"Bro, can you even handle it? If not, just go on ahead. Big Brother is waiting for me."
Little Fishy looked at her brother, her words sharp with disdain, but her eyes filled with worry. She was actually afraid he wouldn't be able to hold on, and she didn't want Xianhai Shaoyu to push himself too hard.
"Why don't you go first? I'll wait a bit longer."
At that moment, cold sweat was already streaming down Xianhai Shaoyu's face. Though he did his best to act as though nothing was wrong, his body was giving him away regardless.
As for Little Fishy, she didn't leave. Bickering was bickering, but this was her own brother, so of course she cared deeply.
"Brother Shaoyu, there's no rush. Take your time adjusting."
Chu Feng's voice rang out once more, but it didn't come from a distance — Chu Feng had walked back.
He was a little worried about Xianhai Shaoyu too.
"I'm fine, Brother Chu Feng. You all go on ahead." Xianhai Shaoyu forced out a smile. He didn't want to hold Chu Feng up.
"No rush. That elder has already waited tens of thousands of years — a little longer won't matter," Chu Feng said with a grin.
Xianhai Shaoyu smiled in return. He understood that Chu Feng was worried about him.
Fortunately, Xianhai Shaoyu's talent was no ordinary thing either. He might not have been the freakish monster that Chu Feng and his sister were, but he was still a genius among geniuses.
He adapted quickly. Though the cold sweat on his face was still there, it had stopped pouring out, and his complexion was no longer so pale.
He wiped the sweat from his face, and the three of them ventured deeper into the cavern together.
As they pressed onward, the force of the impact only grew stronger, and faint, strange sounds could be heard in the background.
"Brother Chu Feng, sis — did you hear that?" Xianhai Shaoyu asked.
"You heard it too? I thought I was imagining things," Little Fishy said.
The two siblings turned to look at Chu Feng.
Chu Feng was a Spirit World Master. When it came to situations like this, his judgment was sharper.
"This force seems to be filled with resentment — as if it were born from resentment," Chu Feng said.
"Resentment?"
"How could there be such terrifying resentment?" The look on Xianhai Shaoyu's face made it clear he was frightened by the idea.
"I don't know. It's just a guess," Chu Feng said with a smile.
"Brother Chu Feng, don't just guess like that. It's really creepy."
Xianhai Shaoyu grimaced. He was genuinely scared.
If mere resentment could carry this kind of power, what kind of being could its source have been?
Just thinking about it made his skin crawl.
Aooo— Whoo— The sounds grew more and more piercing — like ghosts wailing, like beasts growling.
It was actually the wind.
As they ventured deeper, the once invisible force transformed into a hurricane, surging toward the three of them from the depths of the rock tunnel in an endless torrent, all the while unleashing unsettling roars.
The cavern was extremely deep, and the farther they went, the stronger the impact.
The good news was that Chu Feng and Little Fishy adapted quickly. Even as the force kept intensifying, they could endure it.
Xianhai Shaoyu took longer to adjust, but he managed it too — though from the expression on his face, it was clear he was still somewhat strained.
Adaptation aside, the force not only assailed their minds but also severely obstructed their vision. In this environment, they dared not walk quickly; every step had be taken with extreme caution.
A place that should have taken mere moments to reach ended up taking them a full six hours before they finally saw the true end of the cavern.
There was nothing remarkable about the end of the cavern itself, but not far from it on the ground sat a massive hole, like the mouth of a volcano. The force that had been assaulting them was gushing forth from that very pit.
Hovering in midair above the hole was a bronze artifact covered in rust, radiating an aura of ancient antiquity.