The exact location of the Western Teleport Gate was something Evan Chu had already asked Goldwing about—it was roughly a hundred li away from here. If they kept up their pace, they should be able to reach it before nightfall.
On the way, everyone was chatting and joking around. Whenever they ran into a couple of monster beasts, they'd shout some encouragement and take them down together. They even bumped into some other Heavenly Dragon Academy students. Evan was about to invite them to join his squad, but Lily Tang and the others quickly stopped him.
The reason was simple: those people definitely didn’t have enough Magic Crystals. Every single one of our crystals was won with fresh blood—even some of our own brothers paid with their lives. There’s no way we’re just handing them over for free.
Evan Chu thought about it and agreed. You couldn’t just give away hard-earned loot to outsiders. Sometimes, a bit of caution was exactly what you needed in a place like this.
Goldwing kept following Evan Chu closely, while Shadow—finally released—perched on Goldwing’s shoulder, looking around curiously at all the unfamiliar sights.
“Hey Goldwing, since there’s a teleport gate here, why haven’t you ever left?” Evan finally asked on the road, unable to hold back the question that had been bugging him for ages.
Goldwing sighed, sounding a little helpless. “I’d love to see the outside world too, but that teleport gate just won’t let me through. Every time I step in, some invisible force blasts me back and leaves me seriously wounded. After a few tries, I just gave up.”
Evan Chu found it strange. With Goldwing’s strength, how could he possibly be blocked by a teleport gate? Was there some kind of restriction, like the one at Heavenly Dragon Academy that only let people below Earth Martial Eighth Layer through?
“When we get there, I’ll help you check it out. Hopefully, I can get you out of this place someday.” Evan didn’t really know what else to say, so he just tried to comfort Goldwing as best he could.
By dusk, the group finally arrived at the spot Goldwing had described. As soon as Evan Chu laid eyes on the Western Teleport Gate, he could tell there was definitely something ancient and mysterious about it.
Even from far away, Evan Chu could sense the energy rippling through the air. The Western Teleport Gate sat on a wide stretch of empty ground, surrounded by a bunch of stone pillars, each one covered in carved characters.
The writing was all crooked and uneven—clearly done by different people. On either side of the gate were two stone platforms, their surfaces buried under thick moss, showing nobody had visited here in ages.
Evan Chu tried to circle behind the gate for a closer look, but the moment he stepped across the plane parallel to the gate, an invisible force blasted him back. The impact wasn’t light—his chest felt like his blood and qi were churning.
“Evan, are you okay?” Roxanne Lin rushed over, worry written all over her face.
“I’m fine. This Western Teleport Gate is definitely weird. Everyone, be careful—don’t mess with those stone pillars, and definitely don’t step across the plane parallel to the gate.” Evan Chu warned the group right away.
Even with his reinforced body, the shock had sent his blood and qi into chaos. If it happened to someone else, they’d probably be seriously injured. Evan made a mental note: this was something he couldn’t ignore.
“Boss, check it out! There’s instructions for using the gate carved on these pillars!” one student suddenly shouted.
Evan Chu rushed over. The writing on the pillars was pretty faded, but he could still make out the gist: to pass through the gate, you had to insert fifty Magic Crystals, and it only let one person through at a time.
Everyone knew about needing Magic Crystals to activate the gate, but the real problem was—there wasn’t anywhere to put them. Back at Heavenly Dragon Academy, Dean Xavier had just slotted Starstones into the grooves on the teleport array. But this gate was totally bare, no slots or seams at all.
While everyone was puzzling over it, Gabe Goldstone walked up to the gate and stopped, carefully checking out the two mossy stone platforms in front of it.
“Careful, bro! Don’t get too close to the Teleport Gate!” Evan Chu called out quickly. With Gabe Goldstone’s current cultivation, getting hit by that force would be a disaster.
“Don’t worry! I’m not going anywhere near it!” Gabe Goldstone shot back, sounding laid-back.
Everyone watched Gabe’s every move. Evan didn’t go up himself—he knew Gabe was a sword-smith, used to working with all kinds of stone and ore.
After a long, careful look, Gabe suddenly seemed to spot something. He quickly scraped away the moss on one stone platform, and after a few minutes, he turned to Evan Chu, looking excited.
“Evan, come check this out—there’s something weird about this platform!”
Evan rushed over, and sure enough, hidden under the moss was a slightly raised button—hard to notice unless you looked really closely.
Without hesitation, Evan hurried to the other platform and scraped off the moss. There was another button just like the first. “Bro, could these buttons be the mechanism for the platforms?”
“Probably, but who knows if they’re dangerous? This Teleport Gate is way too strange.” Gabe Goldstone glanced at Evan, sounding cautious.
Luna’s voice echoed in Evan’s mind: “Evan, this is probably a low-grade Teleport Gate. It was likely built by someone from your Heavenly Dragon Academy, or maybe Sea Dragon Academy.
But since it’s been standing out here in the wild for so many years, battered by wind and rain, the designers must’ve hidden the activation slot to keep it from getting wrecked.”
“These buttons are probably the keys to opening the Teleport Gate. I think you should activate them at the same time as Goldwing—just in case something goes wrong, you won’t be the only one at risk,” Sword Spirit advised.
Evan Chu thought it over and agreed. He turned to Gabe Goldstone: “Bro, step back for now. We don’t know if these buttons are dangerous, and your cultivation’s not high enough. Goldwing, come up here! Everyone else, fall back fifty meters!”
Evan’s voice rang out loud and clear, and Goldwing strode forward. “Be careful, Evan!” Roxanne Lin called out, worry in her voice as she stepped away.
After exchanging a quick glance, Evan and Goldwing pressed their hands onto the buttons and waited for about a minute. Nothing happened.
Evan Chu frowned. “Weird. Why isn’t anything happening? Maybe these aren’t the real keys to the Teleport Gate?”
Goldwing looked just as confused as Evan. When it came to mechanisms and buttons, he was totally clueless.
Sword Spirit piped up again, sounding like she knew everything: “Evan, try channeling some stellar power. Maybe these buttons need a little energy to trigger the switch.”
“Goldwing, use some stellar power and press the button again!” Evan Chu said quickly.
The two of them pressed the stone platform buttons again. Evan Chu poured stellar power from his dantian into his hand, and something strange started happening.
As he channeled stellar power, the button actually began to rise upward—the harder he pushed, the higher it went.
Goldwing’s side was the same, except his button wasn’t really a button anymore—it had already stretched into a half-meter-long slender stone rod.
Evan Chu instantly understood. “Goldwing, press harder! As soon as you pull out that stone rod, the gate’s restriction should be unlocked.”
Goldwing was stronger than Evan, so his stone rod rose much faster. After a few more minutes, Goldwing’s rod finally stopped moving.
Right then, the Teleport Gate started making grinding noises and slowly began to rotate. It turned halfway, then stalled.
Everyone watching from a distance was on edge—not because they were afraid of being stuck here, but because they were worried Evan might get hurt.
“Goldwing, come help me out!” Evan Chu shouted, realizing he didn’t have enough strength to pull his stone rod free.