84 Three (2/2)

The Cave Temple Zone was actually the worst of the three, but it was still very beneficial. This zone was a large battle arena type area, however it distributed rewards as well. If anything, this place would allow one to gain more power through external means. If one survived a battle, then the Cave Temple would give them a reward based on how well they did. However, the catch was that only one person could stay alive. There was no way for two people to exit the arena, unless they were much stronger than the defenses of the Cave Temple.

Arnin was headed towards this exact location. This bothered Fae a little because she wanted him to go to the best place, and gain the same amount of essence as the more talented cultivators. Alas, the problem lied in the fact that Arnin arrived late, and did not know anyone who knew the secrets behind the test.

Fae regretted not telling Arnin anything beforehand. She really wanted to Arnin to come out on top because if he turned out to be the most talented student, then she, as the person who brought him to the academy, would receive lots of recognition as well.

'Let's just hope that he can eventually head over to the Elemental River Zone.' She thought as she continued to watch Arnin make his way towards the Cave Temple Zone.

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As Arnin and the bun haired girl made their way towards the Cave Temple Zone, they met many cultivators along the way. Some were killed by Arnin and used to increase his amount of essence. Other cultivators who noticed Arnin and knew that they couldn't face him decided to run away as quickly as they could, however there were still many who were confident in themselves and continued towards the Cave Temple Zone without stopping.

Arnin didn't attack every single person in his path. Only lone cultivators would be killed, while those in groups would be left alive. He still wanted to conserve his strength for future troubles, plus he wanted to wait until a good amount of people were gathered before commencing any sort of massacre.

After a few hours passed, and the three finally reached the Cave Temple Zone. Arnin looked around and saw hundreds of people gathering around a large hole inside of a mountain. This mountain was much taller than the one he was pushed off of, and even reached the so called 'ceiling' of the cave. In front of the large hole, there were three statues. All three statues were the same in height, but each one had a different design.

The first statue, which was on the left side of the hole depicted a woman holding onto a sword. Anger and a thirst for blood was magically shown on her frozen face. The long, snake like sword was pointed towards the second statue which stood on the right side of the Cave Temple entrance.

This second statue depicted a man with a large, brawny build. The man's face was ferocious, but also looked somewhat heroic. The weapon he held in his two large hands was an enormous warhammer. This warhammer was lifted over his head, seeming to want to smash the woman's statue.

Both statues were able to make a cultivator's blood run cold because of how lifelike they looked. It was as if the fight was going on in front of them, and all of the bloodlust that the two statues exuded was suffocating them.

Arnin looked at the statues and saw the misty eyes of the other cultivators and couldn't help but scoff. He was the great Demon Lord that could destroy the planet with just a gaze, why would such insignificant people affect him?

While everyone else was paying attention to the two fighting statues, Arnin turned his gaze towards the last statue. This one was a little different from the rest. It was placed inside the mountain, right on top of the Cave Temple entrance. The depiction was hard to see because of how the person or thing was covered by a shadowy robe.

The depicted being had his palms facing the two fighting statues. His left palm, which was faced the sword woman was releasing some sort of item. Arnin scrunched his eyes and looked closely, only to see that the item was the hilt of a sword.

”Is that hilt… moving?” Arnin turned his head and noticed a young man also looking towards the statue in the middle. It seemed like this young man was more interested in the middle statue, rather than the two fighting ones that the rest of the group was paying attention to.

Arnin wasn't too interested in the young man because he could tell that the latter had fallen for an illusion that the statues were creating. If one was too weak, or did not have a strong mind, they would easily fall for such illusions, and this young man was a prime example of just that.

'This place is a little different from I imagined. Seems like it isn't a place filled with essence like the Essence Tower.' Arnin thought inwardly. He had assumed that the zones would be places where people could cultivate essence and increase their powers through that, but looking at the statues, Arnin could tell that what he originally thought was most likely not the case.

”Is that blade also moving?” The young man unconsciously spoke out once more. Arnin turned his head and looked at the right palm of the middle statue. There was a blade that pointed towards the man holding the warhammer.

'There should be a meaning behind these statues, but what is it?' Arnin began to think about what the statues meant. He knew that most things would have a meaning or purpose behind their creation, and these statues fell under that category.

'All the information that I know so far is that the woman and the man seem to be fighting, and the middle statue is pointing at them with two different things. The woman gets the hilt, while the man gets the blade.' Arnin pondered the meaning behind this, but it took him a few minutes to figure out some of the other small things.

'This blade towards the man probably means that he is going to get attacked by a third party, and the hilt for the woman probably means she is going to get an ally? Or is it something else?' Arnin wracked his brain, and although he was extremely smart there just wasn't enough information. He could only come up with two other theories, which was incredible considering the lack of information Arnin had.

He could only sigh and wait until he walked into the Cave Temple. Unlike others, he wasn't super curious about what the statues meant. He understood that the Cave Temple was probably about battle, and maybe even group battles judging by the middle statute, but he couldn't figure out why such a thing would help others.

The whole battlefield was filled with fights, so the Cave Temple was really just another place to battle each other.

'Whatever, I will only find out once I walk into the place.' Arnin waved his hand and had the bun haired girl follow him in. Soon, others also began to follow, their faces filled with expectation and some excitement.

The third zone, Cave Temple Zone.