"That metal path should be one of the routes leading inside." Chen Beixun hovered in the air.
Diving straight into the depths of the Slanted Axe Tower was clearly unwise. Chen Beixun understood that well, so he kept circling the vast space behind the ancient bronze doors.
"Do these guys even leave the chairs and stools alone?" Chen Beixun looked down at the ruined, disorderly surroundings.
The last time he had come here, everything had still been magnificent. Treasures of every kind had been strewn about carelessly, all of it showcasing the place's grandeur and its former owner's unfathomable wealth.
"Ah, what a maddening treasure trove." Chen Beixun couldn't help sighing.
With wealth so immense, the former owner had still failed to break through to immortality. Ghostly World Lord had once been a mighty presence who ruled over the Peak World Lords, standing above even the undying military lords.
His ambition had been too great, his gaze too far-reaching. He had forgotten to ask whether his abilities could bear the weight of his ambition. Pathetic and ridiculous.
******
Chen Beixun walked across the golden floor. If Smaug had come here, the sight of this golden floor might have left him breathless.
"The floor is made entirely of E-grade metal." Qishan appeared at Chen Beixun's right, marveling at the World Lord's wealth. It wasn't that he doubted whether a World Lord could possess such riches.
The universe was vast, full of wonders. If something existed, there was a reason for it.
Still, it gave one the impression of seeing an interstellar battleship fly out of Africa.
Chen Beixun merely smiled. He could almost see the past again, with everyone shouting and fighting over the treasure.
At some point, a strange sound began to come from beneath the thick, heavy metal floor.
The metal floor's absurd soundproofing blocked most of it, much to his frustration. What little escaped sounded like some kind of muttering.
Chattering and whining.
Croaking and groaning.
Chen Beixun had no intention of pressing his ear to the floor to listen. In such a strange place and under these circumstances, that would be a little too careless.
The strange sounds continued. Chen Beixun simply committed what he could hear to memory, trying to figure out what they meant.
The more Chen Beixun listened, the more curious he became. But curiosity killed the cat.
He had no clues and had made no progress. Chen Beixun had been standing there for several minutes.
Under normal circumstances, not understanding what was going on would have been enough to make him leave. But the sound seemed to hold some kind of allure, compelling Chen Beixun to unravel its mystery.
When the rain came, people wanted to know when the sun would return. It was the same now.
"What a strange feeling!" Chen Beixun was at a loss. He had never imagined that he would resonate with those utterly irregular sounds.
It was as if something were instinctively drawing him in—not a physical instinct, nor anything else.
It was as if it had hooked the deepest part of Chen Beixun's...
"His soul!" Chen Beixun's eyes lit up, and he could hardly believe it. The crystals formed from his soul, deep within his sea of consciousness, were trembling... trembling with excitement and frenzy!
Those crystals had been separated from Chen Beixun's soul and condensed. In essence, they were still part of his soul. They had simply been formed in an unusual way.
"This is terrifying!" Chen Beixun felt every cell in his body cheering with joy.
The doubts born of caution vanished in an instant. But Chen Beixun was now in an awkward predicament. He wanted to find the source of the sound, but had no idea how to get there. Yet if he didn't go, he would feel deeply unsettled.
"Phew..." Chen Beixun exhaled deeply, then stretched his body to loosen his muscles.
He was doing it to make himself more comfortable and stay clearheaded, so he wouldn't lose himself to temptation. As the saying went, fortune was found amid danger, but it could also be lost there.
"Honestly, I really want to know what's down there... But staying alive comes first." Chen Beixun glanced at the floor, then boarded the Gold Cloud Shuttle and left.
The sounds didn't stop when Chen Beixun left. As if they had been fitted with a tracking device, they kept swirling around his ears. Chen Beixun grew even more wary, his nerves taut as a drawn cord.
As Chen Beixun went farther away, the sounds in his ears grew clearer, but he still couldn't understand them.
"What is it?!" Chen Beixun glanced back now and then, unwilling to leave. It felt as though a weight were pressing on his chest, impossible to relieve.
Chen Beixun abruptly stopped in midair. He longed—yearned—for an answer. The feeling was like having a fish bone stuck in his throat.
Chen Beixun hesitated.
There were only two choices: go or stay away.
His emotions surged without end, leaving him unable to think rationally. Overwhelmed by the force of them, he made his choice—he chose the first option.
It might have been a terrifying decision, one he would regret. Or it might have been the right one.
