The sound of flowing magma abruptly ceased. What appeared before Xiao Yu and Zi Yan was an endless expanse of dark, desolate space, suffused with an ancient, weathered air.
Darkness filled heaven and earth, leaving nothing visible. Yet at the center of that darkness, there was a point of light.
Taiji patterns surfaced in his eyes. His gaze crossed an immense distance, and Xiao Yu took in the scene within that point of light.
It was a stone gate, tens of thousands of zhang tall. Before it, anyone would seem like a mayfly.
The stone gate seemed to have remained unchanged since time immemorial, standing there for eternity. A vast, ancient aura slowly seeped from it, rippling through this endless world of darkness.
Before the stone gate lay a plaza of the same immense size, vast and magnificent.
Finally, Xiao Yu's gaze settled on the top of the stone gate, where four ancient, boldly carved characters stood!
Ancient Emperor's Cave Mansion!
The bold lettering was not ornate, but plain and simple. Yet the boundless majesty within it, towering above heaven and earth, could leave anyone utterly spellbound.
Of course, Xiao Yu was not overly surprised. The aura of this stone gate had merely given him a small shock.
The stone gate was not his objective, either. After one glance, he paid it no further attention and instead lowered his head to look into the depths of the dark space.
There, though well concealed, was a trace of an aura that even he found dangerous.
Zi Yan seemed to sense something as well. She felt a heart-stirring sense of kinship reaching her.
"Xiao Yu..."
She called softly, her voice exceptionally clear in the silent darkness.
Xiao Yu nodded, then summoned the terrifying thunder within his body, dazzling as a great sun!