The night was deep.
Gu Heng quietly traversed through the dense forest, delving deeper into the pitch-black mountainside.
After walking a while, he stopped.
In the depths of the forest, there was a massive cave, surrounded by thick mist, with a faint light seeping out from within.
"Hmm? No wonder I felt something was off about this place..."
Gu Heng raised an eyebrow, thinking about this solitary mountain nestled in the dense forest, with a mysterious mountain cave... Could this be the so-called "opportunity"?
He had heard countless stories of down-and-out cultivators jumping off cliffs to end their lives, only to find their opportunity at the bottom and soar to great heights. These stories were endless, but whether they were true or not, as a mere mortal, he had no way to verify.
But...
Did he just stumble upon one?
Could it be that he couldn't become a cultivator because the "opportunity" hadn't arrived, and now it had?
Little Xi rubbed against him, standing beside him with her tail held high, her round little eyes fixed on the giant cave.
This place was peculiar.
Because Su Jinxi could clearly sense that outside the cave, there was an extremely solid sword intent, like an insurmountable high wall. Anyone who dared to pass would be sliced to pieces!
With her cultivation at the tenth level of the Tribulation Crossing stage, facing that invisible yet tangible wall of sword intent, she felt as insignificant as a thin veil. If she dared to touch it lightly, she would surely die!
Moreover, she noticed that the sword intent seemed to have some damage, allowing a trace of spiritual energy to leak out from the cave. This bit of spiritual energy was not enough to affect the world, but it was enough to influence the concentration of spiritual energy within a hundred steps of the cave!
No wonder that Black-scaled Earth Python, clearly just a fourth-grade beast, had strength equivalent to other sixth-grade beasts.
That creature must have lived near this cave, benefiting from its proximity.
But Su Jinxi couldn't bypass the obstruction of the sword intent and had to retreat to find Gu Heng.
Because the power displayed on that wall of sword intent far exceeded Su Jinxi's understanding. She was a great demon with thousands of years of age, yet now there was a power here that even she had never witnessed?
This could only have been left a long time ago...
It might even be from some ultimate power from the ancient Great Void Era!
Gu Heng squatted down and patted Little Xi, "I'm going in to explore. You stay here obediently, don't run around, understand?"
"Meow..."
Little Xi meowed reluctantly.
But she understood his meaning and just lay there, her little paws playing with her face, seemingly not intending to move.
"Meow~"
A soft, tender meow.
Gu Heng was satisfied, then placed her on a rock and turned to step into the cave.
Su Jinxi watched as Gu Heng approached the cave step by step, getting closer and closer to the invisible barrier formed by the sword intent...
"Hmm!?"
He just went in.
In Su Jinxi's eyes, there was a more profound and powerful hazy golden light on Gu Heng, which directly caused the wall of sword intent to rapidly retreat, creating a hole about his size. Subsequently, Gu Heng walked into the cave unharmed.
"...Can it really be like this?"
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Su Jinxi's eyes widened.
He was even strong enough to make the sword intent move around him!?
It seemed she had greatly underestimated his strength.
Gu Heng walked deeper into the cave, and after descending a long staircase, he reached the bottom.
"There's a palace hidden in this mountain?"
Where he stood was inside the solitary mountain, which seemed to have a large section hollowed out. Now, he stood inside this mountain palace, facing a dilapidated ancient grand hall!
This grand hall looked thousands of years old, but even so, it couldn't hide its inherent grandeur and solemnity.
The palace cave was filled with ruins and moss, indicating its once-glorious past.
And at the entrance of this grand hall stood a half-human tall black stone monument, with inscriptions worn down by time to the point of near disappearance, but Gu Heng could still make out a few words.
"...Imperial Tomb?"
"May my lord rest in peace, until the day..."
He leaned closer to discern the words, barely making out the inscriptions.
Gu Heng frowned immediately.
An emperor's tomb? But the beginning of the first line was already worn away, making it unclear whose tomb this was.
This line seemed to be inscribed by a loyal minister of that emperor.
Gu Heng thought, looking up at the main door of the grand hall, the bronze door panels long corroded and rusted, with only gusts of eerie wind emanating from within. He took a deep breath, ready to go in and investigate when suddenly, he paused.
He sensed an unusual fluctuation behind him.
Gu Heng's eyes narrowed, and he immediately turned around—
"Whoosh..."
The sound of wind and cranes!
A vague pale ghostly figure suddenly appeared in this ancient tomb, its hollow eye sockets burning with ghostly blue flames, lunging menacingly at Gu Heng!
"What the hell is this!?"
Gu Heng was startled and frightened, quickly sidestepping to dodge the ghostly figure's attack, which missed and halted mid-air.
"This guy... actually dodged my attack?"
The ghostly figure was also somewhat surprised, thinking this guy had accidentally intruded into his master's tomb and was just a mere mortal with no aura.
But any mortal who intruded here was destined to die.
In life, he was just an insignificant servant under the feet of his honored master, but now, he was the tomb's sole guardian. Although his Great Ascension stage cultivation might have diminished significantly, dealing with a mortal should be more than enough!
So, the ghostly figure lunged again!
"Whoever you are, I won't let you disturb my master's peace!"
He thought, intending to tear the foolish mortal to shreds!
"Get lost, who are you trying to scare!"
After the initial fright, Gu Heng was no longer afraid, as this thing seemed to pose no threat at all, just a ghostly shadow. He had seen similar tricks in Greenwood City, where performers used small props made by cultivators to create a moving humanoid figure out of white smoke, looking eerie but actually... very fake.
It only fooled those who had never seen the world.
Although he hadn't seen much of the world either, such things wouldn't scare him.
So, Gu Heng threw a punch!
This mortal dared to resist.
The ghostly figure sneered inwardly, already envisioning the pleasure of tearing open the mortal's chest with his claws, but before that, he would shatter the fist this guy threw—
"Bang!"
Gu Heng's fist directly punched through the ghostly mist, his arm swinging to completely dispel the ghostly figure.
"Hmph, I've seen the world."
He blew on his knuckles, though he wondered why his fist felt cool.
"...Why?"
"Could it be, this guy isn't a mortal..."
This was the ghostly figure's last thought before dissipating.