Cade stood before a large square hatch, arms crossed, his brow furrowed in thought. At a glance it was obvious the trapdoor was forged from the same golden metal as the palace gates.

  Thanks to the vision he had witnessed during his breakthrough, he knew exactly which path through the palace to take, and it didn’t take him long to reach the entrance to the underground shaft. He just didn’t expect it to be locked.

  He walked around the trapdoor, noting its thick, reinforced hinges. There didn’t appear to be any physical lock, which likely meant a security formation was in place. He wasn’t sure what this golden metal was—it clearly wasn’t gold, and it wasn’t mithril either—but he had a strong sense that forcing it open wouldn’t be easy.

  I suppose I could try shattering the stone floor around it…

  Deciding to give the door a solid yank first, Cade crouched beside the handle. But the moment his hand touched it, the trapdoor unexpectedly swung upward as if pulled by an invisible hand, revealing a deep, vertical shaft.

  “What the…” he muttered, jumping back in alarm, his gaze warily shifting between the thick chunk of golden metal and the darkness below. He looked around to see if there was anything that’d explain how this massive hatch—which must have weighed at least a few tons—had suddenly opened on its own. There were no formation circles visible anywhere, not even a simple locking formation on the underside, and no significant spiritual fluctuations.

  Cade had to admit this made him a little uneasy. Things didn’t just move on their own, not unless soul qi and heavenly laws were involved. Did someone—or something—open the hatch for him?

  “Hello?” he asked after a brief hesitation. His voice bounced off the walls, echoing through the cellar and the shaft itself, but there was no response.

  Ah, whatever. Let’s see what happens.

  Cade stepped over the dark entrance, dropping down like a rock while wrapping his Blood Wings around his torso.

  In his vision, he had blitzed through the shaft at great speed, but now he could truly appreciate its depth. As he fell, the aura of sanctity grew more intense, and so did the tingling on his skin; previously, the sensation was very faint, barely detectable—but now it was unmistakable.

  Cade couldn’t say exactly how many miles long this shaft was, and after about ten minutes, he started thinking it was some kind of sophisticated spatial trap—as unlikely as that was. Unwilling to give up just yet, he continued to watch the endless line of stone blocks blur before his eyes. Even though it was near pitch black, he could still perceive most details. According to his timekeeper, it took over twenty minutes of free-falling before he finally saw a faint red light at the end.

  Finally! I was close to taking a nap. Why is this damn thing so deep?

  He immediately triggered the momentum-reducing property of his wings, easing himself onto the dark stone floor. He had entered an enormous hall dotted with thick, round columns supporting its distant ceiling, with a huge statue sitting on the other end.

  The moment he landed in the hall, the aura intensified, and now he had a powerful sensation of entering a holy place. Cade couldn’t explain how he knew what a sacred place felt like, having never experienced anything like this before in his life. It was instinctive. Despite the incredible toughness of his skin, the tingling had grown fairly uncomfortable. If this were somebody with a weaker body and a lower pain threshold, they might already be rolling on the stone floor, screaming in pain.

  Cade slowly walked toward the monument, not daring to fly—he didn’t know exactly why; he just felt flying here would be rude. The air was dry and had a fresh, invigorating scent—the exact opposite of what he had expected at such a depth.

  The hall was roughly half a mile long, and with each step forward, the sculpture grew in his eyes, eventually revealing its full height of around two hundred feet. Same as in his vision, the figure was seated in a lotus position, its hands folded in its lap with both palms facing the ceiling, as if cradling something precious. The massive sculpture was dressed in a similar longcoat as his own, represented with uncanny realism, and its featureless eyes stared ahead.

  At least he no longer had any sensation of being judged by the ancient monument. As he got even closer, he began to hear the same, barely perceptible chanting. Then his gaze shifted to the figure’s hands, attracted by a soft golden glow, and his heart released a rapid beat.

  Suddenly, he had a strong sensation of being watched, and his body blurred, turning around faster than a human eye could track, eyes narrowing with suspicion. Yet, there was nothing behind him—just more of the hall’s gloom, partially soaked in the soft red light radiating from the braziers. He was constantly observing his life sense, but no matter how he focused, there wasn’t a single life signature in his range. The Life and Death Divine Realm was a lot more dead than it was alive.

  Eventually, his gaze returned to the statue and the faint golden glow bouncing off its fingers.

  Should I risk flying? I suppose I can always retreat if my sixth sense awakens.

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  With that thought, Cade slowly flew upward. Both the chanting and the tingling grew stronger, though he still couldn’t tell what language it was. He wasn’t sure it was a language at all. His ears picked up a buzzing noise which made his skin crawl, and the tingle turned into searing pain. The air began to vibrate, and the temperature—previously comfortable—rose dramatically. Gritting his teeth, Cade rushed the last few dozen feet, covered in sweat, and his head finally reached past the level of the sculpture's folded hands, revealing the source of the golden glow.

  He only caught a brief glance, and what he saw could only be described as a ball of golden lightning, maybe a foot in diameter, holding something inside—quite possibly two small spherical objects. While the light it released was quite bright, it wasn’t blinding. However, the moment he switched his gaze to the two objects within the golden blaze, his eyes flared with terrible pain. He wavered in the air, then fell down like a bag of rocks, unable to focus on engaging his Blood Wings.

