"It's gone!!!" A late-Origin Core Cultivator exclaimed in disbelief, but his tone was filled with fear and alarm. His cultivation base wildly erupted in caution. Others followed suit, and soon the stairwell was filled with multi-colored auras flaring about here and there. Many forms of senses, both qi and spiritual, was spread into the surroundings without care of impoliteness.
These actions were especially prevalent in the weaker cultivators. Earlier, the Asura Golem specifically targeted them and started slaying them like it was cutting wheat. How could they not be cautious? However, many had already forgotten the Asura Golem couldn't be sensed in their fear.
Wu Kun's eyes shined light that coruscated into the area. After a second, his mind started to tinge with a thought. Looking about, he couldn't find any evidence of its existence.
"An illusion?!" This was his first thought. The Asura Golem was an illusion produced by a discrete killing formation. However, due to some unknown circumstances, the formation must've ceased. It could be due to lack of energy due to lack of maintenance or someone broke it silently. In that case, it's likely there was someone who was operating the formation either way.
Could it be…?
He wasn't the only one to think up this situation after a thorough scan of the surroundings. Considering the Asura Phantom Palace illusory farce on the Moon of Asura, it was highly likely. If this is true…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several explosions suddenly took place as people erupted with their full cultivation bases, executing their most exquisite burst-movement art. It only took a second before dozens of figures reached the door that was once guarded by the Asura Golem. With a combined effort of these individuals of varying sizes and races, their energies smashed heavily into it.
BOOM!!
The door splintered into countless pieces as it exploded violently. Several groups responded with mad dashes filled with various emotions from vigorous hope, deep greed, to sheer madness!
"Go!" Guàn Cui once again commanded, her momentum surging with an elegant yet intense aura. With a step, she followed the masses into the door. Ma Xiuren's small form gently stepped forward and her body flickered like a vanishing shadow. Tang Li and the others followed. Yan Zaizen's eyes were bright, but he stayed silent, following along without hesitation.
After entering the door, there were twelve different vast square-shaped corridors. At this point, there were already people who've scanned the corridors with their senses, after gaining a faint trace of direction, they explosively shot into it.
Guàn Cui stopped at the first floor's main room. "We're looking for intense soul fluctuations, find them!" With a soul transmission, she commanded Yan Zaizen. As the group's guide, this was his purpose. Yan Zaizen stopped beside her, his eyes flashed with silver-blue light for a split second.
He pointed towards the seventh corridor from the left. Without hesitation, Guàn Cui dashed towards the 7th corridor. The rest followed closely behind, executing their respective movement arts. There were several groups and independent cultivators traveling this route, but none of them fought. However, if one looked at their eyes, they contained heightened vigilance and shifting gazes filled with readiness.
"Caution!" Guàn Cui warned, her eyes were similar to the others. Perhaps now it was peaceful, but the moment they met anything worthwhile, fighting will escalate quickly. They dashed past several doors that seemed to be the location of residences or other locations. Yan Zaizen continued to dash forward and many of the stronger groups did so as well.
A door that seemed similar to the rest appeared. Its size about ten meters and constructed from a special whitewood. "There!" Yan Zaizen pointed.
Guàn Cui nodded slightly, not saying anything else. Her sky-rank sword was wielded in her hand. The others followed suit, besides Tang Li and Ma Xiuren, the rest wielded similar swords.
"Sword cultivators?" Yan Zaizen was shocked, but after awhile, he felt it was appropriate. They were bestowed the Dao of Unyielding Pride, and it was similar to the Dao of Unyielding Confidence. The sword was perfectly attuned for these two daos, allowing one to develop unique conceptual laws based on them.
A group of five cultivators dressed in green-red robes with shaved heads like monks was already at the door. The leader, a wizened old man with large, brown prayer beads tied around his neck, was at the forefront. His eyes revealed madness, and his cultivation base was leaking indicating he was at the mid-True Essence Realm. Not only that, the rest of the group also had initial-True Essence Realm cultivation bases.
However, Guàn Cui didn't halt. Her sword flashed with a resplendent white sword light infused with an unyielding pride in her stroke. The true-essence within caused the surroundings to feel sliced into pieces as it proceeded forward. The monk, however, had his eyes flicker with a trace of viciousness. From his hand, he threw out a prayer bead from beneath his long sleeves.
