Chapter 776: Shiyue Mojun 2
The sealed Shiyue Demon Cave was enveloped in darkness...
Yun Che experienced true darkness for the first time in his life. The world he inhabited felt like a bottomless abyss, devoid of even the slightest trace of light or life. In this absolute darkness, he could not see anything, could not tell where he was or which direction he faced. His mind was incredibly heavy, and he even felt waves of dizziness.
"Yun Che... do you know what you're doing?!" In Yun Che's sea of consciousness, Mo Li's gnashing voice rang out.
"Of course I know." Yun Che took a deep breath, doing his utmost to calm himself. Within the Shiyue Demon Cave, every breath he took was several times more difficult than outside.
"I already told you very clearly that there is no way for me to manifest and pick the Netherworld Brahma Flower. I even said explicitly that with your abilities, you absolutely cannot pick it, and can't even get close. You..."
"I know." Yun Che said with a grave expression: "I certainly wouldn't doubt anything you said yourself. But we've been searching for the Netherworld Brahma Flower for seven whole years! In seven years, whether on Tian Xuan Continent or in the Huan Yao Realm, we've never found the slightest trace. And this one in the Shiyue Demon Cave is very likely the only one in this world! Moreover, it's right on the verge of full bloom... how could I be willing to give it up!"
"When I saw the Netherworld Brahma Flower, a powerful feeling surged in my heart. If I left like this, perhaps we would never find a second Netherworld Brahma Flower, and we would be unable to let you be reborn." Yun Che said heavily: "And besides... to be honest, I felt that Netherworld Brahma Flower wasn't as terrifying as it seemed. Earlier, when I was less than thirty zhang away, although my mind was affected by it, I was able to break free by just slightly concentrating, unlike Xue'er and the others who were much more severely affected. This should be because I possess the Dragon God's Soul... if I unleash the full power of my Dragon God's Soul, perhaps I might be able to resist its soul-stealing ability. At least I can try."
"Foolish!!" Mo Li said hatefully: "Do you know the enormous difference between an unbloomed and a fully bloomed Netherworld Brahma Flower? After it fully blooms, its soul-stealing ability will be at least ten times stronger!"
"..." Yun Che was stunned: "T-ten... times!?"
"From that day seven years ago until now, I have always asked you to find the Netherworld Brahma Flower, never once telling you to pick it. Because it is not something that anyone from this realm can touch!" Mo Li's voice was always filled with anger, and Yun Che could imagine her delicate face flushed with rage, gritting her teeth and wanting to slap him flying for dozens of li.
"What you're thinking is probably that if you ultimately fail, you can escape using the Primordial Mystic Ark? Then you're too naive! After enduring the erosion of dark aura for over ten thousand years, and at an extremely high level, the spatial laws here have long been twisted! Not to mention escaping, your Primordial Mystic Ark can hardly even move within the range of this Shiyue Demon Cave!"
Yun Che: "..."
"Also! I clearly warned you just now that there is a living thing hidden here! And its strength is at least at Lord Xuan Realm level six! It can survive in this kind of dark environment, so it is very likely a beast of extreme evil! Perhaps, before you even get close to the Netherworld Brahma Flower, you will already die under the claws of that evil beast! Even if you want to escape, there will be no place to run!"
"You have basically thrown yourself into a grave! And a grave from which even I cannot save you!" Mo Li said angrily.
"Hehe." At this moment, Yun Che suddenly laughed.
"...You can still laugh?" Mo Li said with some exasperation.
Yun Che smiled gently: "I just suddenly thought of something. Many times, you've scolded me for risking my life for women. And every time I said that if it were for you, I would also be willing to risk everything, but you never believed me. Now, do you believe a little more?"
"You..." Mo Li's voice caught in her throat.