If he chose the second option, perhaps every time he looked back on this moment, he would regret his cowardice with all his heart.
Success or failure was all in fate—
After thinking it over for a moment, Chen Beixun turned around and headed back.
The closer he got, the more violently the tremors shook him.
"The ground is shaking!" Chen Beixun instinctively slowed down, preparing himself to fight or flee at any moment.
In the distance—
A sudden change!
A tornado rose from the ground, roaring up to the heavens, as if something horrifying were about to emerge!
The metal floor heaved and surged like the waves of the sea, but it wasn't quite like them. It was as if countless metal cubes, packed tightly together, were rising and falling in a chaotic pattern.
Chen Beixun focused his gaze on the distance. He knew he had to prepare for what lay ahead, so he could protect himself against the hidden dangers waiting for him.
"Go!" Chen Beixun rode the Gold Cloud Shuttle and sped through the air.
For some reason, the sight before him made him uneasy, even as it went against the yearning in his heart. It was a contradiction.
"Almost there!" Chen Beixun struggled forward against the tornado's tremendous pull.
He seemed so eager to investigate the meaning of those sounds that he had forgotten himself.
For a moment, Chen Beixun became clumsy and reckless. Under normal circumstances, he was only reckless around An Changyan and clumsy around Qishan.
"Faster! Faster!" Chen Beixun couldn't help shouting, but in these circumstances, his voice sounded very strange and stiff, as if he had just started learning a foreign language.
"Go right!" Qishan called out.
Chen Beixun trusted him completely and flew to the right.
He immediately escaped the tornado's reach.
"The tornado's path is very strange. I ran the calculations and worked out roughly where it would go," Qishan said.
Chen Beixun said, "So you told me to go right."
Qishan fell silent for a moment, then said, "Yes. We're out of the tornado's range now, but... I want to ask you once more: are you willing to explore and unravel the mystery of those sounds?"
Qishan wasn't sure whether Chen Beixun was in his right mind. He didn't want Chen Beixun to die here.
Chen Beixun fell silent. After thinking for a while, he explained the whole situation to Qishan.
"His soul?" Qishan said in surprise.
The Soul Path was mysterious to begin with.
Qishan pondered for a moment, then said, "It could be some kind of inheritance. Maybe the resonance was triggered because you cultivated the Twilight Art."
Chen Beixun nodded slightly. He suddenly remembered Li Di saying that the undying monitored the entire World Lord World. If there really was an inheritance and he obtained it, wouldn't he have to hand it over?
Besides—there was no telling whether the undying already knew what was happening here.
Chen Beixun shared this concern with Qishan.
Qishan told him not to worry. Sooner or later, they would at least get a little of the benefits.
Chen Beixun sighed, then continued ahead to investigate.
*****
Three hours later.
Chen Beixun spotted a widening gap beside a collapsed pillar. It was just large enough to reveal what lay beneath the metal floor.
He narrowed his eyes and first probed below with his telekinesis. There was a space underneath, and it was absurdly vast!
"This..." Chen Beixun was both happy and frustrated. The gap was too small, barely eight centimeters wide.
"Let's wait." Chen Beixun glanced at the distant tornado raging away and smiled. "With power like that, not many people would dare come here."
Then Chen Beixun took out three Space Rings. He had taken them from the three men he'd killed in the Slanted Axe Tower at the beginning.
"What's this!" Chen Beixun had barely begun searching the first ring when he found something incredible.
A full six Life Fruits! And an E6-grade light weapon.
E6-grade items weren't allowed inside the World Lord World, so there was only one possibility! They had obtained it inside the World Lord World.
"Phew... Good, good!" Chen Beixun patted his chest, exhaling in relief. "It was the right call to attack them on the spot!"
Those three men had clearly hesitated back then.
"Would killing too many people have drawn the attention of other factions?" Chen Beixun recalled what had happened.
Normally, he would have attacked immediately. The faster, the better!
Hesitation meant defeat! But decisiveness could get you killed, too!
Chen Beixun checked the remaining two Space Rings as well.
There really were quite a few treasures. That proved the three men had ambushed and robbed adventurers from other factions countless times.
"People stumble, and horses lose their footing. The three of you sure picked the wrong person to mess with." Chen Beixun smiled faintly.
Perhaps this was simply karma. They had killed too many and plundered too much. They had let wicked thoughts take root and never learned to restrain themselves; and to make matters worse, they had hesitated instead of acting decisively!