Almost two hours had gone by.
In the darkness, Yuan Zhen held Qi Zixie and walked ahead with nothing but his dark violet flame. He remembered that the cave started off small, but widened the further down he went.
He marvelled yet again at the large rock formations, like fangs that rose up from the floor or fell down from the roof. He felt, yet again, like he had entered the mouth of an ancient slumbering beast.
"Miss Huang, do you have any memories of this place?"
No response.
"Miss Huang?"
Silence, yet again.
"Miss Huang!?" This time he stopped walking and turned his head to the side, concerned. Could something have happened to her? Was she in meditation?
Was she just his imagination all this time.
"Sorry about that, I was just doing something."
Relieved, he sighed. "Doing what?"
"Nothing much. I just went ahead and ate up the cave's soul power." Yuan Zhen nodded, wholly glad that she had spoken. If she didn't, and she was truly a figment of his imagination, he would likely have felt he was going crazy and stopped to meticulously assess his mentality.
Suddenly, his relieved expression froze on his face.
"You did what!?"
A thundering quake shook the cave, causing cracks to form in the rock. He heard a loud crash behind him as tons upon tons of rocks fell from above and sealed off his return.
After that, the quaking stopped.
"Oops."
Though he was calm on the surface, Miss Huang could feel that he was enraged through his soul fluctuations. To try and lighten the mood, she shared some of the soul power with him.
"It wasn't much, but I can give you that. Though now its barely enough for me... I won't even be able to get any benefits..." She was clearly aggrieved and mourning the loss of the energy she had given to him.
"Oh, fuck off! You give it to me and then try to make me feel guilty and give it back?"
She chuckled nervously then went silent. Yuan Zhen felt the strand of energy that she left in his core disappear. She had taken it anyway.
Yuan Zhen could only hope that he would find something he couldn't before. All he had discovered in his past life was a door and some writing. He hadn't been completely lying to the bane-devil kings, but he also hadn't been telling the truth.
He had no idea what his key manifestation could possibly be used for.
Once again, he approached the door and saw the writing. There was no difference, aside from some new dents and scratches in the door and walls. The writing was untouched, and still in perfect condition.
"Wonderful. There's no difference. For all I know, you ruined my chances when you killed the cave."
He had expected her to respond, but when she didn't he called out to her.
"Do you want me to say something?"
Yuan Zhen retorted, "Obviously."
"But you told me to ...fuck off." At the end, her voice cracked and she broke into soft, girlish sobs. It took every ounce of mental energy Yuan Zhen had to not curse her for her acting.
"Fine, you can speak."
She immediately started giggling and then said, "You were actually wrong .....I think."
"You think?" Yuan Zhen grit his teeth.
"...ahaha... Don't mind that! The thing is, the cave was actually protecting the door, making it harder to open. I've actually made it easier!"
"Oh really? How much easier?" As he said that, he pushed the door and saw that it didn't budge. "Not that easy apparently. Oh wait, maybe I can just do this!"
He brought out his scythe, coated it in flame and then attacked the door. He barely managed to leave a mark on it.
"Ooh!! It's not that easy either, huh? Then maybe it's this easy!"
He then tried to melt the door, but it didn't work either. Nothing he tried worked, but his sarcastic remarks never ended.
As for Miss Huang, she was just watching his actions and pouting playfully, though he couldn't see.
In a final attempt, he brought out the key.
"Ah, of course. How could I not think of it sooner? It's a door left behind by the Infallible Race, isn't it? Then obviously this random manifestation of my spirit can open it!"
His last words had a trace of anger in them as he poured energy into the key and it grew in size. He brought it to the door, searching for a keyhole.
"Uh-oh! No keyhole? That's too sad. Guess it isn't really easy at all!"
He was so busy shouting at the woman inside of him that he didn't realize the door began to shine.
"Um... Yuan Zhen? The door." It was Miss Huang who noticed and alerted him of it.