This bead enlarged almost instantly by several hundred meters, colliding fiercely with the incoming light. It nullified her the sword slash with relative ease. Witnessing this, Guàn Cui's eyes flickered. She looked towards Yan Zaizen swiftly, "Again!"
As if understanding, Yan Zaizen nodded. His eyes flashed with silver-blue light, he then pointed further into the corridor. Guàn Cui's didn't even look at the monk, directly executing her movement art and bypassing the enlarged bead and door. Ma Xiuren and Tang Li's expressions were indifferent, not even gazing at the monks. They directly followed behind.
The monks allowed them free passage, not taking action but remaining vigilant. The leader couldn't help but feel slight approval at Guàn Cui's decisiveness. She realized that if they fought to the death, it'll be unlikely either would gain anything in the aftermath. Afterwards, she decisively chose elsewhere. After all, this was just the first floor, why risk your life for it?
Unfortunately for Guàn Cui, the corridor she chose was picked by extraordinary groups due to her very requirement. They were also far faster, arriving at the doors Yan Zaizen would choose that possessed soul fluctuations. Some were even looted already. With the movement speed of powerful cultivators, a single second was enough to sweep a hundred li clean.
It wasn't long before they exited and found a silver platform that radiated spatial fluctuations as if it was used to tunnel into the spatial void. However, the silver platform was shattered and destroyed. Many cultivators looked at the silver platform and their eyes glistened with intelligence and hatred. Entering the platform and decisively destroying it afterwards was risky, but it could reduce the competition. At least, it'll delay others for a short period of time.
However, how could everyone not have prepared for this?
"We need to be faster." Guàn Cui flatly stated. Yan Zaizen understood this. When the Asura Golem was discovered to be gone, several groups went ahead, and since they were looking for something specific on the first floor, how could it not be valuable and wanted by others? They weren't even the fastest group to enter, being relatively in the middle. They lost their opportunity at benefits because of this.
She withdrew a silver orb that radiated spatial energy. Throwing it at the silver platform, the orb exploded and produced a silver tunnel at impact.
"Go!" she dashed into the newly produced tunnel. They all followed her, arriving at the next floor. When they arrived, they were shocked. The room was quite similar, but instead of a golem at the middle of the floor between entrance and exit, there was a curtain of white liquid raining down in a thin line. It acted as a separation line.
However, not a single person who arrived on time entered this thin white curtain. When Yan Zaizen saw this, he was reminded of the formation in the Water Veil Sect. Guàn Cui looked towards Yan Zaizen, "Your thoughts?" Obviously, as a member of the Anima Syndicate and a guide, he was supposed to scout out and deduce the danger levels of various obstacles.
This was likely the second floor's obstacle, considering a door similar to the first floor was there, but it was several times larger than the other. This likely indicated its higher requirement to do so. He was cautious, not carelessly spreading his spiritual sense, considering what happened with the inky black moat. His eyes emanated a silver-blue aurora-like light. By focusing his spiritual sense into his optical perception, he could enhance his identification capabilities.
"This is a soul-based water called Asura's milk. Despite its name, it doesn't originate from Asura's, but if your soul cultivation isn't sufficient to defend against it, it'll wash your soul flame clean. It can, however, be used to strengthen one's spiritual sense, similar to how normal milk can help strengthen bones. However, that's if you could withstand its effects. " Pinaka stepped forward to explain.
Yan Zaizen explained this information to the group. Tang Li's eyes flickered with intense greed. As an alchemist, Asura's milk was exceptionally rare. It could be used as a substitute for many different soul-based materials. It was also a vital ingredient for an ancient formula that's been discarded called the Spiritual Hell Elixir. It was literally its core component, and all the rest still existed in the Xiantu Realm. If he could harvest it...
While Guàn Cui was deciding on her next course of action, more people started tunneling into the second floor's room through the spatial platforms.
"It's you?!" A voice shouted in surprise. Yan Zaizen's group turned around with interest, their auras may seem inactive, but they were ready to explode at a moment's notice if a fight was started. Yan Zaizen also turned but when he saw the person, he couldn't help but feel curious.