier's flaw.

And unleashed it.

The blood orb streaked forth like a bolt, slicing air with a piercing whine.

It slammed into the weak spot.

The barrier quaked wildly. Fissures spiderwebbed out from the strike, mimicking cracks in burst glass. The unseen veil convulsed once, twice, thrice.

Then, with a crisp shatter like broken crystal, it disintegrated.

Qi shards sparkled briefly in the air before fading away.

Kyrian dropped his hand. No barrier lingered.

He stepped toward the towering dark stone gate. Stripped of its protective arrays, it loomed even grander. Ancient runes adorned its face—symbols from a tongue Kyrian half-knew, evoking a bygone age.

What secrets demanded such concealment? And for what reason?

Kyrian pressed palms to the gate and shoved.

Initially, it resisted. Immense weight burdened it. Beneath his Blood Court red robe, muscles strained. Qi surged into his limbs for another heave.

This time, the gate rumbled deeply.

Gradually, with painstaking slowness, the pair of stone doors creaked apart, unveiling a shadowy tunnel that plunged into the mountain's core.

Kyrian stepped inside.

Cool and arid air filled the interior. The atmosphere bore the aroma of age-old dust mingled with moist rock. His blood-red eyes swiftly adapted to the gloom, disclosing a brief hallway that opened into a spacious hall.

He advanced to the corridor's end and passed into the chamber.

A vast rectangular space lay before him, hewn straight from the mountain's bedrock. No furnishings, no ornaments, no traces of habitation existed. Merely stark stone walls and, smack in the chamber's midst...

A tomb.

Kyrian came to a halt.

A stone sarcophagus rested atop a low dais. Its cover stayed sealed, lacking any etchings or emblems to reveal who slumbered inside. Simple and nearly stark, the coffin appeared, yet its seclusion behind dual formations hinted that the one within was no mere mortal.

Understanding struck Kyrian at that moment. He had uncovered the burial site of an ancient cultivator. A figure who, for enigmatic reasons, had elected to rest eternally there, in the mountain's lonely embrace, shielded from wandering eyes.