The soul gem shard

Her descent didn't last long, as she reached the bottom of the well. However, what lay before her left her gaping in astonishment. There were four gates, each with a different inscription.

The north gate was adorned with a dragon carving.

The south gate had a tiger carving.

The east gate featured a phoenix carving.

And the west gate had a qilin carving.

What was particularly attention-grabbing was that these carvings were filled with life, and if one didn't focus on them carefully, they might appear to move.

Sofia cleared her throat lightly to snap Shen Yanshiao out of her astonishment. She couldn't wait for her to fully recover, especially with the floating system screen displaying the countdown for extracting a shard of the soul gem.

Sofia said as she walked towards the east gate with the phoenix carving, "There's no need to feel embarrassed about being surprised. These gates have an ancient history, possibly dating back to the era of the Sky Sect. It's said that anything related to this sect can completely captivate the minds and souls of cultivator due to the depth and power of their techniques and methods that challenge the heavens.

"Thank you for broadening my horizons."

Sofia's expression didn't change much when she saw Shen Yanshiao's reaction. It was as described in the story, and she had somewhat expected the girl's response, as she wasn't portrayed as a stubborn character.

After a few steps, she stopped in front of the phoenix gate and said, "Don't thank me; I brought you here for a purpose."

Shen Yanshiao asked, "What do you want?"

"Your blood."

Shen Yanshiao was slightly surprised when she heard this and asked, "What?"

"Your blood, but not a lot, don't worry."

Shen Yanshiao took slow, heavy steps toward Sofia. It was indeed strange for someone to ask about their blood.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day!" she urged.

She quickened her pace and stood beside Sofia, pulling out a knife and making a small cut on her hand. "What do I do next?"

"Extend your hand towards the door, and the rest will be done," Sofia instructed.

Indeed, as soon as Shen Yanshiao's bloodied hand touched the door, there was a slow and steady vibration, and a crack appeared on the door that had remained closed for centuries.

Sofia didn't wait for the door to open fully. As soon as the entrance widened for her, she stepped into the other side, revealing a diverse array of treasures and weapons that left Shen Yanshiao speechless. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed calling these items treasures compared to what was in this room.

Sofia grabbed Shen Yanshiao's hand and said, "Don't touch anything! We don't know if there are traps here."

Shen Yanshiao regained her composure for a moment, contemplating the idea of killing Sofia in this place and taking all this wealth for herself. She felt even more guilty, realizing she had fallen into Shen Yu's schemes, and she had never intended to come to this place. Sofia's warning was also valid; a place like this would surely be filled with traps.

Sofia smiled inwardly with a hint of mockery. She was well aware of the typical thought process of characters in such stories, where greed was often one of their defining traits. In this place, there were no traps, and even if there were, they would have likely decayed over time.

However, this was a logical excuse that made Shen Yanshiao respect her boundaries.

She quickly reached the opposite side of the room, and in front of her was another door with the same phoenix engravings. Shen Yanshiao immediately understood what was expected of her, extending her hand to repeat the process. This time, there were weapons passing through four other doors, and in each room, there were different items such as gold, weapons, technologies, and more.

Sofia sighed when she looked at the grand white marble door. This was the last door, and behind it was the shard of the soul gem. The system window displayed that she had exactly two minutes left.

Shen Yanshiao placed her hand on the marble door, but this time, it didn't open like the previous ones. She felt puzzled and asked, "Why isn't it opening?"

in the novel, no one could open this door; it had to be destroyed. Alex had destroyed this door to shatter the shard of the soul gem.

The problem here was that even Shen Yanshiao wasn't as powerful as Alex, and she couldn't destroy this door, which was made of the best and most durable materials and resources.

Sofia leaned against the door and could only look with dismay at the rapidly decreasing time on the blue system screen, causing the sparkle in her eyes to fade. Shen Yanshiao noticed her condition and asked, "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay," Sofia replied.

Shen Yanshiao was taken aback when she saw that Sofia had stopped and extended her hand to her, requesting the knife.

While Sofia tried to think of another way to open the door, she vaguely remembered that the founder of the Heavenly Sect possessed an innate sealing talent, similar to her own. So, she decided to try her luck because leaving without attempting was unreasonable.

As soon as she handed over the knife, she cut her finger and focused on the second door. Two seconds... nothing happened. As she started losing hope, she felt something pulling her inside, and without any resistance, she entered through the door.

Shen Yanshiao couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Sofia passing through the door like a ghost. In response, she tried the same but bumped into the door instead of entering.

Sofia felt her body become weightless as she entered, and all fatigue and headache disappeared. However, when she opened her eyes, she was astounded. The room she was in was luxurious and majestic, filled with jewels of various sizes and colors. These were not ordinary gemstones; they were energy stones, and finding even one of them was rare, let alone such a quantity.

What caught sofia attention, though, wasn't any of these scattered gemstones but the red shard floating in the center of the room.

She immediately recognized it as the shard of the soul gem and approached it directly. When she extended her hand towards it, she felt some resistance, but the shard remained in her grasp in the end.

As soon as she obtained it, the blue system screen appeared:

[Ding: Subsidiary mission completed.]

[Ding: Absorbing the soul gem shard into the host.]