As the true force quickly spread, a powerful domain, like a miniature world, rapidly enveloped the entire cave.
Every minute detail of the cave was vividly and precisely relayed back to Su Cheng's mind.
A faint golden gleam flickered in his eyes, and his true vision activated, allowing him to clearly and intuitively see the various elements in their most fundamental forms.
"What a strange energy distribution…"
In this place, the concentrations of metal and fire elements were extremely low—which was normal, as these two elements tend to concentrate in special environments like ore veins or volcanoes.
However, what was strange was that wood and earth elements made up more than fifty percent of the total, significantly surpassing the water element.
A higher concentration of earth elements could be understood, given that they were in a mountainous region.
But for the wood element to be more concentrated than the water element—that was quite odd.
Unless a powerful soul skill with wood attributes had been used here, such a phenomenon shouldn't occur.
However, there were no traces of any battle around. Even if elemental energy had been summoned by a soul skill, it should have dispersed quickly and not lingered for so long.
The elemental energy here was highly inert and incredibly stable, clearly not something that could have formed in a short time.
For a moment, countless speculations flashed through Su Cheng's mind, yet all of them had aspects that didn't quite make sense.
"Could it be that Ah Yin is one of those so-called Fate-bound Children? But that doesn't make sense... Sigh, there are simply too few clues."
He rubbed his temples in frustration.
To Su Cheng, the possibility of Ah Yin being a Fate-bound Child was quite small.
This wasn't the real world.
Before his arrival, everything had been progressing as it should—this was something he had verified countless times over the past six months.
Even though Zhu Zhuqing had experienced some changes, whether it was her departure from the Star Luo Empire, her subsequent enrollment at Shrek Academy, her participation in the Star Dou Forest soul beast hunt, or the conflict with Blue Sunshine Academy, nothing had deviated from its original course.
Given this, in a world where Su Cheng had not influenced much, the most likely candidates to be chosen as Fate-bound Children were those like Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong—two exceptionally talented soul masters. Or possibly, entities like the Silver Dragon King or the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
At the very least, it should be someone like Ning Rongrong, the heir of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School, or Oscar, a food-type soul master with innate full soul power who hadn't appeared yet. Even Shui Bing'er, Feng Xiaotian, or Feng Qingyu, all young soul masters with exceptional talent, were more plausible candidates.
No matter how you looked at it, Ah Yin shouldn't be one of them.
Zhu Zhuqing awakening the Hell White Tiger spirit was already surprising enough. However, if a spirit mutation occurred, there was a slight chance of it being a case of bloodline reversion to the ancestor.
Although this explanation was a bit far-fetched, it still held a sliver of possibility.
With the Hell White Tiger, Zhu Zhuqing's talent wasn't inferior to the original Qian Renxue, whose innate soul power reached level twenty without any mutations.
But what about Ah Yin?
The Blue Silver Emperor was indeed an exceptional soul beast, the sole monarch among a prosperous species, with extraordinary bloodline power.
The problem was, she was no longer a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
She was merely a seedling of the Blue Silver Emperor. No matter how unique her bloodline was, what significance did it hold?
Up to this point, Su Cheng hadn't figured out the selection criteria for the "Fate-bound Child" mentioned in the simulation.
After visiting Heaven Dou City, he didn't find anything unusual about Qian Renxue, who he initially thought was the most likely candidate.
However, if this world truly followed its original trajectory, Ah Yin wouldn't have disappeared from this cave. The influence Su Cheng had exerted so far shouldn't have affected the yet-to-be-revived Ah Yin.
Perhaps the real reason for this anomaly was indeed related to the so-called "Fate-bound Child."
"…Did something happen?"
Suddenly, a cold, deep voice echoed from behind Su Cheng.
Surprised, he turned around and saw a beautiful young girl with silver hair and purple eyes. He hadn't noticed when she had entered the cave behind the waterfall.
Although her clothes were dry and neat, they were slightly wrinkled, as if they had just been steamed dry.
Additionally, her short silver hair was still slightly damp, with a few strands sticking to the sides of her face, giving her a slightly disheveled appearance.
"How did you get in here?"
With Su Yue's current strength, climbing up the rocks and entering this cave behind the massive waterfall would not have been easy.
Even though she possessed a wide array of elemental abilities and had a body far stronger than that of an ordinary soul master, her level was still too low, and it would have been quite risky.
This could be seen from her nearly depleted soul power and the fact that her appearance disguise was on the verge of failing.
"Did something happen?"
She didn't answer Su Cheng's question, merely repeating the one she had just asked.
"Nothing much."
"…"
After silently staring at him for a moment, Su Yue turned and began walking back toward the entrance. "If nothing's wrong, let's go."
Su Cheng hesitated for a moment, glanced again at the small, empty mound of earth at the end of the cave, sighed quietly, and followed her out.
There was no point in overthinking things now. Finding more clues was the only way forward.
No matter who had beaten them here, a hundred-thousand-year soul bone would not simply be abandoned.
As long as the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone had left even the slightest trace of its aura, and it was within the range of a city, he would find it.
Perhaps this unexpected change might actually turn out to be an opportunity.
Unexpected events might disrupt his original plans, but in a world where the threads of fate were so tightly woven, a few surprises to shake things up weren't necessarily a bad thing.
It's easier to fish in muddy waters.
Everything he had done over the past few months was precisely to stir the waters. It just hadn't yielded much success yet.
As Su Cheng thought about this, he unconsciously reached the cave's entrance. Ahead of him was the roaring waterfall.
The waterfall outside the cave, which cascaded down from a cliff hundreds of meters high, had a force stronger than a full-powered attack from a high-level Soul Elder. It was not something Su Yue, with her depleted soul power, could withstand head-on.
Looking at the small, silent figure standing by the cave's entrance, and then at the waterfall that blocked their view, Su Cheng smiled knowingly.
He didn't say much, stepping forward to place a hand on her slim shoulder.
Su Yue's body tensed slightly, her head lowered in silence.
Su Cheng activated his true force, forming a tangible, circular barrier around them. He then led her through the waterfall's barrier, emerging from the dark cave.