  Cade wasn’t one to panic—it simply wasn’t in his nature—though he certainly didn’t welcome the prospect of falling on his back from such a height.

  Yet, he did not strike the floor. Instead, some force caught him a few feet above ground, gently lowering him down.

  Cade’s first instinct was to pull out Legion, fill the hall with crimson mist, wrap himself in Life Armor, and ignite his Blood Wings, ready to cut through anything standing in his path. Yet, he restrained himself and instead cupped his fist in the direction of the statue.

  “Senior, I’m not sure why you’ve decided to remain concealed, but thank you,” Cade said.

  He was now convinced there was someone here who had the ability to use soul qi.

  “You speak in a language I don’t understand, young one,” a soft, female voice spoke with a strong accent, and suddenly a feminine figure materialized less than a dozen feet in front of him.

  Cade stood still as if he had turned into a stone monument himself, shallow breathing his only sign of life. She speaks Chthonic!

  He immediately bowed at the waist, extending his cupped fist toward the unknown expert, not even daring to look up. Whoever this was, her cultivation was unfathomable.

  “Apologies for my poor hold on the Chthonic language, Senior. I only had a year and a half to practice,” Cade said, making sure to pronounce all the words properly. It’d been a long time since he had the chance to speak in the Asura tongue.

  There was a moment of silence before the woman spoke once more.

  “Raise your eyes, young Asura. Although I’m very old, I’m still just a guardian spirit. Any and all reverence inside this hall should be directed at my Master,” the woman said in a steady voice carrying a reverent note.

  “Yes, Senior,” Cade answered and straightened up, swallowing nervously, only to nearly choke from shock upon observing the person in front of him.

  Her eyes were golden—same as Master Lao Ren’s—and she was astoundingly beautiful, but not in a way any other woman he had ever met was. It was an effortless, regal beauty, an ageless perfection shaped by uncountable millennia spent on cultivation. It demanded to be praised, no—worshipped. However, the shocking part wasn’t her irresistible, godlike charm, but what she wore. Her lithe figure was dressed in a red, high-collared gown buttoned up to the neck, fitted around the chest and loose below the waist, covered in faint, golden serpentine shapes.

  The color, the pattern… It’s nearly identical to the clothes Master Lao Ren gave me and what Yin Tian wore in the memory.

  He forced himself to blink and promptly pulled his gaze away from the woman’s silhouette, only now realizing her elegant form had the same ethereal quality as Master Lao Ren’s soul wisp.

  Cade breathed deeply, regaining his composure. He continued to maintain the salute; he dared not be disrespectful. Who knew what kind of temper this ancient spirit possessed.

  “Senior, I apologize ahead for my impertinence, but would you be willing to share some of your wisdom with me?”

  The woman chuckled softly. “There’s no need to be overly polite. As I said, I’m just a guardian spirit, a custodian for this mausoleum and its contents. I care not for anything else. You can ask me anything you want, but first, answer one question of mine.”

  Cade nodded, silently exhaling in relief. “Please ask, Senior.”

  “What year is it on Teraxis?”

  He froze for a moment, unsure what to say.

  “Is Teraxis a blue planet with two big continents?” the Asura asked after the brief pause.

  Something flashed in the woman’s eyes, and a shadow of sadness passed over her expression.

  “I see,” she said in a contemplative tone. “A vast number of years must have passed if nobody remembers the planet’s true name anymore. If you’ve arrived in the Realm through the entrance gate, then you’ve come from Teraxis. It once was an Asura birthing planet.”

  His eyes widened with intense curiosity. Noticing his change in expression and his obvious lack of recognition, the spirit’s expression sank.

  “You don’t know what that is?”

  Cade slowly shook his head. “Apologies, Senior. I’ve only been reborn a year ago; I don’t know about many facts related to my race. My in-name Master said that millions of years might have passed since the fight with Death Dao… Sorry, the Undead Alliance.”

  The woman released a heavy sigh. “It’s what I thought. I have been asleep all this time to conserve my strength. You must have broken through the palace’s defensive formation. Can you tell me how you found out about this place?”

  The Asura didn’t even dream about concealing anything and told her the full truth—about the vision and the opening of the Realm. He explained how he broke the formation and even mentioned the eerie trapdoor.

  The spirit’s eyes instantly lit up. “The trapdoor, the shaft, and this hall—they’re all part of one large soul-killing formation powered by the Realm’s spirit. You can’t perceive it without a powerful soul sense. It has only one purpose: to let the right kind of person in and destroy anyone else who tries to force their way inside. Even someone on the level of a demigod would think twice before attempting to break in.”

  Beads of cold sweat began to trickle down Cade’s back. He had never even heard such a thing was possible.

  A soul-killing formation… powered by the Divine Realm’s spirit?! Fuck! I really need to be careful with everything I touch in these old places. It seems cultivators today are indeed a joke compared to the ancient experts.

  “But… Why did it let me in, Senior? Is it because I’m an Asura?”

  “There are several requirements. Your origin is one. Your soul signature isn’t scarred by bad karma—that’s another. But the most important one…”

  The spirit looked straight into his eyes, her gaze turning solemn, and she approached Cade, extending her arm toward him. He stood stiff as a monument, unsure what to do.

  The woman gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

  “The most important reason is that you carry the godseed. Brace yourself, this will be a little unpleasant.”

  The moment she finished speaking, the whole Realm trembled.