Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1412 - 682: The Inexorable Stone Gate (Part 2)

The red paint smeared on the surface seemed to be mixed with the blood of some creature, faintly exuding a slight fishy odor.

In the center, there was a sunken circular keyhole, surrounded by intricate beast totems.

Cheng Jiashu stopped in his tracks and took out the bronze box from his bag.

Then he opened the box, inside lay a strangely shaped crescent key stone.

He stepped forward, aligned the key stone with the keyhole on the Stone Gate, and turned it forcefully.

A crisp "click" sound was heard as the mechanism engaged.

Cheng Jiashu placed his hands on the door, lowered his shoulders, and pushed forward with force.

However, this red Stone Gate seemed rooted to the spot, remaining unmoved despite his efforts.

"Let me try."

Fang Cheng stepped forward to take Cheng Jiashu’s place after seeing this.

He spread his stance, steadied his base, and placed his hands flat against the cold Stone Gate.

With a deep breath, his arms and chest instantly swelled, muscles rising like hard rocks.

The inner energy surged from the Dantian like boiling water, infusing through his limbs and bones.

A remarkable heat emanated from his bare skin, pushing the surrounding gray mist back several meters.

"Hah!"

Fang Cheng let out a low roar from his throat, integrating waist and body, pushing forward with strength.

The massive force poured out like a flood.

The ground beneath his feet cracked like a spider web under the immense recoil force.

A dull shockwave propagated through the rock wall, shaking loose dust accumulated over years.

Even the rock walls around began to drop small stones.

Yet this dark red Stone Gate still didn’t budge.

Fang Cheng felt as if he weren’t pushing against a door but trying to move the whole of West Mountain.

This weight, connected to the earth and veins of the mountain, far exceeded the limits of human strength.

Even with Fang Cheng’s Strength attribute exceeding 80 points, he couldn’t move it an inch.

He withdrew his hands, calming his turbulent energy and said, shaking his head:

"It’s no use, brute force alone can’t open this; there’s something unusual about this door."

Cheng Jiashu frowned, bringing the bronze box to his eyes, examining the intricate patterns on its surface by the light of a glow stick.

"Earlier, Supervisor Wu said that opening the treasury entrance not only requires the key but also needs certain spell assistance. This spell should be these strange symbols etched on the box’s edges."

He traced his fingers along the twisted lines, unable to comprehend, and eventually gave up in frustration.

"What kind of gibberish is this? It doesn’t look like any known language in the world. Even with the key, without the spell, there’s no way in.

Cheng Jiashu

"The old monster was too cautious, deliberately set this up, too bad Supervisor Wu died too soon..."

"Let me take a look."

Fang Cheng leaned forward, his gaze falling on the densely engraved symbols on the side of the bronze box.

His eyes swept over the tadpole-like patterns, triggering a long-lost memory in his mind.

The structure, shapes, and phonetic patterns of these symbols...

Fang Cheng silently mouthed them, the familiarity surging in his heart.

Isn’t this the Original Vowel I learned once?

At that time, Lin Chuqiao secretly recorded it during an archaeology lecture at university, and later lent it to him.

This accelerated Fang Cheng’s Skill Experience in language studies, successfully synthesizing the epic "All-Knowing Language" Talent.

Thinking this, Fang Cheng adjusted his stance, then calmly opened his mouth.

A continuous and strange string of syllables flowed smoothly:

"Om—Ā—Hūṃ—Άum—"

As soon as the sound was uttered, Fang Cheng felt the Qi Field around him change.

Accompanying these awkward syllables, a deep and solemn mooing seemed to respond from deep underground.

The sound was both distant and near, as if it had traversed the barrier of ages from the distant Primordial times to echo in this desolate well at this moment.

Fang Cheng’s pupils shrank, feeling the vibration of his vocal cords gradually synchronizing with the frequency of the surrounding rock walls.

As the final syllable fell, a peculiar wave rippled out from him.

Buzz buzz buzz—

Ripples visible to the naked eye appeared in the air.

Fang Cheng realized that his body had formed a unique resonance with the surrounding environment.

Like a coastline at high tide, the invisible soundwaves became a grand tide, washing over the rock walls and the dark red Stone Gate in waves.

The gray mist in the rock wall crevices was immediately expelled by the tide, and the temperature around them changed accordingly.

The bone-chilling cold quickly dissipated, the temperature climbing as if in the warm winds of summer.

Cheng Jiashu widened his eyes in astonishment, watching Fang Cheng, who had seemingly transformed into a priest, like meeting him for the first time.

At this moment, the dark red Stone Gate suddenly radiated a dazzling golden light.

The mottled door rippled violently like a water surface, its rigid stone surface melting as if it had come alive.

Fang Cheng walked up again, simply extended a hand, and lightly pushed the radiant door surface.

"Whoosh—"

This time, with no resistance, the heavy Stone Gate smoothly slid open to either side, revealing an oval Light Gate.

Inside the Light Gate, light and shadows flowed, resembling a tangible mercury mirror.

Fang Cheng extended his arm, probing into the Light Gate.

After confirming no abnormal energy fluctuations, he retracts his hand and turns to Cheng Jiashu saying:

"The passage is safe, you can enter."

He remained in the pose of holding the box, struggling to close his mouth for a full three seconds before shutting it.

"I have to say Fang Cheng, who knew that a brawler like you could also be a linguistics expert? Truly multi-talented!"

Cheng Jiashu immediately gave a thumbs up in admiration.

Fang Cheng shrugged naturally:

"I did graduate from a prestigious university, having a broad knowledge base is reasonable."

"Cut it out, how come I never learned such a strange language when I was in college?"

Cheng Jiashu pursed his lips, stuffing the bronze box back into his backpack, then couldn’t resist asking:

"What language is this? Sanskrit, or some lost ancient tongue?"

Fang Cheng dusted off his hands, answering lightly:

"It’s the language of the Otherworld, an elective course you didn’t attend."

"..."

Cheng Jiashu was at a loss for words, rolling his eyes:

"You might as well say you’re an alien undercover."

The two bantered a bit but didn’t linger long.

Fang Cheng led the way, striding straight through the mercury-rippled Light Gate.

Cheng Jiashu tightened the shoulder straps of his backpack and followed closely behind.

The moment of passing through the Light Gate, a brief sense of weightlessness hit, the light and shadows around them rapidly distorting.

This feeling lasted less than half a second.

As their feet hit solid ground again, the chill and dampness in the air vanished entirely.

Before them, the view brightened sharply, the sky taking on a sickly gray-white hue.

A wind carrying a strong scorched smell rushed at them, brushing their cheeks, whisking up strands of fine black ash.

Fang Cheng and Cheng Jiashu looked up to see the scene before them.

They both came to a halt, pupils contracting sharply.

Cheng Jiashu took a sharp breath, murmuring as he looked ahead:

"This is..."

What met their eyes was a vast space completely turned to ruins.

Wherever they looked, shattered green bricks and broken walls were slanted into the churned-up soil.

Half-broken load-bearing wooden beams had collapsed by the roadside, with wisps of green smoke still rising from their surfaces.

The once level ground seemed to have been plowed over countless times by heavy machinery, densely covered with enormous craters of varying depths.

Crossing cracks spread out from the edges of the craters like a spider web, reaching all the way to the horizon.

Besides the scorched smell, the air was filled with an extremely pungent blood odor.

Dark red liquid flowed through the cracks among the rubble, pooling at the bottoms of those low craters, forming shocking blood pools.

The whole area was riddled with holes and wounds, like it suffered a round of heavy artillery saturation bombing.