Way of the Knights

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"Quick! Find somewhere to hide! It doesn't need to be large! We'll make do with what we have."

Jackson panicked as well, judging from his personality, he's probably mentally cursing dozens of profanities as of this moment.

I hurriedly ran off to several places, not even minding any safety precautions. Beasts have always been more sensitive to their surroundings compared to humans, it's very likely that they've already sensed danger and long since found a hiding spot. That might also be the reason why we sensed some beasts running off, they must looking for a place to hide as well.

My spiritual sense is on full bloom right now, I didn't even mind exhausting myself just to ensure our safety.If we don't find any suitable hideouts, then we will most likely die where we stood.

A few minutes passed by and my spiritual sense touched something.

There was a deep pit just few paces away from me. I hurriedly crouched and swept the twigs that are blocking the entrance, after making sure that it wasn't a death trap, I grabbed the team's attention and pointed at the pit.

Everyone jumped in without hesitation, me included. The bottom of the pit was pretty spacious that we don't have to squeeze in to fit. Even so, we aren't safe just yet.

"We have to build a roof that could shield us during the eclipse. Does anyone have ideas or tools?" George asked as he eyed the opening of the pit.

"I'll take care of it." I summoned a large sculpture from my spatial ring, huge enough to cover the opening of the pit, that sculpture is made out of pure iron so it should hold up until the eclipse pass. Meanwhile, Jackson took out a small torch and lit it up using a sulfuric rock.

"Is that a sculpture?" Alina asked, it seems that she caught a brief glance of the thing I used to cover the entrance.I nodded to answer her question, then she asked, "Why would you place a sculpture on your spatial ring?"

"Can't you just say 'Thank you' instead? If it weren't for that, then we probably don't have anything to cover this pit." Seriously? Why does she ask strange questions? It isn't her business to pry on the things that I place on 'MY' spatial ring.

"He's right Alina, don't pry too much." Jordan reprimanded her which caused Alina to pout. She found a spot somewhere and sat down to calm her nerves. "You saved our asses back there. Thanks."

"You're welcome." I nodded in acknowledgement

.Not even a second after that, we heard some rough and grating sounds on the surface. All of us instinctively looked up to check if the sculpture was holding up, and it seems that it does which greatly relieved me.

"Rest everyone, preserve your energies. Diamond Dust Eclipse lasts for 10 hours, which means we will stay here for that long as well. We cultivators have strong bodies and can last for an entire day with little air but for safety purposes, monitor yourselves." Jackson ordered, to which we complied.

I found a spot to sit down and sank into a meditative state. I have the lowest cultivation here but if I focus enough, I will probably last longer than them.

But man, this sucks! I can't believe that our timing was that bad, to think that we will face the eclipse as soon as we head out.The Grand Ancestral Plane has a very weird climate and phenomena, the Diamond Dust Eclipse is one of them.

It is an occurence when the environment will completely stay still before a merciless onslaught of what we call Diamond Dust, desecrates everything. This phenomenon is somewhat similar to a sandstorm or a blizzard, but unlike sand or snow, Diamond Dust is extremely fatal.

Imagine a glass, right? If you take this glass and pound it real hard, it will be pulverized, correct? Now imagine this powder, but each speck is capable of nullifying any sort of energy, make it extremely sharp as well, where if someone threw a handful of this dust onto someone's face, that person's face would probably be wounded by hundreds of times, don't even mention inhaling some this since it sill carve you up from the inside.

Now take all of that, throw in at least a thousand bags of said powder and send it along with a powerful gust of air. What do you think a humans will end up once they were caught up in that thing.

That's the Diamond Dust Eclipse in a nutshell. Unless one has a brief understanding with Laws, it would be very hard to survive the onslaught of the Diamond Dust Eclipse. To top things off, this is only one of the hazards beyond the walls. Fortunately, for some mysterious reasons that even I don't know, the Eclipse doesn't occur in the Kingdom. I don't know what causes that or what makes the land so special, but I'm glad that it works that way.

Everyone was concentrated on conserving their energy, we will be stuck here for 10 hours and after that we have to move fast since as soon as the eclipse stopped those who are hiding will come out, which means beasts would become active again.I'm getting chills. I don't why but something's amiss, I feel so uncomfortable. This feeling irritated me, causing me to look all around me. Everyone is in deep meditation so I made sure to make as little noise as possible. My ocular technique is active as I scour my surroundings for something, but I can't find anything...There is it again! I'm getting chills all over again! It feels terrible! Like that feeling when you are missing something very important and obvious, you have an idea what it is but you just can't put a finger on it. That feeling is irritating.Just like earlier, I spread my spiritual sense wantonly, I looked all over the place and while investigating some minute details about the pit.

Is that...? A gust of air?

I moved slowly and quietly, approaching where I think the gust came from. It was a corner not too far away from where I was seated. I got up slowly and approached said corner, and what do you know, gust of air became a breeze, seemingly rewarding me for noticing it, thanks I guess...

I activated my ocular technique since it allows me to see clearer, add the fact that I could also magnify the location I want to see if I concentrate further. I scanned this wall not only using my magnified vision but also my spiritual sense, and then I found what I was looking for. There is a hole, blocked by some dirt and a few stones. I swept some of it using my hands, then I saw a piece of iron bar behind it.I frowned and tried pulling the iron bar out but it won't budge at all. A faint guess emerged in my head but I have to do something first to confirm it.I gathered my spiritual sense and molded it into a thin line, then I inserted it between the gap that I made and then dispersed it there so that whatever it bounces to in there, would be reflected on my Soul Sea.

The feed I received basically confirmed my guesses, I'm in front of an iron door and it's currently being blocked by a mound of dirt and stones. Without any hesitation, I started making a ruckus, I didn't even care if I woke up the rest, I wanted to show them this anyway.I activated the Iron Fist, not to punch the dirt mound, but to make my digging easier. I'm pretty sure I look like a cat scratching some wood but I don't care. I'm more interested on what's behind this thing...

Just like I expected, I disturbed the rest. They gathered behind me, trying to figure out what I'm doing. Alina was about to ask something when Hopper came out of Jackson's shadow and started imitating me.

What a cutie, it seems that he figured it out too. Me and Hopper continued at it for a while and then the whole door was uncovered for everyone to see.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jordan asked.I nodded, "I've been feeling some gusts of air earlier and figured out that there might be a hole somewhere. Turns out that there isn't a hole but an iron door. There's a long tunnel behind it too." I said while pushing the iron door with a great difficulty.

As soon as the door opened, we were greeted by a chilling gust of wind, but not particularly dangerous as it doesn't contain any diamond dusts. The torch Jackson was holding flickered a bit but managed to stay lit. We stared at the tunnel for a while, somewhat hesitating...

"Should we explore it?" George asked the important question.

"Who has a bow?" I asked, I just want to check something first. George raised his hand and I told him to take it out. I took the bow from him and dipped the arrow with some oil, then I set it on fire using the torch. I aimed straight ahead and pulled the bow using a moderate strength.I released the shot and mentally counted... but the arrow continued flying until it could no longer be seen.

"This tunnel is long, that shot covered a good 100 meters and it disappeared which means that it still continues.. I'm down to explore, we have a month to finish the mission anyway. How about you guys?"action