179 Moon Prince (1/2)

When they returned to the foot of the Goat Mountain, the impregnable mountain wall from before had completely changed in appearance.

It had become a doorway leading into the mountain itself.

”Oh, wow... you've been busy,” Xue Wei said with a smile. The sight of the open gate into the mountain made him feel great excitement.

”I'm not the only one. If I am not mistaken, you're the source of that roar earlier, right? That was a magnificent dragon roar. It has been a long time since I've last encountered a Sovereign Beast's roar.” he said with praise.

”It is not the roar of an actual Sovereign Beast, though,” Xue Wei said, shaking his head. Bai Tianyi just looked at him and snickered. ”Well, enough about that. Let us get inside.”

Xue Wei was puzzled as to why he would say that, but he nodded his head and inspected the entrance. He found nothing but complete darkness beyond it, but it did not frighten him. He had acquired some light orbs from the ring of the Crimson Sunshine Sect's member, which he took out before stepping into the gloomy tunnel through the gate.

Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi followed him in without hesitation, but Wang Xiaoyun hesitated while glancing at these companions of hers with an uncomfortable look on her face.

Xue Wei stopped in his tracks and turned around. ”Xiaoyun, are you coming?” he asked. She flinched, appearing to have woken up from a stupor, before frantically nodding her head and hurrying after them.

Xue Wei watched Wang Xiaoyun for some time. It was clear that something was wrong, but as to what it was, he could not put his finger on it.

Shaking his head, he turned around and continued deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel was made out of stone and was clearly carved into the mountain itself, and it seemed to continue into its depths indefinitely.

The tunnel seemed to be a long incline towards the underground, and the environment which had been humid and hot was turning cold and moist. The walls were wet with droplets of water that ran down their surface as if they were tears.

The further down they went, the steeper the pathway became. Soon, they had to hold onto the wall to ensure that they did not trip and roll all the way down the slope.

They were walking rather quickly, but it still took them a full seven hours before they reached the end of the slope.

When the slope evened out and became a straight path once more, Xue Wei sighed in relief. He had not thought about giving up, but the trip down had taken so long. To excavate such a long tunnel must have taken a really long time, and it must have required quite some effort.

The expert that had created this place was evidently far from simple, and the trio's expectations of what could be found inside the cave grew increasingly larger the more they tried to imagine it.

They continued into the depths of the passageway. There was only this one path, but they never let down their guard. There were no signs of traps, but there were no signs of treasures either.

There were old light orbs embedded in the walls, but all of them had long since lost their energy. Now, this entire area was damp and buried in darkness. The only light illuminating their path came from the light orb in Xue Wei's hands.

Although they had more than one light orb, Xue Wei would not squander them for mere convenience.

Xue Wei was unaware of how much time they would spend in the belly of the mountain, but he could guess that it would be a long trip this time.

So far, the things that had been sat up to keep people out were rather extensive. An age-restricting formation and then the formation at the mountain wall were not simple mechanisms.

But they still did not know what exactly they had entered. Was this a grave? An inheritance site? A supreme expert's old abode? Or was it perhaps a treasury?

No one could know for sure. Bai Tianyi surmised it to be some supreme expert's grave, but he had no proof, and half of his expectation came from his desire to gobble up the soul energy left behind by said supreme expert.

The group continued unerringly into the path for a few more hours when the tunnel started to suddenly widen.

The tunnel opened up into a big round room with four different doors. Xue Wei frowned when he saw this. Was this not too much of a coincidence? They were four people, counting Bai Tainyi, and there were precisely four doors.

”Welcome to the final resting place of I, the Moon Prince.” A voice slowly drifted out from the middle of the room where a small fluctuation of Qi seemed present.

”It is a formation that keeps someone's voice recorded with Qi. When the Qi is activated, the words that have been recorded will be released from the formation itself,” Bai Tianyi muttered in a low voice. Xue Wei heard it, and his curiosity was somewhat sated.

”I, the Moon Prince, was an expert standing at the apex of this world. Only the White Sword has ever been closer to immortality than I have,” it continued.

”I searched for years on end to find leads that could take me to the White Sword's immortality. Unfortunately, I failed… and after living for a few thousand years, I was incapable of holding on any longer.”