"Eh? The fuck?" The door emitted a dim shine, then it swung open with a soft creak. Just like that, the door he, and perhaps even Ji Xie, had spent years trying to open was unlocked.
And it was all because of that same 'random manifestation.'
"See. It was that easy. If the cave was still alive, it would have tried to stop you."
Now, there was nothing Yuan Zhen could say. He gulped, finally stepping beyond the end of the cave.
As soon as he entered, light filled the room.
Rows upon rows of candles lit up with purple flames. Yuan Zhen saw that he was within a tiled room. Instead of the rough, unrefined walls of the cave, the room was smooth from top to bottom. It seemed almost man-made.
On the walls, Yuan Zhen saw a large number of paintings. Near each of them were candles mounted on the walls, ensuring that the observer could clearly see what was painted.
At the center of the room was an altar, and on it was an open book. Dim purple sparkles rose up and fell down in the stagnant air.
A feeling of serenity and ancientness filled Yuan Zhen's soul, eliminating the emotions he had just been experiencing. He carefully placed Qi Zixie on the floor, then walked off to the left with heightening expectations.
Apart from the wall behind him, the paintings were hung on every other wall in the square shaped room. As he approached, he saw what appeared to be a delicately and meticulously painted portrait of thirteen people.
They stood side by side, leading Yuan Zhen to peruse their appearances from left to right. Despite how hard he tried, he was unable to sense any intent or willpower left behind in that painting.
He suspected it was painted by a mortal.
As he continued, he realized that the paintings hanging on that wall were all the same. The only noticeable difference were the various techniques used to bring out the image. It was like that they were all done by different people.
As he got to the last one, just before turning to the other wall, he could sense the faintest aura. Looking closer at that final picture, he noticed a woman at the far right.
Unlik the others with her, her bright pink eyes seemed to shine with a lively light, as if she was not merely an image but a living soul.
Yuan Zhen was struck with awe by that sight, unable to comprehend how this image could be true enough to life that it seemed to come alive.
He turned to the second wall, finding that the image in these pictures was of a gigantic castle. It stood within the confines of a meadow which a hedge of trees surrounded. As he looked at that castle, and the various paintings of it, his eyes found something.
Astonished at the level of detail put into the work, Yuan Zhen read the minuscule characters on a gate. Without enhanced eyesight, one would easily miss even the gate, far less the words on it.
After he read those characters, he began to view the castle and its surroundings with added interest. His breathing briefly quickened and he took a single step back, coming down to a lower point of the flooring and surprising himself.
"This... This can't be..."
He once again re-read the words, wishing he was mistaken, but he was not.
"The Infallible Race. But this place isn't the Grotto. There were depictions of what it looked like back then. So where is this?"
He reached the last painting. He didn't expect much from it, however he was in for quick a shock.
The very moment his eyes landed on that painting, his soul surged forward involuntarily and was sucked into it. His very consciousness arrived in that meadow, standing afar and looking directly at that castle.
He could feel the nipping cold in the air and the grass and earth beneath his feet. The fresh scent of country air evoked a peaceful smile. This was when Yuan Zhen realized he was experiencing things from someone else's perspective.
Whoever that person was, they turned around and looked at someone standing behind them.
"What do you think Juxue? Is it everything you imagined?" The person standing behind them was a middle-aged man, black and grey stubble on his face. His eyes were bright green, but the wrinkles beneath them betrayed the vicissitudes of a lengthy life.
Though he appeared lively and energetic, it was apparent that he was pushing himself in order not to seem frail and weak.
Despite that, Yuan Zhen could all but feel the man's struggles. He could only guess that the person he embodied was able to see it as well.
Suddenly, he felt himself begin to speak. "Yes, Father. It is everything I imagined it to be. I can only hope that Lord Yan and the Celestial Emperor are pleased."
The man nodded, his smile growing. "They will be. Even if they aren't, where else can they find a teacher capable of guiding the next generation into becoming the Infallible Race. Heh heh!"
