Cave of Dead Soul— Developing Perception of Void! (1)

Rustle... Rustle...

The moment Su Xiaobai stepped into the cave, the world darkened. The air was filled with death Qi, so heavy it felt like he could taste the breath of the dead.

"Thousands have died here..." he murmured, eyes narrowing. The cave had only recently been sealed and reopened, yet the ghosts spoke otherwise.

Fresh souls—no older than a millennium. Before that, nothing.

Either the cave wasn't as ancient as it seemed, or something had been slowly refining these spirits, keeping them from turning into ghouls.

But Su Xiaobai remained calm. He had seen worse through Ning Gufan's memories. The entrance sealed shut behind mysteriously, leaving no escape.

Whoosh!

A flicker of flame lit the path ahead.

The cave walls stretched wider, damp with age. Golden statues of warriors, impaled horizontally, lined the stone like fallen sentinels.

There was no turning back.

As he ventured deeper, a faint mist curled from the statues, invisible yet weakening his senses.

Without hesitation, Su Xiaobai tore a strip of his sleeve, covering his mouth to block the mist.

"Whoever designed this wanted to lead intruders astray," he thought, coldly calculating. The dense Yin Qi in the air was very tempting—perfect for his cultivation.

But he couldn't risk it.

Elder Bai's group might reach the treasure before him, and if they did, the cave would collapse. Many such tombs crumble once their prize is taken.

Su Xiaobai clenched his jaw, suppressing the urge to sit and cultivate. He had to move forward.

________

Two days later...

"Does this cave never end?" Su Xiaobai muttered, the echo of his voice swallowed by the abyss-like silence.

As he ventured deeper, something in the air changed. The Qi, once thick like syrup, now felt thin and evasive, as though the cave itself was playing tricks on him.

His sharp eyes caught sight of something unusual—small, barely visible cracks snaking along the stone walls, as if the cave had suffered wounds from a battle long forgotten.

"What is this...?" he murmured, narrowing his eyes as though staring could somehow solve the mystery.

With a swipe of his hand, his spiritual sense extended outward, probing the area.

Instantly, he felt a resistance—an unseen force pushing back, like a particularly rude innkeeper slamming the door in his face.

Whoosh!

He staggered, his heartbeat quickening. "Void cracks..." he whispered in awe, eyes widening. "These aren't just fractures in the cave....They're fissures in reality itself!"

Ning Gufan—the old fossil—had spoken of the void before, in his memories.

Even among the most arrogant cultivators, the void was considered a bad idea, like flying too close to a flaming mountain and pretending not to notice the lava.

It was a realm where the rules of the world crumbled, leaving only madness in their wake.

Yet, something stirred deep within Su Xiaobai's sea of consciousness. A strange familiarity, almost like the memory of a dream, emerged as he stared into the void. It wasn't just Ning Gufan's tales that resonated with him—no, this was something deeper. A whisper in his blood, an instinct born from his lineage.

"Void Thunder Dragon..." he muttered, piecing together fragments of ancient knowledge. His bloodline, dormant yet powerful, responded to the presence of the void cracks. It was as if his very essence recognized these fissures.

The arrogance in him flared; after all, 'who else but Su Xiaobai could have such a profound connection to the mysteries of the void?'

"Strange," he mused, scratching his chin. "Even that old monster Ning was cautious around the void, but here I am, feeling as if I could walk through it like a garden path. Is this the privilege of a void element bloodline?" He let out a soft chuckle, though the smugness never left his tone.

Crouching beside one of the cracks, he studied it intently. The Qi around it was faint, almost nonexistent, like the world itself was avoiding the void.

Smart world.

"Let's give this a try," he said, reaching out with his spiritual sense once more.

Rustle...

But the moment his fingers brushed the edge of the void, the crack rejected him with the grace of an angry cat swatting away a hand.

Shhhhhh!

He skidded across the stone floor, the void spitting him out like a spoiled meal.

Groaning, he picked himself up. "So, this is what it feels like to be kicked out by the void... Not bad. Could've been worse." He dusted himself off, pretending the impact didn't bruise both his body and his pride.

He stood still, contemplating. "I can't just brute force my way in." A lesson even the thickest of heads would grasp after being thrown around twice.

The knowledge pulsed in his mind again, his bloodline calling to the void with a subtle rhythm. Su Xiaobai steadied his breath, feeling the faint heartbeat of the Qi around him. It was delicate, like walking on the edge of a blade, balancing between life and nothingness.

"This isn't about power," he muttered. "It's about finesse.... Moving like a shadow, slipping through where the world forgets you exist."

He adjusted his spiritual sense, letting it flow like a gentle stream over the crack, brushing against it without force. He moved in sync with the void's fragile pulse, his presence becoming lighter, almost as if he were fading from existence.

For a brief moment, he felt it—weightlessness. Th

e void bent slightly, as though considering him.

He smiled. 'Ah, finally, some respect!'

Then—

Whoosh!

The void spat him out once more, tossing him across the cave like a skipping stone.

Thud!

He crashed into the wall, gasping for air. His body ached, but what hurt more was his pride.

"Dammit," he muttered through gritted teeth, pushing himself to his feet. Despite the frustration, a small, knowing smile played at the corner of his lips.

The void wasn't something he could master in a single try, nor would brute force get him anywhere.

But if there was one thing Su Xiaobai excelled at, it was persistence.

He clenched his fists, his eyes gleaming with renewed determination. "Let's try again!"

The power of the Void Thunder Dragon stirred within him, faint but very deep as if capable of bending the space itself.

Soon, these void cracks would be nothing more than stepping stones on his path to dominance.

After all, how hard could it be to tame reality itself?

_______

After seven long days within the cave...

"A door?"

Elder Bai's group found themselves at the end of the cave, where an enormous door towered before them, as if placed there just to mock their efforts.

The door wasn't just big—it was gargantuan, stretching hundreds of meters high and as wide as the river they crossed to get here.

If anything, it felt more like a wall pretending to be a door.

It was awe-inspiring—crafted entirely from gold, adorned with intricate celestial runes that shimmered as if alive. Each rune pulsed with ancient power, whispering secrets of the heavens. The door alone was a treasure beyond imagination, its worth enough to purchase an entire small kingdom.

"What... what should we do now?" Lan Meiyu's sulking voice broke the silence.

Her gaze flickered nervously to Elder Bai, who remained cold and unreadable. Clearly, she was leaving the tough choices to the rest of them, as always. Her favorite pastime seemed to be watching others squirm under the pressure.

Her shoulders sagged in disappointment as Elder Bai gave her nothing more than a stoic glance. Was she going to let them figure it out? Again?

She turned to Liu Zhenhai, her eyes hopeful, as if he might offer some sage advice. He didn't.

Liu Zhenhai, who stood rigid, deep in thought. His brow furrowed as he stared at the door, the weight of the decision pressing on him.

"Is it safe to touch it?" he wondered, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "What if one of those runes triggers a trap? A single wrong move could unleash destruction..."

His knowledge of runes was pitifully lacking, and the risk of his life was quite great.