Chapter 3538 — A Strange Encounter in the Cave, Part One

So Wei Zhao did not waste his effort on futile attempts, and simply rested quietly instead.

Gradually night fell. Wei Zhao rose slowly to his feet and walked toward the cave, halting before the stone door at its mouth. Then he placed his hand gently upon the stone door and began to circulate the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art.

With the experience of his previous visits, Wei Zhao moved through this step as smoothly as a man on familiar ground. Once the stone door acknowledged its master, it rose slowly, and the familiar first level of the Xuanyuan Cave Dwelling unfolded before his eyes.

The scene within the stone door was much as it had been on his last visit. Wei Zhao did not linger, but went straight to the second stone door behind the great hall, and as before, circulated the mnemonic of the heart method, whereupon the second stone door swung slowly open.

Wei Zhao stepped inside, and without pausing to examine the sights within, went directly to the fourth stone door. This was the most important door of all. He walked up and stopped at its threshold.

Before the stone door stood a stone tablet on one side, inscribed in seal script with a passage: "Three levels perfected, weapon in hand; strike the door with the weapon, and only then may you enter."

"Three levels perfected" meant the third level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art brought to great perfection. Wei Zhao drew out the heaven-rank divine staff he had forged earlier, drew a deep breath, and circulated the mnemonic of the heart method. This time he circulated it at full speed, holding nothing back, releasing the heart method at the third level of great perfection outright. At the same moment he channeled his true qi into the heaven-rank staff and swung it violently at the stone door.

"Boom!" The force of heaven-rank great perfection, joined to the full-powered circulation of the heart method, drove all his true qi into the stone door and produced a thunderous crash.

Wei Zhao was just about to lift his hand and put away the heaven-rank staff, but to his surprise, the staff seemed to have been glued to the stone door, and he could not pull it free.

Eh? Wei Zhao was briefly startled. But recalling his earlier experience, when his hand too had been sucked onto the stone door and could not be withdrawn, he thought this might likewise be a test set by the door. He drew a deep breath and let the staff remain stuck fast to the stone door.

What followed did not exceed Wei Zhao's expectations in the least. At this point there was no need for him to circulate the heart method himself; it began to run of its own accord, as it were, and the physical true qi within his body was slowly poured through his staff into the stone door.

Yet with the experience of previous occasions, Wei Zhao was not in the least flustered this time. Each time was much the same, so he faced what lay before him with a calm and even mind.

As time passed, the true qi within Wei Zhao's body grew ever less, until at last all of it had entered the stone door. And afterward, this energy and true qi that had entered the door flowed back once more into Wei Zhao's body.

Without any surprise, this energy and true qi were, as on the last occasion, purer than what had previously been in Wei Zhao's body. The stone door had once again helped Wei Zhao complete a filtration, and then the energy flowed back into the stone door once more, cycling to and fro in this manner four times.

At last the fourth stone door suddenly gave out a rumbling roar, and the flow of energy between Wei Zhao and the door ceased with it. The stone door began to rise slowly...

"Phew!" Wei Zhao let out a long breath. It seemed this fourth stone door was indeed like the first two, finally opened in the same manner.

The door was open. Wei Zhao dared not waste any time; before daybreak he had to leave the cave, or he would be shut inside. Of course, he could leave the next day as well—at worst it meant waiting one more day.

But Wei Zhao's time was rather tight just now. The Five Luminaries Sect might summon the trial participants back at any moment to convene the heaven-rank assembly, so Wei Zhao had to make every moment count.

As behind the third stone door, here was a very plain little chamber. There was still nothing in the way of a light source within, yet it remained bright as day.

Directly ahead in the stone chamber was still a small raised platform, and upon it still rested a small box of antique charm. Beyond that, there was nothing else here at all.

Seeing this, Wei Zhao could feel neither joy nor disappointment. Apart from a box, there was nothing here—which was within his expectations, though he had always hoped to encounter something beyond them. But there was none.

Each time it was a little box; Wei Zhao had grown used to it by now.

Stepping forward, Wei Zhao reached out and took down the little box of antique charm.

The box was light and airy, much like before. It seemed what lay within should be something like a heart method mnemonic or a forging method.

Having put the box away, Wei Zhao raised his head and looked around the stone chamber behind this fourth stone door. He wanted to see whether there was any so-called fifth stone door, but to his disappointment, this was likely the last door of all.

For within the stone chamber there was no fifth stone door; there were only blank, smooth stone walls. It seemed there was no way forward left at all.

His path in the mortal world was probably nearly at its end. Barring the unexpected, this was Wei Zhao's last visit to the Xuanyuan Cave Dwelling; there would be no more fortuitous encounters hereafter. What would there be on Cloud Terrace Island?

But Wei Zhao did not believe there would be another Xuanyuan Cave Dwelling there. After all, this one was likely connected to Old Man Wei. On Cloud Terrace Island, whom could he still rely on? Only his own two hands.

"Elder Jiao, this is the last stone chamber. Your memories should have unlocked now, shouldn't they? What comes afterward?" Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and asked Jiao Yazi.

"Indeed, this is the last stone door. There are no more! And my memories... I have only just recalled them, and they are limited in any case. The days I have to accompany you should not be many now, for my mission is already complete!" Jiao Yazi said, word by word.

"What?! Your mission is complete? But you haven't told me anything yet! Who are you? Where do you come from? With the stone doors gone, where am I to go from here?" Wei Zhao's questions poured out like a string of firecrackers.

"Who am I? In truth, I am a soul-and-primordial-spirit clone made by your master and his friends and sealed within a jade pendant..."