Chapter 56: Ancient Mechanism

Lothe and Seana walked deeper into the subterranean gloom.

Thanks to the physical and sensory evolution that came with reaching Level 5, the pitch-black darkness that would have blinded ordinary humans was remarkably clear to them. Their enhanced vision allowed them to easily map the jagged stone walls, fallen stalactites, and uneven ground for dozens of yards ahead.

Yet despite their visual clarity, neither felt at ease.

An invisible, ancient pressure clung to the damp air. It wasn’t powerful enough to physically suppress their movements, nor did it carry an active killing intent. It simply existed—an oppressive, omnipresent weight pressing against their senses from every direction.

"Come to think of it..." Seana spoke up, her voice cutting through the heavy silence in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I haven’t felt hungry in hours."

"Mmh," Lothe nodded beside her, his dark eyes scanning the perimeter. "As our cultivation ranks advance, our bodies naturally draw energy from Heaven and Earth Qi. We need ordinary food less and less."

"Does that mean food will eventually become tasteless to us?" Seana glanced at him, a subtle trace of concern in her eyes.

"Not at all," Lothe offered a faint smile. "Cultivation cleanses the physical frame, but it doesn’t dull our five senses—it sharpens them. Qi simply frees us from biological dependence on basic calories."

He paused, casting a sidelong look at her. "You’ll still be able to eat whatever you want. You just won’t starve if you don’t."

Seana let out a dramatically relieved sigh. "Good. Imagine transcending mortal limits into a powerful cultivator, only to lose the joy of eating delicious food. What a tragedy that would be."

Lothe smirked. "I didn’t realize the formidable Blood Empress was secretly a little glutton."

"Who doesn’t love good food?" Seana shot back, bumping her shoulder against his. Since childhood, food had always been one of her primary comforts.

Lothe chuckled softly. "Duly noted."

Seana rolled her eyes playful, though her expression turned thoughtful a moment later. "You know... when the system unlocked the ’Cultivation’ terminology earlier, my mind immediately recalled all those web novels I read in school."

"Oh?" Lothe raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it," Seana pointed out, her eyes shining with analytical interest. "If we’re cultivating Qi now, doesn’t that mean our core awakened Superpowers function exactly like Spirit Roots? They act as our primary conductors, allowing us to sense ambient Qi, refine it, and store it within our Qi Cores."

Lothe considered her logic for a beat. "That actually makes complete sense. And it explains why ordinary humans who didn’t awaken a core Superpower can still learn to manipulate Qi, though they lack the innate elemental affinity and high efficiency we possess."

Seana’s expression softened into a quiet, somber quietude. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the millions of ordinary humans who had failed to awaken during the initial apocalyptic wave.

"Don’t waste your pity on them," Lothe said quietly, reading her thoughts effortlessly.

Seana looked over at him.

"Whether someone awakened a Superpower or not doesn’t determine their ultimate ceiling," Lothe’s voice turned grave, his dark eyes reflecting the absolute reality of their new world. "Everything comes down to tenacity and adaptability."

He stepped over a fractured stone. "The old world order is dead, Seana. Wealth, political influence, noble family names... none of those legacy systems will protect anyone anymore. In this new era, absolute strength is the only true currency."

He could already see the trajectory of human civilization collapsing. Central governments would crumble; paper money would become worthless trash.

Soon, high-tier Beast Cores, Spirit Herbs, and elemental crystals would replace fiat currency as the basis of trade.

Survival belonged exclusively to those who forged themselves into steel.

Seana offered a small, quiet smile. She didn’t argue. Their brutal journey through the academy had already beaten that truth into her blood.

Suddenly—

"Wait," Lothe halted instantly.

Seana almost bumped into his back. "What is it?"

Lothe gestured toward the space ahead. "We’ve hit a dead end."

A colossal, seamless black stone wall stretched across the entire width of the passage, completely blocking their path forward.

Seana frowned, stepping up beside him. "A dead end? That’s impossible... where does this tunnel lead then?"

She raised her right hand.

Squelch!

Crimson Blood Qi condensed rapidly above her palm, forging into a compressed, dark-red energy sphere.

With a sharp flick of her wrist—

WHOOSH!

The Blood Qi sphere shot forward, slamming directly into the center of the black stone wall!

BOOM!!

A heavy explosion reverberated through the cavern, sending a minor tremor through the surrounding bedrock.

Yet when the smoke cleared, Seana’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The wall hadn’t even vibrated. There was no crack, no scuff mark, not even a single speck of stone dust chipped off its jet-black surface. It had absorbed the entire impact like a mountain.

Lothe’s eyes narrowed. He knew the terrifying destructive output of Seana’s Blood Qi. If an attack from a Level 5, Tier 1 cultivator couldn’t leave a scratch, this was no ordinary rock face.

"Wait," Lothe stopped her as she prepared to condense a second, larger sphere.

He stepped up to the barrier and activated his core passive skill. "[Inspect]."

Silence.

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

The system window remained completely blank.

Lothe’s expression turned dead serious. Even his [Inspect] couldn’t detect anything.

That meant the barrier either possessed an origin beyond his current level, or an active interference field was blocking diagnostic skills.

He slowly reached out, placing his bare palm against the cold, damp stone.

