Dark Vein Passage, Closing in on the Core

The gray-white stone stele shattered completely, fine cracks spreading across its entire surface.

In the end, it turned into a rain of light that scattered through the narrow crevice.

A blurry figure slowly emerged from deep within the stele. His build was solid, like a rock polished incomparably smooth by the ages.

Faint Innate Dao Patterns flowed across his dark gray skin, while his eyes churned with a calmness that had not faded through countless eras.

Rock shifted his body slightly, producing a faint sound of stone grinding against stone.

Then his gaze fell upon Xuandu, and he slowly said:

"Are you ready?"

Xuandu looked at him without speaking, merely giving a slight nod.

Seeing this, Rock said no more and simply turned toward the even narrower passage at the end of the crevice.

His steps were exceedingly steady, each one landing upon the firmest nodes in the void, as though he knew every inch of this Dark Vein like the back of his hand.

Xuandu followed close behind, the light screen of the Chaos Bead enveloping him and blocking out all the turbulent Chaos currents within the narrow passage.

Cinder walked at the rear. His dark red body turned slightly within the cramped passage, his scarlet eyes vigilantly scanning the surrounding law fluctuations.

The deeper they went, the more viscous and heavy the surrounding void became.

The gray-white Chaos Qi was like old cotton compressed for countless eras, pressing so heavily upon their chests that it was hard to breathe.

Rock walked at the front without pausing in the slightest, as though he had long grown accustomed to such extreme pressure.

He spoke, his voice low but clearly piercing through the dense Chaos Qi:

"This Dark Vein was originally a branch of a spirit vein from before Primordial Chaos