"Mo Li, you have given me far too much, but I have never truly done anything for you. Even relieving your demon poison was simply dependent on the existence of the Heavenly Poison Pearl; it never required me to sacrifice anything. But now, this Netherworld Brahma Flower is very likely the only hope for your rebirth. Compared to that, even if this hope were ten times slimmer and the risk ten times greater, I would still choose to stay!"
Mo Li: "..."
"Besides, my decision to stay isn't entirely reckless; I carefully weighed the situation. Things might not be as pessimistic as you think. Although the Dragon God's Soul within me has become part of my soul, because my soul power is too low, even I cannot perceive just how powerful it truly is. And you, Mo Li, also have no idea. If my will is strong enough to stimulate more of the Dragon God's Soul's power, then being able to approach the Netherworld Brahma Flower is not completely hopeless!"
"As for the thing hidden in the darkness, even if it is an evil beast, at Lord Xuan Realm level six, I am not necessarily unable to defeat it. Fen Juechen two months ago was about at this level, but wasn't he still defeated by me? And thoroughly at that!" Yun Che opened his eyes wide in the darkness, speaking with full confidence.
"..." Mo Li was silent for a long time before saying harshly: "Idiot! The reason you could defeat Fen Juechen was entirely because of Hong'er! Do you really think you can defeat a sixth-level Emperor Lord now!"
"Because... of Hong'er?" Yun Che was stunned.
"Never mind." Mo Li sighed faintly: "Since things have come to this, scolding you ten thousand more times is useless. That evil beast surviving in this environment is definitely a dark-attribute evil beast, and it will be restrained by Hong'er just like Fen Juechen. If that's the case, you might have a fighting chance... but only a possibility! For now, the first thing you need to do is survive in this environment and maintain a sufficiently strong state!"
Although Mo Li's tone was still stern, her attitude had unknowingly softened. Although in her eyes, Yun Che's stubborn decision to stay in the Shiyue Demon Cave and wait for the Netherworld Brahma Flower to bloom was extremely reckless and foolish, equivalent to digging his own grave, this time, it was completely for her... entirely.
And wasn't this the nature of the man who had spent the longest time with her in this life and whom she understood best?
"Here, do you feel tightness in your chest, dizziness in your head, and difficulty breathing?" Mo Li asked in a certain tone.
Yun Che nodded: "Yes. And this feeling is much stronger than when I first entered. Dark power can devour life and soul; this feeling should be normal, right?"
"Hmph! The reason you can still maintain sufficient condition and will is because your life force far exceeds ordinary people. If an ordinary King Xuan cultivator were here, after a hundred breaths, they would be completely weak and their consciousness drifting. But even with your life force, you cannot last long here. Within an hour, you will..." Mo Li's voice suddenly paused, then shifted slightly, saying blandly: "It seems I don't need to remind you. The fact that you dared to stay means you've already thought of it."
"Of course." Yun Che puffed out his chest: "The root of all power in the world is the energy of heaven and earth; dark power is naturally no exception. Not to mention the fire element in the Sea of Death, the Great Dao Pagoda Art can even absorb the spatial storms of the Primordial Mystic Ark and convert them into my own vitality. There's no reason it can't absorb the dark power here! The denser and more extreme the elemental environment, the stronger the atmospheric energy that the Great Dao Pagoda Art absorbs and converts. It will definitely offset, and might even exceed, the erosion of my life force by the dark aura here."
Yun Che furrowed his brow and suddenly asked: "The level of the dark aura here is really higher than yours? You said it would cause irreparable corrosion to your soul body, so why don't I find it that terrifying? At least it's much weaker than the spatial storms of the Primordial Mystic Ark! In those spatial storms, if I relaxed my concentration for even a few breaths, I would be dead for sure. But here, even without circulating the Great Dao Pagoda Art, I can last a long time."
"Hmph, didn't I say it? The level is extremely high, but the intensity is extremely weak. The dark aura here is like the aura released by an Emperor Lord whose profound energy is exhausted, whose life force is withered, and who is on the verge of death. Although it is still at the Emperor Lord level, it is so weak that it cannot even kill a True Xuan realm cultivator." Mo Li's voice suddenly turned heavy: "What troubles me most is that this dark aura is clearly in an active state, not a long-term dormant one."