"Brute force won’t break this," Lothe murmured, feeling the smooth, ancient texture beneath his fingers. "Which means there has to be an intentional opening mechanism."

He turned to Seana. "Check the perimeter. Look for anything out of place, any structural anomalies."

"Got it," Seana nodded, stepping to the left flank of the wall while Lothe took the right.

Lothe kept his [Spatial Perception] flared to maximum sensitivity, his dark eyes glowing with a faint purple radiance as he examined every square inch of the stone face.

Minutes passed in tense silence.

"Lothe! Over here!" Seana’s voice echoed from the far corner.

WHOOSH!

Lothe blurred across the floor, appearing beside her in a fraction of a second.

Seana pointed toward a tiny fissure near the base of the wall. A few small fragments of shattered stone lay scattered on the ground beneath it—a minor flaw created when Seana’s previous explosion had stripped away a thin outer layer of natural rock camouflage.

Lothe crouched down, peering into the exposed crevice.

Behind the stone casing lay a material completely distinct from the surrounding bedrock—ancient, dark-hued alloy metal.

Embedded within the wall was an intricate clockwork mechanism. Multiple concentric, interlocking metal rings surrounded a central circular plate. Fine, hair-thin grooves crisscrossed the plate, connecting the outer rings to the core in complex geometric patterns.

Hidden between the tight tolerances of the metal rings were dozens of needle-thin metallic spikes, their tips gleaming with a faint, ominous luster.

Lothe focused his vision directly onto the exposed mechanism and triggered his skill once more.

"[Inspect]!"

PING!

[Hidden Structure Analyzed]

[STRUCTURE REPORT: ANCIENT QI-LOCK]

Classification: High-Tier Runic Lock Mechanism

Age: Unknown

Function: Seals the inner sanctuary gate beyond this threshold.

Activation Method: Precise Qi Circulation.

WARNING: Multiple lethal countermeasure formations integrated!

Incorrect Qi sequencing will trigger:

• High-Density Qi Backlash

• Spatial Blade Discharges

• Meridian-Severing Needle Volleys

• Internal Detonation Arrays

Lothe’s breath hitched slightly. This wasn’t a standard lock—it was a sophisticated, high-tier death trap.

The hidden needles weren’t decorative; they were designed to puncture the hands of anyone attempting to force the mechanism, driving toxic or meridian-severing Qi directly into their circulation. And the fine grooves were channels crafted specifically to guide the flow of Qi.

"This isn’t just mechanical clockwork..." Lothe whispered softly. "It’s a physical Array formation."

Seana looked at him. "An Array?"

Lothe nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the intricate runic channels.

He had never formally studied Array formations or drawn a single runic circuit in his life. He had only unlocked his SSS+ Array/Talisman Mastery talent minutes ago.

Yet as he stared at the interlocking rings, something extraordinary happened inside his mind.

The complex web of grooves didn’t look chaotic or incomprehensible to him. His SSS+ talent reacted instinctively, translating the physical metal channels into logical pathways—similar to tracing electrical schematics or reading clean, structured source code!

He could see the input nodes, the directional branches, and the central logic hub.

So this is how an Array functions... Lothe’s heart beat slightly faster with excitement.

His SSS+ talent wasn’t just a stat on a screen; it granted him an innate, god-like intuition for structural logic, energy flow, and system architecture!

This wasn’t just their path forward. This was his very first opportunity to actively trigger and cultivate his SSS+ Array talent through practical application.

Lothe glanced over at Seana. He was the one whose spatial tearing had dragged them into this subterranean cavern. Getting her out safely was his responsibility.

Seana looked at the deadly mechanism, then back at Lothe. "How do we bypass it?"

Lothe crouched closer to the exposed lock. "We need to inject Qi into the primary input channel and guide the energy through the correct circuit sequence to release the central locking pins."

Seana’s eyes narrowed on the warning prompt. "And if you input the wrong sequence?"

Lothe offered a dry, calm smile. "The trap triggers, and we get turned into pincushions."

Seana’s face darkened instantly. "How reassuring."

Lothe chuckled softly, his voice dropping into a gentle, confident tone. "Trust me. I won’t mess it up."

He studied the initial channels. There were three distinct entry points, branching into dozens of secondary paths. Inputting Qi without understanding the sequence would trigger immediate backlash.

He needed to read the circuit logic.

Seana remained silent for a long moment, her eyes holding a mixture of intense worry and absolute trust. "Lothe..."

Lothe looked up at her, smiling faintly before she could voice her fear. "Besides... if anything goes wrong, don’t I have the Blood Empress here to protect me?"

Seana froze, caught off guard by his words.

Her stern expression softened, a subtle warmth washing over her face. Right. I’m also a Level 5 cultivator. I won’t let anything hurt him.

"Fine," Seana stepped closer, resting her hand on her sword hilt. "I’m standing right beside you. Don’t make a mistake."

"Deal," Lothe agreed.

He turned back to the ancient mechanism, his dark eyes locking onto the metal grooves as a faint purple glow flared in his pupils.

His SSS+ Array talent worked at hyper-speed, analyzing the circuit paths, calculating energy resistance, and mapping the safe sequence.

Lothe slowly raised his right index finger, a thread of refined, razor-thin Void Qi condensing at his fingertip.

"Let’s see what secrets you’re hiding," Lothe whispered.

He pressed his finger against the first input node.​