1379: A trick or a test

A trick or a test

Hao Xuan quickly closed his eyes to send out an army of spiritual threads after Mendax. A crystal clear image appeared in his mind of the scenes below, showing a river made entirely of Yin energy. 1

The Yin energy was strong enough even to freeze some of the spiritual threads but not before he got a good enough look at the monstrous creatures inside it.

At first glance they looked like 4-6 meter-long pudgy serpents swimming through the river of Yin energy at breakneck speeds but because of his supreme mental energy Hao Xuan was able to get a much better idea of their origins by plowing through his memories in the blink of an eye.

[The Shadow Eaters? They are a branch of demon eels native to the shadow realm. Why are they here? No, that doesn't matter. I don't have the physical strength to jump into an entire river of them and come out unscathed. Lord Mendax if you're listening, I will take the longer route and meet you at the end] Hao Xuan said out loud just in case Mendax was still able to hear him before walking deeper into the cave system.

A few seconds after his silhouette entered one of the smaller caves Mendax floated out of the river with an approving smile.

"Good. Take your time youngling. Get to know all of your future friends and enemies while I greet the guests."

His figure retreated into the golden shield while it began rotating clockwise. The shield became smaller and smaller until it popped out of existence.

***

Hao Xuan maneuvered through the complicated and ridiculously deceptive terrain of the cave system while dodging traps left and right to choose the correct paths to take.

Most of the wrong paths either led to some horrendous beast chained to the ceiling or a false floor, or into neverending mazes littered with pitfalls with no way out.

There were clues and hints hidden behind every other rock and pebble to help him out but if one didn't know what to look for there was no way to come out of this place in one piece.

If Hao Xuan did not have the knowledge of millions of souls floating around in his head this would have been a journey lasting over several weeks if not months.

But since he did, it took him a little over 20 minutes to get through the majority of the areas at his fastest speed until finally, the light at the end of the tunnel was visible (quite literally).

A very janky rope bridge led him towards a cliff not much different from the one where the stone platform was. He could hear the cawing of some unknown creatures flapping their wings in the distance.

[A few thousand of them from the sound of it] he muttered under his breath.

After carefully crossing the bridge he took the only path upwards to a solitary wooden door standing proudly at the highest point. Exuding a powerful saintly aura and a ring of iridescent light, it was calling to him with open arms after a very rough journey but he didn't even look at it twice.

Such pious energy coming from a den of ancient gods was perhaps the oddest thing so far.

Hao Xuan circled back towards the bridge and noticed a small ledge along the way.

It led to a narrow path located on the side of the cliff wall which in turn ended at another ordinary-looking door on the other side.

He took the chance and made his way through while avoiding all the harpy nests littering the way. Disturbing even a single branch would have invited the entire flock of these nasty creatures his way but thankfully Hao Xuan knew how to bypass them with relative ease.

And when he did reach the door it turned out to be not so foreign after all.

There were symbols similar to the ones he saw in the castle etched above it but rather than a name they were congratulating him for finding a secret entrance.

[I was right, both this and the last one were tests but it should be all over now-] he said to himself while placing a hand on it.

The door suddenly shook and Hao Xuan felt a foreign energy shooting up his arm and towards the back of his head. He felt a burning stinging sensation for a few seconds before the door gave way and slowly creaked open.

A bright light blinded him for a second as he walked through but when his eyes adjusted Hao Xuan found himself standing in an enclosed circular room with nine other beings.

They were all looking at him with interest but he could only see the true appearance of four of them. The other five were surrounded by various energies that completely blocked his senses.

These five only appeared as different colored nondescript silhouettes, obviously meant to hide their true appearance and background.

"See? I told you there would be another!" one of the four whose appearance was visible shouted.

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