"...What do you mean?" Yun Che asked doubtfully.
"That is to say, this dark aura is constantly being generated from somewhere. And in this completely sealed environment, it cannot dissipate. But after a full ten thousand years, it is still so thin... It is very likely that some terrifying thing hidden here has been continuously releasing extremely high-level dark power, while another thing has been continuously absorbing this dark power! Thus, even though this place has been sealed for ten thousand years, the dark power is still extremely thin and shows no sign of dormancy!"
"Otherwise, with the level of this dark power, if it were concentrated to a certain degree, the Supreme Sea Palace's barrier would not be able to seal it at all!"
Mo Li's words made Yun Che jolt suddenly, and then he said in a low voice: "Could it be... the dark profound beast hidden in the shadows?"
"Compared to a mere Lord Xuan realm dark profound beast, I am more curious about what is releasing this dark power!" Mo Li said solemnly: "Since we are already sealed in here, let's see what mysteries are truly hidden in this place!"
"Based on this dark aura of abnormally high level alone, the thing truly hidden here is far more terrifying and complex than anything the Supreme Sea Palace knows!"
Mo Li's words made Yun Che feel that the entire atmosphere of the Shiyue Demon Cave had suddenly changed.
Something above Mo Li's level, something she called "terrifying"... what could it be!?
However, for him, this was secondary. The first thing he had to do was survive here. After that, he would use all his strength and spare no means to obtain the Netherworld Brahma Flower that was so close.
In the darkness, Yun Che sat down, calmed his mind and soul, and slowly began to circulate the Great Dao Pagoda Art, gradually speeding it up. Little by little, the fifty-four profound gates and all the pores on his body opened. Streams of pure and refined atmospheric energy, like cool streams, poured into his body, turning into his power and life force.
Above Yun Che's head, a faint golden small tower hazily appeared, slowly rotating.
In this world filled with dark power, his life force and profound energy were rapidly being drained, and his soul was constantly being invaded. But at the same time, the Great Dao Pagoda Art drew far denser atmospheric energy from the dark power than usual, quickly restoring his life force and profound energy... Gradually, with the silent rotation of the golden small tower, erosion and recovery effortlessly reached a delicate balance.
Yun Che opened his eyes... Everything was even smoother than he had anticipated.
Thus, in this Shiyue Demon Cave, which everyone who knew of it spoke of with fear, he could at least survive for a long time.
Standing up, Yun Che waved his arm. With a crackling sound, the violent Golden Crow flame burned in his palm. The light of the Golden Crow flame struggled to pierce through the dense darkness, barely illuminating a distance of around ten steps.
Raising his foot, Yun Che slowly walked deeper into the Shiyue Demon Cave. According to what Mo Li had just said, if the dark aura here had not been absorbed by some existence and had instead continued to accumulate, it could have destroyed — easily destroyed — the Supreme Sea Palace's barrier, which was claimed to be the strongest sealing barrier on the entire continent. But the barrier had existed for a full ten thousand years without any abnormalities...
Could it be that the thing inside... had deliberately maintained this sealed state!?
At this thought, Yun Che felt a slight chill run down his spine.
Within the Shiyue Demon Cave, even Mo Li's spiritual sense was greatly restricted, let alone Yun Che's. He kept approaching the depths, but aside from endless darkness, he never sensed the existence of anything. If not for Mo Li's warning, he wouldn't even have known about the "living thing" hidden in the shadows.
The entrance to the Shiyue Demon Cave was relatively narrow. The further in one went, the wider it became. Past the midpoint, the height and width were no longer perceptible. Approaching the depths of the cave, the range the Golden Crow flame could illuminate rapidly shrank. At this moment, the bizarre purple light appeared before him once again.
The Netherworld purple light of the Netherworld Brahma Flower!