Even hours later the earth still kept rumbling, loose dust and sand falling from the vibrating cloth that made up most of the camp’s housing.

The tent city was abuzz with movement and excitement as the last, slower cultivators rushed to get themselves ready for what lay ahead in the not so distant future.

Meanwhile, most of the more organized sects had already sent their disciples toward the still sealed entrance of the tomb, standing around stewing in their own anxiety and trepidation, their minds racing a mile a minute conjuring up all kinds of horrors that waited for them just beyond the threshold of the ancient mausoleum.

Yu Xiang watched the titanic seal that kept them out of the tomb warily, studying the darker metal that made up its form for any imperfection or even some sign of inscriptions. It was a single, unbroken slab of iron, so large that an entire mountain’s worth of ore, if not more, must have been gone into its creation.

The young reincarnator could scarcely fathom who or what could have made it, alongside the rest of the construction it was keeping secure.

With some time to kill and with his closer position to the tomb, he started studying it more in depth, noticing more and more details he had missed while waiting around near the camp site.

For one thing, Yu could not see any kind of window or other aperture anywhere on the outside of the structure, which wouldn’t have been that strange considering this was some kind of ancient funerary site or something, at least if it wasn’t for the fact that no matter where he looked at, the green eyed cultivator was unable to locate any sort of hinge or weldings or other signs of a complex construction, which ended up making the entire structure look like a single unbroken piece of expertly folded metal.

A mountain of ore? Forget about it. There was a lot more than a single mountain that went into the construction of this monstrous mausoleum.

In a nervous tick, Yu Xiang patted a pouch hanging at his hip, the sole luggage he’d brought from his sect’s part of the encampment. Not because he’d forgotten to bring along supplies from the sect, but because he didn’t need anything else.

For what was hanging heavily, mentally at least, from his belt was nothing else but a miraculous existence known far and wide as a spatial pouch, a genius work of array building that created a fold in the fabric of reality, which was then placed inside of a container, in this case, a pouch, and held in place through copious use of formations and Intent.

A portable enlarged space that could hold far more than was physically possible and that most cultivators would never be able to hold in their hands.

Longing and envious looks were already being sent his way as the cultivators around him figured out what a treasure was casually dangling from his waist.

Yu Xiang shuffled around nervously, the new addition to his equipment making him mildly uncomfortable as he had had no time to get used to carrying around something so valuable.

It had been a last minute gift from Hui Chen, who had casually commented that he would more than likely need it inside the Blood Iron Tomb, as it was rich in both treasures and certain materials, far more than he could carry around with a normal bag or backpack.

Of course, despite the clear favoritism the Golden Prince held for his young protege he hadn’t only offered such a boon to him and him alone, so now all of his companions were sporting the same extremely expensive artifact.

Safe to say, they’d all thanked their sect’s heir profusely, who casually waved away their gratitude as if he’d merely offered them some biscuits and not something only core disciples of the sects usually got their hands on.

At his side, Huang Lei was fiddling with her own spatial pouch in naked wonder, the one most moved and awed by the gift of their patron.

Yu Xiang raised an eyebrow at his noble born companion. “I get that these things are priceless, but aren’t you being a bit too weird about receiving one? We’re kind of already gathering attention and you’re certainly not making us any more inconspicuous.”

Huang Lei looked at him askance, her glittering eyes usually so full of mischief and the sultry expression she always favored him with nowhere to be seen on her pale visage.

“Priceless, he says.” She intoned mockingly in a tone of voice he’d never heard from her before, the naked scorn biting like a knife yet still only able to draw an amused smile from the green eyed cultivator.

She waved her hand at the spatial pouch resting in her hand as if she were presenting it at an auction, holding it up to the height of her head despite the fact that dozens of men and women around them were eyeing it with covetous eyes.

"A spiritual weapon is priceless." She said matter of factly, glaring daggers at him. "An elixir of rebirth is priceless. The bones of a dragon are priceless!"

"This!" She pointed at the marvel of array building resting on her palm imperiously, almost dismissively if one ignored how carefully she was cradling it. "Is not priceless. It has a quantifiable and set monetary value. A value I am more than aware of, unlike the four of you seem to be!" She huffed then, some of her usual mannerisms returning to her as her rage abated after her outburst.

"Keep me out of this." Groused Su Rong from nearby, trying to appear smaller than he was as the attention of most cultivators around them was attracted by the young woman's voice, unfortunately for him, his stature came in as a disadvantage in this one instance as he failed miserably to seem insignificant.

Lin Fen blinked blearily at the sudden call out, shrugging his shoulders a moment later in indifference, his feline ears dancing around following dozens of different conversations.

Feng Liu stared at the older disciple sympathetically, although one might have misjudged it for derision from his next words. "I was born among core disciples and elders, sister Huang. My perspective is different from that of most cultivators." He smiled helplessly.

The noble woman's eyebrow twitched, as Yu Xiang patter her back in a show of solidarity that only seemed to reignite her ire.

Fortunately for the rest of them, the coming argument was promptly interrupted as the ever present rumbling that had become part of their reality for the last few hours suddenly came to an end.

All sounds of movement and conversation stopped, as every single cultivator present turned almost as one towards the dark metal entrance to the Blood Iron Tomb.

With a sound of tortured iron, and yet an eerie absence of shifting sands, the dark seal started crumpling in on itself, becoming smaller and smaller beneath the eyes of hundreds of men and women shocked into silence.

A few moments later the gateway that had blocked their way for the last few days had compressed itself into a perfect sphere of opaque metal, floating slightly above the center of the now cleared doorway.

Only a wall of impenetrable darkness greeted the crowd of cultivators, the interior of the tomb still shrouded from their sight by some ancient machination. Slowly, a bank of mist crawled its way out of the impenetrable blackness, as if inviting the awed spectators into its mysterious depths.

Even a mortal would have been able to hear a pin drop with the utter stillness of that moment.

Then someone took the first napkin, moving forward a single step. But that was more than enough to break the spell that had fallen upon the gathering of cultivators.

Clouds of sand exploded into the air as a hundred and more movement techniques were activated at the same time, Yu Xiang being among the first ones to break out of his stupor.

As the darkness grew closer and closer, the young reincarnator reached out with his Aura towards his companions in the crowd, a condensed message of pure emotion being passed to his friends.

"See you all on the other side!"

Yu Xiang made contact and his world turned to void.

It was only for a moment, but in that single fraction of a second space, time and reality ceased to matter as Yu felt his body and soul shift in ways he lacked both the senses and words to properly describe. The experience vividly reminded him of that first time he'd walked through the door to a Hidden Space, yet at the same time being starkly different.

Then time started mattering again, reality reasserted itself, and space was once again a binding law of the universe.

Yu Xiang blinked blearily at the abruptness of it all, scanning his surrounding with dazed eyes, after which he let out a single all encompassing statement, full of wisdom in its simplicity.

"Shit."