Chapter 1771 — Cave Encounter 2, Part Two (Continued)

"Elder Jiao, where did you disappear to just now? I called you so many times, and you never answered. Now that everything is over, you finally decide to speak?" Wei Zhao was both exasperated and amused, utterly at a loss for what to say.

"A moment ago, the connection between you and the jade pendant space was severed. Didn't you feel it? I could hear you speaking, but I had no way to communicate with you," Jiao Yazi explained.

"So that's what happened..." Wei Zhao broke into a cold sweat, realizing that he had wrongly blamed Elder Jiao. Now that the connection with the jade pendant space had been restored, he let out a sigh of relief. "The phenomenon with the stone gate startled me. I had never experienced anything like it before. I thought not only had it drained away my strength, but that the stone gate might not open at all!"

"Hmm... Just now..." Jiao Yazi pondered for a moment before continuing, "As the stone gate opened, some of my memories returned as well. Was your energy absorbed by the stone gate just now, and then returned to you afterward?"

"Exactly!" Wei Zhao nodded.

"That is perfectly normal. The stone gate was merely testing you!" Jiao Yazi said. "The first stone gate could be opened simply by circulating the Xuanyuan Yulong Art. But the second stone gate had to verify whether you had cultivated the Xuanyuan Yulong Art to complete mastery of the first layer and successfully entered the second. Only then would the stone gate open!"

"So that's how it is!" Wei Zhao said, enlightened. Yet the question that followed still left him puzzled. "Elder Jiao, if that's the case, then after absorbing my energy, the stone gate could simply have returned it to me. Why did I feel that once the energy came back, it entered the stone gate again, then passed through my left and right hands as though forming a cycle? It kept circulating several times before finally stopping."

"Ah, so that's what you're asking about?" Jiao Yazi had recovered part of his memory, and he could now answer most of the questions Wei Zhao encountered. "The stone gate was filtering and purifying the energy in your body. Not all the energy within you came from the pure energy of the jade pendant space. Some of it came from the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth that you cultivated yourself, while another portion came from the Qi-Gathering Pill you consumed. As a result, the energy in your body was not especially pure. To help you cultivate the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art more effectively, the stone gate automatically filtered and refined that energy before opening. Didn't you notice that the energy returned to your body had become much purer?"

"Indeed!" Wei Zhao nodded. He had never expected the stone gate to offer such a benefit. Before this, he had thought that he merely needed to honor the five-year pact and circulate the Xuanyuan Yulong Art in order to open it.

"Lin, dawn is almost here, and you're still wasting time with me?" Jiao Yazi suddenly reminded him. "If you have questions, ask me after we return. For now, hurry up, take whatever benefit is waiting for you, and get out of here. Otherwise, you'll regret it when it's too late!"

Wei Zhao's heart jolted. The cavern was as bright as day, so he had been unable to sense what was happening outside. But after hearing Jiao Yazi's warning, he turned around and looked back, only to find a faint whiteness spreading beyond the cavern entrance. Dawn could not be far off.

At that thought, Wei Zhao quickly rose and strode toward the second stone gate, which now stood open.

However, when Wei Zhao entered through the second stone gate, the scene beyond it left him bitterly disappointed.

There was none of the magnificent grand hall that had lain beyond the first stone gate. Instead, he found a plain little room. Its walls were built entirely of stone, without the slightest trace of ornate decoration. What puzzled Wei Zhao was that there was nothing resembling a light source anywhere in the chamber, yet it remained as bright as day. He had no idea where the light came from.

Wei Zhao was not surprised, however. He had experienced the strange wonders of this cavern ten years ago. No matter what he encountered here, nothing could astonish him anymore.

At the very front of the stone chamber stood a small raised platform. Upon it rested another antique little box, redolent of a bygone age. Apart from that, there was nothing else in the room.

Could this be the cultivation formula for the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art? Wei Zhao was somewhat perplexed. Elder Jiao had said that the second layer offered certain benefits, the greatest of which was that the jade pendant space could transform into a storage space for holding various objects. Yet now it appeared that this place contained only the cultivation formula for the second layer and nothing else. Could it be that cultivating the second layer would automatically unlock the jade pendant's storage space?

Although the scene beyond the second stone gate disappointed him somewhat, it was also within Wei Zhao's expectations. A single little box was apparently to be the entire harvest of his journey into the cavern. He walked around the platform and, sure enough, found a third stone gate behind it.

Beside the third stone gate stood another similar stone tablet. A line of seal script had been carved upon it: "The stone gate may be opened once the divine art of the second layer has been initially mastered."

The words on this tablet stood in stark contrast to those on the previous one, and Wei Zhao nearly burst into tears of joy. Wonderful! Since the tablet said this, it meant that he no longer had to observe the five-year pact on every full moon night. Once he had perfected the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art, he would be able to open the stone gate to the third layer!

With that in mind, Wei Zhao no longer felt any urgency to investigate further. He went straight up onto the platform, picked up the box, turned around, and headed for the cavern entrance.

He had no idea how long it had taken to open the second stone gate, but judging by the sky, it certainly had not been a short while. If Elder Jiao had not warned him, he might easily have missed the proper time, and then he would have been in serious trouble. Thus Wei Zhao did not hurry to examine what was inside the little box. He could look through it after returning. If he became trapped in the cavern, he might never get out.

Although Wei Zhao's energy could sustain itself and he might not necessarily die even if trapped in the cavern for five years, there were still so many things waiting for him outside. How could he possibly remain confined here forever?

Besides, there was nothing left in the cavern worth lingering over. Every benefit it held was contained within that box. Wei Zhao did not even look back as he hurried home to West Star Mountain Village.

"You're back?" Wei Zhao had not expected Old Man Wei to have gone without sleep for the entire night. Instead, he had been sitting in a reclining chair in the courtyard, quietly waiting for Wei Zhao's return. When he saw him, Old Man Wei's eyes flew open, and he spoke.

For the latest updates, please read here without pop-up ads.