"Father! That's it, I'm finding something else to call it!"
The man broke out in raucous laughter, but his cheerful expression fell when he suddenly started coughing. He put his hand in front of his face, coughing up tiny droplets of blood.
He tried to hide it from her, but his daughter had already seen. "Don't worry, Juxue. King Yan and the Celestial Emperor have already entrusted the future of Heaven and Hell to you. Once the institute is properly established, you need only ask for the Fruit."
Seeing his hopeful expression, even Yuan Zhen was convinced. However, he already had an inkling that anything bearing the title of the 'Infallible Race' could not stand.
After that, the vision ended and Yuan Zhen's consciousness returned to his body within that room.
He suddenly felt trepidation as he prepared to face the final wall. He remained staring at the landscape he had just visited, unable to move on for a while.
Finally, he turned to gaze upon the final wall.
To his surprise, each of the pictures were different. One of them depicted a massive gathering at the gate, which stood before the castle.
Yuan Zhen saw various types of people, which was astounding. He could recognize beasts among them, but could feel a certain kinship that was beyond what other ordinary beasts could make him feel.
His blood began to put increased pressure on his blood vessels, as if it was trying to escape and connect with those beasts.
Aside from them, he also saw the Fae, demons, devils, angels, clouddwellers and divinities. He noticed a group of Hell-Spawn, all standing around a tall man in black.
At the other end, directly opposite the Hell-Spawn and the man in black, were a group of people with glowing skin and bright colored clothes. At the center of them was a smiling elder in white, his hand behind his back.
Just seeing that man's smile irked Yuan Zhen. He could even hear a snort come from within his core.
"Miss Huang?"
"Nothing, that guy's just .....really ugly." Smiling slightly, Yuan Zhen continued to peruse the painting. Both the old man in white and the younger man in black wore golden crowns, but they didn't show a kingly air.
As Yuan Zhen looked at everyone else, he noticed a tall figure at the back of the group. It was actually Juxue's father, from his vision. He looked around near Juxue's father and eventually found her. She was standing in between her father and another person, but his face was blocked off by a woman standing ahead.
The artist still managed to get some of his features, and Yuan Zhen could see that the man had the distinctive horns of a Hell-Spawn.
What Yuan Zhen found peculiar was that, on both Juxue and that Hell-Spawn's shoulders was a little girl, around three years, with a yin-yang emblem pinned in her hair. She was smiling with her hands in the air, and Juxue seemed to be excessively considerate of her.
It was only then that Yuan Zhen noticed that Juxue's father was also looking at that little girl with a doting care. He could only guess that the little girl was his granddaughter, and the Hell-Spawn man was his son-in-law.
Behind them, the bold, golden characters on the gate glittered. "The Infallible Race's secrets go much further back than this realm. If even King Yan and the Celestial Emperor, such legendary figures, were present, then the truth of this Infallible Race is terrifying to imagine."
Yuan Zhen moved on, seeing that the other paintings were simply of their celebration within the castle, perhaps in congratulations for the establishment of the institute.
However, when he reached the final painting, he gasped and once more took a final step back. Not only was the painting shocking to see, but there was an inscription on it that shook his very soul.
The painting depicted a young woman with a yin-yang emblem pinned on her violet dress. She was being thrown down to a wasteland by an elder with bright wings. When Yuan Zhen saw who that elder was, and saw the wasteland below, his mind and soul became unstable.
That old man was the very same elder in white from the first painting, the man he guessed was the Celestial Emperor based on his apparent relationship with the angels and other heavenly entities.
As for where she was being thrown down, it was a freshly devasted land covered in deep pits, all of them shining with three distinct colors; orange, black and red.
If this was not enough to overturn Yuan Zhen's understanding, he saw and read the inscription.
"My dreams, if they be true, terrify me. Be watchful, Li Huang, as you are the last of your people."