The deeper he went, the quieter the world around him became. There was no breeze, no sound of dripping water. The atmosphere was so strange, as if this corridor existed in a different dimension.Zilong fell silent, then clapped his hands once.No echo.Yet, a hallway this long should have reflected the sound many times over. His gaze shifted slightly."I see..." He raised his hand, touching the empty air beside the wall. A subtle, nearly invisible ripple appeared for a moment. "A formation that absorbs sound." Zilong raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. "A technique long extinct in this world."Not long after, the hallway split into three. Zilong stopped. He looked down, observing the stone floor which was clean of moss or footprints no human had walked through this place for centuries.However, his attention was drawn to a faint gouge on the left wall. It was only a span long, nearly blending in with the color of the stone. To a layman, it was merely a crack, but to Zilong, it was

Tok... Tok... Tok...The sound of Qin Zilong’s footsteps echoed softly down the endless stone corridor. The purple light from the lightning crystals growing along the walls cast faint reflections of his silhouette, making the hallway look like a world completely detached from the valley outside.The deeper he walked, the heavier the air became. It wasn't because of an oppressive Qi pressure, but rather the sheer density of lightning energy that had saturated every square inch of the space for thousands of years. Even the breath he exhaled seemed to carry the sharp scent of burnt metal.Zilong halted his steps. His gaze fell upon the stone floor a few meters ahead. A long crack stretched out in a straight line.He crouched down, brushing his fingertips over the fissure. "Not caused by lightning..."The crack was far too neat. Its width was uniform from end to end. "That is a sword slash."He raised his gaze. Not far away, a stone pillar a dozen meters high was sliced diagonally. Its su

Tiny sparks of lightning danced across the wall fissures, breaking the sudden, hollow silence of the hall. The blue-robed man breathed heavily, his chest rising and falling erratically. The tip of his sword remained pointed at Qin Zilong’s chest, though his arm shook violently from blood loss."Stop right there!" his voice was hoarse, yet his dignity hadn't entirely collapsed. "State your name."Qin Zilong paid the warning no mind whatsoever.Tok... Tok... Tok...His stride remained steady, as if the sharp blade threatening his life were nothing more than a dry twig."If I had intended to kill you," Zilong stated flatly, maintaining his pace, "you would already be dead before you even finished your fight."The man’s gaze sharpened. He recalled the tense moments fighting the war puppets; he had indeed sensed another presence watching. Yet that person hadn't interfered, hadn't attacked, and hadn't offered help. They had simply lingered in the darkness, waiting for everything to conclude.

BOOOM...The impact echoed once more. Slow, heavy, yet every time it reverberated, the entire stone hall shuddered subtly like the heartbeat of an unseen giant pumping life deep into the belly of the mountain. Fine dust rained down from above; the blue-robed man instinctively drove his sword into the floor to keep from falling.The cracks on the altar multiplied one after another.Crack... Crack...Purple lines crawled outward from the center of the altar toward every edge, forming an intricate pattern resembling tree roots. The light radiating from those fissures grew increasingly bright, casting a violet hue over the faces of Qin Zilong and the blue-robed cultivator.All around the room, the lightning crystals embedded in the walls began to resonate.Bzzzz...Tiny electric arcs leaped wildly from one crystal to another, filling the air with an ear-piercing buzz. The blue-robed man instinctively took half a step back."What on earth..." he whispered, his fingers tightening once more

BOOOM...The heavy pulse shook the hall once more. The golden emblem on the stone surface flickered gently, then dimmed before flaring back to life to the exact same rhythm as the four pillars encircling the room. All the purple light in the hall seemed to stream directly toward that emblem.The blue-robed man held his breath. "What... on earth is that?"Qin Zilong didn't answer. His gaze was locked onto the emblem without blinking. For the first time since entering the Lightning Valley, his eyes no longer held their usual calm. Not out of fear, but because he recognized it."Impossible..." he murmured, barely audible.The blue-robed man immediately turned his head. "You've seen that emblem before?"Zilong remained silent. He stepped closer to the wall.Tok... Tok... Tok...Each footfall rang out clearly in the quiet hall. When he was just an arm's length away, he stopped. The emblem was simple in shape; a few curved lines intertwined to form a pattern that at first glance looked rand