Yan Zaizen swiftly flew through the cave that hole led to. The cave was quite spacious and obviously man-made. It was curved in a square and felt like a long rectangular corridor. The walls releases fluctuations of mountain energy and vibrations.
As he flew through, his expression darkened. He was right behind the others, but his current speed was considerably slower than theirs. Vital energy wasn't meant to support flying, but physical movement, so he was behind the others.
Even his senses couldn't grasp their current locations. "With my spiritual sense weakened and losing my heavenly sense...my qi-sense isn't sufficient to cover the distance. Also…" As he deduced, he looked at the walls once more, "the walls are interfering with my qi-sense."
Thinking up to here about his apparent weaknesses, he realized why Eshe and the others had used him as bait. If it wasn't for his profound understanding of laws, wouldn't he have to run away from those Yaoguai? If that happened, he feared death was his only road.
"I need to conserve my true-essence...it is my main combat strength." Yan Zaizen was at the peak-True Essence Realm, but with his understanding of laws, he could close the gap. The only issue was consumption of energy. When he took those four steps towards Mei in the Sword Paradise Realm, he realized the consumption was quite frightening.
He even had peak-Dantian Refinement and peak-Crimson Star to support himself. Even still, the stronger the law, the more energy was required to support it.
Yan Zaizen kept flying for about two minutes. He was slightly startled by the sheer distance of the corridor. Stopping in mid-air, he looked around and furrowed his brows.
"Shit!" Yan Zaizen cursed heavily, looking back towards the entrance to see utter darkness and ahead for the same. "I may be slower than them, but I should've seen some evidence of their existence…"
He realized that he was entrapped in an illusory formation, likely an array of some sort. They must've set it up as a back-up in case the Yaoguai returned. This was the first time Yan Zaizen truly saw the craftiness of cultivators.
He clasped his palms together, his eyes erupting with an amber-gold light and his dao integrated into his spiritual sense. Suddenly, his spiritual sense was amplified for a brief period. It extended for a certain range before suddenly collapsing.
Yan Zaizen placed his hand on his chest as his soul felt pained. The pain was like a small balloon was trying to contain a gallon of water. Yan Zaizen felt like his soul had been stretched too far.
His breathing became heavy for a bit and his eyes flickered, "my nascent soul can't withstand my False Grand Dao?" This was the first time he had felt this way. The Dao Path was somewhat linked to the soul, so he felt it shouldn't be possible. However, when he thought of what the Dao was and how it can amplify all aspects of one's being, he could only begrudgingly accept it.
"If my soul is too weak, then I can't amplify my soul…" Yan Zaizen looked towards the ground, but his eyes didn't reveal a hint if defeat, but pure unyielding intent.
"Then, I can only break through the formation via brute force." Coming to this conclusion, he ignored his true-essence reserves and erupted fully. A whirlwind of power spun around him fiercely. His dao once more was evoked, but this time it was directed towards his qi-foundation!
As his dantian, heart, meridians, and pathways were infused with pure power of his dao, his back became straighter and his eyes became imperious with unyielding belief in himself.
Clenching his fist, he drew upon the Domain of Death! The Siphoning Shadow of Death concept surged, his fist was shrouded in ever-siphoning deathly aura. His Law of Death had reached the perfect-Domain level, and it seemed to transform the cave into a cemetery of death!
"Ha!" He smashed his fist onto the ground, descending rapidly to increase his momentum.
Boom!
A crushing sound echoed in the cave, and the shadow of death was like a tidal wave of water as it flowed in all directions. It didn't take long before the shadow started feeding on the essence of the formation and cave he was in.
A shattering noise abruptly resounded. After this shattering sound appeared, a shift of surroundings took place and Yan Zaizen's eyes widened as he realized where he was.
At the mouth of the hole!
He retracted his fist, his domain, and absorbed the remnant energy of the formation into himself, but his reserves had already dropped by ten percent off that strike alone. If he wished for a more powerful attack, his true-essence medium was simply insufficient. In fact, if he didn't have such a stable foundation with his dao, breaking an illusory formation of this level with his cultivation bases was impossible.
He didn't waste any time and shot into the hole. When he did, he flew for thirteen seconds before he started to slow. The cave had scratch marks all around and traces of blood. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the combat signs nearby.
Closing his eyes, he verified if this was another illusion formation, but he felt all of this was the truth. Yan Zaizen sped up quickly after deducing this until a figure leaning against the wall appeared.
Yan Zaizen closed in and his eyes lit up. This figure contained pure death in his aura; he was already dead. When Yan Zaizen saw this, he investigated the scene.
The figure was a man and he had pale-skin and crimson eyes, but those eyes were dull and lifeless. A dense aura of blood remained on his body. The man had his left hand grasping a blade-like object. This object emanated traces of sword laws.
Yan Zaizen realized he was a member of the other skyship and felt a little pity. It's possible he was killed by the others, but it was also possible he was killed by a Yaoguai. As he looked around a little bit more, he was about to continue to follow their trail before his eyes saw an item on his left hand grasping the blade.
It was a spatial ring!
A light of greed flashed in Yan Zaizen's eyes. "They must've been in a hurry. Well, their loss." Yan Zaizen smiled as he reached for the spatial ring. He touched the corpse's hand and his eyebrows twitched.
BOOM!
A cataclysmic explosion erupted with the corpse's body as the center. This explosion was powerful and caused the entire mountain to tremble violently. In the middle of this explosion was Yan Zaizen!
A soul-crushing, body-cracking sound echoed as Yan Zaizen's body was sent to the opposing wall and smashed against it heavily. A moan of intense pain escaped his mouth alongside a mouthful of blood.
However, the explosion didn't end!
BOOOOM!!!
A louder and more intense explosion followed. This explosion contained a deep bloody small and Yan Zaizen couldn't move as the first explosion had still placed him within the wall.
When he saw the second explosion occur, his eyes narrowed and he felt bitter. By the end of the first explosion, he was close to being a pile of mush.
His bones turned to dust, his skin and flesh scattered. During the whole ordeal, he could feel the Herculean laws wish to activate, harnessing the power of the immortal, but they were suppressed completely and without question.
"Gah!!" Yan Zaizen's body was stuck in the wall, his face had been melted off and his blood scattered. His torso and a portion of his legs remained thanks to the Sirius Slaughter Robe. He could barely maintain his consciousness. "No!" Yan Zaizen roared, but it sounded like a dying animal at its last moments. It was horrifying to the extreme.
"Law of Rebirth!" A domain emerged in Yan Zaizen's body as his true-essence that still remained was urged to the extreme! A profound law of rebirth surged in his body as the death aura emitted in his body switched like a light switch!
His body surged with an extreme, endless amount of life energy, slowly revitalizing and healing his body. It was only a few seconds before he recovered. His breathing was intense, cold sweat dripping from his entire body.
"A trap formation?! And then, a pre-established self-destruction after death?!" Yan Zaizen felt enraged. The first explosion was a formation set by another and the second was a self-destruction set by the man if anyone attempted to steal his body.
He recalled what Mei had told him before...greed was often the reason for death within this realm. However, he thought it was people being presumptuous of their own capabilities!
"My true-essence is about twelve-percent…" If Yan Zaizen's brain, heart, lungs, and blood wasn't refined by regalia of the heavens, he could've died then and there.
"I need to be more careful...haaa…" Despite saying that, he opened his hand to reveal a spatial ring. A smirk emerged on his face, "If I want something, that thing will be mines. Gods and Devils can not hinder me." As he said this, he flew off to follow the group.
There was still so much to learn, but he would be far more careful from henceforth.