Chapter 2758: Choosing Life and Death

“Should I head to the other side of the chain to take a look first?” Firework looked around but couldn’t find another path. In the end, she had to set her eyes back on the eight chains. It wasn't a real bridge, but with her cultivation, crossing a chain wouldn’t pose a challenge.

Zu An stopped her. “We can’t see what lies beneath the rift valley, and there’s something amiss about the chains, too. It’s too dangerous to cross it.”

“We won’t achieve anything standing around like this.” Firework’s worry about her father’s safety stoked her anxiety.

“I have an idea.” Isabella reached into her bag and pulled out a metal sphere. “This is a Planet Detector. It can withstand extreme environments, from a star's heat to the depths of space. Its unique material also allows it to withstand an expert’s full-powered attack for an hour. We can use it to scout the situation.”

Zu An took a second look at her bag.

How can such a small bag store so many treasures? As expected of the Acadias’ big miss!

Firework hugged her and said teasingly, “I’m starting to get tempted by your bag. So much so that I want to snatch it over.”

Isabella shook her head. “It won’t work even if you snatch it from me. This Bag of Treasures is bound to my soul. Only I can open it.”

Firework was speechless. A long time later, she retorted, “As expected of the Acadias’ big miss. You’re so innocent that I can’t bear to bully you.”

Isabella blinked in confusion. She didn’t understand what those words meant.

Her Planet Detector flew above the rift valley and emitted a red light to scan the environment. Soon, Zu An and the others received some images.

It was then that an anomaly happened. A light wind blew, and the Planet Detector, crafted to withstand extreme environments, tried its best to maintain its position. Even so, it only lasted a second before crumbling into countless parts that fell into the rift valley.

Firework was intrigued. “Didn’t you say it could withstand the attacks of an expert for an hour?”

Isabella’s face reddened. She'd still been bragging about her gear’s functionality a second ago, only for it to unravel to a light wind right away. She spent a moment in thought before taking out the Wind Quelling Pearl. “Let me try with this.”

Zu An stopped her. “I’ll do it.”

Isabella wasn't weak by any means, but she'd grown up in a sheltered environment and lacked ferocity and tenacity. It was too much to ask her to do something this dangerous on the spur of the moment.

Isabella handed the Wind Quelling Pearl to him. “Big brother Zu, you’re more capable than me. I’m sure you can do it.”

Before Zu An stepped onto the chains, Firework suddenly stopped him. “Hold on, big brother Zu. Have you wondered why there are eight chains here instead of one?”

Zu An widened his eyes.

Indeed. Anyone with the means to reach this place can’t be ordinary. If they wanted to make a bridge, a single chain would have sufficed. Yet there are eight chains here. Do seven of the chains lead to doom, and only one leads to our destination?

The first thing he thought about was the Eight Trigrams, but there was no other commonality between that and the eight chains other than the number eight.

“Big brother Zu, can you see the right path with your Eye of Truth?” Isabella asked.

Zu An shook his head. “These chains are real objects and not illusions.”

“What should we do? There might not be a second chance if we choose the wrong chain.” Isabella panicked. They had witnessed the fate of her Planet Detector. Even if the Wind Quelling Pearl could suppress the wind, there could be other threats awaiting them on the chains.

Just then, Firework began singing. It was a peculiar song with bizarre intonations, but it induced a feeling of relaxation in the listeners.

Zu An looked at the golden notes gathering around him and quickly understood what was going on. “Is it a blessing?”

Firework smiled sweetly. “Have you forgotten I’m from Dreamland, too? I just used an ability passed down within my clan. I've just bestowed you with great fortune. I’m sure you’ll be able to choose the right chain now.”

Zu An remembered that the Dream Clan had the ability to consume their karma to influence cause and effect to help others achieve their goals.

“But your karma...” Zu An was worried. Those who depleted their karma would be condemned to terrible luck. The backlash wasn't something to be joked about.

“Don’t worry, I can take it,” Firework replied with a smile. “Our ability only guides cause and effect, but it doesn’t ensure the outcome. To increase the chances of success, you’ll have to employ your own methods and do everything you can to improve the odds."

Zu An nodded. Basically, the Dream Clan’s ability greatly increased one's chances of success, but nothing would happen if one remained idle. Only by doing everything within one’s means to fulfill the theoretical possibility of success would the effect of the blessing be magnified.

Zu An tried to analyze the chains. He was adept at formations, and he suspected the eight chains were imbued with formations. The runes on each chain were different, so they could each have different effects. Those effects would be triggered once he stepped on the chains.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Too bad my knowledge of runes is only superficial at best. If Xie Daoyun were here, given her experience as Yumen Beiqing, she might just be able to read the runes and derive the functions of the ones on each chain.

Wait, with her main body being a talisman paper, Jing Teng might also see through the runes.

Unlike his other lovers, he'd been able to bring Jing Teng into Dreamland as it was unlikely Dreamland’s staff would find her, given her main body was a talisman paper; not to mention that she was hiding in the blessed cave inside the pendant.

He was about to call Jing Teng out when he remembered the two ladies he was with.

Ugh, it might be another bloodbath. And there’s no guarantee she can read the runes...

Hold on, I have The Book!

The Book was capable of prophesizing future danger. Wasn’t his current one-in-eight selection the perfect place for it to shine?

So, he walked to the leftmost chain and raised his foot. An image of him plummeting into the rift valley surfaced in his head.

Not this one.

He moved on to the second chain and did the same. He saw himself going berserk and his soul being siphoned dry, eventually ending up as a mindless zombie.

Zu An was speechless.

Not this one either!

While The Book could foretell the future, it could only read what would happen in the next few seconds. It was likely due to the Dream Clan’s blessing that he could peer into the future so clearly.

For the third chain, he saw his flesh being sliced away by an invisible power until he was reduced to a skeleton.

He did the same for the remaining chains, and they all showed him a tragic way to die. By the time he was done testing the eighth chain, his face paled in horror. “How can this be?”